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Hey James, I've been re-reading "At the Montains of Madness" recently and stumbled upon the paintings of one Nicholas Roerich, which seem to have inspired that novella. Upon checking the paintings out, I asked myself if they also inspired the design of Xin-Shalast (with both cities being close to Leng at all). Am I on to something here?
Same here.
That cover art really takes me back to the early 3E days. Go ahead and google "The Speaker in Dreams", you will see what I mean.
Oooo, that's timely! Started a new 2E Runelords campaign yesterday, totally gonna use this. Thanks for the heads-up!
When I learned that 2E wasn't going to be backwards-compatible with 1e adventure paths, I decided not to bother with it. Now that I've actually read the finished product, I'm madly in love and will put up with the extra work, because I know my players will have a great time with 2E!
No love for RotRL? It used to be a regular favorite around here. From the ones I've run, it's Curse of the Crimson Throne along with Hell's Rebels. City-based APs are always a good thing (see also Shackled City from way back when). Jade Regent and Legacy of Fire are also great. Will probably run War for the Crown next, looking forward to it!
Seconded. I sunk dozens of hours into making Serpent's Skull playable. It was worth it, but I wouldn't advise to do so.
I've run eight Paizo APs from start to finish. Excluding the ones you've mentioned, I'd recommend them in this order: 1. CotCT (especially if you have the Hardcover), it's a classic for a reason.
The whole "getting people killed" thing is one of the main gripes I have with TLJ. To me, Star Wars always was (among other things) about heroics in the face of unsurmountable odds. You know, like, attacking a battle station with a handful of fighters. Infiltrating a crime lord's palace to rescue a friend. Saying "hello there" to a deadly lightsaber-wielding cyborg and his army. Getting the plans for the aforementioned battle station under great cost. But now, TLJ comes around the corner and not only makes our heroes' plan fail (which is fine), but as a direct consequence, lead to the deaths of hundreds. It's like a crappy game master.
If you use Spotify, check out my playlists: If the links don't work, I might have to put them on "public", so let me know. Also, there's more where these come from.
Removed them completely and relied on narrative description.
Oh, but I eliminated the rebellion rules. AP subsystems never work out too well in my opinion.
Congratulations! Did you run it "by the book" or did you do any modifications? Can't think of major modifications (minor ones always happen, sometimes on the fly). Unlike, say, Serpent's Skull, which I had to modify heavily, Hell's Rebels works pretty well as-is. I added some things which concerned the PCs, specifically. For example, Balgorrah (the evil kukri artifact) wanted to be wielded by the party's knife master rogue. When they were facing Varl Wex, Balgorrah suddenly appeared in the rogue's hands, because Varl was "not worthy". Stuff like that.
Actually, it's eleven APs if you count the Dungeon APs. ;) There was no problem regarding the focus of the AP in book 5. My players felt responsible for Kintargo, so securing allies and rejecting Thrune was something they were very interested in. Beating Thrune for the second time was less about payoff and more about closure, I think. I'd recommend running books 5&6; they include some great role playing-heavy scenarios (the negotiations with Cheliax come to mind). But finishing after book 4 is also possible and would make for a good ending.
It took us almost two years this time, but last night we wrapped up Hell's Rebels. For me, this was the eigth Paizo AP I ran from start to finish. As usual, thanks to all of you guys. Even for a 20+ years veteran GM, this place remains an invaluable resource. So, how did it go? Pretty good, I'd say. Even when compared to Shackled City and Curse of the Crimson Throne (the other well-beloved city campaigns), Hell's Rebels is a blast. Rebel against the Evil Empire? That's always cool! Murder Mysteries? Why, yes, take three of 'em! High-Level diplomacy and politics that actually work? Sure Thing! And, above all, Barzillai Thrune. I love that magnificient bastard and my players loved to hate him. In a world where BBEGs tend to be vague threats up until the boss fight, Barzillai steps up to the plate on day one, being a constant presence in the campaign. He is an imposing overlord, a petty little troll, and a deeply flawed character all in one package. Fearsome, ridiculous, well-rounded. For me, he's the best AP BBEG ever, bar none. Barzillai put up a good fight in chapter four before getting his butt kicked in chapter six, but I didn't mind. It was a fun ride with ol' Thrune and I will always remember him fondly. Up next: Starfinder! Super excited.
