So my group is currently running RoTRL and we're almost done with the 5th module. Once we finish the AP it'll be my turn to run an AP and I was thinking either Serpent's Skull or Carrion Crown. Now my experience as a DM has been limited, and rather bad as I've always tried to run a custom campaign and can never put all of my ideas out for everyone to see properly. I currently have a lot going on in my life and was wanting to run an AP that doesn't require "too" much planning outside of the sessions but is still rather enjoyable for my players. Does anyone have any recommendations that has either played in both AP's or has DM'd them?
So my group is currently running RoTRL and we're almost done with the 5th module. Once we finish the AP it'll be my turn to run an AP and I was thinking either Serpent's Skull or Carrion Crown. Now my experience as a DM has been limited, and rather bad as I've always tried to run a custom campaign and can never put all of my ideas out for everyone to see properly. I currently have a lot going on in my life and was wanting to run an AP that doesn't require "too" much planning outside of the sessions but is still rather enjoyable for my players. Does anyone have any recommendations that has either played in both AP's or has DM'd them?
Curse of the Crimson Throne is an AP that practically runs itself. I love Curse because each session has a multitude of things going on, so it gives a real sense of progression to the PCs. It's 3.5e, but there are a lot of materials available to update the game to accommodate for the Pathfinder jump in power and for the new system. There's a lot of good stuff in here. Small, simple maps until Book #5, so it's easy to work them on the go.
Council of Thieves also is very good if your PCs enjoy urban exploration and city intrigue. It's very good, but everyone hates it. It's still one of my personal favorites. Again, each book is different though by book 5 it becomes samey if you don't take pains to differentiate the books. To the party of a new GM without an ability to really evoke tone and set place, the modules may feel like "church, mansion, mansion, mansion, mansion, city." It also depends on if your PCs are willing to really buy into the theme of the AP, which is revolution and adventure in dilapidated or secret urban environments.
Carrion Crown is for investigation-heavy or thinking parties. So far, I think it's the most "advanced" AP, and requires the most amount of thought and description to truly bring to life. Evoking horror and mystery is MUCH harder than evoking adventure, and I don't know if you want to touch it if you're not sure on your GMing skill. Without the right touches, the game could easily transform from horror to dungeon bash.
Serpent's Skull is open-ended and to be fair in need of much love, particularly in book #3, #5 and #6. I wouldn't run it-- it's also completely open ended and sandboxy, which means there's no linear plot past book #1. Kingmaker is the same, but it has a much stronger grasp on game mechanics and theme, and it feels much more complete. Kingmaker's mood is "ADVENTURE! EXPLORATION! WILDERNESS!" so it's rather simple, requires not a lot of effort to evoke, the encounters are very varied and interesting, and it could be fun for you.
I would have recommended Runelords if your group hadn't already done it. I think it is by far the easiest to run (caveat: we skipped Legacy of Fire and have not gotten to Serpent's Skull or Carrion Crown yet).
A lot of Crimson Throne games self-destruct after module 3, including ours. I haven't run it but it drove me crazy as a player. I have run Second Darkness and it is even more likely to self-destruct, though the first two modules run pretty well. You might consider doing a campaign set in Riddleport, running Second Darkness #1 and #2 and maybe the Freeport modules. They go together surprisingly well and are a lot easier than what actually happens in SD.
We had pretty good success with Council of Thieves (my GM tossed in the first two modules of Savage Tide, which are a good fit). If you are comfortable with politics and the urban setting, we felt that CoT ran like a much-improved version of Crimson Throne and had far fewer problems.
Kingmaker is very different from the others. The early modules are fairly easy to run, but as the kingdom takes shape you'll be using the prepared material less and writing your own stuff more. If you have the time and interest to do a lot of prep Kingmaker can be great, but it does not run well "out of the box", whereas I think Council of Thieves can be run pretty much as written.
Many of the APs have a danger point where the game tends to go off track. If you browse the threads about your chosen AP you can get an idea where the problems arise and plan to work around them. For example, Crimson Throne asks the PCs to leave their home base after module 3, Second Darkness after module 2, and Legacy of Fire (I think) around module 4; many player groups lose interest at these points. If that looks like being a problem for your group you can plan for it: look for strong motivators to leave, or give up on leaving and run something else, or choose an AP (Kingmaker, Council of Thieves) which lacks this feature.
For a novice GM I'd give serious thought to running a cut-down AP of the first few modules only. I personally find high-level GMing very difficult and stressful. The first two of Second Darkness or Kingmaker, or the first three of Crimson Throne could make a reasonable arc; my GM says the first four of Council of Thieves could too. You'd have to write your own ending, and remove some clues to the existing ending, but the overall job would be easier. It depends, of course, on what your group likes in terms of play level.
Best of luck, whatever you try!
Thank you all very much for the replies. It looks like you each have different experiences with the different modules but seem to agree about some of the same things. Let me add a few things to give a better idea of my group. Right now we're running Rise of the Runelords (therefore I wouldn't run it again) and there's currently 5 players and one DM. Three of the players aren't long time D&D gamers and haven't spent a lot of time reading up on rules and the like so what they know is what the rest of us explain to them.. every session. The remaining player, myself and the current DM know the rules and magic like the back of our hands so we're primarily the ones doing and leading or rules "bending". One of the items that I'm really interested in with the AP would be the outdoors. I really like the idea of the party running through a jungle or just being away from civilization for an extended amount of time. It would really require them to think more outside the box and hopefully make their gaming experience more enjoyable. That said, I do like scenery changes so an AP that has a lot of different locals would be preferable.
I'm a new DM running Legacy of Fire (currently in the second module) at the moment. Legacy of Fire doesn't require too much prep time, so there is a plus there. The setting is fantastic (Arabian Nights) and the story is pretty darn good.
However, I found a big disconnect between the first module and the second. The first module is outdoors, relatively open ended (there's a goal, but the players can try different ways to tackle it) and not too difficult. The second module, on the other hand, is a dungeon crawl and is rather difficult. The party had only a few close calls in the first module, but the second one killed the cleric with the first on the first session (lucky crit with a x3 weapon, but still...).
From my reading of the forums, it sounds like the third module causes some difficulty because it is rather likely that the players will choose an option that does not progress the story forward. Of course, the DM then has to scramble to figure out how to keep things going.
Hope this helps!
I'm a new DM running Legacy of Fire (currently in the second module) at the moment. Legacy of Fire doesn't require too much prep time, so there is a plus there. The setting is fantastic (Arabian Nights) and the story is pretty darn good.
However, I found a big disconnect between the first module and the second. The first module is outdoors, relatively open ended (there's a goal, but the players can try different ways to tackle it) and not too difficult. The second module, on the other hand, is a dungeon crawl and is rather difficult. The party had only a few close calls in the first module, but the second one killed the cleric with the first on the first session (lucky crit with a x3 weapon, but still...).
From my reading of the forums, it sounds like the third module causes some difficulty because it is rather likely that the players will choose an option that does not progress the story forward. Of course, the DM then has to scramble to figure out how to keep things going.
Hope this helps!
Thanks! Though I forgot to mention that one of the other players has made it known that she wants to run Legacy of Fire for us later so I'm restricted from looking/running it :D