Thought I'd create a thread where we could throw up some ideas for future APs.

What I'd like to see is an infiltration style campaign where the PCs are a different race. Maybe Drow or Serpentfolk or I guess you could flip it have standard PCs infilitrating a Drow or Serpentfolk community/city.

i really like to see an ap about the return of the azlanti some kind of invasion and players must stop them

or a truly war between kingdoms(ustalav VS Belkzen for example)

BQ wrote:

Thought I'd create a thread where we could throw up some ideas for future APs.

What I'd like to see is an infiltration style campaign where the PCs are a different race. Maybe Drow or Serpentfolk or I guess you could flip it have standard PCs infilitrating a Drow or Serpentfolk community/city.

i really like to see an ap about the return of the azlanti some kind of invasion and players must stop them

or a truly war between kingdoms(ustalav VS Belkzen for example)

with two options of play (belkzen side/ustalav side that make the paizonians sell us the same ap narrated by two factions that would be awesome and ill pay per view and Dming)

If there's any AP I'd like to see in the future, it'd be a tragedy: something that captures the grandeur, horror, wonder and devastation of war, all for the folly of the vain, proud gods.

The PCs are champions of an army, fighting against one of the greatest cities of the world to right some nebulous wrong set in motion by the squabbling of the gods, with the deities picking sides and favored soldiers, each trying to tip the odds of the war in their favor, heroes dueling over honor and petty bickering, the loss of friends and loved ones on the field. It would culminate in the PCs sacking the enemy city and burning it to the ground, causing so much grief and pain that it shatters any sense of glory or honor they may have once held. The war is won, the wrong righted, but in doing so one of the last great lights of civilization has been snuffed out forever, the flower of their nations' youth have been slain, and the PCs are left among the old and broken to weep bitterly and curse their fate, while the gods glare at each other, waiting for the next argument to spark another grand war. All that's left are misty tales and poems lost...

Basically...I want an Iliad AP.

This thread is fun! It got me going. Here are 3 areas/adventures that come to mind.

Title: Shield Wall
Locations: Lastwall, Ustalav, Belkzen.
Hasty Summary: The PCs are bound and brought under guard to Vigil as members of the "Sticks to Swords" program. The new program allows criminals with potential a chance at redemption by progressively contributing to Lastwall's vigilant efforts of fortifying and expanding its borders. The initial mission assigns the PCs to a company of knights on a routine patrol in Ustalav. The PCs are unarmed hired hands meant to help gather firewood, cook, and tend to the knights. When the company is all but slaughtered by a band of well organized werewolves lead by a trio of Urgathoa Orc priest the PCs need to do more than polish shields. The PCs don't save many of the knights but do save the day. This gets the Watcher-Lord's attention and propels the PCs into more challenging endeavors that require more trust: constructing and overseeing the construction of the Firrine Fires, a row of watch towers connected by a hoofway called Overlook Drive along the Belkzen border. The PCs discover an ambitious Orc General named Tugthrop with an eye on Vigil itself. Eventually the PCs discover a weak link in Castle Overwatch and need to take matters into their own hands to save the Watcher-Lord.

To start the PCs may be assigned to a cumbersome history of various crimes: horse thief from the Dortort Ranges, scorned alchemist who diluted ingredients that resulted in the full paralysis of the prince, a runaway farmer's daughter from Ravengro who was caught skimming crops from a Noble house to feed a hideaway half-orc, or a PC with amnesia (who's memory, if it can be reconstituted is a lynchpin in the story). Whatever the history, let's hope the PCs do better than last year's crop "twigs" as they largely perished.

Title: Vexmurk's Hunger
Locations: River Kingdoms, Brevoy, and as far south as Katapesh.
Hasty Summary: The PCs are hired to collect special ingredients from dangerous creatures. The ingredients are needed for a new secret dish planned by the regional epicurean genius, Flavish Rovcoff. Flavish, known as "The King of Flavor," has been commissioned by one of his biggest fans - Raston Selline, the current ruler of Mivon and ruthless sellsword. The concoction must be perfect! The famed Flavish owns a renowned food specialty shop called the Illegal Epicurean or "Illegal Eats" by the locals. It's renowned for dishes like Fire Eel Pudding and Spiced Pop-Fish. Other curiosities are gastronomically dangerous and even deadly, catering to a special crowd of thrill seekers. The PCs become embroiled in a political web like fish in a net. They must become ruthless, but more importantly, smart and savvy if they want to avoid becoming the next savory delight for a horrible creature who dines on humanoids saturated with a pesh based spice. If the PCs can circumvent this version of their fate they can follow a long trail of bread crumbs which lead to the largest Pesh trade rout in north-east Avistan, bringing them as far south as Katapesh.

