Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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To play you mean?
1-5 School of Spirits (but especially if you've already seen the S0 prequel, Black Waters); strong story.
7-11 Ironbound Schism: nice big fights. Show that your PC is one of the big boys now.
5-9 Thralls of the Shattered God: a nice blend of old-school dungeoneering and modern mechanics and scenario design. This one requires all the players to be on the alert because carelessness gets punished harshly. That said, while brutal, it's well-balanced.
1-5 Faithless and Forgotten part 1-3: especially sweet if you can all play them in a row, because it's an ongoing story. Make sure you play part 3 last.
1-5 The Sun Orchid Scheme: this is when Pathfinder does Ocean's Eleven. And it works.
5-9 The Blakros Connection if you bring a PC that sounds like he'd be good for what the scenario blurb hints at. Also, this one very strongly builds off Serpents Rise, so if you haven't played that one yet, wait to play this one.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Yeah, 6 seconds has so far been the biggest failure of the season for me. The puzzle is frustrating and the fights, while dangerous enough, aren't really that much fun.
Twisted Circle is another problem case. It's not a hopeless scenario, but it requires a very skilled GM to get it across right; otherwise players will be endlessly frustrated.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Bronze House Reprisal is pretty cool. It might change a bit depending on how you go about things, but this is an excellent adventure to turn your party into a SWAT team.
School of Spirits is amazing. So much flavour, so much story.
Blakros Connection is probably my favourite scenario ever. I can write an entire essay on what makes it so amazing. Be sure to have knowledgeable character with you.
Ancients' Anguish is very weird, but very cool. Make sure you've played Beacon Below as well, it has some ties to it.
Twisted Circle has some problems, but if you have a competent GM, it's a cool story.
Thralls of the Shattered God is devious. I love it.
Sun Orchid Scheme is a very good heist scenario, with cool new mechanics.
I feel pretty much all of season 7 is worth playing. The writers really stepped up their game in pretty much all aspects: story, encounters, and mechanics. The only clunker is, as said before, Six Seconds. The story's nice, but the puzzle is too frustrating.
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I'm not hugely fond of Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts. I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I find it Season 4 levels of hellishly difficult, and I'm not into that kind of thing. I like a challenge, not a near-insurmountable obstacle.
Twisted Circle needs a good GM and patient/laid-back players.
I haven't had a chance to play Six Seconds, because it hasn't been rerun in my area since there was a near-TPK in it to start the season off.
...actually, for some reason I've missed out on a lot of this season. Huh. But what I have played has been pretty good.
Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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I loved GMing Twisted Circle! My players are still talking about that one! Such a great story. Great NPCs too.
Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts was very challenging. It requires groups bring their A-Game. It also shows the value of those paladins, bards and clerics... I would definitely put it in a list of deadly scenarios, but I enjoyed my run through it!
Hmm
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I think the most painful was Six Seconds (now that everyone mentions it) because there was one point that was so non-intuitive that the entire party said 'Wut'?
Puzzle wasn't the problem, one of the encounters was just so paradoxical and punishing for performing a certain logical action that it made no sense at all.
While not 'bad' the two-parter (To Judge a Soul) felt a bit 'rushed' at points, though that may have been the table play-styles.
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This season has been resoundingly average in my opinion. They've been functional, but only a few standout enough to actually reach the level of "good". Most are on the level of "okay, but..."
My Recommendations:
7-05: School of Spirits (1-5) - Great NPC, interesting encounters, the only decent use of psychic magic, and a sequel to an excellent adventure. If you only play one season 7 scenario, make sure it's this one. Try to get a game of Black Waters (0-06) before playing this one.
7-17: Deep Market Deception (3-7) - If you've played Weapon in the Rift or Valley of the Veiled Flame, you know what to expect from this one. Unique location, bizarre and interesting NPCs, pitch perfect combats. Don't know why this one hasn't been mentioned already, it's one of the season's best.
7-17: Thralls of the Shattered God (5-9) - I'll be the first to admit I'm the fan of nasty bonecrunching old-school dungeon crawls, it just doesn't feel like a dungeon until half the party has been cursed, and someone loses and arm. Thankfully this scenario is more than happy to oblige. Every twist and turn hits home, and it's the return of one of my favorite NPCs ever. Definitely check it out, if you've got some fingers to spare.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Judge A Soul had a good premise, but it faltered a bit for me. The first scenario is split into two parts, and the wake part just confused me. I'm terrible with names and the scenario just throws a lot of random NPCs at you with similar-sounding names I just couldn't differentiate between. Also, the conclusion to that scene felt really forced. Though to be fair, I played that after a weekend full of games, so my brain was a little fried. Part two is excellent, though.
