A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.
During routine study on the Maze of the Open Road, a lecture is interrupted by the old Pathfinder ghoul ally, Marcon Tinol. Through discussions with him, the Society learns that he and Drandle Dreng established an island haven in Azlant for ghouls wishing to live apart from humans, referred to as the Island of the Vibrant Dead. Marcon reports that a strange new ghoul named Ghessa has arrived on the island but her story about her death and undeath isn't adding up, leading him to fear that she may be up to something sinister. The PCs must travel to the island, where the residents maintain a ghoulish existence celebrating their undeath, and dig into Ghessa's story, as well as her trips into the vaults of the long-dead Arodenite priesthood.
The character of Marcon Tinol was originally introduced in PFS 1-07 The Flooded King's Court, which remains of my favorite early modules to cut players' teeth on. It's got roleplay and silliness, some grim serious notes, combat in varying circumstances, exploration, and even ethical considerations! It also awards a boon depending on your players' choices, which supposedly will come in handy in a future module.
The Flooded King's Court:
My players are interested to know how things play out with House Candren, and so am I! Drandle Dreng told them that he'd arrange things with House Candren to make amends or compensation to Marcon, with the presumption that perhaps he would pass on once satisfied, as the module suggested might happen.
Now, Marcon has reappeared as the star of PFS 5-05 The Island of the Vibrant Dead; a follow-up, finally! Except it's not a follow-up. In fact, if Marcon wasn't present in the module, it would hold absolutely no relationship to PFS 1-07 at all. It actually feels like a weaker module for his inclusion- not because there is something inherently wrong with the character, but because the disconnect between modules is so extreme that the two are hardly related.
It tells us that any players that completed PFS 1-07 would have been involved with getting Marcon settled on this island, which is swell... but why wasn't THAT the module instead? Aside from hand-waving what could have been a very engaging sequel story to Marcon, it inherently assumes an ending to PFS 1-07.
The Flooded King's Court:
Marcon obviously has to have survived and it doesn't even attempt to explain how all of this came about if he was killed instead. So we're just eliminating a player choice in a previous module rather than introducing a new undead character- nevermind that we introduce several others that could have served the same role in this module.
The most galling thing of all, though, is the map. Mythos Dungeon has been used in a whopping two (2) modules: this one... and PFS 1-07 The Flooded King's Court. The ONLY other place that Marcon Tinol has appeared.
The Flooded King's Court and The Island of the Vibrand Dead:
The flipping portal room where the Maze of the Open Road releases in PFS 5-05 is the SAME ROOM ON THE MAP that you find Marcon Tinol in PFS 1-07!
There's another side to the flip-map! There's so many other underground dungeon maps! How in the WORLD did this end up reusing the literal same one?
If you're looking at this module as a follow-up to the story of Marcon Tinol, it's not. Marcon being included is a disservice to the module and a disservice to Marcon Tinol as a conceptual character. This module reads like Marcon was included because somebody said "oh hey didn't we introduce a not-evil undead character before? let's just use him again", without actually going back and reading the source material. If he wasn't included, the map snafu wouldn't be a problem at all- and in fact, could be a fun call back, as both tombs and crypt were Aroden-related, which could be reflected by similar architecture choices.
As for the actual content? Well, let's cut over to the Ruins of Azlant (which, we're told, we can learn more about in Pathfinder Adventure Path #122, though there's no reason to as it's never made relevant), in the middle of nowhere, though luckily and conveniently connected via the Maze of the Open Road. The story is a little too straightforward to be a proper mystery, but otherwise it's a fine tale with some minor (and likely expected) twists. Removing Marcon Tinol from the story actually improves it, as he drops out of actively assisting the party less than halfway through the module and it allows you to ignore any relationship the module has to PFS 1-07.
I'm so very disappointed in this module. I was really excited to follow up on the story of Marcon Tinol. Instead, I got a half-assed inclusion to justify showcasing this random island that just so happens to be directly connected to the Maze despite never having been mentioned before. It's a fun idea that I'd like to explore properly, but in the meantime I'm just going to have to retool this whole module, either to make Marcon relevant (which is going to require replacing the map!), or to just rip Marcon out entirely. Two stars because it's salvageable.
Its... Extremely awkward for me to review scenario based on what is a wider PFS trend and tone/lore thing rather than scenario in vacuum or mechanics of the scenario. Especially when its something that doesn't bother me personally because I have extremely high suspension of disbelief. But its starting to gnaw on me ever since I've heard few players who don't tend to give feedback on paizo.com comment on it.
But yeah, there really is trend where increasingly every scenario tends to attempt include a npc that is clearly meant to be either memorable, endearing or silly through methods that kinda... Feels blatantly trying to be funny and kinda feels out of tone with rest of setting?