Title: Rock, Anvil, Hammer.
Locations: Five Kings Mountains.
Hasty Summary: The mega-dungeon extravaganza starts with the PCs as hired sellswords who are charged with escorting a locked chest of horacalcum to Highhelm in the Five Kings Mountains. After outsmarting an illusion enhanced attempt at highway robbery, and the loss of their dwarf boss and his bodyguards, the remaining party limps to their destination. Once at Highhelm the PCs win favor with the dwarves, especially the children, who coax them into a game of "Rock, Anvil, Hammer." If they paid attention the PCs will learn this is more than a children's game; it's an important strategy that just may save their lives later. The celebration fest is derailed when a Torag priest is found savagely murdered on his forge. The chest goes missing. The PCs are framed. Just when hope is lost the PCs are rescued from their cell by Foti, the dwarf child who dominated Rock, Anvil, Hammer. She is more than she appears and has information a child would not have access to. Their only hope is to find the chest to prove their innocent. In search of redemption they go after the chest deep below Highhelm. The long adventure ends with a grand meeting between the PCs and Torag. Choices are presented. What did Foti say about being between an rock and a hot place?

I suppose those are some of the areas I would like to see in an AP. Yet so many other places to go!

i really like to see an ap about the return of the azlanti some kind of invasion and players must stop them

Maybe not the Azlanti, but I wouldn't mind an AP where the PCs have to stop an ostensibly "good" force from unleashing some kind of well-intentioned horror on the world.

A (flawed) example would be something akin to the last David Tennant Doctor Who story, where

"Well, looks like they lost their fool minds. Who's gonna stop them?"

Or, you know. Aboleths. They're pretty bad news.

I'm going to rez this post to dream about possible APS:

1. Space AP: Something with Distant Worlds

2. Numeria: So much love for this and so much potential

3. Wuxia: Chinese fantasy theme placed in Tian Xia from start to finish

4. Undead: Something with Geb

I'd like a heavy Lovecraftian AP. Think Carrion Hill the AP.
In the end, they fight everybody's favorite octopus headed bad guy.

Nice Rez.

The top10 APs concepts that i am wanting for the future are:

1- Osirian AP, really The Mummy like saga
2- Numerian AP, something Promethean like.
3- War without an evil side AP, something about the soldier life in military and the horrors of war.
4- A new Varisian AP, because metaploting its fun.
5- The Dwarven/Darklands AP, because something must happen down there.
6- The Ooze AP, because they also need love, put a lot of alchemists too.
7- The Azlant/Underwater/Aboleth AP, we all know that we will have it someday.
8- The exploration of new land AP, before a gazeteer, explore a land by AP, South Garund please.
9- Geb/Nex war AP, this plot is still hanging, travelling throught Jalmeray would be fun too.
10- The return of Tarrasque Ap, Legacy of Fire wasnt what we really wanted.

A Darklands-centered AP would be fun. Second Darkness had the Drow, of course, but I'd love to see a high-weirdness AP that's less GDQ and more The Shaver Mystery meets The Mound.

I think Galt and Rahadoum are really conceptually interesting parts of the setting that need more love. A Galtan AP in particular could allow for some interesting moral ambiguity and cater to parties of any alignment. Will the PCs be true heroes of the common man and free the nation from terror and death, or will they stamp out the spirit of the revolution under their iron-shod heels? If done well, even the most well-intentioned characters might find themselves hard-pressed to recognize the fine line between savior and tyrant, while heartless villains may achieve great good through brutally effective means.

A "great war" sort of AP would be cool as well, and if the war were to drag on long enough it could potentially showcase some of the new material they've been previewing for Ultimate Campaign. The PCs could start as children orphaned by the destruction of their home, and the AP might use the downtime rules in order to follow their lives over the course of years or decades. Considering the Inner Sea Region's history of insanely long wars, I could easily see the current political situation erupting into something like the Thirty Years' War in Europe.

Maybe a major rebellion breaks out in Cheliax or the church of Iomedae declares a crusade against the Thrune monarchy following the events of Wrath of the Righteous. Andoran could become embroiled in the conflict, and Taldor might see that as an opportunity to try and seize the fledgeling republic themselves. Qadira, being no friend of Taldor's, might join in as an unlikely ally of Andoran, which may cause Osirion to intervene in order to weaken their former Keleshite overlords. Before you know it, the whole Inner Sea Region is at war and nobody's entirely sure what victory for their side would even look like!

10- The return of Tarrasque Ap, Legacy of Fire wasnt what we really wanted.

Speak for yourself...

4- A new Varisian AP, because metaploting its fun.

Please not more Varisia. Anything but Varisia.

Nice Rez.

The top10 APs concepts that i am wanting for the future are:

1- Osirian AP, really The Mummy like saga
2- Numerian AP, something Promethean like.

I concur!

Osirion is really quite mysterious. Its ancient history shows their culture took quite a dramatic leap in technology and sophistication emerging to be a great empire rather quickly after the Age of Anguish.

