Tag: Paizo

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Starfinder Tech Class Playtest

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Product– Starfinder Tech Class Playtest

System- Starginder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– FREE here  https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6zwqx&page=1?Starfinder-Tech-Class-Playtest

TL; DR– Good, but a loss of flavor.  93% 

Basics– Why not tech wizards!  The tech playtest focuses on the technomancer and the mechanic.  The mechanic is the pet class with rogue elements of being skill based and the technomancer is the wizard.

Mechanics or Crunch– The classes work.  They both operate well within the realms of the base Pathfinder 2e mechanics.  The mechanic is a pet class and it follows the basic pet class idea, and the Technomancer feels like a sorcerer bloodline on a wizard.  Those are good pieces making a great whole.  5/5

Theme or Fluff–  I like what’s here, but I also feel like we may have lost things in edition change.  The mechanic lost the ability to just put a computer in their head and do awesome stuff.  What’s here is good, but it’s also a bit less than what it could have been.  The technomancer doesn’t feel like its own thing.  It’s a wizard with a bloodline.  That’s not bad, but I wanted more.  I wanted maybe even a whole new school of spells here.  It’s still just arcane spells.  Again, not bad by any stretch, but I wanted tech spells.  These two things don’t feel distinct.  4/5

Execution– It’s Paizo.  Solid layout, production, art, and even text makes this something to be studied.  Yes, I keep saying the exact same things, but it’s for the exact same reason.   For a free product, this is amazingly well done.  5/5

Summary– I like the options, but I want more distinct things in the future.  Overall, these will play amazingly well with the rest of the classes out there.  I just want new ground to be broken with Starfinder.  Right now Starfinder 2nd ed feels more like a setting change and less like it’s own edition.  Thats good for some respects, but bad for others.  Then again, I’m gonna play the hell out of this system.  So I may not be getting exactly what I want, but I am getting Pathfinder in Space, which I want!  93%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-08: Upon Wheels and Rime

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-08: Upon Wheels and Rime

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 8.99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq07fl9?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-608-Upon-Wheels-and-Rime 

TL; DR– Solid short fun.  99% 

Basics– You’re building a what?  The Winter Queen is homesick and trying to revolutionize her country at the same time.  Bids are being taken to build a train, but what is a train?  And who wants to stop it?

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure isnt so much crunch, but world building.  There is a social interaction, then a chase, then combat! It’s short, but its fun.  The encounters are balanced for everyone.  It’s just a bit short.  4.75/5

Theme or Fluff–  This is a callback. If you played First Ed Pathfinder and killed Rasputin in an adventure path, then you will recognize all the key players here.  Those who didn’t, won’t miss anything, but it’s a call back.  The story is interesting, and it builds out some of the world of Pathfinder in fun ways that everyone will enjoy.  5/5

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

Summary– This is a solid, if short, adventure.  The short issue depends on roleplaying.  The combats are fun, and the story offers the players a chance to change the Society and the World via their choices.  I loved this one.  99%

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 Society Scenario #6-05: Silver Bark, Golden Blades

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-05: Silver Bark, Golden Blades

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ .99 here  https://paizo.com/products/btq04uzx?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-605-Silver-Bark-Golden-Blades 

TL; DR– More variety at the cost of a bit of story.  95% 

Basics–  What’s happening in the Forest of Spirits?!  A mist has rolled in and people just can’t pass through the forest. Someone has angered the spirits.  Who or what has caused this problem?

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure has some serious crazy changes!  This adventure starts with the players or GM rolling several D4s.  These COMPLETELY change the adventure.  And I don’t mean small things, but the entire last map!  The adventure has different final bosses, different maps,and different encountres depending on what the rolls are.  This is crazy fun, but it works!  If you want variety, this is the adventure you want.  My one issue is the differences mean you don’t really know where to put the encounters as this is pretty much left up to the GM to decide where the encounters happen.  Good, but if you are used to the adventure deciding where the fights happen, then you might forget to put the encounters in!  I’d like a bit more guidance, so I can better run this adventure.   4.75/5

Theme or Fluff–  This is a fun adventure, but the big issue is the variety means you can’t build too much direct story around it.  There is some, and it works, but I’d like more story of who the bad guys are.  The major story beats don’t change, so that is good.  I would just like a bit more flow with this adventure as a whole.  This is the major issue of American RPGs vs JRPGs-choice and story vs freedom and railroad.  4.5/5

