I'd agree with Tides of Dread for Savage Tide. A great sandbox adventure and it really was the highpoint for my group.
As for the Pathfinder series only speaking from my experience, Seven Days to the Grave in CoCT was great. Had a lot of sandbox qualities, investigation, undead and of course mobs of plague victims.
Skinsaw from Runelords is a close second though.
I can't speak to the APs after Crimson Throne though. Children of the Void looked like it would be a lot of fun but the rest of SD didn't pique my interest.
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Skeletons of Scarwall has to be one of my favorite dungeon-crawls...
Otherwise, off the top of me head...
-Burnt Ashes for all the goblin goodness
-Seven Days to the Grave for the plague doctors
-Children of the Void was awesome for many reasons
-Howl of the Carrion King
-What Lies in Dust, another great dungeon-crawl
+1 to Gorbacz's choices :)
RotRL:
Skinsaw Murders
CotCT:
Skeletons of Scarwall
SD:
Ermmm ... Children of the Void
LoF:
End of Eternity
CoT:
Sixfold Trial
KM:
Sound of a Thousand Screams
Wow Gorbacz, you and I are on the same wave length. The only adventure I don't agree with is Sound of a Thousand Screams, only because I haven't read it yet.
Frm the APs I´ve GMed, including those from Dungeon Magazine (might include mild spoilers):
Shackled City: Foundations of Flame, because it plays out like a great disaster movie. We had a blast.
Age of Worms: Tied between The Whispering Cairn (cool and inventive dungeon) and Kings of the Rift (Dragons vs. Giants!).
Savage Tide: Tides of Dread for sandbox goodness.
Legacy of Fire: Howl of the Carrion King, just a great module throughout.
Starting Kingmaker tomorrow.
RotRL: Skinsaw Murders (Great horror and the grand finale of "WTF Dude Seriously!?") Hook Mountain Massacre (Hillbilly Ogres! What more could a kid ask for!?)
CotCT: Seven Days to the Grave (killing off massive amounts of townsfolk with very little dice rolling is always a sunny spot in any GM's life :))
LoF: Howl of the Carrion King (Hurray for Pugwampis)& End of Eternity (really fun to run with some elbow room)
CoT: Sixfold Trial (Although we skipped the AP in general I have stolen bits and tids for other adventures)
KM: Stolen Land & Blood for Blood (exploration & kingdom building are probably going to sink a whole year of our group's gaming due to the utter joy they are having with both facets thus far)
Shackled City (Hardcover)- Flood Season (mostly for the character interaction), with Test of the Smoking Eye (an interesting way to make a character central to the story) and Lords of Oblivion (where the party learns just how messed up Cauldron's leadership really is) being nearly as good
Age of Worms- The Whispering Cairn (awesome low-level adventure), with Champions Belt (gladiators AND dungeon-delving, with some investigation thrown in) and Prince of Redhand (the feast, especially) as honorable mentions
Savage Tide- Tides of Dread (great sandbox, community building, and mass combat elements), with The Bullywug Gambit (savage creatures and a hostage rescue) and Into the Maw (some good sandbox elements and a final confrontation with a recurring villain) close behind
Rise of the Runelords- The Skinsaw Murders (ghouls, haunted mansions, and a final BBEG worthy of the name) edges out the rest, although they're all very good, with The Spires of Xin-Shalast (cannibal dwarves, a lost city, and Karzoug) as the next best
Curse of the Crimson Throne- Escape from Old Korvosa (Blood Pig and the Vivified Labyrinth) is my favorite, with Legacy of Ashes (plays out like a old-fashioned serial show or soap opera) as my second choice
Second Darkness- Endless Night (infiltrate a drow city) is probably the coolest part of the AP, although Children of the Void (space monsters and void zombies) is nearly as cool
Legacy of Fire- Howl of the Carrion King (pugwampis, gnolls, and daemons, oh my) is probably the best, with The Jackal's Price (Katapesh, crime lords, and denizens of Leng) as the runner up
Council of Thieves- The Sixfold Trial (survive a murder-play, attend a feast, and explore an extra-dimensional dungeon) is pretty much pure awesomeness, with What Lies in Dust (explore a Pathfinder Lodge) a distant second
Kingmaker- The Varnhold Vanishing (a good mix of sandbox and single plot) just beats out Rivers Run Red (sandbox and city/kingdom building)
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The Whispering Cairn by Erik Mona, the first instalment in the Age of Worms AP is my favourite -- and it is also Paizo's best to date, in my opinion. Indeed, The Whispering Cairn is as close to a "shared experience" that gamers have had in the 21st century since the days of 1st Edition.
