I'm on the board for a small tabletop association, and we've recently decided to try our hands at running a few Pathfinder Society events. Of course, for us to play we need to have the scenarios, and I was wondering which scenarios you would recommend? I've read some reviews, but most of them are somewhat unfulfilling, if not downright bad.
For now the most important scenarios are the ones that can be played through by level 1 characters, but higher tier scenario recommendations are welcome as well.
Thanks in advance :)
Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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Runge,
I would recommend the following scenarios:
5-08 The Confirmation (1-2)
6-10 The Wounded Wisp (1-2)
These scenarios give a lot of background to the Society and are a great starting point.
The rest that follow are personal opinion and some of my personal favorites:
7-05 School of Spirits (1-5)
6-19 Test of Tar Kuata (3-7)
5-05 The Elven Entanglement (7-11)
4-01 Rise of the Goblin Guild (1-5)
4-07 Severing Ties (1-5)
4-09 The Blackros Matrimony (3-7)
3-01 The Frostfur Captives (1-5)
3-09, 3-11, and 3-13 The Quest for Perfection (3 parts) (1-5)
2-01 and 2-02 Before the Dawn (2 parts) (1-7)
2-25 You Only Die Twice (5-9)
Since I really would like to avoid any spoilers, please feel free to message me on any of these scenarios and I will elaborate further on why I enjoyed these as much as I have.
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For a new group I will strongly recommend The Confirmation and The Wounded Wisp, and at the end of next month The Consortium Connection. All three scenarios are designed for new groups, and replayable with different characters later on.
Also Service into Lore part 1 is worth mentioning as a older introduction scenario that is available free.
After level one it will depend on where your group would like to start. Older scenarios from Season 1 and 2 are easier to prep for newer GMs as they reference less books and were designed for 4 member parties. Scenarios from newer seasons can be more challenging for both players and GM but were designed for 6 member groups.
5-08 The Confirmation (1-2)
6-10 The Wounded Wisp (1-2)
I had my eyes on both of those actually. I was quite fond of the fact that they had the same NPC appear in both, so I was wondering: Are there any other scenarios that share NPCs in that way? Without them being directly linked, that is.
Yes. Lots.
Examples? :)
Which ones to buy?
ALL OF THEM
Except Darkest Vengance.
You can think of this question more in terms of "Which ones to buy first" then ^^
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Many of the Society Venture-Captains that send the PCs on their missions are used over and over. For instance, most scenarios that start in Absalom (the biggest city of the Inner Sea and home base for the Society) have Drandle Dreng or Ambrus Valsin giving you the assignment. If you're in the city of Magnimar, it's always Sheila Heidmarch. And every season, there's one adventure having to do with the Blackros family and/or Blackros Museum, so you see the museum's curator, Nigel Aldain, in most of those, along with other recurring Blackros family members.
Definitely agree with The Confirmation and Wounded Wisp as good starting points for level 1. First Steps, part 1 (In Service to Lore) is a good adventure, but unfortunately, the faction introductions are out of date. I'm still surprised they haven't retired that one yet. Master of the Fallen Fortress is pretty good, too, and replayable for level 1 PCs, but make sure you have some healing going in. Don't send fresh level 1s without a wand of Cure Light Wounds or positive channeling cleric.
I'll disagree with Preston's recommendation of doing 7-05 School of Spirits too early, mostly because it's a sequel to an early adventure, and I'd recommend hitting them in order. Black Waters was a fantastic season 0 adventure, but it was written for 3.5 rules, so there may be some minor stat conversions involved in running it. But definitely do Black Waters before School of Spirits. They're both very good low level scenarios.
From season 1, one of my "go to" adventures for new players is Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible. It's an easy to run low level adventure with an interesting twist that makes the first fight much harder than you'd expect (but not in a lethal way).
And since I mentioned the Blackros family above, I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend sending your adventurers to the Blackros Museum. As I said, there's one adventure per season related to that: Mists of Mwangi, Voices in the Void, The Penumbral Accord, Echoes of the Overwatched, The Blackros Matrimony, Hellknight's Feast, and Silver Mount Collection. I think that's all of them that relate to that family, in order. Some are better than others, and they don't have to all be played or tackled in order to work, but I will say that Penumbral Accords, Blackros Matrimony, and The Hellknight's Feast are best to play in order.
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Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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I'll disagree with Preston's recommendation of doing 7-05 School of Spirits too early, mostly because it's a sequel to an early adventure, and I'd recommend hitting them in order. Black Waters was a fantastic season 0 adventure, but it was written for 3.5 rules, so there may be some minor stat conversions involved in running it. But definitely do Black Waters before School of Spirits. They're both very good low level scenarios.
Fromper, I only gave a list of my favorites. I definitely do not recommend running School of Spirits before Black Waters.
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Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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If you like continuity, read this thread.
I will agree with the Fox on checking out the thread linked.
Thanks Fromper, your thoughts are immensely helpful! What is your favourite scenario so far?
Thanks Fox, I'll have a look at that :)
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Thanks Fromper, your thoughts are immensely helpful! What is your favourite scenario so far?
Thanks Fox, I'll have a look at that :)
Any preference for tier or sub-tier?
Mists of Mwangi is a fun romp through a cursed museum.School of Spirits can be amusing, but it seriously helps to have done Black Waters first.
Black Waters is a great scenario for this time of year.
You Only Die Twice, which is higher tier, can be fun, but I have to admit it was in part due to our party makeup.
Six Seconds to Midnight was enjoyable, but I have to verify something with the GM, since we may have missed an encounter.
Darkest Vengeance is subject to variance by party makeup as to whether it should be avoided or not. The Light/Darkness blog should help on making it more generally playable.
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Thanks Fromper, your thoughts are immensely helpful! What is your favourite scenario so far?
Thanks Fox, I'll have a look at that :)
Any preference for tier or sub-tier?
Mists of Mwangi is a fun romp through a cursed museum.
School of Spirits can be amusing, but it seriously helps to have done Black Waters first.
Black Waters is a great scenario for this time of year.You Only Die Twice, which is higher tier, can be fun, but I have to admit it was in part due to our party makeup.
Six Seconds to Midnight was enjoyable, but I have to verify something with the GM, since we may have missed an encounter.Darkest Vengeance is subject to variance by party makeup as to whether it should be avoided or not. The Light/Darkness blog should help on making it more generally playable.
I was the GM for darkest vengeance not a player, mu ha ha
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Six Seconds to Midnight was enjoyable, but I have to verify something with the GM, since we may have missed an encounter.
This is one of only two scenarios I refuse to ever GM. One of the few truly terrible scenarios I've ever seen. It's a shame, too, since the flavor of the adventure is amazing, but the mechanics make it absolutely awful.
For anyone keeping score at home, the other that I refuse to GM is The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch. That one's fine if you're running for a group of true murderhobos, but it doesn't work if any member of the party has a good alignment. Which means it really doesn't work for Society play.