Taking a much-needed relaxing break in between escapades, four gun-toting adventurers post up in a dingy bar in one of Alkenstar's entertainment districts. Right across the street at a theater, people flood inside to catch the premiere of a highly-advertised play, but what comes out of the theater is far more dangerous. As people scatter to safety in the dusty streets, its up to the group of gunslingers in the bar to set things right.
This short Pathfinder 2nd edition adventure written by Michael Sayre is intended to be completed in a single session and includes four 3rd-level pregenerated gunslinger characters, who make use of the exciting new equpment and rules found in Pathfinder Guns & Gears, whose backstories and motivations tie closely to one another. This adventure can be easily incorporated into various virtual tabletops, run off of digital devices, or printed out and played at a table.
Product- Pathfinder One-Shot #3: Head Shot the Rot
System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Producer- Paizo
Price- $ 9.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02aoq?Pathfinder-OneShot-3-Head-Shot-the-Rot
TL; DR-This is what I want more of. 100%
Basics- AIM FOR THE HEAD! Head Shot the Rot is a one-shot drop-in game for four PCs set in Alkenstar. It’s a glorious “Kill the bad guys, save everyone!” kind of adventure.
Mechanics or Crunch- This is Night of the Living Dead in Pathfinder. You have some zombies and you have some people. You get some skill checks, some combat, and some social. That’s all the pieces of the game I want. And I’m happy! It’s solid mechanics with 3rd level PCs and some monsters that can tear them up if they screw up, but enough firepower to make sure that doesn't happen. Finely balanced as all things should be. 5/5
Theme or Fluff- You start in a bar with your buds, bad happens, and you kill it. Save the people, get the money. That’s the story and there is enough in the adventure and maps to build that into a fun place to play and explore even if you don’t go far. The PCs and I had a blast with this one. 5/5
Execution- It’s Paizo. They know how to lay out a book, make nice art, make it easy to read, and get me the information I need in a hurry. It’s 10 bucks, which is a bit pricey, but it filled four hours. This beats the movie test of if I went to the movies with the same friends, would we spend more. So, I don't feel ripped off here. It comes with art, maps, and PCs - all the toys I need to literally just drop in Roll20 and play. 5/5
Summary- Some days you crave Game of Thrones level intrigue, and others you just want a bunch of zombies, a gun, and a goal. This is the latter. I loved everything here. It’s a fun one shot where all the players get what they want out of this, while I had fun and did not need hours of prep before. Hey Paizo! Make more of these, and then connect them to each of the adventure paths. I’d buy them! 100%
As mentioned by another reviewer- without giving your players some upfront knowledge of whats about to happen or some sort of lore inserted into the game for them to come across , it's just going to be "suddenly waves of zombies attack!" which does the entire thing a bit of disservice.
the headshot mechanic is fun, and my gunslingers enjoyed feeling like aces instead of worrying if it was going to be misfire night.
A good time that could have very easily been GREAT.
Pros:
+ The setup is fun and immediately engaging.
+ The pregen party is memorable and shows off the diversity of guns/gunslingers.
+ It's written to be streamlined and fast-paced.
Cons:
- Some character abilities are of limited/no use in the adventure as-written.
- NPC dialogue is a little stiff and doesn't leave much room for rewarding RP.
- Only three enemy types; a zombie brute would have been a good addition.
- Loot isn't great; the +1 piercing wind gets a lot of space dedicated to it in the text, but an upgraded bayonet/stock or special ammo like glue bullets would have been easier to implement.
- The villains have a neat little backstory, but it's never even hinted at to the players so they come off as nonentities.
Verdict:
With a little TLC from a solid GM, this one-shot can be a great time. But I wish it had gotten a little more work/polish to knock it out of the park.
What an excellent one shot! This is the one you pull out when you want to drink some beers, and have a fun, silly and over-the-top Pathfinder evening just enjoying yourself. The scenario doesn't take itself all too seriously, so a competent GM can run this in anything between 2.5 and 4 hours. I think it would be hard to stretch this one across two evenings, unless you add more content.
