Starfinder Adventure: "The Starfinder Four vs The Hardlight Harlequin" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

The Starfinder Four vs. the Hardlight Harlequin is Paizo’s 2021 Free RPG Day release for Starfinder.  Designed for new and experienced players alike, it features four memorable pre-gens with clever little tie-ins to the adventure.  (My only complaint is that, unlike the Iconics, there’s no explanation of what the characters’ special abilities do—so a player would have to look stuff up as they play).  The cover is fun and colourful, and sets the tone of the adventure well.  I got a chance to play the adventure via play-by-post, running the android technomancer, Err0r.  Overall, I enjoyed the original adventure concept and think it was a good choice to appeal to new players.

SPOILERS!

The four PCs are novice Starfinders returning via starship from a training mission when they receive a distress call from the very place they intended to visit: a comic book/video game convention!  The adventure gives the GM some excellent guidance on how to handle the different reactions different groups may have (such as trying to call headquarters for instructions or seeing if other ships could respond).  Assuming, sooner or later, the group responds to the distress call, they’ll first have to get past some video-game style asteroids that suddenly manifest to block their landing.  It’s a mini-skills challenge, with real consequences for the PCs, as they’ll take damage to Stamina Points if they fail.  (I wish more starship combats interacted with the PCs’ health so they don’t seem like two completely separate games).

Once they land, the PCs will quickly learn what’s going.  In a suitably comic book backstory, the developer of new hardlight (quasi-real) virtual reality technology was caught up in a power surge with his equipment and has become a villain drawn from the game he was developing: the Hardlight Harlequin!  As the PCs explore the convention site, rescuing attendees along the way, the Hardlight Harlequin mocks them and sends video game-style threats their way.  Although there are plenty of traps and combats, there’s also good opportunities for role-playing with some of the trapped NPCs, as they’re given interesting personalities (and good artwork).   The big climactic battle against the Hardlight Harlequin has some features that make it a bit complex to run, so GMs should make sure they’ve prepared carefully.  (the boss isn’t actually so bad; earlier, there’s a much nastier turret-gun trap that could be positively lethal!)

As I said in the intro, the colourful comic book/video game theme is handled well and makes for a memorable experience.  It’s not the “dark and gritty” or morally challenging adventure that I personally champion, but I had a good time and I think others will too.  And, of course, it’s free!  There’s no arguing with that.

Starfinder Society Scenario # 2-10: "Corporate Interests" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Corporate Interests helps answer a question that makes perfect sense (and that I had never really thought about before): where does the Starfinder Society get all of its money from?  This series of five Quests all have the PCs working as consultants for different corporations around the Pact Worlds to earn some coin for the Society.  Otherwise, the Quests are unrelated.  I ran the series via play-by-post at low subtier.  A couple of the Quests needed some more play-testing or another round of development, but a couple of the others had some nice elements.  I'd average them all together  as . . . average.

As an aside, it's interesting that the scenario only allows for the slotting of personal boons and no others.  I imagine that could create complications for some PCs.

SPOILERS!

Each Quest begins with a message, via handout, from Venture-Captain Naiaj explaining the group's goal.  Just as each Quest sees the PCs working for a different corporation, they each also take place in a different location in the Pact Worlds.  These corporations and settings don't necessarily get a lot of distinct flavour in the actual adventure (though, ironically, there's usually plenty in the GM-only background sections).  Taken as a package, they do offer a good mix of combat, role-playing, and *sigh* starship combat.

The first Quest is "AbadarCorp."  Having recruited an expert in the weapons trade from the Idari, AbadarCorp is concerned she may become a target "among dangerous groups."  The PCs are contracted to wait for the expert's arrival on an Absalom Station spaceliner and escort her to corporate HQ.  The Quest uses the fitting Spaceport flip-mat but is structured as a problematic mix of skills challenge and combat encounter.  The premise is that while they wait in the spaceport gate for the expert to arrive, the PCs begin to notice suspicious people lurking the crowd and have a certain number of rounds to use skills to sabotage their gear or lower their morale.  I imagine that the vast majority of groups would instinctively confront the threats immediately instead of tip-toeing around messing with their stuff, but that's not the assumption the Quest operates on.  After the (way too many) rounds to sabotage stuff has concluded, the expert arrives and then there's a big firefight in the spaceport.  We never get any information or background on who these "mercenaries" are or who they're working for or why exactly they see the expert as a problem.

