paizo.com Recent Product Reviewspaizo.com Recent Product Reviews2022-01-14T20:45:54Z2022-01-14T20:45:54ZPathfinder Society Scenario #5-05: The Island of the Vibrant Dead: Great flavor, some challenges to overcome (3 stars)Monkhoundhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02eu1?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-505-The-Island-of-the-Vibrant-Dead2024-03-18T17:21:27Z<p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-05: The Island of the Vibrant Dead</b></p><p>First off, I did enjoy both playing and running this scenario. It has amazing flavor, but there are some challenges to overcome.</p>
<p><b>The pros</b>
<br />
- The flavor is amazing. The whole presentation of the surroundings is highly evocative and feels like it dips strongly into the pirate and carribean themes
<br />
- The NPC's are cool, and their artwork is fantastic
<br />
- In advance you can surmise the general theme of the encounters that you're going to face, but they all still manage to surprise and to pack quite a punch
<br />
- That BBEG is a seriously mean and terrifying piece of work. Both Loved and hated it :D
<br />
- The metaplot storyline implications are interesting and cool</p>
<p><b>The cons</b>
<br />
- As a player I still have to come to terms with the whole "not all undead are evil", and I know from playing that I'm not alone in this. I'm definitely not opposed to the concept, so I do not hold this against the scenario: As previously stated, I <i>loved</i> the flavor that was presented. The reason that I add this as a negative, is that the GM does not get any handhold or suggestion to help champions, clerics or even plain followers of a deity to work with this (Pharasma is a Core20 deity that has an edict to destroy undead, even in the Remaster). A sidebar with a few suggestions would have helped
<br />
- The whole investigation and dungeon crawling felt too obvious, and it does not really support very obvious player actions such as wanting to interview the NPC's, or wanting to gather information about them. I undersdtand GM freedom allows a lot, but suggestions would have been welcome
<br />
- The scenario runs long (ran it in 6 hours while skipping one encounter, and without any downtime or 'slow play'). It felt to me like the dungeon crawling part alone could be a scenario.</p>
<p><b>All in all</b>
<br />
Despite the challenges, I did enjoy the scenario and I wouldn't mind running it again. Finally, I'm curious where this is leading to.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-05: The Island of the Vibrant Dead</b></p><p>First off, I did enjoy both playing and running this scenario. It has amazing flavor, but there are some challenges to overcome.</p>
<p><b>The pros</b>
<br />
- The flavor is amazing. The whole presentation of the surroundings is highly evocative and feels like it dips strongly into the pirate and carribean themes
<br />
- The NPC's are cool, and their artwork is fantastic
<br />
- In advance you can surmise the general theme of the encounters that you're going to face, but they all still manage to surprise and to pack quite a punch
<br />
- That BBEG is a seriously mean and terrifying piece of work. Both Loved and hated it :D
<br />
- The metaplot storyline implications are interesting and cool</p>
<p><b>The cons</b>
<br />
- As a player I still have to come to terms with the whole "not all undead are evil", and I know from playing that I'm not alone in this. I'm definitely not opposed to the concept, so I do not hold this against the scenario: As previously stated, I <i>loved</i> the flavor that was presented. The reason that I add this as a negative, is that the GM does not get any handhold or suggestion to help champions, clerics or even plain followers of a deity to work with this (Pharasma is a Core20 deity that has an edict to destroy undead, even in the Remaster). A sidebar with a few suggestions would have helped
<br />
- The whole investigation and dungeon crawling felt too obvious, and it does not really support very obvious player actions such as wanting to interview the NPC's, or wanting to gather information about them. I undersdtand GM freedom allows a lot, but suggestions would have been welcome
<br />
- The scenario runs long (ran it in 6 hours while skipping one encounter, and without any downtime or 'slow play'). It felt to me like the dungeon crawling part alone could be a scenario.</p>
<p><b>All in all</b>
<br />