There are very few issues, but here are a few tips:
GM Tips:
* The optional head-shot rule is a lot of fun! However, zombies have such low AC and gunslingers such high attack modifiers, that there will be more crits than normal hits. I would recommend turning the Zombies into Elite Zombies if using head-shot rule.
* For the main street, it says that zombies respawn after 3 rounds of combat. No combat lasts 3 rounds, mostly the zombies don't even get to act before they're dead.
* The area "Theatre director's home" is never mentioned. But it can totally change the tone of this adventure with players impersonating as Zombies. You might want to let a patron at the Powder Horn drop a hint for this.
* A good playlist definitely helps the mood. I made one on Spotify, feel free to use it.
A lot of fun and a good time, consider using optional rule
I would love to spend more time and write a longer review but alas:
While sometimes a bit odd the pregens showcase the gunslinger class quite well, the optional rule helps the flow of the scenario and I think that this is the first case where the characters feel competent in a scenario. The author cleverly uses the right DCs and made sure that every character is competent in some core areas.
To improve upon this a bit would likely require higher quality map delivered with the pdf.
The cover is not very representative since it uses re-used art from Guns and Gears, but that is not a huge deal, though I would have liked to see the area illustrated since we do not have a lot of artwork of this part of Alkenstar.
EDIT:Updated the review a bit the only version was mangled by a very agressive spell checker.
Are there any plans to release the digital assets like you did with the first 2 one-shots? I still don't have them available in my downloads.
They need to be. That is the point of the product. I'll advocate internally.
Aaron, the digital assets are still not added to the download. Could you please follow up on this product?
I have asked the webstore to correct the error again.
The download package for this product has been updated to include the Art Assets folder. Folks who already have the PDF should be able to download the updated version from their Digital Content page.
Are there any plans to release the digital assets like you did with the first 2 one-shots? I still don't have them available in my downloads.
They need to be. That is the point of the product. I'll advocate internally.
Aaron, the digital assets are still not added to the download. Could you please follow up on this product?
I have asked the webstore to correct the error again.
The download package for this product has been updated to include the Art Assets folder. Folks who already have the PDF should be able to download the updated version from their Digital Content page.
(For anyone who was wondering, this update also has the correct sheet for Zakzak with his spoon gun.)
Are there any plans to release the digital assets like you did with the first 2 one-shots? I still don't have them available in my downloads.
They need to be. That is the point of the product. I'll advocate internally.
Aaron, the digital assets are still not added to the download. Could you please follow up on this product?
I have asked the webstore to correct the error again.
The download package for this product has been updated to include the Art Assets folder. Folks who already have the PDF should be able to download the updated version from their Digital Content page.
(For anyone who was wondering, this update also has the correct sheet for Zakzak with his spoon gun.)
Hello, I'm sorry, but can you clarify one thing? AoN says that reinforced stock has finesse trait, and these pregens say that it hasn't. Where is truth?
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
I really wish this or Guns & Gears had been paired with one of the premium Pathfinder Battles sets. It's impossible to find decent miniatures for gunslingers, especially once you go beyond human ancestry. Give me a ZakZak miniature!
(Or a partnership with Hero Forge, with some race options that match Pathfinder 2 ancestry art, and some of the more unique guns.)
I haven't played this yet, but judging by the tone of the blurb I'm willing to bet that Michael watched From Dusk Til Dawn immediately before writing it.
I haven't played this yet, but judging by the tone of the blurb I'm willing to bet that Michael watched From Dusk Til Dawn immediately before writing it.
I really hope I'm right xD
I don't know about immediately before, but I've certainly watched it more than once.
In addition Doc's Reinforced Stock should also be +9 , they are trained in martial weapons giving us +5, and +4 from Dex as Reinforced stock has the Finesse trait
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