Well, after 5-years (including time off for other DMs to run their thing), our group has finally finished the Shackled City Adventure Path.
Along the way we lost 2 players (moved), and gained 2 more. All of the continuing original group's characters made it from 1st to 20th level. I think we had one character death along the way (as well as some animal companions and cohorts), but in general the "meat-grinder" was more of a cakewalk for them. I'll lay the blame for that at: me allowing Spell Compendium spells and action points, but mostly due to the fact that my players are extremely good at what they do (and it didn't hurt that there were 6 of them).
Running an adventure path that long taught me some valuable lessons for next time:
You could see the action slow down like a fly stuck in honey once they hit 13th level or so. One adventure we're breezing along, the next we're spending a night clearing 3 rooms. Ugh. I'm really glad that the new APs don't stretch all the way up to 20.
I tend to be a "just say yes" DM when it comes to character options. That really throws a wild card into a campaign. Action Points from UA definitely allowed them to survive the lower levels, but at the end they were just too much of a benefit in an adventure path with such rapid leveling. Don't get me started on the Spell Compendium. If I were to do it again I'd probably cut action points to 1/4 of standard, and allow maybe one spell/level out of the SC.
Long dungeons are not for me, either as a player or a DM, and I think my players feel the same. Jzadirune and The Fiery Sanctum stand out as locations I'd trim way back were I to run it again. I much prefer a dynamic element such as..well, most any of the current adventure paths. One really nice thing about the way the campaign ended is that the last adventure really broke out of the dungeon paradigm. It was a definite step away from the grind. The final battle in the AP worked out really well, too: the villain lasted several rounds, greatly endangering the party but eventually defeated. The PCs would have all been toast in the first round if they hadn't been smart about playing their characters, so I think it was very satisfying for them.
I think both Paizo and myself have learned a lot about how to run and make APs since the first big original, but SCAP was certainly worth every penny I spent on it. It gave us hours upon hours of fun. All in all, we had a great time, and I'm really excited to be starting Legacy of Fire next month. Onward and upward!
One final note: my players chipped in and surprised me with a little parting gift last night: a t-shirt with the names of all the characters in their group (The Ebon Shield), animal companions, important locations and npcs of the adventure, etc. With "Shackled City; 2005-2010" at the bottom. I have great players! :)
A great report!
We are noticing the slow-down at level 13 as well (e.g. fighting Ike Iverson in the Cathedral) but it's still pretty fun at this point.
A t-shirt! Heh.
Congratulations! You deserve that t-shirt.
Congratulations,
Still running it since 2004 just finished the Test .... and it's going to be slower because twins are coming :)))
Congratulations! It took me about the same time to run it. Great fun, great memories. No doubt it feels the same to you. The T-shirt was a nice idea, very considerate of your players.
Five years huh? Woah. Hope we get through it faster than that. Thanks a bunch Qualidar for the report on the entire AP. As we are just getting into the beginning, I will try to take that advice and use it. I hope to make my game as exciting as I have read some others to be on this website!
A big Congrats dude. It's always satisfying to reach the end of a campaign.
-Roth
Thanks for the Congrats, everyone!
Roth, we've spaced it out with other things as well: another DM has brought us 1/2 way through the Second Darkness AP, another ran us through that first 4e adventure, others ran a couple of Oriental Adventures and a long Dark Sun module....so it was 5 years, but only because we mixed in some variety. I recommend that route: I get burnt out running anything for too long.
Also if you're running it, look around here fo some great advice about tying in plotlines early (at the Rhivhadi mansion, earlier with the Necrocants): that definitely made my campaign better. This community is an amazing resource,
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only DM who's not rushed to get through SC - my group started in 2004 (a house, a wedding, three new job descriptions and a daughter ago)and we've only recently defeated the Cagewrights. The players think they've finished and have settled their characters down to run Red Gorge between them, whilst we've generated new characters to commence AoW. The plan is to revisit the old characters and progress to the end in a few months time.
It's not that we've taken a long time to complete each adventure - typically three to four sessions each, but that we then have a break of several months between adventures. Real life for a group of professionals who enjoy RPGs can really be a pain!
Well done on getting through it!
Reggie
Congradulations!! Took my group three years and it was a blast, and worth every moment!