Rise of the Runelords Recap # 113 [RPG]

[5 Gozran 4708 continued]

In the lair of the Hidden Beast, the adventurers discuss and finally settle on a plan of how to defeat the vampiric decapus and its minions.  As the others stand ready, Ava stoneshapes a “window” into the underground niches where the creatures are hiding.  She gets ready to step out of the way so the others can move in, but the decapus moves to quickly and wraps her up in its tentacles!  As it starts to drain her life away, she desperately tries to dimension door away—but the strange magicks permeating Xin-Shalast instead shunt her to the nightmare realm of Leng!  The uncanny, robed humanoid creatures there speak to Ava, but their words are cryptic and confusing—especially for someone raised in the

Mushfens!  They seem to want to enlist Ava in some sort of plot or agreement in exchange for helping her escape her current predicament, but her intuition tells her she can’t trust these creatures and she refuses.  When she appears back in the Hidden Beast’s lair, she’s still trapped by the decapus as if no time has passed!  Fortunately, Jinkatsyu’s swordplay and Kang’s bombs are enough to once again neutralize their foes.  And this time, the adventurers know to stake the vampires properly and solve the problem of the Hidden Beast permanently.

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

Director's Commentary

This is the shortest recap of the campaign, in part because 3/5ths of the group walked out partway through!  I was completely unaware of the frustration that had been building over the decapus, and it almost derailed the campaign completely.  The only fortuitous thing was that this session was scheduled as the last one before several weeks' break over the holidays, and I was able to do damage control and get everyone back into the fold and keep it going afterwards.  Still, it was clear there were two factions within the players, hard feelings that didn't go away, and a lack of trust on both sides.  In something like 20 years of GMing, I had never seen anything like it, and it definitely affected the rest of the campaign even though we were able to make it to the end.  I learned just how precarious long campaigns are, how I wasn't as popular of a GM as I imagined, not to take any game for granted, and that it's a good idea to develop multiple options for gaming in case one falls through.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 10-21: "Slaver's End" [RPG]

 

NO SPOILERS

I got to play my "caveman shaman" Gurkagh in Slaver's End at high subtier using the four-player adjustment.  It's a solid, enjoyable scenario with a good mix of combat and role-playing, and it nicely caps off a couple of loose ends from previous scenarios.  There might not be anything particularly

amazing about it, but it's definitely one worth playing and a good addition to a GM's rotation.

SPOILERS

The backstory to Slaver's End involves two NPC antagonists from previous scenarios.  First, going way way back to # 1-38, No Plunder, No Pay, is a former Chelish ship captain turned pirate named Jirandiel Waverider.  The PCs in that scenario (I haven't played it) apparently stole Jirandiel's ship from her and led to her extreme embarrassment, gaining PCs a "Waverider's Revenge" boon that gets paid off here.  Second, earlier in Season Ten, PCs in # 10-06, Treason's Chains, encountered the schemes of treacherous Venture-Captain Phlegos Dulm and forced the half-orc alchemist to flee Katapesh.  Off-screen, Dulm allied himself with Jirandiel in a slavery business before Jirandiel's hatred of Pathfinders (even former ones) got the better of her and she turned Dulm into a slave as well!  Now, Jirandiel and her pirate crew are building a base on a small island off the coast of Qadira, using Dulm and several other kidnapped Pathfinders as slave labor.  (as an aside, I'm not really sure why Dulm thought it was a good idea to get into the "enslaving Pathfinders" business--surely it's far riskier than other types of slavery!)

The scenario proper starts with the PCs receiving a letter from Venture-Captain Wulessa Yuul (Dulm's rival from Treason's Chains) instructing the group to meet with a leader of the Liberty's Edge faction named Karisa Starsight.  Starsight has creepy eyes, but explains the mission: the Decemvirate wants Dulm captured and brought back for questioning.  Leads point to Dulm having sold Pathfinder agents into slavery, so the best place to start is by talking with Corvius Vayn, a wealthy slave merchant and genie binder.

When the PCs get to the Vayn estate, they'll soon be presented with an intriguing dilemma.  Vayn is willing to divulge Dulm's whereabouts . . . for the price of a PC's servitude for a month.  Alternatively, he'll ask for every PC to owe him a favor to be collected at a later date.  PCs not interested in making deals with a powerful slave merchant have an alternative, however.  They could secretly free Vayn's efreeti bodyguard who can provide the information, but the efreeti is evil and they'll be setting free a creature that could easily inflict harm on innocents later.  And to add another layer of complications, the efreeti could even use a wish to instantly teleport the group to Dulm's location--but (depending on how well they negotiate), with a twist.  I think it's an excellent situation to put PCs in, as there's a solid moral quandary and lots of room for character personality and motivations to feed into quality role-playing and decision-making.  The best way to proceed isn't obvious, which is crucial to making an interesting problem like this one.

