A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–4.
A new year dawns for the Pathfinder Society. For the past several years, Pathfinders have explored the edges of the Iobarian wilderness, making new allies and discovering hints at a long-forgotten past. Now, the Decemvirate has decided that it is time for the Pathfinders to do what Pathfinders do best: explore, report, and cooperate! In an ancient cyclopean ruin, the Society seeks to stake their claim with both a new lodge and, hopefully, new insights into Iobaria's remote history. Some secrets are best left buried, however. Will the PCs make a name for themselves as modern day explorers, or will the evil lurking at the heart of the Iobarian dig site consume their hopes and dreams?
Written by Scott D. Young
Scenario tags: Metaplot
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
DCs are way too high for tier 1-4(assuming you are level 1 +7 bonus, you still need at least 11 or 13 on dice in most of them...), the library's dcs are kinda sadistic because of crit fail lose one research point mechanic combined with timelimit(unless party is lucky and has character capable of rolling all lore with them) and high amount of points required for success and final boss is way too nasty for level 1 characters and resistant to most things non arcane casters are able to do.
As other reviewers have said, this scenario involves a lot of skill checks, some of which have very high DCs. Although they did try to have a variety of skills used throughout the scenario, many checks only offered one choice. This meant that many players spent a lot of time unable to meaningfully contribute due to not having the one required skill. For the final phase, the DCs were simply too high, resulting in ~25% chance of success if you are trained in the correct skill but not specialized. In terms of combat, the scenario varied greatly. One was very easy. Another was not particularly dangerous but felt like a slog due to a large number of required saves and enemies having a lot of health. The boss fight went well for us, but that was likely because the two highest level PCs were barbarians and one of them critted early in the fight. If we had not had them the fight would likely have ended poorly since the boss hits very hard very often.
Sure, it's the 'launch' scenario of a season, and traditionally those have issues as Organized Play attempts to introduce or expose players to new systems or mechanics -- (See: PFS1 6-01 Trial by Machine, 7-01 Between the Lines, 9-01 Cost of Enlightenment, SFS 2-01 Pact Worlds Warriors, PFS2 1-01 The Absalom Initation, etc)
However, I had the fortune (or misfortune) to play this after the grueling adventure of PFS#2-03.
The impression that both these scenarios have given is that Organized Play is not learning from the experiences of many years of publishing scenarios, and attempting to do 'too much stuff' at the start of most seasons -- most of which is ultimately rolled back about halfway into the season as word gets out that it's 'Season of the Technologist Feat' 'Season of the Intrigue Mechanics that don't appear in a book', etc, et al.
This is not and should not be taken as a searing indictment of the writers, who have probably been given certain guidelines they have to write to.
Mechanical:
With the above being said, when an 'untrained' skill has a far lower difficulty check number than the 'trained' skill (that people have been investing their time and training in), that's a problem.
I understand that it's important to give folks 'some sort of a chance', but when I'm looking at my L1 character and realizing that it'll be easier to roll an 'untrained' skill than the 'trained' skill, that is demoralizing to say the least. And that's before we get to the nearly impossible nature of such skill challenges at a cold dice or even 'average' dice table.
Right now, between this and #2-03 based on my play experience I'm hesitant to GM anything for PFS2, and that's not a complaint against the GM, nor the writers -- they have to follow rules as much as we do as players.
When/if I do take up that mantle for PFS2, these scenarios will be ones that I will not be comfortable running.
I enjoy scenarios that give characters who aren't built for combat only a chance to shine. The surprise (and difficult!) combat at the end was very close and thrilling.
If you're going to play this, do not do so at level 1 or 2.
Meeting members of the decemvirate when you're a low-level mook is weird and awkward, especially considering you already know everything you need to.
There were many skill checks. This was fine for me, because I was playing a rogue. Not so good for others.
There was a research scene. This is an optional subsystem that involves making a million skill checks over in-game hours. Woo, the excitement.
The biggest monster showed up during this research scene, and we got no warning so we didn't have weapons drawn or shields equipped. The monster did not have to spend actions equipping its weapon and had high initiative. We had predictable (unshielded) level 1 ACs of 18, and it had +12 to hit (for d12+5 base damage), so it dropped the best fighter before they got to act. After that it was an extremely predictable TPK.
What's bad about this is not the TPK. It's the utter predictability of it. It showed up with no warning, had high initiative, and had a lot of HP. Plus it had a 1/4 chance of critting and a pretty good chance of insta-killing anyone it did crit. And what's really bad about all this is that level scaling is built into the game mechanics. It's not like a PF1 random death from a mook with a greataxe critting - the monster just isn't down-scaled if you're level 1. The system arithmetic is very predictable, as are the consequences.