The second Quest is "Frozen Trove".  Alert players may recognise the corporation's name from a memorable Season One scenario (# 1-19: To Conquer the Dragon).  This Quest has the PCs sent to infiltrate an isolated Frozen Trove research outpost in the Diaspora and steal computer files.  This one turned out to be really good.  Although the PCs could just barge in and handle things through some old-fashioned ultra-violence, they really can succeed without ever firing a shot if they're smart, a little deceitful, and a little stealthy.  It's nice to see that option supported, and I liked the Quest's lone NPC--a lonely research scientist named Karezen who just wants some to talk to and for his bosses to recognise his achievements.

The third Quest is "Resurgent Technologies".  A corporation based on Aballon, Resurgent Technologies has been conducting testing of a weapon prototype that incorporated summoning extraplanar creatures.  As one could surely predict, things went awry and one of the summoned creatures got loose and is now killing folks.  The SFS is contracted to do an investigation and track down the culprit, which turns out to be a "venedaemon", a daemon formed from evil souls killed by magic.  All I know: awesome artwork!  I remember the PCs had a surprising amount of trouble defeating it--probably because of its multiple resistances and immunities.  A solid Quest.

The fourth Quest is "Sanjaval Spaceflight Systems", the requisite starship combat Quest.  I actually kind of liked this one though.  The premise is that the PCs will be test pilots for a new starship design--a Remorhaz-class vessel.  The distinctive thing about the Remorhaz is that its heavy weaponry faces the rear of the ship, so you want foes to get behind you.  The Quest also has a fun twist.  The test combat against a drone starts with everything being simulated, but when the drone goes haywire and starts firing live weapons, the PCs won't realise it until they get hit for the first time--when their actual shields are down!  Taking actual hull damage certainly got my players' attention.

The fifth Quest is "Arabani Arms".  Here, the PCs need to test fire several new weapon designs on a range and then use some of them in combat against some battle robots.  The twist is that several of the weapon designs have hidden faults and malfunctions, some of which are positively harmful for the wielder.  I liked the premise, but I found in practice it dragged a little due to the need to fire each of the weapons five times and describe the results.

Overall, Corporate Interests is a solid but unspectacular package, and something to do on a rainy day (or while stuck in lockdown).

Pathfinder Society Scenario # 0-24: "Decline of Glory" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I recently ran Decline of Glory for Subtier 1-2 via play-by-post.  From the GM's perspective, it has a very "raw" feel, with a lot of details and encounter transitions a bit vague and fuzzy.  In some places there's much more information than a GM needs (such as crazy long adventure background and summary sections), while in other places in the adventure itself the GM has to fill in some gaps.  From a story perspective, I guess it's okay but not great.  All in all, Decline of Glory doesn't hold up particularly well.  As it doesn't establish interesting lore about the setting or the Pathfinder Society, it's really for completists only. 

SPOILERS!

As the very long background section covers, there's a tiny, out-of-the-way settlement along the Taldor coast called Railford.  The area around Railford is swampy and overgrown, so the land's not good for much.  But it does happen to have the perfect climate for vineyards, and a century ago a wine distillery was established on a hill in the area and the settlement grew around it for its employees.  Formerly owned by the noted Pathfinder Iadon Railford, the distillery passed on his death to his son, a former Taldan soldier named Becher Railford.  Now, the Pathfinder Society sees the distillery as the perfect place to establish a new Pathfinder Lodge and it wants the PCs to go to Railford and persuade the owner to make a deal for it.  As an aside, I really can't fathom why the Society would want to establish a lodge in what's clearly the middle of nowhere.  Given that we never hear of the place again, the Society must have also shelved the plan.

The adventure starts in media res as the PCs are marching through the muck at night toward Railford (a typical Season Zero "flashback briefing" explains their goal).  One of the things I should say the scenario does well is set up atmosphere--the frequent descriptions of the constant drizzle, muck, leeches in the mud, etc., all contribute to situating the adventure in a particular environment.  Anyway, as the PCs march toward Railford, they have their first encounter.  What the PCs don't know from the briefing is that a brutish soldier named Grald Kretchmoor and his troops have surrounded Railford and plan to seize it unless Becher can produce his deeds to the land.  Several squads of soldiers (and their dogs) are camped around the town, so the PCs are likely to just accidentally stumble into one and be attacked.  If the battle lasts too long (unlikely given how tough modern PCs are), additional squads could arrive.  One challenge I found while running this encounter is deciding on encounter distance, as the scenario doesn't give any guidance.

