|
|
|
Dungeons & Dragons: The Shackled City Adventure Path Hardcover
Paizo Publishing, LLC
|
| List Price: |
|
$59.95
|
|
Our
Price:
|
|
$29.99
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Evil schemes are afoot in Cauldron, a metropolis of merchants built into the caldera of a long-dormant volcano. To foil the agenda of evil cultists, your band of adventurers must brave haunted jungle ruins, slay mighty dragons, and bind themselves to a layer of the infinite Abyss. Will their swords and spells be enough to save the Shackled City?
Originally published as 11 linked adventures in the award-winning Dungeon magazine, the Shackled City Adventure Path is the most ambitious official Dungeons & Dragons campaign ever created. Now, for the first time ever, everything you need to play the campaign has been compiled into a deluxe 416-page full-color hardcover that also includes an 8-panel fully detailed map of the City of Cauldron, a 12-page full-color map and illustration booklet, and a brand new Shackled City adventure written by fan favorite author Christopher Perkins.
Specs: 416-page, full-color hardbound book; 8 3/8" x 10 7/8"
Check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of our design diary from Erik Mona, James Jacobs and Sean Glenn. You can also download a preview of the introduction, including the table of contents, and another of a statblock page showing NPC progression throughout the campaign. The player handouts are now available for download, too. Or join the buzz on our Shackled City messageboard forum.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
webmaster@paizo.com.
Product Reviews
Average product rating:
   
(4.9)
based on
23
reviews
Sign in
to create or edit a product
review.
I'm still running this campaign and I love it (as do my players) this AP was the first thing to hook me on paizo (in the dungeon magazine) and the book was the first time I discovered paizo on its own and not just as "D&D". The campaign, its city setting, its npc's are all top notch (and it is't too hard to convert to other cities, sure some work is necessary, but still - it is easy, I run it in a modified Raven's Bluff). I own all the magazines, I bought the book at full price and thought it was worth every dollar - at this price it's a bargain. Month of fun, an interesting city to play with even after the campaign ended - just get the damn book...you won't be sorry, promise!
Even having the original Dungeon mags, this was well worth the purchase at full price. At $30, this is a steal. Wonderful NPC depictions, a cool atmospheric city, planehopping; the list goes on. Great, great, great.
As I say it is truly an awesome book. The one and only gripe I can even muster is the handouts not being actually a seperate booklet but needing cut away from the book bothered me. Beyond that it was freaking awesome, and the presentation is top notch. I wish Aow and STap could have gotten this treatment, ah well at least Pathfinder is going :P
This won a stupid amount of Ennies. Stupid - but everyone of them is justified. The layout is clean, crisp, the story is fabulous, but most of all, all the damn goodies that come with! Maps! Player handouts (downloadable from this site as well), a DM's book of maps...goodies! This is the adventure series that has led us to Pathfinder, the concept that yes, you could create a series of linked adventures and create a complete campaign out of it, 1st through 20th.
I've often read on the boards that Age of Worms and Savage Tide "need to be compiled like the SCAP book," and I never really got it until I got this book. Until the heft of this book was in my hands, until the scope of the material contained within really hit me, I didn't get what people were saying.
While the STAP and AoWAP compilations may never see the light of day, this one has, and should not be missed.
Now if you'll 'scuse me, my party just triggered a trap in Jzadirune and they need to make some Reflex saves...
From the solid feel of the book clear through the multiple chapters and the detailed appendices, this is a very well-made campaign book. Taking characters from humble beginnings to high levels, and jammed with all kinds of helpful and creative material for GMs who can't scrape the time to build their own campaign from the ground up.
The Shackled City hardcover is excellent in production and creative content.
I can only hope that Age of Worms and especially Savage Tide are given this kind of treatment!
If you like playing D&D in beautiful and mysterious settings, this is a module you have to get!
The NPC gallery is wonderully detailed and each character feels so alive. Also the setting, a city on the mouth of a dormant (?) volcano is awesome. The quality of the book and its printing is second to none, and the hardcover is welcomed considering the 416 packed pages! This module contains 2 separate full color booklets as well. One detailed map of the entire city, and one with tons of keyed maps to different locations in and outside the city. The appendix shows NPCs and their progression as well in levels. This is quite unique and adds to the quality and realism of the campaign as not only the PCs progress in levels, but also their adversaries and their allies.
