Chapter 3: "Maiden, Mother, Crone"
by Tim Hitchcock
Three Times the Adventure!
On the trail of Baba Yaga, the heroes find themselves transported to the barbaric land of Iobaria on the far-off continent of Casmaron. They must explore three ancient, mystically linked dungeons in search of more clues to the fate of the Queen of Witches, while contending with savage centaurs and demon-worshiping frost giants who seek to claim Baba Yaga’s secrets for themselves.
This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path continues the Reign of Winter Adventure Path and includes:
“Maiden, Mother, Crone,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 7th-level characters, by Tim Hitchcock.
A gazetteer of the Dvezda Marches—a cold and isolated region of Iobaria populated by centaur clans and dotted with ancient ruins.
An account of the demon lord of hideous giants, numbing cold, and bloody revenge—Kostchtchie the Deathless!
A glimpse into Irrisen’s eerie relationship with dolls in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Kevin Andrew Murphy.
Five new monsters, by Jason Nelson and Sean K Reynolds.
Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.
ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-494-8
Maiden, Mother, Crone is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (639 KB zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
This book is a fairly basic wilderness and then dungeon crawl. While I don't mind dungeon romps this one was rather simple and unimpressive. The downside is that there wasn't enough treasure for the level of the game at this point.
Great flavor on paper, tedious dungeon crawl at the table
The reviewers of the 4 and 5 star reviews of this module apparently never tried to run it. As much as I would love to love this module, it just does not come together at the table:
The three linked dungeons are filled with fairly random creatures. If you let those creatures sit in their rooms and wait for the PCs (as is implied by default in the adventure), it becomes a kick-in-the-door, kill the monster adventure. And don't get me wrong, that is totally fine if that's what you are looking for, but I prefer more realistic behavior of the inhabitants of a dungeon.
Also, the linked nature of the dungeon makes it very difficult to be properly prepared because the players have a lot of options where to explore next. Some groups and GMs will love that aspect, I find it more helpful to have a little bit of rails to guide my preparation, especially with CR 8-13 critters.
Another problem is that if you let dungeon's inhabitants behave realistically (i.e., fall back and regroup in other rooms), the entire dungeon becomes an impregnable fortress and the PCs hardly stand a chance at all.
Speaking of not a chance: the retrieval of the final McGuffin is also extremely difficult, which feels forced and just is not a lot of fun after just coming out of a climactic battle.
I really liked this book when I read through it the first time, the setting is nice and the atmosphere very on-theme, but when I started to actually chart out the sessions and when we played it, it just was not as much fun as it seemed at first.
I just hope that the second half of the Adventure Path is going to be more fun.
This is a part of Iobaria that I have wanted to know about for quite some time.
However, I have noticed a slight error in the book. One page 26, once you have your PC's fighting the Frost Giant in the corridor heading into area C3. The title for this area is actually in the paragraph about the Development and how this Frost Giant calls for help. The title of this room is on the end of that paragraph. Not a big deal but in case others get confused by the description following this paragraph.
Ya know, I guessed the PCs would be working with Baba Yaga to some degree, but I sure wouldn't have considered a rescue mission. Something tells me that Grandmother isn't exactly a helpless victim though...
Iobaria, a land that reminds me of Beowulf. I hope we get a supplement that gives more detail on this part of the world.
I know they have a gazetteer for Iobaria in the third Kingmaker adventure. That said, it has a very Slavic feel to it that I really like, especially being founded by Ulfen Vikings, which is a parallel to Kiev Rus (modern day Ukraine).
so, "Maiden, Mother, Crone" is a REALLY awesome name for an adventure - not kidding, it's the best Iv'e seen in years ("Seven days to the grave" was also kinda cool).
And this is a dungeon heavy module with Mr. Hitchcock? I still have good memories from Trial of the Beast (and good nightmares from Carnival of Tears, too). Looking forward to this AP! so many good things!
I really liked the vague nature of the gazetteer in KM(AP #33) - but I do not mind a more detailed look onto/into Deeprun Crevasse. While the coastal regions and the "kingdoms" along the Ardshrod River were ok, the heart lands including the woods and Syrzemyan Highlands intrigued me much more.
Spoiler:
Questions:
Will Sjohvornor be involved?
Do the dungeons mentioned include the cyclops ruins in Vurnirn?
Besides: clever Paizonians - it's all there!
Spoiler:
Artrosa: “The Three Who Watch.” These three
massive stone mesas are visible from many Iobarian
cliffs despite the distance. Crudely carved into the cliffs
are three nude female humanoid figures of uncanny
scale, their bodies at least a half-mile long. While their
race is unclear, the figures show a long-haired maiden,
a pregnant matron, and a hunchbacked crone, each
holding up a hand and warning the viewers away (though
from what is unclear).
Hmmm, "three ancient, mystically linked dungeons" according to the product description, plus a certain set of three carved mesas according to Ruyan's spoiler. This sounds interesting ... and it's a Hitchcock module to boot!
I'm certainly buying the Reign of Winter AP, so I just hope that there's good information about Iobaria/Casmaron in this installment. (I don't have Kingmaker #3 - someone else is supposed to run it.)
Super excited for the article on Kostchtchie! If I'm not mistake, not counting Lamshtu, this is the first Demon Lord to get it's own write-up no? I imagine will get more back story between Kostchtchie and Baba Yaga too!
Not to disappoint, but the article is by Sean K Reynolds, keeping in line with all the other deity articles he's written for Pathfinder. Now, going forward, who's to say if James does or doesn't write one of these articles? Stay tuned.
No problem, none at all. Both have their unique style. SKR writing the article-to-come, means expanding the scope of the older one no matter what the focus will be.
Thanks, Adam!
Just to add (and counter all that hype about going to earth and Triaxus, blablabla):
I'm actually most excited about this installment of the AP, because it has more info about Iobaria (which I'm eager to know more about since AP #33), or at least about Deeprun Crevasse, it brings back Kostchtchie and - if following the origins of the triumvirate of mother, maiden, crone (see e. g. Hecate, patron goddess of "crossroads, entrance-ways, fire, light, the Moon, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, necromancy, and sorcery") - opens up really cool new interpretations as to what Baba Yaga might represent in the world of Golarion.
Northeastern edge, so thats as far away from the inner sea as you can get in Iobaria ... unless you take a shortcut over the crown of the world ... which Kostchtchie probably did.
Edit, after reading the wiki article on him: wait a moment ... Kostchtchie actually is from Iobaria, isn't he?
so, "Maiden, Mother, Crone" is a REALLY awesome name for an adventure - not kidding, it's the best Iv'e seen in years ("Seven days to the grave" was also kinda cool).
Glad Paizo stayed away from using Maiden, Mother, Matron and went for something original.
so, "Maiden, Mother, Crone" is a REALLY awesome name for an adventure - not kidding, it's the best Iv'e seen in years ("Seven days to the grave" was also kinda cool).
Glad Paizo stayed away from using Maiden, Mother, Matron and went for something original.
... huh? One's no more original than the other. Heck, I've heard/seen Maiden-Mother-Crone much, much more often in reference to the triune goddess than Maiden-Mother-Matron.
Not for me. Mine says it won't be shipping out until May 17th. I feel like that isn't right...
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... huh? One's no more original than the other. Heck, I've heard/seen Maiden-Mother-Crone much, much more often in reference to the triune goddess than Maiden-Mother-Matron.
You might also wanna check Hecate on e.g. Wikipedia - fits the bill quite nicely (see my post above from January, 28th).