and why? :)
With the many APs out there, played through, read through, still going on, I was wondering what other Paizonians considered to be their favorites. :)
Please pick just one. If its a tie, pick the one you would want with you if you were shipwrecked on Smuggler's Shiv with a few other players.
For me it would have to be Kingmaker.
Even though I would run this without the kingdom building (the rules are abit clunky to me), the feel of it still speaks to my old school likes of early tabletop RPGing.
It is open enough to insert just about any kind of side-trek you could want ("hexploration" ftw), yet focused enough to have a final uber-goal of founding and defending a kingdom. I also like the varied locales such as the forests, hills, swamps, etc. with several adventures sites sprinkled throughout.
Besides for the hack and slash standard fare, there is an equal amount of RP opportunities. Solving mysteries like the Varnhold Vanishing, diplomatic solutions (and building possible alliances) like dealing with the Kobolds, Centaurs, Boggards, etc and fun stuff like the Festival in War of the River Kings.
There's something for everybody, moreso for the folks that like to get their hands dirty with the actual kingdom building.
So far the favorite AP for me and my group is:
The Shackled City.
It has the a great story, all the classic elements of D&D(dungeon crawl,planes travel,plot twists) and for me it was very nice to be in a unusual region to start. Not many adventures start and take place in a jungle enviroment.
I absolutely love Curse of the Crimson Throne.
Rise of the Runelords.
Varisia as presented therein is just dripping awesome. The adventures are great (especially the first half of the path), and well, it's the first post-Dungeon mag path.
Fingers crossed for the hypothetical hardback compilation.
Top two:
Kingmaker - not so much a great AP, but it's a great AP framework for me to do what I want with it, and I love it to death for that
Legacy of Fire - just a great AP; solid on its own, while at the same time very expandable; also, I love strong themes
Curse of the Crimson Throne is #1 for us, we really really loved it. A History of Ashes (Chp. 4) was a little weak but we enjoyed investing in Korvosa and its people and having a BBEG to consistently hate. It inspired the best RP out of the players, too.
Rise of the Runelords is #2 but worth mentioning. The first three installments are brilliant classics in their respective genres. The only reason it's #2 as an overall AP is that though the installments are brilliant they are only arguably related into a larger plot and the whole Runelord thing shows up really late in the game. Chapters 1-3 are the best standalone adventures in the history of D&D as far as I'm concerned, and are individually better than the CoCT adventures, but CoCT wins for overall campaign.
We were just talking about this, and agreed Rise of the Runelords was still the best we've played (out of 4-5). Wonderfully awesome and epic, and still 'at home' feel for a lot of it.
Curse of the Crimson Throne - a Phenomenal city adventure with great NPCs and an excellent series of plots in the city. The ideas on display for most of these adventures where really inspiring.
Honorable mention for Age of Worms - Probably the most epic series of adventures since the Dragonlance series (and this one is actually playable), again the adventures are pehnominal with a chance to be a gladiator, an adventrue with a great battle between giants and dragons in the background and it all kicks off with one of the best adventures ever written The Whispering Cairn.
kingmaker the whole way. best adventure path ever!
kingmaker the whole way. best adventure path ever!
Carrion Crown by a landslide.
Curse of the Crimson Throne so far. I hope Jade Regent will be better, although it is a very different concept. But I'd love to return to a city AP in the future ( which isn't the Council of Thieves ).
game mechanics-wise: Kingmaker
flavour-wise: Legacy of Fire
story-wise: Curse of the Crimson Throne
most excited-wise: Rise of the Runelords
kingmaker the whole way. best adventure path ever!Carrion Crown by a landslide.
too late, i said kingmaker first it's been established. :)
game mechanics-wise: Kingmaker
flavour-wise: Legacy of Fire
story-wise: Curse of the Crimson Throne
most excited-wise: Rise of the Runelords
+1
and while Second Darkness wasn't exactly the greatest AP of all, MUCH of it can be mined for stuff for your current campaign and all articles in those AP's are useful. Was it Mona or Reynolds...I can't remember-that had an editorial "But I don't use pre-made adventures!"
This is the perfect example, imo.
