Beyond the Doomsday Door is the fourth, #64, part of the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo Publishing. This is a supplement for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is an adventure for 10th level characters who are expected to be 13th level by its end. This continues on from The Asylum Stone and the Adventure Path then continues in Into the Nightmare Rift.
The PDF is available from the Paizo site for $13.99 but was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. It is also available as a printed book from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed and has 100 pages with two being the front and back covers, two the front matter, one the Table of Contents, half a page being the Open Game License and four being ads. A second, four-page PDF has interactive maps of the locations for use by players.
Inside what would be the front and rear covers of the printed book are two short adventure hooks and two monuments that grant boons.
Delving the Past is the foreword and explains that this adventure contains elements, as does Golarion itself, that originated in James Jacobs‘ own games.
Beyond the Doomsday Door is the adventure itself and starts with the standard single page listing the parts and advancement track. Adventure Background gives a history of Windsong Abbey, an abbey served by priests of multiple gods, and how one former priest essentially went insane on the death of Aroden and the abbey started to fall apart. Eventually, the mad priest returned. A summary of what happens during the adventure follows.
Part One: News of Destruction has the characters hearing about an attack on Windsong Abbey and a timeline of events leading up to the current situation.
Part Two: Windsong Ruins has the characters arriving at the ruined abbey and dealing with the various creatures that have taken it over.
Part Three: Down to Doomsday is the final part of the adventure and involves travelling into the dungeons beneath the abbey.
Appendix has the NPC Gallery, with three major NPCs detailed and side quests for each. Shattered Star Treasures has new magic items.
Before Sin talks about the qlippoth, the first inhabitants of the Abyss, and the first beings anywhere, qlippoth runestones and a brief description of some qlippoth lords, with stats and a more thorough description for the qlippoth lord this adventure revolves around.
Groetus gives details on this god, who is uninterested in worship, though powers are still granted by him, and is basically hanging around until the end of things, different factions of his cults, temples, shrines, priests, holidays, other details and planar allies.
Pathfinder’s Journal: Light of a Distant Star 4 of 6 is the fourth part of a piece of fiction set in Riddleport.
Bestiary starts with an encounter table for the Lost Coast and three special encounters. This is followed by five new monsters.
Next Month has an overview of what’s in the next issue.
Beyond the Doomsday Door in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents only covers the major sections. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a lot of colour illustrations, which appear to be custom, up to half a page in size and including ones for every new magical item and monster, as well as the maps. Presentation is very good.
This is a pretty linear adventure, which shouldn’t be surprising, as a lot of it is a dungeon crawl with a specific end goal and doesn’t have multiple paths to get there. Not even the journey to the monastery can really be called non-linear, as there is again a specific destination, though it could be enlivened with side encounters. The background material given provides information on qlippoth, which is generally useful; Groetus, being a god of the Golarion setting, is less so. The monsters are also generally useful and the fiction is again material for Golarion. The adventure is a decent primarily dungeon crawl; attempting to redeem the major foe could make things more interesting. Beyond the Doomsday Door is a decent continuation of the adventure path.
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