Once the PCs arrive in the settlement proper, they'll have a chance to speak to the (suitably wary) townsfolk and learn that Becher isn't at the distillery.  Instead, he's left with some of his workers to retrieve the deeds from where they'd been hidden in a secret cache (a cave for barrel-aging) in the swamps.  Although my group didn't, there's a chance that the PCs can actually learn very early that there's an additional problem: ghouls in the swamp!

While travelling through the swamp, there are some annoying leeches to deal with and then an encounter against some monstrous plants (violet fungus, bog screamers/shriekers, and, at high-tier, a shambling mound).  Again, nothing too serious for modern PCs, though it is worth noting that everything in the adventure happens in one night, so there's not an opportunity to rest and recover if a PC does take a hard hit or expends their resources early.

There's a fun bit with the entrance to the caves being blocked with debris that leads to a long-fall with a previously-trapped ghoul along for the ride.  Inside, the caves are partially flooded, making movement difficult.  I think my players hated it, but I thought it was a good opportunity for some of the ranged characters to shine as zombies slowly trudged towards them.  Travelling to the caves ends up being a bit of a runaround, as it turns out that Becher has already retrieved the deeds and headed back to Railford via a secret underground tunnel.  He's very ill from ghoul fever when the PCs find him, and says he'll agree to the deal if they help him deal with Kretchmoor and his thugs.  

The big finale of the scenario takes place in the distillery and is set up as an "Assault on Precinct 13" situation.  The PCs need to defend the building as Kretchmoor's soldiers try to break their way in through various doors.  But there's a reasonably good twist, in that the soldiers themselves will come under attack from an even more serious threat: rampaging ghouls!  The concept is for drama to be piled on drama as the PCs' initial foes plead for help against an even more dangerous foe.  It's a good concept, though it didn't really work in practice in the session I ran.  One issue was that the soldiers took ages trying to break into the distillery (they needed something like a natural 20 on Strength or repeated chopping to do any damage above the hardness of the doors).  It became more amusing than dangerous.  A second issue was that the soldiers (and Kretchmoor) were pushovers, easily defeated by the internal timeline for the ghouls to actually show up (I think it would scale even worse at higher subtiers).  From a GM's perspective, the scenario seems ambiguous or even contradictory in places about exactly what enemies will show up when and where, so some discretion will have to be exercised.  Other important details, like the location and width of windows, are missing.

Assuming all goes well, the PCs will succeed in securing the deal and "are forever treated with honorary status at that lodge."  Ha!

Starfinder Society Scenario # 4-09: "Through Sea and Storm" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

I recently got the rare opportunity to use my first and highest-level Starfinder PC, the drug-addled Troivayan, in Through Sea and Storm via play-by-post.  I had a blast.  It was fun seeing all the tricks that the other high-level PCs were able to pull off.  One of them had a personal enercopter, and it worked perfectly in this scenario.  From a more general perspective, I thought this scenario was pretty good, if pretty conventional.  There’s a good mix of role-playing, problem-solving, and combat, and the story is really interesting.  There’s also a good twist (though not a fairly set up one).  The setting is certainly unique.  All in all, I’d say it’s an above average scenario, and definitely worth playing.

Random compliment: I really like the trade dress/art design for Season Four—it fits the season theme well.

SPOILERS!

Pholskar is a planet of giants—quite literally.  As introduced in Near Space, Pholskar is inhabited primarily by giants.  Although once ruled by a coalition of storm and cloud giants in flying cities, the two groups fell into open conflict shortly after the Gap, and now only one storm giant city remains while the rest of the planet is ruled by cloud giants as the Cloud Imperium.  Pholskar has remained largely closed to visitors, but in a well-handled briefing en route to the planet, the Starfinders learn that First Seeker Ehu Hadif has managed to wrangle a preliminary survey mission of a downed sky city.  It’s clear that both sides know that how the PCs handle this mission will determine whether the Society is ever granted access again.  I like the premise because it’s one that justifies a group of high-level PCs being involved.

