Pathfinder "Summon Monster Pawn Collection" [RPG]

I'm well-known for my disdain of pets (familiars, animal companions, etc.) and monster summoning in RPGs (both as a GM and as a player), but I've gotten a surprising amount of value out of the Summon Monster Pawn Collection.  The set contains an excellent array of the creatures that you suddenly realize you need a pawn for: animals, elementals, celestial and fiendish outsiders, and more are included.  There are multiples of most of the small and medium creatures, but also a good array of large and huge creatures.  Many of these pawns can be found scattered across other sets, but it's always useful to have additional ones.  I wouldn't say this set is essential, but it's a good value and one you'll also probably use a lot--even if, like me, you hate pets and summoners.

If you're new to Pathfinder pawns, note that this set doesn't include the bases, and you'll need to purchase those separately.

Starfinder Player Character Folio [RPG]

The Starfinder Player Character Folio is just chock-full of detailed sheets to record all sorts of information about your character, interspersed with handy summaries of common rules and game mechanics.  I used this for B'rrlb'lub, my late, lamented Dead Suns PC, and I found it a useful way to keep track of everything about him and the campaign.  The folio consists of 16 pages bound by glossy, full-colour covers, with the front cover folding out to pack more information and the back cover containing a pocket to store handouts and so forth.  The most accurate way to give a full account of what it includes is (I'm sorry to say) a page-by-page breakdown.

The inside flap of that cool cover features some more awesome artwork, a list of what type each action in combat is (i.e., a standard, a move, a swift, etc.), and the table that shows how many experience points it takes to level up and at what levels PCs get ability increases, feats, and theme bonuses.  That flap then folds out for a two-page interior.  The left side is the first part of the character sheet, with space for ability scores, armor class, saving throws, senses, speed, and initiative.  There's a lot of space provided here, so things will be easy to read.  The right side has a pocket for papers and a very useful summary of common combat actions and maneuvers, what different types of cover and concealment provide, and the effects of common conditions.  The general idea is that people don't have to pause the game to flip through the Core Rulebook to find out the effects of being fatigued, for example.

Page 1 ("Skill Checks") lists the tables of skill DCs from that section of the Core Rulebook.  There's not a description of the skills themselves, and usually the DCs would be something the GM would determine, so this may be of less usefulness to many players.

Page 2 ("Defense") contains a lot of space to record armor, defensive abilities, and any other pieces of equipment that contribute to armor class and saving throws.

Page 3 ("Offense") is basically the same thing in the other direction.  There's space to record full details for six different types of attacks, so if you're packing the veritable golf-bag of weapons, you will be all set here.

Page 4 ("Skills") is where you record everything skill-related about your character, including conditional modifiers and special skill abilities.  I appreciated having the extra space that traditional character sheets don't provide.

Page 5 ("Feats") has lines for *29* different feats, which tells me they maybe should have sectioned things off better--perhaps by leaving more room for descriptions of Racial Traits and Theme Benefits (also on this page).

Pages 6-7 (Equipment") has a really nice way to visually keep track of which augmentations are in what body parts, along with space to record weapons, armor, regular gear, money, and even "other valuables" and holdings".  I would have preferred more lines for regular gear (I came close to filling that up around Level 6) and a better section on Carrying Capacity.

Pages 8 ("Spells") and 9 ("Drone") are ones that you may or may not have any use for, depending on what class you're playing.  But if you are playing a Mystic, Technomancer, or Mechanic, you'll be glad they're there.

Pages 10-11 ("Background") are really important, and something that regular character sheets rarely have room for.  There's extensive place to record descriptions, personality, history, family members, homes, affiliation, and more.  Being asked to describe B'rrlb'lub's "Quirks", "Phobias," and "Catchphrases" really helped me flesh out the character before I even started playing him.

Pages 12-13 ("Adventure Log") contains a section to track the advancement of your PC as they level up, a section to list allies and foes ("What's that guy's name again?"), a full page to record brief notes about each session in the campaign, and (I guess just for fun) a section on "Achievements" where you can keep track of trivia like "Number of times hit by a crit", "Greatest number of foes in one fight", or "New Sentient Species Contacted".

Pages 14 ("Starship") and 15 ("Starship Combat") contain a starship character sheet and a summary of starship combat.  The character sheet is the same one from the Core Rulebook, but it's useful to have it here.  The summary of starship combat is more GM-oriented, and doesn't have what players would really need: summaries of common actions depending on crew role and their DCs.

Page 16 ("Notes") contains only a half-page space for miscellaneous notes, and I very quickly filled it up.  The bottom half of the page is for Starfinder Society information, including which boons are being slotted.

The inside back cover is just credits and license information, but the pocket continues the summaries of common conditions.

I do have two criticisms of the folio.  The first is there's no space specifically devoted to class features.  With B'rrlb'lub, for example, I had to squeeze the list and description of his envoy improvisations into the "Other Valuables" section of the equipment page.  Every class has their own special features that they'll have to find room to record.  Second, the layout of the pages wasn't always intuitive, and I often found myself flipping back and forth trying to find where something was located.

Still, even with those complaints taken into account, I found this a worthwhile and useful way to record information about my character, and being able to keep little things like handouts and post-it notes in one place was an added bonus.  When starting a new campaign, one could certainly do worse than forking over $ 10 to play in style.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 66 [RPG]

[24 Abadius 4708 continued]

The surprise attack by the stone giant watch post has been repulsed quickly, and now the intrepid travellers have a prisoner to deal with.  The giant, Syvariak, collapses to his knees muttering that he knew Mokmurian’s foolish crusade would lead to the downfall of the Plateau People.  With his life in their hands, Syvariak doesn’t hesitate to tell his captors what he knows about Mokmurian and Jorgenfist.  He says that Mokmurian was an exiled runt of the Kavarvatti tribe, the same one that Syvariak himself belongs to.  One day, Mokmurian returned to the tribe brimming with arcane power somehow discovered by his blasphemous venture into the Black Tower—a structure dating to the time of the magelords of legend!  Mokmurian slew the tribe’s male elder, Vandarrec, forcing the tribe’s female elder, Conna, to submit the tribe to his new leadership.  Mokmurian then had the Kavarvatti begin construction of a massive walled fortress around the Black Tower while he began rallying other tribes to his banner; though most refused, six other tribes of stone giants and giant-kin settled around Jorgenfist.  When asked, Syvariak says there is no way the adventurers (whom he assumes are advanced scouts of a Magnimarian army) will ever reach Jorgenfist through the treacherous wintery mountainscape and patrols, and that even if they somehow did, the hundreds of Plateau People camped around the fortress (not to mention the rocs and harpies!) would make short work of intruders.  Nonetheless, the adventurers seem determined to continue their quest, and ask Syvariak about whether Conna might be able to aid them.  Syvariak explains that Conna is usually found in the caverns underneath the fortress, and confirms she has a burning hatred of Mokmurian but is powerless to do anything about it.

The adventurers discuss what to do with Syvariak.  Given his candor and obvious sense of honour, they decide to let him go.  He accepts their decision stoically, and explains that he must do his duty by maintaining his watch post after the adventurers leave.  He wistfully remarks that he hopes as many of the Plateau People as possible survive the war to come.

[25 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, the adventurers discuss plans to contact Conna magically.  Ava prepares a sending spell before realizing it won’t work because she doesn’t know Conna.  Salma tries scrying, but the attempt fails.  Preparing themselves for another day’s marching through the harsh terrain, the adventurers continue north.  Their progress continues to be slow, impeded this day by the necessity of making their way carefully down one side of a steep valley wall and up the other side.  That night, as they camp, Kang uncharacteristically gives Jinkatsyu some food when the latter expresses concern he’s running low on rations.

