Pathfinder Society Scenario # 9-16: "Fallen Family, Broken Name" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I played through this at high-tier at a convention using my (badly out of subtier) Undine Psychic/Monk.  I had an okay time, but there's not much that makes Fallen Family, Broken Name stand out from the pack.  I like it even less now that I've read through the scenario and have learned that a lot of the checks and choices we made were completely meaningless.  Although it's always handy to have Quests as options when there's not enough time for a traditional scenario, I'd definitely recommend others before this one.

SPOILERS

This scenario has a very complex backstory centering on a family in Isger (one of the few nations in the Inner Sea that still lacks a sourcebook).  The Irrica family was reported to have gained control of a powerful supernatural creature before the family's fortunes turned irrevocably for the worse during the Goblinblood Wars.  The PCs are given a mission by Venture-Captain Brackett to try to discern what this supernatural creature was and whether it can be safely contained or controlled by the Pathfinder Society.

1. "ESTATE":  The first Quest has the PCs traipsing around the Irrica's ruined old summer house in search of clues.  I don't know why Brackett thinks answers would still be there (fifteen or so years later), and the action feels somewhat trespass-ery (since family descendants are still alive), but I guess Pathfinders are known for often falling on the grey side of the moral spectrum.  Anyway, inside the abandoned mansion, the PCs will encounter bandits using it as a campsite and a haunt that creates a vision of a winged monster murdering someone.  Smart PCs will recognise the monster as an erinyes devil, the first confirmation that the Irricas did indeed have supernatural assistance.  In addition, the PCs should find a will that indicates four items are needed to control the devil (a hellfire rod, a locket, a signet ring, and a mace).  It was a solid little introduction to the adventure package.

2.  "SCORCH":  Having learned that a local goblin tribe, the Scorchfeathers, had stolen one of the items needed to control the devil, the PCs are dropped off by a caravan to head into the Chitterwood in search of them.  Finding them allegedly requires Survival checks, but the consequences for failing them are so trivial as to be pointless.  (one of my pet peeves in adventure design is when writers are so afraid that PCs won't succeed on a task that they make the outcome of success or failure pretty much the same)  Goblins are a Pathfinder mainstay and its hard to do much with them that's original at this point, but the inclusion of a mounted chieftan (on either a gecko or a vulture, depending on tier) and the presence of an angry giant bird called an axe beak kept things lively.

3. "MEMORIAM":  I have no recollection of playing this one--maybe our GM skipped it for lack of time?  It involves the PCs talking to a distant relative of the Irricas, a woman named Delara, in order to find the locket.  Delara has the locket and can be persuaded to let them examine it (a Diplomacy check is asked for, but again there are no consequences for failure).  The locket, however, is possessed by the ghost of its previous owner (Althea Irrica), who won't let it be opened unless the PCs reunite it with her engagement ring.  It's a bit goofy, frankly.  Getting the engagement ring involves rushing over to a merchant caravan and getting into a fight with the lead merchant.  Oddly, the dozen caravan guards "are unwilling to intervene in any fight between their employer and the PCs"; some guards!  By reuniting the ring and the locket, the locket can be opened to reveal the true name of the erinyes devil and theoretically give the PCs control over it.  Weirdly, we don't actually get to find out what the true name is and there's no way to actually control the devil when it (spoiler!) appears in the final quest.  You can see that there's a lot of little details and plot points that just don't make much sense, and I think another round of editing or better coordination by the developer would have been useful.

4. "TROVE":   I recall thinking at this point in the session that the Pathfinders are going to a *lot* of work to try to get control of a single erinyes devil who hasn't been seen in fifteen years and may or may not even be in Isger.  It's a lot of fuss for a single CR 8 creature, but I digress.  This Quest has the PCs visit the gnome settlement of Umok to try to track down the mace named in the will.  The writer does a good job of describing the town and its distinctive features, and offering two different ways for the PCs to figure out the mace's location: visiting a local butcher shop to ask the owner or visiting the town archives for research.  My scholar PC was delighted to have some archives to pour through.  It turns out that the mace became the possession of a hobgoblin living out in the foothills.  Finding the trail while out in the foothills is said to require a skill check (5 options are offered!), but again there are no consequences for failure and no reason the PCs can't just keep rolling dice ad infinitum.  Similarly, Climb checks are listed for the trail but the consequences for failing them are laughable.  I just don't get it.  Anyway, the hobgoblin is long dead but the path leads to a cavern containing a monstrous creature.  At high tier, this was a flame drake and its fiery breath was almost lethal for my PC and another who were playing up.

5. "EPITHET": The series comes to its conclusion with the PCs sent to a ruined old outpost from the Goblinblood Wars in search of the last item mentioned in the will, the ring.  After fighting past an ettercap (and maybe some giant spiders), the PCs will be able to retrieve it.  But the action doesn't end there, as a member of the Irrica family, Pava, arrives with an armed contingent demanding the ring.  Simultaneously (but separately), the erinyes devil appears and demands the ring.  The ring offers the bearer and those around them complete protection against the erinyes (convenient!), so the PCs have to decide whether to keep the ring for the Pathfinder Society, give it to the Irricas, or give it to the erinyes devil.  My PC, who was Lawful, argued that a family member was clearly the rightful heir of the items (or at least had a far better claim than anyone else).  There was some very good role-playing amongst the group, and I really like it when scenarios put the PCs into interesting moral quandaries.  What I *didn't* like was later reading the scenario and realising that the choice is illusory: whatever the PCs do, the erinyes flies away and combat with the Irricas starts.  Aggravating!

Overall, I wasn't very impressed with Fallen Family, Broken Name.  Its plot just doesn't hold together (too many authors without enough coordination), it coddles players by having them effectively automatically succeed on meaningless rolls, and it gives them the feeling of making a big moral decision while simultaneously making the choice meaningless.  A scenario like this one passes the time if you don't have anything else to play, but there are better Quest packages out there and this one is mediocre and forgettable.