Real quick question, guys:
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I think that is up to you. Whatever it is, she should end up in Kelmarane prior to the start of the second adventure. If any PC's are low on XP, then maybe give them some for the year's worth of stuff they did along with a little coin. Some PC's will help rebuild the town or Church and others will venture out and then return. What they do and what they get for it is mostly your call and can add to the story line.
I think it is probably just its status as the last 3.5 adventure.
If you are sticking with 3.5, you are probably playing one of the earlier ones, and only have a 1 in 4 (or 1 in 7 if you count back to Shackled City) even if you assume equal likelihood.
If you are going to PF, but don't mind conversion, you are pretty much in the same camp as above.
If you want to jump into PF, you only have one AP to choose from until Feb.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if an AP went through a lull in between lots of people chatting about it after reading it because it just came out, and lots of people chatting about it because they are playing it.
My least favorite component in Legacy of Fire was the Dungeon-crawl filler in the City of Brass. With such an exotic location, I had hoped for more.That said, not a bad campaign. Some leading the players by their nose, but no more than other adventure paths.
I liked it but attribute that, at least in part to the fact that it was a 'break out of the dungeon' scenario i.e. a real twist on the standard theme.
I think that is up to you. Whatever it is, she should end up in Kelmarane prior to the start of the second adventure. If any PC's are low on XP, then maybe give them some for the year's worth of stuff they did along with a little coin. Some PC's will help rebuild the town or Church and others will venture out and then return. What they do and what they get for it is mostly your call and can add to the story line.
Yeah, but on Pg. 54 it says:
emphisas mine. thanks.
I didn't mind MoD, but I like the idea of that, and the Queen.Regarding the reworking of 5th SD adventure:
** spoiler omitted **
I believe that in the Foreward by Wes on Pg 5, bottom of the 1st column, he talks about this issue of the convoluted politics and suggests this "fix" for groups that might not like the double-dealing.
Sounds like good advice all round.
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Well from the talks on the forums, from my point of view it seems SD is over all the least popular AP so far. Not bad just didn't get the love the other ones have gotten.
For me since this kinda is sorta on topic, my fav from a GM point of view are.
RotRL
CotCT
LoF
SD
Not judging CoT till all the books are out but right now it is looking to be either just above or just below CotCT.
IMO, Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire are less popular than Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne for a specific reason: the more specialized the theme, the less popular it will be. Both Second Darkness (drow/elves/Darklands) and Legacy of Fire (Arabian style adventure/genies) are less broadly applicable than Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne, which tends to limit their popularity; a similar effect occurs with high-level adventures.
If I had to guess, Council of Thieves will probably be somewhere around the same popularity as Curse of the Crimson Throne (considering such imponderables, with the lack of hard data available outside of the publishing companies, as the 3.x vs. PF vs. 4e market breakdown). As another guess, I expect Kingmaker to be somewhere around the same popularity as Rise of the Runelords (considering how rare, compared to the demand, being able to rule/run a land as part of a published adventure is).
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Just started playing LoF. I'm usually the one running the game. Now, I'm mentoring my friend who's interested in running games. He's doing well so far.
I've only read RotRL and CotCT all the way through. I never got SD just because I'm really not into drow.
Between RotRL and CotCT, Runelords is my favorite. It's just uber-creepy and fantastic on sooo many different levels. I'm currently running Runelords. We're on #5.
I'm going to be starting playing CoT soon, but I would LOVE to play in a LoF game, I love me some Al-Qadim and Arabian settings!
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My favorites are: 1 - Legacy of Fire, 2 - Rise of the Runelords, 3 - Curse of the Crimson Throne, 4 - Second Darkness. I cannot evaluate Council of Thieves until it is all out. I have very high hopes for the next two adventure paths.
I agree that the specialized settings may be less popular, but for those who crave something a little further away from the norm, then these are perfect. The feel of Legacy of Fire is much different than your typical adventure and that is why we have been enjoying it so much.
Here is my real problem - It will take us roughly 14-16 months to play the entire Adventure Path. By then, we will have a dozen other AP adventures out. We cannot play them fast enough, so we have to push a few off to the side and realize that we will never play them. It breaks my heart, but that's the reality.
