Pathfinder Player Companion: "Disciple's Doctrine" [RPG]

Disciple's Doctrine is an interesting idea for a Player Companion.  The major faiths in the setting have received tons of attention through hardcovers like Inner Sea Gods, campaign setting books like Inner Sea Temples, and lots of Player Companions like the "Faiths of  . . ." series.  But Golarion also has a lot of smaller, unorthodox quasi-religious organisations that are fascinating to read about.  The inside front cover contains a one-paragraph summary of the groups covered, along with an iconographic symbol for each (some of which are seen for the first time here).  The inside back cover reproduces the cover art (sans logos), and it's a pretty cool scene.

The first few pages of the book consist of a table of contents, rules index, introduction, and a section containing six new traits that could be taken by adherents of any of the doctrines in the book.  They're all on the weak side, with one (Dogged) being particularly ridiculous (once a day when you roll a natural 1, you get a +1 bonus on one roll in the next round!).

The main purpose of this 32-page softcover is to cover twelve of these groups.  Each group receives two-pages of dedicated material that summarises the group and its members' activities. Each section then introduces one or more new class options, such as an archetype, spell, investigator talent, etc.  I'll go through the groups relatively quickly:

* Concordance of Elements: A major extraplanar organisation dedicated to maintaining balance between elemental forces.  This featured heavily in one season of Pathfinder Society, and the entry here incorporates that storyline well.  The section contains a new monk archetype (the "elemental monk", which looks good--especially plane-shifting!), a new ranger archetype (the "elemental envoy" which looks fairly minor in effect), and a new ranger fighting style ("elemental" style, which adds a few new feat options).

* Cults of the Failed: I really like the idea of this one for some reason.  The Cults of the Failed honor and remember (but don't worship) those mortals who attempted the Test of the Starstone to become divine but failed.  History celebrates winners, but it's kinda fun to read about losers too.  The section contains a lengthy new Medium archetype ("Vessel of the Failed"--I like the concept though I don't know enough about Mediums to understand the game effects).

* Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye: This group rose to some prominence in the Doomsday Dawn adventure for the PF2 Playtest.  Ostensibly dedicated to enlightenment and knowledge of the occult, the summary here is done well as I can't tell how legitimate it is--it looks like a cross between a learned society of academics and a ritual-heavy secret society like Freemasonry.  The section contains a new Occultist archetype ("Esoteric Initiative") and some new Magus Arcanas ("Book-Bound", "Circle of Order", and "Tabris's Step")--they look okay, but not great.

* Harbingers of Fate: This interesting group has the idea that if some ancient prophecies were forced into occurring, then the famous "Age of Lost Omens" wouldn't have occurred and Aroden wouldn't have died; "history" would be set on the correct course, and the "Age of Glory" would instead manifest.  The section contains a new focused arcane school ("Prophecy") and three new prophecy-related spells.  These tend to involve a lot of GM discretion, but could be fun in the right hands.

* Hellknights of the Godclaw: From a sociology of religion perspective, Golarion is noteworthy for surprisingly little polytheism or syncretism.  One exception is the Hellknights of the Godclaw, an order that worships a pantheon of five deities and fuses their teachings into a unique doctrine.  It's interesting, and I could see playing a PC of the faith.  There's a new warpriest archetype ("Fist of the Godclaw") that's a bit "meh", but the three new litanies included are cool.

* Magnimarian Mystery Cults: The Varisian city of Magnimar is known for the influence of small cults dedicated to worshipping the demigods known as empyreal lords.  Some of these empyreal lords have become quite popular to fans of the game (like Arshea), and some of them have more information in other books.  This section contains a new Cavalier Order ("Order of the Monument") that doesn't have very useful abilities (and would be hard to play in most campaigns where travel is a thing).  The section also has variant channeling powers for worshippers of several different empyreal lords, but their flavour rarely fits well.

 * Oracular Council: I haven't seen much about this group elsewhere--it's an organisation in Po Li (in Tian Xia) that uses numerology for divination and decision-making.  You could easily make a character tasked with investigating foreboding portents and the like.  The section includes an oracle archetype ("Divine Numerologist") that fits really well with the theme and has some cool abilities.  There are also several new numerology-themed investigator talents that are okay.

* Prophecies of Kalistrade: People say the pursuit of money is America's religion, and if so the Prophecies of Kalistrade would find a firm footing in the country.  Material rewards come to those who follow the strict dogma taught by this faith, and they have very distinctive clothing and customs.  There's a new psychic discipline ("Superiority") which is very good, and then three solid new spells.

* Razmir, the Living God: All Hail the Living God!  My favourite of the bunch, so much so that I've made a missionary priest of Razmir an important NPC in my Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign. Razmir is the only deity that cares enough about humanity to literally live among them, and he's brought peace and enlightenment to Razmiran, the land named after him.  Any blasphemies to the contrary are despicable lies.  The section contains a new ninja archetype ("Mask of the Living God") that unfortunately isn't very good (and ninjas don't get stuff offered to them very often!), but the new arcanist exploits look very useful.

* Sangpotshi: A philosophy that permeates the cultures of Tian Xia, Sangpotshi is steeped in the concepts of reincarnation, karma, and fate.  It's one of those almost meta-religious belief non-systems that can easily squeeze within and among the tenets of more formal faiths.  There's a fairly bland new spiritualist archetype ("Seeker of Enlightenment"), but a class I would never expect to see here, the vigilante, receives several good new talents.

* Shoanti Shamanic Traditions: The nomadic, tribal Shoanti peoples have received a lot of attention in some Paizo APs and books, but the brief summary here is still useful.  The section contains a new archetype for skalds ("Totem Channeler") that's okay, but the new faith trait ("Aspect of the Quah") is  overpowered for a trait--even though it only applies to hunters and substitutes for one of their animal focuses.

* Tamashigo: This is essentially animism, a belief that all things (animate and inanimate) contain spirits.  The section contains a new samurai archetype ("Ward Speaker") that is interesting but really depends upon the presence of shrines for viability.  There are also two new bardic masterpieces.

The book ends with four pages of equipment, magic items, and occult rituals.  I thought this section was really well-done, as many of the items are flavourful and worthwhile.  I particularly like the charlatan's cape, which makes it much harder to identify the caster's spells.

Overall, Disciple's Doctrine is a fun book and a recommended buy.  When you think you've seen it all and have run out of character concepts, there's surely something in here that will spark your imagination.  And compared to many Player Companions, the class options presented in the book largely strike the right balance in terms of flavour and usefulness.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 97 [RPG]

Delvahine welcomes guests, 

as long as they're polite.

[5 Pharast 4708 continued]

Having detected an intrusion into her pavilion, the mistress of the Iron Cages of Lust, a succubus named Delvahine, confronts the adventurers, angry at the unannounced interruption.  Her contingent of stone giant manservants, contacted via telepathy, begin to steadily (and loudly) march toward the rear of the tents where the Heroes of Varisia find themselves still facing a pair of the so-called “shining children.”  Jinkatsyu, his blindness healed by Ava’s magical intervention, fights his way through both of the alien presences until he’s face to face with Delvahine herself!  But an array of illusory duplicates stymie his further attacks, while she manages to entangle Kang with her whip!  The succubus then bombards the adventurers with an onslaught of spells designed to break their wills, realizing only gradually that Ava had previously cast powerful abjuration magicks to protect them against just such an eventuality.   The battle is at a stalemate, but as the stone giants get closer and closer, Ava starts to panic before teleporting herself and her companions away to comparable safety in the Shimmering Veils of Pride.

