Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-07: Flooded King's Court

I ran this scenario with a party of 4 level 1 players. This was meant as an introduction to Pathfinder 2e for two of them, one of whom was new to Pathfinder specifically, one new to tabletop games generally.

The introductory part of the scenario with the goblin king was fun, and allowed for some nice role-play, though I changed it so that the goblin king had the players come up with their own performance, instead of reading from a script. I felt this was more fun for the players than the scenario as-written.

Now for the big reason for the three stars; the encounter with the elite crocodile. The players were level 1, and thus in subtler 1-2, and therefore their first combat encounter was an elite crocodile. This crocodile downed one player with a lucky crit to start off combat, then was a real pain for the rest of the players to finish off. Thanks to lucky rolls and GM fiat (I lowered the crocodile's hp on the fly) they defeated it, but it was no walk in the park. I feel a regular crocodile would have been more than enough to challenge the players at level 1, let alone an elite crocodile. Being new to GMing Pathfinder 2e, I didn't realize how unfair an encounter this was till after combat began.

I skipped the encounters with the mercenaries and zombies for the sake of time. I changed the encounter with Marcon, feeling the as-written backstory was too complex; to justify the use of a temple to Dagon, I made it so that the Candrens were worshippers of Dagon, who consorted with him to sink the ships of their rivals. Marcon, an investigator who caught wind of this, was captured and killed by the Candrens. To make the situation a true quandary, I had it so that the current-day Candren was a major donor of the Pathfinder Society. The players still chose to free Marcon, leading to him revealing the secrets of the Candrens and finding peace. While the players' Pathfinder memberships were revoked, Marcon would visit the players in their dreams and tell them of how his soul passed on to the afterlife.

Overall, this scenario provided some fun role-play segments, though it was bogged down by an overly-difficult combat. Thus, I award it three stars.

This scenario has it all. Good skill challenges, fun roleplay (including some of my favorite inter-table interactions), and combats that make sense and aren't too challenging or too easy.

All in all, a wonderful low level scenario that ends with an amazing moral quandary. Highly recommended.

I ran this scenario in a PbP format with five players.

There's not much more that I need to add that others haven't already said. This is a very strong scenario and one I would recommend for anyone looking to try out Pathfinder Society or even just Pathfinder in general. The roleplaying is fun and humorous and the mystery surrounding what lay beneath Absalom is interesting as well.

If I have to include any nitpicks (which don't warrant dropping down to 4 stars in the least), it would be that the "timer" of the water level rising is so long as to be irrelevant and that the combat encounters themselves are relatively straightforward. This actually makes it quite a strength for new players or even players just looking to have a fun roleplaying night, so it's hard to fault the scenario for that.

All in all, a great module!

Hilarious scenario, good variety in challenges to overcome. Goblin play is brilliant.

As others have mentioned, this is a standout in terms of the mix of encounter types: a skill challenge combined with humourous role-playing, a couple of tough but fair fights (including one with a nonviolent solution), some classic dungeon exploration, and a final encounter that combines social interaction and role-playing.

The only downside is the references to a sequel on the Chronicle, yet no sequel has yet been announced. I'm curious to see if it will show up in Year Three.