A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–4 (subtiers 1–2 and 3–4).
In the heart of the River Kingdoms, revolution and turmoil boil just beneath the surface. The PCs are called to investigate rumors of an old, abandoned Pathfinder Lodge, but discover that their investigation leads them into a firestorm of danger and intrigue. What starts as a simple task becomes a revolution sweeping a nation, and the PCs' actions will inevitably shape the future of an entire kingdom.
Written by Kalervo Oikarinen.
Scenario tags: None
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
I had a lot of fun GMing this one as the open format allowed me to make the scenario more about the characters and their choices.
Great for your roleplayers, but light on combat.
Spoilers:
The Good: Roleplaying was great as the players felt like they had some control over events as opposed to being along for the ride. They were very proud that 'install a constitutional monarch' wasn't one of the reporting options. I reported the 'rule with advisors', it seemed the closest.
The Bad: Not sure if it was my group, the scenario, or the foes the group fought but the players lamented that the fights were easy, few and far between. I had 4 players with a 3, 3, 2, 1 split and ran the group low tier with a 6 player adjustment. They fought the Razmir priest.
I ran the spider encounter in a small cramped building on a map I happened to have in my bag, which allowed the players to circle-kick the spiders very effectively. I recommend making sure your map has some verticality so that the spiders can control range with their abilities better.
The Ugly: I hammered out my prep the night before the game, it was not adequate for this scenario. The more time you spend absorbing the scenario the better prepared you will be to run with your group's decisions.
I love the encounter appendixes but am still getting confused occasionally (my fault for not doing enough prep). The quagmire and spider encounter in the old lodge was on the same page, which makes sense but had me flipping pages looking for the lodge spiders. That the Razmir priest attacks if they talk down the rebels was in the encounter appendix but not the scenario had me flipping pages trying to figure out how he reacted.
Combat was not particularly interesting in this scenario. The stakes generally were high enough, but it didn't feel like the PCs had much stake. The NPCs, putting more trust than is sensible into the characters, did not increase any sense of investment -- it gave the PCs the feel of Mary-Sure characters.
What the adventure really had going for it, is that the PCs are really left to figure out how to approach the situation. An opportunity for each character to be her/himself, do what s/he does best, and let personality shine, is always fun for everyone at the table; it lets them take ownership of the scenario.
I gmed this scenario twice now and look forward to gm it again. I certainly enjoyed both games a lot and hope my players did so as well. So with this out of the way - why do I rate it 4 stars and not 5.
Pros:
This scenario is a sandbox. It allows a lot of flexibility and might end up as a very different game depending on the decision and dice rolling of the group.This makes it great for a GM who wants to run it multiple times as you don't know ahead of time how the group approaches the scenario.
The scenario offers a lot of help and background how to handle different decisions from the group.
Cons:
I don't know how many different scenarios I prepped during my time as PFS GM. This was certainly the one I spend more time prepping than any other scenario before - by a wide margin. I can blame part of the extra time for moving from PFE1e to PFE2e and from F2F to roll20. But it still needs a lot of prep. And even then I got caught flatfooted by the decisions of my groups in either game.
The lot of background info can drown out the info you might need. A whole page of text helping you to gm might become redundant (apart of a few lines) because the group veers off from the anticipated paths.
You need to keep the group inside the sandbox without railroading them and taking away from the fun they have.
Balancing the Pros and Cons leads to my rating of 4 stars (base rating).
If you prefer roleplay over rollplay feel free to add a +1 circumstance bonus to the stars I handed out.
If you are an experienced GM and love a challenge / look for a scenario that will lead to very different stories and outcomes then feel free to add a +1 circumstance bonus to the stars I handed out.
If you prefer rollplay over roleplay feel free to add a -1 circumstance penalty to the stars I handed out.
If you are inexperienced, short of time, afraid that you can't keep a group inside the sandbox feel free to add a -1 circumstance penalty to the stars I handed out.
I had to improvise slightly in both games I ran as both groups went on minor side paths not described in the scenario with any DC / if they are allowed or not. Some PFS GMs / players regard this as anathema. So you are warned that you might get into a situation where you either improvise slightly or railroad the group in a major way to force them to follow the script.
I would like to congratulate the author on this enjoyable (for me) scenario. You created something like DrPepper or Marmite. You will have GMs and players who love it - but don't be discouraged if you have some who will hate it.
Developers - it would be super helpful in these scenarios if you would add a treasure bundle summary/w award conditions for GMs at the end of the scenario for quick calculation and to move along the chronicle process quicker. Super annoying if you forget to jot notes during the running then have to go back and count what the players earned.
Please keep this as non-official. There seems no description that I found on the Paizo pages - but the following maps got mentioned when I added a slot to warhorn
maps used according to warhorn:
Maps used: Pathfinder Map-Pack: Palace, Ruined Village
I've purchased it searching for a political scenario. Found a total mess. The mcguffin is annoying, the combats are pointless and the political intrigue plays out itself. I thought... Perhaps it's an oportutinty for a bard to shine but...no! Everybody foolishly trust you for no reason! Please, make interesting political scenarios. I love merchant's wake. I love blackrose matrimony. This is just some lazy excuse to feel "political". That is not the way. I ended up purchasing #1-07 and it's far better. We don't want to kill spiders for no reason. Without a true sandbox there's no point in making some "political flavored" adventure. Please take more seriously that kind of stories.
Why do the Veteran Guards have Longswords as ranged weapons on pg. 28? That has to be an error where it should say Melee. That are they need ranged weapons.
This was a fun campaign, but the PDF for this adventure was rife with problems ranging from grammar problems and abrupt sentence structure, to misleading / incorrect treasure bundle information. The beginning of the adventure also starts off without enough information to really help the players understand all of the things they can do, so make sure you put in some extra effort wrapping your head around it all so you can present it to your players in a clear way.
All in all, this adventure felt pretty sloppily put together and didn't have the polish I would have expected.
As I have not bought it myself but have played it. This is a decent scenario that can have some slight challenge to it. I have fun playing it though there can be a bit of weird travel things with it that can break up the narrative and gameplay, not that bad though. Good RP.
