Pathfinder Adventure Path #144: Midwives to Death (Tyrant's Grasp 6 of 6)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #144: Midwives to Death (Tyrant's Grasp 6 of 6)
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Against the Rise of Terror

The heroes finally have the tools they need to stop the Whispering Tyrant, but the lich-king has not been idle. Why has he devoted so much attention to an isolated border fortress, right when divinity seems to be within his grasp? A quest to discover the tyrant's secrets plunges the heroes into a deadly race through a fecund forest, into fearsome dungeons built long before the Shining Crusade, and between spiteful villains harboring ancient grudges. Old enemies stand in the heroes' way yet again, but unexpected allies can help turn the rising tide of death and despair. If the heroes are victorious, they can seize the only chance to deny the Whispering Tyrant his greatest weapon and strike him down before he gains the power of a god.

This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path provides the dramatic conclusion to the Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path and includes:

  • "Midwives to Death," a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 16th-level characters, by John Compton.
  • A massive article celebrating the final Adventure Path volume for the first edition of the Pathfinder RPG. Written by Paizo's developers and designers to close out the first edition with a bang, this article presents new monsters, GM advice, gods both new and revised, staff PCs, a new prestige class, new archetypes, and more! These new rules work with the Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path or any campaign, and are written by John Compton, Adam Daigle, Eleanor Ferron, Thurston Hillman, James Jacobs, Jason Keeley, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Robert G. McCreary, Erik Mona, Michael Sayre, Owen K.C. Stephens, Mark Seifter, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-144-3

The Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (1.5 MB PDF).

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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Emphasizing a Different Type of Heroism

4/5

If you read all the 1-stars above you might be feeling a little discouraged about this adventure. Having just read them myself, I'm scratching my head about whether they read the same book(s) as I did.

There are some spoilers below, so be warned.

The first half of the adventure takes place in one of the Whispering Tyrant's bunker/barracks where the party has the opportunity to fight and/or intrigue against several powerful undead commanders. There's plenty of room here for RP and even a moral dilemma when a powerful devil offers to remove an undead army from consideration.

After the dungeon, the adventure offers a change of pace in the form of a Wild Hunt choosing them as its prey, but this is a bit of a side note before getting to Absalom, where Tar-Baphon and his armies are engaged with Absalom's defenders. This part of the adventure involves the party striving to taunt the Whispering Tyrant by defeating his lieutenants and driving him berserk with rage and frustration.

The climactic battle deserves some special mention since it seems to be angering many people. I'd like to push back on that a little bit.

Again, SPOILERS:

The final gambit is an echo of Arazni's in Book 4: to provoke the lich into nuking his annoying enemies. For the PCs, their obols were modified in Book 5 to make them amplify positive energy and reflect the Radiant Fire back on Tar-Baphon. In the process, the PCs are destroyed body and soul. Tar-Baphon is not permanently destroyed; though his bid for godhood fails his phylactery is safe and he eventually reforms.

I think this is a bold choice, in a genre where the party usually kills the bad guy and gets an unequivocal victory, having an ending where the heroes sacrifice everything for an incomplete victory has enormous potential for bittersweet storytelling. If that's not your jam, the adventure provides a way out in the form of a magical tree from book 5 acting as a pseudo-phylactery...but I think people should give ending as written some consideration. Having characters not get the power fantasy ending for one campaign is intriguing, and it certainly doesn't warrant the rage its seemed to have inspired.

On the negative side, there are some pacing issues in the last half of the adventure. I also worry that a CR26 final boss fight might be too harsh on the party, even with help from a pair of fairly powerful NPCs and the obols. Mythic has a strong potential to make this a one-sided slaughter, so be careful. That said, on the whole it's a good contribution to the last AP of PF1.


Utter, baffling disappointment

1/5

I have a tough time summarizing my complaints with this book, but I want to be as clear as I can, so let me put some things into context. Also there's some spoilers in here, but if you're GMing this they're well worth knowing before you buy this.