In short, this module has it all and I would have given it 10 out of 10 as well. The quality is superb and the book really makes the NPCs come alive. Each NPC is described in detail and has its own personality.
I would also agree with other reviewers and call for downloadable playing aids such as maps, NPC-stats, pictures, etc. Most sites have them like Wizards.com, Necromancergames.com, etc, and it´s important to be able to download these items, print them, and use them as is.
I can only say that I really, really hope you guys also publish Age of Worms in this collectable hardcover format! Thanks for an outstanding product! You got my "5 stars" easily.
Fredrik Bermar
Stockholm, Sweden
First, let me say that I started running my players through this adventure using the Dragon Magazine versions back in April 2004. Last year, I bought this book, happy to see everything in one neat package. Now, two years after starting, my players are nearing the end of the adventure, and they are still loving it. (http://www.crater.com/gaming/Cauldron)
As for the book, I hope Paizo learns some lessons. The writing is great, 5 stars to that. But...
- the NPC-Appendix should have been a pullout booklet (it is annoying having to flip back-and-forth between NPCs),
- some stat blocks neglected to identify the source book for the monsters (leading to frantic searches at the game table).
- a downloadable collection of the art would have made my player's enjoyment more complete, as I use game-table visuals, and adorn the player's website with scans of the adventure and creatures.
- a downloadable collection of the maps would have been great. Having the downloaded maps both with and without keys would have been even better. That way I can use the maps in game play, as well as for handounts, or even in future adventures!
Hope this helps anyone thinking of buying this book! Hope Paizo listens before publishing Age of Worms!
I own all the Dungeons. I live on a different continent. I still advance ordered it from Paizo. All this was months ago and my praise is coming somewhat late. My point is the campaign hard cover was worth it.
Excellent artwork, nice improvements over the original adventures, and so far the most memorable campaign I have ever run (and over 22 years I have run a few). You will play for well over a year so it ends up being less than $1 a session. Well worth the price.
All I can say is repeat for Age of Worms (and Savage Tide) and please make available as a pay for download PDF so I can search for keywords on my laptop. This book is so big it needs an index otherwise.
The Shackled City Adventure Path is a great campaign that any player and DM of D&D who is a fan of the game will enjoy for sessions after sessions.
It will take months, if not years to end this campaign from level 1 all the way to level 20.
The qualitity of production is well above standards, the adventures are straight D&D and vary locations and aims in a way that will keep the players entertained, provided the DM likes the campaign and makes it "his own".
People who do not like dungeon delving might want to think twice before buying, but then I'd wonder why you play D&D and not another RPG, honestly. There is plenty of occasions for significant role-playing and developping character-driven plots. This is what a campaign centered around an area like Cauldron allows, so it would be too bad to not seize the occasion, but the focus of the product itself is dungeons and weird locales, really.
Really, great campaign. Way worth the money. You like D&D? Go ahead. Buy it eyes closed.
Product Discussion
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Let me know the good and the bad elements about the adventure path overall. How easy would it be to convert to Pathfinder? Please keep it civil.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The good, in brief:
Of the three Dungeon magazine APs, I would say this is the one with the setting that would be the easiest to convert, especially if you intend to set it in a homebrew world of your own design with PF rules. Porting it to Golarion is a little trickier, but should be do-able. The setting is Greyhawk, but in an out of the way corner that wasn't really ever written up before this. Also, all four of the main churches in the base town have pretty close Golarion analogues. The later two Dungeon APs, especially AoW, are much more closely tied to Greyhawk and various WotC stuff, like White Plume Mountain and the Isle of Dread. For that reason, Age of Worms and Savage Tide have stronger appeal to grognards, the nostalgic, and folks who want to appreciate the roots of the game.
They do a generally B+ to A job with divinations and keeping in mind the abilities of high level PCs.
As the oldest of the Paizo APs, there are more campaign journals and fan created support material for it than the others. That makes the DMs job somewhat easier, as you have lots of playtest reports of what can come up that wasn't well covered by the included text. Even reports from running the modules from the magazine are usefull, as the compilation sticks pretty closely to them. (The main difference I saw was a bonus mod in the book, plus the removal of repeated encounters with frustrating monsters. Across one transition there were back to back rakshasa fights, and the book re-wrote them to be different. Also, Cauldron, the town in which it's set, is more detailed than the magazines.)
