I want to scream at undead. I want them be made I’m screaming at them. I can make this happen!
Undead Hate the Living
You hate the undead, and they hate you!
Benefit(s): You may perform intimidate checks on undead enemies. However, you may only cause an undead to become shaken for one turn at most if it is normally immune to such effects.
Thoughts?
Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #7–01: Between the Lines
System– Pathfinder
Producer– Paizo
Price– $3.99 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9cu3?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-7-01-Between-the-Lines
TL; DR– DnD-NOW WITH LSD! 92%
Basics-You’ve been summoned to help procure an item. Fortunately, you know where it is, and even better, who has it. They will even sell it to you! What happens when you get what you want, and it does way more than you hoped for? What happens when you play with an ancient box that stores the mental history of all who used it before?
Mechanics or Crunch-This is two adventures in one. The first adventure is the standard one you know and love. Run some errands, and then you get what you were searching for. That’s all par for the course. The second half is crazy, out there fun. You enter a mental landscape. That’s fine, but the map and the monsters are a bit off, and a bit more front loading and modifying of stat blocks would help GMs run this on the fly. It’s not horrible, and if you read ahead (like you are supposed to!), you will be fine. However, if you’re running this after just printing off your adventure, then you as a GM will be a bit lost. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff- As I said in mechanics, this is two adventures. Half is in the regular world, and that is something your players can easily grab onto. This part is here more to help draw your players in. The real meat of the adventure is the second part. Here is where things go on and off the rails. On rails because the players progress through a linear dream landscape, but have to do so in a specific order. Off rails because this adventure plays like a LSD trip-and it is amazing! Lot’s a crazy imagery and fun ways for the GM to really ham up the crazy, psychic nature of the adventure. I absolutely love this adventure for that. 5/5
Execution-This adventure has your usual Pathfinder Society polish. What I don’t like is how the monsters are not customized to the adventure. The players fight some crazy dream monsters, but the monsters are not really customized to the purpose at hand. It’s ok, but it wouldn’t take much to really fix up the monsters here, so you’re GMs don’t have extra math to fight with. This adventure will be a bit long if the players and the GM are slow. Honestly, its about ¾ of two different adventures, so if your GM doesn’t manage his or her time properly, you will be done late if this is run at a convention slot. I’m complaining that there is too much here, which is a good problem to have, but it can be a major problem if not dealt with properly. 4.25/5
Summary-Occult Adventures kicked off this season of Pathfinder Society, and it shows in here. This isn’t completely a psychic adventure as it got strange occult influences, and I hope this keeps up through the entire season of Pathfinder Society. This is a crazy adventure that really provides some great roleplaying opportunities as well as some great scenes for players and GMs to just go hog wild with. I love what I see here, and I can’t wait for more. It’s not perfect. I’d like a bit of customization from Paizo for the monsters as a GM who has missed some important information might try to throw CR 6 creatures at a level one party if the miss the section detailing how the encounter changes. It hurts the overall presentation a bit, but honestly, I had a blast running this adventure. If this is any indication of what’s coming next, BRING ON THE STRANGE! 92%
Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–18: From Under Ice
System– Pathfinder
Producer– Paizo Publishing
Price– $4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9ch2?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-18-From-Under-Ice
TL; DR– A THINKING humanoids mod. 97%
Basics-Chase a skykey under the ice of Irrisen! The Pathfinder Society is looking for traces of a Dwarven city that disappeared many years ago. Can you find where the dwarves went or will you anger either the Linnworm Kings or the Witches?
