As long as I have a job and finite time, I won't be able to play through every Adventure Path, but this is a summary of all the edits I would make, in one handy place for easy reference.
Crimson Throne:
Add a separate adventure with different PCs that takes place during A History of Ashes to demonstrate what happens in the city.
A Council of Thieves:
First, the first chapter could use an overhaul. It's boring, and sets the wrong tone for the setting.
Second, spend a significant chunk of time figuring out downtime activities and working on recruitment.
Oh, boy. My plan is to re-write almost everything except the first adventure and get rid of the PCs allying with the factions entirely. Instead of the PCs being members of factions, they are native Mwangi who are trying to prevent colonists from awakening a great evil.
Once they've cleaned up the colonist's mess in Book #6, finish the Adventure Path with another adventure where the PCs are active participants in overthrowing Sargava and establishing Vidrian.
For Trial of the Beast, the final dungeon needs to be redone. The timing of the final battle is atmospheric in concept, but doesn't really work in practice.
Skulls & Shackles:
Several of these adventures feel too sandbox-y, to the point where they're just strings of random encounters, especially because the PCs are roving the open ocean. The PCs need more options, many of which they won't pursue, but also each location should be slightly larger.
Also, consider swapping the last two adventures, and possibly adding adventures introduced by Legendary Games.
Reign of Winter:
Set the first adventure in the River Kingdoms in the PCs kingdom, to tie the adventure to Kingmaker.
Giantslayer:
Run the first adventure as a standalone adventure with human PCs. Run the rest of the Adventure Path with giant PCs, and rewrite adventures to have the opportunity for negotiating or stealth where appropriate.
Hell's Vengeance:
Tone down some of the brutality, and in particular eliminate all references to slavery. If I'm running an evil AP, I want to give the PCs an opportunity to summon demons, use evil class features, and wear a lot of red and black, not be unspeakably cruel.
Ruins of Azlant:
This AP is un-salvageable, and should be ripped from existence.
I know I'm quite late to the party with PACG organized play, but I'm looking to get some more mileage out of my Mummy's Mask set and have a few questions.
First, when making characters, is it legal to combine a character from the Mummy's Mask set with a class deck? I'd like to do so if possible, because they fit with the set so well, but I'm unclear from the rules and the boons for Season of Plundered Tombs which of the following is true:
1. I can't use any of the character cards from the box.
2. I can use a character card from the box only if there is a card with the same name in a class set. (I think only Alahazra, Ezren, and Damiel qualify.)
3. I can use any character card if I have a class set with a card of a matching class. (So only Zadim as a slayer would be illegal.)
Second, how do people usually print the proxy cards? Has anyone tried to print them on high-enough quality paper to use them as cards directly instead of using proxies?
I'm prepping for an upcoming Carrion Crown campaign in Pathfinder 2E and plan to share my work here. We'll be using the Fast advancement speed and will likely have 6 brand new/mostly new players.
PC Rules
As the players are all fairly new, I'm expecting they'll start with mostly classes from the Core Rulebook and common character options. I did grant them access to the Uncommon ancestries/heritages of dhampir, duskwasker, aasimar, and tiefling from the Advanced Player's Guide however, with the caveat that any of these may attract unwanted attention.
Our group finally finished Kingmaker! Actually, we finished much earlier in the year, but it took me a while to get around to writing the summary.
Sessions: 39
Estimated Play Time: about 110 hours of gameplay
In-Game Time: 3.5 years
Out-of-Game Time: almost 3 years
This group was an absolute blast to GM. The players really blew me away with how much energy they put in to the game.
In addition to thanking my awesome players and the good folks at Paizo, a big thank you to Orthos (whose ideas for the fey and summer/winter courts I used liberally), Dudemeister (for the idea of giving King Irovetti clockwork), Redcelt (for the idea of doing a red wedding), Delvesdeep (whose Flood Festival inspires every holiday event I have run), Silkenray on Deviant Art (for the Zuddinger's Picnic art) and many, many other messageboard posters who inspired little bits and pieces of the campaign.
Main Cast
Presented in order of when their story arcs were addressed.
