Lack of interesting modules?


Adventures

Liberty's Edge

It seems lately the modules have been getting a bit trite and dull. They used to be fun and experimental. Bloodsworn Vale, Carnival of Tears, Tower of the Last Baron were all fantastic. Since the switch to pathfinder (or perhaps sooner when the codes were dropped) they don't seem as good.

Looking at the upcoming list isn't promising either. The next one that looks interesting isn't until Jan 2012 =/

Am I alone in this?

Grand Lodge

I agree. The innovative stuff seems to be happening in the APs. I'd add Crucible of Chaos to the above list.

Liberty's Edge

sozin wrote:
I agree. The innovative stuff seems to be happening in the APs. I'd add Crucible of Chaos to the above list.

Hangman's Noose too. The pfrpg stuff just not so much.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Umm...

"The Harrowing" is about as experimental as our modules get. You should get a kick out of it!

Contributor

James Jacobs wrote:

Umm...

"The Harrowing" is about as experimental as our modules get. You should get a kick out of it!

Can't wait to see it in print! ^_^

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

I urge you to give Tomb of the Iron Medusa a look, as it's more than just a simple dungeon crawl. It's got the same level of innovation that made Mud Sorcerer's Tomb such a classic, and includes some rather stunning reveals about the history of one of Golarion's most popular nations.

In two months, we have another fairly different Module in Brian Cortijo's Academy of Secrets, which involves not only the actual Breaching Festival contest (something we haven't done anything like to date) as well as some pretty big surprises that should be tons of fun.

And, as James mentioned, The Harrowing is the most experimental adventure we've done, period. I hope these three adventures provide enough excitement to change your mind about the line, but if not, we'll make sure that Sam's RPG Superstar adventure in January is as good as we can.

Contributor

Missed one, Mark. ;-)

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

Brandon's adventure, From Shore to Sea, is very interesting. Crystal's upcoming module, The Harrowing, may be the most "creative" module we've done yet. Richard Pett's Carrion Hill is superlative. Cult of the Ebon Destroyers likewise has a lot of non-standard material in it.

Don't get me wrong, I generally think all of the modules we have done are pretty good, PF or 3.5, but I don't see a decline in quality or creativity.

Actually, I see a HUGE increase in quality (particularly insofar as visuals and editing are concerned), and perhaps about the same level of creativity.

That said, if Nick Logue wants to brave his creditors and come out of self-imposed exile, I would gladly publish more material like Hangman's Noose or Carnival of Tears.


Erik Mona wrote:
if Nick Logue wants to brave his creditors

???

Liberty's Edge

To be honest I don’t buy that many of the modules (the AP’s are more my style), but I did get Carrion Hill and I think it is fantastic.

One of the guys in my group keeps raving about From Shore to Sea, I think he is planning on running it for us soon; haven’t read it but apparently it is very good.

I am playing through the Godsmouth Heresy (that is a module right, rather than a PFS scenario?) and it is fun so far, but I admit it seems a little bit like a ‘standard dungeon crawl’, not a ‘dungeon crawl in Kaer Frikken Maga’. But we’re not done yet, so I should reserve judgement.


Kyle Baird wrote:
Erik Mona wrote:
if Nick Logue wants to brave his creditors
???

Do a search for his name and Sinister Adventures, read the last few pages. It's kinda a long story, and definitely a sad one.

As for the real topic...I own Shore to Sea and Godsmouth Heresy, both are very good in my opinion, with a lot of flavor. I can kinda see Godsmouth being labeled dungeon crawl...but at the same time, you can reduce any story, no matter how interesting, to one of seven (or three) plots...

Contributor

Erik Mona wrote:
Brandon's adventure, From Shore to Sea, is very interesting.

Thanks, Erik (and others)! I was actually poking fun at Mark for giving praise to the entire upcoming module catalog...with the exception of my new one, Feast of Ravenmoor, which he's developing. =-P

And it is shaping up nicely. It is a great mix of Carnival of Fear-type games and interactions in a creepy rural setting (less "circus," more "fall festival") and really, really bizarre nefariousness going on behind the scenes that PCs can't help but stumble into. And it is really modular, making it easy for GMs to craft it as best fits their group's playstyle. I think I've found a good way to take a really atmospheric dungeoncrawl out of the dungeon and put it in a village instead .

