A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.
A small earthquake and landslide near the mining operations of Marivit Kopje, a Kalistocrat of minor standing, have opened a vault long thought lost. Shimia Renveld was an oddity even among Kalistocrats. She collected oddities that held no real monetary value, or at least that was what she thought. Marivit believes that her recently uncovered collection might hold a key to helping turn around his fortunes, and he's promised the Pathfinders everything else in the vault in order to get it.
Written by Genevieve Olejnik
Scenario tags: Faction (Envoy's Alliance, Grand Archive)
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
I DMed and played this scenario, both times in High Tier.
TL;DR:
A dungeon crawl on a VERY small map. Not much to do besides combat / hazards. Some of the encounters feel off.
The good:
- You are looking for a quick and dirty adventure where you can shut down your brain? You get it here.
This is one of the very few almost pure dungeon crawls I have seen so far in PFS2. If you are into those, this can be a very fitting adventure. If not, play some other scenario ;)
- One of the enemies has a kinda quirky and fun theme
- Rolling a 6 on a particular table of one enemy can be a kind of interesting surprise. I appreciate those unexpected (and not punishing) effects
The bad:
- On of the hazards is quite random in how hard it punishes the group each round. With a bit of bad luck and a group that can't so much to deactivate it, this can go off the rails quickly. Even with a group that has the correct skills, this can take multiple turns, which are kind of bad for everyone else, since they potentially can't do anything
- The map is TINY for the amount of things happening there. When we played, we had a minotaur (large) character in the group. Would not recommend! But even with just small and medium characters, spaces are very tight and sometimes things like difficult terrain make it even harder on multiple melee characters.
Especially in the very beginning of the dungeon, there are multiple things triggered by moving very small distances.
The ugly:
- One enemy has a lighthning bolt and is encountered by opening a doof from a 5' wide corridor - depending on initatives, this can be quite nasty for a group of Level 3 characters!
- The one potential enemy that can be talked to / turned into an ally is not fleshed out enough. What are we supposed to do with them during the adventure? How about after the adventure? Are they still considered to be a danger and has to be dispatched? That part of the adventure is lacking a bit of guidance
Overall: I would give the adventure 3.5 stars. Since the previous reviewer rounded up, I will round down :)
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-13: All That Glit
Basics- Ready for maybe a wild goose chase? A lost vault has been discovered that may have a lost key to a pocket dimension. If you check the cache, the Pathfinders get to keep everything but that key.
Mechanics or Crunch- This adventure is a good old dungeon crawl. Not much diplomacy, not much outside exploration, but good old enter the room, explore, kill the bad guys. You can’t beat the classics. There might be some encounter balance issues, but overall its crunch is well balanced. 4.75/5
Theme or Fluff- The biggest issue for this adventure is the length. This is a VERY short adventure with a bit of story, but not much beyond the basics. This adventure uses a map that was used in a quest, but this is a full sized adventure. It’s fun as you explore the vault-like museum, but it needs to be longer. I’m pretty quick as a GM, but this took me less than 2 hours to run at a con. And something important, I dont think they describe what the key is. You find it, but they don’t describe what it looks like. 4/5
Execution- It’s Paizo. Solid layout, production, art, and even text makes this something to be studied. 5/5
Summary- This is a fun adventure. I like the crawl. Crawls in dungeons are always fun, but this is just not long enough. Throw me more encounters here. Some are even marked as optional. More things to do would spice up this adventure. But, what’s here is good. 91%
As a GM this was a fun one. And for those that know the lore I bet will enjoy it as well. (I know very little lore lol)
Now to be fair I'd give this 3.5 stars. I am rounding up cause I had fun lol.
Story felt fresh, the map and notes where well done. I didn't have any questions with the content or flow. It was quick read, gave plenty guidance on optional encounters. The encounters felt varied and balanced.
For the bad there is a considerable amount of difficult terrain and precision immunity. For a 1-4 that might not have a lot of options to deal with that.
Overall I enjoyed it, but maybe next time moderation is in order with some of the encounters and "special features"
Why is this obvious Vigilant Seal faction goal being ascribed to Envoy's Alliance? Makes 0 sense. "...those in the Envoy’s Alliance want to make
sure any threats have been dealt with before our scholars enter"
(based on 3 ratings)
