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The goal of this thread is to establish a consensus rating of the Paizo PFRPG Adventure Paths that may be ultimately compiled into a chart for reference by GM’s trying to figure out what adventure path to play.
Did you GM or play Wrath of the Righteous? If so, please post your ratings here so they may be tallied for in a final posting that will show the results for all the adventure paths.
Please rank Wrath of the Righteous on a scale of 1-10 for each of the following categories (half points allowed):
1) GM Ease of Play: This category relates to how ready to play “out of the box” an adventure path is. Are there enough maps? Are the encounters properly detailed? Is a great deal of work required to play the modules? Readily scale-able? (1-10)
2) Synthesis of the Story: Does the story-line flow through all the modules in a way that leads the players along the path while not being so obvious as to knock them over the head rail-road style? (1-10)
3) Role-play Friendly: Are there enough opportunities for role-players to delve into the soft side of the game? Are there opportunities for well executed role-play to have a positive impact on the story line? (1-10)
4) Combat Design: Is the adventure appropriately powered for four well designed 15 point buy characters? Are there TPK-prone encounters that will probably disrupt the campaign? Will the players cruise through to the point of boredom? (1-10)
5) Fun factor: Did you have fun GMing the campaign? Did your party have fun playing the campaign? (1-10)
Links to other rankings:
I ran the first four of the series before giving up. A few details below and in several other threads.
GM ease of Play: 3 The biggest issue with this AP is it tying in with the mythic rules which are not balanced for mid to high level play. There are also several major NPCs to keep track of and several plot points that require foreshadowing.
Story Synthesis : 8 Generally very well done. The PCs have obvious goals and enemies in place with nice twists thrown in. The AP meanders in book 3 with some exploration and minor encounters. It could also throw PCs off if they think this is a kill all demons campaign.
RP Friendly : 8 The flip side of having lots of NPCs to interact with. There are many diverse and interesting NPCs throughout the early chapters that can be expanded upon during the series.
Combat Design 3 This ties in with answer 1. As printed most of the later fights will be very easy for mythically empowered PCs. There was an excessive amount of work each week to make challenging fights for my non optimized group. (but see Scorpions awesome thread on challenging fights)
Fun Factor 8 This AP has a very good, mostly straight forward good vs evil story. My PCs had a very good time.
Here are mine, I ran it for a single player as the books were released:
GM ease of play: 5.5/10 - I'm probably going to be one of the more generous graders here. I did do a lot of work, but that was largely because I added a lot of extra bits and flavor from our internal canon to the story. The part that I will point out as difficult, besides the combat, is the sheer volume of NPC's. You have 3 right from the start, and the number goes up, and there's a fair chance that they will stay will you the whole time. (Later adventures don't assume they stay with you, but if your group is like mine, they will try to bring them along). Lastly, being a GM involves losing. A lot. While that's part of the job and most accept it gracefully, it can wear over time. That wear is turned up to about 15 in this adventure, so burnout is an issue.
Story Synthesis: 8/10 - The story is fantastic. While there are elements that would be helped by adding some foreshadowing or background (the Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, e.g.) for the most part the story flows smoothly within and between adventures.
RP Friendly: 8.5/10 - As I said before, there are a ton of NPC's. Players will have many options for relationships or other interactions (All but one of the 6 pc characters married a major NPC). Further, especially in the first few adventures, there are several characters that have a chance at redemption if the PC's play their cards right. Again, the hardest part of RP isn't finding opportunities, as much as it is juggling what you had and preventing the characters from growing stale.
Combat Design: 4/10 - While the combat didn't bother my group as much as it did others, I can't lie. It's bad. Even with a group that was not optimized, I was repeatedly just glossing over encounters that couldn't do anything to the PC's, and stealth-buffing other encounters to provide a threat. If you are looking for a campaign that will provide a fierce challenge to your characters, this will likely not give you what you want. If you're looking for a game where the players can have fun and feel like gods among men (the best challenges I provided were endangering their friends and allies, not the players themselves), this is probably going to be right up your alley.
Fun Factor: 10/10 - I honestly cannot imagine having a more fun adventure than this one. The story is great, the power level, once you accept it, feels very cool. Being able to actually reach the pinnacle of character growth is satisfying, the RP opportunities are strong. This AP is not for everyone. But if you're the type that is more interested in the story than the gameplay, it's certainly worth a try.
GM ease of play: 7/10 - A rough spot, but I don't think it's as bad as many are making it out. Long as you do a little adjusting here and there (at least for me that was the case).
Story Synthesis: 9/10 - Great story, some great twists, players absolutely ate it up. Good times.
RP Friendly: 9/10 - Lots of NPCs and possible interactions, not to mention the heavy redemption element makes for some very memorable interactions.
Combat Design: 6/10 - Could have been much better but I don't think it's as bad as many make out either. Was able to keep the party consistently challenged when they were supposed to be (though it did include removing the nice guy hat and playing the enemies to their strongest and most blood thirsty). I think remembering that not every battle should push them to their limits and knock them down is important. They're supposed to breeze some fights. They're heroes!
Fun Factor: 10/10 - I had such a blast running this one and the players all agreed it was great, though with some minor flaws.