I've had the privilege of playing a PC in about 14 levels of Paizo Adventure Paths (Rise of the Runelords, Kingmaker) and am gearing up to run Carrion Crown when we finish Kingmaker for my weekly group, so my experience with Paizo's Adventure Paths has been really positive. I've thoroughly enjoyed them.
Some old college friends (a separate gaming group)and I are meeting up this Thursday to game for a weekend - Thursday night through Saturday Night. I figure that would provide us with around 25 hours of gaming. Our original DM has had to back out due to emergency as of last week; we had a contingency plan, which has also failed. So...plan C is for me to throw something together!
I'm an experienced DM, but I don't have any time (it's Monday!) to actually construct something. I could definitely read through something, though, and feel confident enough to run it. I first thought of modules, but the ones I actually have don't possess the same amount of atmosphere that an AP has. I figure we could play through 1 - maybe 1.5 books.
So, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for an AP that would be successful for a long weekend of gaming. I thought of Carrion Crown, but the group shares one common player, and I don't want to ruin it for him. I have my eyes on "The Curse of the Crimson Throne" and "The Council of Thieves," but I'd love to hear from the community on what might be a fun one-off to run through.
Thanks for your time and your comments!
Chris
If you're looking into Council of Thieves and think your PCs will really enjoy acting out a play, start at The Sixfold Trial and play What Lies in Dust.
Should be about 24 hours of gaming right there-- my group completed both books in about 4 8 hour sessions.
I'll warn you that both have a good abundance of large dungeon locales you'll want to prepare in advance. But you can definitely start the PCs off in-media-res in Council #2, and it's considered one of the best Paizo AP issues of all time.
The first two books of "Second Darkness". It's raucus time for some scoundrel PCs to have a grand old time in a pirate port fight some crazy things - perfect for a weekend blitz. The plot takes a sharp pivot between books 2 and 3, so you'll want to stop at the end of book 2 anyways.
Books 1&2 (known as "Shadow in the Sky" and "Children of the Void") are a great pair with lots of plot/NPC overlap between them.
If you're looking into Council of Thieves and think your PCs will really enjoy acting out a play, start at The Sixfold Trial and play What Lies in Dust.
Should be about 24 hours of gaming right there-- my group completed both books in about 4 8 hour sessions.
I'll warn you that both have a good abundance of large dungeon locales you'll want to prepare in advance. But you can definitely start the PCs off in-media-res in Council #2, and it's considered one of the best Paizo AP issues of all time.
I totally agree with this. I love council of theives 2 and assuming you can prep them in 3 days to whatever standard you need, you can get through it in 24 hours. You can also cut out pieces of the 2 major dungeons to get the party there faster if they are lagging behind.
I also think it is a pretty decent arc to go for. Getting the artifact at the end of #3 is a pretty good end point, and you would be hard pressed to find another comfortable end point in other APs that you could get through in this time frame.