I would argue that this adventure, together with the extensive background on Diamond Lake, is the adventure that built Paizo as a creative force and has resulted in Pathfinder AP and the Pathfinder RPG system today.
Screw up The Whispering Cairn? The monthly Dungeon AP would not have been the runaway success it became -- and Pathfinder AP would not have been the go-to solution for Paizo that it became, too. The Shackled City AP wasn't all that successful an AP folks. Age of Worms, on the other hand, was and that's one of the foundations that Paizo still rests upon today.
In that sense, The Whispering Cairn is not only the best AP segment Paizo has done, it is, beyond doubt, the most important AP adventure Paizo has done, too.
Apart from being a generally great adventure, the best thing about The Whispering Cairn is the pacing of the module's flow. That's what makes it work brilliantly as an adventure that rises above being a dungeon crawl and instead roots the adventure deeply and organically into the surrounding community of Diamond Lake. Erik Mona accomplishes this with a brilliant bit of design in terms of having to deal with a ghost within the module that blocks entrance to the final dungeon area. This requires the party to LEAVE the dungeon (at just the right moment in time in terms of adventure pacing) in order to be able to obtain the solution to access the final dungeon area from elsewhere within the Diamond Lake community. THAT was an inspiring design and, in the context of the overall adventure, provides a PERFECT break from dungeon crawling. It changes a dungeon crawl into the start of an epic AP that matters to the citizens of Diamond Lake and the rest of Greyhawk.
That's what makes The Whispering Cairn work so well and why it deserves the medal for "the best" adventure in any AP Paizo has done to date, in my opinion.
RotRL (gm'ed): I like first two parts are the best but if I have to choose its Skinsaw Murders. Cannot resist those ghouls, the mansion and cultist theme in Magnimar. Still all parts (maybe exluding FotSG no offense) are really good material to any campaign.
CotCT (read): Haven't yet gm'ed this but Seven Days to the Grave is my favorite. Scenes look good and there is some intrigue going and then pc's realize it. Can't wait to play this.
SD (played): Hard to say because I had motivation problems after third part but to that point things were good. Either Shadow in the Sky or Armageddon Echo (really loved war setting).
LoF (read): I LOVE whole AP! It's amazing.. Howl of the Cariron King or End of Eternity is my favorite, really can't choose. Overall this AP looks reallu solid.
CoT (playing right now): Can't say yet, we just started this AP. GM is excited so I'm waiting for what to get.
KM (read): Looks very nice AP. Sandbox is always good thing and there are some neat mechanics (kingdom building, masscombat) so I like this. Favorite is Stolen Lands at the moment.
+3 to Gorbacz's choices! (Except I also haven't read 'Sound of a Thousand Screams)')
Also, Kings of the Rift, Enemies of my Enemy, and (I am alone in this) Hall of Harsh Reflections. (Due tonumber of player deaths)
That I have played in - Here there be monsters or Broken Idols from STAP and Children of the Void from SDAP.
That I have GM - Zenith Trajectory and Foundation of Flame from SCAP
Whispering Cairn from AOW.
The Whispering Cairn by Erik Mona, the first instalment in the Age of Worms AP is my favourite -- and it is also Paizo's best to date, in my opinion. Indeed, The Whispering Cairn is as close to a "shared experience" that gamers have had in the 21st century since the days of 1st Edition...
I would argue that this adventure, together with the extensive background on Diamond Lake, is the adventure that built Paizo as a creative force and has resulted in Pathfinder AP and the Pathfinder RPG system today.
