Category: Ring Side Report

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-13: All That Glitters

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-13: All That Glitters

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 8.99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq08c00?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-613-All-That-Glitters 

TL; DR– Solid, but too short 91% 

Basics– Ready for maybe a wild goose chase?  A lost vault has been discovered that may have a lost key to a pocket dimension.  If you check the cache, the Pathfinders get to keep everything but that key.

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure is a good old dungeon crawl.  Not much diplomacy, not much outside exploration, but good old enter the room, explore, kill the bad guys.  You can’t beat the classics.  There might be some encounter balance issues, but overall its crunch is well balanced.  4.75/5

Theme or Fluff–  The biggest issue for this adventure is the length.  This is a VERY short adventure with a bit of story, but not much beyond the basics.  This adventure uses a map that was used in a quest, but this is a full sized adventure.  It’s fun as you explore the vault-like museum, but it needs to be longer.  I’m pretty quick as a GM, but this took me less than 2 hours to run at a con.  And something important, I dont think they describe what the key is.  You find it, but they don’t describe what it looks like.  4/5

Execution– It’s Paizo.  Solid layout, production, art, and even text makes this something to be studied.  5/5

Summary– This is a fun adventure.  I like the crawl.  Crawls in dungeons are always fun, but this is just not long enough.  Throw me more encounters here.  Some are even marked as optional.  More things to do would spice up this adventure.  But, what’s here is good.  91%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-12: The Burning of Greensteeples

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-12: The Burning of Greensteeples

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 8.99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq08bzx?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-612-The-Burning-of-Greensteeples 

TL; DR-Fun events, but little big pictures.  90% 

Basics–  Greensteeples burns!  Thrune attacks the Pathfinders at Greensteeples, and it’s your job to help.  Can you get in, get your friends, and get out?

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure covers a lot of bases. It has an infiltration round and several combats.  Infiltration could be better described in the core books, but what’s here functions ok within the rules themselves.  There is a smattering of social encounters, but overall, it’s several small events as the players attempt to sneak in, kill bad guys, get friends, and sneak out.  It’s good overall, with only a few small issues.  4.75/5

Theme or Fluff–  I know Thrune doesn’t like the Pathfinders, but there seems like there is more going on, but I don’t know it.  I feel like this is setting up something big, but I don’t have enough to tell my players about it.  There is moving and shaking, but I don’t understand it.  I’d like to know more than what’s here.  The base plot is fine, but the bigger plot is something I think isn’t well explained.  3.75/5

Execution– It’s Paizo.  I keep saying they do this well, and they did this well again. 5/5Summary– I liked this one, but I wish I could love this one.  I need more big story beats.  I felt like I missed it here, so my players may miss it as well.  The major events went well, and the players and I had fun with the crunch.  The execution is on point as always.  I just want to know more of what is going on.  90%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Adventure Path #183: Field of Maidens (Blood Lords 3 of 6)

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Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path #183: Field of Maidens (Blood Lords 3 of 6)

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 26.99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq02c11?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-183-Field-of-Maidens 

TL; DR–  Good, but some fluff in the middle.  93% 

Basics–  Ok, but who’s behind all this crap?  Field of Maidens picks up where the book two of Blood Lords left off with our heroes being summoned to find who’s behind the poison plot. But along the way bodies start to pile up…

Mechanics or Crunch– The crunch here works well.  Paizo understands their system the best, and it shows.  The combats were balanced, and my all undead party had monsters where they could FINALLY use negative energy to damage.  There is some serious social interaction along the way as well as a bit of exploration.  Fun all around.  5/5

Theme or Fluff–  The adventure works, but some of it feels like fluff. This adventure has the characters go after a newly undead creature from the first book.  As they track them down, they learn about the new creature, but some of the events along the way are kind of out of left field.  There is about a third of the adventure in the field of maidens that felt like it really wasn’t necessary. It works, but it’s a bit of fluff that might not really build out the main quest.  4/5

Execution– Paizo knows their stuff.  Paizo made this so there is good art, hyperlinks, good layout, and an easy to read style that makes this easy to approach.  Solid production all around. 5/5

Summary–  This adventure is fun, but be ready for the filler episode.  The middle third isn’t really necessary, but the rest does advance the plot.  The monsters are fun, combat enjoyable, and the social interactions are well done.  It’s a well done book with a bit of filler.  93%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Old Gods of Appalachia Player’s Guide

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Product– Old Gods of Appalachia Player’s Guide

System- Cypher System

Producer– Monte Cook Games

Price– $7.99 here  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/448863/old-gods-of-appalachia-player-s-guide?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR-Missing pieces and price hurt the product.  83% 

Basics-What’s that in the woods?  Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror podcast made into an RPG using the Cypher System by Monte Cook Games.  Let’s see what is in that hollar down yonder!  

System et al- This is the Cypher System you know and love.  You lose points from each pool instead of being dealt damage on a condition track.  Besides that, this is the cypher system that you either hate or love.

Cyphers-  So what’s a cypher?  I don’t think this book even explains it.  That’s a major problem…

Mechanics or Crunch– This gives a decent intro to the cypher system, but it has a major flaw not explaining what a cypher is.  You will learn fast, but the fact the book doesn’t explain this is a problem.  The system is explained decently and you get enough background to play.  The book comes with four complete characters so you can get playing fast. 4/5

Theme or Fluff– Here is the high point of the book.  This book spends lots of time explaining the world of the American coal country during the period of 1900 to a little past WW2.  It’s deep but leaves more room for you to explore. This is honestly most of the book.  5/5

Execution– This is good, but WAY TOO expensive!  This is a 32-page book that costs eight bucks.  AND IT DOESN’T EXPLAIN HOW A CYPHER WORKS!  This should be a free product and there is a free intro version that is 17 pages.  This is a lot of exposition and four characters.  It’s done well, but the art is recycled in the main book, so it’s just too expensive.  3.5/5

Summary– This is a decent product hurt by a few key issues.  If you have this, you have four characters that you can instantly run in someone else’s game.  That’s good. You will understand the rules EXCEPT for what a cypher is.  You will find out quick, but it’s the system name!  Also, the price is WAY too high for an intro product.  This feels more like a free product a company throws out to get interest.  Honestly, maybe just buy the core book which is 3 times as much but over 10 times as long.  83%