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It takes some work, but one thing you could do:
Take some (say, 30-60 minutes a week) of the time you'd use to prep your normal game and try to set up those level 17-20 adventures while the PCs are actually going through the AP in question.
For example, and especially with the resources available now like "Dungeons of Golarion" and "Tomb of Horrors, Revised", Carrion Crown ends up dealing with some serious threat-level baddies.
The area at the end is primed for even more badness, with plenty of higher level stuff planted in the ground/air/mountains.
Rather than work on the "end game" stuff after the AP is concluded, start working in the transition from AP 6 to Homebrew 1 at character generation time.
I'm doing this with Carrion Crown now...and it only really works since all the resources are already in place. Dungeons of Golarion gives me maps, hazards, and suggestions for NPCs to populate that end-game dungeon. Inner Sea World Guide, Gamemastery Guide, Inner Sea Magic, and Rule of Fear give me most of the rest.
All that remains is to create a handful of powerful NPCs (time-consuming, yes, but you have time to do so if you space it out over the entire course of an AP), work the plotlines so the transition is relatively smooth, and react to your players.
Part of the beauty of high level play is that you can simply posit a problem and not worry about the solution.
"Hmmm, my BBEG is a super-bad-ass Red Dragon. He lives in a huge volcano with smaller dragons, half-dragons, and fire giant mooks. I guess there's gonna be lots of heat, suffocation, and elevation hazards, plus the usual dungeon denizen dressing."
Pull out some maps from other adventures (like Hall of the Giant Jarl, White Plume Mountain, Skeletons of Scarwall, etc), slap some stock NPCs and some custom-tweaked monsters together, and boom. All I REALLY had to create out of whole cloth was the BBEG & the final setup. The rest is fluid enough to handle PC's who may fly, teleport, turn into elementals, scry-and-fry, or whatever other tricks they may pull out.
With respect to the initial thesis, I would agree that the BBEG for Savage Tide is as big and rockstar as they come. No question possible about that one. He's been iconic since the 1e Monster Manual hit the shelves.
However, in both the Shackled City and Age of Worms, though the BBEGs are certainly tough, one was a new invention for the AP and the other was a relatively obscure actor in D&D lore. You really weren't fighting any of the iconic villains of D&D. You'd have to have been going after someone like Vecna or Iuz, I think, for that to apply in Age of Worms.
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I disagree there Bill. The BBEG of Age of Worms is iconic and as cool as they come. I knew about him long before AoW ever came out. I don't consider him obscure at all.
I know I could write my own high level plot but if I had the time to do that I would not be running AP's. The fact is that I don't have that time with all the other commitments I have. I run AP's because they are easy to prep and are solid adventures where everything is all laid out ready to run. Sure I occasionally add in my own bits but that's my own lookout, I shouldn't be forced to do it. With that in mind the "continuing the campaign" sections are utterly useless to me (not that I'm saying they should be got rid of but I have no use for them.)
As for CotCT
"Queen Ileosa died that fateful day, only to be reborn as something new- something wholly evil"
This whole campaign would not have happened without Kazavon's influence. Ileosa is not using Kazavon to get what she wants, she IS Kazavon reborn. The soul of Kazavon has reshaped her into something more in his image, he's the real power here, not Ileosa.
Creative Director
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I disagree there Bill. The BBEG of Age of Worms is iconic and as cool as they come. I knew about him long before AoW ever came out. I don't consider him obscure at all.
I know I could write my own high level plot but if I had the time to do that I would not be running AP's. The fact is that I don't have that time with all the other commitments I have. I run AP's because they are easy to prep and are solid adventures where everything is all laid out ready to run. Sure I occasionally add in my own bits but that's my own lookout, I shouldn't be forced to do it. With that in mind the "continuing the campaign" sections are utterly useless to me (not that I'm saying they should be got rid of but I have no use for them.)
As for CotCT
** spoiler omitted **
Regarding that spoiler...
Yes to the OP
I think think they are missing a trick
1. they have said many times they are not (never?) moving the timelime foreward. All APS assume 4710 or close to
Therefore
2. PCS should be able to finish off as many big names as they wish as it will not affect any other canon/APs etc if Asmodeus is killed, Aroden returns, world wound shuts, whispering tyrant is slain etc
1. is wrong...
Which invalidates 2.
The timeline progresses in real-time.
so the APs dont start at 4710 or close too? 4707-4715 is 'close too'
point 2 is very valid ....there will never be an AP where any of these happen, which fits in with the OPs pointI guess 'when' the complete epic books appears, maybe it will change
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2. PCS should be able to finish off as many big names as they wish as it will not affect any other canon/APs etc if Asmodeus is killed, Aroden returns, world wound shuts, whispering tyrant is slain etc
1. is wrong...