You will be returning to Avistan with what essentially amounts to a narrative "doomsday clock" over your head. No, not a hard one like in Wrath of the Righteous, but certainly the fact that the Whispering Tyrant is basically going to win tomorrow is pretty huge. So, with that in mind, let's look at some of the things Paizo wastes pages on while you are (presumably) rushing to save the world:
-An encounter with a wild hunt you're strong enough to fight wanting to "play hunt" with you, along with 5 pages of rules for how to do it.
-gambling with a rawhead
-dining with a Daughter of Urgathoa
-playing undead politics

To say nothing of the utterly baffling pacing of this, it also seems so unbelievably rushed in the places that matter. The whole plot is a mess; literally 2/3rds of the game exist to allow you to do a dungeon, since Tar-Baphon "made his generals retake their vows to him" and then for no particular reason only moved 1/2 his army to Absalom seemingly allow the PC's to enter his spooky dungeon and have something to fight. But in the end, you're expected to fight him alongside your newest friends, who are so important you meet them about 2 hours prior and they don't even have unique stat blocks.

You do not reach level 20, and in the end you die. But not just die; no, you sacrifice your SOULS to stop Tar-Baphon, consigning yourself to oblivion. Now, that's the stuff of legends right there IF IT'S HANDLED WELL, but having just read 2E's world guide, do you know what happens to Tar-Baphon?

He just comes back in a bit and is now scheming away on the Isle of Terror. The Lost Omens guide literally invalidates the actions of this whole AP. The book ends with a throwaway line about "the Whispering Tyrant still being out there woooooooo" before immediately rushing to show off some special creations of the writers on staff, and then it's OFF TO 2E!

This book was an underwhelming mess, poorly paced, badly bloated, and yet somehow unbelievably rushed. I honestly can't believe they allowed one of their most notorious villains to be portrayed like this, and now that he's back it means the entire AP was worth far less than the amount of money I paid for it. If you can, either rewrite this book yourself for your group, or just skip this AP. It's completely meaningless anyways.


A very nice ending to 1E

4/5

I have been very disappointed in 'Tyrant's Grasp', and since a lot of people have criticized it, I did not have high expectations for 'Midwives to Death', either. However, I was positively surprised when I got the module a few days ago. In my opinion all the maps are very good, it's well-written, it has a coherent plot and contains a lot of interesting encounters. If you ask me, this is one of the best AP installments in a long while, along with 'Last Watch' and' It came from Hollow Mountain'.

I think John has done very good job with this adventure, and it's even more impressive when you consider the pressure of writing the last module for the First Edition! :)


I'm satisfied with the ending.

5/5

Overall, I rather like the adventure, the side bar on how to switch things up was very well done I thought (for the record If I run Tyrant's Grasp I will be using the side bar ending instead).

While this AP has issues in earlier installments, this one isn't among them.

The developer showcase is also really solid though I'm disappointed Mark and Thursty used their space for advice instead of something else, it's still good advice and certainly not worth knocking off a star.

I especially liked the inclusion of Iblydan hero gods, as well Angradd and Nocticula 2.0.


A horrible way to end it

1/5

For the very last AP of the first edition the developers literally pulled one out of their....

These mods seemed more inline with a convention module series where the players have no real connection to their PCs.

Was also not a fan of the majority of the artwork in this one either. I hope to see a better effort in Age of Ashes.

I will say this, the Noticula effort was first class, but not enough for me to raise this mess of an AP to two stars


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Grand Lodge

Erk Ander wrote:
magnuskn wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Dracovar wrote:
they don't STOP TB, rather, they just slow him down and deny him his fancy nuke.
The also stop him from getting to the Startsone and becoming a full on god.
Quite honestly, not stopping him might work out better for Golarion in the long term. As a God, he can't blatantly interfere and if he tries... well, then there are a lot of other "people" (i.e. gods) well on his power level there to slap him on the fingers, as explained in Inner Sea Gods and other products. And you can't tell me he would be worse than Urgathoa somehow.
A little surprised nobody hires the Mantis God to deal with the Tyrant. Sure the LG types might not be for it, but some of CG and LN wouldn't care. Given that Iomedae occasionally Asks Asmodeus for advice...maybe asking the Mantis Good to visit her old "friend" might not be such a big deal....or maybe it would.

I wonder if the same consideration could be sent to Razmir as well.