Despite the challenges, I did enjoy the scenario and I wouldn't mind running it again. Finally, I'm curious where this is leading to.</p>Monkhound2024-03-18T17:21:27ZPathfinder Adventure Path #42: Sanctum of the Serpent God (Serpent's Skull 6 of 6) (PFRPG): At Least It's Finally Over (2 stars)Magic Butterflyhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy8ihw?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-42-Sanctum-of-the-Serpent-God2024-03-18T17:19:11Z<p><b>Pathfinder Adventure Path #42: Sanctum of the Serpent God (Serpent's Skull 6 of 6) (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I did not enjoy the Serpent's Skull AP very much, and it's not easy to disentangle that from my assessment of this module. I think it was a solid module that caps off an AP that wasn't good at all. By itself, it's not bad. But it wasn't good enough to act as a satisfying conclusion to Serpent's Skull. </p>
<p>The module's structure is that of two large dungeon crawls with some climactic plot culmination in between. The first dungeon crawl is... ok. You need to find the NPC maguffin and fight some morlocks in order to do so. It really feels like a diplomatic approach should be workable here, since canonically the morlocks and serpentfolk are enemies, but I digress. This dungeon has the same problem as virtually ever Serpent's Skull dungeon has: a ton of repeated encounters against the same enemies, over and over again. This dungeon does make an attempt to add variety, and is somewhat successful, but it's shackled by my poor experience with the previous module and I just had no patience for this kind of thing anymore.</p>
<p>Once you get your maguffin NPC (who is, admittedly, very cool), it's up to the surface to do the old "assemble an army, give inspiring speeches, etc.". Thing. There's a series of neat assassination encounters that feel very out of place but are also pretty fun. Once the army is assembled, it has virtually no further part to play in the campaign. It fights the serpentfolk off-camera while the PCs infiltrate the last boss' temple. This is very disappointing, and a GM would do well to do something to make this more engaging for the players. It's actually a pretty epic tableau for the last dungeon crawl.</p>
<p>Speaking of the last dungeon crawl, it's pretty standard. Evil serpent god temple, lots of high-level serpent dudes, etc. etc. At this point the AP finally adds enough variety to the encounters to make them interesting. It's not a bad romp. The last boss is an interesting gauntlet design that didn't quite work for us, but did demonstrate some cool thinking with regards to encounter design. It really did feel like a multi-phase last boss encounter, but it was a touch easy for us.</p>
<p>Overall the last module was ok, but it comes at the tail end of an AP that I simply cannot recommend. I might have had more fun with this book if I wasn't suffering from such burnout on the entire Serpent's Skull experience, but I also don't think that this is a world-beater of a module either. As with a lot of the Serpent's Skull modules, it might have been too ambitious and tried to cram too much into the book, with the two large dungeons and a mass combat army scenario.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Adventure Path #42: Sanctum of the Serpent God (Serpent's Skull 6 of 6) (PFRPG)</b></p><p>I did not enjoy the Serpent's Skull AP very much, and it's not easy to disentangle that from my assessment of this module. I think it was a solid module that caps off an AP that wasn't good at all. By itself, it's not bad. But it wasn't good enough to act as a satisfying conclusion to Serpent's Skull. </p>
<p>The module's structure is that of two large dungeon crawls with some climactic plot culmination in between. The first dungeon crawl is... ok. You need to find the NPC maguffin and fight some morlocks in order to do so. It really feels like a diplomatic approach should be workable here, since canonically the morlocks and serpentfolk are enemies, but I digress. This dungeon has the same problem as virtually ever Serpent's Skull dungeon has: a ton of repeated encounters against the same enemies, over and over again. This dungeon does make an attempt to add variety, and is somewhat successful, but it's shackled by my poor experience with the previous module and I just had no patience for this kind of thing anymore.</p>
<p>Once you get your maguffin NPC (who is, admittedly, very cool), it's up to the surface to do the old "assemble an army, give inspiring speeches, etc.". Thing. There's a series of neat assassination encounters that feel very out of place but are also pretty fun. Once the army is assembled, it has virtually no further part to play in the campaign. It fights the serpentfolk off-camera while the PCs infiltrate the last boss' temple. This is very disappointing, and a GM would do well to do something to make this more engaging for the players. It's actually a pretty epic tableau for the last dungeon crawl.</p>