IMO, Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire are less popular than Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne for a specific reason: the more specialized the theme, the less popular it will be. Both Second Darkness (drow/elves/Darklands) and Legacy of Fire (Arabian style adventure/genies) are less broadly applicable than Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne, which tends to limit their popularity; a similar effect occurs with high-level adventures.
If I had to guess, Council of Thieves will probably be somewhere around the same popularity as Curse of the Crimson Throne (considering such imponderables, with the lack of hard data available outside of the publishing companies, as the 3.x vs. PF vs. 4e market breakdown). As another guess, I expect Kingmaker to be somewhere around the same popularity as Rise of the Runelords (considering how rare, compared to the demand, being able to rule/run a land as part of a published adventure is).
You seem to b contradicting yourself here. Ruling lands is pretty specialized and hence it should not be popular but then getting to rule lands is rare and hence it should be popular. Note that this applies to Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire as well. Drow or Arabian themed adventures are nonstandard and the very nature of being nonstandard makes them also rare - few adventures are Arabian themed after all.
Even beyond this I'm not at all sure that either Rise of the Runelords or Curse of the Crimson Throne are actually all that common. City Campaigns are not unheard of but they are not common either and Rise of the Runelords really, really, pushed the envelope in terms of content.
Truth is I suspect that each AP will have a little more difficulty wowing the audience then the last one. The AP concept itself has now been around the block something like 8 times. Its tough to keep our attention. Maybe not impossible (I mean a periodical that was full of adventures is not so different a concept) but tricky.
As another guess, I expect Kingmaker to be somewhere around the same popularity as Rise of the Runelords (considering how rare, compared to the demand, being able to rule/run a land as part of a published adventure is).You seem to b contradicting yourself here. Ruling lands is pretty specialized and hence it should not be popular but then getting to rule lands is rare and hence it should be popular. Note that this applies to Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire as well. Drow or Arabian themed adventures are nonstandard and the very nature of being nonstandard makes them also rare - few adventures are Arabian themed after all.
Ruling a land is a classic part of earlier editions (BECMI D&D, 1st Ed AD&D, 2nd Ed AD&D) and pretty common in fantasy literature. It's much more broadly applicable than a "specialized" focus on themes such as drow/elf conflict or genies. The problem is that 3.x skimped on covering it (Leadership notwithstanding, although 3.0 had a bit more coverage than 3.5) and there's not much in the way of published support ("Tides of Dread" in Dungeon #143 and Hook Mountain Massacre being the only two that I can think of off the top of my head; Affiliations in PHB II are painful to use for rulership of a land, instead of guilds, orders, etc.).
H1-4 (Bloodstone Pass, etc.) is still one of my favorite 1st Ed AD&D module series, even with all of the "in jokes."
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I've actually been running LoF as my first Pathfinder RPG campaign, but haven't been posting much about it because it's been going by so quickly! It's pretty amazing so far, with The Jackal's Price being the highlight of the AP up to now.
Unfortunately, the adventure's titular character went down pretty easily when he was blinded by a holy smite and then rolled a 1 on his next attack roll, critically fumbling, which caused him to fall prone and blind himself for another 3 rounds via the Critical Fumble deck. With a Ranger on one side and a Rogue on the other, it did not take long for him to go down. Thankfully, the battle wasn't over there... :)
Looking forward to seeing what Part 4 brings to the table!
Since we put in treasure amounts assuming 4 players... I certainly hope you're increasing the amount of treasure found in the adventure by half-again the listed amounts!
Oops, I have to admit I haven't done that with any of the APs I've run.
Oh well.
Howl of the Carrion King definitely rocked, as does the companion piece building on that adventure.
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Sigh. I had a long post written up for this, but the stupid 'back' button on my mouse erased it. DUMB MOUSE.
Anyhow. I have 5 players, they are nearing the end of House of the Beast. I ruled that, once per week, a trader would pass through Kelmarane with more valuable gear (a set list) and a higher 'buy' limit than Kelmarane had so they could occasionally sell/buy more than what the town could offer. Also, I had the "High Priestess" of Sarenrae that came to help rebuild the church be the example Cleric 9 from the Sarenrae article in HotB.
