Hey so i have the first 3 Serpent's Skull adventures but i stopped subscribing after the 3rd came out--recently i've been getting back in to Pathfinder and was wondering whether its worth it get the remaining three volumes? I stopped after The City of Seven Spears, because, while its a really cool adventure, I prefer APs with really strong storylines (less sandbox) and I reading through the blurbs of issues 4 and 5 seem to indicate a continuation of this open endedness. So i was wondering if the last 3 volumes are as good as the first (wish I loved) and better the 2nd and 3rd (which i was a little iffy on)
Cheers!
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Hey so i have the first 3 Serpent's Skull adventures but i stopped subscribing after the 3rd came out--recently i've been getting back in to Pathfinder and was wondering whether its worth it get the remaining three volumes? I stopped after The City of Seven Spears, because, while its a really cool adventure, I prefer APs with really strong storylines (less sandbox) and I reading through the blurbs of issues 4 and 5 seem to indicate a continuation of this open endedness. So i was wondering if the last 3 volumes are as good as the first (wish I loved) and better the 2nd and 3rd (which i was a little iffy on)
Cheers!
I have the same feeling, Part 3 was a disappointment to me to, because it was to sandboxy with very little story, and the main reason Kingmaker is my least favorite AP. I was able to push through Part 1, but Part 3 will be hard on me. That said 4-6 goes back to the Classic Story driven AP instead of Sandbox.
Hey so i have the first 3 Serpent's Skull adventures but i stopped subscribing after the 3rd came out--recently i've been getting back in to Pathfinder and was wondering whether its worth it get the remaining three volumes? I stopped after The City of Seven Spears, because, while its a really cool adventure, I prefer APs with really strong storylines (less sandbox) and I reading through the blurbs of issues 4 and 5 seem to indicate a continuation of this open endedness. So i was wondering if the last 3 volumes are as good as the first (wish I loved) and better the 2nd and 3rd (which i was a little iffy on)
Cheers!
The story really only starts to pick up after part three. Personally I love the sandboxy exploration of part 3, but it requires a bit of preparation and a different mindset to pull off in a rewarding way. I have found that most of part 3 can easily be skipped if you prefer a more story driven adventure, but you would have to adjust the power level of the last three parts or find some other way to advance the pc's to an appropriate level if you were to do so.
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While City of Seven Spears is a so-so adventure (go to a district, kill some mooks, kill ze boss, rinse, reapeat, YAWN) it's rather easy to mitigate as it doesn't contain any Very Important Plot Elements. Actually you can just roll over that, fill it with some sidetreks, keep that one bit of the plot intact and slide towards Vaults of Madness, which is of much better quality.
Bottom line, it's salvageable, and nowhere near Memory of Darkness level of facepalm.
Just posting to say my opinion is exactly opposite to all of you. I love seven spears, and find the entire path enjoyable.
echo>>>> Adventure #3 is not so good<<<<<<echo
however the other three are shaping up (havent gotten to them but i have skimmed them.)
I just signed up for a subscription starting with The Haunting of Harrowstone so I'm definately looking forward to Carrion Crown, its pretty much got everything I love in an AP by the looks of it, so I'm happy.
It just really irks me to have only half of an AP on my shelf, but it will also irk me if I buy the remaining 3 SS books and regret it..
I really like the story aspects of Souls for Smuggler's Shiv and the thematic content of the AP (serpentfolk, cults, ancient ruins, exploration etc etc) so I think i probably will end up getting the other three! First I've got to buy the remaining three CoT books, I just bought What Lies In Dust and LOVED IT!
I just signed up for a subscription starting with The Haunting of Harrowstone so I'm definately looking forward to Carrion Crown, its pretty much got everything I love in an AP by the looks of it, so I'm happy.
It just really irks me to have only half of an AP on my shelf, but it will also irk me if I buy the remaining 3 SS books and regret it..
I really like the story aspects of Souls for Smuggler's Shiv and the thematic content of the AP (serpentfolk, cults, ancient ruins, exploration etc etc) so I think i probably will end up getting the other three! First I've got to buy the remaining three CoT books, I just bought What Lies In Dust and LOVED IT!
what lies in dust is the best one in that series tho..
what lies in dust is the best one in that series tho..
Really? What happens in the next ones that make you say that?
