Pathfinder: "Beginner Box Bash Demos Part 1" [RPG]

These four mini-adventures were designed to introduce new players to the Pathfinder Beginner Box by providing short demos at conventions and gaming stores.  I didn't encounter them in that context, but, like a lot of people, I've used them as supplements to a home Beginner Box game.  New GMs need help, and old GMs get lazy, so extras like this are always appreciated.

"Relics" starts with the PCs meeting with a (to me at least) somewhat shady businessman named Eberius Tauranor.  Tauranor hires the PCs to retrieve a valuable item from the mausoleum of an "ailing business contact" who has promised Tauranor any treasure there in exchange for a loan.  The item in question is a ceremonial sceptre carried by ancient priests of Aroden!  The briefing wasn't very well done, with a poor explanation of what's going on and no information if the PCs ask questions.  It comes across very suspicious, and my son (who's 8) assumed Tauranor was a bad guy and thus refused the mission entirely!  I think it would have been better to just have the PCs start at the mausoleum, with a handout letter explaining why they're there.  Anyway, the mausoleum has an interesting puzzle-based pitfall trap (that might be a bit hard for the GM to keep track of and indicate to the players what is happening).  In a nice touch, there are two scepters hidden in the mausoleum: a real one and a fake one, and PCs need to put some clues together to figure out which is which.  They then get ambushed by a group of thugs (the Bloody Knuckles) who have (without little explanation) come looking for the sceptre.  The PCs have the choice to fight or bluff them, and I like it when there are options in encounters like this.  Overall, "Relics" is okay but not great.

"Ruins" has a much better briefing, as the PCs get to interact with and ask questions from Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch in the Rusty Dragon.  She sends the PCs off to northern Varisia in search of an ancient Thassilonian ruin dedicated to the Runelord Xanderghul.  There, the PCs have to persuade an illusory guardian to let them pass in order to retrieve a Sihedron medallion.  It's a nice little foreshadowing for players if they eventually play Rise of the Runelords.  As with "Relics", the PCs are ambushed after retrieving the treasure--this time, by a group of goblins.  There is some backstory explanation for why the goblins are there, but the PCs will never be privy to it so I think the encounter probably comes across as somewhat random and possibly confusing.

"Terrors" has the PCs sent by Heidmarch from Sandpoint to Galduria to investigate strange rumors of lights and creatures seen near the town's graveyard.  Unlike the other demos, this one has several avenues for role-playing and investigation, and does a really nice job (in a necessarily compact way) of describing Galduria.  The backstory to what's happening is a bit involved, involving bandits, a waylaid witch, a stolen necromantic item, a foolish ritual, and the walking dead!  I really liked the magical item, the candle of night, and how smart PCs could use it to make the only combat encounter much easier.  I think this was the best adventure in the lot, as it shows that RPGs aren't just about dungeon crawls.

"Tomes" finishes the group, and I enjoyed its setting (Korvosa's Acadamae) since I had just run a module set there and had the appropriate map pack.  The PCs are sent from Sandpoint to Korvosa to purchase a spellbook that one of the Acadamae's lecturers wants to sell.  But when they get to the lecturer's office, they find the woman bloodied and unconscious.  A rival lecturer has sent a well-disguised mimic to try to find the book, and it's hiding as a lectern!  I ran this for my son (with some ally NPCs), and I can testify that mimics are pretty tough for Level 1 PCs!  Overall, it was solid.

I'm not 100% sure why these demos were in such a hurry to get the PCs out of Sandpoint, as I think they could have instead built on the adventure possibilities there without handwaving hundreds of miles of travel.  As short convention demos, it was probably fine, but as bonus stories for home games, I found them very hard to tie into the campaign.  On the other hand, free is free and beggars can't be choosers--plus, with some changes in detail and setting, they're not too hard to adopt.  I'm glad these were produced, and I wish similar ones were done for the Starfinder Beginner Box.