I think the stories in Carrion Crown path would be a bit slow and/or complex for my players, who are young and not used to role playing. I'm wondering if the material on the setting in the modules is sufficient to warrant purchase, or if I'll do fine just purchasing the map folio and making the rest up on my own. In other words, will I get good details on the communities in which the stories take place, above and beyond the stories themselves? Also, which community would be best to start in, near hills preferable.
Since I started playing in the setting, I stopped reading it, but I felt like there was a lot of detail in the little bit I did read - limited to parts of the first two modules.
I really don't think the first module is too slow / complex, though. You can always modify it for speed, but the overall intent of the module should be within the grasp of someone old enough to roleplay, I would think. Gloss over or ignore the stuff you think is too much, add in stuff of your own design, but I think the first module would be a solid starting point whether you follow the overarching story of the AP or not.
My $0.02. Have fun!
Thanks. I'll probably go ahead and buy the first PDF, just to see. It's not really that they don't understand role play so much as if they go more than 20 minutes without a combat, they start saying "I'm so bored". I do well with the basic sort of dungeon crawl, but I'm trying to slowly squeeze in more skill use and role playing.
I have the additional complexity that my Kingmaker campaign has come to an abrupt unhappy ending, and one of my players from that, considerably more experienced, might be transitioning to this new game, so I'll have an odd balance of RP experience. I want to write a story complex enough not to bore that player, but with enough combat not to bore the others.
If they're a combat-oriented group, Carrion Crown is not for them. From what I've seen in Paizo's APs (and I've either played or DMed through all of them, except Jade Regent), CC is *the least* combat-oriented, since a good part of the XP comes from research, investigations and interaction.
My suggestion is Serpent's Skull, since it's (in)famous for being a hack and slash, especially in later parts.
Yeah, I'm wondering how I'm going to manage part 2 with my crowd; they're still in part 1 and I had to ramp up the speed of action a bit. I've been reading #2, and I'm going to have to lead them by the nose, I suspect, in order to get them through it.
That's one reason I'm going to run Feast of Ravenmoor in between; they'll be a bit higher level when they hit Trial of the Beast and the DCs will be less onerous.
Thanks for all the opinions. I think I can swing at least the first module with a little tweaking. Whether or not we'll continue the AP or I'll design my own adventures in Ustalav, I'm not sure.
Someone else suggested having the Sheriff from Ravengro head to the city with the party. He can do most of the investigation off-screen and feed ideas/leads/requests to the players. You can get the same from any number of NPCs in the city, but at least the Sheriff will be a familiar, and hopefully, less untrustworthy NPC than random big-city person they just met (though you could also play that angle and add a bit of intrigue to the game).