A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 5th- through 8th-level characters.
King Estrid of the Ironbound Islands has put out a call for Pathfinders to explore the Island of the Ancestors, but first the Society must earn her approval. Gorm Greathammer, a prince, warrior, and the leader of the Grand Archive faction, has traveled to Halgrim to meet with King Estrid—and her crag linnorm companion, Boiltongue—and forge a new allegiance for the Society. Talks have been going well, but the arrival of Boiltongue’s children in the city has thrown everything into chaos! Gorm senses that the negotiations are about to collapse, and sends for a team of Pathfinders to help keep an eye on Boiltongue’s children while he wraps up talks with King Estrid. Babysitting five rambunctious linnorm siblings is about as easy as it sounds (which is to say, not at all), and the Pathfinders are about to have their hands full!
So obviously with the title of the adventure, it was an expectation wandering into this one where you would be running into the Lands of Linnirm kings and dealing with a Linnorm or its treasures and getting a chance to fight dragons and roll with vikings.
When the reality is quite different and you are playing babysitter to a bunch of bratty dragon princes, more akin to the classic first edition adventure The Horn of Aroden. But in this sort of scenario less is definitely more. Seven dragons to placate across multiple situations of them causing mischief is pretty amusing st first but thrice its a little...dull. the seven of them havw not enough in terms of distinct personae to make this work and the three scnearios arent interesting enough to justify having all three.
And it doesnt really go anywhere either. The villains plan doesnt make a lot of sense and the resolution of the plotline and the Pathfinder Society's stake in it all is a very tight fit. Overall taken for what it is, the scenario is fun enough but with logs of room for improvement.
TLDR: Fun scenario, bring the right type of character, and do not skip this experience.
I knew what I was signing up for and played this with a group of fun players, that enjoy "fun" scenarios.
Fortunately, the description signposts that quite well, had I turned up with a different character, that does not really fit funny scenes like that, I would not be as happy with it.
I appreciate, that the scenario mostly focuses on characterizing 5 distinct NPCs and I feel like that is likely the perfect number. The artwork was absolutely essential here, and a great use of the art budget.
Frankly speaking, I might find things to praise or to complain about in the original text (since that session was not run in English) but right now I am happy since I had a good time.
If I end up prepping and running this one, I will update this review with my updated experiences.
This scene is so excellent. It took me almost twice as long as other PFS scenarios to prepare the five linnorms and over 5 hours to run it with my players. It was all worth it. The reason for not rating a 5-star is that event 3 is unnecessarily long and the battles are jokes.
Absolutely fantastic if your GM leans into the insanity.
This scenario lives or dies by its GM. I'm glad I managed to pull it off well. This is very much a spiritual successor to the Frostfur Captives form PF1. If you're familiar with that one, you know what you're going to get here.
A few minor complaints:
- The combats felt underwhelming. It didn't help that I rolled like crap, but the enemies in general felt unspectacular. In this tier I expect some interesting stuff from the enemies, but they're mostly just straightforward melee combatants.
- The same skills are being used throughout the scenario. There's usually a decent amount of options, but if you don't really have face skills, you'll be sitting a lot of this scenario out. A bigger variety of skills would've been nice, IMHO.
- From the GM's perspective, there's a LOT going on under the hood. Lots of modifiers being thrown around and information is all over the page.
I did really like the variety in situations this scenario throws at you. Tasks felt different from each other, and even combats had some nice twists to them. Definitely not a "clobber everything until it stops moving" kind of thing.
Definitely recommend this scenario, though depending on your GM, it could vary between two and five stars.
Same, I've wanted to know more about Estrid and Boiltongue for awhile.
I do not pay much attention to the Ulfen Lore, preferring Cheliax and Kyonin, myself. I do love this picture.
White Estrid is one of the newer Linnorm Kings, having controversially recruited Boiltongue to her service after besting him in battle, rather than killing the wyrm as all other Linnorm Kings do when they earn the title.
Great story, charming narrative connective tissue, and the artwork is excellent. That said, mechanically it's very heavy on the skill check challenges, and among the skill check challenges, its specifically VERY heavily weighted towards the Charisma-based skill checks. Make sure you bring multiple face characters if you can.
Heads-up: the PDF for this adventure was updated today. Nothing changed about the adventures, but initially there were only five player slots on the sign-in sheet instead of six. This has been corrected!
My players all agree: we must protect Brulivex at all costs. Though the combats were a little thin (especially the justification and development of Event 5), they mostly got out of the way and left more room to explore the charming village of Halgrim. Overall, this scenario was very well written. Highly recommend
The scenario offers a chance for PCs to make a Profession (instructor or teacher) check. Looks like someone was thinking PF1 for a bit there - what should the check be?
When I saw the title and location I was hoping for some Ulfen(or viking) Lore and adventure. Instead we get Nightmares in babysitting - babysit 5 spoiled brats. Not my thing that's for sure. I 'll defiantly have to keep a much closer eye on what scenarios I want to play after this one.