Mechanics or Crunch– This is a many angled mod that can be done in a straight forward way. Like most of the mods, there is a counter mechanics for determining how well the PC’s succeed on their job or secondary tasks. It’s not hard, but the mod isn’t so much about crunch, but how well the players think. It’s well done and fun when you see the players analyze and understand a situation. If the players are smart, canny, and show the proper deference, they will go through almost the entire mod without swinging their swords! That shows the mod is awesomely stretchable, but some players, the kick-in-the-door-and-eat-some-goblins players, will be vary bored if things are going well. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff- This is where the mod truly shines. Sure, it’s got the necessary fights and counters that all good mods need, but how the players go about this mod really makes the story. Are you simply smash and grab Pathfinders or are you social dilatants? Do you understand your mission or are you simple out there to kill a bunch of people? As a GM, watching that play out is a great roleplaying experience 5/5
Execution– Season six is the absolute best season for how these mods are put together. Need the maps? Here, we have blank maps for you to resize and print. Need monster stats? Here in the back of the mod are all the monster stats, so you don’t have to have 10 books open to run the game. It’s still four bucks, but right now four bucks for ~ 30 pages seems to be the norm for most companies. Well done! 5/5
Summary– First, the elephant in the room-If you play this mod smart, you will not have many combats. And, that’s what the success condition hinges on. That right there will turn some players away. You can’t make everybody happy, but in a mod that’s mostly going across borders and meeting people, combat is a many terrible thing! The story makes world sense. The mechanics work as well as they can. The execution is absolutely fantastic. As a GM, I enjoyed this mod. My players did as well. Just make sure you know what your players want to get. Hack and slash need not apply! 97%
Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–06: Hall of the Flesh Eaters
System– Pathfinder
Producer– Paizo
Price– ~$ 4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9986?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-06-Hall-of-the-Flesh-Eaters
TL; DR– A short dungeon crawl. 87%
Basics– Time to go to the Shackles! Among the Gloomspires rests Sevenfingers’ treasure hoard. A new finding by the Pathfinders will allow the explorers to find the proper shifting island where the hoard is buried. Can the Pathfinders survive the island the treasure is hidden on and explore the dangerous depths of the cavern below it?
Theme or Fluff-This adventure was a fun one, but the fact that it was in the Shackles or dealing with pirates wasn’t a main focus. It is more of a dungeon crawl. But, the dungeon isn’t that large, so it’s hard to get going as you’re done before you almost start. It’s fun, but you will have to add your own pirate focus to get the theme of a dungeon crawl for pirate treasure to come through. Also, this is the first part of a few adventures on this island. There is a record screeching halt in one area as the map basically give the equivalent of an invisible wall to hid the next adventure. This will be filled in in later adventures, but I really don’t like having to tell my explorers not to explore! 4/5
Mechanics or Crunch– As I said in the theme, this is mostly a dungeon crawl. Before the Dungeon is a short above ground section, but there is not much to do after an encounter happens up there. In the dungeon there are some unique events and traps that make some of the later encounters more interesting. The encounters that do happen are well balanced. But, as a dungeon crawl, it’s pretty short and easy. 4.5/5
Execution-What is here is well done. I like the spacing of the text, the maps, and the general layout. I’ve written before that I would like more description in these encounter blocks, but that is a general issue I have with all the PFS documents. 4.5/5
Summary– This is a short, fun dungeon crawl. It’s pretty linier, but that doesn’t make it bad. If your players want to start some adventures in the Shackles, this isn’t a bad adventure to start a quest line off of. I would have liked a bit more as it felt short, and a down to business party will get through this in less than two hours. As a GM, it ran smooth, and my party had fun. That’s the mark of a good adventure. I don’t like invisible walls in an RPG, but I am curious what the next adventure will be. 87%
Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Slave Ships of Absalom
System– Pathfinder
Producer– Paizo
Price– ~$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9985?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-05-Slave-Ships-of-Absalom
TL; DR– Some problems hurt a good story that’s part of this year’s metaplot. 83%
Basics-Someone is selling tainted slaves in the Inner Sea! A slave at a party had a spell cast upon her that allowed someone to eavesdrop on the guest. Can you and the rest of the Pathfinder Society make some friends by discreetly finding out who is behind this?