After the briefing, as the PCs’ ship enters Pholskar’s atmosphere, they’re plunged into the midst of a volcanic eruption that threatens to destroy the ship!  This is essentially a skills challenge.  I like the exciting premise, but I am disappointed by the usual lack of consequences.  Even if the PCs utterly failed to succeed on a single skill check (unthinkable), the very worst thing that can happen is they take a -2 on social skill checks in the next encounter.  There seems to be a reluctance in the Starfinder development team to levy real consequences for failure.  (as an aside, I can’t think of the last time a PC actually died).

The NPC that the PCs need to interact with is a cloud giant bureaucrat named Elthel (great art!).  Elthel is a progressive among the cloud giants, but knows that the invitation to the Starfinder Society was actually an attempt by political rivals to sabotage her own career.  But at this point, she doesn’t really have much choice but to proceed.  Some great character work here, and there’s a lot of fun to be had from the players describing their characters trying to get comfortable in a room sized for creatures three or four times larger than themselves.  From the players’ perspective, this is a role-playing encounter with some added skill checks to impress her.  Again though, from a game perspective, it really doesn’t matter.  The very worst thing that can happen is that the PCs don’t receive two gifts from Elthel (items of arguable value for what’s to come).

On the way to Talgradur (the crashed sky city), there’s a brief interlude where the PCs can help some nomadic herders who have a stuck cart.  It’s fine but forgettable, and the usual reward of an expensive high-tech device always strikes me as weird.  It would be okay for Starfinders to do something nice just because that’s who they are (or not).

When they reach Talgradur, the Starfinders see a pair of fire giants there who introduce themselves as Cloud Imperium guards and ask to see the group’s clearance documents.  This is the scenario’s big twist, and the scenario cheats with it.  The fire giants are actually scavengers who just want the PCs to do the hard work of excavating the flying city and will then attack them as they leave.  However, even a DC 35 (or DC 40 at high subtier) Sense Motive check reveals only that “they’re surprised and excited to see the PCs, and genuinely hope the PCs do well on their exploration.”  Although literally true, a PC who has pumped up their Sense Motive check that high deserves to also sense deceit.  If the scenario were playing things fair, it would have had a true “fire giant Bluff (Taking 10 perhaps) vs Sense Motive (if the PC asked)”, and allowed things to proceed from there.  There wouldn’t be any harm done to the scenario if the fight against the fire giants occurred before the PCs went into the dig site rather than after.

I really liked the description of Talgadur’s exterior and interior.  Having crashed in the water near shore, the flying city is a treacherous place because much of it is filled with water, and the tides have an effect on what areas are safe to traverse at different times.  Having crashed at an angle, everything is skewed.  It adds to the complication of understanding the maps at times, but it’s a good concept overall.  Unlike some “excavations” that are really just dungeon crawls, here the PCs need to spend hours in every room to collect items of archaeological value as they try to unravel the mystery of why the sky city crashed.  There are a couple of encounters (traps and undead), but it at least feels different in principle than room-by-room monster clearing for treasure.  The PCs do learn something intriguing (an attempt to sabotage the sky city’s storm engine—a device that literally generates storms—and the fact that the storm engine was powered by draining imprisoned storm giants to death!).  This doesn’t answer the question of why Talgadur fell from the sky because the storm engines are distinct from the anti-gravity engines, but it’s provocative information nonetheless.

After what’ll probably take multiple days of excavation, the PCs exit, fight the sneaky fire giants, and decide whether they want to hold anything back from the Cloud Imperium about what they’ve discovered (with reporting conditions accordingly).

I for one am intrigued by Pholskar, and I hope the Society earns the opportunity to go back and learn more!

Pathfinder Tales: "Misery's Mirror" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

Misery's Mirror is a four-part series of free web fiction available here (or as a one-dollar e-book here).  It's a satisfying tale that features the protagonist of author Liane Merciel's Pathfinder novel Nightglass and introduces a character crucial to her second novel, Nightblade.  It's a dark and occasionally opaque story that fits the setting perfectly, and the ending is very satisfying.  I'd definitely recommend it for fans of Nidal or Merciel's work.

