I get the reasoning behind why APs stop at around level 15.
But I'd also really like to see the new and improved PF worked all the way through to level 20.
It seems to me it should be reasonable tp have our cake and eat it too on this one.
Leave the APs as they are. Council of Thieves will end after #30 at around level 13, and obviously that is not going to change.
But why not release a new L14 module set in or around Westcrown that assumes the CoT AP has happened. It could stand alone or be easily run as "the further adventures of..." This could extend all the way to L20, with disrupting the core AP structure.
please?
Paizo has stated in the past that they're open to the idea of a high-level adventure path that starts off at a higher level (say, 8) and ends at 20 or even higher. They aren't positive of the marketability of such a path, but they've not ruled it out.
I doubt we'd see it as a follow-up, though. It'd be a new adventure.
It's easy enough to do.
The PCs have spent months following the storyline of the AP through 6 installments. They're now in their mid-teens (exactly what level varies from AP to AP). They have defeated the ultimate bad guy and saved the world (or at least their corner of it). All is now right and good and just in the region.
Or is it?
Do the old "Everything you thought you knew was only the tip of the iceberg" routine. Something even bigger and nastier and wickeder [sic] was really running the show all along. Worse, the PCs were just one of the pawns of this ultimate evil and they never even knew it. By "saving the day" the PCs unwittingly removed the last barrier stopping this ultimate evil from entering the world and kicking butt and taking names.
Now the PCs have gone from heroes to fall-guys, and half the world thinks they were villains all along, in cahoots with this new ultimate evil, merely pretending to be heroes while they paved the way for their master to take over.
It's up to them to save the day again, only this time, it won't be as easy as the first time...
Do the old "Everything you thought you knew was only the tip of the iceberg" routine. Something even bigger and nastier and wickeder [sic] was really running the show all along. Worse, the PCs were just one of the pawns of this ultimate evil and they never even knew it. By "saving the day" the PCs unwittingly removed the last barrier stopping this ultimate evil from entering the world and kicking butt and taking names.
Note that Rise of the Runelords actually suggests this path if the PCs miss one very important room in the final dungeon...
It's up to them to save the day again, only this time, it won't be as easy as the first time...
Depending on the alignment of the "heroes", they might find it preferable to just side with the ultimate evil they've unleashed. If they have, say, a Bard in the party, they probably wouldn't find it too hard to negotiate a deal of some kind.
Perfect transition if the players are itching for an Evil game.
Paizo has stated in the past that they're open to the idea of a high-level adventure path that starts off at a higher level (say, 8) and ends at 20 or even higher. They aren't positive of the marketability of such a path, but they've not ruled it out.
Ok, I had not heard that. I had read then state that the L20 issues of Dungeon always sold the least, so that is why they stop sooner. I assumed that would still be at least somewhat true.
I doubt we'd see it as a follow-up, though. It'd be a new adventure.
Well, within the AP sequence I 100% agree. Stop the story and move on.
But I'd be very interested in continuing the story with free standing modules. Maybe my idea has already been discussed. I just did not see it.It just seems a way to keep the successful AP model going. It would be a gamble to change that it seems. But use simple modules to test the waters for on-going interest.
Creative Director
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Tying the modules so heavily in to an AP might be nice for the AP... but we do sort of worry that means that folks might be inclined to buy FEWER of that module since there'd be a preconception that you have to play an AP in order to play that module.
A far more likely thing you might be seeing us do in the future is instead to do a few high-level modules that are their own storyline that COULD fit in as a continuation to an AP, but such a continuation wouldn't be hardwired. The module "Blood of Dragonscar," for 15th level PCs, would work perfectly for a sequel to Council of Thieves in this manner.
Also... with the NEXT AP, Kingmaker, we'll be trying to have it go up to 18th level, so the need for a continuation adventure will be less, I hope...