AP for people new to Golarion


Pathfinder Adventure Path General Discussion


Hello,

For the last year and a half I have been GM for a homebrew using the Pathfinder Rules. This adventure is coming to an end within 6 months or so and really wanted to run a Pahtfinder Adventure Path. However seeing as the group will be really new to the world of Golarion I was hoping someone could make a suggestion as to what AP to play to help them gain some of the the history of Golarion but wouldn't overburden them with homework.

Cheers!


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I think Rise of the Runelords is the standard recommendation, being the first one ever written. I haven't played it myself, but I hear good things.


Rise of the Runelords. It is the perfect introduction to Golarion since, you know, part of his purpose was being an introduction to Golarion. And this is the thing that AP does extremely well

Acquisitives

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
TangoChief wrote:

Hello,

For the last year and a half I have been GM for a homebrew using the Pathfinder Rules. This adventure is coming to an end within 6 months or so and really wanted to run a Pahtfinder Adventure Path. However seeing as the group will be really new to the world of Golarion I was hoping someone could make a suggestion as to what AP to play to help them gain some of the the history of Golarion but wouldn't overburden them with homework.

Cheers!

Hell's Rebels.

There's a city which isn't evil. The evil people are aligned with devils and are in charge. Have at.

OR

Ironfang Invasion.

You are in a town. MONSTERS! Have at.

That's basically their backstories, and all the lore you need to know. Ironfang is just about as simple a MONSTER-STAB-MORE MONSTER-STAB MORE plotline as you can get, but it really does a good job of varying environments, enemies, PC motivations, NPCs, so that you run a huge gamut of stuff while you're IN THE MOMENT.

Neither go into deep lore like Runelords does, or talks about the intricacies of kingdoms and cults from millennia past, like Runelords does.

The actors are acting very much in the present. You don't need to know about geography or history or lore or pantheons. Runelords is a fine AP and all, but it's just so weighed down with its own mythology, and these hyper-detailed backstories to characters that are literally in a room waiting for PCs to come in and murder them.

I think both APs are really well done, and have some very cool stuff to play around with. So, those would be my two recommendations. Hells Rebels has a little more backstory, but in completing either, you'll end up with a good understanding of at least a part of Golarion.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Rise of the Runelords hands down. Just make sure you get the updated Anniversary Edition!


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Maybe Mummy's Mask? "Theres fantasy Egypt. Theres tombs. Go raid them, Lara"


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Runelords is great as a starter in Golarion, but Jade Regent is also pretty good as it is a Journey adventure, taking in many different locales around the world.


I've been running Rise of the Runelords for a group that had no previous exposure to Golarion (since 2011 -- we can't meet very often).

In terms of introducing world history -- Azlant, Thassilon, Earthfall -- it has been reasonably good. Do note that a LOT of Golarion world lore post-dates Rise of the Runelords and/or isn't relevant to the plot. If you want to introduce things outside of Varisia, you'll need to find some way to introduce that material, perhaps in side quests. Note that it would not be hard to introduce material from the kingdoms immediately adjacent to Varisia -- Lands of the Linnorm Kings, the Hold of Belkzen, Nirmathas -- as they were once part of Thassilon.

One caveat! Make sure that Runelords suits your group's play style. If they do not like dungeon crawls, book 4 may be a bit of a drag, and book 5 will be worse. My own group has a distinct dislike of dungeon crawls, and now that we're in book 5 I'm having to do so much adjustment that I might as well be doing homebrew.


Rise of the Runelords, Hell's Rebels, and Ironfang Invasion are good recommendations.

With Rise of the Runelords I'd be wary about some of the content, depending on what your group is comfortable with. There are a few things that might not sit well with some people - Tsuto's journal entries in book one, the creepy stalker villain in book two (this one is very easy to change, though, as the book provides different motivations for the villain you can choose from), and the Iron Cages of Lust in book five come to mind.

Shadow Lodge

PannicAtack wrote:
With Rise of the Runelords I'd be wary about some of the content, depending on what your group is comfortable with.

Interesting that stuff like this gets remembered about RotRL, while it doesn't for HR. And HR comes with an actual content warning.


zimmerwald1915 wrote:
PannicAtack wrote:
With Rise of the Runelords I'd be wary about some of the content, depending on what your group is comfortable with.
Interesting that stuff like this gets remembered about RotRL, while it doesn't for HR. And HR comes with an actual content warning.

Well, it gets remembered because it was pretty shocking compared to nearly all previous D&D content. ROTRL is filled with boundary-pushing topics in almost every book.

My personal favorites:

Spoiler:
The succubus' bejeweled sex toys (used? unwashed?) that the PCs need to touch to create runeforge weapons. The whole Graul/Deliverance thing in book 3.


zimmerwald1915 wrote:
PannicAtack wrote:
With Rise of the Runelords I'd be wary about some of the content, depending on what your group is comfortable with.
Interesting that stuff like this gets remembered about RotRL, while it doesn't for HR. And HR comes with an actual content warning.

I haven't actually read Hell's Rebels because I'm playing in it (near the end of book two I think) and the GM doesn't want me to read spoilers. So I'm less qualified to comment on it.


Ironfang is a good choice
Very little info dump and as stated it's hobgoblins. Fight, retreat, get vengeance


zimmerwald1915 wrote:
PannicAtack wrote:
With Rise of the Runelords I'd be wary about some of the content, depending on what your group is comfortable with.
Interesting that stuff like this gets remembered about RotRL, while it doesn't for HR. And HR comes with an actual content warning.

RotRL and HR spoilers:
I might be wrong, it's been a while, but there's very little that comes to mind in HR as being equally shocking to, for instance, the Ogres in RotRL. Aside from the last book's trek into Hell (which is the segment that caused the content warning), I don't think there's that much truly shocking stuff comparable to, for example, the ogres in Hook Mountain Massacre.
Silver Crusade

Any good one its ok.

Why not kingmaker?

Grand Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

RotRL for all the reasons stated here.

-Skeld


My group of 20+ years disbanded some years ago. I'm finally starting up a new campaign with new players and one survivor from my old group. The other three are my 13 year long WoW guildies (we've met several times in RL and have been close ever since) and they haven't played any tabletop since pre-3E. The plan is to meet once or twice a year for 3-4 day long weekend getaway marathons starting this January with a Crypt of the Everflame prelude with a plot hook tied to a major NPC in Sandpoint.

The OP was what I was trying to decide for my group as well. Ultimately I decided on Runelords about two weeks ago. The other choices were Carrion Crown, Kingmaker and Skull and Shackles.

Skull and Shackles was out right off the bat as one player wasn't feeling the Pirates theme.
Carrion Crown was the runner-up, but I felt a more traditional setting over a gothic one would be a better start for a returning to tabletop group. We got as far as a few character concepts even.
Kingmaker, while traditional as well, was a little too sandboxy in the first two modules with all the "Hexploration". I wanted something less meta-gamey and a little more on the rails for a new group. I felt the process of discussing/planning out which hexes to explore and in what order would slow down a group that doesn't meet that often.

Runelords should be perfect.
Place is booked, PC Classes have been chosen, 3 out of 5 backstories are submitted, etc.
I'll be using the medium advancement track (usually about one level behind the curve but with 5 PCs, it should balance out with minimal adjustments) to keep them at each level long enough to enjoy it. 15 point buy, etc.

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