Deepmarket Deception fell a bit flat for me, as there really isn't anything memorable about the scenario, though it felt like my GM wasn't as well-prepared as he should've been. Long patches of silence as he read the next two pages of the adventure. Though I can't remember any specifics about the fights, I do remember them being tough and cool.
I've read complaints about fights in Six Seconds being frustrating, but I didn't really have any problems with them. We were fairly well kitted out, though, maybe we just trounced them before that could happen.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I think To Judge A Soul should only be run back to back. Not only for mechanical reasons, but because part 1 ends on a very forced note to set up part 2. If they're played apart, it's just rank unfair to players who did everything right that could've been right.
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I found Bronze House Reprisal very frustrating. My review of it goes on at length why. It's one I'm not planning on running ever again.
Twisted Circe I haven't run, only played. It has so much promise, but I gather the scenario author turned in a scenario that was 2x too long, and so no surprise after the Paizo staff had to somehow cut it in half that what was left has issues.
I'm hoping that one of the GMs running Captive in Crystal at PaizoCon is good... because it's me.... I've run it once already, so I will have some practice! That's one with some juicy fights, but also with some solid roleplaying opportunities.
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Alright, now that I've got more time, here're my "good, but.." scenarios. Sessions which, while certainly not perfect, do something different/interesting, making them worth checking out if you have the right character/playstyle for it.
Good, but...:
7-03 Bronze House Reprisal (5-9): This one seems to be despised on the forums, and I can see why. It's long, RP/Skill heavy, and combat light, which is exactly why I enjoyed it. The Aspis Consortium is well-established and respected in this community, but that's not gonna stop the Society from striking back at them, you just have to be subtle about it. Also, a final boss fight which is just the party and the BBEG exchanging pithy one-liners with each other? Awesome. If you like slow, thoughtful sessions with little combat, and have a GM who can pull it off, then this is a pretty good scenario. Just don't play it at a convention or any other time-limited venue.
7-09 Blackrose Connection (5-9): This one is just weird. Uniquely and wonderfully weird. Everything about this scenario is just off the wall strangeness. Unfortunately, it also sees the return of my least favorite mechanic in recent memory (library fights), and the ending falls flat if you're playing with characters who don't have particularly strong backstories. Definitely bring an intelligence based PC for this one, otherwise you're gonna spend a bunch of time doing nothing. On the GM side, this is one of the worst scenarios I've ever had the misfortune of prepping. Multiple enemies from the psychic bestiary, multiple unique mechanics/spells, and tons of psychic mumbo-jumbo that's not explained. Our VC even had trouble keeping this session running smoothly.
Faithless and Forgotten 1, 2, 3 (1-5): This is a mixed bag, it averages out to be a decent series of sessions; unfortunately the best session is the last one, meaning you have to slog through part 2 first. Part 1 is an okay session, the Cheliax flavor is strong and the fights are at least semi-memorable. Part 2 is awful. The first 3/4s of the adventure consists of walking into a room, making a knowledge history check, then walking into the next room. I understand that the author was attempting to create an archeological adventure, but it seems they forgot that real science is boring to everyone who isn't a scientist. Also, the ending is painful for lawfully aligned characters. Part 3 is straight up amazing, and the only reason I'm recommending it. Can't say much more about it, without giving something away. This entire series is clearly written for skill-based non-lawful PCs, if you got one of those, and are interested in exploring some Chelish flavor, you could certainly do worse.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Faithless and Forgotten 1, 2, 3 (1-5): This is a mixed bag, it averages out to be a decent series of sessions; unfortunately the best session is the last one, meaning you have to slog through part 2 first. Part 1 is an okay session, the Cheliax flavor is strong and the fights are at least semi-memorable. Part 2 is awful. The first 3/4s of the adventure consists of walking into a room, making a knowledge history check, then walking into the next room. I understand that the author was attempting to create an archeological adventure, but it seems they forgot that real science is boring to everyone who isn't a scientist. Also, the ending is painful for lawfully aligned characters. Part 3 is straight up amazing, and the only reason I'm recommending it. Can't say much more about it, without giving something away. This entire series is clearly written for skill-based non-lawful PCs, if you got one of those, and are interested in exploring some Chelish flavor, you could certainly do worse.
I've seen more comments to this effect, and I strongly disagree.
I though part 1 was the weakest because its "discoveries" don't really thrill (until you get to part 3 and paid attention before). It's easy to prep and run though, it just lacks a bit of depth.