Screw up The Whispering Cairn? The monthly Dungeon AP would not have been the runaway success it became -- and Pathfinder AP would not have been the go-to solution for Paizo that it became, too. The Shackled City AP wasn't all that successful an AP folks. Age of Worms, on the other hand, was and that's one of the foundations that Paizo still rests upon today.
I'd only call it my 2nd favorite of that AP (Kings of the Rift takes the cake for me) but I think you have a really good analysis of the adventures importance.
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Age of Worms: Tied between The Whispering Cairn (cool and inventive dungeon) and Kings of the Rift (Dragons vs. Giants!).
IIRC, "Krathanos," KotR didn't actually go so hot for you and your brawny bretheren. ;)
*sings praises unto Whispering Cairn*
Man, I so agree on the pacing, grounding in the setting, and I'm especially happy you pointed out the "shared experience" element. I felt such a gaming cultural bonding experience, reading the exploits and adventures of groups whose quests had ended before my group's began, and those of groups just setting out as ours grew in power.
(*since Steel_Wind succinctly covered most points I would want to make, launches into anecdote*) A good friend of mine who used to game with us locally moved back to his home state, where his gaming was slim to nonexistent, and he thrived on our tales of blundering, derring-do, compassion, romance, and brutality unceasing as our group progressed through the AoW AP. He got to play part of WC as a one-shot when I visited one time, and even did comic book-style NPC art. (Filge could never be that buff, but it did look amazing.) He calls me up one night, fairly late, out of breath. "I ran into some guys at the comic shop today who play D&D, and they played Age of Worms, so I asked them what they did with Filge and...they killed him. They killed him, Courtney, and they never knew what he could be. *lengthy pause* I'm glad you guys saved him." I felt immense joy that such an exchange could occur. :)
Umm, as has already been stated, Tides of Dread is pretty outstanding, and feels like one of the best self-contained adventures to me. The use of Victory Points was fun, and it let the party tackle challenges in the order they saw fit. Prince of Redhand was wildly entertaining, but out group did go all out and have an actual feast, complete with guest "actors" portraying the numerous NPCs, and *shudder* an approximation of the Tojbasirirge. Tides of Dread is a good stand-alone, while Prince of Redhand seems like it would work much better in the context of the AoW AP.
Stolen Lands is feeling like another winner; my group has fully explored maybe, like, 6 hexes total, but they've traveled all over, bonded with the NPCs, escaped random encounter annihilation by the skin of their teeth, delightedly turned in quests that I might write "COMPLETE!" upon them in red marker, and just generally seem like they could keep playing this one module forever. I feel like the portions relating to the bandits are stronger than the "dungeon crawl" portions of the adventure, but it is a very solid adventure, with plenty to keep all kinds of players interested and involved (especially if one utilizes the contributions of these very messageboards). Sound of a Thousand Screams looks epic as all get out, and contains "bonus material" suggestions of other adventures that could occur after the AP is technically over. I think my group is gonna love it, but, as I say, I have yet to emerge from the first module.
Having just finished reading Kingmaker, I have now decided what my favorite adventure of that AP is:
Sound of a Thousand Screams is everything I want from an adventure. It's pretty much perfect; A nymph BBEG, a planar adventure with unique obstacles and features, cool and unique new or reimagined monsters (such as a jabberwock and a plant dragon), a vorpal sword created from love, a picture book as a clue (I only wish this book was a product I could buy).. I could go on and on :)
My hat is off to Richard Pett and James Jacobs for that immensely awesome adventure conclusion, and to the rest of the Kingmaker authors for a series of adventures that are virtually perfect alone, and beyond awesome together. Easily a 10/10 rating or even higher for the AP as a whole!
Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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Hmmm. I have not yet seen all, but I can say something:
1.RotRL: probably 2# and 3#. I loved them. Ghouls, cultists, Aldern, inbred hillbilly-ogres and stuff. Material is great, kudos also goes to our gm.
2.CotCT not played yet.
3.SD: 1# and 2#. Riddleport is great setting place. "Shadow in the Sky" holds some of the greatest endings, dramatic and cool. Also, love the void zombies in 2#.
