Pathfinder Adventure Path #151: The Show Must Go On (Extinction Curse 1 of 6)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #151: The Show Must Go On (Extinction Curse 1 of 6)
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The Extinction Curse Adventure Path begins! The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the player characters are the stars of the show! When the ringmaster turns up dead, the fate of the traveling circus and its entertainers hangs in the balance, and the heroes must scramble to put on a successful show and find the killer—all at the same time! Investigations only lead to more questions, and the heroes find themselves center stage in a dangerous, prehistoric plot that threatens not just Abberton, but every inhabitant of the Starstone Isles!

"The Show Must Go On" is a Pathfinder Second Edition adventure for four 1st-level characters. This adventure begins the Extinction Curse Adventure Path, a six-part, monthly campaign in which the heroes lead a traveling circus as they unravel a plot to eradicate all life from the Starstone Isles at the heart of the Inner Sea. The adventure also includes advice on how to run a traveling circus, new circus-themed rules, and a menagerie of monsters both wondrous and wicked.

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.

ISBN: 978-1-64078-201-3

Download the Circus Show Sheet!

The Extinction Curse Adventure Path is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (972 kb PDF).

Note: The Life in the Circus article in this volume references a feat from the Extinction Curse Player's Guide. That feat isn't in the player's guide, but can be found here.

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

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Roll20 Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.

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Good Start

4/5

First things first: If you're running or playing this game, you need to understand that this is NOT a circus AP. The circus is just the vehicle to start things off and IF it shows up in later books, it only does so because the players want it to. I honestly feel players are better off not being a part of the circus at all. Be someone else just traveling with the circus; be a character investigating the decline of the isles; be a character researching the aeon orbs and towers; be a character interested in the history of Aroden. Any of those choices will be *so* much more fulfilling than a circus entertainer thrust into a xulgath plot. I really cannot emphasize this enough.

The Good
- I greatly enjoy the idea of the circus as a way to give the PCs a home with NPCs they care about. The circus provides PCs with an anchor. Some of the best RP at my table had was centered around those NPCs.
- The Hermitage and the aeon tower were both hits at my table. They were solid dungeons with interesting interactions and planted some breadcrumbs of things to come.

The Bad
- Some of the early encounters are absolutely brutal. I scaled a few things back so I didn't murder the PCs right out of the gate.
- It really makes no sense that the xulgath have all of these dinosaurs. Dinosaurs don't have darkvision; how are they coping with being in the Darklands?

The Ugly
The book starts the PCs off in the thick of a murder plot and the pressure of suddenly needing to run the circus NOW. The glaring issue with this set up is that the PCs have had no time to form bonds with any of these NPCs so they're not going to care someone was murdered. It's not personal, and it should be. Instead of opening up the book this way, I highly recommend starting at another town - let them meet the ringleader, meet some NPCs. Do this in theater of the mind and set up scenes for them before traveling to Abberton and having plot happen.


A Decent Kick-Off that swerves Elsewhere

4/5

The beginning of the adventure is a very strong start, doing a grand job of teaching you how to run circus acts and combat. What I don't like is how long it can take to come back to that. You spend a lot of time doing traditional adventuring which is good quality if you look at individual stories and encounters within a vacuum.

Overall, I think this part of the adventure feels like a bait-and-switch. You start in the adventure's premise -- a party in the circus -- and then swerve away from that to investigate a deeper mystery.


5/5


just here to offset the guy 1- & 2-starring all the PF2E products

5/5


3/5


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Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Wow. Aroden is good at not planning ahead or checking results of his actions xD

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Why would you plan or check if your inherent superiority ensures that all your actions succeed?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Have to say that while map art is as great as ever, some of the art in book is bit... Off...

Like Jellico Bounce-Bounce's art doesn't really match the whole "Acrobatic bouncy clown" gimmick :p


CorvusMask wrote:
Like Jellico Bounce-Bounce's art doesn't really match the whole "Acrobatic bouncy clown" gimmick :p

Maybe we can come up with a new name for him? (Easier than to redraw the illo, I mean. Plus, there's nothing wrong with the illo. In fact - it's excellent!) I think I'll simply call him "Jellico".