Even the possession of a Runeforged-blade 

doesn't make one invincible!

The others complain that they were on the verge of winning, and heated discussion is had about what to do next.  Eventually, the group settles on Kang’s proposal to immediately use the bejewelled toy stolen from Delvahine’s pavilion to try to craft a weapon of the kind written about in Vraxeris’ journal: a so-called dominant weapon that could be the key to defeating the Runelord of Greed, Karzoug.  The quartet return to Runeforge’s central hub, where Kang again examines the pool of prismatic liquid.  The master alchemist first immerses a broken shard of glass from the Shimmering Veils of Pride, infused for thousands of years with raw illusion magic, and then Delvahine’s toy, an object long-instilled with the power of enchantment.  The central pool turns a golden color and wisps of energy writhe up out of the pool to caress the adventurers, before Kang nods at Jinkatsyu and plunges the kitsune’s rapier into the waters.  In a blinding flash of light, esoteric Thassilonian runes are etched onto the blade’s surface in a sign that the procedure has been successful.

But someone has taken notice.  Another beam of golden light bursts from the pool to bathe the statue of Karzoug, and it animates as a towering stone golem!  The adventurers hear the same voice they heard issuing from Mokmurian’s mouth in the last seconds of the stone giant’s life:  “You, again.  Your optimism is admirable but foolhardy.  Your weapons will never reach Xin-Shalast.  Your fate is death, here in Runeforge.”  Jinkatsyu grabs the rapier from Kang’s hands and charges the golem, plunging the blade into its hardened stone body with incredible ease.  The others scatter, with Kang hurling explosives with great precision.  But the statue survives the initial onslaught and strikes back, slamming fists the size of boulders into Jinkatsyu with blows so powerful they can’t be deflected.  With every bruising strike, the kitsune’s flesh begins to turn grey and harden until, just as Kang shouts to flee and Erik fires his last bullet, Jinkatsyu is shattered into dozens of pieces of stone!  With incredible bravery, Ava leaps between the golem’s tree-trunk sized legs to grab a piece of the shattered stone, hoping it can be used to magically resurrect her ally.  The survivors intend to retreat down a narrow corridor, hoping the massive animated statue can’t follow, but a final bomb hurled in desperation by Kang blasts the golem’s legs out from under it, and it ceases movement except for intoning a few last words:  “This . . . this is not the last . . . come then, heroes.  Seek me atop Mhar Massif, if you value life so poorly.  You should be honoured—the first fools to be executed under the banner of Shalast in ten thousand . . . “

Glabrezu demons are known for trickery and lies, 

but they're quite capable of combat when called upon!

Worried that the sound of the battle may draw other residents of Runeforge to the hub, the adventurers quickly gather the stone remnants of Jinkatsyu’s body and decide it’s time to escape.  Under the false impression that the teleportation circle they saw earlier in the Halls of Wrath would provide a quick escape, they hurriedly run down into that wing.  But their previous retreat has given time for reinforcements to set up battle lines, and this time the adventurers find a hardened position.  Ranks of human warriors wearing armor and wielding greatswords are there, and in front of them, the monstrous creatures known as sinspawn wielding massive axes.  On the parapet where the iron golem previously stood is now a determined warrior-woman flanked by her bodyguard, a towering eighteen-foot-tall four-armed demon!  Knowing they could never survive a frontal assault, the adventurers rely on magick and speed to bypass the defenders through teleportation magic!  But when they land on the teleportation circle behind the parapet, it doesn’t take them to the material plane but another section of the Halls of Wrath. 

The demon, dispatched to chase them, is hot on their heels as they run for their lives towards another teleportation circle in a side chamber.  This one takes them to another chamber with a quickly-dispelled wall of black smoke, beyond which is a large avenue of crimson stone pillars supporting ceiling arches that seem to be made out of fire.  Engraved on the floor of the center of this room is a huge seven-pointed star made of silver, and Kang instantly knows that this is the “master circle” that could provide escape.  But the demon, just seconds behind the fleeing adventurers, uses its Abyssal magicks to reverse the gravity in the room, sending Ava “dropping” towards the burning ceiling!  Kang uses his dragonfly wings to retrieve her and get her back to the master circle where she casts a spell to open the portal out of Runeforge.  The implacable demon teleports into their midst just as the adventurers jump through, and it claws at Erik, missing by a hair’s breadth.  It gives an enraged howl, frustrated that its quarry have escaped to a place it cannot follow.

The Heroes of Varisia find themselves tumbling out onto the snowy slopes of Rimeskull.  Their harrowing experience in Runeforge has provided additional insights into Karzoug’s location and a weapon to help defeat him, but the knowledge was hard-gained.  Another chapter in their epic story closes, and the final one begins.

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

Director's Commentary

To my mind, Ava made the right call in teleporting the group out of the battle.  The group had what they needed (the ingredient to Runeforge a weapon), and didn't need to take further risks.  In other words, "don't fight when you don't have to!"

This session contained two of my favorite scenes in the AP.  First, the players were visibly surprised when that enormous statue came to life and plonked down a Huge-sized miniature on the table in front of them.  Second, that breathless escape in the Halls of Wrath was thrilling and could easily have gone catastrophically bad with just one wrong turn or a bad die roll.  I was proud and impressed with them for making it out that way.

This scenario was thus the end of Part V.  Up next, the beginning of the end!

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-14: "The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch at Subtier 3-4 via play-by-post.  Since he's in the title, it's no spoiler to say role-playing with Grandmaster Torch is the best part of this scenario.  The encounters and story are fine but unremarkable, and one plot element needed much more development.  Nowadays, this is a fast and relatively easy, straightforward scenario to run and play.

SPOILERS

The backstory to this scenario is reasonably interesting.  A pair of archaeologists discovered an ancient vault in Osirion that contained four statues, each capable of magically conjuring insects.  Notorious information broker Grandmaster Torch arranged for them to be smuggled out of Osirion and into the Qadiran city of Sedeq, where he then split up the statues and sold them to four separate buyers. Only after selling them did a report from Osirion reach Torch indicating that stray spells could easily activate the statues, conjuring swarms of insects answerable to no one.  Because Torch's reputation would be ruined if he were known to have sold defective goods, and he knows the Pathfinder Society is after the statues as well, he plans to arrange for PFS agents to intercept all four of his buyers--thus, the PFS will be thieves and Torch's hands will be clean of any apparent wrongdoing.  It's a cunning plan, and a good demonstration of Torch's ability to manipulate events behind the scenes.

The briefing, with Venture-Captain Yasmin Kal'al in what I think is her only appearance ever, is pretty quick and to the point.  The PFS wants those statues, and the PCs need to go get them.  She sends the PCs to a bathhouse that the person who physically smuggled the statues into the city is known to frequent.  In a well-staged scene, the buyer sprints away from the Pathfinders through various steam-filled rooms in the bathhouse, only to end up with his throat cut by one of Grandmaster Torch's bodyguards.  The murder is staged as the act of an overzealous personal bodyguard, and serves as a dramatic introduction of Torch himself.  Torch pretends to be purely an information broker here, with no personal involvement in the statues being smuggled or sold, and then has the (endearing, to me) gall to offer to sell the names of the four buyers to the Pathfinder Society.  Groups can either pay for the information outright, or agree that they owe Torch a favour to be named and collected upon later.  I really like that the "favour" option initially seems like a no-brainer, but becomes a sort of anti-boon on the Chronicle sheet.  I'm sure it comes into play in a later scenario, and perhaps contributes to why a lot of players hate Torch so much.  

