Having read through the entire AP, I have to say this one seems to have missed the mark a bit compared to the others. I think what was missing for me was a read connection between each adventure.
It reminded me of the times I would pull a bunch of modules off my shelf to use, put them in level order, and then come up with some think "link" to pull the party from one to the other. The dramatic development found in most of the other APs just seems to be missing.
As pointed out in the last editorial, the AP contains no advice or scenes developing any connection between the party and the main bad guy. There doesn't even really seem to be anything in any of the adventures to build up the Whispering Tyrant himself. This is very much a "tell" rather than "show" AP which was disappointing.
Our favorite APs so far have been the ones that clearly built on the previous ones. Developing connections in the community, building a town, gaining benefits in the area, etc. There's none of that here at all. It really seems to be a grab bag of monsters (this week, werewolves! Then Cthulhu! Then vampires!") As many other posters have indicated, if I ran this I see the party trying to go off the rails in almost every scenario (Last week we helped evil cultists, now we're helping vampires? Screw this).
That out of all of the APs to date this is the only one I think will not go into the rotation speaks volumes of the quality of the AP series. I think there was some recognition in the final module that this one had missed the mark along the way, and I hope the need to build up the bad guy, and have a clear path and development between each and every step of an AP in the future will return.
I think Carrion Crown is an experiment, much like Kingmaker was. Instead of having an AP with no plot, CC is the AP with a bunch of unrelated, serial plots. This isn't going to please everyone (obviously), but I'm glad they did it this way. It's good to branch out and try different things, even when they don't turn into absolute gold. Chances are I'm going to modify things a hair here and there to make the individual adventures conect more, but I'm still happy that they don't have as many connections as other APs.
The monster of the week issue is frustrating, but again, something I'm ok with (though less so) and looking forward to trying and modify this theme to set better with my group and I. I think adding in subplots (based strongly off my individual characters backgrounds as well as events that take place during the campaign) will mitigate this enough.
The need to stop the way is actually pretty strong throughout the path, with hints of them in the first two adventures. The other 4 has catching and stopping the way as their main goal.
It's only disconnected in the monster choice, but that's a necessity. 3 of the adventures are extremely undead heavy, as well as lots of undead showing up in another. If they didn't spread it out it would get boring really, really fast.
This adventure path is also a "tour", which can result in disconnection because it is difficult to have NPCs you can reuse over and over. How much this disrupts things depends on how the game is run.
As for the Whispering Tyrant, that is something that shouldn't be built up. The Tyrant isn't the final boss, and the goal isn't to fight him. The goal is to stop the Way from bringing him back, which is something they don't have put together to the end. After all, if the characters knew that the Way was planning to bring back the Whispering Tyrant they would probably drop the current thread and head to Virlych in order to try and stop them.
I’m just starting the 4th adventure and because I am constantly bringing up the Whispering Way, the party wants to stop them and they can’t figure out what the WW is doing this seems to make this AP string together just fine for my group.
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The OP and Fraust could not be more out of sorts on their opinions. While the theme's are by book pretty straight forward and knowing that the players know basically what they are facing before each adventure does not make this easy or easier as a GM.. but this is one of the best Adventure Paths to date in my opinion. The books flow from one to the other fairly easy in my opinion. All the GM has to do is to keep the Whispering Way topic going and why they are following the Whispering way. The whole idea is to stop the Whispering way from doing something (will not mention for spoilers sake). As a GM, he should encourage the players characters to research the WW and find out why they are doing the things they are in the Haunting of Harrowstone. And why in Leipedstadt that the WW is interfering the way they are too.
It is not difficult to string the books together by chapter. If you read the Forward to book 6 there is even more ways of doing so if you like. But saying they missed the mark could not be further from the truth, unless you like a completely linear adventure. This one is NOT completely linear.. but only linear from one book to the other... and the players do not feel like they NEED to do one part to get to another part.. just do what they want when they want and enjoy it throughout the entire path.. at least mine have thus far.
I agree with you on the compartmentalization issue. We spotted that early on as a weaker spot in the adventure path. For instance, I wanted some Cthulhu with my ghosts even as early as the first adventure.
Of course, luckily as a third party publisher I have a solution to my problem. I can just make a plug in adventure :)
So Clark, any word on when The Murmuring Fountain will be out? With a character who likes to sneak out at night to paint red letters on buildings in Ravengro, the group I run can probably use all the Trust they can get!
So Clark, any word on when The Murmuring Fountain will be out? With a character who likes to sneak out at night to paint red letters on buildings in Ravengro, the group I run can probably use all the Trust they can get!
Pregens almost finished, then Murmuring Fountain is next. Art is done, maps are done.
My opinion is just that, as is yours. I don't think either is out of sorts. The series, as presented, with little to no modification, is a touch weak, in my opinion. I think the series as a whole is amazing, and with a little modification, is the best Paizo has done to date, but for me, my players, and most people I've played with in the past, it's a little episodic.
This adventure path is also a "tour",
Absolutely. So far, every "tour" adventure that Paizo has done has left me cold. The continual helping of evil to supposedly stop some kind of nebulous "greater evil" can also be a roadblock. For a number of people, that's not really fun, either.
I'd probably give this AP a middling 5 out of 10 - probably tied for Paizo's third worst (after Second Darkness and Council of Thieves; tied with Serpent's Skull). Hrmm... kind of increasing in frequency, I see...
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So Clark, any word on when The Murmuring Fountain will be out? With a character who likes to sneak out at night to paint red letters on buildings in Ravengro, the group I run can probably use all the Trust they can get!Pregens almost finished, then Murmuring Fountain is next. Art is done, maps are done.
Where can I find a list of your products? I can only find one thing, and it doesn't look like it has any relation to Carrion Crown.
Further, is the product you're referencing actually tie into Carrion Crown?