by leroy43

Decagone is a module for Mothership, the sci fi horror RPG.

This review assumes you are a warden that wants to run this - it contains spoilers. If you are a player, stop now. If you are considering buying this for your warden, just do it!

The premise is that the player's characters have been hired to work at a secret undersea facility. The Warden can either include this as part of an ongoing campaign or run as a one shot.

As the publisher's blurb says, "upon arriving for their first day on the job in a deep ocean research facility, it becomes apparent that the crew are caught in a uniquely horrifying situation." They are enjoying the corporate video explaining all the lovely things the research corporation does, when the elevator judders to a halt just short of the arrival area. The party will need to pry open the doors and slide out (and drop) to the floor below before proceeding.

The first problem will be exiting the antechamber, which has electrical problems. Players that aren't careful will take a shock from the door panel, which has short circuited. Moments after gaining access to the hallway beyond, they will be attacked by an automated sentinel. In the normal course of play, this takes about ten minutes.

The opening instructions for the Warden in Decagone is to set a 10 minute timer, visible to the players, but to not explain why. As soon as the timer goes off, the "deca" and "gone" come into effect. The crew reappears in the elevator. Their memories are intact, but they have looped back to exactly the moment the elevator has shuddered to a halt. They also gain one stress as a result. If anyone died during the interval, they are alive again, but get to roll a Sanity save, with the potential cascade of effects.

The module also instructs the Warden to not let them bypass previously visited spaces, and to not slow the narrative. This very effectively puts pressure on the party to hurry up and execute.

Decagone has a an old-school dungeon crawl feel to it. The facility is relatively small, and there are numerous puzzles to be resolved, which will take multiple iterations to conclude.

There's a flowchart for the ending, assuming the characters resolve the puzzle behind the time loops, and there are prologues for the Warden to share. These can in turn hook onto another adventure, or the adventure can conclude as a one shot.

This module is the ultimate anti-analysis paralysis adventure. If your group is normally methodical, careful, and slow, they will struggle as every ten minutes the elevator bell goes ding and they gain stress. The longer they dawdle the lower their odds of survival. Ten minutes is actually pretty ideal for the interval.

This adventure is perfect for a convention setting because you can run it in under four hours. The first time I ran it, it took about two hours to complete plus some denouement. It's also great for a shorter game session.

In the choose two of

SOLVE SAVE SURVIVE

trio of Mothership, the emphasis is heavily on solve, and survival will be a function of being time efficient. 20 stress can accumulate quickly when you gain one every ten minutes of real time on top of the regular ones from missed rolls.

This module is clear and well written, a lot of fun to run, and has a lot of humourous moments that can be laugh out loud funny. No spoilers for those.

by Biotech66

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com - A new idea every day!

Product- Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-07: Sewer Dragon Crisis
System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Producer- Paizo
Price- $5.99 here https://store.paizo.com/pfs-scenario-5-07-sewer-dragon-crisi...
TL; DR- A handshake or a slaughter, your choice. 100%

Basics- Ok, we screwed up. What do we do to fix this? The Sewer Dragons backed the Pathfinders, and they paid a HEAVY price. Now, your job is to help the friends we left along the way.

Mechanics or Crunch: This is a fun adventure, and it changes based on what the players do. This adventure has one mandatory combat. If you are a combat monkey, you can choose violence. If you are social, you can also get your way. It also has a skills section, so the skills person gets a chance to shine as well. It’s a good mix. 5/5

Theme or Fluff- This adventure will take two hours or five hours. There is little in the middle. The story is solid, but a combat team will struggle and end up killing lots of things. That’s fun. If you are a social butterfly, this is much shorter, as you convince enemies to back down and corrupt people to do their jobs. It’s fun, but if you have a mixed team, some people will not get exactly what they want. 5/5

Execution: Ah, classic Paizo layout. I love the older style. Pictures for the monsters. Stat blocks and an easy-to-read adventure all make this a solid adventure. 5/5

Summary: This can be a feel-good adventure or a slaughter. Either can be fun if you want it. I loved running this one, and my players had a blast too. Choose your team well, and you will too. 100%

by sdonohue

Legendary Sorcerers is a 2021 release from Legendary Games. The writers are Andrew J. Gibson, Connor Bates, and David N. Ross. The book was illustrated by a talented team of artists. This is intended for use with Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (1st Edition).

