Hello Everyone,

I am finishing up as GM for Curse of the Crimson Throne. We had a lot of fun and as long as I am nice I will not kill the party completely in Castle Korvosa. I was wondering what campaign people enjoyed enjoyed more, Second Darkness or Legacy of Fire and what you would prefer to play in if you had a choice. I was going to be running Rise of the Rune Lords but I have had no success tracking down Burnt Offering.

Let me here your thoughts. Second Darkness looks like fun because of the dark elf aspect of the entire campaign especially seeing I am a fan of RA Salvatore novels. Legacy of Fire looks enjoyable because of the Rovagug theme and the exotic desert setting.

Let me know your thoughts.

-Ryan B

I have read both and played neither.

While researching which AP to run with my group I looked at everything CoCT through CoT. General consensus was that Second Darkness is the worst AP out so far (which doesn't mean it's bad per se, just sub-par). On the other hand, Legacy of Fire is (by many who have played and run it) one of the best APs so far (well written and fun).

I'd read through both paying particular attention to the last few (that's where Second Darkness starts to fall pretty flat).

Interesting. I have read through part of Second Darkness, beginning two adventures in PDF form, and I will now check out Legacy of Fire a little more.

I did notice that it seems like Second Darkness was rushed to meet various deadlines from what I have read. I wonder if that impacted some of the quality of the product.

-Ryan B

I have read both and played neither.

While researching which AP to run with my group I looked at everything CoCT through CoT. General consensus was that Second Darkness is the worst AP out so far (which doesn't mean it's bad per se, just sub-par). On the other hand, Legacy of Fire is (by many who have played and run it) one of the best APs so far (well written and fun).

I'd read through both paying particular attention to the last few (that's where Second Darkness starts to fall pretty flat).

Interesting. I have read through part of Second Darkness, beginning two adventures in PDF form, and I will now check out Legacy of Fire a little more.

More than anything Second Darkness seems to have suffered from hack-n-slash syndrome in the later modules.

I would suggest you think about your group composition for this decision.

If you think your group would enjoy risque and the dark side of things, I'd say go for Second Darkness. My group is *just* about to finish it, and they have loved it. The pacing has been great, all the plot hooks picked up on, great villains, and some great allies too. Solid roleplaying potential. I did a couple extra trips to Riddleport to tie feeling there more, but that's about all the changes I've done. I highly recommend it to any group that can handle "adult" themes - it skates the edge closely (i.e. If I had had a different subset of my usual players, it might not have worked).

On the other hand, if your group would enjoy the Arabian/elemental feel go for Legacy of Fire. I'm about to start playing in this one, and looking forward to the free-wheeling desert atmosphere, heavy on the role-playing. Looks very exciting, and I can't wait to get going with it. As the final 3.5 AP, it probably has a lot of the "Best ideas that we'll never get to use again", along with all the creative juices going as they finalized Pathfinder. I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Edit: With Second Darkness, I do highly recommend this thread with Conversions of most of the creatures to Pathfinder Beta - great work by Daemonslye. Use this Link (I think) if it's gone to archives.

What Majuba said. You will also find some more pros and cons in the 'SD - any good?' thread.

Both campaigns are pretty much hack and slash. Legacy of Fire has more social and mercantile aspects to it (so if you have rogues with profession: merchant, appraise, diplomacy etc., they will love many aspects of this campaign).

In short, Legacy of Fire has more downtime and more opportunity for off-AP character / story development. LoF is amazing if you have PCs wishing to start businesses, run temples, and get involved with the development of a small frontier town. Second Darkness is more linear and hack and slash (except for the first chapter, which is an amazing sandbox to play in).

Second Darkness is heavily problematic as written, avoid it unless you are ready for major plot changes, including a re-write of one module.

Legacy of Fire is far, far more better and thought out. Plus it's Arabian Nights meets Planescape, what's not to love ? :)

Second Darkness is heavily problematic as written, avoid it unless you are ready for major plot changes, including a re-write of one module.

I respectfully disagree, but I will say it depends on the group. The actual playing of it worked out far different than a read-through - I was anticipating far more troubles than occurred.

My group just got finished with Second Darkness, and I loved it. I was a player in that one and my DM had to do some editing in AP #17 Memory of Darkness, and in #16 Endless Night, but they were specific to certain events that occured in those AP's...

I knew I was going to DM Legacy when we started Second Darkness, so I have had a year to read and prepare and I must say that I can not wait to begin. I think you would be fine playing either of these. DMing, however, might be easier with LoF, especially after my DM told me what he had to do to Second Darkness to make it work. Second Darkness AP #13 and #14 seem to be pretty tight in my opinion and in the opinion of my DM.

Hope this helps.

As a player of Second Darkness and a DM for Lof

Skip SD and go strait for LoF it is AWESOME