[26 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, Salma again tries to scry on Conna, but with no result.  The adventurers begin moving, and even continue to press on when a blizzard starts a few hours into their journey!  The zealous travellers push forward, barely able to see around them, slowly trudging on and covering about half a mile an hour until finally they decide to set up camp in the magical shelter provided by Salma’s spellcraft.

[27 Abadius 4708]

Just before dawn, Kang is already awake when he hears the sound of stone giant voices nearby, carried on the strong winds that continue to swirl snow all around them.  The tiefling alerts the others, and the adventurers who can speak Giant realize that the patrol’s dire bears have caught the adventurers’ scent and is slowly approaching the obscured campsite!  Salma lets loose with a massive fireball once one of the bears pokes its nose into the magical dome, alerting the giants that powerful foes are nearby.  They shout to each other and leave the bears to fight while running away to alert further watch posts.  The battle against the bears is over quickly as the adventurers have gained, sometimes the hard way, knowledge of how to withstand their might.  The adventurers quickly discuss whether to chase after the fleeing giants but, given the heavy snowfall that makes seeing and tracking impossible, they decide it would be futile.

The adventurers rest for a few more hours until the blizzard finally loses strength.  Another day’s slow travel through deep snowdrifts and jagged terrain is uneventful and the adventurers set camp, frustrated at their rate of progress through the forbidding terrain.  Late that night, resting comfortably again in Salma’s conjured dome, some of the slumbering warriors hear a low moaning sound carried on the wind.  Nerissa, relishing her new role as the party scout, stealthily approaches the source of the sound.  She spies a human male half-frozen in the snow, clearly suffering from severe hypothermia and frostbite.  She drags the man back into the magical hut, where Ava is able to revive him. 

Veridian is one of the hardy mountainmen paid well
by Magnimar to alert the city to threats from central Varisia.

 The man is cagey at first, especially when he catches Kang lying about themselves being “simple travellers.”  After a lot of back and forth, the party manage to persuade him that they really have Varisia’s best interests at heart and he opens up.  He says his name is Veridian, and that he’s a scout for Magnimar’s military.  He says he had been sent to the Iron Peaks when rumors started to come of a new stone giant leader trying to unify the tribes.  Veridian explains that he managed to find a vantage point to spy on Jorgenfist and that, once he realized preparations were seriously under way for an imminent invasion of southwest Varisia, he started to make his way back to civilization to warn his superiors.  However, he got caught in the recent blizzard and couldn’t get to shelter in time.  Salma picks up on Veridian’s mention of having sketched a map of Jorgenfist, and barters with him: in exchange for a look at the map, she’ll teleport the man back to Magnimar and save him weeks of arduous travel!  It’s an offer even the distrustful scout can’t resist, and he shares the map—it details a handful of structures within the walls of Jorgenfist, as well as the location of the different tribal campsites and a pair of caves in the cliffside below the fortress.

While Veridian rests, the adventurers discuss strategies for what they should do once they reach the fortress.  Ideas include trying to sneak into the caves in the hope that they lead somewhere under the fortress or trying to provoke a fight between the tribes.  At last a consensus is reached to start with the caves and establish a staging area for further expeditions into the fortress.

[28 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, the adventurers ask Veridian if he can ask specifically for the army to prepare a defense of Sandpoint.  The grizzled scout is sceptical, saying the town is of little ultimate strategic value and that Magnimar’s army is small, having rarely had to deal with a threat of this magnitude before.  Salma is as good as her word and teleports the man back to Magnimar, and then returns to where the others are.  They continue their journey north, and when the wind and swirling snow brings promise of another blizzard, they decide to press on.

A pair of fortunate events—the capture of a stone giant dissatisfied with Mokmurian’s ascension to power, and the rescue of a scout able to provide a map of Jorgenfist—have provided the adventurers with a major advantage in their quest to stop the stone giants from invading Varisia and bringing untold havoc and death.  But their journey through the Iron Peaks is slow, and time is running out.  Will they make it there in time?

--------------------------------------------------

Director's Commentary (21/4/19)

This session showed how useful random encounters can be.  The interrogation of the stone giant prisoner gave the party extensive information on the situation in Jorgenfist, including the presence of a potential ally (Conna the Wise).  The encounter with Varidian (which I think officially on the table was "mountain man" or "scout" or something) was cleverly used by the PCs to obtain a rough map of the area.  For my part, I liked it because it helped show that Magnimar was doing something about all this threat of giant invasions of Varisia (it can come across as far-fetched when only the PCs seem to notice something that everyone should care about).

Pathfinder Tales: "Inheritance" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Gabrielle Harbowy's Inheritance is a four-part series of free Pathfinder web fiction available here.  It's hard to describe without getting into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that there is excellent characterisation of the main characters, a strong understanding of the setting, and a mature plot that fits well into the short story format.  This one is definitely worth reading.

SPOILERS

Inheritance tells the story of Keren Rhinn, a Knight of Ozem in Lastwall, learning of her father's death and travelling into the Worldwound to deliver the news to her crusader brother.  Keren's lover is a gnome worshipper of Brigh named Zae, and the two have a very cute rapport--they've very clearly in love, and the story does a great job making them adorable but not cloying.  The story does an excellent job building on the lore for Lastwall and the Worldwound by showing how the two forces of mankind that stand vigil on them are very different from each other.  There's a lot of little details here that would be useful flavour for an adventure set in either location.  The story's ending is bittersweet but well done, and I would love to read a novel with Keren and Zae as the protagonists.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 65 [RPG]

[22 Abadius 4708 continued]

In a recovery room at the Sandpoint Cathedral, Nerissa starts to stir and eventually comes out of her catatonic state.  Ava is at her side, and explains how she seemed to remember her mysterious past before collapsing.  But whatever trauma led to her collapse has also again suppressed the secrets of her past—except for a haunting echo, “Forlorn, Not Forlorn.”  Nerissa remains in surprisingly good spirits, however, but is alarmed to hear that Kang, Salma, and Jinkatsyu have already set out for Jorgenfist.

[23 Abadius 4708]

In the morning, Ava telepathically contacts Kang and says that Nerissa has awaken and that the two of them are ready to rejoin the group.  Seconds later, Salma teleports to Sandpoint and finds Ava and Nerissa at the Cathedral.  The trio decide to take advantage of their time in the town by purchasing some additional gear for the difficult trek through the mountains.  While exiting a local shop, Ava sees that the town’s new clerk, Bimmy Beems, is waiting for her.  He hands her a scroll and says several confusing statements about her being a servant, being of service, etc., before finally landing on the right words: “You’ve been served.”  Ava unravels the scroll and can’t make heads or tails of the densely-written and archaic language within.  Salma manages to understand part of the scroll, and explains to Ava that she’s been sued by Nagol Scarnetti for damages over the incident a few days earlier outside the Garrison, alleging everything from assault to the wanton destruction of personal property to seditious libel!  Ava is on the verge of tears as Salma discerns that she’s expected to attend a hearing on the matter in just a week’s time.  However, Salma promises her that he can have her back in Sandpoint in time to avoid being held in default.

While they’re away, Kang and Jinkatsyu rest in the magical hemisphere conjured earlier by Salma’s magic to keep them warm.  The magic of the hemisphere allows them to easily see out, but others are blocked from seeing what’s inside.  The two adventurers spy a stone giant hunting party coming down a rocky hillside in their general direction.  The two prepare for a fight as best they can, hoping their campsite will be overlooked.  But shifting winds carries their scent to the trio of dire bears that accompany the stone giants, and the bears roar their discovery!  It doesn’t take long for the giants to spot the strange opaque dome on the otherwise mundane landscape, and they move up to investigate it cautiously.  Kang and Jinkatsyu decide to strike first with their usual weapons of bomb and rapier, respectively.  The battle is a difficult one, but at first the two heroes more than hold their own.  When one of the massive giants is badly hurt, the other decides that warning Jorgenfist that intruders are on the way must take priority, and he runs.  Kang unfolds his dragonfly wings and gives chase, but the maneuver leads Jinkatsyu alone in the dome against the surviving giant and the bears!  The kitsune fights bravely and skilfully, killing all but one of the attackers, until a series of missteps gives the last survivor an opening.  With a terrifying roar, the bear catches Jinkatsyu’s torso in its massive teeth and shakes its head back and forth several times before hurling the swordsman several feet into the air, dead before he even hits the ground.  A massive crater marks the spot where Kang’s bomb incinerated the fleeing stone giant, but the master alchemist is too late to do anything for Jinkatsyu except to destroy his killer.