SPOILERS!

Set during Isiem's days as a student in the Dusk Hall of Pangolais, Misery's Mirror introduces a fellow student named Ascaros.  When Ascaros is sent to retrieve a shadow-summoning nightglass from a deceased aunt's estate in Nisroch, he asks Isiem to come along.  When they arrive, they realise the aunt had been killed by an archmage, and then discover a shae imprisoned in a midnight mirror (a magical device prominently featured in the excellent Pathfinder module of the same name).  The story provides some more great flavour to Nidal, but most importantly, explains a lot about Ascaros and his relationship with Isiem, which helps prepare the reader for Nightblade.  All in all, good stuff!

Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 30 [RPG]

 [Fireday, 29 Desnus, 4708 continued]

Tendrils of smoke begin to appear in the front entryway of Arkona Palace just as the Harrowed Heroes hear footsteps approaching.  When a door opens to reveal a staircase but no one on the other side, the intruders have only the briefest instant to realise magic is at play.  The spellcasters responsible suddenly appear, hurling rays of fire at Katash!  Goldcape tries to call down lighting on them, but it has absolutely no effect.  When The Reckoner launches his assault, he realises that these palace defenders have prepared by conjuring barely-visible magical armor around themselves.  Yraelzin invokes the glories of Razmir as he dispels each spellcaster’s defences one after the other, making them vulnerable in normal combat.  The Reckoner takes advantage of a momentary opening and in almost parkour-like fashion leaps up the staircase to cut the defenders off from any planned retreat.  Although Goldcape’s rapier seems to have no effect on them at all, the same can’t be said for The Reckoner’s war-maul.

After the guards are dispatched, a friendly, welcoming voice is heard from the top of the stairs.  “You fellows sure are causing quite a commotion down there!  Why don’t you come on up so we can talk?”  The Reckoner wants to attack right away, but Katash persuades him to wait and see what the man has to say.  The group climb the stairs to find themselves on the second floor of the building where a balcony overlooks the burning gardens below.  Standing in front of his bedroom, clad in a silk evening robe and slippers, stands the patron of the house:  Glorio Arkona!  He smiles and waves for the group to follow him in, seemingly amused by their “hijinks” below.  They follow, primed for danger, but Glorio waves them into seats.  He recognises three of them by the names Queen Ileosa gave them when she proclaimed them her “secret agents”—the Golden Monkey, the Reckoner, and the Man in the Iron Mask—and asks if they’ve come to kill him.  He thanks Katash for doing him a favour in disposing of “that tiresome gadfly” the Emperor of Old Korvosa.

Glorio Arkona

Katash and Goldcape are willing to have a normal conversation, but The Reckoner takes a harder line, implying he knows of Glorio’s alleged connection with the Cerulean Society (Korvosa’s thieves’ guild) and threatening violence if Vencarlo and Neolandus aren’t delivered immediately.  Glorio gives a rueful smile and says that simply handing over the “two guests” may be a “trifle complicated.”  The problem, Glorio explains, is that both men have been sent into the Vivified Labyrinth below the palace by his sister, Meliya.  He can’t openly defy his sister, but can do the next best thing and tell the group how to access the labyrinth themselves.  Glorio explains that there’s a secret staircase under the pedestal of the elephant statue in the gardens and a secret phrase in Vudrani that must be uttered to get in safely.  He adds that there’s a secret door near the rope bridges that leads down to the labyrinth entrance, which itself is hidden by an illusory wall.

After some questioning by the suspicious intruders, Glorio admits he wouldn’t be “overly pained” to discover his sister hasn’t emerged from the labyrinth alive.  He also subtly hints that he thinks Queen Ileosa is botching the running of Korvosa and should be removed from power.  But it’s a passing reference to the peculiarity of Ileosa authorising “one of the Man in the Iron Mask’s associates” across the only bridge into Old Korvosa yesterday that really gets everyone’s attention.  Upon questioning, Glorio explains that one of his agents saw a figure dressed almost exactly like Yraelzin—but with a red robe and a golden mask—stride boldly across the bridge, unhindered by the Gray Maidens.  Yraelzin sounds stricken and mutters something about his having turned up the inquisition card during the Harrower’s last reading.  He explains that only a “Priest of the Fifteenth Step” or higher can wear a gold mask—and Yraelzin himself is only a Priest of the Third Step!

