[On the campaign, from my review of The Seventh Arch] As advertised, I was expecting Gatewalkers to focus a lot more strongly on paranormal adventures, investigating mysteries, and related horror themes, similar to Dark Archive. However, disappointingly, that feels like its really only a third of the adventure path, where most of it is spent on an adventure that feels like it hops around randomly. While the locales can be interesting and varied, the AP as a whole didn't deliver as much as I'd hoped. So as I've run it (at the time of writing, I've run the first book), I've had to make a lot of modifications, integrating new plot lines and content from other books like Dark Archive.
On Dreamers of the Nameless Spires: I'm torn on this book. It has really high high points, but has some lows and continues with some of the problematic story elements from Book 2. Chapter 1 is my favorite chapter in the whole AP, and I'm very excited to run it when my players get there.
SPOILERS: Chapter 1 is the best chapter in the AP by a significant margin. First, unlike the other books, there's a strong use of the investigation mechanics to uncover more about the main plot mystery, with good pacing of clues and contingencies for pacing out the investigation content to players. This part feels like what the AP billed itself as - a investigation to uncover a paranormal mystery. Its more signifcant because its happening in the lair of one of the major villans of the AP, and the twist is something players slowly uncover on their own, rather than being lore-dumped or having it dropped in their laps. Additionally, the whole dungeon section is very appropriately on-theme with the horror and paranormal vibe of the campaign, with some truly grotesque and spooky monsters. Love it! Really great work here. My only improvement would be the actual fight against Ritalson feeling really... mundane? I'd love to have seen more dreamscape shenanigans like in the Dark Archive adventures.
Chapter 2 starts feeling like a bit of another meaningless diversion, but the reveal about the party's past actions here along with the horrifying part blackfrost elf saves the first part of this chapter. The second part of this chapter is, honestly, a skippable slog of a trek across the ice. I'm also confused about this section, because since the party retrieves the yurt, there's absolutely 0 tension or weight around preparing for this massive expedition? The yurt just handles all their needs... unless I'm missing something.
The remaining parts of this book are unfortunately focused on Sakuachi/Snowy Owl, and while the encounters with the Dreamscrapers, Elder Thing Researchers, and Ogmunzorius are very cool and aren't just straight up combat-slogs, a lot of the end of this chapter is wrapped up in a plotline continued from Book 2 that I think cheapens a lot of the impact of the mystery, investigation, and player's actions ("it was fate that we beat Osoyo!" ...yawn). The choice to keep the powers or sacrifice them is cool, although I wish had a little more impact on the whole end sequence. This is the finale of the AP, I feel like you have more room to go big or go home here, or leave the party and world with big consequences.
Overall, I kind of wish that this was a 1-2 book AP with chapters 1-2 of The Seventh Arch and chapters 1-1.5 of Dreamers intact.
Excellent game content and the adventure material and flavor is great as well
[On the campaign, from my review of The Seventh Arch] As advertised, I was expecting Gatewalkers to focus a lot more strongly on paranormal adventures, investigating mysteries, and related horror themes, similar to Dark Archive. However, disappointingly, that feels like its really only a third of the adventure path, where most of it is spent on an adventure that feels like it hops around randomly. While the locales can be interesting and varied, the AP as a whole didn't deliver as much as I'd hoped. So as I've run it (at the time of writing, I've run the first book), I've had to make a lot of modifications, integrating new plot lines and content from other books like Dark Archive.
On They Watched the Stars: Boy, this book has issues. Personally, I'm scrapping most of the content of this book and replacing it with other content from Dark Archive and doing what I can to stitch the plot together.
SPOILERS: The biggest issue with this book (and the rest of the campaign) is Sakuachi, the "chosen one" GMPC who turns the party into functionally an escort for her mission. You KNOW this was an issue because Paizo had to write a blurb at the front to address this with the quote "...some players might feel like they’re playing second fiddle. You can assuage such concerns...". Yikes. For my campaign, I'm completely writing her out, which is tough, because she's interwoven with the narrative for the rest of the campaign.
Chapter 1 has players land in Skywatch which is a town which has some seemingly cool, but confusing geometry that mostly involves the players getting lost or making rolls to not get lost.
Chapter 2 is definitely the best part of this book, as the players get their own ghost pirate ship, which is awesome. There's a nautical encounter and visions on the sea which are pretty neat as well.
Chapters 3 and 4 feel confusing in purpose. The encounters with the townsfolk of Egede feel like the cool start to uncovering a mystery or something, but feel very quickly wrapped up as written, like the author doesn't want you to spend much time there and move on, to help Sakuachi with her quest. The rest of the chapter 3 feels like a combination of tedious random encounters and a weird diversion. Chapter 4 feels odd in that it has the investigation system applied to... looting random buildings? It feels less like the there's a mystery to uncover here and more like the players are trying to not be lost. The whole cistern dungeon feels strange in theme for what I'd expect from divinity or god-calling, and as it reads, players need to repeat the same boss encounter 3 times exactly the same way? This feels like it would be tedious to run.
I personally am not running most of the content in this book, I'd encourage a GM looking to run Gatewalkers to find ways to bridge the levels between Book 1 and Book 3, since this book doesn't exactly add much to the narrative anyway.
Good start, although the AP as a whole is questionable
On Gatewalkers the campaign: as advertised, I was expecting Gatewalkers to focus a lot more strongly on paranormal adventures, investigating mysteries, and related horror themes, similar to Dark Archive. However, disappointingly, that feels like its really only a third of the adventure path, where most of it is spent on an adventure that feels like it hops around randomly. While the locales can be interesting and varied, the AP as a whole didn't deliver as much as I'd hoped. So as I've run it (at the time of writing, I've run the first book), I've had to make a lot of modifications, integrating new plot lines and content from other books like Dark Archive. This is the first AP I've run, and while I like how Paizo prepares really thorough material, I feel like knowing what I know now, I would have chosen to run a different AP.
On The Seventh Arch: I feel like this is the strongest of the three books, with the first two chapters being the highlights.
SPOILERS: The first chapter has the players investigate and root out a druid cult. For my players, this was a good intro to PF2e while getting their feet wet in the overall mystery of the world. The second chapter has the players delve into a shadowy fey manipulator, where you can really emphasize the horror vibes as a GM. My players really liked this part. The third book is where things kind of turn upside down as the players find themselves on a different planet. My players reacted lukewarmly to this twist. There's also a bit of "oh no crisis" railroading that feels like a side plot to the main plot. Going back, I'm not sure I would keep this in if I ran it again.
Across the chapters, it also feels like the mystery into the Missing Moment (the whole party motivation) is a bit uneven. There's scattered pieces of information in the first couple of chapters, then a massive lore dump in the third, that is fairly on rails. Feels hard to make this feel "investigative" in a way that is satisfying.
Overall, most of the book felt good to run, but the last chapter felt weaker (and the campaign as a whole has issues).