Execution– It’s Paizo.  I almost never have anything bad to say with they way they set up their books, and this is no exception.  Solid production all around.   5/5

Summary–  If this is the future of most of the PFS scenarios, then I’ll be happy.  I can’t be as spoon fed as I was before with complete ease to run an adventure out of the box, but at the same time I also get new variety for my players.  I love what’s here even if the story is less forward.  I would like a bit more story, but the adventure as a whole works well.  95%

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 Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Immortal Influence

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Product– Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Immortal Influence

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer–   Paizo

Price– $8.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq03g2r?Pathfinder-Society-Intro-Year-of-Immortal-Influence 

TL; DR– A good, but not perfect intro.  97% 

Basics– Pathfinders, are you ready to PARTY!?  This intro scenario for this year’s Pathfinder Society season has you go hobnob with the snobs of Absolom to make a good impression.  All you got to do is be nice, show the Pathfinder Society is good, and make a friendly impression.  What could go wrong?

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure’s mechanics are on point for an intro adventure. There are about four different encounters in this adventure.  It’s pretty heavenly split between some social, some light exploration, and combat.  All of them feel like they fit for the levels they aim for.  This adventure is the standard excellent Paizo crunch I expect.5 /5

Theme or Fluff–  Intro adventures have tough ground to cover, and this one does well, but it’s not perfect.  The adventure has the players go to the party, and start with a few different mini interludes.  These work well, but players can’t see all the characters and their small side quests and vignettes.  Not bad, as the forced adventures where players have to do all the side quests get a bit story heavy, but these all kind of boil down to “do good and learn that one person doesn’t like you”.  Next there is the new antiPathfinder group who aren’t evil, and you have to avoid them.  Then you quite literally have to fight devils and then save someone’s life.  After that people try to run you over.  After that you must convince everyone you’re awesome after literally saving people from the devil.  Lastly there is one last optional combat that’s fun.  The story gets a bit disjointed as you save them every step of the way, but people still don’t like you.  Maybe that’s more realistic than I think having just reread that again.  4.5 /5

Execution–  This is just a yadda yadda of all my other Pathfinder reviews.  Good layout, easy reading, good pictures, good resources, good handout….yadda yadda yadda.  I expected Paizo to make a good layout for the adventures, and I got it.  I might quibble about not having all the monster pictures in the book, but that has more to do with there being three different fights possible in the middle, but seeing as those on their free database with pictures, that feels too pedantic for even me to downgrade them for.  5/5

Summary– This isn’t perfect, but this might be one of the better year intro adventures out there.  The mechanics are good.  The flow is not perfect, but it works decent enough. The adventure itself is solidly crafted.  It players in under four hours, and is fun enough that everyone had a blast.  If you want to jump in to Pathfinder Society, this is a good starting point as either a GM or a player.  97%  

Ring Side Report-Book Review-Pathfinder: Godsrain

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Author– Liane Merciel

Book- ~$24.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq06j6k?Pathfinder-Godsrain 

TL; DR– Solidly for the fans, maybe too much. 87%

Basics-Gods can’t die…except when they do!  The god of war is murdered and it kicks off a series of events that might result in the death of them all!  Can iconic Pathfinder characters stop the death of every god? 

Characters– This book uses iconic pathfinder characters and follows them on a typical, world shattering adventure.  This is the first book I’ve read featuring these characters.  The iconics all feel like they should and are well written.  The one issue I have is the book feels like it was written with only diehard Pathfinder fans as the audience.  Readers who don’t know these characters from playing Pathfinder Society might be a bit lost.  I enjoyed it, but some newer fans might be lost.  4.5/5

 Setting– This book features a number of iconic Pathfinder Society locations, but has the same issues as the characters.  This book is pretty world spanning as characters run from desert, to Pirate Cove, to Lost Island in an eternal hurricane.  The places are well described, but are not as linked to a larger world or history as newer readers might need.  It’s good but some readers might get lost if they don’t know these locations from the Pathfinder game.  4.5/5

 Story-The story is good, but feels disjointed.  The main event of the title is the death of a god, but then that is just kind of abandoned.  I felt like that was important and might be the main threat in multiple novels after this one.  The main story is more about the threat that a different god might have to all other gods.  That’s intriguing, but a major event in the world happens, and then is just kind of abandoned.  It’s a plot point, but not a major one. I felt like there was lost potential and that that main event was just abandoned. 4/5

 Summary-This is a good book and a fun step back into the Pathfinder Tales.  I want more books, so I’m glad this book exists.  It’s not perfect; the novel might not have enough inroads for new readers to Pathfinder.  Also, the title feels abandoned about a quarter of the way into the book.  I want to know more about the Godsrain, but this book won’t tell you about it.  If more novels focus on that and these characters, I’ll keep reading!   87%.