Conclusion: the boss needs some level adjustment, a round's notice that the encounter is coming so the martial characters don't waste the first round drawing weapons, and maybe a smaller weapon. After that the scenario could use some tweaking on the skill check DCs.
This, along with 2-02, is supposed to be released at GenCon, correct? Why the available date of 8/26 then?
I believe 8/26 is the date they're available for purchase by the general public, after having been initially exclusive to GMs running at the convention. Same reason 2-00 won't be available for purchase until August 4, 2021, but with a much smaller exclusivity window.
So this is in a "folder" named "Year of Corruption's Reach." Meanwhile, the cover art says "Year of Corruption's Grasp." Just curious: Which one is correct? I'm guessing Grasp -- not only because it is art rather than text, but also because it's better -- but confirmation would be appreciated.
The current version of this file has got an error on the Chronicle Sheet.
The sector "Boons" on the Chronicle Sheet states information from the Special King of Thorns. This should be removed.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber
So, we're running this online Friday night. I scheduled it that way because I was told it could be run anytime after the 26th and that it would drop then. Any chance I can get some clue as to what actual tiles are being used so I can at least get them uploaded to Roll 20? Any other clues so I can start the prep work?
Thanks!
Also, is this going to be the new regular release schedule? Meaning the last Friday of the month instead of the last Thursday. This means our venue no longer gets first crack. If a new scenario drops on Thursday, I have time to prep it before running it Friday evening (EST). If it's not going to drop until sometime Friday while I'm at work, it becomes very difficult to impossible to run it that night. Just my pair of coppers.
does the pdf come with separate VTT friendly maps?
Not even close.
How is it at all reasonable with the pandemic pushing the majority of games to VTT that these new scenarios are still not providing VTT friendly maps in the PDFs? This goes beyond being unfriendly, because it's all dungeon tiles, but there's no unmarked single image of the full map, so to do it properly you have to copy all the tiles individually and then line and orient everything by hand. This makes what should be a five minute task into a half hour of drudgework.
Now getting to play this scenario, it seems the DCs are too high, and getting players to roll against a time limit is just designed to punish players, especially as critical failures happen far too often with the high DC, and just remove research points. Overall, I really liked the story, but absolutely despise how difficult the DCs were made.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Rysky wrote:
The map file was likely made before the recent decision and focus to make the maps be VTT friendly was put into place.
This framing....
They already have the electronic files. I can add a page to a pdf in <30 seconds.
It doesn't have anything to do with the pandemic. But if it did... the pandemic Started shutting down society ~6 months ago. And the product release was delayed by a month. It's a decision.
The following seem like possible contributing reasons to me:
Paizo is busy, they produce a lot of adventures on a very tight schedule. There is no meaningful competition (there is extremely high product lock-in and loyalty of the customer base). They have some very expensive map products that they sell separately.
But it doesn't have anything to do with the pandemic.
It's not the end of the world. But it is a decision.
I agree the map files should be more easily imported into VTT. I'm sure Paizo is listening and it looks like the later society PDFs do have map files that are able to be imported easily.
Help.. Does anyone know if there is an Errata for the Chronicle Sheet?? For some reason it states under Boons..
"Congratulations on completing King in Thorns!...."
There are also no items listed..
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Brian Raivel wrote:
Help.. Does anyone know if there is an Errata for the Chronicle Sheet?? For some reason it states under Boons..
"Congratulations on completing King in Thorns!...."
There are also no items listed..
Since the second season, all boons have been moved online in the ACP system. After the GM registers your game, you get access to the scenario boon for free, IF the scenario has a boon.
As for the Items, I don't think the adventure has any uncommon or important items that would warrant access or a price reduction, so I think it's normal. But it has been a while since I played.
This has been the most lack luster game i've played to date, would strongly not suggest playing it, a lack of basic understanding of game rules as a level 1-2 has DC's that are nearly impossible to make. Creating a senario that literally asks if we are new society members only to throw large dc numbers at us is not a fun experience. Disliked the use of map-tiles on all the combat maps, only map i liked was the over-view of the main map area.
This has been the most lack luster game i've played to date, would strongly not suggest playing it, a lack of basic understanding of game rules as a level 1-2 has DC's that are nearly impossible to make. Creating a senario that literally asks if we are new society members only to throw large dc numbers at us is not a fun experience. Disliked the use of map-tiles on all the combat maps, only map i liked was the over-view of the main map area.
2/10.
Ran this this past weekend.
Fully agree concerning the DC numbers. Not only are they too high for a 1-4 adventure, there is also no adjustment between low and high tier. However, even without the adjustment, the DC's are too high even for the high tier.
Concerning the maps, I am going to chalk that up to this being an early season 2 adventure. For the hand-out version of the map, I just went with that for most of the adventure, except for the one fight that occurs within that area, and for that I just used another map that was similar.