Over the years, there were a number of borrowings from literature to D&D. Of the many D&D adaptations of this one has my favorite by far.
Overall, I'd say it's excellent value for the price. Full color, good art, some handout illustrations and plenty of NPC portraits, good organization, and a number of interesting NPC potential allies. Also, two poster maps. Cauldron is a neat setting.
The bad:
In terms of plot cohesion and a few other details, SCAP may be the weakest of the 3. This was the first time they tried to do an AP. They worked it like a newspaper serial, in that later authors did not always have the previous month's adventure to refer to. As a result, foreshadowing and revealing the main goal of the campaign are largely left to the DM. In particular, the identity of some villains is presented with little build-up, after the party takes down one of the villains who has been built up.
It's set in a city the PCs need to care about strongly enough to want to save it. If your players prefer the roving band of mercenaries model, they are likely to revolt.
Since many fights and adventures occur in town, they sort of assume the PCs will avail themselves of spellcasting services and charged items, so many of the fights were tuned to be tough for the indicated level of v3.5 characters. Players who don't cotton on to that are in for a world of hurt.
The ambivalent:
I'd have to say the introductory adventure is the weakest of any of their APs, 3.5 or PF. Despite early indications the goal is on a clock, there is a huge dungeon between the investigation and a medium-size dungeon. If your players don't build a party that can cover all the bases, it will probably be very frustrating. On a related note, many of the dungeons across many of the component modules are big. If you like the more modern style of the Pathfinder adventure paths, were there are more and smaller dungeons, you're going to not get that here.
They weren't restricted to the SRD, so they used more WotC splat and monster books. Consequently, you'd either need to put in the conversion work yourself or make substitutions. There's an appendix of stat blocks of everything in the back, but you will probably need to do some work to make sure the monsters are a fair challenge.
Likewise, the campaign runs all the way to level 20, and many of the later NPCs would need to be converted. Tracking all the high-level tactical options they have may be complicated. You and/or your players might burnout or drop out before you finish the story. If you prefer the 1-15 model, you'll need to plan an early off-ramp, and accept that you'll be buying stuff you may never use.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
PZO1000
|
|
|
|
|
Some questions about the Final Battle,
1 hour, 8 minutes ago
by
cibet44
Introducing backup characters in the middle of a fight. (My players no peeking!),
1 hour, 23 minutes ago
by
carborundum
Krathanos and Tactics- Questions (Some spoilers),
3 hours, 28 minutes ago
by
armnaxis
I begin GMing Savage Tide tomorrow - any quick tips?,
5 hours, 40 minutes ago
by
Luna eladrin
Kyuss defeated!,
Yesterday, 04:21 PM
by
concerro
The Battle for Wat Dagon *** spoilers ***,
Yesterday, 03:47 PM
by
wraithstrike
How many character deaths in your Adventure Path?,
Yesterday, 03:04 PM
by
PulpCruciFiction
The Final Showdown with Kyuss: Ideas/Suggestions Wanted,
Yesterday, 02:09 PM
by
Hastur
Dungeon Magazine Index as Google Document,
Yesterday, 02:14 AM
by
Carl Cramér
SCAP in Dark Sun!?! Help!,
Sunday, 01:05 PM
by
tallforadwarf
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Paizo Publishing to Cease Publication of Dragon and Dungeon,
Apr 19, 2007
Savage Tide Conversion Notes—The Sea Wyvern's Wake,
Mar 8, 2007
Savage Tide Conversion Notes—Here There Be Monsters,
Feb 21, 2007
Dungeon #142 and #143 Online Supplements,
Jan 8, 2007
Dungeon #140 Online Supplement,
Dec 11, 2006
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dungeon #147 Online Supplement,
Dec 12, 2007
Dungeon #146 Online Supplement,
Dec 3, 2007
Dungeon #145 Online Supplement,
Oct 3, 2007
Dungeon #144 Online Supplement,
Aug 30, 2007
Savage Tide Conversion Notes—The Sea Wyvern's Wake,
Mar 8, 2007
|
|
|
|
|
|