What were your favorite / least favorite elements about Curse of the Crimson Throne AP?

[William Bryan]

This inquiry is for players and GMs alike who have played through/GMed the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP.

GMs: please use spoiler tags when necessary.

There are 2 intentions of this post.
1. For others to be able to make an informed decision of whether this AP will be a good fit for your players as well as to see if the AP style works with the GM's storytelling style.
2. For Paizo staff to be able to keep track of what their customers/fans think of the APs and use the information to improve the APs in the future.

[Stewart Perkins]

Currently I am running CotCT and haven't found any glaring problem spots or things I hate or what have you.
I will say this though:

Giant Rantish Post, saying good and bad:

The Derro in the deadwarrens are the biggest waste of time, They are spread throughout the complex and I feel they are an example of high cr, low threat IMO. The party of 4 just walked all over them, they are spread out so that theres 1 by himself and 2 of them, and 1 with 2 stirges (of 6) and then another by himself). The fights in the entirety of the place were cakewalks eexcept for Vreeg and Cabbagehead, and thats because I put them together and they still were like 2 rounders (If i hadnt made a HUGE glaring error and misplayed darkness, etc) had I ran that straigh they would have never even broke a sweat in the entire place. Actually I take that back the Necrophidus were tough, but thats because I used two from the bestiary 2 instead of converting the 3 lessers. I expect alot of similiar fights, where its either too much or not enough. It really doesnt bother me that much though because the story is great and its worth the ride just for that. Also I have heard alot of thumb-biting about the latter episodes after escape (Books 4 and 5?) where you leave and go play in the cinderlands and dungeondelve in an undead filled fortress. I dont have the books on hand, or the link to the posts, but it essentially boils down to "should have stayed in the city and never left" and "UNdead dungeon=crazy stuff" and also a side of "Must hang out with evil?" in regards to the Zon-Kuthonites... Honestly I think those might be strong points to me and my players, to give a break to the city and vary the adventures some, plus they like outdoor and dungeon delving too so we will see.

[William Bryan]

I will say that as a player, there were so many fun elements to this campaign

spoiler:

the pig game and the scenario associated with it was way too much fun!

.

The continuity got severely torn up by departing the city for so long. I felt that leaving the city under the circumstances worked well enough (I'm a big fan of having to run away from the bad guy every now and again) but the two modules that comprised the PCs being away from the city were poorly designed. I didn't feel like there was too much of a strong tie to the main plot line as well as the sub-plots being overly cliche'.

#1 Was, I think, the first time Paizo really experimented with open-end, sandbox style timeline and I appreciated that.

#2 was positively the best, most creepy adventure within the series. BIG fan of disease in my game.

As a GM, I have very little to say because I'm not using the whole AP as much as I am cannibalizing the AP for a homebrew campaign that I infrequently run.

[Dragonshade]

Currently running this adventure path, and nearly done with Escape From Old Korvosa.

So far the notable highlights agreed upon by the group have been as follows:

- Very well fleshed out NPCs, who stay on as recurring support characters. It gave a very good feel to a dynamic city that breathes.

- Best plague storyline seen so far.

- Refreshing to have an urban storyline with minimal dungeon environments. Makes the players stop and consider legal consequences unlike how they would in a standard dungeon crawl

The only drawbacks I have seen thus far, is little mentioned of what kind of time elapses from chapter to chapter for the sake of having the story flow, and it does put a bunch of responsibility on the players to take the initiative and get involved. Mine are fine with that, but I have DMed for several groups who wouldn't have.

However overall, it was the right blend of experimental adventuring (the primary urban environment) and beginner-friendly that members of my group who are both seasoned gamers and fresh-meat are enjoying.

[Gonturan]

I'm just wrapping up the AP this weekend. I'll probably post a more detailed review soon, but for now...

The Highlights:

1. Strong NPCs and a richly detailed high-fantasy urban setting, which provides a great sandbox for Chapters 1, 2, and 6.

2. A clearly defined antagonist whom the players will love to hate.

3. The grim flavour and desperate detective work in Chapter 2.

4. Room after room of PC-chewing undead monstrosities in Chapter 5.

5. Returning to Korvosa in Chapter 6, catching up with NPCs, seeing what's changed and how the (high-powered) PCs fit into their old stomping grounds.

The Lowlights:

1. Weak hooks. I ended up giving Lamm a much larger role in the campaign (merging him with Rolph, and to some extent with Togomor), so that the players' backstories paid off past the first encounter of the AP.

2. Because of the weak hooks, some PCs didn't feel much investment in the city's plight, and either wanted to leave it too early, or didn't want to bother going back in Chapter 6. Meanwhile, other PCs resented being told they HAD to leave by some NPCs whose lives they had just saved. In short: railroad headaches.

3. The Emperor Pilts plot in Chapter 3 played out very badly in my game. PCs don't know how to deal with angry mobs or raving tyrants; when faced with anarchy, their knee-jerk reaction is usually to add to it.

4. Chapter 4, with its endless series of chain quests. The atmosphere is lovely, and some of the encounters are well crafted, but it's too much runaround for too little reward. Who put this railroad in the middle of the desert?

[Ice Titan]

Quote:

1. Strong NPCs and a richly detailed high-fantasy urban setting, which provides a great sandbox for Chapters 1, 2, and 6.

2. A clearly defined antagonist whom the players will love to hate.

3. The grim flavour and desperate detective work in Chapter 2.

4. Room after room of PC-chewing undead monstrosities in Chapter 5.

5. Returning to Korvosa in Chapter 6, catching up with NPCs, seeing what's changed and how the (high-powered) PCs fit into their old stomping grounds.

I agree with everything here.