Seconds later, Salma, Ava, and Nerissa appear back at the campsite and see Kang holding Jinkatsyu’s lifeless body.  Ava immediately drops to her knees and prays fervently to her god, Sinashakti, for the power to restore her friend to life . . . and it works!  Jinkatsyu awakens as if from a deep sleep with no memory of what happened since the battle against the bear.  Nerissa chastises the group for going off on their own on such a dangerous task, and both she and Ava express surprise at hearing the full story of what had happened over the past couple of days.  Kang is unapologetic, and says that death is simply part of what they’ve all signed up for, noting that every single one of his previous companions on this epic quest have died in battle.  Ava asks the members of the group to make a pact that they’ll stay together in the future so that what happened to Jinkatsyu doesn’t happen again.

The group continues on north.  When Ava explains her legal problems back in Sandpoint, Kang assures her that his “extensive knowledge of the legal system” (no doubt from encounters on the wrong side of the law) will be sufficient to have her acquitted of any charges.  Still, Ava is concerned that the Scarnettis will win the suit and she’ll lose access to the expensive spell components she needs to perform her most miraculous spells—including bringing the dead back to life!  Once it starts to get dark, the adventurers camp in another magical sphere conjured by Salma.

[24 Abadius 4708]

The party’s reliance on magic for almost every facet of their journey continues with the application of spellcraft to help them endure the freezing temperatures of the Iron Peaks.  After about four hours’ of walking, the adventurers realize there’s a problem with their plan to simply follow the Muschkal River right to Jorgenfist: the river disappears into underground tunnels for part of its length!  Magic again comes to the fore with a spell to prevent the party from getting lost in the endless rock-strewn terrain.  After the spell expires, however, the adventurers try to push on before realizing that they’re lost.  They decide to set up camp and continue on in the morning.

Little do they know that their camp, partially sheltered from the wind by being placed next to a cliff wall, is below the campsite for a stone giant patrol!  When massive boulders begin to roll through the adventurers’ camp, the danger becomes apparent.  None of the adventurers are hurt, however, and they charge the giants’ camp.  Salma’s fireball makes short work of the threat, despite the backblast harming some of his allies.  One of the stone giants, badly burned, throws down his club and announces his surrender.

The adventurers’ progress from Hook Mountain to Jorgenfist has been steady, but extremely slow.  Will they make it before Mokmurian launches his invasion of Varisia?  And how does the potential of having a prisoner change the calculation?

------------------------------------------------

Director's Commentary (April 14, 2019)

This session had the start of a new subplot: a surprise lawsuit against Ava!  It was fun since she's such a likable character, and helped flesh out some of the loathsome Scarnetti kin.  There are some fun scenes coming up in future scenarios, but I later realised I had to be careful to not make Sandpoint into too much of a chore to be in--the PCs are supposed to want to save it, after all.

Jinks gets killed again!  I had forgotten about this one.  With the ready availability of raise dead, death becomes a temporary and somewhat expensive annoyance rather than a campaign-changer.  I actually prefer the old rule from previous editions that death permanently lowers your Constitution score by 1 so that there's a hard cap on the number of times a character can die and be raised.

It was interesting having the PCs come at Jorgenfist from a direction the AP wasn't expecting, and trying to adopt some of the outer patrols to a different terrain type.

GameMastery Map Pack: "Magic Academy" [RPG]

Magic Academy is a map pack I really appreciate because it's far superior than anything I could draw myself (unlike, say, the simple ability to draw parallel lines needed to duplicate the Road or River map packs).  The back panel shows six configurations of the tiles: a large lecture theatre, a spell-dueling hall, a laboratory, a dormitory, a classroom, and a headmaster's office.  Although there are the requisite arcane symbols and summoning circles, this map pack is more versatile than you might think, as the offices and classrooms could easily stand in for an elite boarding school, a bardic college, the Sincomakti School of Sciences in Ustalav, or any other institution of learning and study. The detail is impressive, as it's easy to distinguish book shelves, torch sconces, and even individual scrolls and quills on the tables.  Drawing classrooms and lecture halls is time-consuming, and this map pack makes it a snap and a worthwhile purchase.   The only addition I had to make was drawing hallways leading to the classrooms, for example, in case an encounter spilled out (two tiles makes for an intimate combat scene!).  I used Magic Academy for the module Academy of Secrets (which it was specifically designed for) as well a Beginner's Box mission for my kid.  Each time, it worked quite well, and I certainly envision using it again.

Pathfinder Module: "Academy of Secrets" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Academy of Secrets is memorable to me as the first Pathfinder adventure I ever owned.  I picked it up years before starting to regularly play Pathfinder, intending to use it as a side-quest during a long-running Forgotten Realms game.  When the PCs got to the right level in that campaign, I dangled the adventure hook and . . . nothing!  No bite.  "It's obviously a trap!" they said, and went off to do other random things.  Years later, I started running Rise of the Runelords (my first foray into the Golarion campaign setting) and when the PCs got up to the right level for Academy of Secrets, I dangled the hook.  This time, I got a bite, and hurried to do all the necessary prep between sessions.  But one of the PCs was unhappy with his spell selection after the first encounter, and, just a few pages into the module, they teleported away to do AP stuff.  Vexed but undeterred, I scheduled Academy of Secrets as a Pathfinder Society special.  I was going to run it, hell or high water!  It turned out I couldn't actually use it for PFS (there's no "campaign mode" for it, and the players didn't have characters of high enough level.)  But I convinced the players to play "just for fun" (such a weird notion!), and I finally got the module off the ground and justified the $ 13.95 Canadian dollars and cents I spent on it lo those many moons ago at The Hairy Tarantula.

Was it worth the wait?  Well . . .  maybe not exactly.  It's not an earth-shattering story.  But it is a fun module, easy to integrate into any campaign.  PCs can teleport in after receiving the hook anywhere in Golarion, take part in the adventure, and then teleport back to get on with whatever else they have going on.  Unlike many modules, it avoids the cliche of "stumble into a new village and help it solve its problems", and, unlike some modules, it won't take months to finish.  You can run through Academy of Secrets in two or three four-hour sessions and not feel like you hurried past a ton of content.  At 32 pages, it's just the right length for a satisfying side trek that won't derail an on-going campaign.  And frankly, there aren't that many modules for PCs in the Level 12-14 range, so I'm grateful for what we have.

It's not a spoiler to say (given the blurb, module title, and initial adventure hook) that the module involves the Acadamae, Korvosa's elite magical university.  Appendix 1 of the module is a three-page neutral presentation of the Acadamae suitable for use in any campaign.  If, for example, you're running or playing through Curse of the Crimson Throne and want to flesh out a wizard PC's background or add some colour when they go to get an item identified, the description here would be quite useful.  It contains a half-page map of the grounds of the Acadamae, description of the various buildings, and a list of notable personalities (the headmaster and deans of the various schools).  Setting lore completists would still find it useful to integrate the material on the Acadamae from the Guide to Korvosa, as there are some nuggets of slightly different information.  Appendix 2 introduces a new monster called a Garipan--a sort of outsider that often masquerades as a gargoyle. The artwork is cool, even if the concept isn't super exciting.  The inside front- and back- cover show how tiles from the Magic Academy map pack can be arranged to form rooms used in the module.  I thought this was a really clever idea, and I wish this concept (integrating adventures with map packs and flip-mats) had continued through future modules.

