Pathfinder Module: Murder's Mark [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Murder's Mark is a 32-page module designed for first level characters.  I ran it over the course of a few evenings for a fairly experienced group of players and and I think it has enough colourful and memorable elements to make a good choice for launching a new campaign.  It has a strong mix of classic RPG elements: role-playing, investigation, traps, and combat.  For GMs, it also adds some nice detail to the setting of Golarion and introduces one element that could easily reoccur in a variety of settings.  It does have some flaws, however, including a plot that is far more of a rail-road than might appear.  Overall though, I'd label it a really good module for first level PCs and a solid starting point for a new campaign.

SPOILERS

Murder's Mark takes place in and near the town of Ilsurian in the region of Golarion known as Varisia.  Ilsurian is a town of proud, independent people who are determined to keep the larger city-states in the area (like Korvosa or Magnimar) from taking control.  However, Ilsurians are also frankly racist towards the native Varisians, who are a largely nomadic people of traders, tinkers, and performers.  It's the perfect set-up for some drama when the Umbra Carnival (a Varisian operation) sets up shop outside the town!  (just a note to GMs: Ilsurian is detailed in Towns of the Inner Sea and the information in that sourcebook complements this module nicely; the Umbra Carnival also appears in a high-level module called the Harrowing).

The plotline of the module is that soon after the carnival sets up shop, robberies and murders start occurring all over Ilsurian.  When suspicion naturally falls upon the carnival, the PCs are enlisted to uncover the truth.  Their investigation takes them around the carnival, to the scene of one of the crimes (a robbed jewelry store), into a trap and attempted frame-up job, and finally into a multi-level warehouse operated by the local thieves' guild which is actually behind the crime.

I'll get into each of these elements shortly, but first a quick detour to talk about the structure and design of the module.  The interior artwork is nice and colourful in a manner befitting a tale about carnival folk.  The inside-front cover and inside-back cover are gridded maps of important encounter sites and are pretty well-done (the structure of the thieves' guild is a bit confusing and requires some extra GM attention to avoid messing things up--especially the *very* subtly indicated secret trapdoors).  The adventure itself is 28 pages long, followed by a 1 page bestiary entry introducing a new creature drawn from real-world mythology called panotti (humanoids with ears so massive they can fly) and a two-page overview of the Umbra Carnival.

Part One of the module ("The Circus Comes to Town") starts with the PCs already at the Umbra Carnival as an established group.  I always think the "meeting one another" scenes are so important for new groups, as that's where first impressions and introductions can set the tone for an entire campaign.  Since Murder's Mark was at least partially intended as the springboard for a new campaign, I wish more attention had been paid to this element--in a sidebar, if nothing else.  (PFS GMs will need to be creative on getting things going here and setting up a goal for the group to achieve.)  Anyway, the PCs have the opportunity to play some games at the midway and explore the attractions (a fun little RP opportunity) before drama starts when the carnival's "baby dragon" (a monitor lizard) gets loose and has to be contained.  It's a solid encounter because it introduces players to the concept that not every threat should be killed, and encourages them to think of creative tactics to catch the lizard alive.

In Part Two ("The First Murder"), the PCs are summoned back to the carnival the next day by its leader, Anya Delisen.  Delisen explains that she needs help from trouble-shooters like the PCs because a murder took place last night and some people are pointing fingers at her carnival!  Assuming the group takes her offer of payment in exchange for aid, one of their first destinations is the jewelry store where both of the victims worked (and one was slain).  In the vaults, they realize that two of the responsible parties accidentally locked themselves in: skulks.  This was my first experience with skulks, who are human-like creatures that live on the fringes of society and can partially camouflage themselves to move around stealthily.  The encounter is solid, helped by a fun pit trap that takes place as the PCs *leave* the vaults.  The skulks, if captured alive, aren't willing to talk much (and don't know much), and many Ilsurians speculate that the "freaks" were simply part of the Umbra Carnival's sideshow.

