EATERoftheDEAD's page

Ooh sweet! I didn't find that post when I went looking, thanks for the link. I like your idea of working backward from the campaign endpoint. I'm sure all of this will help me put something together and it should allow me to build around what I already own

The blessings of Aosker are upon us!

Don't let the Lady hear you say that, she gets a little cranky about the Big A. Of course, I see your feet are already upon the cobblestones...

So worry not! We know where gaps in Lovecraft coverage are and plans have already been laid to fill them. Unspeakable plans. 2012 plans.

Full-on Mythos AP for 2012 CONFIRMED!!!

So close...

Profession: Accounting would finally prove useful.

I strongly suspect we won't see an AP set in the Absalom Trade Tax Office.

I'd love to see the book in 5e and I hope the support is there, but I'll be just as happy to see the book in S&W and PF. The rules system isn't as important to me as the adventure content.

ooh, I've been waiting for info on this since I first heard about it a few months ago.

This is a list of all of the published modules with level and as far as I know all but the few newest are PFS legal. The early adventures are worth 3XP and the new, longer ones are worth considerably more.

Crypt of the Everflame - 1
Carrion Hill - 5
Masks of the Living God - 3
Realm of the Fellnight Queen - 7
City of Golden Death - 5
From Shore to Sea - 6
Curse of the Riven Sky - 10
The Witchwar Legacy - 17
The Godsmouth Heresy - 1
Cult of the Ebon Destroyers - 8
Tomb of the Iron Medusa - 14
Academy of Secrets - 13
The Harrowing - 9
Feast of Ravenmoor - 3
The Ruby Phoenix Tournament - 11
The Midnight Mirror - 4
No Response from Deepmar - 8
The Moonscar - 16
Murder’s Mark - 1
Broken Chains - 6
Fangwood Keep - 4
Doom Comes to Dustpawn - 9

The Dragon’s Demand - 1-6
Wardens of the Reborn Forge - 12-15
Tears at Bitter Manor - 5-8
Plunder & Peril - 4-6
Daughters of Fury - 1-5

I can't speak to ALL of these but I have purchased and at least read most of them. If I were putting together a 1-12 campaign I would probably go with this:

This is a great campaign starter but I didn't care for it's sequels that much:
1 Crypt of the Everflame

These I purchased during the last golem sale and put together in this order as a campaign:
2 Fangwood Keep
3 Feast of Ravenmoor
4 Midnight Mirror
5 Carrion Hill
6 From Shore to Sea
7 Realm of the Fellnight Queen
8 No Response from Deepmar
9 Doom Comes to Dustpawn

After this your options become kind of limited. I'm not terribly familiar with them but they are the only modules that fall in your level range.
10 Curse of the Riven Sky
11 Ruby Phoenix Tournament
12 Academy of Secrets

Alternatively you could kick off a campaign with The Dragon's Demand, which is great and will bring a normal party to 6th level. In PFS however, it is only worth 12XP so the levels don't really match up.

I like to lug around Rappan Athuk and Slumbering Tsar in a messenger bag so I can show them off and impress chicks.

So let me first give a bit of context and explanation to what I mean in my topic.

Also, this thread will have spoilers so consider yourself warned.

I have now in my grubby, little nerd mits hard copies of Stoneheart Valley, Rappan Athuk, and Slumbering Tsar. (Parenthetical Aside: Holy eff are those books massive. I mean seriously, RA and ST are beasts.) I decided to add these to a borrowed copy of Bard's Gate for an epic campaign and, just because the I am a sadist, I added Glades of Death at the last minute (PF updates of these books, especially BG would be fantastic).

I adapted this mega campaign to my homebrew world, mostly so I could ignore the geography explained in the books and give my players something familiar. The changes mostly just boil down to a couple of name changes and new overland maps rearranging where things are located to fit my new geography. I then went with a slow XP progression and cut my player's loose.

