General feel of Adventure Paths


Pathfinder Adventure Path General Discussion


Hey all, I've got an issue I've kinda had sprung on me by my GM and the group, new player joined the group and 2 are coming back from some personal leave as it were. So the GM has dropped a choice of adventure paths in our laps, but 3 out of 5 have asked for a rough feeling of the adventure paths. I was wondering if you could help, since I need the information for 2 days from now (this was sprung on my about 20 minutes ago)

We have been offered the chance to play Curse of the Crimson Throne, Legacy of Fire, Council of Thieves, Serpent's Skull, Jade Regent and Reign of Winter.

The GM gave me about a paragraph on each path so I could help with explaining what each AP was roughly, but I don't want to tell a player that e.g. Serpent's Skull from the paragraph I read seemed like Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider in some respects if really it isn't cause then I'll get it in the neck when the path isn't want they thought it was. Normally I would read the Player's Guides but I just don't have the time over the next couple of days, I've got work sadly.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

I will only give you synopses of ones I've played/run. I'll try to be vague but I'm spoilering the text to be sure:

Legacy of Fire:

Spoiler:
Arabian adventures. Genies, deserts, voyage of Sindbad kind of stuff. Has some planar hopping. More downtime near the beginning of the AP, less near the end. Two big dungeon crawls. Access to a arabian bazaar style "we sell anything" market.

Serpent's Skull:

Spoiler:
Kind of Indiana Jones meets King Solomon's Mines. Starts with a castaway survival situation. Lots of exploring ancient ruins, two full ruined cities (although one could use some fleshing out to not just be a sequence of vaguely connected combats). Multiple factions vying for social and monetary rewards. A dire threat to the world at large in the form of an ancient sealed away evil that could be released.


I've never played any of the ones listed, so I'll tell you about the one I've read...

Reign of Winter:
In the middle of summer, the PCs investigate a weird portal that opened up in the nearby woods out of which blew the figid cold of winter... and dangerous winter-themed monsters. Venturing through, they find that the winter witch Queen Elvanna of Irrisen is planning to plunge the world into an eternal winter that she shall rule over. The PCs must track down the only other witch that can stop Elvanna's plot: her mother, Baba Yaga. Taking Baba Yaga's fabled Dancing Hut, the party traces Baba Yaga's footsteps through Golarion... and beyond...

Includes: winter-themed wilderness adventures, dungeon crawls, world-hopping, warfare, horror elements, and significant role-playing opportunities.

It looks really good!


I've found the player's guides to the adventure paths to be pretty helpful with that kind of question - they are all free to download, with no spoilers. see the list here

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

CotCT

Spoiler:
The PCs all get revenge on a crotchety old bastard who wronged them, and then fight against a tyrannical queen with devilish intentions.


Thank you all for the help, it much appreciated, I will print these off and take them to work with me so that I can read them on my break.

Carrick I would normally have done what you suggested, but as I stated in my first post, I am really short on time due to work and other commitments.

I will likely reply again once I have read the information you have all kindly provided. Thank you again.


I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but Paizo has a summary page of their APs. It talks a little bit about the premise and many of the paragraphs talk about the feel of the campaign, also.

Liberty's Edge

Crimson Throne and Reign of Winter are by far the best of that bunch. The others have some really rough patches in terms of enjoyment (City of Seven Spears, Forest of Spirits, The Impossible Eye and The Infernal Syndrome)


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Coridan wrote:
Crimson Throne and Reign of Winter are by far the best of that bunch. The others have some really rough patches in terms of enjoyment (City of Seven Spears, Forest of Spirits, The Impossible Eye and The Infernal Syndrome)

I can confirm that City of Seven Spears was a mess that actually killed my Serpent's Skull campaign, and The Impossible Eye was indeed tedious and could have been shortened.

I can't say anything about Forest of Spirits, as I'm playing in a Jade Regent campaign, but we have only just finished Night of Frozen Shadows.

I do however remember that I enjoyed The Infernal Syndrome when I was a player in Council of Thieves.


Well I'd just like to thank you all again, I've been busy sorting things out so sorry for not getting back sooner. Well for our game it came out Jade Regent, as none of us could actually decide and we didn't want a new member to feel their vote for what to play was unimportant so in the end we rolled a d6 on Serpent's Skull, Jade Regent and Reign of Winter.

Liberty's Edge

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Since you have settled on Jade Regent, I have read that Ruby Phoenix Tournament replaces Forest of Spirits quite nicely.


Joshua Goudreau wrote:
Since you have settled on Jade Regent, I have read that Ruby Phoenix Tournament replaces Forest of Spirits quite nicely.

have you read forest of spirits? I don't understand why everyone is piling on Forest of Spirits, other then Tide of Honor its my favorite adventure. Richard Pett doing an eastern themed dungeon filled with opium addicted Araneas, crazy hobgoblins and a mentally unstable oni BBEG? YES!! its not even like the dungeon is the whole adventure, the first part in Hongal is one of my favorite parts of the whole AP. i say keep Forest of Spirits, you'll be glad you did:)


good choice by the way, it is a very fun adventure path:) but then i'm a sucker for an Epic Journey.