Finished running Hell's Rebels last night, which brings my count up to eight APs completed as a GM (eleven if you count the Dungeon APs). Up next: Dead Suns.
I'm going to run IaAS twice (first as a convention one-shot and later for my home group), and this thread is a gold mine! Thanks for sharing!
Adventure Paths completed as Player: Rise of the Runelords Adventure Paths completed as GM: Shackled City
Adventure Paths currently running as player: Skull & Shackles (chapter six) Adventure Paths currently running as GM: Hell's Rebels (chapter six)
Role-Playing Game of Thrones! Sounds awesome, can't wait!
Long story short, there are two thing that don't go down with Americans - kids in danger and nipples. Feature either (or both, if you're unlucky) and you're in for a world of hurt.In Germany, depicting kids in danger is illegal. I'm a prosecutor in Germany and I've never heard of such a thing. Possibly a misunderstanding?
Just participated, thanks for creating this survey. Running APs like a machine for seven years finally pays off. Some random thoughts: - Runelords is by FAR the most played AP, yet only does above-average in finished APs and/or recommendations. Similar results for Kingmaker. - Legacy of Fire is, for some reason, a keeper, completion-wise. - Skull & Shackles is the #3 played AP? This seems weird - it is one of the less-talked about APs and doesn't have a stellar reputation. - I'm personally happy with the results for Hell's Rebels - my group is about to finish book one, and this AP looks awesome. On the other hand, Jade Regent continues to be underrated. The "Best Combat" survey is at least as open to interpretation as "Best RP". What is good combat? For one player, it might be the stats and tactics of the opposition, which is a perfectly valid measuring stick. Others (like me) might be more interested in awesome combat locations, running battles, cinematic scenes and so on. Really difficult to sort out.
*throws money at computer screen*
Since suffering through Kingmaker, I've sworn an oath to never, ever use adventure path subsystems again. Worked great with Jade Regent, seems to work with Hell's Rebels too.
I finished reading Hell's Rebels this weekend, and I wanted to post and say that I pretty much think it's the best AP ever. *raises hand* Same here! Glad I'm already running this.
Okay, so I voted for Crimson Throne earlier in this thread. Yesterday, I received my digital copies of books five and six of Hell's Rebels. My vote goes to Hell's Rebels from here on.
Hey James, 1. Will the final volume of Hell's Vengeance contain ideas or guidelines for pitting the triumphant villains of that AP against the triumphant heroes of Hell's Rebels? I'm currently DMing the latter, and will probably DM Hell's Vengeance after that. 2. Any idea why so many, many questions in this thread concern a) the specifics of the afterlife in Golarion or b) deities, their power levels and their relationships to each other? 3. Which adventure path BBEG is, in your opinion, the most interesting character?