If anyone else is considering a mega campaign such as this I'm happy to discuss the details of such a game. Also, I would love to pick the brains of anyone else who has tied these products together. That's the point here. :D

----

So, first question/advice request. My party has cruised through Wizard's Amulet and are nearly done dealing with the orc threat in Crucible of Freya. I don't know if they are going to head for the shrines next or explore Bard's Gate for a bit. They may get a wild fancy and head down to Rappan Athuk for some swift death, er, I mean adventure... yeah, adventure...

I'm curious what folks have done for plot hooks or delve quests etc. SVs Crucible section has a great part with tons of little adventures to incorporate the presented material and I have been making good use of it. The Abysthor section however, only has a couple paragraphs saying GMs should whip some stuff like that up and then just kind of moves on. RA is kind of the same from what I remember when I read it for a campaign a few years ago (I haven't had the opportunity yet to dive into the tome in earnest). I can go through and come up with things but I decided to tap the collective and see what trickles out.

So what have folks used as plot hooks and quests in these books?

I did my map the way (I assume) most hex maps are measured. The distance is from one side of the hex to the opposite side of the hex, or the center of one hex tot he center of an adjacent hex, which is the same thing. So that would be the height according to the linked site.

Thank you very much for the link, it calculates exactly what I am looking to calculate. :D

To use my above example, I have 1,178 hexes, each 20 miles across, my map is Just over 408,071.1 square miles, or about three Californias. So, bigger than I intended it to be, but since it's a coastal region there is a fair amount of ocean and islands.

I started my group out at level 3 but they never really dove into the dungeon. They flitted around the surface world for a bit before we disbanded. I told them a bunch of the rumors and they got all skittish and intimidated and avoided going there, They were really funny when they went into the bee hive and found a back entrance. Little did they know that the surface areas are just as dangerous as inside.

I am starting a game this afternoon that is a big sandbox and Rappan Athuk is part of it, if they feel like exploring. I really hope they do some delving.

if you think Beast was very Styes (and you are of course correct), then Levee, which is a 9-part urban horror AP set in a city called the Blight should be your sort of thing. It's due out next year from Frog God Games and has been giving me sleepless nights for about the last 18 months writing all 400K or so of it - city and AP together.

This is some of the most amazing news I have heard in a very long time. I have grown to have tons of respect for the folks at FGG and an urban AP penned entirely by you Mr. Pett is something I will gladly throw my money at.

EDIT: Apparently I enjoy throwing my money in a manner that involves ending sentences with prepositions.

I hope not. Wrath of the righteous was the AP about redemption. Now it's bud-kicking for goodness time.

Oh, is this the all plant subtype AP?

Joshua Goudreau wrote:

So what I'm gathering from this conversations is, pretty much all of them can stand alone pretty easily, it's just a matter of taste as to which ones folks prefer.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. I only posted the ones I feel would be just fine plucking from the AP and running independently. I would say most can be worked just fine as individual adventures but many I wouldn't recommend due to them being too linked to an AP or not strong enough on their own to be worth running. YMMV.

I was exaggerating a tad, but I was kind of surprised to have suggestions come from all over. I expected one or two installments to jump out but I've got marks all over my spreadsheet.

Originally what I was looking for were some suggestions of things I could plug into a sandbox. The conversation has evolved a bit since then, but it's still really helpful for me. I've decided I am definitely using Skeletons of Scarwall and Stolen Land. I'm still not sure about others yet.

For completeness sake I will include the rather exhaustive list of best adventures that appeared in issue #200. The issue also had a number of author spotlights and lists of adventures that fell into a reccuring theme, I didn't bother to list those. This list is a hefty one and they touch upon nearly every single issue so I divided it up by 'era' and put it behind spoiler tags.

There are several lists of series in these that I feel should be rated based on their component parts. Also, the issue had sections about the Adventure Paths so there are surprisingly few individual segments called out, leaving many that I feel are quite good adventures without mention. To rectify this, I am also including a list of all the AP adventures, some merely okay with most quite good.

You could always adapt it. I haven't read the adventure path but you could make it about a very long train trip. Specific locations are stops along the way and any encounters attacking the caravan are now train robbers or something like that. If they're more official then they could be government officials inspecting the train or an assassin hired to kill someone on the train. Just an idea.

I don't know, that sounds like a really railroady campaign.

