This AP has some cute ideas but falls very short of proveding any real entertanment. Dozens of high DC saves with horrible effects, and skill check DC's that are nearly impossible if not total min/max. Oh and several encounters that can only be described as blood baths. Darkness + paralysis= TPW. We played with experianced gamers (20+ yrs each) and suffered 2 TPW and a total of 10 PC deaths!

My group loved this one and I think it is one that we'll be talking about years later. I've never GM'd a module or AP before and this was easy and straight forward. Its packing with flavour and has the right balance between set structure and space for GM creativity to put in what your group likes.

As others have posted its got a great mix of encounters, story, resource management and the challenge of the environment. I think old school rpg'ers are going to love it like we did.

Some tips with this
* Check the forums with thread for this book as there are plenty of GM aids
* Openly explain to players that the characters are going to wake up on the beach and that the opening Fort save determines the order of waking up. Lets them know that its a story based thing and they haven't been cheated.
* Make the NPCs shipwrecked with the PCs more friendly and ready to help. To get your PCs to bond with them you'll want to make the NPCs relevant and useful by having them give minor bonuses to saves vs disease and the elements, giving the players safe food and water, and crafting ammunition. This ensures the PCs don't see the NPCs as additional hastle and gives the NPCs some value.
* Use equipment from the Core book as treasure for the shipwrecks
* Consider lowering some of the Climb, Swim and Jump DCs

The first module in the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path starts off with the players being shipwrecked and stranded on a jungle island. It's a massive sandbox for your players to explore while they attempt to escape. Think Mysterious Island meets Indiana Jones, with a little bit of Morrowind.

The island, Smuggler's Shiv, is filled with set-piece locales, monster lairs, and vile cannibals. Plus, there's a half-dozen fellow castaways to roleplay, each with their own... issues. Lots of wilderness survival and jungle encounters, but also several solid dungeons near the end of the Path, and some roleplay/story encounters thrown in. Also, if you want to ramp up the Survivor angle, there's disease, morale, and camp-building to deal with. Quite a lot of variety.

Really, there's a lot to do, and plenty of room for a GM to add more. The encounters are balanced; some are quite challenging, others are a lot of fun. The NPCs have a lot of flavor, plus some quests (and rewards!) of their own. The set adventure locales cover a wide spectrum, and they're all really interesting.

As a sandbox, though, the module has a lot for the GM to keep track of: the NPCs' morale and helpfulness, the camp, random encounters, weather, etc. If you're strapped for time, this is not the Path to get started on; if you like modifying and expanding pre-packaged modules, this Path has plenty of room for you to work with.

I found it a lot of fun to run, but also pretty labor-intensive for a canned adventure.

This is my first adventure path and I am running a group of new characters through this module now. It has seriously bought the gaming table alive and I am getting requests to fit multiple gaming sessions in a week. The way this module takes a seemingly random shipwreck and builds up a campaign the players feel they have a stake in is genius. I cannot wait to get into the next module :)

I just concluded this adventure path with a group of five, and I have nothing but good to say about it. The story elements and layout of the entire adventure are done seamlessly and flawlessly. The encounters and story arches flowed nicely, the combat gave even my power-playing, unorthodox party some difficulties, and the story segwayed perfectly into part 2. If you're looking for a great adventure that's a breeze to DM, buy it. You will not be disappointed.