Part Three ("The Second Murder") starts with the PCs being drawn into a confrontation at the Umbra Carnival between townspeople angry that they've been pick-pocketed and circus guards trying to calm down the situation.  It's another good encounter that can (hopefully) be resolved through peaceful means; who says all adventurers have to be murder-hobos?  But during the distraction, another murder has taken place!  This one is inside one of the carnival tents but the victim is the beloved town priest.  All signs point to the responsible party being a "sphinx" that is the Umbra Carnival's star attraction.  There's plenty of opportunity for investigation here, because one of the carnival's most closely-guarded secrets is that there really is no sphinx--it's an illusion created by bardic magic.  The murder is enough for the local sheriff to declare a quarantine, forbidding anyone from the carnival coming into Ilsurian, and vice-versa.  The idea that the PCs have to clear the carnival's name takes on greater importance, and hopefully they've found enough inconsistencies to suspect that something strange is going on.  There's another good encounter in this section where local townsfolk have caught and are beating a young carnie who tried to sneak into town to visit his paramour--and if the PCs don't react quickly enough, he'll die from his wounds.

Part Four ("The Third Murder") starts with the discovery of a body strung up in the town square bearing all sorts of clues pointing to the carnival as being responsible.  However, one clue is intended to lead the PCs to the home of a wealthy merchant named Braeton.  There's a subplot running through the module about a narcotic called Shiver that helps to provide a partial motivation for the actual murderers' actions.

Part Five ("Braeton Manor") has the first major combat encounters of the module.  The PCs have been lured into a trap by the Gilded Hands, the thieves' guild that has taken advantage of the Umbra Carnival's presence to launch a murder and burglary spree in Ilsurian.  The battles in the manor are pretty good, as the rogues of the Gilded Hands use ambush tactics and tricks like flash powder and tanglefoot bags to keep the PCs off-guard.  Perhaps the most fun moment is when the guild's leader appears looking and sounding just like one of the PCs to terrorize the Braeton children before returning to normal to "rescue" them.  It's great to frame the PCs, because nothing gets an adventure going better than when they take things personally!

The final part of the module, Part Six ("Ilsurian Storage & Hauling") has the PCs raid the thieves' guild.  This is actually a bit complicated for the GM to handle, as it's a running battle with a lot of movement and different tactics by various NPCs depending on how much warning they have and on the PCs' actions.  There's some nice use of 3-d environment (a catwalk, trapdoors in the floor, etc.) and a couple of surprises like a "sanguine ooze swarm" and an alchemist capable of hurling bombs all over the place.

Assuming the PCs are successful in the thieves' guild, they've found all the proof they need to clear the Umbra Carnival.  The module provides a couple of nice hooks for further adventures, which is something I always appreciate.

You can probably see by the structure of things that one of the major criticisms of Murder's Mark in the forums is that, although it seems like the PCs are gathering clues to solve a mystery, what they're really doing is running around until the module has another murder take place to progress the story further.  There's no plausible way the PCs can solve the case early or that, frankly, their actions matter that much.  It's not a true "whodunnit" because the PCs don't know any of the suspects until the module reveals them as the murderers.   To me, a good mystery should have that "a ha!" moment where all the pieces come together and the reader/player realizes they *could have* solved the mystery if only they had assembled all the clues properly.  Depending on your players, this may or may not matter much to them as long as they had a good time along the way.  (a final note for GMs: the back cover blurb spoils that the thieves' guild is responsible for the murders, so don't circulate it to the players!)

As a total package, I think Murder's Mark is a strong module.  I didn't spend a lot of time talking about the NPCs in the Umbra Carnival, but they're interesting and should elicit some great role-playing.  The challenges were varied and all seemed reasonable, and the storyline sets up plenty of future adventuring possibilities.  So while it's not exactly Agatha Christie, it's definitely one worth playing and a great introduction to Pathfinder for new players.