I rather liked part 2. There's a lot of story in there but you do have to work on expressing that. Props, Golarion lore and all that. When I ran it my players had a blast peeling back the layers during the archeology phase. As for the ending, it could be better but I think it's made much worse if you equate lawfulness with excusing anything as long as it's government-sanctioned, even if that government is Cheliax. I believe this whole adventure should be run as an Indiana Jones movie, with Hellknights representing Nazis.
I did like part 3 best though.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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One I really like that hasn't been mentioned yet is Between The Lines, which has both flavorful encounters within the city and a good introduction to the whole concept of mindscapes.
I'm a big fan of Faithless and Forgotten, all parts of it. The first two scenarios do a good job of showing archaeological exploration, the third part is a hilarious way to strike back at the bad guys, and all three give a good view of how oppressively the country of Cheliax is run.
And yeah, I recommend skipping Six Seconds.
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Personal Opinion
Recommend: Captive in Crystal, Deepmarket Deception, and School of Spirits
Recommend with addendum: To Judge a Soul (but only in high tier, especially part 1), Consortium Compact (locally is a favorite among the evergreens, but haven't had the chance to run or play it yet), Trouble in Tamran (If you've done the prequel and like the character in the cover art, otherwise it loses a bit of the shine - still a good scenario though), Faithless and Forgotten (if you do it as a series it's good, but there's holes throughout IMO)
Avoid: Twisted Circle (an exercise in futility, yes the GM can make up for a lot, but I wouldn't chance it), 6 seconds to midnight (actually there's a good scenario in there but the puzzle is umm, counterintuitive), Labyrinth of the Hungry Ghosts (there's a theme running through that's nice (and one part that verges on awesome), but it's a dungeon crawl designed to make sure any buffs you have active run out between fights, and the fights were ok but nothing to write home about)
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Faithless and Forgotten 1, 2, 3 (1-5): This is a mixed bag, it averages out to be a decent series of sessions; unfortunately the best session is the last one, meaning you have to slog through part 2 first. Part 1 is an okay session, the Cheliax flavor is strong and the fights are at least semi-memorable. Part 2 is awful.
I disagree with Part 2 being "awful". It's problem is that the middle section feels like the first couple of encounters of a flavourful dungeon-crawl module, and I would much rather have explored that further than gone on to the finale.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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The ending for part 1 was just confusing. You are sent off to find some information, you explore the site and find basically nothing and then the session ends.
But you do find
I really enjoyed Faithless and Forgotten 2. I enjoyed the whole series!
Maybe this is another case of the GM making a big difference?
Hmm
Judging by the comments, it appears to be caused by people who think that a lawful character must strictly obey every single law everywhere. That's... really not what the alignment means.
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Definitely liked Between the Lines and School of Spirits from early in the seasons, along with the Faithless and Forgotten trilogy. Deepmarket Deception was pretty cool.
Also agree with everyone saying to avoid Six Seconds to Midnight. Which is a shame, because it's got great fluff and story, but the details just ruin it.
As others have said, Labyrinth of Hungry Ghosts is challenging, but I enjoyed it. Just go into it aware that it's the "hard mode" scenario of the season.
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Faithless and Forgotten 1-2 (mild spoilers):I rather liked part 2. There's a lot of story in there but you do have to work on expressing that. Props, Golarion lore and all that. When I ran it my players had a blast peeling back the layers during the archeology phase. As for the ending, it could be better but I think it's made much worse if you equate lawfulness with excusing anything as long as it's government-sanctioned, even if that government is Cheliax. I believe this whole adventure should be run as an Indiana Jones movie, with Hellknights representing Nazis.
While I'm glad your players had fun, our group didn't have fun for precisely the same reasons.
As for the Hellknights' involvement? I honestly really, really hated how it was handled. They're one of the most unique and interesting tidbits of Chelish lore, reducing them to the role of faceless thugs for the PCs to slaughter en mass is a complete waste of potential; and it contradicts the past depictions of Hellknights in PFS.
Judging by the comments, it appears to be caused by people who think that a lawful character must strictly obey every single law everywhere. That's... really not what the alignment means.
That's true, but there's a significant difference between "strictly obeying every single law" aaaaaand
1. Helping a known fugitive, who is guilty of treason, escape the government (Part 1)
2. Murdering local law enforcement in cold blood. (Part 2. There's no way around fighting the Hellknights. You have to kill them.)