Anyway, once the PCs know the names and whereabouts of the four buyers, they can go after them in any order.  A handy map of the city is included to aid with the planning.  Along with some particularly nasty faction missions (poison someone! burn down a refinery!), the fact that the Pathfinder Society is perfectly happy to rob or murder folks for these artifacts is a good example of how different the ethos of the organisation was in these early seasons.

Each of the four subsequent encounters has a twist to keep it from being simply "we beat up a merchant and take his stuff."  One of the merchants is being shaken down by a local street gang operating a protection racket when the PCs arrive.  Another tries to cast a spell to escape when confronted by the PCs, inadvertently triggering his magical statue which conjures several monstrous centipedes the PCs have to take care of.  A third drinks an invisibility potion and dashes into a spice refinery that is extremely flammable.  This one was interesting in concept but difficult to run for two reasons: there's no map of the encounter provided, and there's a discrepancy between the text and the enemy's tactics on what he tries to do (hide and escape out the front or dash through the back exit).  A fourth merchant has set up shop in a place called The Secure Market, which not only bans all weapons but is protected by an anti-magic field!  I'm on the record as enjoying situations like this, where PCs can't always use their go-to combat tactics and have to improvise.  When GMing the scenario, I didn't feel like any of the encounters were particularly difficult for the PCs--though there's certainly a difference in power levels between six modern Pathfinder characters and four D&D 3.5 characters (as the scenario was originally designed for).

When the PCs get all the statues, Grandmaster Torch invites them to a sumptuous dinner.  It's an interesting idea, but there's not enough content provided to make it really workable and it's somewhat anticlimactic because nothing hinges on it.  I also think the more exposure the PCs have to him, the greater the likelihood that they just try to kill him!

One major thing the scenario falls down on is on how these statues work, exactly.  There are some passing mentions that they won't activate if a spell is cast nearby and they're in a bag, but apparently thick linen wrappings aren't enough.  There's a reference to the statues only having to be in the "presence" of a spellcaster (not necessarily held) to activate, but that's a pretty vague term.  It's not clear how often they can activate.  It's not clear who, if anyone, controls the insects that are summoned or how long the summonings last.  And although there's only one scripted time a statue is activated, some of what the other statues can summon are pretty nasty.  Last, it doesn't sound like any thought was given setting-wise to how powerful these statues could potentially be as mobile, 100% successful  automatic spell absorbers!  When coming up with Macguffins, writers need to be careful they don't accidentally get more than they bargained for.

Overall, I'd rank The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch as average.  Other than perhaps Torch himself, there's not a lot about the scenario that's particular creative or memorable.  Some use is made of the setting, and the combats are a step above being generic fights.  I'd consider it important for players who want to get the full story of the long-running Grandmaster Torch story thread in PFS, but nonessential otherwise.

Pathfinder: "Ultimate Intrigue" [RPG]

Okay, let's get into Ultimate Intrigue!  As the title implies, the purpose of this book is to help flesh out more subtle elements of the game: things like spreading rumors, rallying a crowd, stealing secrets, and other classic cloak-and-dagger stuff.  I've used bits and pieces of it in previous campaigns, but read through it carefully (and incorporated a fair bit of it) for my current Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign, as that adventure path is designed around urban political strife.  Boiled down to brass tacks, the book is a 256 page hardcover comprised of six chapters.  The full-colour artwork is very strong throughout, and the cover is great (though Merisiel's legs are like three times longer than her torso!).  There's a very short two-page introduction that summarises each chapter--which is what I'm going to do anyway.

Chapter 1 is "Classes" (60 pages).  The big deal here is a new base case, the Vigilante.  The concept is that the character has both a normal (social) identity and a masked identity, with certain class options only working while in the associated guise.  There are also several safeguards to help keep anyone from figuring out that Bruce Wayne is really Batman.  I have a Vigilante character in Pathfinder Society, and one of my players runs one in Curse of the Crimson Throne.  I think the class is perfect for an urban campaign mostly set in a single city (especially with lots room for intrigue), but it doesn't work as well with the more traditional "travelling adventuring party" campaign.  It's a bit too obvious when five newcomers arrive in town, only for one of them to "disappear" and a new costumed avenger show up.  I know there are also some gamers who dislike what can seem like the awkward introduction of comic book super heroes into their fantasy role-playing.  For me, I think the concept works well--though as I said, only in particular types of campaigns.

A large chunk of the chapter is devoted to new archetypes for other classes.  More specifically, alchemists, bards, cavaliers, druids, inquisitors, investigators, mesmerists, rangers, rogues, skalds, spiritualists, swashbucklers, and vigilantes get some love.  Frankly, a lot of the archetypes are fairly forgettable, but there are exceptions--for example, a Daring General Cavalier would be great in military campaigns, the Dandy Ranger could be really useful in an urban campaign, and a couple of the vigilante archetypes are perfect if you want to play the Hulk or Spider-Man.  Although the rogue archetypes aren't very good, there are several excellent rogue talents that focus on making the character harder to track through divination, etc.  It's worth nothing that this book came out during the period when the hardcover line was still setting-neutral, so there won't be any Golarion-specific flavour with the archetypes (for better or worse depending on your preferences).

Chapter 2 is "Feats" (24 pages).  There's something like 110 new feats in the chapter, and probably something for everyone.  Given the book's theme, many of the feats are related to sneaking around, hiding and disguising spells, stealing stuff, making plans, figuring out when you're being to lied to, etc.  A few that I particularly like include Brilliant Planner (giving you the chance to have just what you need just when you need it), Call Truce (giving a slim chance to actually end combat peacefully when its underway), and Drunkard's Recovery (silly but fun).  A couple of important feats are Conceal Spell (which hides the pesky manifestations that spells create in Pathfinder) and Fencing Grace (adding Dex to damage with rapiers, a favourite of swashbucklers everywhere).  Overall, I thought the options presented were well-written and plausible in terms of desirability. 

Chapter 3 is "Mastering Intrigue" (68 pages).  This is probably the most important chapter in the book for GMs.  It offers tons of useful advice, as well as clarification on some tricky game mechanics, to help run intrigue-based games.  The pages about how common magic spells can be handled while still preserving mysteries, secrets, and misdirection is pure gold.  The chapter also introduces seven new rules sub-systems, any or all of which can be incorporated into a campaign to flesh out certain aspects of gameplay.  "Influence" is a sub-system that deepens the process of persuading a person or organisation to support you.  Instead of a simple single Dipomacy check, PCs need to make certain skill checks to learn a person's interests and weaknesses, and then other skill checks to take advantage of what they've learned.  The process operates through multiple phases of tracked successes and failures, and can be tied to mechanical favours and benefits.  It's become a very popular facet of many Pathfinder Society scenarios, and I think it's a pretty clever way to handle things--though it can be a bit clunky at first.  "Heists" is a sub-system that contains some excellent advice to GMs on how to structure things so players don't obsess over unimportant trivia and are willing to violate that old canard of "don't split the party."  "Infiltration" contains some quick advice, but that's about it.  "Leadership" deepens the feat of the same name, adding lots of rules for interacting with other sub-systems both in this book and in Ultimate Campaign.  I'm personally still not persuaded that the Leadership feat chain is a good inclusion to the game.  "Nemeses" is all about adding a recurring villain; I think it's trying to systematise something that could be handled just fine without it.  Though there are some fun suggestions on evil plots to foil.  "Pursuit" is a little like the Chase sub-system from the GameMastery Guide but stretched out over hours and days cross-country instead of in minutes through alleyways.  I could imagine using it.  "Research" is probably my favourite of the sub-systems, and one I've used in multiple campaigns.  In essence, it gives the PCs a reason to use things like libraries and archives by giving them bonuses to their Knowledge checks, but then makes gaining different thresholds of information the result of multiple successful checks.  Overall, a great chapter--I wish the Influence and Research sub-systems had been in the Core Rulebook, because they really add a lot to the non-combat aspects of the game.