On that topic, it appears there's *no* art for Daring Danika or Viktor Volkano...

Spoiler:

While I understand there can't be art for every monster you face, this trio isn't exactly monsters - they're supposed to be the PCs former colleagues from as little as a few weeks ago!

Guess I'm taken slightly aback at how the module just shrugs at the issue of explaining three murdered circus performers. Is Abberton entirely lawless? Not a huge issue, but a small one.

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

The art looks like something audience is supposed to be scared by instead of being entertained by though :D

Also to note:
You only fight ONE of the three after the performance battle. You never fight all three in combat, so presumably two of the surviving ones should show up in next book, unless writers didn't know that

But yeah, wouldn't be surprised if pawn box for this will have art for all circus performers

That said, Daring Danika and her lion does appear chapter opening art :D


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Simple question: how many circus shows are you guys planning on holding during this first part of the AP?

(Apart from the first one, I mean)


Anyone else having trouble with the map PDF? For some reason the maps in the main book are pristine but the maps in the interactive map pdf are MUCH lower resolution and I cant use them for the game I have planned!

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Zapp wrote:

Simple question: how many circus shows are you guys planning on holding during this first part of the AP?

(Apart from the first one, I mean)

I'm probably only going to do one, as the end of the volume, as the mystery is pretty pressing.

You could fit one between parts 3 and 4, probably.


I was kind of meh about this AP but now that I have it and was reading through it, I really like,


2 people marked this as a favorite.
CorvusMask wrote:
Wow. Aroden is good at not planning ahead or checking results of his actions xD

What colonizer is? XP


Graeme Lewis wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:
Wow. Aroden is good at not planning ahead or checking results of his actions xD
What colonizer is? XP

All of them? Superior planning skills and analysis are pretty universally greater in colonizing countries/governments than in colonized ones. That this may break down at certain scales doesn't change the relative competence levels.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Why is the product delayed worldwide from January to April 2020, it cannot be ordered from Amazon, BookRepository or anywhere else.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

It's not delayed. It's been standing on my shelf for 4 weeks now.

Also, you can order it from this very site, which certainly qualifies as "anywhere else".


CorvusMask wrote:
You only fight ONE of the three after the performance battle. You never fight all three in combat, so presumably two of the surviving ones should show up in next book, unless writers didn't know that

Spoiler:
None of the three are mentioned in book two Legacy of Lost God (where the rivalry with Mistress Dusklight and her circus comes to a point, and presumably finishes).

I would assume none of them are ever seen again.


ApoApostolov wrote:
Why is the product delayed worldwide from January to April 2020, it cannot be ordered from Amazon, BookRepository or anywhere else.

It's relatively common for Amazon to provide incorrect information about RPG products release dates.

My guess would be that they received their January shipment of preorders, sold out and have put a conservative placeholder date for when they'll receive their restock.

It's still available.

Developer

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Zapp wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:
You only fight ONE of the three after the performance battle. You never fight all three in combat, so presumably two of the surviving ones should show up in next book, unless writers didn't know that
** spoiler omitted **

You can add them back in. But we don't know who you fought, so that's up to the GM.

Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Zapp wrote:
CorvusMask wrote:
Like Jellico Bounce-Bounce's art doesn't really match the whole "Acrobatic bouncy clown" gimmick :p

Maybe we can come up with a new name for him? (Easier than to redraw the illo, I mean. Plus, there's nothing wrong with the illo. In fact - it's excellent!) I think I'll simply call him "Jellico".

On that topic, it appears there's *no* art for Daring Danika or Viktor Volkano...

** spoiler omitted **

Daring Danica is illustrated on page 16.


Ron Lundeen wrote:
Daring Danica is illustrated on page 16.

Yes, thank you, CorvusMask was kind enough to point that out.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
EvieEternal wrote:
Anyone else having trouble with the map PDF? For some reason the maps in the main book are pristine but the maps in the interactive map pdf are MUCH lower resolution and I cant use them for the game I have planned!