Thanks, folks. :)
Greetings, Hivemind! We're three gaming sessions into our brand-new Hell's Rebels campaign (it's awesome so far). Here's a question of mine that popped up: Morgar Manthai is the "traitor" in the early going, being basically a nobody in the resistance who is unlucky enough to get himself charmed by the imp. Forvian Crow is an old friend of Laria and the guy the PCs are supposed to rescue from the salt works. After that, he doesn't do anything of note (if I didn't miss something). So my question is: Are there any reasons NOT to replace Morgar with Forvian? Being "betrayed" by someone the party saved earlier surely would make more of an impact than going "oh, it's that guy over there, whoever he is!". Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
After a year of weekly play, my group defeated Karzoug and saved Varisia from the Rise of the Runelord. This has been the 10th Adventure Path I ran from start to finish, and once again I have to thank the mighty Hivemind for providing me (and countless other DMs) with cool ideas, hints, clarifications, and general awesomeness. Keep being amazing, you guys! Since I love reading those stories myself, I'll give you a short recap of the final battle: In the early going, Karzoug put up his defenses, including a Prismatic Wall. Then, he took the dangerous fighter and the EXTREMELY dangerous brawler out of the equation via Forcecage and Maze, respectively. Meanwhile, the party's arcanist was busy taking over the storm giants with Dominate Person und the hunter did some respectable damage with his bow (which was a first, but better late than never). The arcanist also managed to telekinetically disarm Karzoug and Teleport (Any Object) his glaive away. Ship got real when the cleric got snatched by a Crushing Hand spell. The hunter dispelled the hand just in time for the cleric to save the arcanist with Breath of Life (she got shot by a storm giant). The brawler came out of the Maze and together with the rogue tried to attack Karzoug. Too bad Karzoug had Repulsion on him. Karzoug cast Wail of the Banshee and killed the hunter's animal companion. Enraged, the hunter cast Greater Dispel Magic twice and shattered most of Big K's defenses. At the same time, the brawler and rogue freed the fighter from his Forcecage. The fighter, after being imprisoned for a good while (about two hours of real time - that poor player!) put all of his frustration in one mighty blow - a critical hit with Power Attack and Greater Vital Strike! Karzoug was hurt ("how is this possible...you are merely insects...") and used Limited Wish and Dimension Door to heal and regroup. The arcanist delivered the finishing move - and what a finish it was! Here's the transcript (disclaimer: rules-wise, this might not be kosher): Player: "I'll cast Mass Charm Person on Karzoug." Me: "Okay" (player overcomes SR, Karzoug bombs his will save) Me: "Oh, well, he's charmed, not a big deal..." Player: "I'll use a hero point for another action!" Me: "Uhm, okay..." Player: "Since he views me as an ally now, I'll cast Telekinetic Charge on him..." Me: "I guess you're right, he won't resist that now..." Player: "...so I'll send him charging through his own Prismatic Wall." (insert sound of record needle coming to a screeching halt) Long story short, Karzoug got turned to stone by his own spell and fell OF COURSE directly into his own Runewell, his stony eyes full of hatred while he sank. So that was fun. Campaign's wrapped up and my group will lose some players and get some new ones. Hell's Rebels is up next, see you in Kintargo.
I'll be finishing RotRL tomorrow night. After that, I'll start running HR, which looks all kinds of awesome so far.
It's still Curse of the Crimson Throne, but Hell's Rebels could surpass it.
I see what you did
I was thinking about guards turning up and trying to arrest the group for trespassing and stealing the valuables. I wouldn't want Ironbriar to show his hand in this. The smart thing would be for him to evacuate the sawmill, but as you said - it would stall the investigation. I might need to think about another way the PCs could find the cultists after they dealt with the law.
How did they get the Green god's help? By DM fiat. During the campaign, I dropped hints about the boggards doing strange rituals near the water...and something stirring beneath the surface. My players were intrigued, but then always something else took their attention. So I decided to not let the GG go to waste by having him join his "children" for the final battle. Didn't really impact the outcome but was a cool moment.
Dear Hivemind, my players just arrived in Magnimar to investigate the leads they stumbled upon at Foxglove Manor. They quickly met Justice Ironbriar, since I wanted him to have an appearance before the events at the sawmill. Ironbriar left a lasting impression on the PCs with his professional demeanor, something they found sorely lacking with Sheriff Hemlock. So the PCs immediately spilled their beans about everything they discovered so far, while Ironbriar listened attentively. He knows now they're on to something. So when they mentioned Foxglove's town house, he encouraged them to investigate it, "since sending my own men would be too obvious". The party went to Foxglove's house, killed the two faceless stalkers after a tough fight und turned the place upside down looking for clues. After finding the documents, they decided to stay the night in Foxglove's house, although they had rented rooms in an inn. That's when we called it a night. So here's where you come in: Ironbriar will know about the party's whereabouts, but how will he react? Send more stalkers? Skinsaw cultists? Send the guard to arrest the PCs? If so, on what charges? Thanks in advance!
