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I've seen a bunch of threads about the best adventure path overall, but less about individual chapters. Now we're looking at the release of the 111th adventure path book (Dreams of the Yellow King), which would people pick out as their favourite book so far and why?
Also, are there any books that you'd recommend as a standalone, without playing the entire adventure path? Especially for slightly more casual groups for whom an entire adventure path campaign might be too much to realistically finish.
I'm asking this question as my group is about to finish our very first book (appropriately enough it's Burnt Offerings).
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I thought the first instalment of Serpent's Skull, Souls for smugglers shiv was excellent (and provides a decent short term goal if you don't want to play a whole AP - you start shipwrecked and have to survive/get off the island). I thought it ran really well as a sandbox adventure - even better than I thought it would after reading it, although I didn't run it using pathfinder rules, so not sure if that made a difference. There was wilderness, role playing, dungeons and a mystery to uncover. It cemented my opinion of James Jacobs as my favourite first level adventure writer.
For mood/feel Seven Days To The Grave, the second instalment of curse of the Crimson throne is my favourite. Again it played really well at the table - my players got scared of disease (which never happens in RPGs, in my experience) they also got gradually more and more horrified at the wickedness of the villains and uncovered the true mastermind at a satisfying pace. This one had a few more problems in terms of keeping the players moving - they got stuck a couple of times and kept trying to run off to the finale a little early. Nonetheless, it has been a favourite of mine since I first read it. I don't think it would be as good as a standalone adventure - it establishes a few key elements of the overarching AP plot and would lose something run as is for a casual group, IMO.
I've been wanting to run Souls for Smuggler's Shiv as a standalone (or possibly as a launchpad into some of the elements from Skull & Shackles), so glad to hear it comes recommended
All of CotCT is excellent, however Seven Days to the Grave sticks out as the best of the bunch and lots of fun to DM as well as for my players. I'm currently DM'ing Serpent's Skull (finishing Race to Ruin) and Souls for Smugglers Shiv has been the highlight to date. All of the Carrion Crown offerings are very strong, but for our group it would be a toss up between Trial of the Beast and Wake of the Watcher. Burnt Offerings is a classic, but I really enjoyed The Skinsaw Murders more. Lot's of people malign Second Darkness but I think it's better than its reputation and I really enjoyed The Armageddon Echo and Endless Night. Jade Regent also had a gem in Night of Frozen Shadows.
Based on my playing's those are my favorites, and I guess it proves what I've always known, which is I like low to mid level play the best.
Lords of Rust. Because it's Lords of Rust.
Lords of Rust. Because it's Lords of Rust.
Would you say that's the best adventure from the Iron Gods campaign?
Yes.
Souls for Smuggler's Shiv was a lot of fun and would work quite well as a standalone.
Some of my other favorites:
Curse of the Lady's Light (book 2 of Shattered Star)
The Brinewall Legacy (book 1 of Jade Regent)
The Sixfold Trial (book 2 of Council of Thieves)
Of those, the only one I couldn't really see working as a standalone is Brinewall Legacy, since it pretty explicitly leads into a larger campaign, but the other two could probably work fine with some goal modifications.
Glad to hear that Lords of Rust is so good. I'll be running Iron Gods in a month or two, so it'll be fun to see how that goes.
Lords of Rust. Because it's Lords of Rust.Would you say that's the best adventure from the Iron Gods campaign?
I think "Fires of Creation" and "The Divinity Drive" are both stronger volumes, than "Lords of Rust". I probably even favour "Valley of the Brain Collectors" over it, but that's a really close call.
Fires of Creation gives a great suspenseful introduction into the wonders of technology and alien races. It gives a great sense of exploration.
The Divinity Drive is just an epic ending to a great saga. The fights are just incredibly well designed and absolutely memorable. There isn't much roleplaying to the Divinity Drive, but it makes for a great dungeon crawl.
Interestingly enough I think that you could run pretty much any volume of the Iron Gods AP as a standalone. The last two could be a bit tricky, but overall there is no need for the overarching plot to string them together.
My favourite so far is the "Dance of the Damned", even though that might be recency bias, but I think it has probably the most diverse challenges so far I've seen in a single volume. Also it balances combat, roleplaying and skill challenges better than any other volume, in my opinion.
I wanted to throw another volume out there as a highlevel standalone. I criticised "Sound of thousand Screams" quite often, about it not fitting tonally with the rest of the Kingmaker AP, but I think it makes a great standalone, as you can fit the attack onto any Kingdom or bigger city.
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For some reason, the first volume in a lot of APs seems to get really iconic, and I absolutely say Souls for Smuggler's Shiv is the best. I also loved the Haunting of Harrowstone, and I thought the Worldwound Incursion does a great job of taking players from absolutely boned fail beginnings to competent crusaders without making it too artificial.
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My vote goes to Seven Days to the Grave; it's an overall-fantastic adventure and manages to stand out even in an otherwise-awesome AP.
Runners up:
* Skeletons of Scarwall (My favorite dungeon-crawl, followed closely by the Divinity Drive)
* Rasputin Must Die! (Managed to pull off a concept I thought wouldn't work and did it smashingly)
* The Divinity Drive (Lords of Rust is quite good too, but I think the finale is the best from Iron Gods)
* Sound of a Thousand Screams (Not the best-connected module to its AP, but an awesomely otherworldly adventure)
Notable standouts in otherwise not-the-strongest APs:
* Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (Excellent low-level module / shipwreck-survival module)
* The Sixfold Trial (Includes a play and manages to be one of the most novel adventures I've seen as a result of that plus its quality)
The vast majority of Carrion Crown also works well as individual adventures; you can take pretty much any of them, tweak tiny bits, and run it alone without issue.
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Ooohhh, lists!
My favorites, broken down by leg, would be:
First leg:
- 1. Smuggler's Shiv
- 2. Burnt Offerings
- 3. Haunting of Harrowstone
Second leg:
- 1. Seven Days to the Grave
- 2. Curse of the Lady's Light
- 3. The Trial of the Beast
Third leg:
- 1. Dance of the Damned
- 2. The Varnhold Vanishing
- 3. The Hook Mountain Massacre
Fourth leg:
- 1. Valley of the Brain Collectors
- 2. A Song of Silver
- 3. Wake of the Watcher
Fifth leg:
- 1. Rasputin Must Die!
- 2. The Price of Infamy
- 3. The Kintargo Contract
Sixth leg:
- 1. From Hell's Heart
- 2. Sound of a Thousand Screams
- 3. The Divinity Drive
Overall:
- 1. Seven Days to the Grave
- 2. Dance of the Damned
- 3. Rasputin Must Die!