Hello my lovelies and welcome to another PAIZO PRODUCT REVIEW! Today we’re taking our second bite out of the Agents of Edgewatch Adventure Path with its second chapter: Pathfinder Adventure Path #158: Sixty Feet Under! For an adventure with such a punny name you’d think they’d make a bigger deal out of the depth one delves to in the dungeons, but no matter! We press onward—and into spoiler territory!
The facade of policing is slipping further and further from the face of this otherwise-standard adventuring fare—it seems to exist primarily to add a specific flavor to the introductory setpieces, and shows up here and there in the form of a passing mention of arrest or how to less-than-lethally handle some mook or underboss. Beyond this surface level scattering, however, it’s back to the tropes of killing people and taking their things for profit, which for characters that are nominally keepers of the peace and officers of the law isn't a great look
What I’m getting at is the last chapter of this adventure path, like the last episode of any anime, is clearly where all the budget got spent, so take your time and really read up, and give this complete tonal shift the attention it deserves.
The Bestiary additions in the AP provide some truly nightmarish additions to your arsenal as a GM—even excluding the monsters specifically made for this adventure. Whoever’s been on monster duty at Paizo has a serious thing for body horror and I’m here for it—well, at least as a GM. Hard pass on facing any of these in a dark alley.
Chapter 1: The Unusual Suspects
Still punning along with the names, I see. This adventure kicks things off pretty much right where the last AP ended, with the characters collecting clues from the arrest of the previous villain to see what further villainy awaits the city of Golarion.The facade of policing is slipping further and further from the face of this otherwise-standard adventuring fare—it seems to exist primarily to add a specific flavor to the introductory setpieces, and shows up here and there in the form of a passing mention of arrest or how to less-than-lethally handle some mook or underboss. Beyond this surface level scattering, however, it’s back to the tropes of killing people and taking their things for profit, which for characters that are nominally keepers of the peace and officers of the law isn't a great look
Troubling context aside, the actual encounters are quite entertaining, bouncing the characters off a medley of colorful and entertaining NPCs (only some of which are saddled with unfortunate names). There are even a few surprises, like some ether spiders caught between a rock and a hard place, or a love triangle that explodes into conflict as soon as the characters arrive. There’s even a little monster variety from the expected wave of humanoids with a bunyip lurking around the edges of a boss fight in case your players start feeling sneaky.
Chapter 2: A Penny Saved
Chapter 2 has the characters playing defense on a bank heist—something which can often just mean “beat up all the guys that run in, then run to a different room and beat up all those guys”.Maybe I’ve watched too much Burn Notice (note: I definitely have watched too much Burn Notice), but I can’t but help feel a little…underwhelmed? Playing white hat is fine, I just recommend interested GMs do a little modding and legwork to allow the characters to infiltrate the heist crew and see how much they can screw up the plans without or before being discovered. A bit of sleight of hand, a bit of deception, a surreptitious surprise round, and you have a vastly more tense and exciting encounter than the current offering of punch-up. Also, I have to seriously question the motivation and judgement of a criminal enterprise whose plans specifically call for some of their number to confront law enforcement mid-heist—wouldn’t you want to be in and out without anyone even noticing?
In terms of the actual encounters, again a bit of a mixed bag—the new monster is delightful and horrible, but the only nod towards policing or the nominally nonlethal methods of upstanding police officers is a passing reference that certain thieves, once arrested, will deliver crucial plot information. Sure, a GM can just arbitrate that some of the thieves survive, but by this point in the adventure (and with the sight of a horrible necromantic monster on the field) I get the feeling that most players will have settled back into the “kill first questions later” mentality.
Also, if these thieves die, it’s another point where this adventure has a tendency to destroy crucial plot developments before the players can find them. If you’re running this, you may have to do a bit of thinking on your feet to get the players back on the railroad.
In terms of the actual encounters, again a bit of a mixed bag—the new monster is delightful and horrible, but the only nod towards policing or the nominally nonlethal methods of upstanding police officers is a passing reference that certain thieves, once arrested, will deliver crucial plot information. Sure, a GM can just arbitrate that some of the thieves survive, but by this point in the adventure (and with the sight of a horrible necromantic monster on the field) I get the feeling that most players will have settled back into the “kill first questions later” mentality.
Also, if these thieves die, it’s another point where this adventure has a tendency to destroy crucial plot developments before the players can find them. If you’re running this, you may have to do a bit of thinking on your feet to get the players back on the railroad.
Chapter 3: Caught Copper Handed
Again with the puns! I like puns, I’d just prefer them to actually heighten the material, and this first success puts the adventure at one for three.This chapter is focused on the infiltration of and crackdown on a safehouse used by the same gang of thieves from Chapter 2, so make sure your characters are ready for anything as they tread into the lion’s den! If you didn’t catch it right at the tail end of Chapter 2, there are some thieves that automatically give up the location of the criminal hideout once arrested. This may also be an opportunity for some of the woefully-underused NPCs from Devil at the Dreaming Palace to make a return should your characters have gone in a little trigger happy and now find themselves without any leads.