Katash gets the conversation returning to more immediate business by asking Glorio what’s in the labyrinth.  Glorio is coy, but is persuaded to drop a few hints about magical symbol traps on the walls and something called a “darksphinx.”  The Reckoner recalls an idle conversation once with a traveller from Osirion who went on and on about the rare creatures, and he remembers that they’re difficult to hurt without blessed weapons.  Upon Glorio’s invitation that they could return in the morning, the group decide that resting first and tackling the labyrinth after some more sleep would be a good idea.  As they leave the palace, a bucket line of servants from the palace’s outbuildings is forming to try to contain the blaze.  Goldcape’s growing mastery of nature magic is demonstrated again, as a heavy rain begins to fall and extinguishes the fire!

The return walk to the safe-house is without incident.  Late in the morning, once everyone’s rested, Yraelzin has a private conversation with The Reckoner.  Yraelzin implicitly asks him to downplay any use of wands he might have seen the priest use if he were questioned by another Razmiran.  The Reckoner agrees.  Still, Yraelzin continues pacing and sounds extremely worried about what it could mean for a higher-ranking priest to be appear in the city.

Katash and The Reckoner (in his civilian identity as Ralph Blackfeather) then hit the streets to prepare for the Vivified Labyrinth.  Worried most of all about the “darksphinx” that Glorio Arkona mentioned, they visit Ledbetter’s Apothecary on Hook Street in the Bridgefront neighbourhood.  Old Man Ledbetter sells the pair several vials of bless weapon once Ralph vouches for Katash despite the latter’s status as a non-human.  Once the pair return to the safe-house, they distribute the oils.

Ralph dons his masked garb before the group once again set out for the palace.  Everyone on the streets is talking about the cause of the previous night’s fires, with speculation ranging from coincidental lightning strikes to bugbear arsonists to agents of Ileosa attacking Arkona interests.  The palace itself is crawling with repair crews, guards, and liveried servants.  Goldcape receives several cheers for having saved the palace from destruction, and no one hinders the group as they make their way into the scorched garden.  After uttering the secret Vudrani phrase, the pedestal is turned and reveals an iron-framed spiral staircase exactly like Glorio said it would. After mulling it over, The Reckoner relents and lets Katash have the jade green marble elephant they found atop it.

The staircase descends into a vast, cool grotto lit by flickering torches.  A series of ledges wind along the cavern’s inner wall to a series of rope bridges that descend even lower from ledge to ledge.  Nearby, every surface is covered in a strangely beautiful tableau of all manner of odd-colored fungi, lichens, and molds.  But ever alert for danger, The Reckoner sees depressions appearing in the lichen on the ground and realises creatures are moving invisibly toward the group!  He calls out a warning and then activates the magic of the mask taken from the Red Mantis to see what it is.  Before the group stands skeletal humanoid creatures covered head to toe with a strange fungus.  Yraelzin quickly casts a spell so he can see them too, but Katash and Goldcape have to fight blind when the creatures advance with scimitars at the ready!  The Reckoner uses a wand to cast a protective spell against undead, but appearances are deceiving, and Yraelzin explains that these creatures are simply bones given animation by the fungus that covers them. The Reckoner starts smashing the fungal guardians, but Katash inhales poisonous spores and begins to falter, while Goldcape suffers multiple serious sword wounds.  Precious resources like antitoxins and Yraelzin’s divine healing spells keep the pair in fighting shape, and soon the strange sentinels are destroyed.

If Glorio Arkona can be believed, the group’s search for Vencarlo Orisini and Neolandus Kalepopolis is on the right track.  But if their first taste of battle against the guardians of the Vivified Labyrinth are any measure, how can the Harrowed Heroes hope to survive?

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

GM's Commentary

Glorio Arkona is one of my favourite NPCs from the campaign, as I have a blast role-playing him as a suspiciously friendly would-be patron of the heroes.  I found the artwork for him inspiring, and he's become a major figure as the leader of one of the three rebel factions working to dethrone Ileosa.

The idea with the Razmiran inquisitor was to further Yraelzin's subplot as a Priest of Razmiran that had been gradually straying from the tenets of the faith.  I think, ironically, I may have been able to do a better job with a GM-PC's subplots than I did those for the actual PCs!