Besides those two things, I have changed virtually nothing about these adventures. Especially the gear. Everything is as it is. The party cannot get everything back, but they have a camel and some decent carrying methods so they can get back the magical items (or some of the masterwork items too).
They have also had to wait and trade away 20,000 GP worth of gear they've found to pay for the 10,000 GP worth of diamond dust to fund two Raise Deads.
STILL, after all that, we added up the value of every item they have in the group, divided by 5, and the average wealth per party member is only 1,000 under what is expected for level 7 characters (which they just hit, at end of HotB).
Truth be told, there is a LOT of valuable gear in HotB. Enough so that 5 level 7 characters are getting rich. From the rings of minor energy resistance (12,000 each) to the many valuable items they find on the carrion guards (masterwork mighty comp longbows, 800 GP each), there is a LOT of valuable items to find. Personally, I'd recommend just waiting and see, keep track of the gear of everyone and make sure they're staying above the average for their level, but otherwise I don't think you need to add anything.
Spoilers below show exactly what they have and where they've acquired it, just to get a feel for things.
Aakief, Halfling Ranger 7
+1 warhammer, small - 2,312 - Found
+1 Composite Longbow, Small(Mighty +1) - 2,500 - Purchased during year downtime
+1 Mithral Chain Shirt - 2,100 - Purchased during year downtime
Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2 - 4,000 - Purchased during year downtime
Total: 10,912
Hasam, Human Barbarian 7
Tempest (Falchion) 10,000gp or so - Found
Ring of Protect 1 - 1,000gp - Found
Amulet of Nat Armor 1 2,000 - Found
Ring of Fire Resist (10) 12,000gp - Found
Belt of Mighty Con +2 4,000 - Found
Total: 29,000
Kiira, Elven Monk 1/Cleric 6 (Irori)
Cloak of Resistance +1 - 1,000 - Found
Amulet of Mighty Fists +1 - 5,000 - Found
Bracers of Armor +1 - 1,000 - Purchased during year downtime
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 - 2,000 - Found
Ring of Protection +1 - 2,000 - Found
Ring of Jumping - 2,500 - Found
Brooch of Shielding - 1,500 - Found
Total - 15,000
Yes, she has like three neck slot items, she only wears one at a time though
Sahir, Human Paladin 7 (Sarenrae)
Phylactery of Faithfulness - 1,000 - Found
+1 Chain Shirt - 1,350 - Found
Headband of Charisma +2 - 4,000 - Found
Belt of Dexterity +2 - 4,000 - Purchased during year downtime
+1 Scimitar - 2,300 - Purchased during year downtime
Lesser Strand of Prayer Beads - 9,600 - Found
Ring of Protection +2 - 8,000 - Found
Total - 30,250
Taren, Halfling Rouge 1/Bard 6
Ring of Feather Fall - 2,200 - Found
Chime of Opening - 1,500 - Found
Slippers of Spider Climb - 4,800 - Found
Belt of Constitution +2 - 4,000 - Found
Ring of Fire Resistance (Minor) - 12,000 - Found
Ioun Stone (Cracked Dusty Rose) - 500 - Purchased during year downtime
Ioun Stone (Cracked Vibrant Purple) - 2,000 - Purchased during year downtime
Ioun Stone (Cracked Pale Ruby Trillian) - 200 - Purchased during year downtime
Wayfinder - 500 - Started with from trait
Total - 27,200
As you can see, plenty of loot. Remember they've had enough to buy 10,000 GP worth of diamond dust for Raise Deads as well. The most recent one was traded for by 11 suits of +1 Studded Leather Armor alone.
I'd have to say that LoF is by far my favorite of the APs so far:
1) LoF
2) CotCT
3) RotRL
4) SD
As with others, I can't evaluate CoT until they are all out, but first impressions put it tied at #3 with RotRL. While there are great ideas, there are... problems... (see CoT board) with some of the execution. I'm still not sure what to think.
my faves in order...
1) RotRL & CotCT tie. I would love another crack at RotRL (my original attempt fizzled due to one of our players moving to the west coast and a busy summer for some alot of us). RotRL is more inline with my traditional D&Dish feel (small town, wilderness lairs etc), while CotCT is primarily Urban with an unbelievably awesome plot.