Alastor/Lily:
Alastor: male Varisian human ninja 5 (briefly Ruler)
Spymaster Lily: TN female tiefling brawler 16
Supporting Character: King Demitri (NG male Varisian vigilante 7)
Story Arc (Book 1): Alastor was forced to abandon his brother Demetri after he killed a rival Scarzni in his brother’s defense. Alastor eventually made it to Brevoy and joined up with a group out to explore the frontier. Demetri became increasingly disillusioned and brooding, eventually joining the Stag Lord’s forces (replacing Dovan from Nisroch). Demetri may have resented his brother’s burgeoning kingdom of Tu Vescun’s core interests at heart to begin with, but that changed when Aastor met his death at the hands of a fairy mistress. To avoid dissent from the loss of a king, Alastor’s friends convinced Demitri to disguise himself as Alastor and take his place. His fellow leaders made some attempt to replace the new “Alastor” with a democratic election, but Demitri ultimately won out and became a fair ruler.
Player’s Star Contribution: Alastor’s player had a firm grasp of the rules, especially grappling, and helped keep the game flowing whenever I got stuck on a rule’s question. He also had some incredibly cool character concepts.
GM 20/20 Hindsight: I tried to make Demetri too close to Dovan, instead of fitting him to Alastor’s backstory. He clearly wasn’t supposed to be a dark character. Also, Lily never really got tied in to the main plot.
Kaija Thrall:
Warden Kaija Thrall: CN female half-orc warpriest of Korrok 16
Supporting Character: Treasurer Clif the Bespectacled (NG male gnome expert 8)
Story Arc (Book 3): Kaija was more possessed by Korrok’s primal rage than a worshiper of him, living many years of her young life as an almost feral creature after her village was destroyed. When she discovered that he had a presence at Candlemere Tower, and even a rift to his realm, she knew it must be eliminated. With his disciple Vordekai dead at her feet, she found an artifact capable of destroying the portal, the Oculus of Korrok. Unfortunately, during the performance of the ritual to close the rift she fell under Korrok’s sway once more and had to be restrained by Lily. Luckily, she recovered in time to save Lily from the rift and gain control over her relationship with her god.
Player’s Star Contribution: Kaija’s player handled the vast majority of the kingdom rules, and even created an elaborate spreadsheet to help us keep track of everything. He also helped the newer players understand the rules and level their characters.
GM 20/20 Hindsight: I wish I spent more time to understand the rules for armies and play out the battles at the end of book 5, so all the kingdom building had a chance to pay off.
Jin Qi Zhong:
General Jin Qi Zhong: LN male “Tian/weretiger” fanglord skinwalker samurai 16
Supporting characters: Jin took the Leadership feat, and trained a small militia with four well-detailed sub-commanders. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find their descriptions again.
Story Arc (Book 4): Jin and his sister Lia spent their young adult years in Brevoy as foster siblings with House Surtova, as part of the traditional practice of swapping children to secure political allegiances. Jin was defined most by his dedication to his blind sister Lia and his honor. He served as a source of reason. His tiger inclinations helped him pass the trials of the Tiger Lord Barbarians and he earned the right to carry Armag’s naginata. He declined to wield it as he feared its bloodthirsty tendencies.
Player’s Star Contribution: Jin’s player is an amazing artist, and made character tokens on Roll20 for all the players. He also did an excellent job bringing everybody back in character and focused when the rest of us got sidetracked.
GM 20/20 Hindsight: In general, I wish I did more to develop Jin’s character arc. The Tiger Lord Barbarians were the part of the AP that most closely fit his character, but of all of them he could have benefited the most from bringing in additional material.
Soren:
Marshal Soren: TN male drow ranger 16
Supporting characters: animal companions Buttons (cat) and Albert (fairy dragon)
Story Arc (Book 5): When Lily and Kaija fell into the rift at the top of Candlemere Tower as it was closing, they released the fairy trickster Puck. Puck offered to save one in trade for the saving of his own life, but only one life for a life. To save both, Soren traded the life of a friend dear to him: his animal companion Buttons. Buttons escaped when Puck traveled through Nyrissa’s fairy realm and kept trying to contact Soren through dreams and brief appearances, but despite his best efforts the fairy magic always called the cat back before he could get close. Only when they all returned to Candemere Tower much later was Kaija able to end the curse that kept Buttons from seeing Soren for extended periods of time.
Player’s Star Contributions: This was Soren’s player’s first Pathfinder game, and he dove in with zeal. Soren’s obsession with hats and rings brought a lot of levity to the game and also allowed the party to pick up on some pretty delayed magic item connections. The player even created a language for the kingdom of Tu Vescun to give the town’s consistent names, and even a kingdom slogan.
