A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.
Since the defeat of Aslynn, the Waterfall has become more of a staple around the Grand Lodge, starting to hold strange, isolated meetings with leadership and seemingly putting together some plan. Her most recent request is that a team of Pathfinder agents journey to Hwanggot and meet with the underworld dragon, Valashinaz as a introductory team. Venture-Captain Yi Da Som arranged the meeting through Valashinaz's kobold assistant, Purepurin. Unfortunately, between then and the PCs arriving, Purepurin forgot about them in the midst of pickling recipes from goblins and creepy crawlies invading the vaults! It's up to the PCs to help Purepurin bring Valashinaz's vaults under control while she summons the dragon to ensure these introductions go off without a hitch!
I was grinning while I read this adventure, and I will remember this one for a while.
I ran this adventure for the high tier and I had so much fun running it! I rarely see an adventure with so much little guy energy and was delighted by my players' reactions.
This adventure works very well if your GM is willing to commit to the bits that the adventure is putting out for you, and is an excellent easy adventure to get newer folks started with some flavor, some excitement, and a little bit of wonder.
Hands down the best giant rat I have ever run in a scenario! Can't wait to see what happens next!
My group played this at the high tier, and we had a blast! It’s not a super combat-driven scenario, but we’re a bunch of RP nerds with a fondness for shenanigans and weird little guys, so this scenario was right up our alley. There were also some really clever and unique elements, and the NPCs, setting, and social encounters were flavorful and fun to engage with.
It’s definitely not a serious-toned or grimdark addition to the PFS roster, and it’s not a combat gauntlet (though there are some very entertaining elements in the combats), but it doesn’t have to be any of those things in order to be a great scenario. If you and your group are willing to be a bit playful, I suspect you’ll get a kick out of this one!
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-04
Basics- Let's go make friends! The Pathfinder society wants to make friends with a dragon, and YOU get to make the introductions. Don't mess up, because you can be flamebroiled and are tasty with ketchup!
Mechanics or Crunch- The adventure has all the pieces where they should be and they generally work well. There are about 3 fights, a couple traps, and a skill challenge. Those are all mechanically done well. The skill challenges are not as much fun as they could have been, because my players tend to feel like they want them to just end by accomplishing X solutions before Y events. I can dress that up, but the repeated challenges can get boring in a hurry, so I just let them succeed if they do well enough. Overall what's here is good, but it has a few issues. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff- This adventure is a pretty simple story where the normal dungeon crawl is flipped. Instead of going into a place where you are NOT supposed to be, you are invited into this one. However, some elements feel a bit crammed in. I like the goblins making kimchi, but they are not really needed and it detracts from the overall flow. My players didn’t really explore much; why would you just explore a person’s house if they are waiting for you? Also the last fight just doesn't need to happen. Maybe having a hallway fight with OTHER robbers would be a better way to endear the kobold butler to the players? Something to consider. 4/5
Execution- Pathfinder by Paizo? Yeah this is gonna be a slam dunk. I might not be crazy about the 9 buck price tag, but for five people to get 3ish hours of entertainment, then I'm a bit more ok. 5/5
Summary- This is a decent adventure that will tie to something bigger. And that's the whole hope of organized play. It's a fun ~3 hour adventure where the players get some fights, some social encounters, and some skill tests. It's well put together, but a few issues crop up along the way that prevent perfection. Some are system choice issues and some are flow issues. None are going to hurt this in a fatal way, but maybe change an element or two to make this a better experience. 90%
There is a fine line between 'quirky' and 'grating'
So the Pathfinder Society wants to deal with a treasure-rich and knowledge-filled dragon based in Tian Xia. And it falls to some low-level PCs to put in some legwork to make sure prep gifts are given to smooth out the actual talks between the actual negotiators. Not a bad premise to kick off some ongoing plotlines, and a fine way to get low-tier tables involved.
The execution of the scenario itself is where the issues pop up unfortunately. The vaults the PCs end up exploring isn't as 'fantastic' or unique one would hope for something that got its own whole book hyping up (The 'delve' section also feels limited by having to work the constraints of an existing flip-mat, something that isn't the author's fault nor unique to this scenario but restricts some more interesting possibilities).