*rimshot*

There Is No Honor, the first installment of the Savage Tide Adventure Path is pretty great.

Savage Tide has some great bits to it. I haven't looked too closely but I bet the Isle of Dread segments could be used as a big, island sandbox.

We had an absolute blast with Raiders of the Fever Sea despite the fact that I played a paladin who wasn't having any of the shenanigans of the crew. The GM didn't want to have to convert things to account for my Andoran slaver hunter so he called an end to the game and is now running Second Darkness. There's a whole story as to why I ended up playing a paladin in the pirate game and it isn't because I'm a disruptive douche.

I thought it was a great adventure and the AP had a ton of potential as a kind of Kingmaker of the Sea.

My first published AP was Dragonlance, which I ran in 1999 and was the real last AD&D 2E game I was in. Prior to that I had played or run several interconnected, narrative campaigns, but nothing that was published as such. After that it was a few years before I found another published AP when I got my hands on a large collection of 3E and 3.5 Dungeon Magazines and ran across Age of Worms. I looked closer and discovered I had all of it as well as Shackled City and the first couple issues of Savage Tide. I immediately devoured all I could about these new APs and ran Shackled City in 2008-2009.

I have eagerly followed the evolution of APs ever since.

With 5th Edition just dawning it seemed like a good time to take a look back at the history of Dungeon Magazine. The magazine has had several eras and milestones with different editions, publishers, and editors (most notably here being it's time under the stewardship of Paizo). I know this forum has started to die, but I am hoping for some great input because the internet really needs a good list of the creme de la creme of Dungeon.

In issue #116 a list of the top 10 Dungeon adventures was compiled but the magazine put out more than a hundred issues following that list. The list presented the following adventures as the top 10 (here listed by issue number):

1: Into the Fire (AD&D)
33: Siege of Kratys Freehold (AD&D 2E)
37/138: The Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb (AD&D 2E)
42: The Lady of the Mists (AD&D 2E)
70: Kingdom of Ghouls (AD&D 2E)
73: Eye of Myrkul, Mere of Dead Men part 5 (AD&D 2E)
75: The Forgotten Man (AD&D 2E)
84: The Harrowing (D&D 3E)
97: Life’s Bazaar, Shackled City part 1 (D&D 3E)
100: The Lich-Queen’s Beloved (D&D 3.5)

Issue #150, the last of Paizo's run, contained a countdown of the 10 best villains and locations. Including those adventures adds the following (again listed by issue order with repeats from above removed):

10: Threshold of Evil (AD&D)
18: Chadranther’s Bane (AD&D 2E)
19: House of Cards (AD&D 2E)
95: Porphyry House Horror (D&D 3E)
100: Beast of Burden (D&D 3.5)
111: Lords of Oblivion, Shackled City part 7 (D&D 3.5)
112: Maure Castle (D&D 3.5)
121: The Styes (D&D 3.5)
124: The Whispering Cairn, Age of Worms part 1 (D&D 3.5)
131: The Prince of Redhand, Age of Worms part 8 (D&D 3.5)
134: Into the Wormcrawl Fissure, Age of Worms part 11 (D&D 3.5)
135: Dawn of a New Age, Age of Worms part 12 (D&D 3.5)
139: There is No Honor, Savage Tide part 1 (D&D 3.5)

Issue #200 also includes a list of notable adventures along with it's index but there are too many to list easily here.

So what I am proposing is a fan-created 'Best Of' list. I am thinking of organizing the list based on 'era' which will roughly accompany the edition changes with #1-#81 the AD&D and AD&D 2E era, #82-#154 being the 3E and 3.5 era, and most recently, #155-#221 the 4E era with a top ten for each. I may organize differently based on what sort of response I get; such as by level or somesuch.

There are, as of last count, 221 issues of Dungeon Magazine to choose from. So, what are some of your favorites?

Reign of Winter makes pretty great use of some nontraditional encounters.

A kobold stole my baby!

I thought 'Overcoming dr/evil' was the title of the new Austin Powers movie.

Dominion of the Black - I want to see the Pathfinder version of those classic Call of Cthulhu campaigns, plus I love me some Lovecraft.