And here's how the final battle went down. The Cast: Adrastos, male minotaur barbarian
After the heroes led a ragtag army of Pathfinders, Free Captains, Red Mantis, Sargavans, Troglodytes, Boggards (including a certain Green God), and Morlocks (who happened to venerate Kameko as a goddess) against Ilmurea, they entered the inner sanctum. There, after beating the Emperor of Scales in a tense battle, they encountered Nazith-Yol, who made them an offer. "I will help you destroy Vyr-Azul, if you return to your overburn afterwards." The party accepted his help, fully aware of his possible betrayal. After dispatching Khestath and his goons in seconds, the party entered Vyr-Azuls's cave. There, they fought a long, hard battle against him and his snake (who was downed by one flurry from Kameko). Nazith-Yol turned against his superior and joined them. When Adrastos smashed the "Serpent's Skull" on the alter, it splintered like stone, not bone. This and Vyr-Azul's mocking telepathic laughter led our heroes to the conclusion that something was very wrong. Meanwhile, Vyr-Azul was near death and surrounded by most of the PCs. Nazith-Yol seized the moment and cast Prismatic Spray, killing Adrastos with poison. Good thing Soraya had a scroll of Miracle to bring him back. After some more rounds, both serpentfolk were down, but something came up the pit. Suddenly, Dargan Etters and a squad of Aspis goons entered the cave. (Background info: My players hated the Aspis. Especially Cole, whose family died on the hands of some Aspis men years ago. Also, the Aspis consortium couldn't be bothered to join the attack on Ilmurea, possibly because Cole cut a bloody swath through their ranks). The Aspis Consortium wanted to take what treasures and knowledge they could, but, boy, were they in for a surprise. After 10.000 years of wandering the underworld, Ydersius finally rose again to claim Golarion as his! First order of business was casting Blasphemy, killing all those Aspis goons. Next, he would utterly annihilate Dargan Etters. To even the odds, Tatzlragg used his scroll of Wish to bring General Aveshai from the battlefield to the sanctum. So the heroes of Saventh-Yhi fought one last, desperate time to bring down the Snake God. In the end, Adrastos used Aveshai's sword to decapitate Ydersius, before Tatzlragg (in dragon form) bull rushed the Headless King down whence he came from. After the battle, Chivane of the Red Mantis approached the party and offered to take care of the Serpent's Skull. Weary and happy to be rid of it, the party agreed. So if I ever plan a sequel, I've got a hook. Anyway, that's it.
After 15 months of bi-weekly gaming, my group defeated the Evil Snake God and his followers in an epic battle. Hats off to all the fine folk on these boards, I couldn't have done it without you. No, I'm serious, I couldn't have done this! If you are reading this, chances are that you're familiar with the manyfold weaknesses of Serpent's Skull. So to salvage a campaign with a terribly underwritten centerpiece and some questionable plot twists (looking at you, Mr, Kline!), I had to liberally rob, steal and borrow from the excellent brains I've But if you're willing to put in the work (and have a group of excellent players, I might add), Serpent's Skull is a blast. The sandbox structure of Saventh-Yhi allowed me to play with the five factions, integrate the personal character arcs of the PCs, and add more dinosaurs to the campaign (seriously, where are the dinosaurs in Serpent's Skull?). So this post is a celebration of the fine folks at Paizo, my fantastic group, myself, and you guys. Give yourselves a round of applause!
These threads are always fun. I will only list the APs I've run in their entirety (including the Dungeon Paths). Top Tier (APs which were a blast for both me and my players and which I would run again in a heartbeat) - Shackled City: An exciting locale with lots of interesting NPCs and a cool conspiracy plot. - Age of Worms: THE most EPIC AP I've seen in action. This one went all-out to deliver. - Curse of the Crimson Throne: It's Shackled City with a much cooler BBEG! - Jade Regent: Ninjas & Vikings, what's not to love? Medium Tier (APs which did a good job of entertaining my group) - Rise of the Runelords: A classic for a reason, although it kinda drops the ball in the second half. - Serpent's Skull: Much better than its reputation, but lots of DM work needed. - Legacy of Fire: Some railroading and the City of Bore prevent this enchanting AP from achieving greatness. Bottom Tier (APs which for some reason didn't work out that well) - Savage Tide: Has some awesome elements, but can really crash towards the end. - Shattered Star: Despite all the cool stuff, it never soars. - Kingmaker: Good idea, disjointed and lacking execution.
