A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.
Drandle Dreng's unmasking as the member of the Decemvirate known as Sapphire has left the Sewer Dragons in a sort of limbo, with one of their strongest political allies largely stripped of influence. Chief Yiddlepode still believes that these agreements with outsiders is the best way to keep the Sewer Dragons strong, but, while that was an easy case to make before their territory was devastated, doubts have arisen among other members of the tribe in the ensuing years. Trapmaster Tok especially has begun to blame the Pathfinder for their misfortune. He has issued a challenge to Yiddlepode for the leadership of the Sewer Dragons, and she has turned again to the Pathfinders. The conflict brewing beneath the streets of Absalom threatens to destabilize the whole city. The PCs need to prove to the beleaguered kobold allies that the best way foward is together.
Written by Genevieve Olejnik
Scenario tags: Faction (Radiant Oath)
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
The altered influence system is an interesting experiment and I hope that org play continues to itterate and experiement with the subsystems from the GMG. Not so sure about the second one, I have run both twice and am not sure if the second one was really all that necessary.
Chase was fine, one group struggled a lot the other had some advantages and creative uses of skills an abilities.
The encounters is where I am personally not very happy, the optional encounter feels very unsatisfying to have and to run (and the players really wanted to avoid it), the encoutner against the other group of cobolds could have been interesting, but gets called too early.
The tone is very unusual the Sewer Dragons go from "they are our enemies" to wanting to recruit them in what feels like seconds - partially since the combat was called so early.
The final encounter with the antagonist.. I have yet to see the fight happen, and players thus far were not keen to resolve the issue with combat, particularly since the antagonist is not particularly unfriendly towards them.
Afterwards the antagonist switches very quickly from "time for a civil war" to "oh I am soo sorry, here have some gifts" that the whole endeavor just confuses me. The tone feels odd, and I struggle to take the Sewer Dragons seriously.
The experimentation and some other factors keep this at a 3 stars, but the combat encounters, and the weird tone, certainly do not help.
This scenario uses the chase and influence system, both of which are great challenges with low stress and moderate difficulty.
The dinner party in particular is one of the best influence systems I have seen. The problem with influencing a single NPC is that the player tends to have little material or reason to actively role-play, and often just rolls the dice along the way. However, I can't help but praise this scenario for making it easy to influence with pre-defined event actions for each round, while still providing material for role-playing.
Above all, the ability to revisit an old restaurant is a nice touch that honors the legacy of the past.
The chase is also challenging while maintaining the right amount of tension. It is important that the scaling does not unnecessarily increase the number of points needed or make it too difficult.
From a narrative point of view, it would have been better if the scene of the confrontation with Tok was not a normal encounter, but rather an obstacle breakthrough for persuasion or a technical alchemical contest. His arguments are a bit weak, but I wish they had brought out the charm of his serious concern for the tribe.
All in all, it's a great story-driven scenario with a lot of variety. Don't expect much in the way of intensity of the encounters.
Disclaimer: Continuing my reviews of season even if I haven't run or played scenario yet, so I focus less on mechanical stuff unless there is something obvious to comment on without needing to experience it in practice.
Thing I like about scenario is that even with things like the corrupt official dinner could be funny due to how sleazy the official is, but scene isn't written with especially comedic tone. Sewer race also could be run as slapstick, but its written in neutral or serious tone without tongue in cheek. Basically scenario doesn't use kobolds for comedy. Even the goblin tribe that shows up is just a goblin tribe looking for opportunity to get back at their enemies rather than being used for levity. The kobolds have valid concern and political tensions going on and it would be bad tone wise if scenario wasn't taking them seriously when their problem is essentially at its core a view that pathfinders don't really take them seriously as equals and see their relationship more give than take with all talented kobolds leaving to be pathfinders.
The kobold art does feel inconsistent though since they basically go through three different designs, I'm also bit confused that all Sewer Dragons seem to be blue now since I thought they didn't have specific scale color as tribe. Still its nice to have art for Yiddlepode too now.
I liked the mix of subsystems (influence & chase), combat & diplomacy. Combat can easily fall a bit flat if you have diplomatic players, as you can circumvent the only somewhat difficult encounter (or get chastised for not doing so).
The influence game was well done with unique actions specific to the round. The chase on the other hand fell a bit flat, with 7/8 obstacles allowing a acrobatics spam, but I guess that's par for the course if you're doing a kobold chase.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