Grand Lodge

Rysky wrote:
Axial wrote:
What about the new prestige class?
You start getting various attributes from different types of pyschopomps (mask, wings) as well as increasing your other class's abilities similar to the Evangelist.

What's the name of the new prestige?

Paizo Employee Organized Play Lead Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Erk Ander wrote:
magnuskn wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Dracovar wrote:
they don't STOP TB, rather, they just slow him down and deny him his fancy nuke.
The also stop him from getting to the Startsone and becoming a full on god.
Quite honestly, not stopping him might work out better for Golarion in the long term. As a God, he can't blatantly interfere and if he tries... well, then there are a lot of other "people" (i.e. gods) well on his power level there to slap him on the fingers, as explained in Inner Sea Gods and other products. And you can't tell me he would be worse than Urgathoa somehow.
A little surprised nobody hires the Mantis God to deal with the Tyrant. Sure the LG types might not be for it, but some of CG and LN wouldn't care. Given that Iomedae occasionally Asks Asmodeus for advice...maybe asking the Mantis Good to visit her old "friend" might not be such a big deal....or maybe it would.

That's true. I bet playing a Red Mantis Assassin through this Adventure Path would make for an awesome and unlikely hero!

Paizo Employee Organized Play Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
kevin_video wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Axial wrote:
What about the new prestige class?
You start getting various attributes from different types of pyschopomps (mask, wings) as well as increasing your other class's abilities similar to the Evangelist.
What's the name of the new prestige?

The Mortal Usher.

(Don't get too excited by the link, it's just the short description on the wiki page.)

Liberty's Edge

Both Razmir and Tar-Baphon have divine sponsors.

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.
John Compton wrote:
Erk Ander wrote:
magnuskn wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Dracovar wrote:
they don't STOP TB, rather, they just slow him down and deny him his fancy nuke.
The also stop him from getting to the Startsone and becoming a full on god.
Quite honestly, not stopping him might work out better for Golarion in the long term. As a God, he can't blatantly interfere and if he tries... well, then there are a lot of other "people" (i.e. gods) well on his power level there to slap him on the fingers, as explained in Inner Sea Gods and other products. And you can't tell me he would be worse than Urgathoa somehow.
A little surprised nobody hires the Mantis God to deal with the Tyrant. Sure the LG types might not be for it, but some of CG and LN wouldn't care. Given that Iomedae occasionally Asks Asmodeus for advice...maybe asking the Mantis Good to visit her old "friend" might not be such a big deal....or maybe it would.
That's true. I bet playing a Red Mantis Assassin through this Adventure Path would make for an awesome and unlikely hero!

Ye!

They even have a thematic Prestige Class for such an endeavor :3


Rysky wrote:
They even have a thematic Prestige Class for such an endeavor :3

What's the best way to qualify for this prestige class? (i.e. anyone knows if a certain class or PrC or archetype gives you these for free: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (sawtooth sabre), Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (sawtooth sabre) )

Silver Crusade

Inquisitor is probably your best bet, due to the high 3rd level spells requirement.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Rysky wrote:
GM PDK wrote:
Rysky wrote:
They even have a thematic Prestige Class for such an endeavor :3
What's the best way to qualify for this prestige class? (i.e. anyone knows if a certain class or PrC or archetype gives you these for free: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (sawtooth sabre), Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (sawtooth sabre) )
Inquisitor is probably your best bet, due to the high 3rd level spells requirement.

Warpriest with or without the Mantis Zealot archetype gets free proficiency and free Weapon Focus, but won’t get 3rd level spells until 7th level. Still nets more of the prereq feats than Inquisitors, though, and gets bonus combat feats to make up for taking Great Fortitude.

Silver Crusade

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I completely forgot about the Warpriest, sorry Warpriest.

Grand Lodge

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Belltrap wrote:
Rysky wrote:
GM PDK wrote:
Rysky wrote:
They even have a thematic Prestige Class for such an endeavor :3
What's the best way to qualify for this prestige class? (i.e. anyone knows if a certain class or PrC or archetype gives you these for free: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (sawtooth sabre), Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (sawtooth sabre) )
Inquisitor is probably your best bet, due to the high 3rd level spells requirement.
Warpriest with or without the Mantis Zealot archetype gets free proficiency and free Weapon Focus, but won’t get 3rd level spells until 7th level. Still nets more of the prereq feats than Inquisitors, though, and gets bonus combat feats to make up for taking Great Fortitude.