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine

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Product– Starfinder Playtest Scenario #4: Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine

System- Starfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $5.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq04v06?Starfinder-Playtest-Scenario-4-Rescue-at-Shimmerstone-Mine 

TL; DR-Good, but outside flaws hurt the adventure.  95% 

Basics– Hey Kid, want to find some miners for us?  Rescue at Shimmerstone Mine is a quick adventure for level 15 Starfinder 2nd Ed characters.  Players are contracted to find some missing miner after communications went dark.  What happened in the mines?

Mechanics or Crunch– It’s high level Pathfinder/Starfinder 2nd Ed content by Paizo-it’s good.  The math works well here as it’s more of the classic formula with players attempting to find all the missing miners.  There are fights, traps, and puzzles for them to solve.  Mathematically it works well. 5/5

Theme or Fluff– For what it is, it’s a solid adventure.  This is a three hour adventure, so if you want more story, you will be a bit out of luck.  It is an engaging story of a mine that went crazy and understanding why the mine exploded into crazy riots is part of the Starfinder RPG system and Starfinder universe update, but the adventure’s story works well enough all on its own.  For a short adventure, it’s a fun one. 5/5

Execution– Paizo did a good job here, but dropped the ball in some very serious ways.  It’s hyperlinked, well laid out, yadda yadda and the standard good things that Paizo does.  But, there are serious issues as well as some minor issues.  The minor:  the adventure says there are x number of miners and you will not find that number.  That’s minor, but it drove a player of mine mad!  The majors are Paizo didn’t put in a separate picture page for the NPCs.  They do that in the Pathfinder and Starfinder adventures, but why not here?  It’s even more of an issue because they literally put pictures of the NPCs in the text.  Give me a page with them alone to show the players.  But the biggest sin here is the lack of pregens.  Paizo wants players to make level 15 characters.  No, give me some you think my players would build. You did it for level 1 and 5, but why not 10 and 15?  You can find them online as people are making them, but that’s a big issue here.  This is a good adventure with some serious outside execution issues.  4.25/5

Summary–  I like this one, but the flaws are here.  In terms of pure math and crunch, it’s solid workmanship showing off the system.  For the story itself, it’s fun and expands the world.  For the execution, there are a few faults.  No pregens is a big red flag.  GIVE ME THOSE PREGENS!  Make this plug n’ play for tables!  Beyond those issues, it’s a good adventure that will play in 2-3 hours while expanding a bit on the world.  95%  

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Monster Core

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Product– Pathfinder Monster Core

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed 

Producer– Paizo

Price– $59.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02ej4 

TL; DR-Another Solid Addition to the Core line. 97% 

Basics– We’re all gonna die!  Monster Core is the last of the three main books needed to play Pathfinder, providing the foes that the heroes will face in their journeys.

Mechanics or Crunch–  Paizo knows their math.  These monsters are the ones we know, mostly, and love.  The Paizo staff designed good monsters and this just gives them the 2.5 glow up new coat of paint the system needed to get them fully ORC compliant.  It’s well done. 5/5

Theme or Fluff–  The story of the monsters takes a tiny bit of a dip.  As we move from 3.5/SRD base to ORC/Paizo’s own world, we lose a few things.  A major example is alignment.  We have Demons, Daemon, and Devils.  We have three different groups that are basically out to destroy everything but all just end up with the bad guy banner.  There is a story, but it’s that part of the story supported by differences in alignment and motivations that really separate these different D-based bad guys (that and centuries of European occult history).  The same goes with different dragon types.  I want to reiterate that what’s here is good, but the theme of these different monsters does miss alignment. 4.5/5

Execution– Yeah, we all know this was gonna be a 5/5.  It’s a Paizo book.  It reads fast, well, and is pretty.  Monsters get art for me to show players.  I get a good layout and hyperlinks.  Heck, there are even a few player things like a few rituals to sell your soul or talk to god!  5/5

Summary-This is a good book.  My view might be tainted by the changes from 3.5 to ORC.  I love the ORC, but we do lose some things along the way due to the legalese.  Those are things you will have to bring with your own stories to the table now.  This book will easily give you the foes to make those stories full of conflict and victory.  97 %