We're one playtest down and another to go, and my players were really singing its praises after having a lot of fun, so we'll seewhat people think!


I'm GMing 'Godsmouth Heresy' at the moment and I actually think it's got a lot of flavour that lifts it above standard dungeon crawl (although I'm a self confessed dungeon crawl acolyte anyway) - particularly in the area of the Runelords. It's easily one of the best 1st level adventures I've ever run.

I don't have a huge number of the Pathfinder modules, about four or five in total, but I don't really see a decline in quality or creativity. There are ones I'm not really into because the type of adventure they represent aren't my cup of tea, but that's not to say that they don't rock in their own way. And as far as the upcoming ones go, I'm going to be buying them all - I'm desperate for Iron Medusa to arrive on this side of the Atlantic as Mud Sorceror's Tomb was one of the very highest points of thirty years of gaming. The Harrowing looks fascinating and experimental, and Feast of Ravenmoor looks dark and creepy (and another low level winner). Not sure about The Midnight Mirror yet, but I may just be swayed by the connection to the Plane of Shadow and Nidal; I need to glean some more details first.

But really, all these upcoming ones excite me at least as much (more, probably) than the previous ones on my 'to buy' list.

Contributor

Coridan wrote:

It seems lately the modules have been getting a bit trite and dull. They used to be fun and experimental. Bloodsworn Vale, Carnival of Tears, Tower of the Last Baron were all fantastic. Since the switch to pathfinder (or perhaps sooner when the codes were dropped) they don't seem as good.

Looking at the upcoming list isn't promising either. The next one that looks interesting isn't until Jan 2012 =/

Am I alone in this?

Define "interesting." I'd genuinely like to know what it is you and others are looking for in adventures. Rather than just naming published items, can you describe the kind of thing you'd like to be seeing?

Liberty's Edge

Mike Shel wrote:
Coridan wrote:

It seems lately the modules have been getting a bit trite and dull. They used to be fun and experimental. Bloodsworn Vale, Carnival of Tears, Tower of the Last Baron were all fantastic. Since the switch to pathfinder (or perhaps sooner when the codes were dropped) they don't seem as good.

Looking at the upcoming list isn't promising either. The next one that looks interesting isn't until Jan 2012 =/

Am I alone in this?

Define "interesting." I'd genuinely like to know what it is you and others are looking for in adventures. Rather than just naming published items, can you describe the kind of thing you'd like to be seeing?

Most important thing I look for in a module:

Something different from the standard "get mission, go to dungeon, kill things, solve mission". This is something that pretty much turned my group off of the Pathfinder Society entirely. The adventures I quoted above:

Bloodsworn Vale - Almost a precursor to Kingmaker in its sandboxy-ness
Carnival of Tears - Not only a sandbox but just an awesome story in general with a great atmosphere.
Tower of the Last Baron - I loved the subterfuge and sabotage of it. Infiltrating the town was a lot of fun.
Hangman's Noose - Also a great concept and I loved the NPC interactions with it.

The newer modules, specifically I'll call out Godsmouth Heresy, Curse of the Riven Sky, Witchwar Legacy, Realm of the Fellnight Queen and From Shore to Sea are more like Dungeon Magazine adventures than the previous Paizo fare.

If I hadn't already been exposed to some of the older Paizo stuff I'd probably be satisfied.

I am glad you're doing something with the Acadamae, though I do remember talk back when CotCT came out of doing one where the players are all wizard students of the Acadamae and taking a twisted spin on Harry Potter (which I was kinda hoping this might be when I first saw it).

For Tomb of the Iron Medusa, I give them all a look (I'm subscribed after all ;)) it hasn't reached my door yet but from the product page it's not too inspiring.

The Harrowing could be good, but is it just a weird place they go to or does it have other effects on the game?

Ravenmoor might not be too bad if it plays up the investigation aspect.

A dungeon crawl is pretty easy to whip up with very little prep-time. I liked my published adventures especially the module line to break those bounds for a different experience.

Grand Lodge

Thinking about this more, I may have spoken too quickly.

  • Mask of the Living God was a very good take on the sandbox style adventure. My party played through it and had an absolute blast infiltrating the evil cult. So, I'll add that to the list of post 3.5 innovative modules.
  • Realm of the Fellnight Queen, although not particularly innovative, practically oozed character, and had a wonderful array of NPCs. I'm itching to play this one through as a DM.
  • Carrion Hill avoided the kick-in-the-door-dungeon-crawl motif and instead veered into Cthulhu/creepy/horror-scape.


