Pathfinder Adventure Path #127: Crownfall (War for the Crown 1 of 6)

Thursty, Crystal, sundry freelancers and editorial team (plus anyone else I forgot):

This is an exquisite piece of work. I’ve been waiting for a Taldor AP forever and an intrigue/political agent AP as well. This is so well written I think it will cater to players all the way from “I roll a twelve to diplome the king” through to method actors in full regalia. That’s so great for a DM. “Social adventures” are so often dependant on just the right player cohort - I really feel like I could run this for anyone.

This volume has straight away become one of my favourite modules of all time. Really, really, really loving it. Thanks so much. Can’t wait for the next chapter!

So, Steve, how about a review? It's not like you aren't a prolific writer ;)

I’ve never really got the hang of review writing. Plus, this one would just be unseemly, gushing praise. :)

Maybe while I’m on holiday (we’re leaving tomorrow for a week on the Gold Coast sitting by a pool. I might get bored of lazily doing nothing...).

Reviews aren't too hard, I'm not sure why everyone thinks they have to be novellas, or well written. :-)

It’s not so much that they’re hard. It just kind of feels like I’m announcing “this opinion is important” when I write a review.

Things I post in a thread don’t have the same sense of formality, in my mind. I’m just chatting (or shouting into the maelstrom).

This is America yo! Everyone assumes everyone else wants to know their opinion about something (anything!).

Why else would Yelp exist. :-)

And, as someone that works in retail I always tell people if they aren't sure about buying something to check out reviews online.

In fact I sold a Beginner's Box over the D&D beginner set this winter after recommending they look at reviews here.

I can only encourage you to write reviews, especially if stuff you like. More positive reviews means more sales, which means more products of the same style/region/theme/kind will be made.

The post you made to there would be perfect for a review! Just copy and paste it and slap a star rating on it!

RPGers need to get over being review averse, even super obscure video games on Amazon get over a hundred reviews.

Even if it's just a star rating and "I (or we) really enjoyed it!"

That's actually why I originally got Kingmaker (and started down the AP rabbit hole).

Every review helps, no matter how small.

It’s not so much that they’re hard. It just kind of feels like I’m announcing “this opinion is important” when I write a review.

Check out the existing reviews and ask yourself "Would I drag down the average quality of reviews?".

That's one of the things that makes me write reviews. They might be overly detailed and overly positive (I usually don't rate products that don't fit my interests), but I guess they are helpful to at least a few people. Especially if there are only very few other reviews for the given product.

My opinion is important to me, but it's not important to the rest of you. Being on this messageboard proves that.

BUT IMHO, this a great introductory political intrigue and certainly one I want to run in 2018.

Thomas, it's always interesting hearing your opinion.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. :-)

Captain,

Thanks. My opinion is I REALLY want to make a Winter Witch PC for this...and run this for people that aren't that skilled in actual real life Diplomacy. :)

It’s not so much that they’re hard. It just kind of feels like I’m announcing “this opinion is important” when I write a review.

Things I post in a thread don’t have the same sense of formality, in my mind. I’m just chatting (or shouting into the maelstrom).

Yeah, but you want more adventures like this one? Right? The best way of getting more adventures likes this one is:

a) obviously, buying it
b) reviewing so that there's some tangible metric of its popularity and how it's received

Opinions buried in forum threads don't register that much.

Okay, okay! I get it!

I’ll try and say something sensible.

That's why I only say the name of the place where I would like an adventure, I figure Paizo knows what they're doing and can work out the rest. :-)

That said, Gorbacz is 100% correct, reviews are a useful tool, in addition to sales.

Not sure if this is the place to ask this, but I'm super new to OP and I've never been this excited for an Adventure Path before. Any of the vets out there know approximately how long it's been taking for APs to get PFS support? I really want to run this, but I don't want to run it if these things usually get support pretty quick - but I also don't want to be waiting for years, either!

Thanks!

Paizo has not sanctioned an Adventure Path for PFS Organized Play in well over a year (the last AP to be sanctioned for Pathfinder Society Organized Play was Giantslayer, which released over two years ago). Paizo has been better when it comes to adding character options from AP’s to the Aditional Resources page. But don’t expect to play War For the Crown for PFS credit anytime soon, though I’d love to be proven wrong.