However the PCs solve it, they'll be able to get to Jirandiel's pirate base, but will be unaware that Dulm is a slave as well.  It's a clever twist.  The rest of the scenario takes place on the island.  PCs who travel there through mundane means will arrive at the docks, and the scenario makes excellent use of the Docks flip-mat for it.  PCs who get there via an efreeti wish may start in a sea cave that could just be occupied by a giant octopus or squid!  This sea monster is controlled by Jirandiel by a new magic item, an orb of aquatic mastery, and the PCs are likely to encounter the monster at some point in the scenario, either in the sea cave or at the docks.  A careful GM will note that it will only use its grab & constrict ability once per round (despite the number of attacks it has), which makes the encounter easier than it could be.  Still, I was happy my PC had a lesser talisman of freedom--things could have gone very bad otherwise!

The manor house contains pretty much what you might expect: some lesser pirates (aided by some guard dogs), the Pathfinder slaves that need to be freed, Dulm (whose fate could be another interesting moral question), and, of course, Jirandiel--gamified here as a high-level swashbuckler.  I like how the writer played fair with how long it takes various NPCs to respond to alarms by donning armor, buffing, etc., and PCs who move quickly might be able to catch them unprepared.  I don't imagine most groups will have difficulty with Jirandiel (one martial villain against four to six PCs is probably not going to fare well), but Dulm does have some poison ability and the giant octopus/squid can be a wild card that could ruin an unlucky player's day.  It's a solid set of encounters in terms of overall challenge, and I don't have any complaints on that score.

There's not much in the way of epilogue, but the Chronicle does allocate boons for the different ways the PCs might have dealt with Vayn and his enslaved efreeti.  It's a fun, solid adventure, and actually something that would work well for new players despite being for higher level PCs.  PCs in the Liberty's Edge faction will find some special features as well.  So although this may not be in the very top tier of PFS scenarios, it's definitely one to play.

Starfinder Society Scenario # 2-02: "Waking the Past" [RPG]

 

NO SPOILERS

I played Waking the Past at low subtier using the four-player adjustment.  Without having read any other reviews, my guess is that the scenario is one that people either love or hate.  It has a particular gameplay mechanic that some will find pretty cool and exciting, while others will find it grossly unfair.  This is a scenario for truly intrepid explorers only!

SPOILERS

I really like the backstory to Waking the Past, even if it's very reminiscent of the background of the antagonists in the classic Star Trek episode "Space Seed" (yes, the prequel to . . . "Khan!!!").  A group of pre-Gap extremists on Golarion were forced off-world for their views on human genetic purity and violent attacks on non-humans.  This group, called the Twilight Throne, were powerful magic users and skilled scientists, and established new bases on a planet in Near Space called Thosum V.  In one of these bases, an experiment to create a nanotech golem went very, very awry, as the creature eventually killed every sentient lifeform on the planet before returning to a state of hibernation in the base.

What the PCs in the scenario don't know, of course, is that they're headed to explore that particular complex.  The story starts with a solid hook.  AbadarCorp miners on Thosum V uncovered a sealed complex miles underground.  Pursuant to their contract with the Starfinder Society, they've notified the group for an exploration team on the usual terms (the SFS gets historical insight, AbadarCorp gets any new technology or equipment).  Venture-Captain Arvin delivers the briefing, and I like how the scenario establishes his prior connection with the elf overseeing AbadarCorp operations on Thosum V.  The two are old friends, and cooperation is the order of the day (reverse foreshadowing some difficulties in the epilogue).

The journey from Absalom Station to Thosum V takes place aboard an AbadarCorp freighter.  There's a brief mention of a character who is apparently important for a future scenario, but very little detail is provided.  I tend to think these little bits turn out to be more frustrating for the players than exciting little easter eggs for discovery, and that it might be better to just start more scenarios at the mission site (with a briefing given remotely) than requiring a hand-waved trip every time.  Another bit that's a little off in this scenario is that the scenario tells the GM the journey takes 3d6 days of travel through the Drift (the standard for a journey from the Pact Worlds to Near Space), but the ship also just so conveniently arrives (no matter what the dice roll is) during the five days of Goldfest, a big celebration on Thosum V.  It would be better for scenarios to dispense with the "3d6 days" fiction and just tell the GM how long the voyage takes if it's plot-relevant (which it hardly ever is).

