Looking for a low-RP AP

I'm GMing an AP right now that has a lot of social interaction and investigation that requires player initiative for a group that's very resistant to both of those things (when given several things they can do or look into, the response is always, "We do the first one," and one of the players openly complains about getting railroaded by sandboxes).
I had previously GMed Emerald Spire to much better success for this group.

I'm nearing the end of the high-social AP, so I was wondering which of the Adventure Paths has very little roleplay in it/is dungeon crawl focused? Is there another super-dungeon?

I'd say Shattered Star. Each book as a huge dungeon for the players to delve into, and the story is really simple to follow.

Basically, at the start of the campain, the PCs finds a piece of an artifact, and then they must gather the remaining parts. Parts who are always in a gigantic dungeon.

Shattered Star is probably the best dungeon crawl AP, and Mummy’s Mask is not a bad choice either. Lots of dungeons with some small investigations into which dungeon to go to next. There’s also some hex crawling that can be made combat-intensive.

Carrion Crown is fairly straight forward. Mummy's Mask I havent run or played but seemed rather dungeon based and with limited RP. Ruins of Azlant books 3-5 (and I imagine 6, since mostly 6th paizo books are just a huge cluster-f-dungeon) are just dungeons (but there are RP encounters with interesting NPCs).

Hahahaha, no. Shattered Star actually is pretty heavy on the diplomacy aspect, so if you are looking for a low-RP AP you better look elsewhere.

The devs specifically designed it so that there is a very decent amount of roleplaying involved (unless the players choose to go the "kick in the door" route, which works as well).

Hahahaha, no. Shattered Star actually is pretty heavy on the diplomacy aspect

I don't mean to be disrespectfull, but I don't see where ?

Sure, some encounters can be bypassed/avoided with the use of diplomacy. Sure, there's some interesting NPCs here and there, as well as lore and backstory in each dungeon.
And yes, a good GM can put a lot of socials interactions between the PCs and some denizen of those dungeons.

But 90 % of the adventure path revolve around dungeon crawling.Smash the door, kill the monsters, grab the loot.

Hell, book 2-5 are almost always done the same way : a short 1st part where the PCs travel to the dungeon with a few encounter (good or bad) along the way, and a part 2 where you have to explore the dungeon in order to find the artefact piece.

I'm not saying this is a bad AP, but the story can go from start to finish with brutish PCs who murder everything along the way without destroying the plot. Comparatively, if you take an AP like, for instance, Hell's Rebels, trying to kill everything all the time don't work so well and can end the AP very quick.

Once again, I'm not trying to be mean, but I fail to see the "heavy roleplay/diplomacy emphasis" of this AP (particularly if the players have not done any of the 1st three APs).

magnuskn wrote:

Hahahaha, no. Shattered Star actually is pretty heavy on the diplomacy aspect

I don't mean to be disrespectfull, but I don't see where ?

(....)

Once again, I'm not trying to be mean, but I fail to see the "heavy roleplay/diplomacy emphasis" of this AP (particularly if the players have not done any of the 1st three APs).

I said (which you cut out) that you can do the "kick in the door" route. But the diplomacy options are all over the AP. I'll focus on the dungeons, since the "get to the dungeon" parts are obvious.

Shards of Sin:
- Talking to the Tower Girls
- King Zuuga
- Taking a side in the devil section
- Lockerbie Brast

Curse of the Lady's Light:
- Taking side in the Boggard/Troglodyte conflict
- Gnaeus Gnaru (with some effort, i.e. Dispel Magic)
- The Trap (high roleplaying opportunity which can last throughout the entire AP).
- Oriana

The Asylum Stone:
- Half the module is outside the rather small dungeons, so the interaction with the oracles is significant
- Herifax/Kanya
- Saving the mad adventurers
- Maligast (although that cannot end well)

Beyond the Doomsday Door:
- Various of the clerics in Windsong Abbey provide significant roleplay opportunities

Into the Nightmare Rift:
- General Strom
- Togbad
- Xaivanshee
- Morcruft
- Aevanthial

The Dead Heart of Xin:
- The entire first third of the AP is focused on interacting with Magnimar citizens
- Ogonthunn

Yes, you can choose to murderize everything and everyone. You can say that about most AP's. But Shattered Star provides significant roleplaying opportunities, if you choose to take them. It is definitely not "low-RP" by itself. But it can be made so by GM/player choice.

Rise of the Runelords and Mummy’s Mask. I would say Serpent’s Skull, but Book 1 has lots of potential social stuff to setup up the PCs having to choose a faction in Book 2. You could downplay it, but it would require some modifications to what is probably the best Book 1 ever.

