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I am running Quest for the Frozen Flame and my group is enjoying it. I did alter the backstory so it meshed better chronologically, but the AP provides a lot of opportunities for RP, dynamic combat encounters, a sandbox area, and a unique area of Golarion to explore.
How did you all feel about the encounter with the gargoyles in the Treacherous Scree in Calamity Caves? Since it is a trained Stealth Hazard, my players stumbled right into it. And with three flying creatures with Resistance 5 to Physical, the already battered party is near death. We had to end the session halfway, but I already feel a TPK happening next session. My PCs avoided the scree and had met Vare prior and recruited her, so they avoided the encounter until after they had left the cave and scouted just beyond the cavern. My players are cautious. I feel like the extreme encounters (3 rank higher than the party) are very deadly in this AP, so I only go 2 ranks higher for the big baddies.
I found the backstory confusing as many have pointed out. I decided that the Broken Tusk were ignorant of the Frozen Flame and the history. They came upon the cave and discovered it gone and decided to move on, never speaking of the failure. One of my PCs is an ancestor oracle, so I do a slow drip of information guiding the PCs to the cave, where they discover the true story and answer why the Burning Mammoth are pursuing them. I created a random movement table for the Burning Mammoth, so they weren't always taking the optimal hex in pursuit of the Broken Tusk. I implied there was a quantifiable distance between the two groups to drive the PCs forward with urgency, but there was no real risk of being caught. At the lake I communicated there was significant distance to rest and gather food. Upon discovering the map, the PCs decided to visit the cave. I had the guardian provide appropriate magic items because the PCs are the heroes of the following, pursing the Frozen Flame. I only tracked the humanoid membership of the following and one of the PCs, a cleric of Rowdrosh, is very interested in recruiting and not jumping into combat with everything encountered, including Burning Mammoth scouts. The number of animals I keep abstract since I didn't have a number to go with.
Mythkeeper's channel on YouTube has a feature on The Realm of the Mammoth Lords
If I had to pick one... Book 1: Serpent's Skull
Book 1: Serpent's Skull Excellent survival/exploration, really allows for role-play among PCs and NPCs, and generates good party cohesion. Book 5 of Kingmaker
We finished this AP not long ago after four years of playing and we really enjoyed the ride, though those that played murder hobos had a better time because of the sheer challenge of the baddies. I think character motivation can greatly help with the weaker points of the AP up to Saventh Yhi. Unfortunately, what motivates a character to gain riches from a lost city doesn't transfer well to fighting underground to save humanity...so I let my first character go after vaults of madness and had a new character come in who had a great interest in the serpent folk.
Our GM just described him and the group took it the wrong way and found him annoying. My group blamed him and the Pathfinders for divulging the secrets uncovered on the Shiv, especially that song he sings.
I am planning to begin this AP soon but did not like beginning in Brinestump. I really want to install more foreshadowing at the beginning, so I thought of doing a 7 Samurai-style start: a hamlet in Varisia is desperate for heroes to protect it from bandits (who have the weapon with the message hidden inside). The PCs have solid backgrounds in Sandpoint that logically tie to Ameiko and Koya. Shandru is easy and Shalelu is going to encourage the PCs to protect the hamlet from bandits. |