I'm starting RotRL next week and all my players took campaign traits for non-Sandpointians, so they won't know anything about the Late Unpleasantness. Since I prefer this kind of information to be gathered in-game, I'll probably have an NPC who's had a few drinks drop hints about the "horrible things that happened a few years ago", then another NPC intervenes along the lines of "hey now, we don't want to bore our visitors with old yarns, time for you to go to bed". This will probably pique the player's curiosity. If one of your PCs is from Sandpoint, you should think about how old he/she was when the Late Unpleasantness happened. Maybe he/she just remembers how frightened the parents were and how nobody was allowed outside after dark.
That's why I love these boards - three answers and already a goldmine of cool stuff and good advice! @Misroi: Awesome links, thanks for sharing! I probably wouldn't have found these and I will totally use them. @memorax: Gunslingers and Leadership are banned from my game - I recently even nerfed a Gunslinger in my Serpent's Skull campaign (with the player's permission). Firearms as written are broken in Pathfinder.
Hey all! Last night week my buddy's homebrew campaign ended, so DMing is up to me again. Time to give that beautiful Anniversary Edition a whirl. Since this section of the boards is by far the most active AP forum, it's kinda overwhelming - even to an old hand like me (RotRL will be the 10th AP I run). So, in short, is there some advice the hivemind can agree on that I MUST know about? Are there any devious pitfalls for the hapless DM who dares to run this AP? My players are a mix of experienced Pathfinders and relative newcomers. There are six of them, and the character classes will be: Fighter, Brawler, Hunter, Rogue, Arcanist and Cleric. Most of them know Sandpoint already, since I ran Jade Regent with them before (but RotRL will be a prequel). I intend to play RotRL mostly by-the-book - I'm running Serpent's Skull with another group, so I've already got more than my fair share of customization work. But some things always need changing, and the fact that I let the PCs level up by DM fiat allows me to skip some boring combat encounters. So hit me: What do I need to know? What do I need to change? And what's the deal with chapter four, it looks kinda grindy? Thanks in advance!
Been running Serpent's Skull for a year now, currently in part 5. Next monday, I also start running RotRL AE with a different group. I'm also a player in a fresh Skull & Shackles campaign.
Of all the mashup APs I've read about, this looks like the most feasible. Your players will have a blast! Have fun and good luck!
System Shock 2 reference. <3
Hey James, long-time lurker, first-time asker. Here goes: 1. Who is your favorite Adventure Path BBEG and why? 2. Will there be another mostly city-based AP like CotCT or CoT? 3. Will there be an AP (or part of an AP) set on Hermea? 4. Will there be an AP (or part of an AP) set in Absalom or is it still the PFS playground? 5. Will there be an AP (or part of an AP) set in Vudra? Thanks in advance!
Good choice, Jade Regent is fun! If you haven't already, take a look at the JR subforum, where you'll find lots of good ideas and resources. I recommend ditching the caravan and relationship rules altogether.
Came here to post this. AoW has the most and the nastiest undead ever.
I'm currently running my ninth adventure path. Most of them were with five players. Here's what I usually do to adjust the difficulty: Nothing. Really, with five players, it's not worth the trouble. They might steamroll some inconsequential encounters, but I'm perfectly fine with that. BBEGs, on the other hand, should test them, but boss fights often need some tinkering to work properly (I had to massively boost the BBEG of Jade Regent).
I remember Shackled City being published in Dungeon Magazine and being heavily hyped. Back then, I wasn't impressed, but later it was released as a Hardcover, which I bought and fell in love with. Ran it for my group and we had a blast. First Pathfinder AP I ran was Legacy of Fire.
Thanks for the input, guys. I've read CoT and while it has some great elements, I'm leaning towards RotRL at the moment. This might also be because after a grimdark low-fantasy campaign in Isger the more heroic/epic approach of RotRL might be a nice change of pace. However, the jury is still out, so let's hear some more advice.
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