Chapter 4 is "Social Combat" (25 pages).  The idea here is to present GMs with options on how to handle social conflicts--things like debates, trials, cutting repartee, etc.  There's also a "verbal duels" sub-system.  I'm just not sure about it--it's something I'd have to see in practice.  However, a really useful part of the chapter is advice to the GM on how to handle the various social skills in the game--Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive--as well as the intrigue skills like Disguise, Perception, and Stealth.  The advice here is excellent, and I just stopped in the middle of this review to reread it.

Chapter 5 is "Spells" (40 pages).  You can judge from the length of the chapter that there's a ton of new spells, and every spellcasting class will find something.  One of the fun things the chapter introduces is a new "ruse" descriptor for spells, which means the spell is easily mistaken for another even by observers trained in Spellcraft or Knowledge (arcana).  It's a good way to mislead folks who have played way too much Pathfinder.  There are some really clever spells in this section, with a couple of my favourites including false resurrection (instead of bringing back a soul, you stuff a demon into the body!) and the hilarious shamefully overdressed.

Chapter 6 is "Gear and Magic Items" (22 pages).  There are some new mundane pieces of equipment (weapons like the cool wrist dart launcher, alchemical items, etc.) but most of the chapter is new magic items with an intrigue theme.  The one that really stuck out at me was the launcher of distraction, which is perfect for assassination attempts because it makes it seem like the attack is coming from somewhere else.

Overall, I think Ultimate Intrigue is an excellent book.  It's pretty much a must-have in my opinion for any campaign that's going to involve a lot of role-playing or that moves beyond traditional dungeon crawling and wilderness encounters.  Even readers not involved in "intrigue campaigns" per se are sure to find plenty of material they can use.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 96 [RPG]

[5 Pharast 4708 continued]

 

After having battled into the Halls of Wrath, the adventurers decide to retreat when they realize they’re being magically scried.  When they reach the central hub of Runeforge, from which the other wings radiate outward like spokes from a wheel, they notice something has changed: a slim scroll tube has been propped up against the statue depicting the Runelord of Gluttony.  Kang translates the scroll from Thassilonian:  it’s a request for a “truce and conversation” from someone named Azaven.  From reading Vraxeris’ journals, Kang knows that Azaven is a powerful necromancer quick to seize the bodies of the deceased for his vile experiments.  The Heroes of Varisia decide that a potential ally, or at least a source of information, could be quite useful—but they’re also prepared for a trap.

A figure soon emerges from the hallway behind the statue: a man of dry, leathery flesh that none can doubt is one of the walking dead! A crown is set on his brow, and he holds in one hand a staff made of bone with the Thassilonian rune for gluttony (and necromancy) burned into it.  Flanking this figure, who must be Azaven, are a pair of wispy, barely visible shadowy creatures that drift over the floor.  Jinkatsyu’s heart begins to beat quickly as fear becomes visible on his face, but the other adventurers manage to put on a brave face.  “A lich!” Kang whispers to his allies.

Azaven was not pleased by the adventurers' 

previous intrusion into his domain.

The “conversation” doesn’t go well.  Azaven is imperious, asking many questions but offering little.  He seems agitated and dismissive in turn, and soon offers the adventurers a ludicrous bargain: if they turn over one of their number to him, he’ll let the rest live!  They refuse, of course, and Azaven departs quickly, proclaiming that the “truce” is over and that all of the newcomers will soon become fodder for his “studies.” 

When the lich and his shadows have moved out of earshot, Kang says it’s urgent that the group escape Runeforge quickly before Azaven comes after them.  Ava suggests heading straight for the Halls of Wrath again and trying to find the escape route mentioned in Vraxeris’ journal, but Erik says leaving without having created a weapon strong enough to defeat Karzoug would be a mistake.  Kang studies the Runeforge pool carefully, and with his newly-expanded intellect and study of Vraxeris’ journal, proclaims that he could use the pool to make a weapon particularly useful against transmuters like Karzoug.  But, he would need one of “Delvahine’s toys” permeated with raw enchantment magic from the wing of Runeforge known as the Iron Cages of Lust.

Fearing an attack by Azaven, the adventurers move quickly down the necessary corridor.  Unlike the last time they were here, Ava’s magic is strong enough to overcome the invisible wall of force that blocked access.  The long corridor leads to a grand, opulent chamber that can only be described as a cathedral to lasciviousness itself.  Thick pillars carved with the likeness of a beautiful nude woman support a ninety-foot-high domed ceiling, the surface of which depicts creatures engaged in all manner of carnal acts.  At the centre of the massive chamber is a pavilion of opaque silk sheets, but around the sides of the room are several delicate-looking cages.  One cage, to the left of the entrance, contains a man who seems to be barely clinging to life; but he’s not allowed to recover in peace, as he’s being tormented by four strikingly gorgeous women with horned brows, taloned feet, and batlike wings!

A beautiful place of endless torment.

The adventurers decide it would be foolhardy to try to negotiate with such creatures. They instead seize the advantage of surprise, with Kang opening the assault by hurling a bomb of magical explosive force.  The winged creatures, alu-demons, shriek with delight to see new prey to torment.  They launch into the air and begin teasing and mocking the adventurers’ appearance and sexuality while simultaneously trying to use their demonic powers to compel them to submit.  The heroes are quick to trade punches (verbally and physically) and soon carry the field.  Kang talks to the man in the cage, but it’s clear that countless years of mental torment have reduced him to a state that’s barely human.

Closer inspection of the pavilion shows an entrance on one side, but with five immobile, obviously-entranced stone giants standing on guard.  Erik mutters that he’s down to just one bullet, and suggests seeing if there’s a back entrance.  It turns out there’s not, but that doesn’t stop the adventurers from trying to make one.  Jinkatsyu tries to stab a hole with his enchanted rapier, but the fabric of the pavilion wall doesn’t tear at all!  Kang inspects it and realizes it’s a special material made from the silk of behemoth spiders.  He says he can blast his way, but it certainly won’t be subtle.  It takes three of his best explosives to open a passageway.

 

As the smoke from the explosives clears, a chamber whose floor is covered with blankets, pillows, and sheets heaped on the floor can be seen.  Dozens of exotic bejewelled toys are strewn about the room, many with a salaciously obvious purpose.  But two silent, motionless figures stand in corners of the room—strange figures that look something like emaciated children with clawed hands.  Jinkatsyu remembers their kind instantly from the fight outside Mokmurian’s library: the so-called “shining children”.  Loud moaning can be heard from somewhere else in the pavilion as the adventurers quickly confer about what to do.  Kang grabs the occasionally-mobile tumor that’s always attached to him somewhere and whispers to it.  It crawls, slug-like, into the boudoir and retrieves one of the bejewelled toys.  But its presence in the chamber they were set to guard does not go unnoticed, and the shining children suddenly erupt in bright, white hot light!  Jinkatsyu is blinded instantly, but still guards the torn passageway as the shining children send blast after blast of burning light his way.  Ava moves into position to heal his blindness and succeeds, but at the cost of becoming blinded herself! 