Anyway, that's enough background--on to the main event!

SPOILERS

Academy of Secrets is all about an annual event at the Acadamae called the Breaching Festival.  The Breaching Festival is a carnival-like day in which students and adventurers from around Golarion participate in a contest to see if they can penetrate the university's Hall of Wards and emerge before any other contestant.  From the Acadamae's point of view, it's a way to test the skill of its best abjurers, from the public's point of view it's an entertaining spectacle, and from the contestants' point of view, it's a way to win a prize of 153,000 gold pieces!  But what no one except the Acadamae's Headmaster, Toff Ornelos knows, is that the Breaching Festival is really a century's old trap to feed mortal souls to an archduke of Hell.  Those who enter the Hall of Wards aren't entering a building, they're entering a Hell-like demiplane facsimile of the building named Belzeragna!  The first couple of pages of the module go through the background of how the Breaching Festival came to be, summarizes the adventure, and offers a handy sidebar for GMs who want to try to fit it in or around a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign.

Part One ("An Unexpected Invitation") contains the adventure hook and preliminaries to the Breaching Festival.  The hook is simple but effective: a courtier sent by Headmaster Toff Ornelos teleports to wherever the PCs are, hand-delivers the invitation, and stands ready to teleport back with the PCs.  PCs of every level like gold, and 153,00 gp in cash is pretty sweet at any level.  As I said above, it's nice that you don't have to manipulate the PCs into already being in Korvosa for the adventure to work.  Assuming the PCs agree and teleport to the Acadamae, they'll be introduced to Toff Ornelos.  The artwork he's given (on page 27) is pretty imposing, so I role-played him as an imperious jerk and I think it worked well.  Ornelos explains the details of the Breaching Festival and isn't shy to say that it's been a century and a half since anyone won the prize--which is enough to raise the suspicions of necessarily-paranoid PCs.  They'll definitely suspect something is up, but won't know quite what, and that amount of gold should be worth the risk.

After the meeting with the Headmaster, the PCs will be guided toward the dormitories.  While passing by a classroom, they'll hear a disturbance and get their first encounter, as another contestant, hoping to get an edge, has summoned a demonic creature far beyond her prowess and paid for the mistake with (probably) her life.  The demon, an Advanced Retriever, has some nasty eye ray abilities (like petrification!).  It's an introductory taste to the desperation some contestants will get to, and can be used to set the tone for the Acadamae as a ruthless place.  I mention this last bit since sometimes the Acadamae is presented as a cut-throat place of strivers and back-stabbers (such as the Pathfinder Tales story "The Illusion" available here), whereas Academy of Secrets probably presents the Acadamae as a nicer place than that.  I went with the former view, as it's a lot more interesting.

This part of the module concludes with the PCs having an opportunity to meet the rest of their competition.  This is primarily a role-playing and story opportunity, as the fate of these competitors will be revealed later in the module.

Part Two ("The Breaching Festival") starts with Headmaster Ornelos giving a little speech on the morning of the festival before the assembled masses (including, perhaps Queen Ileosa!).  Ornelos goes over the rules, explaining that, before any contestant can actually enter the Hall of Wards, they have to find a small magical "key-light" in one of the other buildings on campus.  Once the competition starts, the NPC contestants scatter, and the PCs have seven different buildings (all representing different schools of magic) to choose from.  Each building's key-light is guarded by a magical trap and/or monstrous guardians, and the PCs need one key-light for each member of the group.  But although they'll need to enter multiple buildings, they don't need to enter every single one, and this part of the module plays pretty quickly because searching each building for the key-lilght is handled abstractly through a skill check.  The obstacles to getting a key-light are suitably challenging given the level of the PCs (with magical traps like phantasmal killer, baleful polymorph, confusion, and a heightened horrid wilting), and, when I ran this, one of the four PCs was killed before even making it into the Hall of Wards!  This is an opportunity for rogues with magical trap-finding abilities (or spellcasters with dispel magic at the ready) to really shine.

Part Three ("Belzeragna") starts once the PCs enter the Hall of Wards with the key-lights.  Without realizing it, they've arrived in a demi-plane that is very difficult to escape.  The mangled body of one of the NPC contestants is on the ground, reinforcing the tone that this competition is not for the faint of heart!  Another room, a library, contains a strange sight: a crazed wizard rushing back and forth trying to grab one of dozens of books and scrolls that continually fly through the room and evade his grasp.  The wizard, Terentius, is a former contestant from last year's Breaching Festival, but because time passes differently in the demi-plane, he's been trapped here for 25 years of local time!  He's searching for his spellbook, but doesn't realize that invisible stalkers are tormenting him by moving books around willy-nilly.  He's actually a potent threat if the PCs anger him, and thus it's best to get on Terentius' good side.  The next room, a lecture hall, also contains an NPC competitor, but one from this Breaching Festival who made it into the Hall of Wards before the PCs.  Illia Ean, a local member of the thieves' guild, has been tortured by a handmaiden devil.  She begs to be set free, but is not trustworthy as she'll betray the group to mollify any devils they encounter.  And devils are certainly going to be encountered: bone devils, handmaiden devils, barbed devils, and, in the final room of Belzeragna, a contract devil.

This last devil is a CR 15 threat named Chyvvom.  By the time my PCs reached him, another member of the group had fallen in combat (caught between a barbed devil and a devourer), so it was a "then there were two" situation.  I liked the encounter here because Chyvvom doesn't have to be fought.  He's a very "reasonable" fellow, and PCs can make a deal for their escape that doesn't even require them to pledge their mortal souls.  However, the module isn't clear on what terms Chyvvom will or will not agree to, as a sidebar on page 20 and the discussion on page 21 seem to disagree.  If the terms are too exacting, then combat is inevitable and the whole situation becomes less interesting.  I was also a bit fuzzy on how Chyvvom handled previous contestants, since there hasn't been a "winner" in a century and a half--does no one ever escape, or is there a contract term that they can't reveal what happened inside the Hall of Wards and arrive someplace else on Golarion? Anyway, although I did my best, the two PCs were unwilling to make a deal with the devil and decided to fight--and won!  Contract devils, as I also learned in a recent PFS scenario, really aren't that tough when cornered in melee.  Once Chyvvom is defeated (or a deal is in place), the PCs can escape Belzeragna.

Part Four ("Hells Breaching") felt tacked on, and, although I prepped it, I didn't run it.  Essentially, by escaping Belzeragna, the PCs have stretched the demiplane to the breaking point and a horde of devils pour out into the grounds of the Acadamae.  I didn't really understand the logic here, as Belzeragna isn't Hell itself (just a Hell-like demiplane).  Anyway, this part plays out as a series of little encounters that can be run in any order as everything from warmonger devils to bone devils to ice devils to erinyes run rampant.  Good-aligned PCs might stay to try and save the day, but I think many PCs (having narrowly survived Belzeragna after being screwed over by the Headmaster) won't have the appetite to intervene.  It comes across as rather anti-climactic.  After the encounters, the PCs have a choice to make in whether to implicate Headmaster Ornelos in what's been going on, and there's a good discussion of other fall-out from the adventure.