Quote:

1. Weak hooks. I ended up giving Lamm a much larger role in the campaign (merging him with Rolph, and to some extent with Togomor), so that the players' backstories paid off past the first encounter of the AP.

I agree with this.

I loved the Shoanti angle and module #4 in Curse of the Crimson Throne, but maybe that's because I think my group and I love Golarion. Jumping waist-deep into other cultures in games and realizing you're not just "in my head I was a white guy" but Chelaxian, Taldan, Varisian, etc. is... it's a lot of fun for roleplaying, which is why we remember that module. The long, long quest was a lot of fun for us, but maybe that's because we finished the entire module in three sessions (when we played from 6pm to 2am, we chewed modules up like dogs in a homework barn). Other groups who maybe get a 4 or 5 hour session in twice a month who spend more time socializing than playing probably have a much better cause to hate it.

Also, any and all character-related blues can be solved by just telling the players straight up that they should make characters who want to save the city, and then letting them know that Korvosa is not evil, but neutral, and that the city, like any real city, is full of corruption, vice, bad things and bad people. When I told my group this, two people sat down and decided to play their characters in the campaign with the motto "As good as possible" (and one decided to make a necromancer cleric of Norgorber). They all worked together to save the city-- for the people, places and freedoms they loved that they wrote directly into their backstories. Nobody ever said "Well, why don't we just ditch Korvosa?" That was impossible.

[azhrei_fje]

I'm not going to bother with spoiler tags as players shouldn't be reading this anyway... If you're a player, STOP RIGHT HERE! :)

My party is almost done with this AP. (If we can just get everyone together to play for a couple of nights it would be over!)

Things I felt were weak:

1. What happens after the plague is cured? I had the city stockpile additional curatives with the precept that regular blood donations from Varisians were required to make the serum. This gave me a hook in Chapter 6 to describe how the villain was *paying* citizens to give blood. (This ties into the Everdawn Pool.) There's a huge subplot created based on this fact, plus some added encounters in Longacre Building with ex-Grey Maiden recruits being addicted to drugs (long story).

2. The railroading of the trip across the Shoanti Plains. I admit it was a great way to show off the Storval Plateau but I had to flesh out Kaer Maga since my players wanted to buy/sell gear there, I had to flesh out the dwarven stronghold (I don't remember the name; starts with a "J"), and I had to move the Cindermaw roaming grounds to make more sense related to how I read the story and the timeline. I loved the Havero -- my party was almost ready to commit to trying to wipe it out!!

3. Overall, my party couldn't understand the reliance on Neolandus. Why was he so important? I had to underscore how Korvosa was LN and the city charter said that without a coup or popular uprising he was the only way to force a change of who sat on the throne. I fleshed out the Council of Five as well and gave them additional duties so that Glorio and the other families could be slightly more important. I also had to describe how cloistered the Academae is so that the PCs wouldn't run there everytime they wanted help or to buy/sell gear. And they still managed to finagle an audience with the headmaster who arranged some work for them but then refused to get involved. (heh-heh)

Things I really liked about the AP:

1. Disease. Not enough of disease and poisons in traditional campaigns. These are effects that can be truly deadly to PCs, unlike other "normal" damage.

2. Vimanda and the underground area. It's a little hokey as to why it's there, but the encounters worked very well and I had players soiling their pants (!) over some of the strategies used by the opponents. Vimanda's use of the healing pool *really* pissed them off. Of course, they didn't know about it or they would have used it as well. Warning: running the labyrinth using a VTT is tough to do. Think carefully about how you want to setup the maps and how you're going to manage the changes.

3. The encounter with the wererats. IMC the party wanted to parlay with them and acted as emissaries in an attempt to get them some kind of truce with the surface dwellers. That turned into a whole subplot that ran across chapters 2, 3, and 6.

4. Laori. Sorry, but I dig chicks in spiked leather armor wielding chains. Just call me sick. ;) Although the kyton bodyguard was *waaay* too powerful in combat and had to be reined in. It did generate respect for her and her master, however. :)

Things I added/changed in the AP:

1. I added the idea of a "Witness". Robert Heinlein uses them in a few of his Lazarus Long stories. Think of them as court stenographers whose testimony is always treated as truthful by others. My party used them when interrogating prisoners, which happened two or three times.

2. During the "martial law" period of chapter 6 I closed down all venues for the PCs to buy/sell magic items. They had to return to Kaer Maga (teleport) a couple times to resupply. This annoyed them to no end and they were extremely happy when their efforts caused just a small loosening of the strictures within Korvosa.

3. They haven't felt much of a time crunch in chapter 6. I've added some various things going on to push them forward. I increased the involvement of the Red Mantis (and used the Su ability to call deadly mantis' to great effect!). The party was then thoroughly pissed and vengeful at the same time -- which is perfect from a GM standpoint. :) They are currently battling Sermignatto (spelling?) but still don't know where the Everdawn Pool is, so they'll have a little more searching/divination to do prior to approaching the villain for the last encounter.

4. IMC I wanted to power the E.P. using fresh blood, so the church of Abadar continues to collect blood for the creation of curatives for the plague. Much of that blood is redirected to the E.P. without the knowledge of the clerics. The party found this out and started substituting goat's blood instead after they read in the book that the blood must come from willing subjects (and they figured goats would make the villain think that valid blood was still coming in and would give them time to investigate further -- a good plan actually). However, there are women (failed G.M. recruits) under Longacre Building who have been addicted to various drugs. These women are told they won't get their next fix unless they donate blood -- and so there is still a supply of "willing subjects". The party just recently found out about these women and they have decided not to do anything about them: they can't possibly cure them all, and releasing them would be a death sentence for them. Many of the women know where their next fix comes from and wouldn't leave anyway...

Well, that's a lot of typing. I'll stop now. :)