Erik Mona wrote:

Brandon's adventure, From Shore to Sea, is very interesting. Crystal's upcoming module, The Harrowing, may be the most "creative" module we've done yet. Richard Pett's Carrion Hill is superlative. Cult of the Ebon Destroyers likewise has a lot of non-standard material in it.

Have to agree with Erik about Brandon Hodge's From Shore to Sea. Used it in my Kingmaker campaign. Good stuff.

Scarab Sages

I am seriously considering restarting my modules subscription due to the new wave of modules. Love the new cover style, they look great, they seem interesting enough, and Paizo is doing more high level modules than ever. What's not to like :)

Contributor

Coridan wrote:
For Tomb of the Iron Medusa, I give them all a look (I'm subscribed after all ;)) it hasn't reached my door yet but from the product page it's not too inspiring. [snip] A dungeon crawl is pretty easy to whip up with very little prep-time.

"...pretty easy to whip up..."

Huh.

Well, I hope you find Iron Medusa worthwhile despite your misgivings. I can tell you that I put an enormous amount of time into designing and drafting the module in an effort to make it both challenging and engaging, and the folks at Paizo certainly matched my man hours fixing and polishing it. What I tried to do with this module is preserve the elements that made Mud Sorcerer's Tomb popular, but update it to appeal to today's audience, whose expectations are substantially higher. I'm very happy with the final product and anxious to hear feedback.

I'm all for experimental approaches, but I don't know how sustainable that is module after module. I assume most players and GMs are looking first and foremost for adventures that are clever and well-written, with a solid storyline, three dimensional characters and smooth playability. Where that's concerned I think the Pathfinder line has an impressive record.


Actually, I hope I am not misposting in the wrong category. I am new to Pathfinder and was looking for somewhere to ask about planes modules. Mainly, are there any pathfinder planes modules? The things I like about well done planes campaigns are that they emphasize difference skills, e.g., for rogues, less hide in shadows and more diplomacy and find information. Also, it is really interesting to see the kind of conflicts that take place on the good planes. As an NPC in one of my favorite planes campaigns said, "At least with demons and devils you have an idea of who is out to get you, with celestials you never know who is going to stab you in the back!" One thing I think is a good idea is to set up front that the useful skills will be a little different (for people who have not played plane campaigns before). That way a player will not be disappointed when her dungeon crawling rogue is not well utilized in the plane campaign. Finally, the sense of scope and wonder in a good planes campaign makes it a really good change from the "normal" medieval or renaissance campaign.

I really loved all the old Dungeon campaigns, by the by.


Mothman wrote:

To be honest I don’t buy that many of the modules (the AP’s are more my style), but I did get Carrion Hill and I think it is fantastic.

One of the guys in my group keeps raving about From Shore to Sea, I think he is planning on running it for us soon; haven’t read it but apparently it is very good.

I am playing through the Godsmouth Heresy (that is a module right, rather than a PFS scenario?) and it is fun so far, but I admit it seems a little bit like a ‘standard dungeon crawl’, not a ‘dungeon crawl in Kaer Frikken Maga’. But we’re not done yet, so I should reserve judgement.

Thats me raving about From Shore to Sea,... I put it with Castle Amber for coolness. It has a some good adult themes without it being gratuitous it messes with players heads and it turns some stereotypes 90'.

One day it will be one of those cult modules that everybody talks about fondly like The lost caverns of Tsojcanth.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Creechi wrote:
Actually, I hope I am not misposting in the wrong category. I am new to Pathfinder and was looking for somewhere to ask about planes modules. Mainly, are there any pathfinder planes modules?

Hey Creechi! Welcome to the wonderful world of Pathfinder. We haven't done a lot of planehopping in the Modules line, but have done a bit. The 3.5 adventure Beyond the Vault of Souls is probably closest to what you're looking for from what's already out. We have The Harrowing coming this summer, which will take place in a demiplane inside a harrow deck, though that's a different kind of planar adventure than you mentioned. I'd certainly love to do another planar adventure in the future, though, so keep your eyes peeled!

