Hello all,
I have finally gotten around to picking up my copy of Pathfinder RPG and the bestiary with a view to taking a new group into things. The group have no previous experience of 3.5 or Pathfinder but I really think they joined the party at the right time :)
I have the first adventure of Rise of the Runelords and also the first of Council of Thieves and was looking for opinions/advice on which would be the best introduction to Golarion and the Pathfinder RPG.
Thanks in advance!
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I have no experience with Rise of the Runelords but my group is working its way through the council of the thieves right now. It is paizo's first shot at an adventure path for their own system and upon closer inspection it shows.
Now don't get me wrong, it is offering PLENTY of really cool and unique RP opportunities. Especially the sewers and the whole "big brother" feel, giving it a really good grounded creepy feel.
But that said, the players really need to be ready to be playing the part of "the rebel" and being an underdog, fighting for street justice! You have to weave the players story a little bit more... intricately than I imagine you would with later products.
I agree Rise of the Rune Lords rocks. I got to DM it through the first two modules until 2/3 of my group deployed, and it rocked.
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RotRL is better hands down. CoT has a few great moments (the second adventure is one of the best Paizo modules ever), but it has an extremely wonky opening and gets uneven later on.
RotRL on the other hand is full of memorable moments, has a cohesive plot, gets the party around all manner of places and has the old-school, epic, earth-shattering feel. And the opening adventure is pure genius.
The only downside is that RotRL is written for 3.5, and requires a bit of conversion work here and there. But trust me, it is worth the effort.
Hello all,
I have finally gotten around to picking up my copy of Pathfinder RPG and the bestiary with a view to taking a new group into things. The group have no previous experience of 3.5 or Pathfinder but I really think they joined the party at the right time :)
I have the first adventure of Rise of the Runelords and also the first of Council of Thieves and was looking for opinions/advice on which would be the best introduction to Golarion and the Pathfinder RPG.
Thanks in advance!
Well do you have gaming experience with your group? What kind of game do they like? Open world exploration? Urban espionage? Deep dungeon delving? I think getting an idea on what kind of game your group might be looking for it could help you pick an AP.
Played as a character in ROTRL all the way through, it rocked, great modules, interestign locales, ect.
Looked at DM'ing COT, I thought it was a let down. Didn't really care for much about it to be honest. Ended up selling the AP on Ebay.
Go with Runelords, your players will love it!
Well do you have gaming experience with your group? What kind of game do they like? Open world exploration? Urban espionage? Deep dungeon delving? I think getting an idea on what kind of game your group might be looking for it could help you pick an AP.
Good point. They are seasoned WFRP players, so the reality is all of above. WFRP tends not to dungeon bash in it's adventures - but that isn't necessarily an issue as a change of pace will be good.
What we are all looking for is for something that lets them take part in the growth of a hero sort of thing that Entropi mentioned. From what I hear, perhaps Council of Thieves is perhaps less this than Rise of the Runelords?
Thanks for the responses so far.
You said the group has no prior experience with 3.5 or Pathfinder - I gather that you do however. If that's the case, I would recommend Runelords more, the conversion work is mostly optional.
Runelords is a more classic one, Council of Thieves is a good urban campaign (I'm playing in that one). If you think your group would like that better (maybe they've played ShadowRun or something in the past?), go for that.
Both are good starter campaigns, neither requires your group to be experts (with minor exceptions of course, like the end of #2 in Runelords, where you can ease up). Tons of fan material for Runelords, plenty is being setup for Council of Thieves (some from my DM).
Edit for reply to last post: Runelords is more "growth of a hero", Council of Thieves is more "hidden hero" style, like batman actually.
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RotRL takes you from humble town heroes going up against goblins up to confrontation against ancient evil with the shape of the world at stake and lost cities of gold nested in impossible mountain ranges in the background. It's kinda epic. Actually, even quite a lot.
CoT takes you from a bunch of ragtag rebels going up against the oppresive authority up to a bunch of ragtag rebels trying to stop a more oppresive authority from replacing the less oppresive authority. Not really epic, if you ask me.
Thanks all - very useful indeed! Looks like I'm going to be reading Burnt Offerings tonight :)