#3-09 Quest for Perfection: The Edge of Heaven

[clovercanuck]

Hello, experienced GMs!

I've posted this to my local gaming forum, but figured since there isn't any relevant topic here in the Paizo GM Discussion pages yet, it might be nice to pave the road for others in my shoes.

I'll be running QFP1: The Edge of Heaven next Thursday as my first public GMing experience (second real GMing experience ever). As such, I'm looking for any guidance you may have.

I played this scenario in early July, and most of it seems pretty straight-forward. For prep, I've read the scenario, studied my minions, and scoured Paizo's reviews and message boards for tips. I'll be re-reading this week, and taking special note of the Pathfinder rules that are relevant to the action (since it's all really new to me).

Lack of roleplaying opportunities is one complaint that is repeated on the Paizo pages, but there isn't any in-depth discussion of solutions, perhaps because so many people here are experienced GMs from other systems? Roleplaying is still my weakest skill as a player, so tips in this area are especially welcome.

Thanks for any tips you can share -- be they for roleplaying or other aspects of the scenario!

[Paz]

clovercanuck wrote:

since there isn't any relevant topic here in the Paizo GM Discussion pages yet

There's this one!

[clovercanuck]

Oh, geez -- thank you! For some reason, that didn't show up in ANY of my searches.

[Fromper]

One thing I forgot about while running this adventure a couple of weeks ago...

Spoiler:

The yeti gaze power or whatever it is (I forget the details now). I just totally forgot about it, which made the final fights easier than they should have been. Don't forget to use that.

[clovercanuck]

Fromper wrote:

One thing I forgot about while running this adventure a couple of weeks ago...

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for that reminder! I'd forgotten about that too, and it's an important first move. :)

[Mordaith]

I played this as my second ever PFS game. While I appreciated the challenge there was at least one player who grew more and more irritated at the session. (Also a new player)

I do not recommend this for a fresh group. yes it says tier 1-5, but really a team of 1st levels that are light on healing or combat skills are going to be chewed up rather harshly. I specifically waited until my regular group was levels 2-3 before running it. (Tomorrow actually)

[Fromper]

I'll agree with that. There are certain 1-5 or 1-7 adventures where the 1-2 subtier is fine for a group of level 2 PCs, but I wouldn't run for a bunch of level 1s. This is one of them. The Devil We Know, part 1 is another, just off the top of my head.

[clovercanuck]

What's crazy is that I played this at ComicCon with my freshly level 2 sorcerer. I have no recollection of what level the rest of the group was, but most of the games I played there had at least one pregen. It didn't seem so difficult aside from the optional encounter. Now that I've READ the scenario, I understand how incredibly lucky we were.

I'm a fresh GM, but running it at 4/5 at a shop filled with experienced players. Everyone there seems to enjoy a good challenge and the exhilaration of staring death in the face and coming out on top. Fingers crossed that's how it ends!

[Macon Bacon, Esquire]

This scenario will be a memorable one for you players at Tier 4-5. Highly recommended.

[Jatori]

By my calculations, you'll be running the game tomorrow, clovercanuck. Good luck and have fun. Let us know how your game goes.

[Mordaith]

I'll echo what Jerall said. I'm running this same session tonight. The darn fools are playing up.

[Macon Bacon, Esquire]

Joshua Smith wrote:

I'll echo what Jerall said. I'm running this same session tonight. The darn fools are playing up.

APL? What classes and levels?

[Mergy]

I would not call the 4-5 version of this as difficult for a level 3 party as the 1-2 version is for a group of fresh level 1s. A good arcane caster can really nullify the final boss with glitterdust, create pit, or many things that require a will save.

[Max Sharpe]

So I was one of Clover's players from last night. We ran it with a Level 3 Zen Archer, Level 4 Sylvan Sorcerer Summoner with a Trip Cat, Kyra and Mericel. We were able to breeze through most encounters despite our 3.75 APL. We managed to make our Gaze saves, and the final bosses AC was abysmal. Mericel was definately our MVP of Damage due to good flanking by the Cat, Kyra and the Archer and even our Sorcerer with his staff at one point. One thing we did alot of was good tactical maneuvering with the Rogue stepping into range and readying a standard action to attack when someone flanked with her.

[clovercanuck]

Max here's summarized stuff well. Their party chewed through all the challenges as though there weren't any. I did forget to use the stench aura in 1C, but aside from that the scenario's lack of difficulty really came down to them planning well and going first a lot.

This really opened my eyes to the sort of variation an encounter can provide, since a lot of people have squished 4/5 parties in the boss fight at the very least.

Thanks to everyone who shared tips and ideas -- both in this thread and from the original Paz pointed me to. It made a big difference for a newbie GM!

Edit: I should also add that unfortunately we had to skip the optional encounter (something I'd pre-planned due to a short slot and knowing I wouldn't be fast enough to make room) and all the roleplay at the end around obtaining the braid. That last part was disappointing, since there's such a cool story there, so while I enjoyed roleplaying the beginning a bit, I'd actually trade it off the other way around the next time.

[Jatori]

It's always interesting to see how different party compositions handle different situations and scenarios. I rather like the use of an air elemental (summon monster II, I assume). Clover, Max, thanks for the feedback.