Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path #184: The Ghouls Hunger (Blood Lords 4 of 6)

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $26.99  here https://store.paizo.com/pathfinder-adventure-path-184-the-ghouls-hunger-blood-lords-4-of-6-p2/ 

TL; DR– Another good step in the Blood Lord’s Path!  97%

Basics– YOU’RE A BLOOD LORD HARRY!  You finally become blood lords, and now the plot is really heating up.  Someone is attempting to poison the food supply and you… you get to play honor guard to the ghouls from the underdark.  All in a day’s work for the lowest ranked, most powerful people in the kingdom.  

Mechanics or Crunch–  The mechanics of this adventure are solid, but there is one thing that bothers me.  The crunch works here.  There is investigation, combat, exploration, and event influence all baked in.  Multiple different skills are used, so no one feels left out.  The last dungeon is a bit of a big jump in terms of difficulty, but overall the mechanics are solid. My one major issue is the groups.  You earn points with each group that runs the country, but I still don’t have a solid grasp of why.  You earn points, but there is not a direct explanation of what to do with those groups.  And this adventure has you get more downtime abilities to use those factions and build up more intrigue.  Why should I do that? I need a bit more, and then I would feel like that’s a good use of my gaming time.  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff–   This story is fun here.  Usually just having necromancers is enough to make a problem.  But in this one, the story is that someone is messing with the money.  It’s destabilizing the country and making the nearby ghoul kingdom angry.  Your job is to fix relations and stop that little problem.  It’s a solid story that draws the players into the world. It’s not only “kill the bad people”, but stop the geopolitical problems before they begin!  Also this book introduces a whole new religion, so if you want a ghoul character who’s extra special, this is the book for them as well.  5/5

Execution– Paizo makes good books.  I love what’s here. I love layout, the sections, and the worldbuilding.  It’s another solid book from Paizo.  5/5

Summary–  I liked this adventure.  It’s got a fun story, and the difficulty builds up to challenge the players. The story builds.  The small start and low levels are paying off as big powers are coming to play and the players are becoming big power houses too!  The book is solidly constructed, and full of the Paizo polish I come to expect.  The one issue I have is the factions.  I still don’t honestly know why my players and I should care.  Beyond that, this is a fun next step in the Blood Lords adventure. 97%

Product– Starfinder Society Scenario 1-08: Compliance Protocol

System- Starfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $8.99  here https://store.paizo.com/starfinder-society-scenario-1-08-compliance-protocol/

TL; DR– Man this is short!  73%

Basics–  You hear that? A mysterious sound is emerging from the Wreck of the Returned, and you’re going to go keep the friends of the Starfinder society safe!  Can you stop whoever might want to cause the robots to go crazy?

Mechanics or Crunch–  Holy cow this is short.  There is a chase scene and a fight.  That’s it.  The mechanics are ok, but they are just too short.  A team that doesn’t roleplay will complete this in an hour.  If the team is min/maxed, I’d say 45 minutes.  There just isn’t much meat on the bones here.  3/5

Theme or Fluff–  The story works.  You meet fun new characters, you find new lore, and you see parts of the world that normally characters wouldn’t enter.  The story expands on the wreck of the returned, and that’s always welcome.  5/5

Execution–  This is too short.  I don’t hate the layout choices, but I miss having pictures of creatures to show, even if they are one shot bad guys.  If you have them, put them in a box without words around them.  Make it easier for me to show them off.  But the major issue is the same here.  It’s an 8 buck adventure for 1 hour of play.  That’s too short.  3/5

Summary– Paizo is changing the organized play adventures, and short is the goal.  This adventure hits the short goal maybe a bit too well.  Honestly, I want more to this.  The goal is 3 hours.  Most groups will complete it in an hour and a half, and that’s if you mess around.  A dedicated professional group who doesn’t want that will be done in under an hour.  That’s not bad, but this is a quest.  Those are being phased out, but this needs more.  Add a combat before the players enter the area with some random monsters in the desert.  Add another social after the big fight to learn more about the robots.  Add those and you get a solid experience.  As it stands this isn’t bad, but it’s too little for the price.  73%

Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-02: Shipyard Sabotage

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 8.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq0cn3c?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-702-Shipyard-Sabotage 

TL; DR-Good but skill check heavy 90%

Basics–  Let’s buy a boat!  Hellknights are raiding, so the Pathfinders need boats to fight back!  Let’s go get some from a quick-talking halfling.  What could go wrong?

Mechanics or Crunch– This is an interesting adventure, but it has a lot of skills and skill scenes. That’s not bad, but those can lose people and some unlucky rolls can just tank a day.  Not bad, but it can lead to less fun. There are fights, so the combat people will have fun.  If you keep in mind the skill check scenes and give enough ways to mitigate it, it will be a fun day.  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff– This is an interesting adventure, but one where the players don’t drive as much.  The basic flow is look at boats, an attack, a skill check to find the bad guy, fight, skill check end.  It’s not bad, but it’s very reactionary, and a bad skill check scene can tank a story.  Those hurt flow in some cases, but it works if you can tangle enough threads to make the story happen. 4.5/5

Execution– This is a good adventure, but I need a bit more to work.  As above, the combat works and the boat buying works, but the skill obstacle checks need more fluff built in to make the adventure flow.  Give the GM things to say that the characters do to help.  The rest is good, with adventure set up with pictures and maps for the combat people and to set up the major characters.  It’s good, but I need more story to help GMs who can’t work on the fly. 4.5/5

Summary– I like this one, but obstacle scenes are not my favorite.  I like them, but they need help when Paizo writes them.  Also, that’s the bulk of this adventure.  That’s not bad, but it’s something that must be built out.  The combats are fun and the players will affect the world at the end.  This is a fun adventure, but make sure you know what you are getting into. 90%

Product– Pathfinder Bounty #15: Treasure off the Coast

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $24.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02akz?Pathfinder-Bounty-15-Treasure-off-the-Coast 

TL; DR– A solid intro. 100%

Basics– Why not make money!  It’s time to speed run an adventure!  You meet a quest giver in a bar, and she offers you money to get some treasure.  How could this go wrong?  

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a basic paint by number adventure, and that’s not a bad thing.  You have some social interaction, then some skill challenges, and lastly some fighting.  It’s not the deepest interaction, but if you want a quick con demo, this is my go-to.   5/5

Theme or Fluff–  We got devil worshipers, boats, and water goblins.  There is enough story and fluff here to draw you in for the hour.  Again, don’t expect crazy levels of detail, but there is enough to have fun for an hour-long game.  5/5

Execution– It’s a Paizo one-hour, one-shot.  Decent story, decent pictures, and a simple map.  I get out of this exactly what I expected.  5/5

Summary– I do a lot of evangelizing for PFS, and when I’m at cons where people just don’t know what RPGs are, this is the adventure I’ve landed on bringing with me.  Bar, quest giver, boat, skill test, fight, wrap up.  This is exactly what I expect from a bounty, and I love this one.  100%

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%