 

And just as things look dire, the situation gets even worse: the moaning stops and seconds later a new figure makes an appearance: Delvahine, the mistress of the Iron Cages of Lust herself!

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

Director's Commentary

I'm glad the PCs got to do at least a little role-playing in Runeforge through the appearance of Azaven.  There's actually a lot of intrigue going on between the different wings of the place, and I've read in the forums that some groups get really involved in it.  Others go systematically and slaughter everything.  My group stayed pretty focus on their--getting a weapon to defeat Karzoug and getting out fast.

The "Iron Cages of Lust" was one of those things I was very careful how I presented, especially because there was only one female player at the table and a bunch of guys.  I think everyone handled it maturely though.  I thought Kang's idea of using his detachable tumor familiar (alchemists are weird!) to steal the needed item was really clever.  But sometimes the best laid plans come down to one Stealth check vs one Perception check, and this time it didn't pan out.

Pathfinder Module: "Flight of the Red Raven" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran Flight of the Red Raven for a standard four-PC party, updating the module where occasionally necessary to use Pathfinder RPG rules (it's written for D&D 3.5).  I thought it did a great job keeping up a sense of pace and excitement while introducing some memorable NPCs.  There's little that grounds the adventure in Golarion, which I guess is a plus or minus depending on what setting you use.  The encounters, especially in the latter third, definitely get challenging, and I think using slightly higher-level or more numerous PCs than recommended would be better for an average group.  Still, this was a fun adventure and one worth playing despite its age.

SPOILERS

The module begins in the town of Azurestone, a mining and farming community near the Fog Peak Mountains.  Several reasons of a mundane nature are suggested for why the PCs may be in Azurestone during its annual harvest festival, and the module encourages the GM to run some carnival style games and other little events to get the PCs familiar with the town and its inhabitants.  "PCs in town for a festival" is one of the more common openings to an adventure in RPG gaming, but it works just fine here.  As we'll see, however, the PCs won't be staying in Azurestone long, so this isn't an adventure where it's crucial they establish a strong connection to the community. (It might also be worth noting that, although formally Azurestone is in Galt, there's no flavour or setting-lore related to the "perpetual revolution" there--this adventure could easily be set anywhere there's a town, a forest, and some mountains).

The morning after the festival, the townsfolk are shocked to learn that the Vernal Key has been stolen from the town's church.  The Vernal Key is a minor magical artefact that has kept winter from descending upon Azurestone for generations, and witnesses saw a local folk hero (a Robin Hood type) named the Red Raven make off with it.  The PCs, of course, are asked by the townsfolk to catch the Red Raven and return the Vernal Key before a harsh winter (which the community has never prepared for) descends on the town.  If the PCs don't have a good tracker with them, an NPC joins them.  It's a solid beginning to the module.  There's a potentially fun bit where, on the night of the theft, accomplices of the Red Raven try to distract the PCs by either getting them drunk, seducing them, or starting a massive bar brawl.

The chase begins!  The next major part of the module consists of the PCs following the Red Raven's trail across some rugged plains, through a forest called The Boarwood, across the Kantele River, and then into the foothills of the Fog Peak Mountains.  It's not very likely the PCs actually catch up to the Red Raven (he has a head start and does some additional forced marching, while the PCs probably have to slow down to keep from losing his trail), but the module does have a sidebar covering what happens if they do.  The pursuit is more than just movement rates, terrain modifiers, survival skill checks to keep on the trail, and random encounters.  Outlaw allies of the Red Raven have set up several ambushes to help ease the Red Raven's escape.  There's an attempt to bury the group in a rockslide as they pass through a quarry, lure them into a false campsite where a giant spider lurks, knock them into the water as they cross a narrow rope bridge across the river, and more.  

I think the encounters here are handled well, and they clearly serve the purpose of adding some excitement to the pursuit.  The Red Raven's allies are all given names and personalities, which was smart thinking since it's likely some of them could get captured and interrogated.  Their goal is to slow down pursuit, and not necessarily kill anyone--though the tactics they choose could certainly be lethal!  The issue I had when running this is that the module provides that if any of the outlaws are captured after any of the ambushes and successfully persuaded to cooperate, they'll lead the PCs to their campsite where the rest of the outlaws are resting.  In my game, this happened after the very first ambush, which curtailed the possibility of any further planned encounters.  Rewarding PC success is a good part of adventure design, but it was simply too easy and too much of a reward.

Once in the Fog Peak Mountains, there are a couple of encounters--one versus "hoary muntjacs" (see the paragraph on the appendices below) and another versus a juvenile white dragon.  Assuming the PCs are still on the Red Raven's trail, they'll then follow him right into a place they can't easily escape--a prison demiplane!  There's a bit to unpack here, some of the details of which the PCs might have learned from interrogating the outlaws earlier, and some of which they can learn from other NPCs inside the prison.  The magical prison takes the form of a series of icy tunnels and caverns.  It was built millennia ago by the Caliphate of the Djinn to house a traitorous member of their group who tried to poison his sovereign and assume the throne.  This genie is still trapped within the prison, and his name has passed into legend as the Jarl of the North Wind.  But why has the Red Raven stolen the Vernal Key from Azurestone and raced into the prison?  Love! Aww, shucks.  The Red Raven's girlfriend, a fellow adventurer named Geppa, led a crew to explore the mountains when they entered the demiplane and became trapped.  The Red Raven learned through hiring a diviner what had happened to Geppa, and how the Vernal Key was actually a magical key that could allow the bearer to create an exit.

But whether they think of him as a villain or a hero, the PCs still have to locate the Red Raven within the prison demiplane--and there are several winding routes to explore and dangers to overcome.  Most likely, the PCs will come across Geppa first, and then encounter the Red Raven for the first time in a corker of an encounter that includes (on various sides of the conflict) one ogre, the Red Raven (as a prisoner), four hardened followers of the ogre, two ice mephits, four zombies, and (probably) Geppa and another adventurer named Teko.  It's a lot for the GM to handle, but I actually really liked it.  I think too often in modern Pathfinder adventure-writing the number of foes is very small, and the PCs (and their pets) tend to outnumber the bad guys.  Here, you get a big, complex battle with multiple sides and a lot of uncertainty about what should happen.  And, there's still the big final battle against the Jarl of the North Wind in a separate encounter before the PCs are able to escape.  The series of encounters in the demiplane could wear down a group if they're not careful about husbanding their resources.  The adventure concludes with some alternative suggestions on how Azurestone reacts if they get the Vernal Key back and whether or not the PCs arrested the Red Raven.

The final few pages of the module consist of some appendices.  Appendix 1 introduces two new monsters.  One is a "hoary muntjac," which is essentially a reindeer's body with a wolf's head--not a particularly noteworthy contribution to the game.  The other new monster is a "snowdrifter," a murderous aberration of cold and darkness.  It has some interesting special abilities, and the artwork is pretty cool.  Appendix 2 covers the Fog Peak Mountains.  Most of the section consists of the history of a frost giant kingdom that once existed in the mountains, and then there's a brief list of some creatures that might be encountered there and adventure hooks that might draw PCs there.  I've seen much better gazetteers, and the section mostly came across as filler.  The last page has the stats for four Level 4 Iconics that can be used to play the adventure (though I think they'd be hard pressed in some of the more challenging encounters in the game).