4.LoF not played yet.
5.CoT: I'm the Gm, and I love this s%#~. Probably 2# and 3#. sixfold Trial involve some of the greatest roleplaying material ever, and What ies in Dust has some very spooky elements in it. It's kind like, urban treasurehunt.
6.Kingmaker not played yet.
Age of Worms - Champions belt and the prince of redhand.
Kingmaker - River Runs Red
Age of Worms Champions Belt is our favorite so far. My group got totally into the gladiatorial combat. In fact they were so focused on winning their matches that they almost forgot why they entered the games in the first place. And I got my DM jollies when one of our guys tried to open the box which shouldn't be messed with and ended up being sucked inside to be tortured by fiends in full view of his helpless friends (who were eventually able to find help and extricate him).
AoW
The Whispering Cairn
Three Faces of Evil
Hall of Harsh Reflection
The Champion's Belt
Rise of the Rune Lords
The first book. I don't remember the name
CoT
The Six Fold Trial
Kingmaker: Books 1, 2, and 4.
If I had to pick one it would be The Whispering Cairn.
Three Faces of Evil had the most memorable boss fight so far though. Both times the groups were about to run when they had the boss down to single digit hit points, and they did just enough to take him down.
PS: I DM way too much.
RotRL: Skinsaw Murders (Great horror and the grand finale of "WTF Dude Seriously!?") Hook Mountain Massacre (Hillbilly Ogres! What more could a kid ask for!?)
CotCT: Seven Days to the Grave (killing off massive amounts of townsfolk with very little dice rolling is always a sunny spot in any GM's life :))
LoF: Howl of the Carrion King (Hurray for Pugwampis)& End of Eternity (really fun to run with some elbow room)
CoT: Sixfold Trial (Although we skipped the AP in general I have stolen bits and tids for other adventures)
KM: Stolen Land & Blood for Blood (exploration & kingdom building are probably going to sink a whole year of our group's gaming due to the utter joy they are having with both facets thus far)
This list is virtually identical to mine!
Pre-Golarion...
Shackled City - The Zenith Trajectory
Age of Worms - The Whispering Cairne
Savage Tide - There is No Honor
Cairne and Honor were 2 of my 3 favorite starter modules of 3E. The third is Mad God's Key (dungeon mag).
Golarion AP -
RotRL - Burnt Offerings and Skinsaw Murders are tied.
CotC (unplayed)
SD (unplayed)
LoF (unplayed but read) - Howl of the Carrion King.
CoT (played 1 of 6, read the rest) - no comment.
KM (played 1 of 6) - Stolen Land was fantastic.
SS (prepping) - shaping up to be the best AP for my tastes, all of them look fantastic, for now I'm going to pick Racing to Ruin.
my favorite from kingmaker would be a tie between "the varnhold vanishing" and "sound of a thousand screams" both are incredibly epic and could stand on their own as single adventures
only been thru first four of serpent's skull but so far my favorite from that is "city of seven spears", you cant go wrong with a sandbox adventure set in a lost city (beware the green god).
Skeletons of Scarwall has to be one of my favorite dungeon-crawls...
Otherwise, off the top of me head...
-Burnt Ashes for all the goblin goodness
-Seven Days to the Grave for the plague doctors
-Children of the Void was awesome for many reasons
-Howl of the Carrion King
-What Lies in Dust, another great dungeon-crawl
With "What Lies in Dust" my players loved the investigation part before enter the dungeon crawl.
There was a little discussion on this in the thread about AP's in general, but I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on what the best adventures within the AP's have been.
For various reasons I haven't been able to play any of the AP adventures yet, but the one I most want to play in (or probably run) is Children of the Void. It's true that Second Darkness as a whole can get a bit odd in the later stages, but this just reads as a wonderful rollercoaster ride. High adventure, mysterious alien invaders, visiting crime lords, Drow plots and even a good old fashioned damsel in distress to rescue. It all comes together into a rollicking good ride and leaves me wishing that more alien elements continued throughout the AP.
