Product– Pathfinder One-Shot #3: Head Shot the Rot

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 9.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02aoq?Pathfinder-OneShot-3-Head-Shot-the-Rot 

TL; DR-This is what I want more of.  100%

Basics– AIM FOR THE HEAD!  Head Shot the Rot is a one-shot drop-in game for four PCs set in Alkenstar.  It’s a glorious “Kill the bad guys, save everyone!” kind of adventure.

Mechanics or Crunch– This is Night of the Living Dead in Pathfinder.  You have some zombies and you have some people.  You get some skill checks, some combat, and some social.  That’s all the pieces of the game I want.  And I’m happy!  It’s solid mechanics with 3rd level PCs and some monsters that can tear them up if they screw up, but enough firepower to make sure that doesn’t happen.  Finely balanced as all things should be.  5/5

Theme or Fluff– You start in a bar with your buds, bad happens, and you kill it.  Save the people, get the money.  That’s the story and there is enough in the adventure and maps to build that into a fun place to play and explore even if you don’t go far.  The PCs and I had a blast with this one.  5/5

Execution– It’s Paizo.  They know how to lay out a book, make nice art, make it easy to read, and get me the information I need in a hurry.  It’s 10 bucks, which is a bit pricey, but it filled four hours.  This beats the movie test of if I went to the movies with the same friends, would we spend more.  So, I don’t feel ripped off here.  It comes with art, maps, and PCs – all the toys I need to literally just drop in Roll20 and play.  5/5

Summary–  Some days you crave Game of Thrones level intrigue, and others you  just want a bunch of zombies, a gun, and a goal.  This is the latter.  I loved everything here.  It’s a fun one shot where all the players get what they want out of this, while I had fun and did not need hours of prep before.  Hey Paizo! Make more of these, and then connect them to each of the adventure paths.  I’d buy them!  100%

Product– Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Unfettered Exploration

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 8.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02eqo?Pathfinder-Society-Intro-Year-of-Unfettered-Exploration   

TL; DR– Too much money for a too short adventure.  77%

Basics– And we’re walking!  This Pathfinder Society adventure features you as a tour guide to a multidimensional maze where you guide a new venture captain to a lodge, then help round up some little elementals all while trying to be on time for his party.

Mechanics or Crunch– Paizo understands its mechanics.  The game itself works well here, but the adventure is a bit short.  What is in this adventure is about two fights and several skill checks to help multiple different players feel involved with a bit of exploration thrown in.  Solid work overall, but a bit short for my players as no players felt too challenged and a few checks cleared the adventure with no problem. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff– The adventure works, but it feels off. We have a new guy who wants to see a place.  Cool, but there is a random fight, some random elemental stuff, a kind of random handout, and a random place that doesn’t feel all that connected.  It works, but my players and I felt that it was a bit disjointed.  Furthermore, it didn’t really introduce any major metaplot or content.  It was a decent distraction and having more pure noncombat adventures would be fun, but this wasn’t that nor was it pure combat adventure.  It felt like too much of a mix.  3.5/5

Execution– I was the most disappointed here.  The adventure works with classic Paizo layout and text doing their good job as always, but there is too much text and not enough guidance with some things being tried but not really working.  First, there are random things that happen.  Good!  But use the random event charts that we had in previous chapters rather than just have three options for the GM to pick.  Same goes with where the main NPC wants to go.  Add in a chart where he says where to go, describe the location, and have a random dice roll.  The main bulk of the adventure is in a maze.  Which is fun, but doesn’t have a massive location, but maybe just set pieces.  There are places that I don’t feel were all that connected nor did the riddle handout really help me or my players with it.  The price of the adventure is high, but they are now including all the information I need to run it.  However, the map they give is too big and can’t work on Roll20.  It also has a grid, so I have to fight with Roll20 to line it up.  PDFs can remove the grids, so I appreciate those.  But, here I am paying for a product that isn’t quite getting me what I want.  Honestly, if these were just set piece locations as they wander the maze, I feel that would make this run easier and make the maps small enough to upload to Roll20.  I appreciate what they gave me, but for almost 1/3 the price of their regular adventures, this costs a bit too much.   3.5/5

Summary–  Overall, this works.  It’s a fine enough adventure, but it’s short, a little disjointed, and the add-ons are a bit wonky.  I don’t hate this, but I feel some aspects hold this back.  Some small changes in organization and flow could help this be a top notch adventure.  You can easily run this, and you and your party will have fun.  But, don’t expect this to run for the full five hours.  77%