The inside front- and back- covers are devoted to maps.   The encounter maps are quite large in terms of their total number of 5" squares (and one of the maps has a scale of one square = 40 feet, making for some ginormous encounters!).  I think it's important to have some encounters that start at large distances (to make ranged weapon increments relevant, for example), but a GM is going to need to spend some time thinking about how to handle them in terms of flip-mats.  There's also a quarter-page map showing the path the Red Raven takes from Azurestone to the Jarl's prison.  This was poorly done, as there's not even a distance scale--crucial when we're talking about a day-by-day pursuit where land speeds and terrain modifiers are supposed to be taken into account.

In terms of artwork, I'd label it as serviceable.  It's clearly in an earlier phase of Paizo's ability to get top-notch artists.  Geppa and the Red Raven look pretty good, even if the former clearly suffers from the "female adventuring in the winter in essentially a bikini" problem.  The jarl doesn't look scary to me, but that could be because of his hilarious slippers.

Overall, I thought this was a fun, fresh adventure.  There's some role-playing opportunities at the beginning, several wilderness encounters in the middle, and some dungeon-style exploration (in an interesting locale) at the end.  The module pays very good attention to detail, and there's lots to work with in terms of background and motivations of the NPCs and monsters.  The biggest contribution of Flight of the Red Raven, however, is bringing the concept of masked adventurers into the Pathfinder setting.  The Red Raven presented here is the same Red Raven that, years later, became the Iconic Vigilante, which is a pretty cool development!

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 95 [RPG]

[4 Pharast 4708 continued]

 

A howling cacophony fills the air as the enraged winged furies spring to attack.  But Yuzo and Jinkatsyu move quickly and cleverly rush into the room so their opponents have little space to maneuver.  At first the creatures, whom Kang identifies as succubus demons, rely on their sharp talons and rage.  But as the battle wears on, they turn to a vile bag of tracks, like charm and suggestion spells.  Jinkatsyu finds himself suddenly falling madly in love with one of the succubi and leaning in for a kiss.  Ava wades into the fray and teleports Jinkatsyu to seeming safely, but the succubus can teleport as well and follows!  As the kitsune’s lips touch those of the demon, some of his very lifeforce is drained away!  Meanwhile, Yuzo continues slashing with his sword, Erik faces the succubi in hand-to-hand combat in order to conserve his last handful of bullets, and Kang starts hurling bombs of magical force.

Succubi have been known to give their lovers 

profane gifts that come at quite a cost.

The battle spills out into the hallway adjacent to the chamber.  Suddenly the others realize that Yuzo has been left alone with a single succubus!  Falling prey to the demon’s mental manipulations, Yuzo happily follows the succubus into bed and is soon reduced to a desiccated husk!  The other adventurers win the battle and destroy all the succubi (who, oddly, melt into piles of snow), but not even Ava’s powerful array of magicks can return the gillman to life.  There are far worse ways to die, but the loss of Yuzo is a major blow to a party trapped within the demiplane of Runeforge.

After the harrowing battle, the adventurers once again barricade the doors to Vraxeris’ study.  They rest for several hours, though the utter lack of a day/night cycle within Runeforge makes it hard to tell duration.  Kang spends much of the time continuing his translations of Vraxeris’ work and learns a secret which he keeps to himself: with enough effort (and the assistant of an arcanist), he could develop an improved version of the clone spell Vraxeris used and, potentially, achieve true immortality!

 

[5 Pharast 4708]

 

When everyone is fully rested, Kang drinks an elixir that allows him to see magical auras and identify magical items.  He realizes that the headband that Vraxeris wore increases one’s intelligence dramatically.  Kang puts it on, and suddenly a host of new alchemical insights spring fully-formed into his mind!  And when the others continue speculating about how they might be able to escape Runeforge, Kang recalls a pertinent detail in Vraxeris’ journal: the mention of a “master circle” in the Halls of Wrath that one could use to leave the demiplane.  After he shares this information, the others press for an expedition to that wing.  Kang, however, is quite reluctant to leave and abandon the fantastic library and other resources in the Shimmering Veils of Pride that are suitable only for a genius like himself.  Jinkatsyu and Erik manage to lure the tiefling away, however, by dangling the hope of even more amazing discoveries in the other wings of the complex.  Although Ava follows the others, she grows increasingly nauseated as the foursome pass through the central hub and then venture deeper into the Halls of Wrath.

 

The corridor leading into the wing is made of polished marble, and opens into a massive, brightly lit chamber.  The upper portion of the far wall is entirely covered in a mural of an armored woman with crimson hair holding a burning ranseur and riding on the back of a massive dragon.  On a square outcropping that juts out of the far wall, the adventurers see a twelve-foot-tall iron statue gripping a enormous bow in its metal fists.  Behind the outcropping is a passageway, but for now the Heroes of Varisia have to deal with the threat before them, as there’s no doubt that the “statue” is really some kind of iron golem!  A distant alarm that echoes through the stonework begins to ring as Jinkatsyu starts racing across the chamber, but before he can even get close, he’s struck by several “arrows” of fire launched by the golem’s obviously-enchanted bow.  The fusillade is powerful enough that the injured kitsune is forced to flatten himself on the ground, but he doesn’t have to wait long for help.  Kang, although perhaps a hundred feet or more away from the golem, draws a strange device that allows him to launch his bombs incredible distances!  In less than twenty seconds, the alchemist has reduced a seemingly invincible guardian to melted slag!  But Kang takes no visible pleasure from his success, having fallen into a state of ennui after leaving Vraxeris’ library.

Although iron golems are immune to most spells and resistant to most weapons,

 no one expected an adventurer like Kang!

 

After the adventurers ascend to the top of the outcropping, they see that the tunnel behind it leads to a chamber with two engraved circles on the ground that surround large runes.  One of the runes is red, while the other is blue.  Kang has no difficulty identifying them as teleportation circles, explaining that the red circle sends the user somewhere, while the blue circle is where someone using a different circle would arrive.  Excitement builds in the group as speculation mounts that this circle may be the way out of Runeforge.  But the conversation drops into stunned silence as Kang off-handedly remarks that the group has been scried  ever since the battle against the golem began . . .

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

Director's Commentary

Yuzo's player went permanently AWOL just before this session, so having the PC get drained and killed by the succubus seemed like a fast and easy way to resolve in-game what happened to the character.

Erik was really starting to run low on ammunition, an effect of being trapped in Runeforge that I hadn't really thought about it.

The trivial defeat of the golem was another reason I'm not a fan of the alchemist class in Pathfinder.  Normally, golems are difficult to defeat because they have a good AC, a lot of DR, and they're completely immune to all but a few particular spells.  But alchemist bombs target Touch AC, by-pass DR (because they're not "weapons"), and work perfectly fine against golems or creatures with spell-resistance because they're not "spells" (even if they are "magical").  In theory, an alchemist only gets a limited number of bombs per day, but it's very rare that a character runs out of them in a normal day's adventuring.  Add in their splash effects and all the discoveries that give them even more versatility, and bombs are just the best thing ever.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 10-19: "Corpses in Kalsgard" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I played Corpses in Kalsgard several months ago at low subtier with my psychic-monk, Arrius Vext.  Before rereading it for the purposes of this review, I couldn't really remember what it was about--which I guess isn't a good sign.  After going over it again, the scenario has some decent characters and makes good use of its setting.  But there are some flaws as well, and nothing that elevates it beyond the ordinary.  I guess "quintessentially average" is where I'd rank it.

