A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.
Tensions are high following the Battle of Hellknight Hill, and while Cheliax hasn't taken any direct action, they've encouraged privateers to attack Andoran shipping. One of these pirates is especially overconfident, and believes she can win more favor with a more direct attack–one on the Augustana shipyards. Coincidentally, the Pathfinder Society is in the market for a new ship, and the heads of Supplies and Procurement are touring some that are available when the attack begins. As the escorts to Nairaba and Kitsch, the two aforementioned heads of their divisions, it's up to you to keep your charges safe while dealing with the chaos.
Written by Hilary Moon Murphy.
Scenario tags: Hellfire Crisis
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
This tightly written, fun adventure was like a breath of fresh, salty, sea air. Instead of bloated filler like many Paizo’s published adventure material, this scenario doesn’t waste any words. Even the setup scene with the Saureton Red that might seem like tiny filler, has a great callback in the chase scene.
If you strip the window dressing from this scenario, it’s very simple and effective adventure construction. Setup/intro – Wave 1 fight – 1 minute rest – Wave 2 fight – Interrogation/Role-play - Skill tests (Chase) – 1 hour rest – Boss fight. This type of formula is lovely, effective, and enjoyable. The encounter balance for my four-player group of 4th Level PCs was perfect.
But why strip away such wonderful window dressing. For here, there be Pirates! I modded the Goblin Riggers’ Boarding Action a bit to let their ability work throughout the docks, because I’m just running a home game. Any edits that were missed, I missed too, because as an experienced GM I filled in or fixed any gaps that may have existed as I read through it and ran it.
It took us two sessions, probably 6 hours of total play time, but as GM I didn’t want to rush it and felt I could really let it breath. My goal was to fit it in two 4-hour gaming sessions, and it fit perfectly. And my players gave the scenario high marks as well as the best Paizo-published content they’ve played through, also. Chef’s kiss. More like this please. Keep it simple. Keep it succinct. Keep it interesting. Harder said than done apparently, but Shipyard Sabotage is at the top of its game.
Immediately thrust straight into the action, the double pressure of safeguarding VIPs and thwarting an unfolding crisis gives the scenario high stakes from the outset. The combination of political intrigue, privateering, and sabotage creates an immersive swashbuckling scenario.
The NPCs are well written and bring lots to the scenario, the Ship Salesman is a particular favourite and is so fun to play. The players loved the Pirate Goblins and Gorillas.
It is crisply written and is an excellent gateway into Pathfinder Society play for newer players. Its setup is cinematic, its stakes relatable, and its structure tight. If you want to run or play a low-level engaging scenario it's a gem.
When I ran it my players absolutely loved it, even with me GM'ing :-). HMM has knocked it out of the park.
This was a fun scenario to run for my local lodge. We all had fun and had a bunch of laughs, and with it being a lvl 1-4 it wasn't overly hard, allowing the players to enjoy the game without being worried about overly tough fights.
Some Pros: We love the used boat salesman.
Options for non-combat characters to still be useful in combat
Enough checks to allow most characters to still participate.
For GM's, the guide handout to help keeping track of things was wonderful.
Cons: My players looked at the aquatic combat and made a face, as much as I love it, not for everyone.
Easier combats are great, but if trying to achieve an objective, hard to do.
I loved the scenario, and hope to see more of some of the NPCs back in the future.
A fun scenario with a lot to love, held back by bad editing
I GMed this for a low tier (18 CP) group.
Runtime was 3:40, including a 10 minute break.
TL;DR: Enemies with some fun mechanics, a used boat salesman NPC and an overall interesting setting come together to form a fun scenario that is brought down a bit by bad editing / development
The Good:
- Pirate Gorillas! What more do you want me to say?
- The "BBEG" has a decent backstory that the characters are likely to learn about and get to sympathise with
- If you can, play this with a swashbuckler! Ropes are everywhere and the enemies have special abilities to make use of that. Why not join?
- Olad the Alright Shipwright (or, as I called him in german "Olad, der brauchbare Gebrauchtschiffhändler") is a cool NPC. Real sleazy used car, I mean, boat saleman vibes, but when push comes to shove, he rises up and becomes really helpful
- Kitsch and Nairaba also help in some of the fights, which makes them even less standard fights. A nice change of pace
The bad:
- Unfortunately, besides being fun due to all the non-standard stuff going on, the fights where pretty underwhelming. Hordes of CR -1 enemies just don't do all that much.
- The HP those -1 CR goblins had was so low that getting them below 50% to have a chance to convince them of surrendering was quite hard
- (This one is more a personal thing and won't be reflected in the rating): Pirates are BAD! They where murderers and some of the worst people imaginable. Can we please stop trying to make them fun? Even here the pirates attack the PCs with lethal force. Why exactly are we having mercy with them?
The ugly:
- This is one of the adventures that would have needed another pass through development and editing! For all the things found (so far), you can look in the GM discussion section of the forums (here)
Without the errors, etc. in the scenario, I would have been on the fence somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. One of the best scenarios in recent past for me, while not perfect.
Those errors downgrade this to a solid 4 star rating for me.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Half way through running this in my home game (I don't actually do organized play), the players absolutely love it so far. I had the best time running it of any published Paizo published adventure/AP (and I've run A LOT), and am looking forward to it's conclusion in next week's session -- as are my players.
The best of props to this. Running it for a four-person group of 4th Level PCs.
Great work on the GM tracking sheet, HMM. Very helpful!
HMM is incredible! I had the pleasure to meet at Gen Con, and it was a highlight ^^ Thank you for always being such a great part of our community, HMM!!
Immediately thrust straight into the action, the double pressure of safeguarding VIPs and thwarting an unfolding crisis gives the scenario high stakes from the outset. The combination of political intrigue, privateering, and sabotage creates an immersive swashbuckling scenario.
It is crisply written and is an excellent gateway into Pathfinder Society play. Its setup is cinematic, its stakes relatable, and its structure tight. If you want to run or play a low-level engaging scenario it's a gem.
When I ran it my players absolutely loved it, even with me GM'ing :-). HMM has knocked it out of the park.
Immediately thrust straight into the action, the double pressure of safeguarding VIPs and thwarting an unfolding crisis gives the scenario high stakes from the outset. The combination of political intrigue, privateering, and sabotage creates an immersive swashbuckling scenario.
It is crisply written and is an excellent gateway into Pathfinder Society play. Its setup is cinematic, its stakes relatable, and its structure tight. If you want to run or play a low-level engaging scenario it's a gem.
When I ran it my players absolutely loved it, even with me GM'ing :-). HMM has knocked it out of the park.
If you can put this in a review together with a rating, it would be great.
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