Sovereign Court Raging Swan Press

theneofish wrote:
I'm GMing 'Godsmouth Heresy' at the moment and I actually think it's got a lot of flavour that lifts it above standard dungeon crawl (although I'm a self confessed dungeon crawl acolyte anyway) - particularly in the area of the Runelords. It's easily one of the best 1st level adventures I've ever run.

I'd agree. I've just started running Godsmouth Heresy and i'm very much enjoying it's flavour ( although i've transported it to the World of Greyhawk.)


Mark Moreland wrote:
Creechi wrote:
Actually, I hope I am not misposting in the wrong category. I am new to Pathfinder and was looking for somewhere to ask about planes modules. Mainly, are there any pathfinder planes modules?
Hey Creechi! Welcome to the wonderful world of Pathfinder. We haven't done a lot of planehopping in the Modules line, but have done a bit.

Thanks! I'll check out both of them. I understand that the Pathfinder planes will be a little different (I'll miss the City of Doors), but I hope they will be just as diverse and awe inspiring!


I actually came to this forum specifically to start a topic like this, but then saw this one. I occationally bought a random 3.5 module or downloaded something on Drivethru but to be honest they are all good for something in a pinch or if I want to run something professional but otherwise if I have time I would much rather whip something up myself.

Then I started reading about how awesome the APs are so I grabbed Smuggler's Shiv, and I was blown away. It completely changed my expectations of what I wanted out of a product. So over the coarse of the last few months I have read the first 2 books of Serpent Skull and the first 2 of Carrion's Crown in addition to Ebon Destroyer and Witchwar. Now if I ran either of those two modules I am sure my play group would enjoy them, and I do think they are better then a lot of stuff out there, but compared to my expectations to what I pictured when I read the AP I feel they fell short.

It would seem that in some ways I just got a little unlucky with the two I grabbed and sort of picked more traditional modules and there are others out there closer in lines with what I had envisioned, but I think my main complaint is while the modules do all the heavy lifting they did not jump start me creatively. I think I might have to pick up what other people call the less traditional modules though and hold off judgment.


Since the PF switch ....
Crypt of the Everflame (- the early illusions)
Tomb of the Iron Medusa
Carrion Hill
Witchwar Legacy ( iirc the title of the high level one)
And the so damn awesome Realm of the Fellnight Queen

The rest I could do without. Monte's last one was a letdown, Alot more "Monte" was in his Goodman offering.
Still they are all worth a read.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Coridan wrote:

Most important thing I look for in a module:

Something different from the standard "get mission, go to dungeon, kill things, solve mission". This is something that pretty much turned my group off of the Pathfinder Society entirely. The adventures I quoted above:

I think Masks of the Living God is a different from that format. It still has a mission setup, and as written, it suggests a combat filled escape at the end. However, it is easily adaptable to reduce this aspect if desired.

You can easily create several factions of the government, with the big focus being another impending war with Molthune. You can even set up the Razmirian's as apparent "friends" of Nirmathas, supplying weapons or other war materials, with only a minority of the government officials seeing through the sham. (In my opinion, Razmiran would view war between Nirmathas and Molthune as a opportunity to let both countries weaken themselves.)

In this case, the mission is to:

Spoiler:
work around corrupt government guards/officials protecting the Razmirian church by infiltrating the ranks of the church, finding proof of what is going on, and then escaping. Along the way, there are several moral tests the party must go through.
The traditional 'shoot first, asks questions later' approach would end with the party getting overwhelmed. The goal here is to quietly resolve the situation.


I have to agree that the modules have not been as compelling since PF. I enjoyed Carrion Hill and From Shore to Sea but all the rest I've read, thought "Hm," and put them on the shelf. All very standard fare.

Silver Crusade

Coridan wrote:

It seems lately the modules have been getting a bit trite and dull. They used to be fun and experimental. Bloodsworn Vale, Carnival of Tears, Tower of the Last Baron were all fantastic. Since the switch to pathfinder (or perhaps sooner when the codes were dropped) they don't seem as good.

Looking at the upcoming list isn't promising either. The next one that looks interesting isn't until Jan 2012 =/

Am I alone in this?

Not every one want 'new and inovating," I for one like straight dungeon crawls and traditional adventures.

I wish there were more of the type that sends generic adventurers on straight quests to kill the local Lich and save the town. Or even a book of delves would be nice like the one for 4.0.

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