SPOILERS

Corpses in Kalsgard is in the Land of the Linnorm Kings (in the eponymous city Kalsgard).  The Pathfinders have been summoned by one of my favourite venture-captains, Bjersig Torrsen (and his cute hound Mahki!).  There have apparently been several mysterious deaths of gnomes in Kalsgard, with the victims looking pale as if they died from the Bleaching (the disease that affects gnomes who lead bland, joyless existences).  However, the victims died suddenly and with fearful expressions, and the Bleaching takes far longer.  The PCs are asked to investigate the deaths and find the culprit.  The explanation of what any of this has to do with a group of explorer/scholars like the Pathfinder Society is pretty feeble, and this isn't the first time scenarios have cast the PCs as general, all-around world police problem solvers.  There is an interesting backdrop to the events, however:  Sveinn Blood-Eagle, the Linnorm King, has decided to step down from the throne, and his children are squabbling about who should replace him.  (There's a minor encounter against some street thugs who mistakenly think the PCs are supporting one faction or another.)  I assume this sets up an evolution in setting lore that will be reflected in PF2.

The Pathfinders' primary liaison with the local gnome community in Kalsgard is a fun and well-written cleric of Nivi Rhombodazzle named Quil Tabberdash.  Quil operates The Hall of Seven Wagers, a combination church and gambling parlor.  She explains that several gnomes have died over the past few months in a suspicious fashion, but only the four most recent crime scenes are available.  The PCs can visit the crime scenes in any order.  The way the investigation is handled mechanically isn't very good, in my opinion.  Instead of the scenario describing the general scene and allowing the players to ask some intelligent questions (as well as search for clues), the entire process (even down to getting a general description of the room!) is handled only by Perception checks or Diplomacy (Gather Information) checks.  It made the investigation very artificial, and was a bit infantilizing.  One thing that the investigation reveals is that all four victims spent time in The Hall of Seven Wagers.  My group spent a lot of time investigating the connection (and being suspicious of Quil), but that turned out to be either poor writing or an intentional red herring.  

What the PCs are supposed to discover, instead, are cryptic, fading messages written in ectoplasm (!) that express regret for the murders and contain a street address.  When they arrive, they find a small family of gnomes being held hostage, guarded by gnome wights!  What the PCs will learn is the killings have been done, quite reluctantly, by the ghost of a gnome named Humush Mum.  The rescued gnomes are Humush's family, kidnapped and held hostage by an evil gnome necromancer named Ellux Shost in order to force Humush to kill.  Ellux, it turns out, wants to establish a gnome kingdom in the northern lands, and thinks an army of undead gnomes is a good way to accomplish this.  Umm . . . hmm . . .  

There's a lot to unpack here!  The first thing that strikes me is that in Pathfinder, ghosts stick around because there is something very specific that they've left undone--they haven't been buried, they want revenge on their murderer, etc.  Here, Humush Mum died in an ordinary accident and her ghost is apparently hanging around just because she was generally concerned over her family's well-being (this was before they were taken hostage).  It's not really the sort of situation that one thinks of as giving rise to a ghost.  Further, Humush Mum fits into that very problematic (in Golarion at least) category of non-evil undead.  I have to give Ellux, the evil necromancer, credit for cleverly thinking that a ghost's corrupting touch would leave victims looking like they've suffered from the Bleaching, but I don't really see the connection between killing a bunch of gnomes and then raising them from the dead as a plausible way to establish a gnome kingdom.  Like, is the local graveyard running out of bodies?  That dude is bringing a lot of extra work on himself with these roundabout schemes.  I know that a searching exploration of most fantasy plots break down as some point, but these were things that jumped out at me during the session, and I think they're a sign of a story that needed more work.

Anyway, the Pathfinders will find their way to Ellux's lair (in true PFS fashion, even if they don't discover any clues, they're almost literally led there by the nose).  The lair is guarded by ghoul badgers (now that's an army!) and some skeletal champions.  I like the artwork for Ellux.  There is a nice little touch I thought was good--the faster that the PCs find Ellux's lair, the fewer buff spells the necromancer has time to put into place.  After the battle, the epilogue is fine and the Chronicle boons are pretty interesting.

I've probably made Corpses in Kalsgard sound worse than it actually is.  It plays fine, and although the plot needs work, there's nothing actively terrible about it.  Indeed, the scenario does a good job portraying gnome culture in Kalsgard and provides a bit of insight into the evolving setting lore of the Land of Linnorm Kings.  Overall final verdict: it's okay.

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: "Thornkeep 2-Pack" [RPG]

This set contains two double-sided flip-mats designed to be used in conjunction with the Pathfinder Online: Thornkeep module.  It's important to note that it only covers the second, third, fourth, and fifth dungeons in that book, and that the first level ("The Accursed Halls") are not included here--which is a shame, because that's a hard one to draw!  But if you are planning to run the other levels, these flip-mats are very handy and will save you a lot of time.  They're very well done, with excellent attention to colour and detail.  As with all Paizo flip-mats, they take wet or dry erase markers and have 1 inch grids built in.  I guess the limitation of a product like this is whether there's any use for them once you've finished the associated module.  A homebrewing GM could repurpose them for other dungeons, but otherwise they're more likely to sit on your shelves and get dusty.  

Pathfinder Module: "Pathfinder Online: Thornkeep" [RPG]

Ah, Thornkeep!  I think many who experience it will have a love-hate relationship with it.  On the plus side, there’s a great town ripe for exploitation by homebrew GMs who need a perfect place to launch a sandbox campaign.  In addition, the five dungeon levels within can be raced through in PFS for a full 3 XP each!  On the down side, those dungeon levels are of such inconsistent and often unfair difficulty that sudden PC deaths and even TPKs have become notorious.  I’ve run all five dungeon levels, and I can testify they can be a group-destroyer! 

 

Thornkeep is a 96-page book that includes a full gazetteer of the eponymous town and the surrounding area, a full description of each of the five dungeon levels under the town, and then a lengthy discussion of plans for an online Pathfinder game.  The artwork within is great, and there are some nice maps.  It’s worth mentioning that there are several associated products: flip-mats that make running four of the dungeon levels much easier, a novel (Crusader Road) that fleshes out a lot of the setting and NPCs, and even a granite plaque that reproduces the cover art.

 

The book starts with a two-page introduction from Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens that explains its origins as a Kickstarter incentive.  The Kickstarter was to raise funds for Pathfinder Online, a massively multiplayer online RPG.  The town of Thornkeep was designed as one of the three starting locations in the game, and this book and its expanded content was the result of several Kickstarter stretch goals being met.  There's a sidebar that provides an overview of the five levels of the dungeons under the town, including suggested level ranges.  The sidebar explains that because each was written by a different author, "all five dungeons have vastly different aesthetics, inhabitants, and dangers."  That's an understatement!

 

The first major part of the book is an 18 page gazetteer of Thornkeep.  Thornkeep is a small town--just 600 residents--but it definitely doesn't have "small town charm"!  Instead, it's a dangerous place used by bandits and gangs of thieves.  Locals protect themselves by hiring protection from mercenaries, as the town's current ruler doesn't particularly care what happens in the town.  Nonetheless, it's not a completely chaotic "pirate's den" type of environment, as some order is provided by the multiple factions in the town.  These take the form of guilds--a mercenary guild, a hunter's guild, a wizard's guild, and a thieves' guild.  I'm guessing this design has something to do with the online game, and that the players could have their characters join a guild for advancement.