I'd second a recommendation for Runelords. Not bashing it at all (my group just finished it and we had a great time) but if you're looking for an AP where the pc's don't have to use social interaction to solve problems and where the trail is relatively easy to follow, it qualifies. The GM can readily increase the role-playing/social interaction level in RotRL but certainly doesn't have to. Again not criticizing at all but it's structure is pretty straightforward - get clue from note or NPC request, go to strange and exciting location and apply player character troubleshooting solution #1. There's an interesting backstory for the players to research and some social interaction if desired (at least into Book 3, after that it gets pretty sparse - which is a frequent complaint about the AP in some quarters.)

@Magnuskn :

I see what you mean, but isn't every AP full of this type of situations ?

(By the way, that's what decided me to GM Pathfinder APs in the first place : a good balance between action and RP, and an extensive explanation as to why the dungeon was made/what it used to be, or why there are goblins in room number 3 - other than "because we need monsters in there". Oh, and the fact that every encounter doesn't need to end in a fight.)

I'm just saying that, compared to most of the others APs, Shattered Star is very "dungeon heavy" and is naturally less inclined toward diplomatics situations.

To give an exemple, I have GMed Curse of the Crimson Throne when it was in 3.5, and I remembered having a few sessions without anyone shooting "Initiative !". I doubt the same can be done with Shattered Star.

Anyway ... I guess, depending on the GM, a dungeon heavy campaign could turn into a RP heavy campaign, and vice-versa ...

Try Ironfang
There is an awful lot to slaughter in that

Try Ironfang

There is an awful lot to slaughter in that

But there's also a lot of NPCs to manage.

Reign of Winter can be very easily reduced to "teleporting around slaughtering things."

thenovalord wrote:

Try Ironfang

There is an awful lot to slaughter in that

But there's also a lot of NPCs to manage.

Not if you handwave them.

@Magnuskn :

I see what you mean, but isn't every AP full of this type of situations ?

(By the way, that's what decided me to GM Pathfinder APs in the first place : a good balance between action and RP, and an extensive explanation as to why the dungeon was made/what it used to be, or why there are goblins in room number 3 - other than "because we need monsters in there". Oh, and the fact that every encounter doesn't need to end in a fight.)

I'm just saying that, compared to most of the others APs, Shattered Star is very "dungeon heavy" and is naturally less inclined toward diplomatics situations.

To give an exemple, I have GMed Curse of the Crimson Throne when it was in 3.5, and I remembered having a few sessions without anyone shooting "Initiative !". I doubt the same can be done with Shattered Star.

Anyway ... I guess, depending on the GM, a dungeon heavy campaign could turn into a RP heavy campaign, and vice-versa ...

Alright, I'm just going to quote James from a few years ago:

The focus of most of the adventures will be on the dungeons overall, but we're doing our best to include a lot of investigation and roleplay stuff IN those dungeons.

and

Being able to do a dungeon-crawl campaign and showing that it doesn't have to be Zero Roleplaying is one of my secret reasons for doing Shattered Star, as it turns out...

and

And it's important to keep in mind as well, I suppose, that I don't believe that "Dungeon Heavy" can't also mean "Rich with Story" or "Replete with Opportunity to Roleplay." I think that ALL of Shattered Star's adventures have great stories and lots of chances to roleplay in them. In fact, building dungeons where these things occur is one of the other things I was eager to try to prove could exist.

I could find more but it's late and I proved my point, I think.

I'm gearing up to GM this AP in a few months, so I read a lot of the threads in its subforum. I read all the modules again a few months ago. I combed through all the encounters for their treasure values, so I could cut the loot in half, because I'm going to use the Automatic Bonus Progression system. I know pretty well what the AP offers.

Anyway ... I guess, depending on the GM, a dungeon heavy campaign could turn into a RP heavy campaign, and vice-versa ...

This.

I heard Giantslayer is pretty meat grindery?

All APs do have roleplaying, even in dungeons to some extend. That said, if your party is allergic to roleplaying that happens out of dungeons, I suppose Shattered Star, Rise of the Runelords and Iron Gods work well enough since they are mostly dungeon crawling so roleplaying that happens happens mostly in dungeons.

Yes, you can choose to murderize everything and everyone. You can say that about most AP's.

I suspect many APs don't handle the low-RP approach well. If the goal of the chapter is "investigate the crime then argue your case in court" or "avoid offending the powerful being who could easily kill you" or "recruit these factions to your cause" then a low-RP group will probably struggle.

You're thinking in terms of roleplaying opportunities; this GM is thinking in terms of roleplaying threats.