I may be a bit biased though, since Children of the Void was the first ever Paizo adventure I read. It really does manage to maintain a real sense of adventure though and keeps you wondering what you'll find around the next corner.
Sorry if this has been discussed before, I couldn't find a thread about individual adventures in the search but I could easily have missed it.
Mad God's Key is awesome and can be tweaked for Absalom or Magnimar with the Church of Abadar. I also love the Swords of Dragonslake.
We're playing through Savage Tide one Monday, the other Kingmaker. I feel like these two AP's are the best that Paizo has ever written, though the bar feels like its set higher. Keep in mind, we all agree that the folks at this company are very talented.
The Tuesday night game I have is the Curse of the Crimson Throne. Keep in mind, I had to reread this to actually think it would stand up to RotRL. I wasn't too kip on it, but a friend of mine started the campaign then had to stop DM'ing so I took over so he could have time to himself. He since rejoined as a player.
RotRL...can I say all of it? While I gripe about the lack of big stuff in Sins of our Saviors, it was a fun set of nights to run. The rest of this campaign is 8 or higher.
CotCT...I love a History of Ashes. The players are having a blast, but I think they would say that finding the queen masterminding the plague is what they keep talking about. Then killing the Daughter of Urgathoa in a scant round after she rose from the dead.
SD...I liked adventuring around Celwinvian. The players thought that was the high point of the AP. I enjoyed it up until the final book. Then we just started Kingmaker.
LoF...I've read this twice and can't wait to run it, then follow up with the City of Brass boxed set. I must say that the Howl of the Carrion King looks like a fun time; it reads well like the rest of the AP.
CoT...I haven't run this, but I think the Sixfold Trial reads the best. A play for your players! Awesome!
Kingmaker...if you're not running this, you should be. Not because I said. Because in all actuality we as a community haven't had this much freedom to reign (bad pun) for years. If ever. I love the Sound of a Thousand Screams. Nymphs...enough said.
SS...I would like to run this after STAP, but I will probably run something to be between it as the two will feel like an overlap.
The Whispering Cairn is the most fun I ever had running an adventure. The play in CoT was awesome for me as a player.
My list:
Rise of the Runelords: "The Skinsaw Murders"
Curse of the Crimson Throne: "Edge of Anarchy" and "Skeletons of Scarwall"
Second Darkness: hmm... maybe "The Armageddon Echo" (the only AP that I don´t like)
Legacy of Fire: "The End of Eternity" and "The Impossible Eye"
Council of Thieves: "The Sixfold Trial" and "What Lies in Dust"
Kingmaker: "Sound of A Thousand Screams" (that´s easy)
Serpent´s Skull: "Souls for Smuggler´s Shiv"
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I'm surprised to see so little love for "Test of the Smoking Eye". It's a great extraplanar trip to an unusual corner of the Abyss, with some memorable fights near the end and a potentially great climax. (I say potentially because it does depend on how many NPCs the party brings along, and what sorts.)Possibly it suffers because it's short -- with experienced players, you could zoom through it in a session or two. But that's not always a bad thing.
Doug M.
You shouldn't be suprised - the thread is in Pathfinder AP forum, so I don't think anybody is considering the pre-Pathfinder APs.
My List
Rise of the Runelords: The Skinsaw Murders is pure epic awesomeness. 'Nuff Said.
Curse of the Crimson Throne: Seven Days to the Grave-plague doctors, Lady Andaisin and leukodaemons rock my world.
Second Darkness: The Armageddon Echo: really cool idea and some really neat NPCs in there too.
Legacy of Fire: Howl of the Carrion King-what can i say, daemons really do it for me, overall just a really well paced adventure.
Council of Thieves: What Lies in Dust-Delvehaven is creepy, cool and the backstory is just awesome.
Kingmaker: Havent read
Serpent's Skull: Only read 1,2,3, and 5 and so far I like Souls for Smuggler's Shiv the best. Cool hook for the adventure and you gotta love the giant winged chupacapra!
I'm surprised to see so little love for "Test of the Smoking Eye".
That´s my favourite adventure in the "Shackled City" AP, I think.