...I'd love to return to a city AP in the future ( which isn't the Council of Thieves ).
I don't think its necessarily that easy. In a lot of ways Council of Thieves is a better city adventure campaign then Curse of the Crimson Throne. What makes Curse of the Crimson Throne generally considered the better AP is the really strong and often inspired adventures in it as well as a pretty strong cast of NPCs.
I don't think the designers can just sit down and 'do it right', in fact I think that is exactly what the weak point of Council of Thieves was - Council of Thieves was a city adventure 'done right' but without the awesome ideas that underlay Curse of the Crimson Throne. That is not to say that Council of Thieves was completely without merit part 2 of that AP is brilliant - maybe the single best volume put out in any AP and part 6 does not exactly work but the idea is there and with a good DM who is willing to put in some sweat and is good at improvising it has some exceptional potential - with the right DM it could be an awe inspiring climax to a campaign since it goes so much further then the usual 'and now you fight the BBEG in his throne room' which is the standard (and rather cliche) ending for most APs.
In the end I hope the staff lets good ideas for a city campaign percolate for a while so that, when its done, its as awesome and inspired as CotCT.
Well since people have been mentioning none pathfinder paizo APs, my vote is for Savage Tide. Awesome and Epic in so many ways.
As of right now I'd have to say Curse of the Crimson Throne. I haven't finished Carrion Crown yet, but if it continues the way it's going, it might become my new fav.
Already is mine but as a diehard Ravenloft fan, I'm incredibly biased. :P
Kingmaker is my all time fave so far. Although if Carrion Crown continues to please, then kingmaker will be dethroned ... ugh sorry couldn't resist.
Not a big fan of city based adventures, so did not care much for Council of Thieves, but loved Second Darkness and Curse of the Crimson Throne, although Curse of the Crimson Throne had quite a bit of aspects that i didn't like.
Crimson Throne so far. Carrion Crown is looking good.
Does going Against the Slavelords, Giants and the Drow count?
Carrion is way too early to tell
Aye, the first three are fantastic so far. BUT, I said the same for Serpent Skull (5 and 6 didnt do it for me with the Urdefhan angle). If Carrion Crown keeps it up, it will take over my #1 spot. With Greg Vaughn and Neil Spicer up next, Im really confident.
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OK I have run Legacy of Fire all the way through, 4 books of Kingmaker, 1 book of Rise of the Runelords and 2 sessions of Serpent's Skull.
My opinions:
Kingmaker: Disappointing after a good start. Kingdom building and extraneous exploration really bog the game down. The plot bits have been good but there's too much mopping up. A lot of it feels like a chore.
Rise of the Runelords: Not too bad. The goblins were fun. Too early to get a real idea of how it's going to go but I must say that Howl of the Carrion King was far more enjoyable for me than Burnt Offerings.
Serpent's Skull: It's been difficult for my players so far (1 NPC death, 1 PC death in 2 sessions). Again too early to say.
Legacy of Fire: Pure refined awesome. Great characters, consistent plot, fabulous theme, memorable encounters. Just a great, fantastic set of scenarios.
So by a few lengths I must say, the best AP my group have played is Legacy of Fire.
Legacy of Fire.
(Kingmaker gets Honorable Mention.)
Some older threads on the subject:
Thanks for digging those up. :)
It's interesting for me to see just how much my tastes have changed since the last thread. Prior to Kingmaker, RotR was my favorite.
#3: Kingmaker
Furthermore there isn't a single KM adventure that I don't like - all six are well-written and enjoyable. Of special note is the sixth installment ("Sound of a Thousand Screams"), as it is my favorite high-level adventure that Paizo has yet published. Prior to Kingmaker I had never been a fan of the fey (especially as antagonists). This is no longer the case.
Word for word +1!
Not that crazy for the kingdom building rules, ymmv :)
Just for fun I'm going to rank all the Pathfinder APs and explain why I placed them as I did. I've wanted to do this for a while now, so here it goes. I'll start with my all-time favorite AP, then work down to my least.