I was going to suggest the crusader cleric archetype. Five levels gets you 3rd level spells and two bonus combat feats (including Weapon Focus at 1st level), and the exotic weapon proficiency for the deity. You'd either have to go Favored for skill points, human Skilled, or have a 12 Int for the third skill point, but then you could go all-in the PrC at 6th.


I have a question, and I have a sinking feeling that the answer is "no".

Do we get the domains/subdomains/favored weapon for Tar-Baphon once he becomes a god? I'd be really interested in what "God-Baphon"'s crunch is and it'd be pretty cool for if I want to run a homebrew where he succeeded in getting the Starstone.

Silver Crusade

Your feeling is correct.


Ugh, thought so. Would've been cool.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Lead Developer

17 people marked this as a favorite.
Axial wrote:

I have a question, and I have a sinking feeling that the answer is "no".

Do we get the domains/subdomains/favored weapon for Tar-Baphon once he becomes a god? I'd be really interested in what "God-Baphon"'s crunch is and it'd be pretty cool for if I want to run a homebrew where he succeeded in getting the Starstone.

My take on Tar-Baphon's Hypothetical domains:

Domains: Death, Destruction, Evil, Knowledge, Magic
Subdomains: Arcane, Catastrophe, Daemon, Fear (BotD), Memory, Undead

Death, Evil, Knowledge, and Magic are largely givens, as far as I'm concerned. Destruction's a nice fit given his embracing artifact-powered super-weapons—and generally solving problems by blasting them to pieces (weren't you a necromancer, buddy?).

For subdomains, I find Arcane and Undead are pretty straightforward. Catastrophe and Fear reflect the ways he leads and tries to get his way in the Lost Omens setting. Daemon's a solid pick, especially given he doesn't seem to shrug at the notion of using daemons to conquer areas. And Memory's an interesting one, particularly since part of his magical prowess seems to come from stealing the knowledge of a runelord. To that end Trickery (Thievery) would be a "creative" pick that just doesn't quite do it for me.

Favored weapon's likely a dagger, as that's his go-to in stat blocks.


John Compton wrote:
Axial wrote:

I have a question, and I have a sinking feeling that the answer is "no".

Do we get the domains/subdomains/favored weapon for Tar-Baphon once he becomes a god? I'd be really interested in what "God-Baphon"'s crunch is and it'd be pretty cool for if I want to run a homebrew where he succeeded in getting the Starstone.

** spoiler omitted **

Thank you so much! Since you're the writer of this module this pretty much counts as being "from the horse's mouth" in my opinion; so I have no complaints now. Look forward to reading about the Tyrant's hijinks and shenanigans in the Lost Omens book!

Sovereign Court

Has anyone got a shipping notice for this yet?
My order has been pending for 16 days, and I am impatient and anxious:0

Silver Crusade

Yep, with 2e launching its gonna take a bit longer this time around for some.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I have it in my downloads, so it has been shipped some days ago.


Rysky wrote:
I completely forgot about the Warpriest, sorry Warpriest.

Death Slayer appears PFS legal as well...

Sovereign Court

magnuskn wrote:
I have it in my downloads, so it has been shipped some days ago.

Thanks.

I guess I just sit and wait with fingers crossed.


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Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

The more i think of the ending the more i like it. This ap is defently not for everyone but i teally like how bitter sweet and boderline depressing it is. Plus thematically its great


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This ending was trash. I cannot begin to imagine the rage my players would feel if I sprung that on them at the end of this campaign. Sure, there's an excerpt about "oh but if that's too harsh you can X" but that's baloney. There's one ending in mind.

PF needs to do an announcement about APs "not being for everyone." I am fine with just about anything, but the laziness of endless dungeon crawls, pages of bio for npcs the pcs have literally no reason not to instantly kill - seriously, they're undead monsters who serve the Tyrant, why are they chatting them up - and then to top it off with the Magical McGuffin Magically McGuffining ad infinitum is about the least imaginative end to the PF1e run I can think of. Good thing there are no consequences, Absalom is perfectly fine, and they don't even have to worry about any heroes to recognize in the future!