<p>Speaking of the last dungeon crawl, it's pretty standard. Evil serpent god temple, lots of high-level serpent dudes, etc. etc. At this point the AP finally adds enough variety to the encounters to make them interesting. It's not a bad romp. The last boss is an interesting gauntlet design that didn't quite work for us, but did demonstrate some cool thinking with regards to encounter design. It really did feel like a multi-phase last boss encounter, but it was a touch easy for us.</p>
<p>Overall the last module was ok, but it comes at the tail end of an AP that I simply cannot recommend. I might have had more fun with this book if I wasn't suffering from such burnout on the entire Serpent's Skull experience, but I also don't think that this is a world-beater of a module either. As with a lot of the Serpent's Skull modules, it might have been too ambitious and tried to cram too much into the book, with the two large dungeons and a mass combat army scenario.</p>Magic Butterfly2024-03-18T17:19:11ZPathfinder: Elemental Stones: Fun with great replay value. (5 stars)W. Brian Lanehttps://paizo.com/products/btq02eh8?Pathfinder-Elemental-Stones2024-03-18T15:09:27Z<p><b>Pathfinder: Elemental Stones</b></p><p>Every time I play this game, it goes differently. The combination of secret objectives presents new challenges, and the communal resource management makes for fun interactions. Thematically, it feels like you're playing in the Pathfinder setting, but doesn't require any insider knowledge to play or enjoy.</p>
<p>We recently introduced our 6-year-old to the game, with the elemental sovereign cards and objective cards removed. This made the game more accessible and was just as fun.</p><p><b>Pathfinder: Elemental Stones</b></p><p>Every time I play this game, it goes differently. The combination of secret objectives presents new challenges, and the communal resource management makes for fun interactions. Thematically, it feels like you're playing in the Pathfinder setting, but doesn't require any insider knowledge to play or enjoy.</p>
<p>We recently introduced our 6-year-old to the game, with the elemental sovereign cards and objective cards removed. This made the game more accessible and was just as fun.</p>W. Brian Lane2024-03-18T15:09:27ZPathfinder Society Scenario #5-10: The Crocodile's Smile: Some Good, Some Bad (2 stars)Leahcimhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02eyv?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-510-The-Crocodiles-Smile2024-03-17T02:51:25Z<p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-10: The Crocodile's Smile</b></p><p>I felt the first half of the scenario was really well written. These social encounters are often not very strong, but the five NPCs the PCs are trying to influence are really interesting and well-developed. The Influence system really shined in this scenario. My group and I had a wonderful time with it and the RP with the NPCs. This was a PFS social encounter at its very best.</p>
<p>As that portion of the scenario came to an end, the rest kinda fell apart for us. It was drab, boring, and poorly constructed. There is a thing that happens that drives the PCs to go after someone. There is a real sense of urgency coming out of the social encounter. But the scenario was written like they were in a slow, plodding dungeon crawl where a lot of things need to be slowly investigated. We were in a chase scene kind of moment, not a dungeon crawl. Poorly executed and each combat encounter was overly easy. After the enjoyment of the first half of the scenario, everyone was bored by the second half or frustrated by the poor quality.</p>
<p>The scenario also had a lot of editing issues. Some sentences didn't make sense, making prep difficult but this was mostly in the second half. Some descriptions of certain features in certain rooms matched features on the map in different rooms. Kinda looked like cut-and-paste mistakes accidentally put descriptions in the wrong place.</p>
<p>Was it worth playing? Yes, maybe... The first half of the scenario was brilliant! The second half is rough. Those 2 Stars fall solely on the quality of the first half of the scenario.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-10: The Crocodile's Smile</b></p><p>I felt the first half of the scenario was really well written. These social encounters are often not very strong, but the five NPCs the PCs are trying to influence are really interesting and well-developed. The Influence system really shined in this scenario. My group and I had a wonderful time with it and the RP with the NPCs. This was a PFS social encounter at its very best.</p>