Wuxai - This is a fantasy genre that is sadly lacking in RPGs but is a really rich tapestry. Tian Xia really needs some love.

Nidal/Kytons - Let's face it, a Hellraiser style AP would be super badass. Of course, I would accept a module as well. Extra points if there is a bed that eats people.

So the only real elevator pitches I'm seeing deal with a Dark Tapestry/Dominion of the Black theme. Specifically in Hermea, but it has been said that the location was a little off. Perhaps the next AP really will be the Call of Cthulhu inspired path.

I could be off the mark here and missed a post or two that give a good plot pitch. Thoughts?

If I was right with a Call of Cthulhu inspired AP, I will be the happiest fanboy ever.

I feel that the rules are adequate for most games where the environment isn't a major factor. They do a decent job of giving a little something to reflect that hot and cold conditions can be dangerous without miring casual games down in extensive rules. When and if Paizo makes some kind of wilderness book we will likely see more robust rules sets for people that want to make use of them.

As an outdoorsy type it constantly amazes me how little people understand about the dangers of the woods. I am constantly hearing stories of or encountering people on the trail that just don't get it. They set out with children and no water or light sources thinking they can walk in the mountains 'until it starts to get dark' then turn around and be just fine. So many people get lost and some die because they just don't understand or take things seriously.

Joshua Goudreau wrote:

The rules really don't hold up in a game where the weather is a constant challenge and characters are facing off against the elements as much as they are monsters. For that kind of game the GM will need to come up with a rules set that is more robust. I made such a rules set for my current Serpent's Skull game because I wanted the party to be fighting the environment as much as anything else.

Care to share for those of us interested?

I sure can!

They're not super pretty but they get across what it's like to be out and about in the heat and humidity. Here in Maine the heat is not what makes the summers dangerous, it's the humidity. I work as a CNA and a while back worked in a building that wasn't air conditioned and we had a few of the girls pass out while working because they weren't remaining hydrated appropriately. It's a serious danger, especially to the elderly.

Behind the spoiler tag are the rules I made for my current Serpent's Skull game to attempt to reflect the dangers of heat and humidity. They have been working pretty well so far.

These rules are used with a spreadsheet I made detailing the weather conditions day by day. They won't work so well if you are rolling weather randomly using the tables in the book. I based my days on the actual weather of an island off the coast of west Africa over the summer of 2013.

That, or travel from Sargava to Kyonin, fight the beastie, look at the Galtian border, and say "nah, that place is a mess".

On second thought, let's not go to Galt, 'tis a silly place.

My take on this, as well as the bulk of the severe weather rules, is that it is place to offer some simple rules for the majority of games. It has been my experience that the majority of games don't deal with severe environmental conditions very often and thus the rules are adequate.

The rules really don't hold up in a game where the weather is a constant challenge and characters are facing off against the elements as much as they are monsters. For that kind of game the GM will need to come up with a rules set that is more robust. I made such a rules set for my current Serpent's Skull game because I wanted the party to be fighting the environment as much as anything else.

I live in Maine and in the summer the heat and humidity are a threat. I have seen people pass out because they weren't taking appropriate breaks or remaining hydrated and that was working inside. Outside is even worse. I am an avid outdoorsy type as well and need to always make sure I have enough water and I'm wearing appropriate clothing. Around here, the weather really can kill people if they are not smart.

I ran this in Golarion and plopped it down on the Lost Coast Road between Sandpoint and Magnimar, placing them on the edges of the map.

When I ran the game I tried to create a series of quests that would promote delving into the dungeon on specific missions instead of trying to tackle it like one big slog. It didn't really work out and we stopped the game.

If I returned to Rappan Athuk I think I would do it differently. I would probably just plop the characters down at first level and let them loose, running it like a big sandbox. I feel the product has tons of potential even if it ends up being kind of overwhelming. If you look at it like a toolbox to build your own adventures and delves and whole campaigns it is an amazing resource. If you approach it like it has a cohesive story and you can run it along the same lines as a Paizo Adventure Path, you will be disappointed. This product was never intended to be that type of book.

