Way of the Wicked—Book One: Knot of Thorns (PFRPG) (based on
13
ratings)
Fire Mountain Games
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BE THE BAD GUY!
The Kingdom of Talingarde is the most noble, virtuous, peaceful nation in the known world. Herein is the story of how you burned this insipid paradise to the ground.
It's only fair. They burned you first.
They condemned you for your wicked deeds. They branded you. They shipped you to the worst prison in the kingdom. In three days, you die. In three days, the do-gooders pray they'll be rid of you.
They've given you three days. The fools, that's more than you need to break out. And then, it will be their turn to face the fire.
Welcome to the first chapter of the "Way of the Wicked" adventure path! Inside you'll find:
"Knot of Thorns," an adventure for 1st level villains compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by Gary McBride.
Full color art and maps by Michael Clarke
A gazetteer of brave, noble, doomed Talingarde
Advice for running a successful villainous campaign
Rules for creating wicked PCs
A 100-page full color PDF (including printer friendly version) full of vice and villainy.
And more!
You've saved the world plenty.
This time, the world needs saving from you.
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Way of the Wicked is a well crafted adventure, with thought and care into how to run an evil campaign.
The missions are clear, while allowing sufficient room and flexibility for the PCs to determine how they get from point A to point B.
There are stat blocks presented for all the encounters, which cuts down on the GM having to refer to other books, which in turn makes the game run smoother.
My players absolutely love this adventure. Possibly too much, as during one of my last sessions they were giggling as their evil plans met with success.
If you are looking to run (or play) in an evil campaign, this is the adventure for you!
I would also recommend checking out the other books in this campaign. Simply amazing!
I've now had the chance to read through the first five books in this adventure path (the sixth is yet to be released) and I must say I am deeply impressed by the quality of this AP. Each book is 100 pages, with approximately 80 pages devoted to the adventure, ten pages of fluff (a gazetteer or similar) and another ten pages of alternate rules (such as building your evil organization, feats for vampire and lich PCs, etc).
As for the adventure, it's very well done. The characters are interesting and all the major NPCs have proper back stories to them or enough hooks that it's not difficult to build upon. The first couple of books are fairly linear in nature (as are many APs, to be honest) and it may take a little skill on the DM's part to avoid a feeling of being railroaded (or players who aren't overly concerned about it). But the tracks are there for a reason and the expectations are set out fairly clearly at the beginning that PCs need to be of a particular temperament; by the fourth book, the tracks begin to branch and players will have a great deal more flexibility. But, even with the "rails", reading some of the PbP games here on the forums will reveal how creative players can be in terms of coming up with different solutions and approaches to problems and challenges.
There are moments of humor and levity mixed in, which is (I think) important given that this is supposed to be a campaign about having fun being evil (not despairing over your cursed fate).
The artwork is also quite good -- almost all full color and well drawn. I particularly appreciated the landscapes of locales in which the party would be adventuring (or castles they'd be assaulting/breaking out of/etc).
In short, if you're looking for a change of pace in your APs, give this one a try. Fire Mountain Games is forcing me to reconsider an old bias of mine against third-party publishers. This is an *excellent* AP that deserves any serious GM's attention.
As the previous review say... it's good to be evil. Oh my players love it, although I think the book could have indulged into more wickedness.
The bad (i mean good)
The AP is very well documented with good articles on Talingarde and so on. Useful information although it's quite helpful to read all articles and APs beforehand.
I love the way the book has been written. Rather sophisticated text (which makes it even easier for me to read as a foreigner from froglegs land )
The story is just so great !
The real books are top quality, pages are even a bit thicker than paizo AP. Will it stand the test of time ? let's see...
Of course the AP is meaaaan. Lots of excellents tips to DM and my players loved the crime traits. Great great GREAT ideas !
Illustrations are good quality and there are some for each major NPC.
The only one I hate is the cover illustration of book 1.
Did I say that this AP is great ?
Great support from Gary (thank you Gary !) and from other fellow DMs.
The good (mmmh I mean the bad .. sorry this AP got me all mixed between goods and bads).
a few syntax errors or a few glitches (east and west get sometimes mixed)
I hate the cover illustration. Face is too small or thighs are much too big. Both I think.
Missing a map of the town of the final act (Was the name Balentyne ?). I know it's not easy to pack it all but even a single page map + a single page description could have helped. Now I have to find a village map somewhere. Shame.
Not wicked enough. But I suppose that's due to PG 13 paizo policy.
Finally, this AP is really worth its 5 stars. A map of Balentyne would make it even 6 stars ^^