2) CoT. Its using the new rules and a tad easier to prep, great story etc. I was on the fence with this one until I got the PDF of the third module. Im not that big into Urban adventures though I do like them. This one after looking through 3 and reading the descriptions about the other three looks great.
The only big problem here is the XP in the first module. Its easily solved by going with fast progression until after the sewer gauntlet though.
We were going to do LoF originally instead of CoT until the PFRPG book hit us. :) Matter of fact, two of our characters were written and "trait-ed" for LoF then redone for CoT using PFRPG rules.
3) LoF. Very cool arabian flavor, still undecided on the pocket dimension module of it and the City of Brass didnt hit me as hard as I hoped it would. Im still on the fence about the Pugwampis too. :)
4) SD. Didnt really get too much of a read through, but I know I hated the Atlantic City/Las Vegas beginning. I need to sit down for a serious browse through one day.
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I think that is up to you. Whatever it is, she should end up in Kelmarane prior to the start of the second adventure. If any PC's are low on XP, then maybe give them some for the year's worth of stuff they did along with a little coin. Some PC's will help rebuild the town or Church and others will venture out and then return. What they do and what they get for it is mostly your call and can add to the story line.Yeah, but on Pg. 54 it says: ** spoiler omitted **
emphisas mine. thanks.
The benefits are listed in The Final Wish page 11.
I'm quite fond of Legacy of Fire, in fact it's at the top as my new favorite AP, mainly because our RotRL's game just fell apart at the Fortress of the Stone Giants. The PC's didn't like the adventure, there were things that made great sense in a flavor aspect but left the PC's scratching their heads, laughing, or simply being unable to take it seriously. I did, however, like how they mixed creepy with classic in the first half of the AP and I would probably reinvent FotSG altogether if I ran it again. Maybe make it an actual fortress...
In order, my favorites are:
Legacy of Fire
So many reasons. Even though, at first, I had no interest in this AP seeing as I had no interest in an Arabian style setting. In fact I thought the City of Brass was rather lame (I was a Sigil fan, still am but I no longer consider the City of Brass to be lame :P). The first module grabbed me and I've been hooked ever since. It was also refreshing to get out of Varisia, sure it is a great gaming area but three AP's is enough for me.
Rise of the Runelords
I was excited to run this one, the only AP's that came close to matching that excitement were the Age of Worms and Legacy of Fire. It had classic monsters, a villain that wasn't some larger than life deity, and plenty of dark and creepy elements which I'm a fan of. (Fantasy horror is likely my favorite sub-genre of Fantasy literature) Alas our game fell apart due to, what I believe, is the AP's weakest module (Fortress of the Stone Giants, sorry Wolfgang) and social strife between my players (nerd drama for the lose). If I were to run this again I'd likely heavily alter or edit FotSG some how to better weave the way to number 5.
Curse of the Crimson Throne
This came out while I was running RotR so while I found it interesting my focus was elsewhere. That and the story didn't grip me enough. Knowing how my players think I know they'd look at Korvosa and go "Wow, this city kind of sucks" and from there it would be hard convincing them to care much about going to one of the more interesting cities in the region. I knew they'd have a hard time investing in it were I to run them through the AP. I also never read more than the first two modules as I eventually got into a play by post game as a player and didn't want to read too much.
Second Darkness
This sits in last for a few reasons. The first module never grabbed me, it was interesting but it just never made me go "Oooh! I really want to run that!" Sort of like the first 15 pages of a book needs to get my attention in order for me to read the entirety of it. I also didn't like the fact that it focused so much on elves. There's a lot of elf-hate in our group. Comes from reading too many fantasy novels where the elves end up over-glorified and the like. Apparently the AP suffered as the last two adventures had to be rushed due to Gen Con and PRPG elements. Things got changed last minute and the quality suffered for it.
All in all I think a good read of this thread will show that Legacy of Fire is not the least favorite. Likely it's more what previous posters have mentioned: People have other games going on. In a year or something you'll find more posts popping up here than before as old campaigns wrap up and people crack open those yellow and red volumes of goodness.