#1: Carrion Crown
I know we're only halfway through it, but based on the first three volumes, CC is by far my favorite AP. I love everything about the horror genre, and these adventures are positively oozing with spookiness. The idea to base each adventure off of a classic horror trope is a stroke of genius. I'm also impressed with the overarching storyline here, and it's possible that Adivion Adrissant will end up being my favorite BBEG (check back with me in a few months on that). So far "The Haunting of Harrowstone" has been my favorite adventure, though the other two are excellent as well.#2: Curse of the Crimson Throne
There are many reasons why this is my second-favorite AP. For one thing, the adventures "Seven Days to the Grave" and "Skeletons of Scarwall" are among the best pieces Paizo has done. Also, Illeosa is the coolest and most intriguing BBEG to date. I found other NPCs to be quite memorable as well, including Zoro-esque Vencarlo, the rakshasa crime lord Bahor, and the entire Red Mantis Assassin Guild. Unfortunately I didn't much care for the fourth adventure ("A History of Ashes").#3: Kingmaker
Kingmaker really impressed me. The "sandbox" approach is handled perfectly here, with the kingdom building rules being simple yet elegant. Furthermore there isn't a single KM adventure that I don't like - all six are well-written and enjoyable. Of special note is the sixth installment ("Sound of a Thousand Screams"), as it is my favorite high-level adventure that Paizo has yet published. Prior to Kingmaker I had never been a fan of the fey (especially as antagonists). This is no longer the case.#4: Rise of the Runelords
I love the first four adventures. They utilize classic themes such as goblins, haunted houses, and armies of giants, while also...
+1 I wholeheartedly concur with your rankings.
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Since you rated every AP which of them to you play or DM all 6 parts of? All of them? If so, you should get some kind of medal, that's quite a feat!
Reading every AP from a GM perspective gives you a far better view of the adventure than playing it does, honestly.
If I ever run Memory of Darkness, for example, I will change it to a great degree to make it playable for my group. Maybe then some player of mine will say "hey, that was a cool scenario", while the truth is that scenario as written is craptasically poor, and it's only a massive GM intervention that can possibly make it a fun experience.
So, player-side reviews have always the risk of being influenced by how the GM adjusts the module and how he runs it. I've seen a few player reviews here which were, as it turned out, based upon a heavy modified adventure.
Curse of the Crimson Throne is #1 for us, we really really loved it. A History of Ashes (Chp. 4) was a little weak but we enjoyed investing in Korvosa and its people and having a BBEG to consistently hate. It inspired the best RP out of the players, too.
...
Definately agree with this one on all points mentioned. It's also the only campaign where we've pretty much all stuck with the same characters from day 1 (though one player ended up switching out to make up for a loss of 2 players). Definately totally awesome.
I am about to start book 4 of CotCT for my players, and I've really enjoyed it. As opposed to Council (which I just finished playing in) where as player I felt CONTINUOUSLY frustrated by the lack of seeming accomplishment. I also just finished playing in Runelords and it is an epicly paced game which could lead to so much more (I would love another Runelord centric AP, tbh).
I just started Kingmaker for another group of builders and I hope they enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed prepping it. We're only playing our second session this week, but everything seems to be good so far. I look forward to running Carrion Crown at a later date.
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I only have direct experience with three of the APs: Shackled City (ran it from start to finish), Rise of the Runelords (played up to the beginning of Hook Mountain Massacre), and Second Darkness (read it all the way through). Based on that experience, my favorite to date is Shackled City, though it did take a fair amount of work to get the most out of it.
Just to provide everyone with a tally, here are the results up to and including me (though omitting everyone who voted for more than one):
Curse of the Crimson Throne - 11
Rise of the Runelords - 3
Kingmaker - 3
Carrion Crown - 3
Shackled City - 2
Legacy of Fire - 2
Savage Tide - 1
Against the Slavers/Giants/Drow - 1
Age of Worms - 0
Second Darkness - 0
Council of Thieves - 0
Serpent's Skull - 0
I'm not really surprised at the order, though I am surprised at how big the gap is between CotCT and the next highest.
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Kingmaker for the win. Each adventure is tightly written and still allows plenty of room for sidequests and indulging player interest.