Nominally, the chapter break is meant to allow for enough downtime to rest, recover, and prepare for a dangerous infiltration, but I find that a little…immersion breaking. If I was running a criminal gang and my heist got very spectacularly and very publicly thwarted by a brand new hyper-competent task force, I for one wouldn’t wait around in my safehouse—at least, not in my first safehouse.
I think it would do your game some service to make reference to the time delay and the consequences of Chapter 2; maybe some of the encounter balancing can come in the form of removing thieves that have already moved on, or maybe some of the downtime is spent tracking down a third or fourth safehouse where the thieves truly feel safe enough to lay low. I’d also recommend calling out more people in the cover operation moving around, stumbling about, or interacting with the characters so that the only person mentioned in that section doesn’t stand out like a secret revolving wall panel in a 90s cartoon.
The actual safehouse itself is lovely—good variety in the enemies and their abilities, a few otherwise-safe spaces for a much-needed short rest or two (even if the adventure does think a latrine is an appropriate place to bind open wounds), and secret checks to get one over on the boss of this dungeon! I’m also quite pleased to see the final encounter here quite clearly telegraph a non-violent solution. Points for adventure variety!
Nominally, the chapter break is meant to allow for enough downtime to rest, recover, and prepare for a dangerous infiltration, but I find that a little…immersion breaking. If I was running a criminal gang and my heist got very spectacularly and very publicly thwarted by a brand new hyper-competent task force, I for one wouldn’t wait around in my safehouse—at least, not in my first safehouse.
I think it would do your game some service to make reference to the time delay and the consequences of Chapter 2; maybe some of the encounter balancing can come in the form of removing thieves that have already moved on, or maybe some of the downtime is spent tracking down a third or fourth safehouse where the thieves truly feel safe enough to lay low. I’d also recommend calling out more people in the cover operation moving around, stumbling about, or interacting with the characters so that the only person mentioned in that section doesn’t stand out like a secret revolving wall panel in a 90s cartoon.
The actual safehouse itself is lovely—good variety in the enemies and their abilities, a few otherwise-safe spaces for a much-needed short rest or two (even if the adventure does think a latrine is an appropriate place to bind open wounds), and secret checks to get one over on the boss of this dungeon! I’m also quite pleased to see the final encounter here quite clearly telegraph a non-violent solution. Points for adventure variety!
Chapter 4: Descent Into Death
Okay, enough mucking about with thieves and humanoids, let’s get to the weirdness!Ezren on the splash art for this chapter has the exact right expression for some of the grody body horror stuff we’ll find after the break—we’re taking down a Skinsaw cult! This chapter kicks off with the characters getting yelled at in the boxed text for stepping outside their jurisdiction—something that made me do a double-take because I’d completely forgotten that adventurers have “jurisdictions”. Well, adventurers don’t, but cops do, and that’s nominally what you’re playing as. Maybe take some time in between sessions, or APs, to refresh the players on which branch of the city guard they come from, and where the Edgewatch is supposed to operate?
Well, that’s enough pretending to be anything other than murderhobos, let’s get to the dungeons. And we kick right off with a random encounter table! WHOOO! Now you KNOW you’re in a dungeon crawl! Even the more static encounters are neat—there’s a dullahan wandering around with a specific name and a specific way to unmake it, a roper with a fascination for rope-like trinkets that makes for a fine way to lose a party member, and a beautiful dumbass murderer whose heart really isn’t in the whole “cult” thing. There’s also a great horrible half-ooze half-golem! And a horrible undead spider monstrosity! And a sad little ghost elf girl! And horrible and thematic environmental hazards!
Well, that’s enough pretending to be anything other than murderhobos, let’s get to the dungeons. And we kick right off with a random encounter table! WHOOO! Now you KNOW you’re in a dungeon crawl! Even the more static encounters are neat—there’s a dullahan wandering around with a specific name and a specific way to unmake it, a roper with a fascination for rope-like trinkets that makes for a fine way to lose a party member, and a beautiful dumbass murderer whose heart really isn’t in the whole “cult” thing. There’s also a great horrible half-ooze half-golem! And a horrible undead spider monstrosity! And a sad little ghost elf girl! And horrible and thematic environmental hazards!
What I’m getting at is the last chapter of this adventure path, like the last episode of any anime, is clearly where all the budget got spent, so take your time and really read up, and give this complete tonal shift the attention it deserves.
The Back Nine
I find the inclusion of a gazette on Vudra a strange inclusion at the back of this adventure—barring a brief mention from one of the NPCs that is introduced and then immediately forgotten, Vudra doesn’t have a tremendous influence on this adventure (and, I’d be willing to bet, on the AP as a whole). Especially in light of the loving and detailed treatment the Mwangi Expanse got, I’d expect a place called “The Impossible Kingdoms” and described as having “countless microcultures” to get a bit more than just seven pages stuffed into the back of an Adventure Path.The Bestiary additions in the AP provide some truly nightmarish additions to your arsenal as a GM—even excluding the monsters specifically made for this adventure. Whoever’s been on monster duty at Paizo has a serious thing for body horror and I’m here for it—well, at least as a GM. Hard pass on facing any of these in a dark alley.