Anyway, there's a good little scene when the PCs arrive as the local miners think the Starfinders are going to shut down the dig and hurt the economy.  This could have been fleshed out more, and would have given some additional opportunities for role-playing in a scenario that has very little.  We also don't get to see much economic angst in Starfinder scenarios despite some of the setting themes of hyper-corporatization and limited social welfare programs.  Anyway, the PCs do get to have a conversation with the AbadarCorp leader, Taxmaster Alazdra, but that's really not much more than another briefing.

The first encounter is original and fun.  As the PCs are taking the lift down the miles-deep shaft to get to the complex, they're attacked by burrowing pests.  After just a couple of rounds of battle, the fragile shaft will start to collapse, raining down rocks and threatening to crush the PCs unless they get out of there fast.  It leads to a classic situation where the PCs are trapped underground with no obvious way out, which helps add to the tension of their exploration of the complex.

So, the complex: one thing in the scenario's favour is that, although this might at first glance seem like a traditional (space-) dungeon crawl, it's really more like an 80s slasher pic.  There's an incredibly deadly, implacable adversary that seems invincible, and the only thing to do is run, hide, and hope to stumble upon a way to escape.  Instead of a Jason or a Michael Myers, the slasher's role in Waking the Past is played by the aforementioned nanotech golem.  This thing is CR10, has a +27 on attacks (doing 4d6+20 points of damage), is immune to almost all magic, and has regeneration 10 to bolster its 250 hit points.  In short, its effectively unbeatable for PCs of either tier here.  The concept of the scenario is that the PCs should quickly realise they have no hope of defeating the golem and should instead keep moving, exploring the complex as they go, desperately hoping for a way out.  I think it actually works out pretty well, though I imagine many groups learn the hard (TPK-oriented) way that not every enemy is designed to be defeated.  In addition, it's really important that the GM carefully read the monster's abilities, tactics, and the two sidebars about when it appears and how it operates.  There's a lot of information to process here, and I wouldn't recommend this scenario for a novice Starfinder GM.  I guess if nothing else, it does help that it's *really* hard for a PC to actually die in Starfinder due to the generous resolve point mechanic.

Apart from the nanotech golem, the complex contains a few clues (on cliched "one entry only"  datapads) about the scenario's background, though the PCs won't learn much about the Twilight Throne or the fact that this golem wiped out all life on the planet.  There's also a trap or two, the usual security robots, and some undead to fight, though the PCs need to be careful not find themselves stuck in an encounter when the nanotech golem catches up to them.  The main goal is escape, and to do that the Starfinders need to push open the stuck "back door" of the complex which then leads to a long tunnel and the surface.  I'm don't understand why the golem won't keep following them up there (given what it did in the past), and arguably the more "heroic" thing for the Starfinders to do would be to trap themselves in the vault with the monster to save thousands of lives on the surface.  But, that's a digression, I guess.

The scenario has a potentially interesting epilogue, where Taxmaster Alazdra leans on the PCs to keep their discovery secret lest it interfere with profitable mining activities that employ hundreds on the planet, despite the incredible danger.  The PCs can decide whether to reveal what they learned to the world or not, with some consequences for boons.  I always like good moral quandaries to bring out role-playing.

As a quick side-note, I will say I really don't like the new art style for Season 2 scenarios.

Overall, I had fun playing Waking the Past, but I imagine it could be a quite divisive scenario.  By the time the players figure out what they're supposed to "do" (run!), it may be too late.  In addition, some of the scenario's flavourful backstory won't really come across to the PCs.  On the other hand, I like to see different gameplay concepts, and experimenting with something different than dungeon crawling is a plus in my book.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 112 [RPG]

 
[4 Gozran 4708 continued]
 
Although the sudden reappearance of the Hidden Beast is startling, Jinks doesn’t hesitate to jump up on the dais and stab it in the face!  This time, bereft of its magical protections, the decapus proves much less of a threat and is killed easily.  The adventurers discuss whether they should take the corpse of the vampiric monstrosity to the surface and expose it to the sun, but Jinks is concerned about the vampiric skulks who escaped the previous battle.  What if they’re still in hiding?  The decision is made to stay on guard in the chamber and rest.

But the Hidden Beast has made this entire lair its “coffin” for millennia—after about an hour, it surges back to a false mockery of life and arises!  Turning quickly into a gaseous mist, it disappears into small cracks around the walls of the chamber.  Kang quickly applies an alchemical glue to try to trap the Hidden Best, but there’s no way of knowing whether it will work.

