Canonfire!

Sun Aug 10, 2025 8:07 am Dwellers of the Forbidden City

I was wondering if anyone could share a review of this module. I have it (bought a copy through Drivethru), and I'd like to run it one day. I started a recruitment for the module on Paizo (it should take us a month or two of gaming to get through it in a Play-by-Post campaign, hopefully!)

So, did you enjoy the module? Do you think it's challenging for a 4th-7th level party? Do you think some things should be changed?

Sun Aug 10, 2025 1:10 pm

Yes to all of these questions. For me, it's an iconic module introducing many new creatures. The Yuan-ti!
If I were to play it again, I would draw inspiration from "Scarlet Brotherhood" and the legends about the creation of the yuan-ti in Hepmonsia, as well as the new creatures developed for D&D 3E and 5E.

Sun Aug 10, 2025 4:09 pm

Dwellers of the Forbidden City is functionally two rather distinct adventures.

The first is the "tournament module" composed of a small number of direct progression encounters. It is decent enough, with several notable new monsters, but is ultimately rather limited.

The second is a rather wide-open semi-sandbox with a number of notable factions sitting around, waiting to be expanded into several extended story arcs and possibly even distinct campaigns. You could do an entire 1st to name level or beyond adventure confronting just one faction if you are willing to put the work into it. On top of that are several suggested plot hooks to expand beyond the factions and raw stats in the adventure. Again, while decent enough, that path requires significant work to develop.

As for what the contents give you:
A ruined city - with multiple districts and the potential to stock it with dozens to hundreds of encounters and side quests
Factions - while not really developed they are there with various leaders identified
Bases - both the suggested outside base and a minor faction that can serve as an internal base, albeit with little to really purchase

With all of that, it could be said that the actual adventure provided is rather irrelevant, and it should be used as more of a sourcebook and setting for extended campaigning. Rather than focusing on the quick and dirty "stop the caravan raiders" plot, make them one of many lesser plots that arise as the PCs explore the ruins, having a variety of adventures here and there, encountering the factions, and slowly building up to a grand confrontation and finale.