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I guess I'll add my opinion to this interesting thread ;)
I have not read SD or COT yet, but have enjoyed the other 3 AP's. I would rate them like this (going one step further and rating adventures as well. Note that anything I rate 7 and above is an adventure I like):
Favorite: Curse of the Crimson Throne. I have not had the chance to run it with my friends, but I think I would greatly enjoy the depth of character interaction possible due to the very detailed city of Korvosa, and the many interesting NPCs (many of which are recurring from one adventure to the next).
Edge of Anarchy 10/10
Seven Days to the Grave 10/10
Escape from Old Korvosa 9/10
A History of Ashes 7/10
Skeletons of Scarwall 9/10
A Crown of Fangs 8/10
2nd Favorite: Rise of the Runelords. I had the privilege of running the entirety of this excellent campaign, and loved most of it very much. Especially the first half of the campaign was absolutely awesome. I'm putting it in 2nd place just because I think I would've enjoyed CotCT even more.
Burnt Offerings 10/10
The Skinsaw Murders 10/10
The Hook Mountain Massacre 10/10
Fortress of the Stone Giants 5/10
Sins of the Saviors 8/10
The Spires of Xin-Shalast 7/10
3rd Favorite: Legacy of Fire. Not that I don't like this campaign, but I don't adore it as much as the other two. I prefer a classic D&D feeling rather than the Arabian nights background, and also, I found the NPC's (allies and villains alike) of the other two campaigns more appealing.
Howl of the Carrion King 10/10
House of the Beast 8/10
The Jackal's Price 9/10
The End of Eternity 5/10
The Impossible Eye 6/10
The Final Wish 9/10
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I guess I'll add my opinion to this interesting thread ;)
I have not read SD or COT yet, but have enjoyed the other 3 AP's. I would rate them like this (going one step further and rating adventures as well. Note that anything I rate 7 and above is an adventure I like):
Favorite: Curse of the Crimson Throne. I have not had the chance to run it with my friends, but I think I would greatly enjoy the depth of character interaction possible due to the very detailed city of Korvosa, and the many interesting NPCs (many of which are recurring from one adventure to the next).
Edge of Anarchy 10/10
Seven Days to the Grave 10/10
Escape from Old Korvosa 9/10
A History of Ashes 7/10
Skeletons of Scarwall 9/10
A Crown of Fangs 8/102nd Favorite: Rise of the Runelords. I had the privilege of running the entirety of this excellent campaign, and loved most of it very much. Especially the first half of the campaign was absolutely awesome. I'm putting it in 2nd place just because I think I would've enjoyed CotCT even more.
Burnt Offerings 10/10
The Skinsaw Murders 10/10
The Hook Mountain Massacre 10/10
Fortress of the Stone Giants 5/10
Sins of the Saviors 8/10
The Spires of Xin-Shalast 7/103rd Favorite: Legacy of Fire. Not that I don't like this campaign, but I don't adore it as much as the other two. I prefer a classic D&D feeling rather than the Arabian nights background, and also, I found the NPC's (allies and villains alike) of the other two campaigns more appealing.
Howl of the Carrion King 10/10
House of the Beast 8/10
The Jackal's Price 9/10
The End of Eternity 5/10
The Impossible Eye 6/10
The Final Wish 9/10
Boo hiss! My mod (End of Eternity) got the lowest grade on your whole list (tied with Stone Giants)! Waaah, unfair!
Hopefully you'll enjoy "War of the River Kings" better...
Seriously tho, this is a very interesting thread. I've only played one AP (Savage Tide) and never actually run one, though I'm planning to run Kingmaker once it comes out. Ironically, I love Arabian-style adventures and ran an updated 3.5 Al-Qadim campaign for over a year; maybe I should see if those players would be up for another go-round with LoF. I'm glad to see the love for LoF and hope folks enjoy it once they get to play it.
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Boo hiss! My mod (End of Eternity) got the lowest grade on your whole list (tied with Stone Giants)! Waaah, unfair!
Hopefully you'll enjoy "War of the River Kings" better...
Seriously tho, this is a very interesting thread. I've only played one AP (Savage Tide) and never actually run one, though I'm planning to run Kingmaker once it comes out....
