Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-11: Flames of Rebellion

Really awesome! probably my favorite 2e scenario so far, although Bandits of the Immenwood was good too!

Firstly, the scenario is pretty much a dungeon crawl, but it didn't necessarily feel like it because the build-up and transition is pretty smooth and well done. You start the adventure with a handout from your Venture-Captain, so pretty basic breefing. Then you meet a contact, who leads you to another contact, who points you to a possible point of interest. Journey there doesn't go without hickups, but the actual crawl doesn't really start before you get there, and the social beginning of the scenario sets a tone quite different from other crawls.

As to the crawl itself - the encounters aren't too deadly or difficult, but they are interesting and provide a sufficiently threatening feel. There's some more socializing in the middle that provides the PC's and players a breather, and possibly more socializing in the end too.

For Society play, it's probably best if the GM reminds players to "do as their characters would" during the scenario, because despite the very railroaded nature of the crawl, the actual outcome of the scenario can vary VERY wildly between different runs (although due to the tendency of players... doing as players often do, without spoiling too much, many parties probably reach the same conclusion).

I've rarely seen a scenario that hands players this much agency in the matters, let alone in a scenario this dungeoncrawley.

BOSS FIGHT: The boss fight can be, and probably will be, very tough, probably even deadly. Probably many could even consider it Unfair in the way it works and how easily it might kill PC's (despite the 2e's tendency to not kill PC's very easily) - but PC's and players should probably realize that the odds might not be in their favor, given how the end goes down. On our group, 3 out of 4 PC's (levels 2, 2, 2, 1) went down, two saved themselves with hero points, and one was saved by healing. Nobody died, but it could have been a TPK.

A note to GM's: Apparently the two boons should not be mutually exclusive even though they may feel like they sorta are. There might be an update on the matter in the GM thread once the dev's confirm this.

We had a blast with this scenario, the initial investigation had plenty of character and my bard spent the whole first in-game afternoon collecting stories from the rambling old man.

The Good
We have been itching for combat scenarios and this one satisfied the group.

One of our players that just hit level 2 was complaining that they didn't feel like they got a chance to feel out the combat mechanics of their class during their 3 level 1 scenarios. They were uncertain if they wanted to continue with their current class and lock it in by playing at level 2 during this game. So it was good to give everyone a chance to break in their dice.

Our session went 5 hours, longer than the 3.5 we have been averaging, but no complaints here as we have been getting sloppy with start times. Is we would have started on time and stayed on topic I think we would have been done in 4-4.5 hrs.

The dynamic battle fields were a high point, everyone had fun interacting with them.

The maps looked easy to draw and it was convenient to be dropping small maps on the table that didn't require everyone to move their books every time there was a new map.

The boss had us chewing on our nails wondering if this was where we would all die.

The Bad
N/A

The Ugly
I'm enjoying the challenge point adjustment system but it continuous to confuse. I'm the event organizer and was answering questions for the GM running this game. We added up challenge points and checked against the organized play guide to determine that this game would be played with low tier, 5 player adjustment, with a level bump to the adventure. So I kept emphasizing not to forget the level bump, little did I know that the adventure had its own scaling that didn't use the 5/6 player adjustments. So we did most the adventure scaled twice, until we got to the boss where the adventure scaling was an inflated level bump and the GM decided that maybe we were doing it wrong and ran the boss with only the as written scaling in the adventure.

Although we survived the double scaling through the whole adventure, the added hit points added some extra time to the adventure and removed some character's ability to spend time in the spotlight. (The +10 hp meant that some characters were not one-shotting enemies that they normally would while the barbarian was still one shotting enemies, making it feel like we needed them to carry the team).

as long as your players are told that this is a dungeon crawl ahead of time, then it's pretty good. If nobody knows its a dungeon crawl, then it sorta doesnt feel as fun. the final boss is a bit overtuned, or at least my local playstore thinks so, just a little bit. if the ghost could give us some info on him, perhaps in an attempt to get us to set him free, then it might be a little more fair.

it can really turn into a "this looks like we're all going to die" situation REALLY fast with him though. Scary fast.

The Good
It's nice to come back to a site where we did something well in PFS1 and get a pat on the back. There were several fun NPCs to interact with.

As a dungeon crawl it's straightforward with some good old classics.

The Bad
There are some weird railroady bits and unexplained inconsistencies with PF1 lore.

Some enemies take a long time to kill while posing little threat and this can drag things out. It may take some tight reins GMing to finish this one on time.

The Ugly
A 6-player low tier party can end up being forced to play the high tier due to challenge points, but the boss is totally OP for them and this will probably result in a TPK.

If you can make sure that your party is properly in-tier then this is less problematic.

I have GMed this scenario now twice - and players enjoyed it a lot in both cases. This scenario is a pretty straight forward dungeon crawl. Players are awarded with lots of monsters to mow down. Sometimes all a player wants is to cut a notch in the haft of his battle axe for each enemy downed - and in this respect the scenario delivers plenty.

Just take care if you run with a table of 6. You might have to watch out for time.

There are one or two nicely build up bits that are not just a fight - but difficult to mention them here without spoilers.

If there is anything I would criticize then it is mapping.

Individually the maps are all great. But they connect in an way that rivals an Escher Painting. You leave some stairs in the middle of the South and reappear in the middle of the west etc. This just feels plain wrong.