Coridan wrote:
Crimson Throne and Reign of Winter are by far the best of that bunch. The others have some really rough patches in terms of enjoyment (City of Seven Spears, Forest of Spirits, The Impossible Eye and The Infernal Syndrome)

I would tend to agree that CoCT and RoW are probably two of the best. I would add S&S to that, since I love me a bit of piracy, but there are bits and pieces from all of the adventure paths that I enjoy.

I'm currently trying to meld Skull & Shackles together with bits from Crimson Throne, Shattered Star and Reign of Winter. Since the PCs have a ship, they can move around much more effectively, although the RoW elements in particular won't come into play until after the main Shackles line is finished (Shattered Star may be a different story, depending on how they go on the leveling basis, but I'm definitely going to have them pick up a piece of the Sihedron with their adventuring and raiding). It'll essentially be a portal aimed at somewhere in the Shackles, the PCs investigate, go on an abbreviated RoW story arc, and by the time they get back to the Shackles with their first mythic tier and hopefully around 18 levels, the portal (since it hasn't yet been stopped) will probably have decreased the temperature enough in the region that the CR 24 colossus will wake up as a reaction.

Crazy work to try and get everything to fit, but it keeps me occupied and away from boredom when I feel like doing something.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
captain yesterday wrote:
Joshua Goudreau wrote:
Since you have settled on Jade Regent, I have read that Ruby Phoenix Tournament replaces Forest of Spirits quite nicely.
have you read forest of spirits? I don't understand why everyone is piling on Forest of Spirits, other then Tide of Honor its my favorite adventure. Richard Pett doing an eastern themed dungeon filled with opium addicted Araneas, crazy hobgoblins and a mentally unstable oni BBEG? YES!! its not even like the dungeon is the whole adventure, the first part in Hongal is one of my favorite parts of the whole AP. i say keep Forest of Spirits, you'll be glad you did:)

That depends entirely if you think spending months of playing time in one dungeon is fun. I personally didn't.

The first part in Ordu-Aganhei, however, was aces, easily my favorite part of the whole AP due to its zanyness.

Sczarni

Any thoughts on which AP has the most "Lovecraftian" feel? Thanks...


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Carrion Crown and Shattered Star both have parts that are not just Lovecraft-flavored but are explicit Lovecraft pastiche. We found them to be a bit *too* explicit--it was hard to come to the adventure with a fresh mind when the players recognized all of the monsters, locations and themes. I am told there's a similar section in Jade Regent (haven't gotten there yet).

There is some less explicitly Lovecraftian horror in Rise of the Runelords, Jade Regent, and Kingmaker, as well as in other parts of Carrion Crown. And almost every single AP has at least a couple of distinctly Lovecraft-flavored critters or situations.

Liberty's Edge

captain yesterday wrote:
Joshua Goudreau wrote:
Since you have settled on Jade Regent, I have read that Ruby Phoenix Tournament replaces Forest of Spirits quite nicely.
have you read forest of spirits?

I have not. I was going on the forum posts and product reviews I have read. I understand this is hearsay and I cannot give my own opinion, just reflect the opinions of others.


Joshua Goudreau wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
Joshua Goudreau wrote:
Since you have settled on Jade Regent, I have read that Ruby Phoenix Tournament replaces Forest of Spirits quite nicely.
have you read forest of spirits?
I have not. I was going on the forum posts and product reviews I have read. I understand this is hearsay and I cannot give my own opinion, just reflect the opinions of others.

well, i you havent read it then you probably shouldn't offer suggestions for replacing it until you do, others (who have read it) can interject their own opinions on possible replacement themselves, unless they asked you to as a proxy. i'm not trying to be mean, its just a pet peeve of mine.

Liberty's Edge

captain yesterday wrote:
well, i you havent read it then you probably shouldn't offer suggestions for replacing it until you do, others (who have read it) can interject their own opinions on possible replacement themselves, unless they asked you to as a proxy. i'm not trying to be mean, its just a pet peeve of mine.

Fair enough.

Liberty's Edge

I have played through it. The dungeon was a meh as far as dungeons go compared to the ones in Shattered Star which sets the bar on interesting dungeons. Worse though is the book's place in the storyline, it is a forced sidequest, and every time a forced sidequest shows up as an AP chapter it is generally held as the worst chapter (varnhold vanishing probably the best example of this.)


Joshua Goudreau wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
well, i you havent read it then you probably shouldn't offer suggestions for replacing it until you do, others (who have read it) can interject their own opinions on possible replacement themselves, unless they asked you to as a proxy. i'm not trying to be mean, its just a pet peeve of mine.
Fair enough.

sorry i was harsh before, i had not had my coffee yet:) nothing wrong with suggesting alternatives, you have my sincere apology:) pet peeves or not i was wrong:)

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
captain yesterday wrote:
sorry i was harsh before, i had not had my coffee yet:) nothing wrong with suggesting alternatives, you have my sincere apology:) pet peeves or not i was wrong:)

Apology accepted. You were right to an extent however.

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