I'm tempted to buy this adventure path but before I'd like to know if it's worth inventingredients 70$ for it.
Would it be possible to have a breakdown of the good and the bad?
Thanks
Buy it book by book rather than all at once. That way, if the campaign dies out or you don't like it, you'll be out a lot less money. You might want to speed up the initial escape scene. It might be faster in a real life game, but it takes forever whenever I've gone through it in a play by post game. (Consequently, I don't know anything about the rest of the AP.)
I'm playing in it at the moment. We've just reached L12.
I have no idea how well written it is, or how much my GM has had to change, however it's been a lot of fun.
There's a free player guide which sets the scene, share that with your group and see how they react.
If they are up for a really evil campaign, then go for it. If any have even a twinge of conscience, eg try to make a neutral PC or try too hard to get you to allow it, then skip it.
The beginning is a prison break (as detailed in the free guide), which isn't too different to a normal game. Then we had a bit of tricky role-playing, where we were trying to become evil villains. Now, we're finally quite powerful, with minions and wicked plans, so we can cut loose with the megalomania and other mental problems so it's more fun.
We've been compiling a list of all sentient creatures in the game world, so we can make tasting notes. Our characters all became cannibals after the initial sea voyage where captured/killed enemies were better than the rations we had on board...
If you have smart players, you'll end up changing quite a bit.
I ran Way of the Wicked to completion. I made some changes to accomodate my players and the sometimes sandboxy nature of the campaign.
Take the above advice and buy it as you need it, in case your players don't like the Evil aspect.
My comments are from a player perspective not a GM perspective.
Good: there are plenty of really memorable and interesting NPCs that are fun to interact with. There is a good reason for the PCs to cooperate despite being evil. The maps and illustrations look awesome. There are plenty of side quests to keep things interesting. The encounters are challenging without being ridiculously hard. Although our group isn't into power gaming (we have no full casters, lower point buy and less wealth per level than the standard) so other groups may have found it too easy. There are rules for new archetypes and for being undead in book five (I think).
Bad: the PCs have to be evil or the AP doesn't really work. I got bored of being evil by the end of book three, we took a break and came back to book four later, which I think was a good idea. There are a number of parts where you have to follow the script in order to succeed, book four required the party to agree to something that my PC was unlikely to go along with. In the end I cast Commune to give the GM the opportunity to tell us what we were supposed to be doing,
Thank you all for the valuable feedback (sorry I ddin`t reply earlier long shift then sleep).
From what I gather like most AP there`s some railroading and it needs to be modified a bit...which was expected.
But overall it seems to be well received by players and GMs.
There are some sand box elements to the AP as well. And sometimes even though the task itself might not be optional, the characters have a lot of options for how they might accomplish the mission.
I've played the entire WotW adventure path twice, and I'm GMing it for a group that is now level 17. Here's the run down of what to expect at every level:
Book 1:
Level 1 is a small sandbox with a clear goal at the end. Think of it like a level in Deus Ex or Hitman Blood Money. There's a sizeable enclosed area, but you can navigate it and tackle its challenges however you want.
Level 2 is a linear dungeon crawl. It has some puzzles and non obvious alternative ways of solving things.
Level 3 is a railroad boat ride. This part is 100% railroad. Several boat encounters one after another, mostly combat, but some of which offer opportunities for diplomacy or trickery.
Level 4 and 5 are a medium sandbox involving a small town and a LG fortress that the players need to destroy within 1 month. Things become a lot more open to player creativity and ingenuity here, because the focus is on guerilla warfare rather than a straight up fight.
Book 2:
Levels 6-9 are a large sandbox involving a large town, a large forest, and an enormous evil base that the villains get to run themselves for 7 months. Events occur over that span of time, including invasions of NPC parties on the players' base. It reminds me a lot of Dungeon Keeper 2 and Evil Genius.
Book 3:
Level 10 is a month-long relaxing sandbox vacation in a big metropolis, followed by a humongous battle with two armies. In practice, it's a long gauntlet of several back-to-back encounters.
Level 11 and 12 are a linear dungeon crawl with some puzzles.
Book 4:
This is where people usually start becoming listless, and the continuation of the plot and encounters in the books relies on the players willingly going along with being railroaded. You'll have to improvise heavily if the players don't want to work for their evil boss anymore, or don't want to go along with certain particulars of his plan.
Level 13 is another month-long sandbox in a city, but this time the players are looting and pillaging rather than relaxing.
Level 14 is a dungeon crawl with lots of empty, featureless spaces on the map. Recommend adding a few doodads and small encounters of your own to make it seem more lively.
Level 15 is another dungeon crawl, and players can very easily go off the rails. The mission is to only kill one NPC while leaving another unharmed so she can come back in book 6, even though there's not much in the way of protecting that NPC. Not even direct orders from the players' boss.
Book 5:
The players are still technically under their boss' contract, but supposed to be trying to break free of it.
Level 16 is mostly sandbox with flimsy direction to guide the players. There are several unconnected encounters, many of which involve outsiders teleporting in on the PCs unexpectedly to attack them. There's also a straightforward dungeon crawl.
Level 17 is a dungeon crawl to take down the PCs' evil boss. Somewhat sandboxy, but due to the artifact-level defenses protecting the boss' lair, not even PCs with 9th level spells can get in easily.
Book 6:
Levels 18 and 19 are pure and total sandbox. You're in kingdom simulator mode now. The book has a lot of suggestions on encounters, but has a lot of mathematical flaws related to macroeconomics and logistics. You're going to have to do a LOT of work to GM this well.
Level 20 is a humongous war against very tough opponents on an open battlefield. If everything has gone according to the plot the books lay out, that is.
You can search these forums for modifications and advice people have given on Way of the Wicked, there's some useful stuff. Also, check out this guy's blog for useful tips on adding more treasure and challenge to the adventure path, since Way of the Wicked is very low on wealth.