What this book does, it does REALLY well, but be aware of it's intentions.

I would love to see a hardcover in the RPG line that adds other tech levels to the game for those who enjoy something a little different. I'm envisioning a book that includes more options for everything from the Renaissance era tech we have touched on all the way through this sort of sci-fi tech. Something setting neutral for folks that want different tech levels, be it steampunk or sci-fi or the weird 20th-Century we saw a glimpse of in Rasputin Must Die!. I am sure there would be calamatous uproar from the community, but having a place on the RPG line would remove it from Golarion cannon and put it purely in the realm of optional.

So, the way to make this happen, is to support books like this one and show that something larger and more inclusive would find it's niche and be worth the investment to produce.

I tried to dig back through posts made by the developers for clues but it turns out those guys post a lot of stuff.

Now here's some wild speculation:

If I remember correctly, Mr. Jacobs said elsewhere that the next AP would also be traditional, but did not specify traditional fantasy. Perhaps that was an allusion to gaining influence not from Dungeons & Dragons but perhaps the other powerhouse game that has been around forever, Call of Cthulhu. Perhaps we are getting our Dark Tapestry/Dominion of the Black AP finally. Something that harkens back to those epic campaigns Chaosium made for CoC. The seeds for this style of adventure have been sown in Dragon's Demand and Occult Mysteries and we all know how much of a CoC fan Mr. Jacobs is.

James Jacobs wrote:

And it's delightful seeing folks misinterpreting and reading too much into specific words I posted already! Mwa ha ha!

In any case, again... we'll be announcing this one at Gen Con. Only a few weeks away!

I was thinking the same thing!

I considered stirring the pot a bit to see what else bubbled up, but I didn't want to be unnecessarily cruel. :)

Oh please, stir away. The entire point of this thread is to have some fun speculating and then see how close we got when GenCon rolls around.

If all else fails, this is always an option.

but you know what they say "Where theres a Hag theres a Coven"

I don't know, I've met some pretty hot witches...

In another thread today Mr. Jacobs said the next AP would also be traditional fantasy. So nothing too out there, which make sense considering the last several they would want to keep it grounded for a little while.

Maybe we are going to get our much-needed Absalom AP finally.

Hellbound: The Blood War (AD&D/Planescape)

Utterly awesome - explore sigil, deal with elder evils, fight battles on dead gods, trek the planes, take the ability to teleport from every evil outsider in existence !!!

The Field of Nettles remains one of my most fondly remembered adventure sites. I harried and demoralized many a player character on that battlefield...

I could...

... but I won't.

Tease.

Yeah I will have to agree that in helping to distance this from RotRL you will have to leave out Zutha.

We may see Zutha pop up in the 'continuing the campaign' segment, however.

Red Hand of Doom was pretty fantastic and deserves it's place as one of the iconic modules from 3rd Edition. Also, the credits page has a few familiar names...

In my opinion the best character generator is the Core Rulebook and a piece of paper. :p

Please tell me this will get a pathfinder battles set.

It doesn't look like it will happen.

Pathfinder Battles: Iron Gods, how likely is it?

There should be a pawns set though.

It's not Galt, we also know that.

I like the look of it and I'm eager to give it a try. I followed the playtest pretty closely and I enjoyed the direction it was going. As much as I love Pathfinder it is a rules-heavy system and I tend to prefer a more rules-light system so having that option with D&D is really nice.

I plan on diving in and giving it a shot. If it turns out to play as light as I hope it does I'll be a happy gamer. I get to have my fantasy RPGs any way I like it. :D

I don't think I've played a character that average since the last time I had to roll 3d6.

I am currently playing a fighter (archer) named Bart Clinton in a Second Darkness game. I said I was going to keep making the Avengers if my characters kept dying until I had moved through the entire roster. So far Hawkeye has proven to be very survivable.

Crypt of the Everflame seems to have a real 3.5 design philosophy with just about enough encounters to level a fast track party half way through. Thankfully that philosophy seemed to change as time went on. Really though, provided the party plays it smart there is no reason a group of level 1 characters couldn't tackle the whole thing.