I would have opted out of this without a second thought.


Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I feel like as long as you let the players now at character creation that this i a different ap where theres no real happy ending i think itll work,theres defently pepole that would enjoy it. Its defently somthing id let my players know about before hand tho

Silver Crusade

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They do do an announcement about “not being for everyone”, the Player’s Guide lists this AP’s theme as Survival Horror. That’s not for everyone.

As for “springing” this on players you don’t, they learn about their fate at the end of the previous volume.

As for the NPCs those bios aren’t worthless, not everyone plays a mindless murder machine, this volume is about disrupting the Tyrant’s army before you confront him, so you can interact with the NPCs to sow discord at large to do so.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Rysky wrote:
As for the NPCs those bios aren’t worthless, not everyone plays a mindless murder machine, this volume is about disrupting the Tyrant’s army before you confront him, so you can interact with the NPCs to sow discord at large to do so.

Just putting it out there, but destroying the leadership structure usually also sows discord. And, if you're a minion of the Tyrant, and undead, chances are you're borderline fanatic so chances are under normal circumstances, maybe betrayal or a coup isn't the go-to strategy. They might not be though. While undeath tends to be a reward for loyal service, it could be a punishment. Maybe they want to usurp the Tyrant. Don't know. Haven't read it yet. Just saying that maybe xeose4 isn't in the wrong to voice an opinion regarding the final book of 1e, and what a standard group of PCs might do. Especially if a paladin or two are in the party, or even someone who worships Pharasma. That'll be on the GM to curb things though. Keep that train on the railroad.

Silver Crusade

2 people marked this as a favorite.
kevin_video wrote:
And, if you're a minion of the Tyrant, and undead, chances are you're borderline fanatic so chances are under normal circumstances, maybe betrayal or a coup isn't the go-to strategy.
Not the case here, or rather, his minions may be but his allies are not. Namely those who serve Urgathoa.
Quote:
While undeath tends to be a reward for loyal service, it could be a punishment.
Also the case in this volume.
Quote:
Maybe they want to usurp the Tyrant.
Also the case in this volume.
Quote:
Don't know. Haven't read it yet.
It kinda shows.
Quote:
Just saying that maybe xeose4 isn't in the wrong to voice an opinion regarding the final book of 1e, and what a standard group of PCs might do.
Despite the stereotypes mindless murder machines is not the standard group I will say.
Quote:
Especially if a paladin or two are in the party, or even someone who worships Pharasma.

They honestly won’t have an issue with this volume from what I’ve read.

Dark Archive

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Not a fan of the as written ending myself but easy enough to put in the get out clause they mention previous issue. I will say that after watching the way another Ap does a similair ending Paizo handled it a looooot better.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Kevin Mack wrote:
Not a fan of the as written ending myself but easy enough to put in the get out clause they mention previous issue. I will say that after watching the way another Ap does a similair ending Paizo handled it a looooot better.

Did one of D&D campaigns do that or what do you mean?

Dark Archive

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CorvusMask wrote:
Kevin Mack wrote:
Not a fan of the as written ending myself but easy enough to put in the get out clause they mention previous issue. I will say that after watching the way another Ap does a similair ending Paizo handled it a looooot better.
Did one of D&D campaigns do that or what do you mean?

Legendary planets ending is also of the TPK variety and you dont find that out till the last book (Unless I missed something)


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I'm not a fan of the AP myself, but I wouldn't call it bad, just not for me.

Dark Archive

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I have to agree with Xeose, this AP has been a disappointment, and IMO has very little to do with actual 'Survival Horror'. I think Last Watch is the only adventure worth mentioning in that regard, and it's also the only adventure which had nice maps and a good plot. I mean, tooth fairies and plants... really?!? And all the tricky parts in the campaign plot are handwaved with vague references to "cosmic coincidence". That is just bad writing and lazy design.

All in all my strongest impression is that this whole AP feels like it must have originated as the script for a canceled CRPG; there is just so much railroading and awkward quests ("Greetings, tralevelers! I'm a glowing ball of light that might be able to help you, if you help me first!"), at least one Deus-Ex-Machina per adventure and all sorts of McGuffins restricting PCs to adventure locale to ensure they keep on the rails.