I thought Hell's Rebels was sanctioned.

It is, I have chronicles and everything.

My bad, the Hell’s Rebels AP chronicles are not currently on the AR page. They are only three full AP’s behind (not counting Hell’s Vengeance as it will likely never be sanctioned). The point still stands.

So no one has sanctioned Strange Aeons then?

Weird...

Also! I picked up the book! I'm a good boy! :)

Off topic, but i don't know where else to post this, as the new updated site is'nt working so well (yet):

Why can't i post in the october product threads and when is the site expected to work fully?

Also a rough ETA for the players guide (like in the coming week or in two weeks) would be appreciated.

Thx.

@Marco, a stickied thread for issues with the site upgrade is here.

Re the Player's Guide, check these three posts.

Also a rough ETA for the players guide (like in the coming week or in two weeks) would be appreciated.

Thx.

They're working on it and will have it out as soon as possible for a free product (their words, not mine :-)).

They're not going to tell us when until its out. The pain they'll get if they're a nanosecond later than indicated is too much for the benefit (my words, not theirs :-))

So no one has sanctioned Strange Aeons then?

Weird...

Also! I picked up the book! I'm a good boy! :)

They sanctioned some of the character options, but they haven’t sanctioned the AP itself.

I think I'm going to have to get this for my brother involved in politics.

I think he'll love it!

is it ok to say that my players and I weren't happy with the AP?
or is this just a "positive things only" thing?

Of course it's okay, it's not going to be for everyone.

is it ok to say that my players and I weren't happy with the AP?

or is this just a "positive things only" thing?

It’s also really helpful to other folks to say what the issues were! There’s a difference between, say. “There was too much focus on skill checks so casters and martials both felt left out” and “The NPCs weren’t relatable enough to get invested in”.

King_Broderick wrote:

Not sure if this is the place to ask this, but I'm super new to OP and I've never been this excited for an Adventure Path before. Any of the vets out there know approximately how long it's been taking for APs to get PFS support? I really want to run this, but I don't want to run it if these things usually get support pretty quick - but I also don't want to be waiting for years, either!

Thanks!

Paizo has not sanctioned an Adventure Path for PFS Organized Play in well over a year (the last AP to be sanctioned for Pathfinder Society Organized Play was Giantslayer, which released over two years ago). Paizo has been better when it comes to adding character options from AP’s to the Aditional Resources page. But don’t expect to play War For the Crown for PFS credit anytime soon, though I’d love to be proven wrong.

War of the Crown likely won’t get sanctioned until after all six books come out, but it will as it’s currently in theme with Season 9. After that, the Ruins AP should be next. Aeons likely won’t get sanctioned as, much like Kingmaker, there are sections and instances that are too difficult to fit with OP without revising. The Return of the Runelords should be a guarantee as well unless strange mechanics are added to that as well.

is it ok to say that my players and I weren't happy with the AP?

or is this just a "positive things only" thing?

"We hated this." isn't really helpful, but you're welcome to express it.

I'm confused why anyone runs aps before all six parts are out and I'd be even more confused if someone tried to run AP before player's guide is out ._.;

I ran Serpent's Skull, keeping pace as it came out with the first two books, but then life and the holidays interrupted.

We also started Iron Gods but did not keep pace.

As to why, one word, enthusiasm. :-)

But it makes foreshadowing really hard when you don't know for sure what is gonna happen .-.

Because it's the new hotness and people don't grasp the AP concept at first.

But it makes foreshadowing really hard when you don't know for sure what is gonna happen .-.

Not at all! Foreshadowing is even better when the players know even the GM doesn’t know if it’s a red herring or not.

But it makes foreshadowing really hard when you don't know for sure what is gonna happen .-.

Our group had gotten *super* invested in the Golden Goblin, in Second Darkness, and had all sorts of big plans for it's future (and Riddleport, in farther flung schemes), and bang, it turned out to be not so big a deal in the later installments of that AP, so I'd definitely want the GM to have an idea of whether or not the location and characters introduced in the first installment have any bearing at all with where the AP is ending up, to avoid players getting too interested in the future of stuff the adventure wants them to forget.

