re:difficult 1-5s Neatoliss listed
Some of those aren't hard. Some of them are. Which is why de facto "these are really hard scenarios" lists aren't very helpful without much more explanation.
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Everyone is going to have a different play experience. A scenario that seems like a cakewalk to one group might be an absolutely devastating experience to another. There are so many different variables that it's difficult to make generalizations like, "Never play this scenario".
My suggestion to players is to build good, effective, and flexible characters; practice teamwork and sensible battle tactics; learn from good and bad experiences; and come to PFS with a positive attitude. Character deaths are never fun...but one of the reasons we play PFS is for the challenge and the risk. People don't quit playing basketball, Starcraft, or chess because they've lost one game :-) PFS is like anything else...it's something that YOU the player has a great deal of influence in. Of course sometimes it's due to a bad scenario, or a bad GM. But sometimes it just takes a little bit of change on the player's part to turn the tide.
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I will say, "Never play a Season Four or 'famously tough' scenario at APL of 1.5 or less." Maybe even 2.0.
Most of those listed scenarios are tough at low tier, but not terribly so.
Unless you're level one...
and haven't had time to accumulate all the standard goodies. (CLW wands, iron/silver weapons, mty. comp. bows, utility scrolls/potions, etc.)
or don't know what the standard goodies are, I suppose.
But a level 2 or 3 APL can usually scrape by, lesson learned.
Level 1 PCs will die, often before the players understand what they could have done to win. Not good for the game.
Maybe 1-5 & 1-7 scenarios should come with a warning? Or maybe GMing 101 covers this, I don't know.
Veterans add +1 APL, newbies subtract -1 APL to determine appropriate play level?
rant
Also, some people get those goodies ASAP, some never do.
Played with a 6th level Barb without a ranged attack just this weekend. What? How did he make it this far without that lesson learned?
Oh, and human without a light source.
/confused rant
Maybe we need a list of intro modules to steer them to rather than a hard list to steer them from.
I'll throw Cyphermage Dilemma out there as easy. (w/ CLW wand that is.)
Cheers, JMK
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Yeah, it amazes me when experiences players don't have standard equipment. I played a tier 8-9 the other day, and our group almost had to give up for lack of things to kill swarms. I had two alchemist's fire (on my sorcerer who intentionally never does HP damage to anything), but nobody else in the group had any alch fire, acid, etc. Luckily, somebody had a necklace of fireballs, and there were a couple of flasks of oil around, so we managed to (barely) have enough area of effect stuff to finish the swarms off.