Well, to point out the positives, your mod was actually tied for last, with Wolfgang's mod! So that's good company, right? :D
This is actually where I'm at in the campaign, so it'll be interesting to see how it runs. I'm looking forward to it, though. I love adventures where the PCs get to side with a faction and actually feel as though they have an effect on the world (or demiplane, as the case may be).
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My ratings:
1) Rise of the Runelords
2) Second Darkness
3) Curse of the Crimson Throne
4) Legacy of Fire
It's funny that Book 5 from SD seems to get a lot of negative attention. There is always one book in each campaign that I don't like and it is usually the fifth book although I loved Skeletons of Scarwall (A History of Ashes... not so much). Anyways, with that being said, I guess I'm one of the few people that rate SD higher as I enjoyed it. Legacy of Fire is low because I did not like the two consecutive prison adventures which hurt the second half of the AP.
I'm not sure where Council of Thieves will end up, it started slow for me but as I saw the picture unfolding with the first three books, I'm *really* starting to like it.
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Boo hiss! My mod (End of Eternity) got the lowest grade on your whole list (tied with Stone Giants)! Waaah, unfair!
Hopefully you'll enjoy "War of the River Kings" better...
Seriously tho, this is a very interesting thread. I've only played one AP (Savage Tide) and never actually run one, though I'm planning to run Kingmaker once it comes out....
I'm really sorry Jason. :( I felt really bad after posting this list and was hoping I was not going to hurt anyone's feelings. :((((((
I guess I just had a hard time trying to figure out how I would run this adventure. Perhaps it's because of the sandbox aspect, which is more suited to "winging it" GM's, and I'm more of a "prepare everything super thoroughly ahead of time" GM.
Is your next adventure part of Kingmaker? I am very excited about that AP!
My ranking of the Pathfinder Adventure Paths is:
1: Legacy of Fire
2: Curse of the Crimson Throne
3: Rise of the Runelords
Can't comment on Council of Thieves yet, and I didn't like Second Darkness at all.
I will say that the top 3 rankings are very close, and very dependent on the gaming group. With my current gaming group LoF and CotCT might be switched, but we are running LoF now. With my old gaming group (now defunct), RotRL would have made it to 1 and I would *never* run CotCT for them!
-- david
Papa.DRB
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Boo hiss! My mod (End of Eternity) got the lowest grade on your whole list (tied with Stone Giants)! Waaah, unfair!
Hopefully you'll enjoy "War of the River Kings" better...
Seriously tho, this is a very interesting thread. I've only played one AP (Savage Tide) and never actually run one, though I'm planning to run Kingmaker once it comes out....
I'm really sorry Jason. :( I felt really bad after posting this list and was hoping I was not going to hurt anyone's feelings. :((((((
I guess I just had a hard time trying to figure out how I would run this adventure. Perhaps it's because of the sandbox aspect, which is more suited to "winging it" GM's, and I'm more of a "prepare everything super thoroughly ahead of time" GM.
Is your next adventure part of Kingmaker? I am very excited about that AP!
Oh please, I'm just funnin ya. One thing you need to learn early and remind yourself often with ANY creative project is some folks will dig it and some folks won't. NOTHING appeals to everybody.
Besides, as someone else pointed out, that ties me with Wolf Baur, so that's not bad company at all! :)
That particular adventure WAS super-sandboxy, and that was entirely by design and intention. In fact, when I was first talking with James about writing one of the LoF adventures 1 and 2 had been assigned but I basically had my choice of the other 4, and I loved the idea of doing what became EoE as a sandboxy adventure that could be "solved" in several different yet legitimate ways. That does make it hard for a "prepare everything" DM to run, because you don't really know ahead of time which side the PCs are going to choose, or what order they'll explore things.
I'm actually looking forward to hearing more campaign stories from this AP as groups get to that point in the AP (most of the ones posted are dealing with the first two adventures so far), just to see the different ways groups end up going on how they deal with the various factions.
Anyway, yes, my next AP is #5 in the Kingmaker order, and while it has some open-ended elements to it, it definitely follows more of a specific path to the flow of events. Still plenty of room for surprises, though... :)
If it makes you feel better, Jason, one of my players has said that "End of Eternity" is his favorite AP module ever, stretching all the way back to the Age of Worms.