<p>As that portion of the scenario came to an end, the rest kinda fell apart for us. It was drab, boring, and poorly constructed. There is a thing that happens that drives the PCs to go after someone. There is a real sense of urgency coming out of the social encounter. But the scenario was written like they were in a slow, plodding dungeon crawl where a lot of things need to be slowly investigated. We were in a chase scene kind of moment, not a dungeon crawl. Poorly executed and each combat encounter was overly easy. After the enjoyment of the first half of the scenario, everyone was bored by the second half or frustrated by the poor quality.</p>
<p>The scenario also had a lot of editing issues. Some sentences didn't make sense, making prep difficult but this was mostly in the second half. Some descriptions of certain features in certain rooms matched features on the map in different rooms. Kinda looked like cut-and-paste mistakes accidentally put descriptions in the wrong place.</p>
<p>Was it worth playing? Yes, maybe... The first half of the scenario was brilliant! The second half is rough. Those 2 Stars fall solely on the quality of the first half of the scenario.</p>Leahcim2024-03-17T02:51:25ZStarfinder Society Scenario #6-14: The Missing: What were they thinking? (1 star)David E.https://paizo.com/products/btq02eun?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-614-The-Missing2024-03-16T18:00:38Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #6-14: The Missing</b></p><p>Played this in high tier; it is not connected to the meta at all and feels like a filler episode for season six. Would have been much better to release this much earlier in the schedule as it just feels out of place this late in the season. This episode suffers from cliché's and bad writing and you have to really suspend your disbelief to make this one work in your mind. It could have been a really good compare and contrast situation very similar to how the Amish or Shakers are presented in the U.S.A. verses the current social media culture but it doesn't go that route and instead devolves into the traditional cliché culture of a "hippy artist commune" vrs the traditional establishment. Its tired and played out. But they don't really establish what the traditional values are for the main group and instead its all left with huge plot holes. It would also be better if they started integrating the new PC speaker instead of promoting the lame duck 1st seeker. </p>
<p>Lots of bad game mechanics by design. They lock you into just one skill you need to capitalize on and if your party doesn't have that skill you are out of luck. Terrible design for a pick up game as you can never tell what skills you have. Ouch. </p>
<p>(The story also feels like a bad B-movie version of Romeo and Juliet - in space. And a lot of the items they present to you, that should be clues according to basic writing troupes, are nothing. Not even red herrings. It is so weird and frustrating. This would have been much better as a line module or a pain train as it just gets all out of order in sandbox mode.)</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #6-14: The Missing</b></p><p>Played this in high tier; it is not connected to the meta at all and feels like a filler episode for season six. Would have been much better to release this much earlier in the schedule as it just feels out of place this late in the season. This episode suffers from cliché's and bad writing and you have to really suspend your disbelief to make this one work in your mind. It could have been a really good compare and contrast situation very similar to how the Amish or Shakers are presented in the U.S.A. verses the current social media culture but it doesn't go that route and instead devolves into the traditional cliché culture of a "hippy artist commune" vrs the traditional establishment. Its tired and played out. But they don't really establish what the traditional values are for the main group and instead its all left with huge plot holes. It would also be better if they started integrating the new PC speaker instead of promoting the lame duck 1st seeker. </p>
<p>Lots of bad game mechanics by design. They lock you into just one skill you need to capitalize on and if your party doesn't have that skill you are out of luck. Terrible design for a pick up game as you can never tell what skills you have. Ouch. </p>