It is unclear what the cause is, but the text strongly suggests an outside force intervened.

Then in 4609 Prince Khemet I arrives with great power to drive the Keleshites out.

There is great fun in speculating who or what these mysterious powers are.

Draco Bahamut wrote:

Nice Rez.

The top10 APs concepts that i am wanting for the future are:

1- Osirian AP, really The Mummy like saga
2- Numerian AP, something Promethean like.

I concur!

Osirion is really quite mysterious. Its ancient history shows their culture took quite a dramatic leap in technology and sophistication emerging to be a great empire rather quickly after the Age of Anguish.

It is unclear what the cause is, but the text strongly suggests an outside force intervened.

Then in 4609 Prince Khemet I arrives with great power to drive the Keleshites out.

There is great fun in speculating who or what these mysterious powers are.

My bet is a certain naughty Outer God with a thousand forms...

Good old Nyarly has been mentioned as having a presence in the mythology of Golarion in the form of the Black Pharaoh, so presumably you're correct.

Another interesting question is who (or what) Nethys actually was before he emerged from the Garundi desert and helped found Osirion. According to Lost Kingdoms, the soon-to-be deity appeared distinctly... inhuman.

Then there were the Four Pharaohs of Ascencion, who explicitly benefitted from some sort of deal they made with the "Dominions of the Black," mysterious beings from the darkness between the stars. Of course, they supposedly recieved many more "gifts" from the Dominions than have been so far described, and it's unclear what the Four Pharaohs may have promised the Dominions in return.

That last mystery may soon be unveiled, however; according to certain ancient inscriptions, the emissaries of the Dominions are due to return in the not too distant future when Golarion and the dark planet Aucturn come into the proper alignment once more...

The next AP should put Ultimate Campaign to good use - A world spanning, planet hoping, kingdom building epic, set against a backdrop of armies clashing across a landscape devastated by natural disasters while the characters try to run an international shipping business!

Actually, I would settle for another sandbox AP like Kingmaker using elements from Ultimate Campaign set in some underdeveloped corner of Golarion.

On a similiar note: Did I imagine someone saying the release schedule for APs would try to follow the pattern of one traditional style AP followed by an experimental AP each year?

On a similar note: Did I imagine someone saying the release schedule for APs would try to follow the pattern of one traditional style AP followed by an experimental AP each year?

That is the existing pattern. Summer APs are generally traditional and winter ones are generally experimental.

However the developer who told me that ALSO said they're free to break that tradition at any time, and may even do so soon.

(Which makes sense that they change that around at some point, otherwise that would mean Rob would be doing all the experimentals and James did all the traditionals, which is hardly fair and balanced.)

I think I recall them mentioning that they have had to "break up" that pattern in the past when a planned for AP didn't work out they way they intended.

I think that is why we got the Pirate and Journey to Tian Xia APs back to back.

That's true, the Pirates were a late minute swap-out for something else which was undisclosed.

I would like to see the new kingdom building rules used in the River kingdoms to coincide with the release of Pathfinder on-line. Using the River kingdoms would limit the size of the players kingdom and would open up a lot more political intrigue with the current NPC kingdoms.

Nice Rez.

The top10 APs concepts that i am wanting for the future are:

5- The Dwarven/Darklands AP, because something must happen down there.

Check out Throne of Night from Fire Mountain Games.

That's true, the Pirates were a late minute swap-out for something else which was undisclosed.

Curious.

Absalom.
Pure urban adventure -- and since everyone else wants it -- throw in points in The Spire of Nex Mega-Dungeon for 1/3 of the Adventure Path.

Cheliax and Andoran.
Something where the PCs are mostly playing in Cheliax but have to go in & out of Andoran, too -- dealing with a conflict between the two. Or, actually, not specifically dealing with THE problem but dealing with repercussions of The Problem. We can get a real 64 book on Cheliax, too, not that joke of a product "Companion to Cheliax."

Vudra (and Holomog).
Maybe the first volume enters the Matriarchal empire in southern Garund and runs there a bit before sailing to Vudra, to be run in Vudra for the last 4 volumes.

Taldor.
With a Qadiran threat looming in the background but still, all Taldor and everything that implies (Urban intrigue, decadent NPCs, deteriorating economy & society, ancient traditions and architecture, etc.)

Azlant.
With a volume, maybe and another 1/3 volume, in Arcadia

5 Kings Mountains.
With some good Darklands and maybe a bit of Kyonin.

The Osirion mummy AP is a very good and cool idea I'd love to see.

Has anyone ever done a Hindu/India flavored module? I know there was the PFS scenario Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible and if memory serves there was some hint of that in Cult of the Ebon Destroyers but a Vudrani AP based on all those wild Veda stories would definitely be interesting and original.