Academy of Secrets doesn't stick the landing, so I have to come down in the four out of five stars department.  That aside, it features an original setting  (and I could imagine further shenanigans at the Acadamae!), a robust hook, a classic adventure design, and balanced high-level play (which isn't always easy).  It took a while, but I'm glad I finally got to run this module and I imagine I'll make use of elements of it again in the future.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-6: "Black Waters" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The good thing about Season 0 scenarios is that they tend to be short, straightforward, and easy to run with limited prep.  So when the planned GM for a Season 10 scenario cancelled, I was able to step in and run Black Waters at relatively short notice (it helped that one of the players was late, giving me some extra last-minute prep time!).  The main thing I've learned and tried to implement about these early scenarios is that, as written, they're really only the skeleton of an adventure and require the GM to flesh out the description and role-playing to make them come alive.  Black Waters has a wonderful, dark atmosphere if done right, and I think that's the reason it's one of the more memorable Season Zero adventures and led to a sequel later on.

I ran this at low sub-tier.

SPOILERS

Famously eccentric Venture-Captain Drandle Drenge makes his first appearance ever in PFS to deliver the briefing.  Ten years ago, an earthquake struck Absalom and sheered off much of a neighbourhood called Beldrin's Bluff, sending it plummeting into the sea.  An elite private school in the area stayed on the mainland but fell into a sinkhole that quickly filled with water, drowning the students and staff inside.  Since then, the Pathfinder Society's archaeologists have surmised that the school fell through an ancient necropolis.  The entire site, now known as the Drownyard, has remained off-limits . . . until now!  Drenge wants the PCs to delve into the necropolis and explore, paying particular attention to a ruby salamander ring said to be on one of the bodies interred there (the ring is apparently valuable as a divination focus to recover a fabled treasure horde elsewhere--I don't know if this plot thread was ever followed up on or not).

Act 1 starts with the PCs leaving the briefing and receiving an invitation to attend a formal dinner with a noblewoman named Lady Miranda Dacilane.  As written, this provides a brief role-playing opportunity as the noblewoman explains that her daughter, Junia, was one of the students lost during the sinking of the school.  She asks the group to inform her if they find her body, foreshadowing the climax of the scenario.  As an aside, it's also an opportunity for members of the Cheliax faction to try to steal a broach from around the old lady's neck!  I miss the faction missions--they really stir the pot.  Anyway, knowing this scenario has a very short run time, I made a lot of this dinner and really pushed the role-playing (using some suggestions in the forums, including a menu for the stated ten-course meal).  I think it worked out well.

Act 2 starts with the PCs arriving at the Drownyard.  I think it's important to play up the atmosphere here: dark gray clouds, cold rain, gusting winds, and an almost silent landscape of dead trees and derelict buildings.  (A little additional description of this area (along with a map) can be found in the module Hangman's Noose.)  Here the group will encounter a man named Deris Marlinchen, a completely delusional man who thinks his daughter (who died in the sinkhole) will be walking out of the school any minute  now.  In the meantime, he tends to the grounds.  If the PCs ask about the necropolis, Deris will lead them to a classroom where the spirits of dead students and their teacher continue re-enacting a lesson.  Deris can be threatening if angered (he has stats as a sorcerer), but really this is more of a way to build on the dark, tragic tone of the scenario.

Act 3 covers entry into the necropolis.  The directions to the necropolis are in journals locked in the desk in the Act 2 classroom, and I was a bit confused when running Black Waters about the geography of the Drownyard--it's clear that only part of the school fell into the sinkhole, but why do the PCs need to locate a particular entrance to the necropolis?  Wouldn't there be a huge depression in the ground where the buildings on the surface crashed into the caverns below?  In any event, the entrance is suitable creepy: a gently bubbling black pool has the shoulder of a severed arm jutting out of it, with the fist still gripping the handle of a heavy, iron plug.  A giant water bug is concealed by the pool and attacks those who get to close, and there's a fun bit where pulling the plug drains the pool and risks pulling the PCs into the hole to tumble into the necropolis below.  (it's one of those hazards that's perfectly logical, so especial fun to inflict on PCs!)

Act 4 begins with the PCs in the necropolis proper.  It contains chilling bits of text like "On the floor of the east recess, the perfectly preserved body of a young boy lies in a puddle and stares silently upward."  This is the body of a boy named Grishan Maldris, the younger brother of Colson Madris, the head of the Andoran PFS faction.  At low tier this chamber is guarded by a bugbear zombie, which is out of place and doesn't make a lot of sense--why would bugbears be buried in this necropolis?  At high tier, two allips are in the chamber, and they make much more sense and fit the tone thematically.

Act 5 features a vaulted chamber containing another ghostly reenactment--this one of schoolchildren huddled up hearing a story.  Three ghouls gradually converge on this room, which is a very unfair challenge for low tier PCs--I was pleasantly surprised my group emerged without any deaths.  (As an aside, these early Season Zero scenarios sure did like ghouls!)  I should add that the groundskeeper, Marlinchen, has a whole little subplot if he accompanies the PCs into the necropolis and I appreciate the added detail (he got torn apart by the water bug when I ran it, so I didn't actually get to use it).

Act 6 has the big climax.  It has a cool conceit, as the chamber is right at the edge of the cliff-face so that sea water surges in periodically, threatening to temporarily blind PCs with foamy spray.  A ghast wearing rotting finery and a golden crown is here, and he makes for quite a battle after what the PCs have already been through.  When I ran it, he defeated everyone but one PC (a Gunslinger), who ran for it, only to get cut off; the gunslinger had one shot (and one chance) to live: he rolled a critical hit, and it was one of those memorably awesome endings that can only take place in RPGs.  Although my group missed it (those who survived being happy to escape with their lives), hidden in a sarcophagus here is Junia Dacilane, daughter of the noblewoman the PCs had dinner with earlier.  Somehow, Junia is still alive--just comatose!  It turns out the ruby salamander ring (which she found and put on) is a ring of sustenance!

The Conclusion allows the return of Junia to her mother, with suitable rewards and prestige for the PCs.

As a Season Zero scenario, there's some extra work to get Black Waters up and running today, like updating stat blocks from 3.5, adding CMB/CMD, looking up the new success conditions, etc.  You can't expect much in terms of artwork, and the Chronicles tend to be pretty bland.  There's no four-player adjustment, and the skill check DCs aren't usually changed depending on what sub-tier is used.  It's runs heavy on the (sometimes unfair) combat and light on the role-playing.  But all that being said, I really like the feel of this one, even if it doesn't quite live up to its potential.  With a little work by the GM, it can be creepy and memorable as hell.

Pathfinder Society Faction Pin: "Dark Archive" [RPG]

I like the design of the PFS Dark Archive Faction Pin: the eldritch flame hovering above an open

book tells you immediately that this is a faction devoted to magic and esoteric research.  The pin is sturdy and comes with a butterfly clasp, so it won't fall off easily (though I keep mine in the baggy it comes in).  Like all the faction pins, it arrives affixed to a little card, the back of which includes a brief description of the faction.  Oddly, mine came affixed to the card for the wrong faction, which is a bit annoying, but forgivable (since I'm amazingly magnanimous and humble).  I've got a couple of Dark Archive PCs running around, and sooner or later that extra 1d4 is going to come in handy . . .

Starfinder Society Scenario # 1-24: "Siege of Enlightenment" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran this at low sub-tier using the four-player adjustment.  Siege of Enlightenment isn't exactly ground-breaking, but it's a solid, enjoyable scenario that introduces some new lore elements into the Starfinder universe that could provide the seeds for further scenarios.  The encounters are satisfyingly dangerous but not unfair.  It's definitely one worth playing.

SPOILERS

Although the briefing in the Lorespire Complex with the ever-bland Venture-Captain Arvin is what you would expect, the mission premise is solid.  Out in Near Space, beyond the jurisdiction of the Pact Worlds, two starfaring nations are at war: the Marixah Republic and the Gideron Authority.  The Marixah Republic is trying to evacuate its population from a mining colony called Sansorgis that is likely to be invaded soon.  The Starfinder Society has contracted with them to assist in the evacuation in exchange for free reign to explore sites of archaeological interest on the planet.  V-C Arvin gives the PCs diplomatic credentials in case they encounter they encounter the Gideron Authority and are challenged.

