Minireview: Shadows of Gallowspire (Pathfinder #48)

Shadows of Gallowspire (by Brandon Hodge) concludes the “Carrion Crown” adventure path. It’s… ok, I guess. Way too much combat for my taste, but that’s a common complaint I have with Pathfinder stuff, especially the ends of adventure paths where smart plots are often somewhat pushed aside by “lvl N” combat encounters. That’s not to say that there is no plot here, it’s just that when reveled, the whole plot of the adventure path is somewhat… lacking. The main villain is introduced way too late in the show (the writers realized this in hindsight, and provide hints on how to foreshadow things), and in the end the plot comes down to “prevent yet another liche from getting created”. While that’s a fine goal, it’s a bit of a letdown compared to the buildup – especially since the bad guy has been mostly invisible to the PCs up to now.

Those quibbles aside, it’s a competent end game to the series. The PCs pursue the leadership of the Whispering Way to a cursed cathedral sanctuary, and force the hand of the main bad guy – who makes a desperate bit, with somewhat unintended consequences. Lots of combat ensues. While the end wraps things up to a large degree, there are plenty of open questions available if the GM wants to continue the campaign after this (and the book also provides a bunch of continuation ideas).

As a whole, the “Carrion Crown” path ended up being somewhat uneven. The first half was quite excellent Gothic-flavored fun, somewhat in the manner of old Ravenloft with some smarter plotting added to the mix. The second half, though, was significantly weaker. Not bad by any means, but a bit lacking when compared to the great beginning. Still, I guess I can recommend this adventure path, even as a whole. GMs thinking of running this as advised to read the whole thing first, so they can insert some much-needed foreshadowing into the earlier chapters – otherwise the PCs may end up quite confused about what’s going on and ill-motivated to continue.

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