And the final climax is that the McGuffin empowering the PCs will make them wither and die, which should encourage them to sacrifice themselves in the final adventure... IMO that is once again lazy design.

As for 'Survival Horror', Strange Aeons and Carrion Crown both do that far better tham Tyrant's Grasp!

(BTW, I thought Borne by the Sun's Grace is actually so boring that I'm going to return it to my FLGS to get my money back... :/)

Silver Crusade

Asgetrion wrote:
I have to agree with Xeose, this AP has been a disappointment, and IMO has very little to do with actual 'Survival Horror'.
What makes you say that?
Quote:
And all the tricky parts in the campaign plot are handwaved with vague references to "cosmic coincidence". That is just bad writing and lazy design.
?
Quote:
at least one Deus-Ex-Machina per adventure

Spoiler:
Aside from the beginning of the campaign where the PCs “survive” and the possibility for the ending the only DEM i can think of is Arazni sacrificing herself to save the PCs the first time they encounter the Tyrant.
Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I definitely feel like there is some hyperbole going on, the previous parts I have seen haven't seemed bad, you are more describing subjective "I don't like they used tooth fairies" than objective "its bad they used tooth fairies"

Silver Crusade

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CorvusMask wrote:
I definitely feel like there is some hyperbole going on, the previous parts I have seen haven't seemed bad, you are more describing subjective "I don't like they used tooth fairies" than objective "its bad they used tooth fairies"

Having watched Hellboy 2 and fought against Pathfinder Tooth Fairies, I can safely say they are legitimately scary critters.


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Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Tooth fairys can be terrfying, don't know about you but i like my teeth in my mouth than you very mutch


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The problem wasn't with the tooth faeries themselves but where they were placed.

Which wasn't in this adventure, so it's not relevant.

Dark Archive

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It's not just about tooth fairies; it's about how this whole AP has been written and designed. It starts with a strong premise, but the whole "cosmic coincidence"-thing and heavy use of MacGuffins with certain elements is (IMHO) just lazy and unimaginative. Tooth fairies are not scary to me, and the illustration in the Bestiary makes them seem like cute little critters. I also think they're a bit silly and would fit better for a more light-hearted campaign than as adversaries in a "Survival Horror" module.

I think it's sad to see the drop of quality in the final AP for PF1. Others may disagree, naturally, but I've been on Paizo's wagon ever since the beginning and I haven't yet felt this way before (although I *do* think the quality has been steadily dropping ever since Hell's Rebels).

I'm fairly sure Age of Ashes will be better, at least based on what I've heard and read of it. :)

Silver Crusade

You keep saying cosmic coincidence, what do you meant by that?

Dark Archive

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In my books 'Survival Horror' is about (for example) escaping ruined asylums, fighting unimaginable monsters or fleeing from werewolf packs in the middle of a dark forest. Ergo, surviving with very little resources, often in an alien and/or unknown environment.

Spoilers:

That is how Dead Roads begins, but it soon turns into a weird computer game-ish mess of running errands for signatures before the (mandatory) final encounter. These quests feel really awkward in the style of "Hello, you Special People, we are two Psychopomps who are inept in our jobs and if you help us we will help you! You need to fulfill three quests to be judged Worthy!" And lo and behold, I can almost see the map of the Dead Roads on my computer screen, with three possible encounter locations highlighted on it.

There are two references to "cosmic coincidence" in the backstory, and one of them concerns how the obols just happened to hit the PCs. Because Mythic rules couldn't be used, this was the "creative" solution to the problem, and the obols also work as an ever-present MacGuffin that eventually kind of force the PCs to sacrifice themselves. If Arazni has some kind of presence in most modules anyway, why not let her secretly choose the PCs as a reservoir of power, granting them the same abilities those obols do? Maybe she could have recognised that the PCs are linked to her destiny, or seen that they're Special People (TM) who will grow in strength and power to rival WT's own advisors? I think there are other ways than random chance to incorporate the proto-Mythic powers in the story.

Another "cosmic coincidence" is that the PCs look like the original Red Shrikes in whose sarcofagi they wake up. That is just a minor detail in the grand scale of things, however.