The fights are fine but all play out extremely similarly, with the final fight ironically being the easiest. Some of the monsters in the first two encounters have an interesting mechanical tweak, but at low levels the low HP on everyone means they are more 'neat' than end up mattering as much.
I appreciate the inclusion of a 'chase' encounter to provide some variety, but the context and details of it do not make much sense.
Chase:
After going through entire levels entirely free of kobolds to assist or explain where Purepurin is or what's going on, dozens appear in an instant the moment you don't need them solely to clog your way. And after three combats readily killing rats/bats -two on Purpurin's explicit instructions! - 'what to do with thebaaaaabbbbbiiiiiiieeeeeesssss' isn't exactly a 4+ success-worthy moral dilemma.
But the real issue with this scenario is its main NPC: Purepurin. As presented in this mission we are expected to be deeply invested in getting the Society on good terms with a wise and powerful dragon…whose majordomo fails at the basics of their job five separate times in the ~hour the PCs spend with them. A bumbling NPC isn't new,but it plays as though the PCs are meant to find Purepurin endearing and want to help them. We did not. 'Quirkiness' isn't itself a problem: the goblin troupe at the beginning (and end) was great! But while a 'chicken contest' was a bit odd, they also were friendly, helpful, and doing their own things in the world, not existing only to try and force chicken on random passers-by. When an NPC's 'quirk' is 'incompetence', we ended a half-scenario of trying to cover up Purepurin's failings not only annoyed at them, but thinking less of the dragon who keeps them on. Which is not the attitude you want to give off at the start of a new plot.
Overall 1 1/2 stars.I can see what they were going for here, but it did not come together for me.
Edit: why did I think this is a repeatable? It is not. Sorry.
Interesting premise, exploring the dungeon as invited guests, even with a chance to defend it against self-entitled adventurers. Though I imagine it be more fun if the scenario really focuses on this idea.
Looks interesting. I look forward to PFS venturing into Tian Xia again.
However, this blurb is seriously not good. 1-4 scenarios should sell to the first-timer crowd, but this is a pile of proper nouns that say nothing to anyone who hasn't been playing the campaign for a while. If you're not an old hand at Pathfinder Society, this is word salad. I cannot use this. I have to rewrite it before I can offer the scenario as a public game, and because I don't run in a primarily English-speaking environment, I have to do it twice.
Looks interesting. I look forward to PFS venturing into Tian Xia again.
However, this blurb is seriously not good. 1-4 scenarios should sell to the first-timer crowd, but this is a pile of proper nouns that say nothing to anyone who hasn't been playing the campaign for a while. If you're not an old hand at Pathfinder Society, this is word salad. I cannot use this. I have to rewrite it before I can offer the scenario as a public game, and because I don't run in a primarily English-speaking environment, I have to do it twice.
“Go to a distant land for a diplomatic meeting with a dragon, aiding their kobold helper” is the gist of it.
“Go to a distant land for a diplomatic meeting with a dragon, aiding their kobold helper” is the gist of it.
Yeah, but the blurb is like the trailer for a movie. It tells the players why they want to play this and not the other fantasy game for the inexplicably more popular game system in the same time slot. It has to sell the adventure. That takes more than just the facts. Writing that takes effort.
“Go to a distant land for a diplomatic meeting with a dragon, aiding their kobold helper” is the gist of it.
Yeah, but the blurb is like the trailer for a movie. It tells the players why they want to play this and not the other fantasy game for the inexplicably more popular game system in the same time slot. It has to sell the adventure. That takes more than just the facts. Writing that takes effort.
Do your players need to see the blurb though? They just need to see the aforementioned, "diplomatic meeting with dragon and kobold assistant."
the goldmonger low tier only does +1 damage with its 3 Str on unarmed (adding no Str to damage on the pick). The experienced goldmonger adds only +2 damage on for its 4 Str on pick. Also, neither of them have the fatal d10 trait. Are these accurate numbers?
Pathfinder Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
This is a rather exciting publication from Michelle Kim. I brought it to my store location, and our local group found it to be a charming scenario. We completed it in about 4 1/2 hours, hitting every possible encounter along the way. It's a solid encounter for organized play!