3. Breaking into a prison, freeing a guilty prisoner, along with several domestic terrorists. Possibly killing several guards along the way. (Part 3)
4. Causing untold chaos and property damage, while fleeing from the guard. (Part 3)
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Spoiler:1. Helping a known fugitive, who is guilty of treason, escape the government (Part 1)
2. Murdering local law enforcement in cold blood. (Part 2. There's no way around fighting the Hellknights. You have to kill them.)
3. Breaking into a prison, freeing a guilty prisoner, along with several domestic terrorists. Possibly killing several guards along the way. (Part 3)
4. Causing untold chaos and property damage, while fleeing from the guard. (Part 3)
Then you've really not understood the scenario.
(B) Obviously you can fight people without killing them. None of the scenarios require killing people, indeed they reward you for not doing so.
(C) You're confusing "actions that some player might take" with "actions required by the scenario".
So really, the only thing new(ish) here is that you get to see up close that this country that has been consistently depicted as evil in the past years turns out to be (gasp!) evil. If this makes characters re-evaluate their association with that country, well, good. That's the point.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Hey, I feel like we've had a similar discussion like this in the GM threads about those scenarios. Maybe it's better to take it there and avoid spoiling too much for other people? I can only prove my point for only so long without spilling the beans :P
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(A) The people you mention aren't "guilty", rather they are about to be executed without trial. That's a huge difference that most lawful characters would understand.
(B) Obviously you can fight people without killing them. None of the scenarios require killing people, indeed they reward you for not doing so.
(C) You're confusing "actions that some player might take" with "actions required by the scenario".So really, the only thing new(ish) here is that you get to see up close that this country that has been consistently depicted as evil in the past years turns out to be (gasp!) evil. If this makes characters re-evaluate their association with that country, well, good. That's the point.
I think you might need to re-read the scenarios, two of the things you referenced straight up don't happen.
1. No idea who you're referring to here. I'm talking about Mireille, who the scenario explicitly says is going to be arrested. There's no line about "execution without trial" in the scenario.
2. The second scenario provides no reward for not killing the Hellknights, and given that they both don't surrender and fight to the death, taking them alive is very difficult. The scenario forces the party to fight, and it encourages them to use lethal force.
3. This one is fair. You don't have to free the other prisoners. Unless there's a Liberty's Edge PC in the party, in which case you totally do, because it's their faction mission.
This is an arc where most of your allies are criminals, and many of your enemies are law enforcement officials, making this arc very difficult to play as a lawful PC.
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It's only difficult to play if you're a lawful PC loyal to Cheliax, and not caring that your country is evil.
Most lawful PCs, even those from Cheliax, will realize the unfairness of the Chelaxian law and have no problem violating it. I didn't play either of my paladins in this series, but I could have with no problems.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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It's only difficult to play if you're a lawful PC loyal to Cheliax, and not caring that your country is evil.
Most lawful PCs, even those from Cheliax, will realize the unfairness of the Chelaxian law and have no problem violating it. I didn't play either of my paladins in this series, but I could have with no problems.
Precisely. It's also interesting to note that none of the factions in PFS would have a problem with this mission.
You don't have to free the other prisoners. Unless there's a Liberty's Edge PC in the party, in which case you totally do, because it's their faction mission.
Wait, are you seriously surprised that Liberty's Edge has missions that are non-lawful and involve freeing people? Or that factions can have missions that people outside that faction might not agree with? Because that's hardly new.
given that they both don't surrender and fight to the death, taking them alive is very difficult.
How exactly is that difficult? You either knock them below zero and cast Stabilize (or make a heal check), or you cast any number of low-level disabling spells on them and tie them up.
Have you played Horn of Aroden, or Night March of Kalkamedes? There's plenty of precedent in dealing with a potentially-annoying character without killing him.
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Wait, are you seriously surprised that Liberty's Edge has missions that are non-lawful and involve freeing people?
Not at all, I'm just pointing out that it's something your character may be party to, and has no say in. I have several PCs that would be made very, very unhappy by that mission.
Have you played Horn of Aroden, or Night March of Kalkamedes? There's plenty of precedent in dealing with a potentially-annoying character without killing him.
Huh? I fail to see the connection you're making. Neither of those characters are actively trying to kill you, and are meant to be dealt with through non-combat means.
That's not the case in the finale of part 2.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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I think Lawful Good people are justified in attacking those people at the end of F&F2, as A) they serve an evil empire, and B) they want to capture you on false pretenses and have already done so to an NPC. I felt weird about clobbering them, but they clearly weren't to be reasoned with. They even initiated combat (though I do agree that they offer to take you to prison if you surrender). Lawfully-inclined people might hesitate about injuring them, but they (the Hellknights) are clearly breaking the law as well, as your characters should know by now they want to alter history in their favour.