I've noticed something kind of annoying with the APs, though--something that might deserve its own thread. Every fifth installment is always a giant dungeon. Always.
In Curse of the Crimson Throne, it's a haunted castle.
In Second Darkness, it's the palace of an elven secret society (and it really fails, because it's treated like a dungeon, but you're not supposed to kill its occupants and nothing really happens).
In Legacy of Fire, it's the abandoned palace of the end-boss.
In Council of Thieves, it's going to be a thieves' guildhall.
And three of these are written by the same person! I'd like a little more variety in my penultimate adventures, please.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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If it makes you feel better, Jason, one of my players has said that "End of Eternity" is his favorite AP module ever, stretching all the way back to the Age of Worms.
Yay! See, there you go. Lovers, haters, and all points in between. What did he/she like about it?
I've noticed something kind of annoying with the APs, though--something that might deserve its own thread. Every fifth installment is always a giant dungeon. Always.
** spoiler omitted **
And three of these are written by the same person! I'd like a little more variety in my penultimate adventures, please.
Well, I can categorically guarantee that that streak will be broken in Kingmaker. There is a dungeon area in KM #5, but it only takes up about 1/4 of the adventure. The rest of the adventure is... well, I don't want to spoil it. It's a variety of things, and hopefully all of them will be fun.
If it makes you feel better, Jason, one of my players has said that "End of Eternity" is his favorite AP module ever, stretching all the way back to the Age of Worms.Yay! See, there you go. Lovers, haters, and all points in between. What did he/she like about it?
Casey liked the free-form and exploration-base of it, and he especially liked the concept of the plane that's falling apart. The way he puts it, the party comes into an elaborate facade, then gets to go behind the scenes and find out how it's going wrong. He's previously compared it to a video game where you know some of the cheat codes going in.
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I started running LoF in early Sept, and we are finished with book 1. So far so good. I think the strength of LoF is the Arabic theme and the AP hangs together very well. In addition, I am going to run Necropolis right after it, so this is going to be a super campaign. My buddy is starting up RotRL again, and I will be jumping into that. He had to take a break when real world requirements took away from his gaming time.
My general thoughts on the AP's so far:
1. CotCT - Hands down my favorite of the bunch. The whole thing is brilliant. PF11 is one of my favorite modules of the line so far.
2. RotRL - This was very good also. It has a very traditional feel to it. I loved PF2.
3. LoF - Heavy on flavor, and represents a departure from your typical European style adventures. Also, it gets bonus points for including the City of Brass. There are just a lot of things to do in this AP. As I stated earlier, I am going to beef up the CoB segment and combine it with Necropolis.
4. SD - This is very different than the others. It is a combination dark fantasy, with some horror elements. PF 14 (Children of the Void) is really starting to grow on me, and I am liking it more. I thought that the entire series was a bit light on crunch, and I would have liked to have seen more dungeons.
5. CoT - An urban adventure through and through. Probably my least favorite so far. IMO, way too much fluff and not enough crunch. The first book is too light. The second book is interesting. I applaud the team for trying something like this, and I suspect that it would be rather fun to play through.
I am definitely looking forward to Kingmaker.
Our group finished SCAP and I looked at the other AP's and decided to do LoF next. We're in the middle of The Jackal's Price, and I'm certainly enjoying the GM'ing.
Part of the reason for choosing LoF is that I got the feeling is that it's a less gritty, more heroic than most of the other AP's, and that kind of adventure suits our group better.
I don't feel that we have overdone the arabic flavor, but it's very nice with a dash of spice to the Fantasy genre.
With the current pace, it'll probably take about a year before we've finished up the LoF. I think that it's a great AP - and that the authors and editors deserves heaps of praise for having done a great job with this one.
/ Henning
I am finishing up being a player in the SD AP and I will be GM'ing the group through this AP. I have to say that I am very excited about the AP because of the fairly cinematic/heroic flavour of the AP.
Very excited to start running this though I do have to re-work some of the maps so that they will fit on the play-table! That's my only complaint. *wink*