<p>(The story also feels like a bad B-movie version of Romeo and Juliet - in space. And a lot of the items they present to you, that should be clues according to basic writing troupes, are nothing. Not even red herrings. It is so weird and frustrating. This would have been much better as a line module or a pain train as it just gets all out of order in sandbox mode.)</p>David E.2024-03-16T18:00:38ZPathfinder Society Scenario #5-11: Equal Exchanges – The Hidden Current: Terrible encounter balance ruins an otherwise good scenario (3 stars)Cordell Kintnerhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02f01?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-511-Equal-Exchanges-The-Hidden-Current2024-03-16T06:53:34Z<p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-11: Equal Exchanges – The Hidden Current</b></p><p>The encounters in this scenario need some additional review, especially the final one.</p>
<p>Encounter 1:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
Encounter 3:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted] </p>
<p>I really hope you do more playtesting for the next scenario in this series, as recently it's either been too easy, or insanely difficult.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-11: Equal Exchanges – The Hidden Current</b></p><p>The encounters in this scenario need some additional review, especially the final one.</p>
<p>Encounter 1:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
Encounter 3:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted] </p>
<p>I really hope you do more playtesting for the next scenario in this series, as recently it's either been too easy, or insanely difficult.</p>Cordell Kintner2024-03-16T06:53:34ZPathfinder Society Scenario #5-11: Equal Exchanges – The Hidden Current: Solid story, but pacing was a bit off. (4 stars)Moskauhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02f01?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-511-Equal-Exchanges-The-Hidden-Current2024-03-16T06:06:05Z<p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-11: Equal Exchanges – The Hidden Current</b></p><p>Without getting into spoilers, since this scenario is a bit of a callback for those who have been playing since PFS1, my only real complaint is the pacing. I feel like the layout of the main map leads to a lot party indecision, coupled with a lot of lore dumping in the end that most people might not get or care for. My party mostly had newer players, so the impact was really lost on them. It would also would have been nice to touch upon the associated legacy boon, but c'est la vie. </p>
<p>Otherwise, the scenario had a very creepy vibe that could be exported to home games. Combats were solid and flavorful, particularly at the end. I'm excited to see the conclusion of he Equal Exchanges metaplot goes. I was intending to sit out this PFS season until this one was announced.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-11: Equal Exchanges – The Hidden Current</b></p><p>Without getting into spoilers, since this scenario is a bit of a callback for those who have been playing since PFS1, my only real complaint is the pacing. I feel like the layout of the main map leads to a lot party indecision, coupled with a lot of lore dumping in the end that most people might not get or care for. My party mostly had newer players, so the impact was really lost on them. It would also would have been nice to touch upon the associated legacy boon, but c'est la vie. </p>
<p>Otherwise, the scenario had a very creepy vibe that could be exported to home games. Combats were solid and flavorful, particularly at the end. I'm excited to see the conclusion of he Equal Exchanges metaplot goes. I was intending to sit out this PFS season until this one was announced.</p>Moskau2024-03-16T06:06:05ZStarfinder Society Scenario #5-08: Tarnished Legacy: Star Sugar Superstar!!!: Confusing scenario. (2 stars)Gayel Nordhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02dvn?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-508-Tarnished-Legacy-Star-Sugar-Superstar2024-03-16T00:10:48Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #5-08: Tarnished Legacy: Star Sugar Superstar!!!</b></p><p>I am not sure. It felt much more longer than what happen.</p>
<p>But i think this is more the animation than the scenario.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #5-08: Tarnished Legacy: Star Sugar Superstar!!!</b></p><p>I am not sure. It felt much more longer than what happen.</p>
<p>But i think this is more the animation than the scenario.</p>Gayel Nord2024-03-16T00:10:48ZPathfinder GM Core (1 star)ThomLowhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02eok?Pathfinder-GM-Core2024-03-15T03:11:43Z...ThomLow2024-03-15T03:11:43ZPathfinder Player Core (1 star)ThomLowhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02eoj?Pathfinder-Player-Core2024-03-15T03:11:04Z...ThomLow2024-03-15T03:11:04Z