Like why is there:
a lacedon that looks like humanoid shark with silly pirate hat doing Scurvy Dog pirate speech for most of the scenario until the inevitable backstabbing pirate thing? Also comes with very stereotypical pirate name. With funny name for ship.
I haven't read Skulls & Shackles since I wanted to play in it, but I kinda thought Pirates in Shackles we seen in setting generally don't do the "arr matey scurvy dogs" speech thing? I've read Torius Vin pathfinder tales pirate trilogy at least and I didn't get that vibe. But okay, like, I can personally buy it as "dunno, he is old pirate so maybe it just sounds funny nowadays in modern era". But then I'm asking "Wait, why does he look like a shark with tiny hat not fitting his head again?" It really feels like I'm expected to find the character amusing. And that's why the players who complain about this kind of thing really get to me. Because I can't really reasonably justify the character as meant to be taken seriously without feeling like I'm lying to myself.
Personally, I can excuse the pirate speech and goofy pirate name. Shark thing is cool I guess, but confuses me since there doesn't seem to be reason for it besides artistic license. Hat on shark looks just silly. But the name of the ship genuinely goes too far on silly side for me. It just kinda screams "I'm a pirate ghoul, so my ship is Ghoulship Rapscallion, arrrr"
I just don't get how this character is supposed to mesh with tone of scenario with big bad's goal being either forced recruitment or exterminating everyone on island.
On bit of tangent, I do also kinda wish there was more examination of what society composed of non evil undead would be like. I kinda see non evil undead as something like BG3's Dark Urge, they have these invasive thoughts urging them to murder or otherwise showing antipathy towards living creatures, I think adventure kinda glosses over that interesting aspect by just providing solution on their need to feed(at least until crypt runs out I guess) and not discussing it further than that. I also can't help but wonder "so... Wait... Do all of these friendly ghouls lack the most uncanny valley traits of ghouls in the art? Where is the overly long tongues? Weirdly long tongues were cool!" Even besides none of ghouls demonstrating most ghoulish traits, the wider PFS has thing with them doing things in art that don't really make sense (like cute round eyeglasses on a reptilian snout) for sake of trying to make them look amusing or appealing?
Its... Yeah. Like whenever new kobold/goblin/leshy characters shows up in scenario nowadays, they always have that mascot like funny/cute quality going for them. They aren't really allowed to have gremlin or cool qualities in PFS anymore it feels like. And its not just mascot ancestries, last season introduced a comedy sketch duo. Then that scenario with linnorm children felt like it was downplaying gravitas of linnorms for a funny bit. This one has silly pirate. What I'm asking is "What is Pathfinder Society's tone supposed to be?" Are we supposed to take the world and npcs seriously or not? I don't think people complaining about more humorous stuff would complain if it was more funny* or if it was more seldom(frostfur captives was brilliant because it stood out from other scenarios) thing, but it feels like writers believe those kind of things are popular, so we are getting too much on tone trying to be "comedic" and its kinda watering down the whole mystery exploration and darker or serious themes of the setting. The npc in particular feels like he would fit much better in Battlezoo's Indigo Isles, wacky pirate tone is perfect fit for that setting.
*(as in, starfinder setting and SFS does delivering comedy and balancing it with seriousness much better. Its different to be silly and to be funny, you can be both, its accidentally easy to be just silly. It helps that its hard to feel anachronistic in scifi setting and that starfinder setting has more inbuilt silliness to it leading to that guardians of the galaxy like feeling, meaning suspension is disbelief is easier and tone is more consistent.)
GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND GHOUL ISLAND
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook Subscriber
You know one addition that would make my life super awesome and easy? A combatant count or "Dramatis Personae" list so I know what mini's or pawns I need to pull.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Ron Lundeen did something like that for Abomination Vaults. It's on Pathfinder Infinite, "Abomination Vaults GM's Guide".
Doing it routinely in the PFS Scenarios would probably significantly increase the word/page count.
I'm currently trying to figure out what I think about the scenario since I'm currently kinda wary of specific kind of trope that has been popular in PFS ever since I was brought attention of it
The map for this scenario has been changed, please note the new map.
Map question. ** spoiler omitted **
That was my first thought as well, but ** spoiler omitted **
It's funny, I actually thought myself a dunderhead for not realizing that yes, of COURSE the map has another side, so surely that's what they're using. Which is especially great for people who DID play the previous module, no need to go out and buy another flip-mat and you can just play them back-to-back!
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
The map change in this scenario is definitely an issue. You really can tell that they wrote the scenario based on another map, then at the last minute decided to change over to the map from this scenario's predecessor, but rushed it and didn't get all of the language right.