I try to make sure non-combat things, like Goldcape using her magic to put out the fire, receive accolades too.  As we'll see later, a couple of the members of the group start to judge everything by combat efficiency, which can then make more role-playing focussed members of the group feel self-conscious, which is unfortunate.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: "Gazetteer" [RPG]

The Pathfinder Gazetteer was the first attempt by Paizo to provide an overview of the official campaign setting of Golarion.  Published in 2008, very little had previously been published about Golarion besides information on Varisia in a couple of the early adventure paths and some scattered descriptions of other lands in early modules and.  Because it was early days, it makes sense that the first overview of the setting would be comparatively short: just 64 pages.  But there's a lot packed in here!

The red dragon on the cover is amazing, and I think I just realized that Valeros and Seoni are fighting atop the Cyphergate in Riddleport!  The inside front cover shows holy symbols for the "Core 20" deities plus Aroden, while the inside back cover is the front cover art sans text.  The book comes with a pull-out four-panel map of the Inner Sea; this is doubtless the first published map of the setting, and it's gorgeous.  It's surprisingly detailed, and although a few locations have been altered over the years, it's still fun to just sit and imagine all of the adventures to be had in these places, most of which were just names at the time but are now fully-fleshed out thanks to years of supplements.  The full-color interior artwork is serviceable but certainly looks primitive compared to modern Paizo products.

The book starts with a two-page introduction.  It describes the (in-setting) Pathfinder Society, and implies that most adventuring parties will belong to it.  There's also an introduction to Aroden and the premise of the Age of Lost Omens--when even prophecies can no longer be trusted, the future is solely in the hands of the PCs!

Chapter 1 is "Characters" (14 pages).  This section describes how all of the standard core races fit into Golarion (with sidebars for the different human ethnicities).  It holds up well in terms of accuracy with current conceptions of those races in the game.  Although mostly crunch-free (this was written during the D&D 3.5 era), it also discusses the role of the core classes and provides an alternate class feature for each one--some are pretty neat, like allowing Fighters to drop a bonus feat and instead get extra skill points and class skills.  The section concludes with a description of uniquely-Golarion languages.

Chapter 2 is "Timeline" (4 pages).  Starting with -5293 and the Age of Darkness and progressing all the way to 4708 and the Age of Lost Omens, this timeline fixes important historical events.  It also discusses the Golarion calendar.  The timeline makes for surprisingly interesting reading (many events have been built on in subsequent products, but not all).

Chapter 3 is "Nations" (36 pages) and is the real meat of the book.  The section starts with a brief description of the different continents of Golarion before homing in on the various nations of the Inner Sea region.  Each country gets a page or so of description alongside some details like alignment, capital, notable settlements, ruler, government, languages, and religion.  I loved the shout-outs to Darkmoon Vale and Scarwall (locations familiar to those who played or ran some early Paizo adventures).  There are some occasional sidebars with rules elements, such as on sailing the Eye of Abendego or purchasing the Sun Orchid Elixir.  There's obviously no value in my going through each of the countries included, so I'll just say as a package I was pleasantly surprised by how rich of a history the setting has and how well the disparate countries fit together.  My very first impression of Golarion years ago was that it was just a "random kitchen sink" of different countries--and although it certainly was designed as a setting where almost any type of D&D could be played, there was in fact a lot of thought given to making it a cohesive whole.

Chapter 4 is "Religion" (6 pages) and provides just a couple of paragraphs on each of the setting's core deities (along with stuff like domains, favored weapons, etc.).  It's really only the barest introduction to each faith, but does the job of allowing new players for a cleric to skim over something quickly and pick a faith for their character.

As the product dates from 2008, there have certainly been much more detailed descriptions of the Inner Sea region published subsequently.  Hardcover books like the Inner Sea World Guide and Inner Sea Faiths devote multiple pages to topics that the Gazetteer can only touch on, and real lore-junkies can find 64-page books in the Campaign Setting Line on nations that receive only a page of description here.  For players in need of a quick overview, the Inner Sea Primer is even more compact.  All of that probably means the Gazetteer doesn't really have a modern niche, but it is really interesting to look back to the beginning years of what would become one of the most sprawling fantasy settings in gaming history.