Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-15: "The Asmodeus Mirage" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Asmodeus Mirage is one of the notorious "retired" Pathfinder Society scenarios from Season Zero.  I played it "just for fun" with my summoner, Jakeric, and it's pretty easy to see why it was retired: the chance of a TPK (and need for a body recovery) is pretty bloody high!  The underlying premise is kinda neat, but the actual execution of the story is a let-down and there's not necessarily a lot the PCs can do to control their fate.  An enterprising GM might be able to steal an interesting idea or two for a homebrew game, but overall, there's not a lot to recommend the scenario.

SPOILERS!

The backstory to The Asmodeus Mirage is cool: when the gods battled Rovagug across the face of Golarion eons ago, the crystalline bone devil that served as the Herald of Asmodeus was struck down in what became Katapesh.  Ever since, for 24 hours every century, a pocket dimension opens up with the crystal skeleton at its center.  Anyone who ventures in and doesn't leave before those 24 hours are up risks being trapped there until it opens again 100 years later!  And, of course, the Pathfinder Society has managed to pinpoint the location and opening schedule of the so-called "Asmodeus Mirage" and wants to send a team in to investigate, with the goal of returning with the crystal skeleton before it disappears for another century.  Why exactly the PFs might select a group of Level 1-2 PCs for this mission is beyond me; maybe there was a mix-up in the cabinet containing lists of field agents?

After a briefing by Venture-Captain Rafmeln (only ever seen in this scenario; perhaps he was "retired" for sending agents on this mission?) in the Katapeshi Pathfinder Lodge,  the PCs have a chance to buy gear before an off-screen journey to the Asmodeus Mirage.  Once inside the pocket dimension, the 24-hour countdown clock starts.  The scenario is structured as a set of four encounters in the mirage that the GM selects randomly, with the journey between each encounter taking a random number of hours (that can be reduced with a good Survival check).  The pocket dimension is morphic in the sense that there's no reliable directions or fixed geographic points, meaning that depending on dice rolls, PCs might stumble into the same encounter multiple times (despite trying not to).  PCs also need to attempt Fortitude saves against the heat (it is the desert, after all), which makes perfect sense but can be quite draining for low-level characters (especially with any time spent resting counting against the 24-hour limit).

The encounters range from fairly pedestrian combat (like groups of illusory skeletons) to some with role-playing potential (like a peaceful gnoll village menaced by ankhegs) to intriguing mixed-bags (like an insane CR 19 brass dragon who wants the PCs to clear his lair of pesky vermin) to the main event (the crystalline skeleton, which will be guarded by different foes depending on subtier).  I imagine that at higher subtier (6-7), the encounters and environment would be far more manageable than the more swingy low subtier ones.  In any event, the main risk facing the PCs is becoming trapped in the pocket dimension and officially ruled dead.  The PCs can choose at any time before that to try to return "home", and so from the scenario's sidebar point of view, the chance of groups getting trapped should be low.  However, the scenario only gives the PCs a 25% chance of making it home with each attempt, and as each attempt takes 1d4 hours, a group that waits too close to the end of the 24 hours and has some bad dice luck could easily end up being trapped and effectively TPK'd (unless they have pieces of the crystalline skeleton, which shunts them out of the demiplane automatically when it closes).

There is a part of me that loves high stakes scenarios where genuinely bad things can happen to PCs--a game with no risk isn't nearly as much fun, after all.  But for The Asmodeus Mirage in particular, I think the stakes need to be better fitted to the level of the characters involved and with a little bit more transparency on just how heavy the odds are against them.  Not to mention, there's not really a lot of discoveries or mysteries to resolve once inside the mirage--it's just "get the skeleton and get out" with little opportunity for the PCs to understand the backstory.  I imagine more than one group ended up trapped in the mirage, and this probably fueled the push to retire the scenario.  I can't really argue against the decision.  Fortunately, with the demiplane having just appeared, no one needs to worry about it for another 100 years!

I have to append a coda to remark on a Chronicle boon from the scenario that is a classic, and hilarious, example of stingy rewards (or what we would, today, call trolling): PCs, after having somehow survived the risk of being trapped in another plane of existence for a century, receive a whole +1 to Diplomacy or Intimidate checks vs "western Katapesh gnolls"!  Talk about earning bonuses the hard way!