You know that when the players have to pick a ship after the briefing, it means a starship combat is coming.  On their way to Sansorgis, the PCs are intercepted by a ship called Susumu's Sword (cool artwork!), a Gideron Authority vessel that orders them to turn back.  It ain't gonna happen, of course, so a space battle breaks out, with two little twists being that the Gideron ship has a ramming prow and that a proton storm makes some hexes dangerous to fly through.  I'm on the record of not being a fan of how starship combat is handled in Starfinder, and this encounter did nothing to change my mind.  The PCs won easily, simply avoiding the dangerous hexes and making sure they stayed out of ramming range of the enemy ship.  If the PCs somehow lose, it's not a big deal: they lose 100 credits and one of those "you'll be told if this boon is important" boons that get invoked once in a blue moon.

When the PCs land on Sansorgis, they're greeted by the locals, led by a Corporal Kalyavata (again, nice artwork).  The reason the colonists need help evacuating is that a series of strange computer and mechanical glitches have slowed the process down, and now one of their cargo freighters is stuck in its hangar because the hangar doors won't open.  The PCs have to lend a hand or get some Infamy (fair enough).  The Space Station flip-mat is used to represent the hangar, and it's kind of a goofy choice, as it's about the further thing from a hangar I can picture (you'd be lucky to cram a speeder bike in there, much less a cargo freighter!).  Still, I thought the encounter here was well-conceived and fun.  The reason for all the glitches is that a group of computer gremlins have infested the hangar.  When the PCs start manipulating the equipment, they manifest to start wreaking havoc, and the scenario allows them to do fun stuff like overload nearby computer consoles to explode, force vents to emit thick smoke, have robot arms to grab the PCs, etc.  PCs can use terminals to do this stuff as well, and the flip-mat is big enough and has a couple of hazards in it so that the (very weak) gremlins aren't just massacred in a single round.  It's not an encounter that's going to seriously threaten PCs, but it's an enjoyable one.

Once the gremlins are defeated and the colonists are safely evacuated, the PCs can head to a nearby set of ruins.  The scenario has a feature I really liked and hope to see more of: it tracks "Discovery Points" for exploration.  Discovery Points are achieved for doing things "real" xeno-archaeologists might do, such as mapping the ruins, translating documents, successfully removing very fragile items, etc.  In other words, it encourages more than just a "kill and loot" mentality.  The ruins themselves turn out to be an old military installation of a pre-Drift hobgoblin empire that existed sometime during the Gap.  The scenario does a good job laying out the clues here, and I'm intrigued by the back story and potential for further adventures building on the discoveries.

In a gameplay sense, the ruins probably come across to players as a dungeon crawl (the flip-mat is even Ancient Dungeon!).  Threats include some cool "Terra-Cotta Spider" constructs with "taserweb grenades" guarding the entrance, some "Howling Devils" (with sonic screams) that proved more of a challenge for the PCs to kill than I expected (the creatures have several energy immunities and resistances), a gleefully evil "Body-Gripping Trap" that crushes PCs and can even deal the Wound critical hit effect for permanent disfiguration(!), and, for the big final battle (which actually may occur relatively early in the exploration depending on which directions the PCs take) an encounter against a Ja Noi Oni (a sort of samurai hobgoblin spirit who thinks the entire thing is a simulation) and his pet Tashtari ("laser wolf").  This last encounter is pretty tough, especially if the PCs have been weakened by encountering everything else in the complex.  When I ran it (if I remember right), one of the PCs died before the others surrendered and were allowed to leave (thus missing out on some rewards).  Anyway, as far as dungeon crawls go, it's a professionally written and entertaining one.  There's a variety of challenges, the difficulty is reasonably high but fair, and there's plenty of little things in each room to discover to further expand the story.

Once the PCs have finished their explorations of the ruins, they can make it back to Absalom Station with no further problems.

If I had my druthers, I would have added more of a sense of urgency building on the natural implications of the premise: some sort of timeline before the Gideron Authority invasion fleet arrives, for example.  I would happily say something like "Scanners show you have four minutes before the Gideron vessels land--I'm keeping track of rounds--go!"  But maybe that's just me.  All in all, I really liked Siege of Enlightenment despite the fact that its core game-play mechanic (investigating a series of rooms, each with their own danger) hasn't evolved since the 1970s.  There's enough story around it that it works.  The introduction of the Marixah Republic (a loose confederation of allied colonies) and the Gideron Authority (a militaristic empire dominated by hobgoblins) is done well, and the war between them could be the backdrop to several good stories.  I definitely hope we see more of them and more related to the tantalizing hints of the lost empire that were found on Sansorgis.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 10-06: "Treason's Chains" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran Treason’s Chains at low subtier using the four-player adjustment.  It’s pretty forgettable, with a paint-by-numbers storyline and bland encounters.  It does advance the PFS storyline in Katapesh, and I’d say that’s its only redeeming value.

SPOILERS

Treason’s Chains takes place in the metropolis of Katapesh, a major trading city where anything imaginable can be bought or sold.  The scenario starts with a briefing by Venture-Captain Roderus at his headquarters, the Winding Road Inn.  Alas, the briefing doesn’t tell the PCs that they’re in Katapesh, or that the city is very different than many others insofar as there are multiple Venture-Captains with responsibilities over different parts of it (a crucial aspect of the plot).  What the PCs are told is that Roderus is having his retirement party in the

evening and would like the PCs to (covertly) keep an eye on his two likely successors (Wulessa Yuul and Phlegos Dulm), as there are rumours that the rivalry between them has escalated to a dangerous level. 

During the party, the PCs maintain their cover by helping out with a variety of tasks such as serving drinks, taking care of the guests’ mounts, delivering food, etc.  There are skill checks for each of these tasks that tie into the PCs’ gold rewards at the end of the scenario, and some good suggestions are made as to how to integrate the skill checks naturally into the role-playing scene.  I like little things like this, even if they require some quick improv on the GM’s part.  While working, the PCs will also meet some of the inn’s other staff, the most important of whom is a goblin named Zig.  Zig is a transparent attempt to introduce more likable goblins in anticipation of their becoming a core race in the game’s second edition.  I’m not persuaded, but that’s neither here nor there, and we’ll see more of them later in the scenario. 

Assuming the PCs manage to gather some information during the party, they’ll learn that VCs Wulessa Yuul and Phlegos Dulm are indeed major rivals, with Phlegos (a half-orc potion maker) allegedly involved in particularly shady activities to undermine his rival like paying street toughs to harass Wulessa’s contacts.  The PCs are supposed to decide that, while Phlegos is tied up at the party, it’s the perfect opportunity to snoop around his headquarters (a potion shop and warehouse) for proof of his misdeeds.  I thought this was a bit of a stretch based on what limited intel the PCs uncover during the party, but the plot requires what the plot requires, I guess.

At Phlegos’ HQ, the PCs will happen upon another friendly goblin (an accountant’s apprentice, no less--I guess books aren’t that scary after all!) who can easily be persuaded to turn over a ledger that will prove Phlegos’ lllicit dealings.  An alternative way to get a separate set of ledgers is to venture into the warehouse, subdue a couple of generic street toughs, and yank the info right out of an office desk (or intimidate the accountant into fetching them).  The desk is guarded by a particularly-feeble summon monster trap (one dretch for 5 rounds at low tier; I should mention the four-player adjustment doesn’t work).  The whole scene is pretty straightforward, and the most fun I had was role-playing the “pompous, arrogant” accountant.

