Category: Ring Side Report

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-17: Stranded on Yesterday’s Tide

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Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day! 

Product- Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-17: Stranded on Yesterday’s Tide

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer- Paizo

Price- $8.99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq03tyu?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-517-Stranded-on-Yesterdays-Tide 

TL; DR- Solid story with a divisive 1st act.  93%

Basics-  TIME LOOP!  When the god died, time ran in a circle.  What happens to those stuck in it?  Can you get them out?

Mechanics or Crunch- The adventure is a good one, but influence is a dividing factor.  Influence encounters are something that divides players.  It’s a mechanical way to make social encounters work, but some players absolutely hate them.  This starts with one.  That will either make you love this adventure or start off weak.  From there it gets better and enters surprising levels of Cthulhu mythos.  And that’s always fun. 4/5

Theme or Fluff-  Mystery, into combat, and then Cthulhu.  That’s the ingredients of a solid four hours of fun. I love the story and enjoy everything it has to offer.5/5

Execution-  It’s Paizo.  They know this.  they know how to lay out an adventure.  5/5

Summary-  I enjoyed this one but not everyone will.  The influence-focused encounters will make some players mad, but others will find their stride. Then it’s combat and skills to win the day.  Those are always fun, so all players will enjoy everything after the first act.  Fun, but something to keep in mind.  93%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-14: Twice in Steel

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Product-Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-14: Twice in Steel

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $8.99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq09hnx?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-614-Twice-in-Steel 

TL; DR– Good but LONG!  87%

Basics– The demons are gone, but very much not forgotten.  The Pathfinder Society hunts for a lost cultist who might restart the Worldwound.  Will you stop her in time?  

Mechanics or Crunch– I love a good hex crawl.  You have some crazy side events, some social, some skill, and a few combats.  The math all works out.  Also, this has probably my favorite event in a PFS scenario: IF YOU STEALTH, YOU AVOID A COMBAT!  It’s not an “it happens later” thing, it’s “you bypass a combat.”  Everyone has something to do in this adventure and the math is solid.   5/5

Theme or Fluff–  This is a hex crawl, so there are lots of things that can happen.  The issue is there are LOTS of things the players might miss or can happen.  As a GM, you have a lot to run in a higher level PFS adventure.  And as a GM you have keep the players on task to get this done within four hours of a con!  It’s REALLY easy for this one to run off the rails if the players go in the wrong direction, miss hints, or even just don’t get all the pieces.  More direction would be nice and even a bit more variety of things to encounter for fights. I love the story and the idea, but this one you have to keep a solid watch on for time. 3/5

Execution–  It’s Paizo.  The adventure reads fast has its own map for the players and the GM, and is organized well.  This is the stuff I want in an adventure for an organized play.  5/5

Summary–  The main issue I and a lot of people will have here is the length of the adventure.  It’s solid, and I WANT more hex crawls in PFS.  But, direction and time are lacking in this one.  Players can easily go off on crazy chases, and that eats precious time off the four hour PFS adventure clock.  But, the other pieces are fantastic.  Maps, monsters, things to do, and even new friends to meet make this a fun adventure for higher level characters.  Make more hex crawls, but maybe provide more directions in the future ones.  87%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Quest Calendar Preview Cartographer’s Quest

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Product-Cartographer’s Quest

System- Quest Calendars

Producer– Sundial Games

Price– Free here  https://www.sundialgames.com/_files/ugd/9d9f18_658bd9e568f84bf595372bca39822de9.pdf 

TL; DR– Daily fun! 97%

Basics– What day is it again?  Sundial Games is back with their 2026 calendar.  This year we’ll be bad guys!  But, they are giving away a trial of their last one.  

Base Mechanics-This is a VERY simple RPG that each day has you choose actions and then roll a d20.  You have stats like in any other RPG, but they are  straight bonuses to dice rolls with the most common die used being a D20.

Combat-Combat is simple.  You roll a d20 and attempt to hit an enemy.  If you do with your bonuses, then you can roll damage based on the weapon or spell you used.  If you do enough damage you stun or kill the enemy.  Fail and the enemy does damage based on your armor.  There is death, but it’s more likely you gain penalties for the next day.

Classes and abilities-  There are multiple characters you can choose to be.  Each character has their own abilities.  Some are static bonuses to some abilities and others are limited abilities.

Now the review!

Mechanics or Crunch– This is simple, but that’s not bad!  The base mechanics of “roll dice, add number” is an award winning idea all the way back to DnD 1st ed in 1974.  The calendar is about 5 minutes per day, so the mechanics can’t be extremely deep.  But it is fun to use abilities and see simple plans work out.   5/5

Theme or Fluff–  This is not a choose your own adventure.  This is a railroad.  You are signing up for a story you play through, so its much more JRPG and less western RPG.  I love it, but you are more along for the ride and less changing the story.  That’s ok if you want that.  I do.  You also can’t expect 900 page epics in this.  There are about two paragraphs on a long day of words for the story.  It’s not bad, but it is a more simple narrative.  4.5/5

Execution–  Sundial is learning.  They fixed multiple production issues in the physical calendar and the PDF you get to play is solid.  You get multiple characters and art.  The physical product also has dry erase characters sheets with good markers.  This is a solid product.  5/5

Summary–  Do you want a little bit of RPGs every day?  That’s the only real question here.  You can’t expect 12 hour games, nor can you expect deep, interacting mechanics to exploit.  You get a simple game that you can spend a few minutes exploring and enjoying a fun fantasy world.  I love it.  I am backing the new adventure where you will be the villain.  I don’t even like evil, but I trust Sundial to deliver something fun.  Check this one out!  97%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-23: An Agent’s Obligation

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Product-Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-23: An Agent’s Obligation

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $8.99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq027rn?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-223-An-Agents-Obligation  

TL; DR– Short but fun! 98%

Basics– Where are the agents?  Cheliax is not a welcoming place, but when you find friends, you take them!  But what happens when agents go missing?  Who’s killing Pathfinders?

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure is fun, but we are starting to get up there in power!  There are some harder fights here, so Pathfinders need to be prepared.  There are also changes where combat is not the only way forward.  What the players decide to do is all up to them, and that also allows for interesting flexibility in the adventure. 5/5

Theme or Fluff–  The story to this one is good, but failure can break the immersion.  This is a “follow the trail” adventure.  That’s good, but the issue is if the players fail.  If they fail, they can talk to the host who invited the Pathfiners and she will save them.  That’s ok, but it breaks the immersion a bit.  Also, this adventure is good, but a little short depending on the players’ actions.  Make sure they know that if they play smart, then they play quick!  4.75/5

Execution–  This is classic Paizo.  Solid execution, easy to read, fast to set up, and good to run.  5/5

Summary–  This advances the Pathfinder Story, allows for player choice, and if things go well, the players feel smart.  But, if it’s a bad day, then it will be a lot of asking.  I like the choice.  The combats can be hard, but not too bad if the players prepare.  If not, it will be a hard day!  98%  

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%