Best AP to play with a group consisting primarily of middle schoolers?


Pathfinder Adventure Path General Discussion


Ok so I run a pathfinder game through my church.Yes my church. Ok, now that we are past that. I have kids who want try an AP. Which ones the most pg without changing too much stuff? Any thoughts on this would be awesome.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

Adult themes easily removed:
Kingmaker
Legacy of Fire
Serpent's Skull
Falcon's Hollow*

Adult themes somewhat more difficult to remove:
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Second Darkness
Carrion Crown

Adult themes very difficult to remove:
Rise of the Runelords
Council of Theives

*[not technically an AP, but rather a series of interconnected modules that does much the same thing]

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

That being said, to me "middle schooler" says (amoung other things) "short attention span", and I would posit that the format and commitment of a long-haul AP is not the best choice.

Remember, APs take most groups over a year to finish, playing weekly. I wouldn't try to run anything for students that lasted longer than a school year, personally speaking.


Erik Freund wrote:

That being said, to me "middle schooler" says (amoung other things) "short attention span", and I would posit that the format and commitment of a long-haul AP is not the best choice.

Remember, APs take most groups over a year to finish, playing weekly. I wouldn't try to run anything for students that lasted longer than a school year, personally speaking.

Thank u honestly that has been a big ish as well as commitment, but they asked so I uncover.


Do you think they'll stick through a whole AP?

Spoiler:
If not, the first Kingmaker adventure is very sandbox in style, i.e. ride over to this hex, explore, fight; ride to next hex, explore, fight. Lots of action to keep them engaged. They should be talking about their battles from session to session.

When you get into kingdom building later you might begin to lose them, however, but you could always end the AP after the first and second adventures when the exploration transitions to kingdom building.

The Exchange

Something I've been thinking about doing lately that would work well with a younger audience is a short campaign about the current meta-plot in the Pathfinder Society missions(the shadow lodge stuff). The Pathfinder Society is well suited for a PG audience already and you can pick and choose which scenarios you wish to include. You would have to do a little work to connect the adventures, as the PFS scenarios don't usually cover travel to the distant places that are featured in the meta-plot (Absalom, Kaer Maga, Katapesh I think). Although that gives you a little freedom for more adventures if you want.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Kosivo0121 wrote:
Something I've been thinking about doing lately that would work well with a younger audience is a short campaign about the current meta-plot in the Pathfinder Society missions(the shadow lodge stuff). The Pathfinder Society is well suited for a PG audience already and you can pick and choose which scenarios you wish to include. You would have to do a little work to connect the adventures, as the PFS scenarios don't usually cover travel to the distant places that are featured in the meta-plot (Absalom, Kaer Maga, Katapesh I think). Although that gives you a little freedom for more adventures if you want.

Scenarios are perfect for this, I'd think.

Scenarios are quick and could be completed in one or two short sessions, they're self-contained and encapsulated so group turnover won't seem as disruptive as it could in an AP, and best of all they can take their characters along with them outside of the group, or during the summer.

Attention span issues would be easier to deal with to, since they're designed to be run at a decent pace and have more clearly defined goals/agendas for each character.

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