A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 3-6.
With a member of the Pathfinder Society’s leadership missing, the Society begins sending several groups of agents into the wilds for clues. To ensure the safety of the Pathfinders’ base camp in the distant lands of Iobaria, a group of heroes must uncover the truth behind what is happening around the ruins of a cyclops city, and begin putting a stop to a plan set in motion thousands of years ago!
This scenario features the Hexploration subsystem from the Pathinder Gamemastery Guide.
Written by Dennis Muldoon
Scenario tags: Grand Archive, Metaplot
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
Let me premise my review by saying I played this with the "ideal" character.
Spoiler:
My elven ranger has the Horizon Walker dedication along with the Scout background (for Forest Lore, Forager and favored terrain-forest), the Terrain Expertise (forest) skill feat, and Expert in both Nature and Survival checks all the boxes. Not to mention a fiery leopard animal companion. The 'piece de resistance' is that he recently learned the Cyclopean language due to a previous adventure in Iobaria.
We didn't need to track food usage and we had an extra action per day so we did incredibly well vs the non-combat encounters. I think it was a little confusing how the movement mechanic worked, but once we figured it out, it was smooth sailing. We are able to follow the river, but also explore the hexes in such an order that we never had to traveler through already explored hexes.
Most of the combat encounters were interesting with unusual variations of somewhat common creatures as well as at least one that had me dropping a WTF is THAT! As someone who has been railing for years about "traps" being isolated, I was glad to see the hazards coupled with creatures so that they are dynamic and not just a time sync. The "final" battle was a tad easier than expected, but the presence of the fiery leopard made a pretty big difference coupled with a winter witch and sorcerer wielding both cold and quench spells.
There was enough in-campaign lore to make the story interesting without it being a burden. Overall, one of my favorite experiences with org play in 2E. However, there are A LOT of moving parts so GMs should spend ample time preparing and players should be warned, if your GM doesn't follow that advice, you will probably have a poor experience.
I played this yesterday during Bahlicon. It's a very good implementation of the hexploration rules where Nature- and Survival-based characters will truly shine (we had a druid and ranger in our group, so we were covered). However, any group can undertake this scenario, provided they prepare properly -- getting extra rations and supplies, having the right gear, etc. It also helps if the GM is willing to spend a bit of time at the beginning to see how you're set up to handle the exploration routine, otherwise I can see this scenario becoming tedious and frustrating with some groups.
The encounters featured an interesting mix of opponents, including an obscure classic from first edition, and they were set up in dynamic locations with difficult terrain and other environmental hazards.
All in all, if you like exploration and blazing a path through the wilderness, this is the scenario for you!