At Kang’s prompting, the group leaves the lair of the Hidden Beast and explores some of the other tunnels in the area.  In one area, they’re attacked by a strange one-eyed creature with lengthy tentacles that stick to Jinkatsyu’s skin and drain him of his strength.  After a lengthy battle, the creature tries to surrender and shows the intellectual and linguistic ability to communicate!  But it’s too late, as one of Kang’s delayed-fuse bombs explodes and incinerates the creature.  With Jinkatsyu and Morgiana badly wounded in the confrontation, the group retreats and rests for the night.

Ropers are sometimes known
 to be quite the philosophers!

 
[5 Gozran 4708]
 
In the morning, Kang drinks a magical concoction allowing him to send his mind vast distances.  Although he intends to contact Father Zantus back in Sandpoint to ask the priest what he knows about vampires, the telepathic projection is somehow redirected by the strange planar magicks around Xin-Shalast!  Kang finds himself in brief mental contact with bizarre monstrous spider-like beings who tell him “stop the lens, stop the denizens” before the link is broken.  Kang’s previous research in the Therassic Library comes in useful once again, allowing him to realise these creatures are so-called Leng Spiders, an other-dimensional race locked into an eternal war with the bipedal but still inhuman “Denizens of Leng.”  However, the reference to a “lens” remains cryptic. Kang’s mental projection is able to continue on and engage with Father Zantus, but unfortunately the man knows only general information about vampires and not the specifics the group needs to know in order to permanently destroy one.
 
Soon after Kang’s mind returns to his body and he shares with the others what he learned, Morgiv and his band of skulks known as the Spared arrive.  Morgiv takes the news that the Hidden Beast may still be alive gracefully, and says he knows the Chosen One (meaning Kang) will succeed in destroying the evil once and for all.  The skulk leads his people away to a safer area after giving the party a tapping code they can use on the rock walls of the subterranean area to communicate with them across surprising distances.
 
The Heroes of Varisia return to the Hidden Beast’s lair, but all seems quiet.  Exploration of a side tunnel leads to an ancient shrine devoted to the Spared’s original saviour, Mesmina.  On one wall is a crudely-painted depiction of the Chosen One that will someday free the people from a future enslavement—and the figure does look a great deal like Kang!  It’s clear the Spared haven’t been able to visit this shrine ever since the Hidden Beast emerged, and some of the group’s magical treasures remain.  Among them are several elixirs designed to allow one to survive the extreme altitudes here on the world’s roof.  Kang is outraged to realise the composition is identical to Nisk Tander’s so-called “Elixir of the Peaks”, and suspects the devious amateur must have some sort of connection to Xin-Shalast.  In yet another bizarre moment, Jinks casually says “So, the meddlers have returned.  Perhaps this age is not so feeble after all.  Didn’t I crush this one into pebbles?”  The kitsune denies he said anything of the sort when confronted by his allies.
 
The adventurers return to the lair of the Hidden Beast, determined to finish the creature off once and for all.  Morgiana cleverly uses her magical ring to see through the first several inches of rock along the walls of the chamber, and finds the hidden niches where the decapus and his turned skulks are resting.  The adventurers discuss plans to force them out and finish the job.
-----------------------------
Director's Commentary

This was the third session in the "Hidden Beast" saga.  I think the roper was from a random encounter table, but it was pretty nasty because it had some sort of ability damage or drain effect.  I liked the bit of foreshadowing that Kang's arch-nemesis, Nisk Tander, had a connection to Xin Shalast.

Pathfinder: "Valeros, Iconic Fighter T-Shirt" [RPG]

 If I really wanted to emulate Pathfinder's Iconic fighter Valeros, I'd need to imbibe a couple of tankards of ale before writing this review!  Valeros is a really fun character in the comics and audio adaptations of APs, and this shirt has classic Wayne Reynolds art.  Against a black background, some of the detail is a
little harder to make it out, but it's still pretty cool.  Apart from the logo and the image of Valeros, the t-shirt is plain (nothing on the back or sleeves) making it look fairly basic.  Still, it's hard to go wrong with the classics!

Pathfinder Tales: "The Redemption Engine" [RPG]

 

NO SPOILERS

I don't even know how to begin heaping The Redemption Engine with all of the effusive praise it deserves.  I've read a lot of the Pathfinder Tales novels, and this one is among the very best.  James Sutter knows his way around Golarion, and he's picked one of its most flavourful components (the city of Kaer Maga) as the starting point for this awesome adventure.  Sutter's writing just pops with

excitement, humor, and intelligence, and he's created an original plot to drive the story.  Even the way he describes things familiar to gamers, like channelling energy, has so much verve to it (while still being faithful to the RPG) that one can't help but admire the talent that went into the novel.  I'd definitely recommend this one to Pathfinder fans, but also to fantasy readers in general (there's even a helpful glossary to explain setting terms).  

