Friends,
I'm GMing my very first Pathfinder RPG campaign, and have started with Crypt of the Everflame. My PCs are pretty much all 1st timers to RPG in general with 1 who has played a little 3.5. Crypt is working out well as a classic dungeon crawl and intro to Undead... Though i dont feel the rest of the modules (Masks of the Living God) would be the best fit for these 1st timers as it seems more RP heavy. I really like the classic themes and tropes in Rise of the Rune Lords and wondered if people could offer their advice. Would Rise of the Rune Lords be a good AP to continue into after Crypt... for eg. after the party returns to Kassen after getting the Everflame, some lead leads them to Sandpoint - a clue about the robbers who robbed Kassen's tombs (who turn out to be the Skinsaw men) or have the goblins attack Kassen (as opposed to Sandpoint) and take it from there...
1) which AP would you recommend I embark on - as a new GM with new PCs (I'm a little worried about having to adjust the 3.5 rules for Rise of the Rune Lords into PFRPG rules, but sure i could do it)
2) Which major threads could i use as links.. as i'd like to set up some of the story arcs asap in the Crypt. (I can use the background of the crypt robbers as a clue, also whatever was stolen from Kassen's tomb, and by whom are all easy hooks to attach to other AP story material.)
3) Finally, if by the end of Crypt of the Everflame the party is level 3... is it still worth starting at the beginning of the AP (eg. Burnt Offerings if Rise of the Rune Lords) or should i skip forward to the 2nd segment? Or just up the CRs of the encounters by adding more monsters, advancing them etc...?
Any advice to this super-keen, inexperienced GM would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Friends,
I'm GMing my very first Pathfinder RPG campaign, and have started with Crypt of the Everflame. My PCs are pretty much all 1st timers to RPG in general with 1 who has played a little 3.5. Crypt is working out well as a classic dungeon crawl and intro to Undead... Though i dont feel the rest of the modules (Masks of the Living God) would be the best fit for these 1st timers as it seems more RP heavy. I really like the classic themes and tropes in Rise of the Rune Lords and wondered if people could offer their advice. Would Rise of the Rune Lords be a good AP to continue into after Crypt... for eg. after the party returns to Kassen after getting the Everflame, some lead leads them to Sandpoint - a clue about the robbers who robbed Kassen's tombs (who turn out to be the Skinsaw men) or have the goblins attack Kassen (as opposed to Sandpoint) and take it from there...
1) which AP would you recommend I embark on - as a new GM with new PCs (I'm a little worried about having to adjust the 3.5 rules for Rise of the Rune Lords into PFRPG rules, but sure i could do it)
2) Which major threads could i use as links.. as i'd like to set up some of the story arcs asap in the Crypt. (I can use the background of the crypt robbers as a clue, also whatever was stolen from Kassen's tomb, and by whom are all easy hooks to attach to other AP story material.)3) Finally, if by the end of Crypt of the Everflame the party is level 3... is it still worth starting at the beginning of the AP (eg. Burnt Offerings if Rise of the Rune Lords) or should i skip forward to the 2nd segment? Or just up the CRs of the encounters by adding more monsters, advancing them etc...?
Any advice to this super-keen, inexperienced GM would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Well first off, welcome to the wonderful role of GM!
If I were to pick one it'd probably be Kingmaker. I've heard rave reviews about it, and I believe it's one of the most open ended stories. I haven't run it, but I have run thru Crypt of the Everflame. Geographically Nirmathas isn't THAT far from the River Kingdoms. Also, from what I understand, the first book isn't exactly necessary. If you say some other group has already explored the region then you could just start in book two with the group establishing a nation. But you can also just run the first book and just up the number of monsters per encounter.
Anyway, I hope this helps and I hope you enjoy the game as much as I do! Happing gaming!
If you are super keen on it being Runelords, you can run Everflame and have the group get back in time to see a goblin siege. After fighting off an easy band of Goblins you can have Shalelu show up and have the group head straight to Thistletop.
The thing is Everflame is written for the medium XP advancement track and Runelords is for the Fast XP advancement track, so not only do you have to do conversions, but you will have to fill in other things (side treks) in every Runelords volume to be the right level for each book.
Other easier APs to insert Everflame would be...
1) Kingmaker- its PFRPG native and its alot of "hex-ploration", you can drop it anywhere. I dont really recommend this ap to new GMs though because of the added weight of the Kingdom building rules (though its optional).
2) Council of Thieves- Also native PFRPG and probably the easiest fit. Have the Dottari chase the PCs from Janivens meeting straight through the sewers to the dead sector, they can duck into an above ground mausoleum to hide from the guards (or whatever prowls the sector, shadow creatures?) and find themselves in the Crypt of the Everflame. Then just go straight to the Bastards of Erebus hideout. If you change your mind and want to add the second module, youll already be in a city (Westcrown), just have the cult there. Infiltrating the Cult of Razmiran while secretly working with freedom fighters sounds like it might be fun as side events. CoT is primarily an urban campaign though.
3) Serpent Skull- place it anywhere on the Shiv, it could be an encounter site, maybe the group tracked you know who here. Also PFRPG native.
Id go Council of Thieves for no conversions needed, and lighter on the rules (as opposed to KIngmaker).
Welcome to the boards btw. :)
ps. Its easy to add PFRPG external modules to native PFRPG adventure paths just by slowing advancement to the "Slow" XP Advancement track. You could just switch to slow XP during book 2 of CoT and add Masks of the Living God into it to keep you on track to being the right level for book 3. When you start book 3 go back to medium advancement unless you have another excursion planned there too. :)
Run all three Masks of Immortality modules and then a modified version of Red Hand of Doom, changing hobgoblins into orcs.
Run all three Masks of Immortality modules and then a modified version of Red Hand of Doom, changing hobgoblins into orcs.
Thanks for all the advice... thinking about it more, i think you're right - following the Three modules of Masks of Immortality to conclusion would be the easiest and an educational xp for me as GM. Thanks again!
I have a feeling running all 3 of them would work well with Carrion Crown.
Run all three Masks of Immortality modules and then a modified version of Red Hand of Doom, changing hobgoblins into orcs.
I am in a similar situation, about to descend into the second level of Crypt of the Everflame, I like the trilogy and would like it to lead into an AP. My question is what is Red Hand of Doom, I can't find any reference to it anywhere.
Alternatively I'll start afresh with Kingmaker as I quite like the sandbox aspect of it.
Red Hand of Doom (RHoD) is a small campaign in "softcover" form, published by WotC in late 3.5 (2006). Written by Richard Baker and James Jacobs, it takes characters from L 5 or 6 to L 12 in a war-threatened area.