 

Thornkeep has an interesting backstory and there's plenty of flavourful fodder for role-playing in the description provided here.  There's a full map of the town and a description of 38(!) locations within, many of which have little adventure hooks. I assume today most readers just gloss over this and head to the dungeon levels, but I'm really impressed by the detail in this section.   It provides a good, classic overview of a group's "home base." It'd be a perfect location for an open-ended sandbox campaign, and a believable base for a group of PCs to start becoming major players in the River Kingdom.  I used as much of it as I could even when running the dungeon levels in PFS, as the locations and NPCs provided make for some good role-playing and keep those sessions from being pure dungeon-crawling.

 

The next part of the book provides detail on Echo Wood, the larger area in which the town of Thornkeep is located.  Although the section is only eight pages long, there are several great locations for adventures, though a GM would need to flesh them out from the brief descriptions provided.  For example, there's Mosswater, an entire town overrun by merrows decades ago--who knows what treasures the fleeing residents left behind? Echo Wood also contains the Emerald Spire, but that's a whole other topic!  There's a brief random encounter table that could have used expansion (and it suffers from the common problem of threats ranging all the way from CR1 to CR8, which means it'd be a potential TPK generator if a GM really rolled randomly on it).  But all in all, this chapter's a good complement to the chapter on the town, and adds to the book's usefulness in setting up a classic, open-ended sandbox campaign.  

 

The next five chapters of the book are eight pages in length each and devoted to the five dungeon levels under Thornkeep.  As a sidebar in the Echo Wood chapter explains, each dungeon level is designed for PCs of different levels, and there's probably not enough XP in one level to get the PCs ready for the next.  Thus, side quests will be necessary, and it'd be a really bad idea for a group to try to tackle the levels one after another without doing some adventuring elsewhere.  I only ran the dungeon levels via PFS, where this wasn't a problem (apart from some awkwardness in making it clear that certain staircases were effectively off-limits), but in a regular campaign the GM may need to do some fancy footwork to keep groups from exploring areas they're just not ready for.  As I mentioned above, each of the five levels is written by a different author, and even for PCs within the appropriate level ranges for them, the challenge levels vary dramatically.  What they do share is a unified backstory about an ancient Azlanti wizard named Nhur Athemon who was exiled from his homeland and came to the Echo Wood to build a complex for his research and experiments.  The gazetteer sections of the book do a decent job providing some lore and adventure hooks to get PCs into the first level of the dungeon, and there's a little bit of connection between the dungeon levels themselves, though for the most part they're pretty independent.  Before moving onto each of the levels, I'll just note that the Thornkeep Flip-Mats cover the second, third, fourth and fifth levels, but a GM will have to draw their own map for level one (and it's not an easy one to draw).

 

Level One is "The Accursed Halls", written by Richard Baker, and designed for 1st-level PCs.  Frankly, I don't think it's a great start.  Apart from the sprawling and confusing map, there's a video-game style requirement to obtain seven crystals of different colors scattered throughout the dungeon in order to open the door to the next one.  PCs can easily be lulled in to a sense of complacency through multiple fights against goblins and the like, before suddenly being hit with some genuinely unfair encounters against wights, a shadow, and surprisingly nasty fungal crawlers.  If you read the forums, there are a *lot* of complaints about this level and the number of PC deaths, and I can testify that when I ran it, there was the same result.  A group of six min-maxed PCs might be fine, but a group of four average PCs should expect casualties.

 

Level Two is "The Forgotten Laboratory", written by Jason Buhlman, and designed for 2nd or 3rd level PCs.  As the name implies, this level was where Nhur Athemon conducted arcane and alchemical experiments.  Although the wizard himself is long dead, the labs have since been taken over by a half-orc alchemist beautifully named "Krenar Half-Face."  There are some really fun bits in this dungeon, including mutated goblins, a goblin with alchemical vials embedded in his head (love the pic of Snarltongue!), and some clever traps.  But compared to Level One, it was a breeze for the PCs and they finished it quickly.

 

Level Three is “The Enigma Vaults”, written by James Jacobs and designed for 3^rd or 4^th level characters.  Stylistically, this level is great—it’s a sort of museum where Nhur Athemon stored and displayed artifacts from other planets.  There are a lot of cool links to setting lore that doesn’t get much attention because it involves worlds other than Golarion.  But it’s the boss of this level, a mi-go cleric named The Visitant, that I’ll never forget, as he pretty much broke my gaming group!  He has claw four claw attacks—not a big deal.  He has grab—not a big deal.  He has sneak attack—a bigger deal, especially since he summons allies to help with flanking.  He has a special power called evisceration, which means every time he succeeds on one of those grab checks, he inflicts sneak attack and ability score damage—a very deadly deal!  Following most forum GMs, I went with the catch-and-release style when running the Visitant (dropping every grapple as a free action to continue the series of attacks), but this proved incredibly deadly—a couple of PCs were killed, one was permanently damaged, and one fled.  There was real anger at the table afterwards, and the whole situation got escalated up to real-life PFS oversight in an attempt to reverse things.  The players thought I was a terrible GM, I thought they were overreacting, and the group never really recovered.  Suffice it to say, I was off to play-by-post to run the next two levels!

 

Level Four is “Sanctum of a Lost Age” by Erik Mona, designed for 7^th level PCs.  This is a good example where you can see what separates a skilled, professional writer from the lazy “drop a bunch of random monsters in rooms and call it good” type.  The story involves Nhur Athemon’s three traitorous apprentices imprisoned in a time-stasis field indefinitely.  The level is very interesting and dynamic, and the order in which PCs do things can change the entire way the situations play out.  For example, when I ran this, an NPC who joins the PCs got himself killed in a trap, and his death created a paradox that destroyed the time-stasis, which in turn instantly destroyed every living creature and organic thing that had been trapped there!  The apprentices themselves are definitely manageable, but there’s one potentially-lethal room where multiple high-CR monsters can be released every round if the PCs aren’t smart about how they deal with things.  Overall, I thought this was probably the best written level in the book.

 

Level Five is “The Dark Menagerie” written by Ed Greenwood and designed for 5th level PCs.  I have no idea why they put this adventure after the previous one (both in the book and in terms of moving down through the dungeons), as the PCs’ levels are supposed to be lower here than in “Sanctum of a Lost Age.”  I think it was considered quite a coup at the time to get Ed Greenwood of Forgotten Realms fame to write a level, but unfortunately this is by far the least-inspired one in the book.  The concept is that Nhur Athemon had created a zoo of exotic living creatures and engineered illusory environments to place them in, and all of this has been in stasis until the PCs arrive.  The problem is that the creatures aren’t particularly rare and, apart from negotiating with a sphinx, there’s really nothing to do besides step into each room and fight the monsters within.  I expected a lot more from a legend in the field.  It does play fast if you need to quickly level up some PCs, but that’s about it.

 

The last section of the book is essentially promotional puff for the Pathfinder Online game, and it comes in at an absurdly long 26 pages (the longest chapter in the book).  There’s little enduring value in this section now, but even at the time it came out, the assorted interviews when the game designers delivered little more than some of their early ideas, concept art, and discussion about the tech demo they were putting together.  Frankly, this is the sort of thing that should be offered for free on a website to spruik the game, not printed in a sourcebook.  I’ve never played the game (my understanding is it never really got off the ground in the sense of having paid subscribers), and there’s not a lot here that makes it sound particularly special or appealing compared to the many other sword and sorcery MMORPGs out there.

 

To end quickly because I’m running out of space, overall there’s some value in Thornkeep—but just be careful how you use it!