I will give honorable mention to Curse of the Crimson Throne, I want to run it again to do it justice, while combining it with some of the better elements of Council of Thieves.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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My personal all time favorite list:
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Its been said so many times before it really is almost a cliche, but the AP works in any fashion. It is cohesive, it is well-supported, it has very memorable characters good and bad that stay with you as the AP progresses. Plus it had the daring of early APs that seems to have been dulled somewhat in the later installments.
Kingmaker
Daring, open-ended, the sandbox as it should be. It owes some debts in the story department, true - but mainly due to the impossibility to script as tightly as usual. It has by far the best "mini-rules" of all the APs, but loses out to the excellently fleshed out Korvosa
Carrion Crown
Ah, what it could have been... had it been a little less of a genre tour de force, and pulled its story together a little more tightly. Still, it has excellent adventures, memorable lokales and in general enough of a new spin on old plots to stay interesting. Its main problems come down to a slightly botched "starter town" and "creature overload".
Rise of the Runelords
Ah, Nostalgia is a tough beast to slay. I wanted to rank it higher, if only to conjure some of the "old daring" back into Paizo (that seemed to get lost somewhat around the time of Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire). Sadly, it was a forray into unknown territory, and has its flaws. Some as glaring as a certain Lamia, some more subtle as the near-botched "Sins of the Saviours" adventure.
Legacy of Fire
Arabian nights never clicked with me in any major way, so LoF is leading into my lower-rated half by personal taste only. If you love the genre, you get a very solid AP, if you don't, you don't.
Council of Thieves
A rough transition into Pathfinder RPG. A plot that was more than hard ot follow, with the big bad only beginning to show at the very end. Rough on the balance, rough on the flow of the story. Only Thesing and the Sixthfold trial of Lazaroth save this one from having to duke it out for rock bottom
Serpent Skull
Started off on very very high notes. Souls for Smuggler's Shiv raised such high hopes - but the rest of the AP felt like a smaller, less thought-out kingmaker. Racing to Ruin was essentially a wasted adventure ("We trek through the jungle, compete to conquer the ruin so we can trek through the jungle and conquer the ruin"). Also, there was a distinct lack of indiana jones feeling - however that could have been achieved.
Second Darkness
One plus: Great drow, evil and rotten. Started off with the solid with Shadow in the Sky and Children of the Void. But between Armageddon Echo ("You were lowlife, now save the elves due to the goodness of your hearts") , Endless Night ("Cut your paladin some slack, he can't win this one") and A memory of Darkness ("Save the elves no matter how badly they try to screw you over") there is just not too much going for this AP.
Interestingly, I seem to rate the "backswing" APs (Spring / Summer) higher than the "blockbusters" that open at GenCon. Maybe they are as a whole not as dependant on wowing on the first adventure?
The best Pathfinder AP that I have read to date is Curse of the Crimson Throne, but Kingmaker is a close second and I am not completely through it. This is why I am combining them into one epic story of politics, corruption of power, and kingdom building!
That being said my favorite alltime Paizo AP is Age of Worms. I have read and reread the adventures for it so many times that I could probably run the ap without the magazines.
Played:
1.Kingmaker: I ran this. Great fun to run as a DM. I love the interesting story arc. Each of the modules had something interesting about them.
2. Rise of the Runelords: Skinsaw Murders was a blast. Haunted house was excellent. Best use of a ghast and ghouls I've ever seen. I loved the murderer's cult as well.
3. Serpent's Skull: Only on the first module, but so far it is pretty fun. Cannibal's are a new one. Ghosts at sea. Being shipwrecked. Very interesting.
Read:
1. Carrion Crown: I cannot wait to run this. I love the horror genre. I am going to play with this AP and put my own touches on it. I've read the entire AP except for the last module. It is a great read. I really suggest reading the entire AP before running it if you are able. There is so much inspiration in this AP for a DM to play with. Finally a module where you get to play with people's sanity.
2. Curse of the Crimson Throne: I love the opening hook. I like the BBEG. So many moving parts in the AP for a DM to have fun with and roleplay. Looks like it will be a blast to run.
Rise of the Runelords all the way.
Although a creative DM can combine Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson throne into an super epic AP.
I wish I were a creative DM. How would you combine these?