The PCs are then to head back to the party, where they learn that there’s been an attempted murder!  A trio of bards performing at the party (singing songs about being freed slaves from Absalom hoping to liberate others) were poisoned but the assembled Pathfinders at the party reacted quickly enough to save their lives.  The prime suspect . . . Zig, the lovable goblin!  The PCs may suspect Zig is innocent (all goblins are Lawful Good now, after all) but there’s nothing they can do about it at the moment.  Instead, they have to clean up after the party and go to bed.

Hitting the hay after a hard day’s breaking-and-entering and Venture-Captain-Phlegos-is-evil-proving may seem counter-intuitive, but by this point we just have to accept that this scenario is on rails and try to enjoy the ride.  And it does allow for my favourite encounter in the scenario.  The PCs are attacked by assassins in the middle of the night!  Fortunately, more (friendly) goblins awaken the PCs prior to any classic coups de grace, but the PCs still have to do battle against assassins while wearing little to no armor, not having prepared new spells, and with whatever real or improvised weapons happen to be within arm’s reach.  It’s pretty rare that encounters like this happen in PFS, and I really like ones that take PCs out of their comfort zones (and reward feats that are relatively rarely taken, like Endurance).

After turning the tables on the would-be assassins, the friendly goblins lead the PCs to their leader, Yigrig Moneymaker.  Yigrig is a wealthy goblin who uses his money and connections to free goblin slaves and (cough, cough) “place members of his extended family in respected positions across the Inner Sea.”  Yigrig is angry about Zig being framed for the attempted murder, and has done enough business with Phlegos in the past to know that the half-orc must be behind the stitch-up.  Yigrig tells the PCs that Phlegos has been involved in importing slaves to Katapesh, and that his operation can be found at an old warehouse on the docks.

This leads to the final part of the scenario.  There are a few encounters here against Phlegos’ hired toughs.  The chosen flip-mat works really well, and I think the most original part of the scene is that the area is patrolled by a guard holding the leashes of some guard dogs—the rules for the direction of the wind for the purposes of their Scent ability actually comes into play!  (I may be over-excited, but I’ve never seen that before, in or out of PFS.)  Anyway, the PCs can go in Alkenstar guns-blazing or sneak in, and I do appreciate options.  After the dust is settled, the PCs will be able to easily find the evidence they need to further incriminate Phelgos and acquit Zig.  Anti-climactically, however, the half-orc is long gone, having fled the city.  In the conclusion, we learn that Wulessa Yuul will be the new Venture-Captain for Katapesh.

I didn’t hate Treason’s Chains, but I didn’t particularly like it either.  I appreciated the incorporation of the Pathfinders’ situation in Katapesh from Seeker of Secrets, and developing the plotline of the organisation’s leadership in the city makes sense.  On the other hand, there wasn’t much description of the city and very little to distinguish it from any other generic urban area.  The goblin subplot didn’t do much for me, and I don’t know why PFS scenarios were asked to bear the brunt of laying the groundwork for such a controversial change.  The plot for the scenario was almost embarrassingly straightforward, with there being no question from the very beginning that Phlegos was the “bad” Venture-Captain and Wulessa the “good” one.  While I don’t need each adventure to be like Murder on the Orient Express, some red herrings and more complex story-telling would have been appreciated.  The encounters were also fairly bland, and if I had a ranger in PFS I wish I could take “Favored Enemy (Gang Tough).”  The couple of nice bits (the bedtime raid, evading the guard dog patrol) aren’t enough to significantly elevate the scenario.  I’d peg it as below average, perhaps suitable for new players who need to learn the game through a very straightforward story.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: "Lost Cities of Golarion" [RPG]

Lost Cities of Golarion is a little bit like the brilliant combination of Cities of Golarion and Lost Kingdoms of Golarion, two other books in the Campaign Setting line.  Whereas Cities of Golarion presented six (mostly) safe cities for PCs to use as their home base, and Lost Kingdoms of Golarion detailed the rise and fall of the civilisations that gave birth to the crumbling monuments that now dot the landscape, Lost Cities of Golarion offers six ruined cities full of danger and intrigue that incorporate detailed setting lore while providing an exciting campaign’s worth of plot for PCs in the “modern” era.  That’s a really long-winded way of saying that each of the six cities detailed in this book are intended for exploration and adventure.   As you’ll see below, some of these sites can serve as the basis for a full campaign, while others may be better suited to a shorter story-arc.  Anyway, the takeaway from this review is that GMs will find a lot of great adventure ideas in this book, and it’s well-worth the purchase.

The six cities covered are Ilvarandin (a city in the Underdark), Kho (one of the ancient Shory flying cities, now crashed), Storasta (the last city to fall before the Worldwound), the Sun Temple Colony (an ancient Azlanti city across the ocean), Tumen (a city of ancient Osirion), and Xin-Shalast (golden capital of one part of ancient Thassilon). Each entry, which is about ten pages long, includes a full-page map, descriptions of various locations within the city, random encounter tables (thankfully broken up into low level, medium level, and high level, addressing one of the critiques I often make of tables like this), the full stat-block of a major new NPC or monster, and, perhaps most valuable, a section detailing adventure hooks and plot ideas for low, medium, and high-level campaigns in the city.

First up is Ilvarandin, a city deep in the Darklands (Golarion’s version of the Underdark).  Ilvarandin is a vast city, hundreds of miles wide, but seemingly deserted.  As one spends time exploring, however, small enclaves of inhabitants can be found—refugees from other parts of the Darklands, like mongrelfolk, exiled drow, morlocks, and more.  But the secret of Ilvarandin is in its core: it’s a city of intellect devourers, terrible creatures capable of taking over the bodies and minds of others!  The devourers have been in a centuries-long war with another Darklands race, the neothelids.  Why would anyone come here?  Because the intellect devourers have carefully used the bodies of explorers and others to seed legends that Ilvarandin is some kind of utopia, so that travellers from elsewhere in the Darklands (and even the surface) arrive, presenting fresh prey.  The entry includes two useful maps (one of the various sections of the city, one of the city’s core), a stat block for one of the most powerful rulers of the city (a CR 15 Intelllect devourer sorcerer), and a detailed description of a new drug called Midnight Milk—which allows intellect devourers to exercise their body thief abilities on addicts even at tremendous distances.  The hooks to an entire campaign involving Ilvarandin are natural and intriguing—the PCs can start on the surface investigating the devastating spread of this new drug in one city, eventually start to trace it back to the Darklands, and, at higher levels, visit Ilvarandin itself and get caught up in the politics and war of a strange, exotic place.  It’s a cool, well-realised location with several good plot hooks.

Second, we have Kho.  I was intrigued by Kho ever since I read about it in Pathfinder Tales novel City of Sky.  Kho was one of the ancient flying cities of the Shory Empire that filled the sky several millennia in Golarion’s past.  Whereas the fate of most are unknown, Kho fell from the sky and smashed into the ground in what is now the Barrier Wall mountains northeast of the Mwangi Expanse (or in southwest Osirion, depending on how you look at it).  In campaign terms, Kho serves as much more a site for open-ended exploration than Ilvarandin does.  There are some inhabitants for the PCs to engage (probably violently) with, including marids (genies from the plane of water), derhii (gorillas with wings!), and leukodemons (disease demons).  Overall though, I found this entry (and Kho) much blander than I had hoped.  There’s something called the Well of Axuma, a place of great magical power, but not much backstory is presented.  The hooks to get PCs to Kho (like investigating a disease spread by the leukodemons) are a little bit akin to that of Ilvarandin, but aren’t integrated organically well-enough to service an entire campaign.  And although the entry gives us stats for the derhii, they’re really the sort of creature that demands a picture.

