The Extinction Curse Adventure Path begins! The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the player characters are the stars of the show! When the ringmaster turns up dead, the fate of the traveling circus and its entertainers hangs in the balance, and the heroes must scramble to put on a successful show and find the killer—all at the same time! Investigations only lead to more questions, and the heroes find themselves center stage in a dangerous, prehistoric plot that threatens not just Abberton, but every inhabitant of the Starstone Isles!
"The Show Must Go On" is a Pathfinder Second Edition adventure for four 1st-level characters. This adventure begins the Extinction Curse Adventure Path, a six-part, monthly campaign in which the heroes lead a traveling circus as they unravel a plot to eradicate all life from the Starstone Isles at the heart of the Inner Sea. The adventure also includes advice on how to run a traveling circus, new circus-themed rules, and a menagerie of monsters both wondrous and wicked.
Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.
The Extinction Curse Adventure Path is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (972 kb PDF).
Note: The Life in the Circus article in this volume references a feat from the Extinction Curse Player's Guide. That feat isn't in the player's guide, but can be found here.
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
First things first: If you're running or playing this game, you need to understand that this is NOT a circus AP. The circus is just the vehicle to start things off and IF it shows up in later books, it only does so because the players want it to. I honestly feel players are better off not being a part of the circus at all. Be someone else just traveling with the circus; be a character investigating the decline of the isles; be a character researching the aeon orbs and towers; be a character interested in the history of Aroden. Any of those choices will be *so* much more fulfilling than a circus entertainer thrust into a xulgath plot. I really cannot emphasize this enough.
The Good
- I greatly enjoy the idea of the circus as a way to give the PCs a home with NPCs they care about. The circus provides PCs with an anchor. Some of the best RP at my table had was centered around those NPCs.
- The Hermitage and the aeon tower were both hits at my table. They were solid dungeons with interesting interactions and planted some breadcrumbs of things to come.
The Bad
- Some of the early encounters are absolutely brutal. I scaled a few things back so I didn't murder the PCs right out of the gate.
- It really makes no sense that the xulgath have all of these dinosaurs. Dinosaurs don't have darkvision; how are they coping with being in the Darklands?
The Ugly
The book starts the PCs off in the thick of a murder plot and the pressure of suddenly needing to run the circus NOW. The glaring issue with this set up is that the PCs have had no time to form bonds with any of these NPCs so they're not going to care someone was murdered. It's not personal, and it should be. Instead of opening up the book this way, I highly recommend starting at another town - let them meet the ringleader, meet some NPCs. Do this in theater of the mind and set up scenes for them before traveling to Abberton and having plot happen.
The beginning of the adventure is a very strong start, doing a grand job of teaching you how to run circus acts and combat. What I don't like is how long it can take to come back to that. You spend a lot of time doing traditional adventuring which is good quality if you look at individual stories and encounters within a vacuum.
Overall, I think this part of the adventure feels like a bait-and-switch. You start in the adventure's premise -- a party in the circus -- and then swerve away from that to investigate a deeper mystery.
It sounds like something dire happened to the isle of Kortos (... it probably has something to do with the end of Tyrant's Grasp, now that I think of it).
IN any case, first in Council of Thieves, PCs got to be actors. Now they get to run a circus. Maybe next edition, they'll get to run an entire brothel! ;)
IN any case, first in Council of Thieves, PCs got to be actors. Now they get to run a circus. Maybe next edition, they'll get to run an entire brothel! ;)
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Thomas Seitz wrote:
IN any case, first in Council of Thieves, PCs got to be actors. Now they get to run a circus. Maybe next edition, they'll get to run an entire brothel! ;)
IN any case, first in Council of Thieves, PCs got to be actors. Now they get to run a circus. Maybe next edition, they'll get to run an entire brothel! ;)
IN any case, first in Council of Thieves, PCs got to be actors. Now they get to run a circus. Maybe next edition, they'll get to run an entire brothel! ;)
Actually, I'd want to be a barbarian and lift many things. Or that act where you spit alcohol over a torch. Maybe I'd claim I came from Sarusan and had to throw dinosaurs at other dinosaurs to survive!
. I think that bard is one of those classes that could do it and not be left wanting. An all fighter party for example would be hard as would most classes... Of course I am thinking in 1st edition terms.
. I think that bard is one of those classes that could do it and not be left wanting. An all fighter party for example would be hard as would most classes... Of course I am thinking in 1st edition terms.
You can do all Fighters just fine. One can Multiclass as a Cleric, one Multiclass as Wizard, one MC as Rogue and one all fighter. There, perfectly viable all Fighter party
Finally the players can make clowns of themselves! ;-)
Too late, the writers of Tyrants Grasp already made clowns of the players.
Anyway the AP.
The oddest thing about this AP is I find myself not at all gripped by the spoilers for the three books advertised so far. Normally something jumps out and I think
"yay that will be cool"
even if later it turns out to be not what I was hoping.
I'm going to let you guys get this one when it comes out and I'll be interested to see what you make of it before I get it myself.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
NotBothered wrote:
The oddest thing about this AP is I find myself not at all gripped by the spoilers for the three books advertised so far.
On the flip side, my players have insisted that I not run Age of Ashes, so that they can jump into the AP where they get to run a circus as soon as it is released.
On the flip side, my players have insisted that I not run Age of Ashes, so that they can jump into the AP where they get to run a circus as soon as it is released.
Interesting, you'll have to let me know how it goes and whether it lives up to their expectations.
I have pre-ordered the "Age of Ashes" AP, but i am going to wait for the updated description with this one, whereas i am going to order "Agents of Edgewatch" asap.
Traveling the backwater settlements of the Starstone Isles excited me not at all, neither does being Circus performers beyond one adventure, sorry.
I had my players do the play in Council of Thieves, I think Paizo should make this a musical, with karaoke backing tracks included in the PDF, and sheete music available.....
My group is very excited for this! We're going to be running Age of Ashes for a bit to learn the system, but we'll be hopping over to this as soon as it's available.
Agreed. The title text/logo can be a little perfunctory and forgettable, but this one is great, tells a lot about the adventure and is incredibly eye-catching. The graphic designs/art team really outdid themselves on this.
Agreed. The title text/logo can be a little perfunctory and forgettable, but this one is great, tells a lot about the adventure and is incredibly eye-catching. The graphic designs/art team really outdid themselves on this.
I agree on all your points. That title logo and the cover illustration are fantastic, making this probably (IMO) the best AP cover ever! :)
More importantly, will it include NPCs speaking the lines:
"When you bring me out, can you introduce me as Witzmacher?"
"Have you ever danced with a dergoloth in pale moonlight?"
"How about a magic trick? I'll make this glaive ... disappear *TAADAA*"
Hopefully they don't forget to offer a continuous stream of new recruits - more and more exotic circus performer NPCs for the PCs to interact with as the whole circus levels up :)