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Folks who aren't as much into sandboxy play should check out the upcoming Carrion Crown AP. I'm already bracing myself for the complaints that it's too railroady! ;-)
Well having had my last two campaigns (Kingmaker and Serpent skull) fall apart (Mostly due to the nature of the sandbox campaign and a strong dislike of the lack of apparent overall story to the players in Serpent Skull) I for one cant wait to get back on the train.
What I didnt like beyond book 3 in SS (after reading the AP)
1) Book 4- the whole insanity thing, could derail the whole game if everyone goes insane.
2) Book 5 and 6- The Urdehfans in general. They didnt fit my particular tastes and I didnt think they were necessary. YMMV though.
Seems like a few people didnt like book 3. I though it was great. Sure there are alot of things to hack/slash through, but some districts can be won over by negotiation, one district is just overrun by random monsters, etc. In general I can see people hacking through all of it too.
As for Kingmaker, its sandboxy but it brings back the "hexploration" and has a fairly tight storyline as you build and handle the problems in the your kingdom. The BBEG doesnt come out till very late in the AP but I think people tend to forget that the main story is the founding of a new kingdom, the Fey queen is just the first major threat to that newly founded kingdom.
Id run it with the "kingdom in the background" option though.
How far did your group get Kevin?
To Oryx about the initial post...
Book 4 - Think City of Seven Spears- The Lower Levels.
Book 5 and 6 - go back to the main story as you get into the Serpentfolk City.
what lies in dust is the best one in that series tho..Really? What happens in the next ones that make you say that?
Nothing much, but thats the point.
Didn't like the seemingly random devils in the knot.
Didn't like the fact there was some weird assassin running around changing things in the knot before the group got there.
Doofy shadow chronicler guy. nuff said.
Drovenges were uninspiring.
I wanted there to be more infiltrating the thieves guild and intrigue... instead there was a dumb "engine" to run around in and I think Paizo uses way too many 'pocket dimensions' in their APs.
Sincere question - how do you do a "lost city" justice WITHOUT accommodating a sandbox element to it?
The closest comparison I can make is Xin-Shalast from PF#6. While I love that adventure, I felt that the lost city of Xin-Shalast was almost wasted as window dressing when it should have been the cornerstone of the adventure (IMO).
While I realize that making the city exploration a more prominent feature would have likely added 50-100% of the adventure's page count, a site as significant as Xin-Shalast deserved it, IMO.
I haven't picked up Lost Cities of Golarion yet, but I'm glad to see that Xin-Shalast gets revisited in that book. Based on it's inclusion, I'm guessing I'm not the only one that felt Xin-Shalast deserved a larger role than it received.
Even though I'm loving this AP, I have to say this: If you haven't liked two of the three modules you've read, probably you should not keep buying it. I think Paizo is making a great job at giving each AP a unique feel and a strong, particular theme. If your group only likes one certain kind of adventures, and a particular AP does not fit them, you should not force it. SS is about exploring: you really can't railroad exploration without ruining it. So, my advice, it's that is only worth to keep buying SS if you, and your players, like it. If not, which appears to be the issue at hand, spend your money in other APs or Modules that you are certain to enjoy. Carrion Crown is coming soon, and sounds awesome.
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Thanks everyone for their input here. Really learned something from it. I've been one of the voices clamoring for years that Paizo go more sandboxy. Which they did with Kingmaker. I hadn't realized they'd hang onto part of that for Serpent Skull, which now inclines me to check it out (which I hadn't).* However, what I'm really grateful for in this thread is to see 'the other side' of Paizo's customers, DMs who'd rather not DM something too sandboxy. I totally get how hard James' job must be to cater to the whole customer base, resolving no less than conflicting demands. Impressive, really.
*May I point out in passing that Serpent Skull issue #3 seems to have had some issues with the authors? Kevin Kulp was supposed to write it by himself, that didn't happen, and other authors had to step in rather late on, iirc, causing the thing to be a bit more disjointed, I guess, than it otherwise would have been. Which is a long winded way of saying: I don't think you should judge the merits of an adventure path based on the issues of a single volume, especially if these 'issues' are completely peripheral to the adventure path's overall design and execution.
Yes, I have to say all my issues with Serpent's Skull is in the third installment. Which we are still in! Curse the Gods! It's boggy and boring!! arrrgh.
Well, i just went to my local gamign store and they only had Thousand Fangs Below, so i picked it up, and I gotta say that it looks pretty awesome at first skim and second read! Now i just have to get a hold of Vaults of Madness and The Infernal Syndrome!