GM 20/20 Hindsight: Finding Buttons really shouldn’t have taken as long as it did. I dragged on this part of the character arc until it was no longer fun, and should have rearranged some elements so the payoff happened earlier.
Lia Qi Zhong:
Grand Diplomat Lia Qi Zhong: NG female Tian wizard 16
Supporting characters: Latricia, diplomat in training
Story arc (Book 6): Blinded by a childhood sickness, Lia saw the world through the eyes of her monkey familiar. She was fostered to House Surtova along with her brother, Jin. Lia’s blindness saved both her and the kingdom multiple times, not only protecting her from the depredations of many beautiful fey, but also allowing her to destroy the Oculus of Korrok. However, it was her connection to a Tian sun god that most shaped her adventuring career, for it evoked Nyrissa’s jealousy. Throughout the Stolen Lands, fey spoke of how she resembled the summer queen. She was able to turn Nyrissa’s jealousy against her to provoke her into a confrontation and stop her once and for all.
Player’s Star Contribution: When we moved to a post format between combat sections towards the end of the campaign, Lia’s player kept the story going. He kept track of dangling plot threads to make connections and really made the 2+ years of plotting pay off. Along with Kaija’s player, he also helped significantly with scheduling sessions.
GM 20/20 Hindsight: I made Briar a staff for Lia, but never figured out how to stat it appropriately. It would have been great to see her wield it, as Jin, Soren, and Kiaja all got interesting magical items at some point. (Lily was a brawler and came in with more wealth than the other PCs at the time, so I don’t feel bad about her missing out on custom magic.)
I started playing through the Skull & Shackles basic set last week. It's great fun, but I have a pretty simple question:
Is the adventure path intended to be played with characters who have finished the introductory adventure Plunder and Peril, or should I build up new character decks from scratch?
My players have decided to throw a Candlenights festival and are really looking forward to an RP-filled player-driven session. Which is awesome. However, I'm not really sure how to prepare for or run something like this. Obviously, the players will be driving the action, but there are are so many NPCs involved and the potential for lots of party splitting.
Has anyone else run something like this? Do you have any tips for giving each PC/NPC a fair amount of time?
For some context of the NPC's involved, we're a short ways into book 2, with some initial politics and forshadowing that "summer is coming" thanks to Orthos's and Redcelt's wonderful modifications.
I'm finally getting a chance to run a group through Maure Castle. The twists: Starting at level 14, in Pathfinder/Golarion.
Location: I'm placing the castle on the Isle of Kortos (near Absalom), underneath the Spire of Nex.
Maure family: The Maure family were powerful mages who served Nex while he was alive. When Nex abandoned his plan to conquer Absalom, the Maures established their halls below the Spire of Nex in hopes of investigating the various magical creations and demiplanes that he left behind. Over time, the Maures got frustrated trying to with the traps Nex left behind and turned to dark magic.
Pathfinders/Seekers: Eli is a member of the Pathfinders who has been dedicated to the study of Maure Castle for years. As a faithful Pathfinder, he has reported his story to the Society, but his official account stop at the Unopenable Doors.
Yeenoghu/Lamashtu: The gnolls that have come to Maure Castle came at Lamashtu's bidding. In room 124 the statue of the King of Ghouls is replaced by a statue of Yethazmari, Lamashtu's herald, and the falchion of Lamashtu it holds between its teeth is part of a ritual in the deeper levels tat allows even a non-worshipper to call her herald and bind it - permanently. It is this threat/potential that has prompted her interest in the castle.
Dalt: Although his name is unknown today, Dalt is the human form of the blind boy from Swallowtail Festival fame.
Lord Gyr/Mordenkainen's Group: In much younger years, Lord Gyr and his adventuring companions checked in on House Maure, which he had learned about from looking through the private archives at the Arcanamirim in Absalom. When he found Pathfinder interlopers there, he dispatched them. The PCs could search for records on House Maure at the Arcanamirium, but gaining access to the records should be an adventure in itself. Most of those with records of House Maure believe the place is now abandoned. Lord Gyr still has a key that can open the Unopenable Doors.
Has anyone done anything with the deep platinum amulets from Raiders of the Fever Sea?
Instead of having the PCs find the first piece of deep platinum as treasure, I had it mysteriously appear in the rogue's possessions. Now one of my players is convinced that the deep platinum amulet they find later is a phylactery or horcrux of some sort. I'd like to expand on this if I can, but I'm not sure how to tie it back to the main plot of the AP.
