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An adventure for the Pathfinder RPG.  For 4 PCs levels 1, takes them up to around level 5.

Introduction

Advertised as "the only evil adventure path for the Pathfinder RPG," Way of the Wicked lives up to its name. It takes place in the virtuous island nation of Talingarde, watched over by a benevolent King and the Good-aligned Church of Mitra. Although the common folk are so far satisfied with how things are going, darker forces plot its destruction. Basically the PCs are fifth-columnist agents for the cult of Asmodeus, undertaking missions at the behest of their infernal masters to sow chaos and destruction among the land.  All part of a greater plot to overthrow the government and replace it with one friendlier to infernal interests.

Unlike other "evil" games, the antagonists are not another group of bad guys, and the PCs are the ones the world needs saving from. Gary McBride, the author, believes that long-term evil campaigns are not only viable, but enjoyable as well. In addition to an adventure, he also provides an essay's worth of advice for Evil PCs and parties and how to handle the most common problems. Way of the Wicked is deliberately designed with this in mind.

The essay is at the back of the book, and covers things like player-versus-player betrayal, players using it as an excuse to indulge in creepy fantasies, and motivation/direction for PCs (villains act, heroes react in most games). The advice handles it surprisingly well, but falls short in places. Give them an incentive not to backstab each other like having them be only ones they can trust in a hostile world; encourage more three-dimensional characters to avoid banal "mwahaha!" varieties of evil; uniting them against a common enemy; and setting clear lines which won't be crossed ahead of time are but a few choice bits. A lot of it can be useful advice for DMs inexperienced to this avenue, but by its nature requires extra care and preparation.

The Adventure Itself

Cardinal Thorn is one of the few remaining priests of Asmodeus, executed by the state during the purges against his religion and other foul cults. Revived by the Lord of Hell, he ventured to the savage north to plot in secret. After regaining his strength, he gathered like-minded men and women with both the skill and desire to see Talingarde fall. Each group was divided into Knots, one for each Circle of Hell. The Ninth Knot, the Nessian Knot, remains empty. Enter the PCs.

The adventure path starts out in Branderscar Prison. The PCs are criminals guilty of terrible crimes, abandoned and forsaken by society. Tiadora, one of Thorn's devilish minions, gives them a veil containing equipment (in the manner as a bag of holding) to help them stage an escape. This part of the adventure is good in that it gives PCs an immediate incentive (escape from jail), and is rather open-ended in how they plan to escape and confront obstacles. They could find some poisonous plants in the garden and put it in the kitchen stew pot, release the manacles off of an ogre to cause a distraction, disguise themselves as guards and hitch a ride on a cart out, and other stuff like that. It grants experience points for avoiding and sneaking by encounters in addition to direct fights, and is a recurring theme in Way of the Wicked. I enjoy it, as it makes "stealthy" approaches viable and encourages approaches beyond a "kick in the door, clear out every monster in the dungeon" style of play.

The second part of the adventure sort of railroads the PCs to Thorn's mansion. They were given directions by Tiadora to the place, and it's the nearest safe haven. They'll be wanted prisoners, and patrols are heavy on all the roads. I don't mind this too much as far as railroads go, perhaps because it sounds reasonable given the circumstances and doesn't come out of nowhere.

During their stay in Thorn's mansion, the PCs are treated well and given access to high-quality food, lodgings, equipment, and otherwise made to feel welcome. Thorn will explain his reasoning for freeing the PCs, of how he plots revenge against Talingarde and Mitra, and his eventual plans for domination at the behest of his Lord Asmodeus. The PCs are expected agree to his cause (the book tells the DM to tell the PCs ahead of time that this is the kind of game they'll be playing), upon which they sign an infernal contract (which is comprised of several laws, one of which specifies that they must work together for Asmodeus' glory) and become the Ninth Knot. Their training regimen consists of them making their way through an obstacle course-turned-dungeon to retrieve a treasure within a time-frame, with puzzle-themed traps revolving around hellish virtues (pragmatism, suspicion, ruthlessness, etc).

This chapter is very cool on ideas, but it's potentially the one with the most trouble. Given that the PCs will be working for Thorn for the majority of the Adventure Path, it's imperative that the players don't grow to resent him. And Thorn will punish them if they fail in his tasks, but reward them well if they succeed with flying colors. Sort of a "harsh, yet fair" kind of taskmaster.

The next chapter is rather uneventful: the Knot's first mission is to oversee a weapons shipment meant to be delivered to a bugbear tribe up north. Once armed, the tribe will assault the Watchwall separating the nation from the frontier and pour out into the countryside. Encouraging war with the northern monstrous tribes is part of Thorn's plan to destabilize Talingarde, and the shipment must be delivered via boat (patrols on land and the Watchwall make alternatives impractical). This section's more of an excuse to level the PCs up by pre-determined encounters along the route before meeting the bugbear tribe, which is led by fellow Asmodean Sakkarot Fire-Axe.

The final chapter has the PCs infiltrating Balentyne, a fortress along the Watchwall which the PCs must sabotage so that the bugbears can press through. This is the other strong point in the adventure, as the methods and varieties to do so are open-ended and varied enough, halfway between a linear railroad and freeform sandbox. The weak parts would probably be some of the higher-level opposition like the Knight-Commander and the Lantern Archon swarm (which fuses into a greater Gestalt), which can overwhelm the PCs.

Resolution of the siege is calculated via Victory Points, which determines the battle's outcome and the strength of the Bugbear forces. The adventure assumes a victory, after which the humanoids break through the Watchwall and take it. Tiadora teleports to the PCs with a monetary reward from Thorn, and beckons them to their next mission in Book 2.

Final Thoughts

This is a very strong adventure which works great by itself. There are several parts where the PCs can screw up and throw everything off, but that's more to do with them accomplishing things in the worst possible way. I own the other 5 books, and the Adventure Path overall is full of good ideas in almost every department: a fascinating setting, interesting NPCs, linear enough to have a plot, yet freeform enough to encourage player creativity.

If you're a Pathfinder fan, or looking to DM a good and unorthodox adventure path, I highly recommend Way of the Wicked!

One of my pals is GMing this and it's been pretty cool so far.

JG