Mechanics or Crunch– This is a reasonable short adventure as it’s designed for Pathfinder Society play. However, some major missteps happen over the course of this story. One is the players can fail a few rolls and be completely out of luck when it comes to the mystery. In addition, like most PFS modules, there are some roleplaying and 2-to-3 fights. However, one of these fights is pretty tough and can easily wipe most parties if the GM doesn’t pull a few punches. This isn’t a bad module, but some of the Pathfinder mechanics work against the fun your players could have. 3/5
Theme or Fluff-Overall, I liked the story of this one. There is a decent amount of roleplaying that can happen while still having the combat that some players crave. However, some of the story seems off. A character won’t help the players even after the players save that person’s life! That kind of seems out of the realm of believability even with magic and elves about. Also, this module is about slavery, so some players won’t like working for NPC’s who openly own slaves. 4.5/5
Execution– This is done by Paizo. They know how to layout a book. It’s easy and quick to read. The art is good, but as always I’d like a bit more. What is here is well done. 5/5
Summary– This is a short, fun adventure that isn’t without its faults. I enjoyed running this for my players, and they enjoyed playing this adventure. It has the standard problems that can plague a Pathfinder game: combats based on CR alone and rolls killing investigation/roleplay. Those are some problems that can really gum up this adventure’s gears. Also, this is a module that deals with slavery. If you’re players are not comfortable with that, then this will not be fun for them. If you want a module set in Absalom where you have a decent mix of investigation and combat, this is a better than average module. Also, if you want to get deeper into the Year of the Sky Key, then this an good start to the metaplot. 83%
Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade
System-Pathfinder
Price-$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy96i8?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-5-22-Scars-of-the-Third-Crusade
TL;DR– Great roleplaying, but nothing for the combat heavy characters. 87%
Basics-Murder is afoot! Pathfinder agents have been arrested, and you are sent to determine if they are guilty or not. Can you prove the innocence of your fellow agents while in a town that already doesn’t trust the Pathfinders?
Mechanics or Crunch-This one has exactly one or maybe two fights scenes in it, depending on how the players proceed. Most of the time, players are investigating the murders. If you have a combat heavy party, they will just be bored. Also, the combats that are present will be somewhat underwhelming to most parties in the level range. The module presents some rules for investigation, misinformation, and events in town. Some of these events are arbitrary as well as the rules for these events being somewhat unclear. It just might need a bit more to keep some people involved. 3.5/5
Theme or fluff-This is where this module shines. You as the GM get to scream at the players if they reveal that they are Pathfinders. Most of the people in town don’t trust the Pathfinders, and players tipping their hands make this module come alive. The town is well described and the personalities in it are fun to run. Everybody here has a story, and the players have to try to figure out who did it over the course of the adventure. I loved what I saw here. If you want a mostly roleplaying module, this is the one to look for. 5/5
Execution-This is a wordy one. To get all the information a GM needs to run the mod, lots of words have to happen in a very short amount of space. I do like that the town has a town map to help you and your players understand all the places they can investigate. In addition, the investigation methods are presented decently as well as providing the GM with a worksheet to help GMs keep track of all the information at hand, but this chart could use another column to help me keep track of what I and haven’t told the players. I’d have liked a few more divides in the words, but the module is set up well. 4.5/5
Summary-I liked running this module. I have no problems standing up at a convention and screaming at the top of my lungs about how I hate the Pathfinders and such. When I ran this at a con with about five other tables, I did get a few stares. If you want to have some awesome roleplaying with your characters, then this is the module to run. If you what a hack and slash fest where lots of things die, then do not even consider this one. I would like some changes to the module, but overall it was a great if you have the right group. 87%
You’re the boss’ favorite and it shows!
Boss’ Pet
You always get the best from the boss.
Benefit:When you make a day job roll for the pathfinder society, you receive the benefits from the next level for your check. If you hit a DC 40 for your check, you instead receive 200 gp.
Thoughts?
Played a ton of Pathfinder Society this weekend, and I was surprised by the number of people who didn’t want to roll for a day job. Some of these people just wanted to have their characters do something else. How about some support for those people….
Patron( 5pp): Be it an art collector, someone who likes to hear your stories, a leader of the Pathfinders, or a wealthy person at your church, someone has taken an interest in you. This patron will now pay for you to adventure full time removing your need for a day job roll. After each adventure, you gain five times your current level for your day job roll instead of rolling any skill.
Thoughts?
Throat Punch Games 