Third in line is Storasta, the last city in ancient Sarkoris to fall to the demonic hordes that now occupy what’s called the Worldwound.  Unlike the other “lost cities” in the book, Storasta isn’t that old in an historical sense—it fell less than a century ago.  It has an interesting backstory and theme, as a place where the last surviving druids, shamans, and fey of Sarkoris assembled and unleashed their most primal magics to hold back the demon armies, thus creating a blighted, twisted place that no one, not even demons, find hospitable.  Not much now lives in Storasta beyond dark fey, mad treants, and particularly persistent demons, all fighting against each other for control of what little remains of the city.  Storasta is one of those places that’s suicidal for low-level PCs to enter, but good be a good adventure site for higher-level groups in a Worldwound-themed campaign.  And if you need a big boss, the CR 20 stat block for Carrock (a fiendish treant druid) would make a suitable challenge.  The best part about Storasta is it allows for some adventures in the Worldwound that aren’t solely focussed on fighting demons.

Fourth is the Sun Temple Colony, probably my favourite entry in the book.  This island location, far across the Arcadian Ocean, was once an Azlanti city.  Now its jungle surface is home to the crumbling ruins of that civilization, but looming above everything is the imposing Sun Temple, home to a mysterious device capable of harnessing the sun’s energies to wreak destruction.  The entire place has a fantastic, mysterious feel, and the backstory is equally intriguing: a lost colony, a trapped godling, and more!  You could certainly build a mid-length campaign around the PCs’ quest to reach the island, their interactions with the locals (figuring who among them can be trusted and who’s an evil cultist), and their penetration into the secrets of the Sun Temple.  One of the things that appeals to me the most as a GM is that it takes the PCs (and players) outside of their comfort zones: there are no magic stores, tavern common rooms, 2 gp/night inns to rest in safely, or other tempting places to teleport to.  It’d be a bit more like the t.v. show Lost, and I can see the appeal of that.

Fifth is Tumen, a monument showing the amazing hubris of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension in ancient Osirion.  Tumen is really four interconnected cities built in the middle of a vast, trackless desert on the top of a vertical cliff.  Apparently, a hundred thousand slaves died to construct it, and the Four Pharaohs didn’t care a whit!  Each of the four cities (or districts of Tumen, depending on how you think of it) holds something interesting for explorers, but I found it hard to envision what this place was like in a conceptual sense.  I think better artwork and description would have helped, as everything’s a bit opaque.  Interestingly, there are links to the storyline of the countdown clocks and the Dark Tapestry that was finished off in the Doomsday Dawn Playtest adventure, though I’m not convinced the information here matches up with what’s there.  Anyway, there’s plenty of ancient Osirion ruins and pyramids available in Pathfinder, and I don’t think Tumen is a necessary addition.

Sixth is Xin-Shalast, a city from ancient Thassilon that first appears in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path.  The entry here is written on the assumption that the events in that AP have concluded, though I think there’s some bits and pieces that would be useful for GMs who plan to run it.  The theme here is “classic gold rush”.  Expeditions from Riddleport, Magnimar, and Janderhoff are present, as are some factions of the locals, and everyone is clashing and vying to take advantage of an opportunity for untold wealth in the gold-paved streets of the city.  Environmental factors alone (like the cold and altitude) make this a lethal place for low-level PCs, but I guess it could be interesting at higher-levels to see what factions the PCs ally themselves with and what further dangers they encounter in and around Xin-Shalast (like a CR 19 Rune Giant!).  Still, I think this entry’s main value would be for groups that finish Rise of the Runelords and either want to keep playing the same characters or role up new characters to see what happens in the aftermath.

All in all, Lost Cities of Golarion is an excellent buy for GMs who want detailed, flavourful, and world-lore consistent locations to centre a homebrew campaign around.  It has the maps, random encounter tables, adventure hooks, and more that can serve as the skeleton for a campaign, while not being nearly as prescriptive as an AP in terms of plots and encounters.  As I said in my review of Lost Kingdoms of Golarion, one of the surprising strengths of the setting is its deep integration of history, and this book further showcases that aspect.  If you’re looking to build a campaign, I’d strongly suggest starting with one of the entries in this book.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game GM Screen--Alternate Cover 2 [RPG]

I've already written an extensive review of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game GM Screen (reproduced below).  Although that product comes with artwork of all the "Iconics" from the Core Rulebook, Paizo has also released two versions with alternate artwork on the outside (the interiors are exactly the same).  "Alternate Cover 2" features the Iconics from the Advanced Class Guide.  This was the book that introduced all of the "hybrid" classes, and you'll see from left to right the Iconic Hunter, Investigator, Brawler, Skald, Arcanist, Slayer, Shaman, Warpriest, Swashbuckler, and Bloodrager.  Unlike the Core Rulebook Iconics, I still don't really know who many of the these characters are--you see them less often in PFS play and they're not in the comics or audio plays, etc.  Still, the artwork is top-notch.  Really, any version will do fine, so the choice between covers is purely aesthetic.

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[original review]

I've had the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game GM Screen for years, long before I actually started playing Pathfinder regularly. The purpose of a screen, of course, is so the GM can hide their notes from pesky players, assemble miniatures of diabolical villains without being seen, roll dice ominously, and, most importantly, remind themselves of key rules so the game doesn't have to stop so everyone can flip open their 500+ page rulebooks. This four-panel screen is certainly a durable product, as it's survived (quite literally) more than a hundred sessions and still looks brand new. It's made of quite sturdy stuff, unlike many other screens I've seen, and won't easily tip over.

The exterior side facing the PCs is a line-up of the most iconic images of the Pathfinder Iconics: the embodiment of each character class. I once found the art style a bit over-the-top and cartoony, but I've really warmed to it now and quite like it. I can't say what it's like to stare at the characters for hours, but there's so many little details on each character that the eye shouldn't get bored quickly!  I've found it quite handy to use paperclips to hold pics of NPCs the party is talking too, monsters they're fighting, etc.

The interior side facing the DM is, of course, what matters!

Two full panels are depicted to summaries of various skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Fly, Heal, Knowledge, Perception, Ride, Spellcraft, Survival, and Swim. Not every skill is represented, and one could argue that some of the missing skills (like Stealth, Intimidate, and Use Magic Device are used more often than some of the skills that are represented like Swim). Still, the skills that are included are broken down into very handy, easy-to-read lists of activities, modifiers, and DCs. It's a very attractive, smart presentation.

The third panel is devoted to combat, and the top half of the panel has five sections: Attack roll modifiers, armor class modifiers, combat maneuvers, two-weapon fighting penalties, and concentration checks. With the possible exception of two-weapon fighting penalties (which a player should have figured out well ahead of time), all of these things are extremely important things to have available for easy reference. The bottom half of the panel is a summary of the effects of common conditions, which is again quite handy--it's annoying to have to stop and look up what the effects of being stunned or nauseated are every time it happens.

The fourth panel is a bunch of miscellaneous stuff, and it's here that I think there was room for improvement. The left half of the panel is all devoted to listing the hardness and hit points of weapons, armor, common objects, and various materials. I don't mind this much, because even though this information is needed rarely, when it's needed it's usually important (like whether a sundered weapon is going to break). Still, I wouldn't have devoted so much space to it considering how much other stuff in the game is probably more important. The right half of the panel lists experience point awards by CR and treasure values per encounter. To my mind, this is the least essential information to be on the screen, as most groups handle this either between sessions or at least after a session, when an extra minute to flip open a book is no big deal. Because most monster entries already list XP and treasure, this is the only part of the screen that I never use.

So on the whole, that's 3 to 3 1/2 panels of a 4 panel GM screen that are extremely useful! My biggest problem is actually remembering what's on the screen, as often I look something up in a book only to realize later that it was on the screen the whole time. Anyway, while a screen like this is not strictly essential, it's about as close as it gets. A session will run faster and smoother if the GM has one of these, and it's worth the money.