Dear Paizo Staff, Adventure Path Writers and James Jacobs,
I would just like to say thank you. Back in Issue #138, I read the Savage Tide Adventure Path outline and blew it off. "This sounds so lame and hokey... Shadow Pearls? Evil crustacean pirates? I'd never run this, it just sounds lame!"
Flash forward to two months past when I picked up issue #139 and began reading "There is No Honour." The more I read, the more I shook my head and muttered "This is so cool!"
I was already running a game of Call of Cthulhu and playing in a Forgotten Realms game. My schedule is really tight with college classes, and as I read "There is No Honour" I remember distinctly I said aloud: "I wish I had time to run this...!" and then I got about three or four pages further and said "I really don't have time to run this... but it's so cool!" and finally once I'd reached the Taxidermist, I said "I need to make time to run this."
The Adventure Paths have come a very long way. Shackled City felt like a dungeon crawl, except for Test of the Smoking Eye. Each adventure felt like it could be plunked down anywhere with little concern for what setting you had. I primarily wanted to run Shackled City just for the Test of the Smoking Eye, which was such a different adventure from the norm.
Savage Tide, on the other hand, is a different beast. This is such an incredible adventure and an incredible setting. I don't feel like it's a dungeon crawl. I am extremely excited for this adventure path, and I would just like to say thanks and I am very eager to see what's next. Maybe even more than my players!
Keep up the great work everybody, and be sure you've got one excited fan (and his gaming group) who are dying to see what's over the next horizon aboard the Sea Wyvern.
~ Bryon ~
I did the same. I wanted to run Age of Worms, but my contemporary campaign at the time was too big and time consuming and I would have had a hard time convincing anyone to switch. I used a few of the modules as part of my then ongoing campaign (Tilagos Island, notably) and then abandoned it.
With STAP, I have kind of wedged it in there as an alternative campaign to do when we are down a player or two, but it has taken on a life of its own. I actually hope to continue it with the smaller party instead of the main group because the core group is so much more of a pleasure to run for, and they actually allow a mood to develop.
STAP is challenging and engrossing, with a good balance of encounter types and adventure types that keeps the players guessing and a little scared. It is well written and a pleasure to run. Thanks, Dungeon staff and contributors, keep up the good work!