Presentation
This is available in both pdf and softcover versions. The softcover is 40 pages with color covers on heavy paper. The interiors are color as well on matte paper and the bulk of the book is in a standard two-column layout.

Content
This book re-imagines the base sorcerer class in a way similar to the unchained classes presented in Pathfinder Unchained. The class retains its principle abilities while gaining some additional power and flexibility in character choices. The book provides revised versions of several bloodlines as well as some new ones. Most of them experience a slight gain in power while becoming more customizable to help players develop unique characters.

There are also favored class bonuses available and all seven are available to characters of any race: players just choose one of them. There are new archetypes as well. The Arcane Sage modifies the sorcerer class abilities to be based on intelligence rather than charisma; the Arcane Seeker has a greater bloodline connection. The Devotee of the Unknown gains a familiar and connection to otherworldly contacts. The Disciple of Violence is better at combat than most sorcerers. Impulsive Mages have more magical power than other sorcerers but it comes at the expense of less control.

Following all this class information, there are five new feats and nearly 20 new spells, mostly for sorcerers but also a few for other casters including divine classes.

Evaluation
This book does a lot to give players more flexibility in developing their sorcerer characters. It also does a lot to improve the aura and perhaps grandeur of sorcerer characters. The aura of power makes them radiate magic on their own and abilities like Force of Personality greatly improve their saving throws while Soul Shield makes them more resistant to physical attacks. The two abilities together help to reduce the glass cannon effect that sorcerers typically experience.

If you like sorcerers but wish they were more flexible, this is definitely a great supplement.

by sdonohue

Legendary Monks II is a 2021 release from Legendary Games for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (1st Edition). It was written by a team of authors and illustrated by a talented group of authors.

Presentation
This is available in pdf and in softcover. The softcover is 32 pages, but several of them are blank. The covers are heavy stock and full color and the interior pages are full color on matte paper. Most of the book is laid out in a two-column format and the contents are well-edited and easy to read.

Content
This book provides expansions to the worlds of monks and martial arts. The book starts with a table of contents and an introduction, then moves quickly to the Legendary Monk, which is a re-imagining of the class from the Player's Handbook. The monk presented here has various paths which he can pursue: some can become very agile and effective fighters while others may focus more on the mystic aspects of their class. Monks retain many of the abilities they have in the base game, but also gain some new combat options, skills, and abilities. Probably the biggest change is the path which sets the monk on a different trajectory depending on which they choose. One of the other changes is the introduction of combo attacks which and allow the monk additional attacks and abilities based on their level in the form of multiple blows with varying effects.

The second chapter provides new class archetypes for monks. There are six archetypes with a variety of abilities. The Champion of the People is just that, a monk who serves the common folk. The Combustion Knuckle combines monk skills with firearms while the Flowing Monk adopts the style of rivers and remains fluid in combat. The Ring General is a specialist in grappling while the Sohei is a mounted warrior and the Yaksha Disciple studies righteous outsiders and harnesses their abilities.

The next section, Feats, presents nearly 40 new feats for martial artists. Several of the them are new styles and many of them add mystic effects to the monks unarmed attacks. The Magic section provides three items which are variations on a theme: Gloves of the Titans and then lesser and greater versions. Each version enhances unarmed combat and may offer additional bonuses.

The book ends with a sample character, an 8th level Legendary Monk.

Evaluation
If you've always wanted your monks to be a little more adept at combat, then this is the book for you. The monk chooses a path and possibly an archetype and they begin developing additional abilities that make them more lie Wuxia monks than the ones in the base book. There may be some balance issues here and I think this is a two-copy book. There are enough changes and new abilities here that your GM is going to need their own copy just to make sure he's able to present you with appropriate challenges.

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