You are most definitely the only one who noticed. A thread was already spun up about this over here. I don't think there was ever an official response in that thread but based on the numbers I was getting it looks like the maps in the dedicated maps pdfs significantly worse resolution(I have numbers in a post over in the other thread). Funnily enough though, the aspect ratio I got for the images was not the same between the two pdfs.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Taylor Hainlen wrote:
You are most definitely the only one who noticed.

Perchance a "not" there missing...? :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Zapp wrote:
Taylor Hainlen wrote:
You are most definitely the only one who noticed.
Perchance a "not" there missing...? :)

Ha! Indeed, seems I shouldn't post when tired. Re-read that message a few times and still didn't spot that I missed a word. Thank you for the correction!


Taylor Hainlen wrote:
I don't think there was ever an official response in that thread but based on the numbers I was getting it looks like the maps in the dedicated maps pdfs significantly worse resolution(I have numbers in a post over in the other thread).

FWIW, I don't expect Paizo to respond until they themselves 1) realize what is happening, 2) have investigated exactly why things are going wrong and 3) have agreed internally on what they are gonna do about it.

I mean, obviously we will keep telling them until they acknowledge the issue (since it likely is just a silly handling error) - it's just that it's better IMO to give them time to coordinate a fully comprehensive reply.

tl;dr: still early days.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

Any word on if this is going to get sanctioned?


Any news about when is EC gonna be sanctioned for PFS?

Sczarni

Heh. Just came here to ask the same thing myself.


Sanctioned yesterday (woo hoo!)

Radiant Oath

Has anyone written a guide to running this? In particular, I'm looking for advice for adjusting to five PCs.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I think 2e has made this significantly easier, at least for me, so you can do this on the fly.

For each encounter, look at the severity—moderate, low, etc. Look at the chart on page 489 of the Core Rulebook. The character adjustment amount is for each PC over four. So for a moderate encounter, you'd expect 80 XP worth of opponents for 4 PCs. The adjustment for a 5th PC would be another 20 XP worth of opponents, 40 XP if there were six PCs, etc.

Then choose what to add using the second chart on that page. This could be another henchman in an encounter with multiple creatures with a level of PCs - 2, or adding the elite rules if they're fighting a single creature equal to their level (changing that creature from Party Level to Party Level + 1).

In practice, it's usually better to add more henchman than to make the creature elite, as it provides more opportunities for all PCs to engage an enemy.

Regardless of how much you add, you do NOT change the XP awarded—the additional XP of creatures just makes the challenge appropriate for the original XP budget. So in this example, the PCs would each still earn the 80 XP budget for a Moderate encounter.

Radiant Oath

TomParker wrote:
I think 2e has made this significantly easier, at least for me, so you can do this on the fly.

Thanks. After looking at some other advice, it seems like APs are still hard mode, so I'm going to start with my five players and the normal number of enemies. I think I still need to add 25% more treasure.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
AceofMoxen wrote:
TomParker wrote:
I think 2e has made this significantly easier, at least for me, so you can do this on the fly.
Thanks. After looking at some other advice, it seems like APs are still hard mode, so I'm going to start with my five players and the normal number of enemies. I think I still need to add 25% more treasure.

Eh only particularly hard fight on level 1 part is that one level 3 enemy. (well that and if players ignore common sense and open one cage)


AceofMoxen wrote:
Thanks. After looking at some other advice, it seems like APs are still hard mode, so I'm going to start with my five players and the normal number of enemies. I think I still need to add 25% more treasure.

That's exactly how I started out. After the first two chapters I decided to add the Free Archetype variant for the PCs as well, and so far (most of the way through chapter three) I've been happy with the decision.

Horizon Hunters

Anyone else seeing that the “S” character is missing from the red circus font when reading the PDF in the Apple Books app on an iPad? For instance, the name of the book in the right page margin says “THE HOW MU T GO ON” on every page. And this happens throughout the book. The “Staff Acrobat” archetype is “taff Acrobat”, for example.


I was curious…. If playing as a Thaumaturge Juggler, do you count as holding your Juggled Items, for the sake of Implements of Power? Or do they not count? I’m asking now, before I go further

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