Which invalidates 2.
The timeline progresses in real-time.
....there will never be an AP where any of these happen, which fits in with the OPs point
I guess 'when' the complete epic books appears, maybe it will change
Well Aroden is dead and his soul judged by Pharasma, so can't even be ressed. I wouldn't say never on the woundworld shutting, the biggest challenge on that is the fact that there are those of us who want more variety than one subtype (which would be the case in a woundworld arch)
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Well Aroden is dead and his soul judged by Pharasma, so can't even be ressed. I wouldn't say never on the woundworld shutting, the biggest challenge on that is the fact that there are those of us who want more variety than one subtype (which would be the case in a woundworld arch)
2. PCS should be able to finish off as many big names as they wish as it will not affect any other canon/APs etc if Asmodeus is killed, Aroden returns, world wound shuts, whispering tyrant is slain etc
1. is wrong...
Which invalidates 2.
The timeline progresses in real-time.
....there will never be an AP where any of these happen, which fits in with the OPs point
I guess 'when' the complete epic books appears, maybe it will change
We only have Pharasma's word for that...
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Creative Director
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We only have Pharasma's word for that...Well Aroden is dead and his soul judged by Pharasma, so can't even be ressed. I wouldn't say never on the woundworld shutting, the biggest challenge on that is the fact that there are those of us who want more variety than one subtype (which would be the case in a woundworld arch)
2. PCS should be able to finish off as many big names as they wish as it will not affect any other canon/APs etc if Asmodeus is killed, Aroden returns, world wound shuts, whispering tyrant is slain etc
1. is wrong...
Which invalidates 2.
The timeline progresses in real-time.
....there will never be an AP where any of these happen, which fits in with the OPs point
I guess 'when' the complete epic books appears, maybe it will change
And my word too, for what that's worth... ;-P
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And my word too, for what that's worth... ;-PWe only have Pharasma's word for that...Well Aroden is dead and his soul judged by Pharasma, so can't even be ressed. I wouldn't say never on the woundworld shutting, the biggest challenge on that is the fact that there are those of us who want more variety than one subtype (which would be the case in a woundworld arch)
2. PCS should be able to finish off as many big names as they wish as it will not affect any other canon/APs etc if Asmodeus is killed, Aroden returns, world wound shuts, whispering tyrant is slain etc
1. is wrong...
Which invalidates 2.
The timeline progresses in real-time.
....there will never be an AP where any of these happen, which fits in with the OPs point
I guess 'when' the complete epic books appears, maybe it will change
Wait you're not Pharasma? I thought for sure I seen a pic of you dressed as her in cosplay. :)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I ran several mega-epic "save the world" campaigns back in the 90s and early to mid 2000s (including the one where James was playing the Shensen PC now enshrined in Golarion lore), and I intentionally moved away from those to campaigns where the stakes were smaller and more player-directed, with no ticking doomsday clock to force the pace and scope of the action. The first was a 3.5 Al-Qadim conversion campaign that really had zero metaplot. These were lands of adventure and the PCs struck out and found adventure where they found it, in the heart of the desert or the steaming isles or wherever. That campaign ended around 9th-10th level in order to give 4th Ed a try, and that campaign did have a metaplot, though not a world-ending one; however, that campaign broke up around 8th level when I decided 4th Ed wasn't really floating my boat.
Next up: Kingmaker, my first Paizo AP, which I've been running for close to three years and PCs have just completed War of the River Kings. While I've worked in extra adventures, including much of Skinsaw Murders and Hook Mountain Massacre (and starting the campaign with Crypt of the Everflame, a bit of its sequel, and a PF-ized version of Keep on the Borderlands, plus various little homebrew bits here and there), but Kingmaker has a pretty soft metaplot. Though I've built it up a bit by focusing more on certain aspects linking the enemies, it's still in no way a "save the world" mission. It's a largely player-directed AP.
It's been a while now since I've run a world-at-risk campaign, and maybe that's something I'd consider next time around. I think it's a reasonable request of the fandom to, as an experiment once in a great while, create an AP where the stakes are dialed up to 11. We've had 3 Dungeon, 4 Paizo 3.5, and 6 Paizo PF APs thus far, with Shattered Star on the horizon and who knows what else beyond that. Maybe it is time to knock the world off its axis a little bit.
Easy for me to say, but still fun to think about. :)