I also feel that the way Barsakh acts as a Deus-Ex-Machina and MacGuffin is a bit awkward, especially when the PCs wake up in Roslar's Coffer to find themselves as "prisoners" due to another powerful MacGuffin and have to run another set of silly errands for a glowing ball of light. At least I would call them "silly", since I can't honestly think how teaching kids at school or killing plants that are bothering the elderly couple would be "Survival Horror", not in the context they are presented in the adventure. It also bothers me that all the puzzles in this AP are quite childish and trivial, and most exploration or roleplaying encounters are (apparently) meant to be won via series of skill checks. At least that is my impression, and it's a bit sad that convincing the Knights of Ozem to withdraw is just another High-DC Diplomacy check.

Dark Archive

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Hope that clarifies what I meant, Rysky! :)

Silver Crusade

*nods*

It does, so it’s the fact that it combines happenstance and fate. Honestly I wasn’t bothered by that that much happenstance is how pretty much all APs start for the characters.

Dark Archive

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Rysky wrote:

*nods*

It does, so it’s the fact that it combines happenstance and fate. Honestly I wasn’t bothered by that that much happenstance is how pretty much all APs start for the characters.

Very true, and as PCs are always protagonists it's naturally part of the social contract between players and GM; however, I find it annoying if it's presented in such a flagrant manner in the backstory. I mean, it's assumed that the player characters will be central to the story, but underlining that with such an expression is just silly to me.

I would have preferred a more focused and coherent beginning, such as: "All PCs are residents of Roslar's Coffer, whether they were born there or moved into the village at some point of time." Let the players know this and let them work their backgrounds to fit accordingly. Then start the campaign with a short vignette-style encounter, maybe at the local inn earlier during the evening, although it would probably be even better if they had time to complete a couple of short quests before the tragedy befalls.

Anyway, I think that way your PCs will be emotionally more attached to the town and its residents, they might even actually feel like they're part of the community.

If the PCs just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time because they need to be, and it's random chance they're chosen, that just doesn't fly with me. It's lazy design, IMO.

Silver Crusade

But then people would have complained about Paizo starting yet another AP off with "you meet at the festival" XD

More seriously I don't disagree in that regard, I would have liked the party being able to interact more with the locals and each other in the opening, but the you all wake up dead approach does have its charm.

Dark Archive

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Rysky wrote:

But then people would have complained about Paizo starting yet another AP off with "you meet at the festival" XD

More seriously I don't disagree in that regard, I would have liked the party being able to interact more with the locals and each other in the opening, but the you all wake up dead approach does have its charm.

Heh, maybe not if it started with a quiet evening at an inn after a hard day's work at the temple/homestead/forge/tavern/stables/shop/whatever? No festival, just drinking some beers with your local neighbours, then going to bed to get some rest before another day of toiling. ;)

It does have its charm, although it would probably be even more effective and alarming if they had a chance to interact with the townsfolk and maybe get a quest or two under their belt. But that's my preference.

Silver Crusade

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Asgetrion wrote:
Rysky wrote:

But then people would have complained about Paizo starting yet another AP off with "you meet at the festival" XD

More seriously I don't disagree in that regard, I would have liked the party being able to interact more with the locals and each other in the opening, but the you all wake up dead approach does have its charm.

Heh, maybe not if it started with a quiet evening at an inn after a hard day's work at the temple/homestead/forge/tavern/stables/shop/whatever? No festival, just drinking some beers with your local neighbours, then going to bed to get some rest before another day of toiling. ;)

It does have its charm, although it would probably be even more effective and alarming if they had a chance to interact with the townsfolk and maybe get a quest or two under their belt. But that's my preference.

*nods*

That's actually how our GM ran it, had everyone interacting with the festival as we waited for everyone to finish their characters. And by everyone I mean me >_<


You don't even get to fight him?

Eh. I think I'll replace that part with homebrew.


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You do in fact fight the Whispering Tyrant.

Whoever said you don't is incorrect.

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

It does seem rather common to skim read an adventure before making claims about it that sound like you read whole thing in detail ._.


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Meanwhile, I just bury my head in the entire thing and read until the end of the adventure before making any real judgment.

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