With some it's kind of obvious. You don't go into Jade Regent expecting your character to spent the rest of their life in Sandpoint, or the Ulfen lands, or the Crown of the World, for that matter, one hopes! With others, not so much. My Kingmaker group didn't plan on leaving Golarion, that's for sure!

Suddenly reminded about how Council of Thieves starts with "These npcs will be important for the whole AP!" and second part starts with "The NPCs don't have any further official role". Also how the safehouse, base of pc operations for whole campaign that is introduced in first book, gets its map in the final book :p

There is also that GM can't give suggestions like "Err, if you want to play as cavalier, know that there aren't really any dungeons in the ap were your mount has good space" if they don't have all parts before starting the campaign <_<

I'm pretty sure cavailer archetypes that deal more with politics than mounted combat MIGHT have a bigger role. But I could be wrong.

It's also not wrong to say you don't like something. I didn't much care for Ironfang Invasion. But that's because I'm not a fan of hobgoblins and such.

any players guide for this

any players guide for this

Not yet. ETA is within the next couple of weeks.

I really like the inner cover of the map of Taldor - I wonder if any of the other succession claimants come into play during the rest of the campaign?

Decius,

I'm hopeful but uncertain.

I would be interested to know about any negatives people may have found with this, as well as the opinions of both those who liked it and did not on whether or not this would be a good choice for a gm with zero prior experience on that side of the table to whet his appetite on, or if I should look for other easier things to try out first, as well as what specifically might be problematic if anything.

On the council of theives thing, I think that's likely to be a bad example largely because when last I was vaguely considering getting an AP to run, CoT was one I looked into heavily, and from what I found in reviews, discussion, etc. the first book is just poorly done overall, as well as various other slightly smaller issues riddled throughout the remainder, and I did not come across many other APs, especially amongst the more recent ones, that sounded like they had as many issues, so I would be wary of using that as a metric for setting expectations.

Psychie,

Based on my cursory glance/skimming, I'd highly advise that novice GMs, especially those not well versed in political/social roleplaying might want to try something else. I'm not suggesting that it's ONLY that, but merely the focus is much stronger on social roleplaying alongside politics and diplomacy, more so than mere "I killed all the goblins!"

I think I'd agree with Thomas, in that there are also a LOT of NPCs to keep track of. The adventure suggests the GM make note cards for him/herself, which I think is key but still might prove challenging for novice GMs.

--

I could see some players being a little frustrated without an early combat to test out new character (my experience is even those focused as much on "role" as "roll" playing like to see how their characters' mechanics perform), but that's obviously going to vary from group to group. I can think of a relatively easy way to insert a combat early on for those who need/want such things (have Martella arrange some practice time so the group can learn how to work together better), so don't think that should be a big problem.

is it ok to say that my players and I weren't happy with the AP?

or is this just a "positive things only" thing?

Of course not! But elaborate on the issues please!

I know a lot of folks didn't like when the Evil Campaign came out and other AP's at times.

I'm a bit mixed with this one, but with a little fine tuning it works regardless.

Overall though! I am realllllly looking forward to where this goes!

Spoiler:

My issue was that, without the Player Guide, it seems that you can't be of nobility and vying for the Throne.

I've already seen what happened to them. And didn't have any reason to get attached! (Go play The Lion's Justice and see!)

Although the group I played in saved most of the Senators.

Edit: Oh, before I forget. For the final combat, the party entered the area via Dimension Door while flying and invisible. Yay, tactics!

thank you, there was a some issues but ill list the ones that i feel that fall outside of personal taste (myself and the players arent really fond of the politics and influence system created but thats our preference) before going into story and other gripes

(please excuse the poor typing, im useing a tablet device)

TriOmegaZero wrote:

I've already seen what happened to them. And didn't have any reason to get attached! (Go play The Lion's Justice and see!)

Although the group I played in saved most of the Senators. ** spoiler omitted **

No, that's precisely what happened in my play. Mine was merciful however.