Pathfinder Module: "Heroes for Highdelve" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Heroes for Highdelve has an interesting background.  Produced for the 50^th anniversary of GenCon, it’s a combination of introductory Pathfinder adventure (plus incentive to buy the related Cavernous Lair flip-mat), advertisement for GenCon’s four iconic characters (presented in Pathfinder rules for the first time), and mini-product catalog for a miniatures & paint accessories company called Games & Gears (Booth # 2402!).  The product is 22 pages long, with maps on the inside front- and back-covers, 12 pages of adventure, 4 pages for the GenCon Iconics (integrated into the adventure with individual story hooks), and 4 pages for the Games & Gears products (which include minis of the Iconics and one of the villains).  Although obviously produced with commercial partners, the module is very professionally done, with excellent interior maps, artwork, and solid writing.  And, an awesome cover—if they made that into a poster, I’d hang it up!  I got to play Heroes for Highdelve via play-by-post for Pathfinder Society, and we used custom PCs (I had no idea the product was even intended for pre-gens).  For me, the module is most memorable as the first appearance of my Prophet of Kalistrade character, Nistivo Cirek.  For everyone else, the adventure itself is fine but forgettable. It does have value as a one-shot with a 2-3 hour running time (perfect for when the usual PFS 4-5 hour scenario running time won’t work).

SPOILERS!

 

Heroes for Highdelve is set in the eponymous town, which is located at the foot of the Goluskhin Mountains in Brevoy.  The PCs arrive during the annual Brightbloom Jubilee, a spring festival, and can have fun with various low-stakes games like sack races, kick-sack (hacky-sack), a puppet show, and more.  The adventure assumes the use of the pre-gens, who each have a reason for coming to Highdelve, and expects the PCs to be asking a lot of questions of the locals during this time.  Perhaps oddly though, but fortunately for custom PCs, most of the NPCs just give the questions the runaround or say the equivalent of “I’m busy now, but ask me tomorrow”; the actual adventure itself has nothing to do with the PCs’ individual quests.  My GM did an excellent job adapting the adventure for PFS, as it wasn’t until I read the module for this review that I realise how much he had to make up in order to get us hooked into the adventure.  Anyway, after some relaxed fun at the jubilee, the adventure kicks into gear when a pair of town youth stumble in, bruised and bloodied.  The pair were the town’s celebratory “Bloomgivers” this year, given the honour of walking to the nearby Dendra’s Slope to collect special flowers for the jubilee.  It turns out, however, that they were attacked by two other youths in town (Richelle and Tolwin) who were angry about not being chosen as Bloomgivers.  And worse, the (rather violent) juvenile delinquents even took the golden amulet of Aurelliax (the town’s gold dragon protector, who hangs out in human form) from the Bloomgivers!  “Are there any among you who are willing to be heroes for Highdelve?” asks Aurelliax.  Nistivo Cirek will—for the right price!

 

Part 2 of the module has the PCs travelling to Dendra’s Slope.  After finding the site of the attack, they’ll soon find (hiding nearby) Richelle and Tolwin.  What the PCs won’t be expecting is that the two aren’t by themselves—their attack on the Bloomgivers was prompted by an evil tiefling rogue named Feran the Pale.  (Feran had some sort of unrealistic plan to distract the townsfolk so he could steal from them, but the motivation here is pretty week).  I’ll just note as an aside that Richelle and Tolwin fight with longswords and Feran has sneak attack, so it’s perfectly possible that this seeming “playground bullies”-style adventure could become lethal (combats are first level being notoriously swingy in Pathfinder).

 

Part 3 of the module has the PCs facing off against what could be a pretty big threat: an ettin that is wearing Aurelliax’s amulet (it was part of Feran’s plan).  Alas, the ettin doesn’t have much in the way of personality, so this is a pure combat encounter.

 

And that’s it—there is a *very* short (one sentence) conclusion to the adventure.  As an introductory experience to Pathfinder, Heroes for Highdelve is certainly serviceable, though I don’t imagine the plot or writing will be especially impressive to newcomers to the game.