SPOILERS

Salim Ghadafar, atheist priest of Pharasma (it makes sense!) is back for another adventure, having previously appeared in Sutter's excellent novel, Death's Heretic.  Forced to serve the goddess of death due to choices made in his past, Salim is called in to investigate a great story hook:  the souls of 53 murder victims have not turned up in the Boneyard (the afterlife) like they were supposed to.  So where are they?  Or, perhaps more to the point, who has them?  Salim's investigation covers the memorable streets of Kaer Maga, the City of Silence below, the heights of Heaven above, and even a detour to Hell.  It's all handled extremely well, and I particularly appreciate how a place that may seem dull like Heaven becomes a fascinating place for story-telling.  Angels may not be what you expect!  And the ending is genuinely exciting.   This is one of those books to read, and then pick up again a few months later to re-read.  It's really that good.

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-18: "The Trouble with Secrets" [RPG]

 

NO SPOILERS

Because this is a retired scenario, I incorporated it (at low sub-tier) as part of a regular home campaign for four PCs.  I changed the opening a bit, but left the core of it essentially unchanged.  From that experience, I can see why it was retired--it's very deadly!  And although the backstory is really

interesting and holds promise, the actual gameplay turns out to be a very generic mini-dungeon delve.  As there's no enduring addition to setting lore, The Trouble with Secrets is now just a curiosity as best. 

SPOILERS

The backstory may be the best part of The Trouble with Secrets.  After a Pathfinder named Harkus was slain by a vampire and arose as undead, she retained just enough humanity to seek out a fellow agent (and former lover) named Bossell for aid.  Bossell agreed to help find a way to turn Harkus back, but secretly arranged for her to be bound and experimented on (with even a total dissection planned) in a basement under the Sothis Lodge.  Furious at the betrayal, Harkus managed to break free of the restraints and savage the research team until Bossell slammed a stone door shut and trapped her inside.  Bossell then proceeded to cover up the incident entirely, sealing over the entrance to the basement and doing his best to forget about the whole thing.  Now, decades later, Bossell is a senile old man allowed to stay at the Lodge out of respect for his past service.  But when his assistant finds an old journal about mysterious experiments in the basement, the idiot decides to go investigate--thus unleashing the still-undead and still-peeved Harkus!

From that premise, there are a lot of great directions the story could go.  Unfortunately, the writer chose a pretty poor one.  Harkus kills the assistant and secretly ventures into the streets of Sothis to mentally dominate and recruit pit fighters to help guard her basement lair.  She then returns to her secret hiding place under the Lodge and . . .well, does nothing, really.  Essentially, she's sitting there as the scenario officially begins and the PCs are briefed about trouble and disappearances in a newly-discovered vault under the Lodge.  That's how a great backstory filled with pathos and betrayal and vengeance is turned into a traditional "explore old crypt and kill stuff" mission.  There are five main chambers to the underground vault and thus, predictably, five encounters.

First up, in the vault's antechamber, is a battle against the dominated pit fighters and the hyenas that (apparently) they train for battle.  The pit fighters are fighter/rogues and will try to ambush the PCs, but this is pretty much a cakewalk.

Next up is a statue hall and, giving truth to cliché, two of the statues turn out to be animated objects and attack.  Yawn.

The third chamber is where we get the first hint that of what's really going on, as vampire spawn burst in to attack.  This does serve as good preparation for the PCs to get their act together before fighting the real thing.

The fourth chamber is actually a pretty well set-up encounter.  It involves more pit fighters, but they're using archery and firing through murder holes.  The PCs have to figure out how to reach them before they get turned into pin cushions.

Last up is Harkus, the vampire.  Man, she is tough!  At low sub-tier she has six levels of fighter, wields a greatsword, and has an AC of 27.  Her tactics are also smart--dominating a party's strongest member and then attacking any arcane spellcasters in the group.  One of the reasons I chose this scenario is that a PC in my group is a Vampire Hunter (the class from the Vampire Hunter D book) and I wanted to give him a chance to shine.  But instead, a near-TPK was in store for the group and they had to withdraw.

And that's the scenario.  I guess to its credit one could say it plays very quickly, contains a map that's easy to draw, and isn't one that requires enormous prep by the GM.  I love the cover art, and there are some opportunities in the adventure for the PCs to learn about the cool backstory.  On the whole though, The Trouble with Secrets is best left just like Harkus--buried and forgotten.