A Pathfinder Society Quest designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters, playable in 2-3 hours.
The Dacilane Academy often calls upon the Pathfinder Society to get them out of trouble, or to aid their students. Considering that many Pathfinders enroll their children in the academy, the relationship is one of mutual benefit. It’s therefore no surprise when the academy calls upon the Pathfinders to help make sure nothing terrible happens during the play that the students will be performing at a nearby theater, the Muse of the Rose. Recently, performances there have seen unfortunate accidents. No one has been seriously injured, but the performances were all ultimately ruined. It's up to the PCs to ensure that the Dacilane Academy's performance doesn't suffer the same fate, even if the have to prevent disasters backstage during the show itself.
Written by Lucas Servideo
Scenario tags: All Ages, Repeatable
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
I ran this with 6 players, just in high tier. The table seemed to enjoy it but it ran a lot longer than it was meant to with 3 combats, skill checks, some role play.
I ran this pretty fast, no issues on timing. It was what I was looking for, a simple, light-hearted romp revisiting the Dacilane Academy staff and students.
I enjoyed running this adventure. Some old friends, some new faces, and a good story. The story doesn't have as much for adults as Winter Queen's Dollhouse, which is some pretty heavy material under the surface. This one is lighter, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. There are a couple of "teaching moments" (about concepts like consent) for kids and adults alike, if that's of interest.
Mechanically, the only section I didn't really love was a "three successes before three failures" skill challenge, which took a bit of time to resolve and I was already running pretty late. Run time was just about exactly three hours with six players at high tier.
This is a quite well-written quest story-wise, very flavorful! Great seeing some returning faces and plenty of variety in skills so everyone has the opportunity to do what they're good at. That being said, unless there's some errata issued this is going to be much easier for 3-4 than was probably intended. Half the challenges don't increase the DCs. It really just affects the flavor, though, won't really affect the success/failure of the mission, and The Show Must Go On, so it shall.
How much time pressure are the PCs under during Pre-Show Jitters? I know they are only allowed 6 investigation checks, but do they also have several hours to heal between encounters? I think I am most interested in the time available between the A2 and A3 encounters, as the flavor heavily implies plenty of time for healing before the Show Must Go On section.
When writing it I figured you started first thing in the morning and the show starts at 7 or 8 pm. So they have about 10-11 hours to solve it. Short answer there is time.
3-4 Difficulty:
For Difficulty numbers add +3 to the number for the 1-2 level.
Thank you very much! I probably should have been able to figure it out from the flavor text, but appreciate having something definitive. I tend to be too generous of a GM, so second guess myself.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
For those who might be looking for it, this is the first Quest Adventure published with the ORC License. I believe all Pathfinder lines are now under the ORC, Yay!!!
