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Shattered Star serves as a spiritual sequel to .... Curse of the Crimson Throne.
Please reassure me that SSAP will not contain plots or characterizations or anything that will spoil my enjoyment of Curse of the Crimson Throne.
I'm still hoping to find a DM to run CotCT and am avoiding spoilers.
Thanks.
*keeps fingers crossed
Shattered Star serves as a spiritual sequel to .... Curse of the Crimson Throne.Please reassure me that SSAP will not contain plots or characterizations or anything that will spoil my enjoyment of Curse of the Crimson Throne.
I'm still hoping to find a DM to run CotCT and am avoiding spoilers.
Thanks.
Hopefully without spoiling anything for you, it's been revealed that one of the adventures in the Shattered Star AP focuses on what happened to a significant group of villains from CotCT following the end of the latter AP. I would expect spoilers were I you.
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Yeah, it sucks -- not just Curse of the Crimson Throne but also Council of Thieves and, believe it or not, Savage Tide. (You can't imagine how hard it was to get my last ever issues of Dungeon and NOT be able to read 1/3 of each issue to avoid spoilers in the hopes of one day getting a DM to run it for me.)
I'm frothing at the mouth for Shattered Star but I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer.
Froth at the mouth instead for CotCT. It's a fantastic AP. One of the better D&D experiences I've ever had. Once you've played it, then get your Shattered Star on.
I concur with Mikaze. Running Crimson Throne and looking at the Shattered Star AP descriptions I've seen spoilers for CotCT, so careful!
Also, if you have the Lost Kingdoms campaign setting, I think reading the Thassilonian section there has possible spoilers for the campaign. I read it and I think I know the 'endgame' for the AP now.
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No, that's not what I was saying at all. I'v never read STAP in Dungeon because I've been hoping to find a DM to run it for me. I've also never read CotCT or CoT for the same reason: I want to run PCs in those campaigns.
And actually, those two may have been even harder on me because, unlike Dungeon where I could read some of the content each month when it came in the mail, with Pathfinder I can't even look at anything each month as they come in the mail.
I had promised myself I would stop "holding off" on reading all future campaigns until I got someone else to DM -- sooner or later I gotta be able to get someone to DM those Campaigns for me, right?!? -- but I can't keep adding to them; three is a good number to stop at.
I have no intention of running a PC through Shattered Star but if reading it will spoil parts of CotCT then I'll have to hold off reading SS until I convince someone to DM CotTC for me. Damn it.
Is the Shattered Star Player's Guide out yet? Or is that just next month?
Ultradan
It will come out right before they ship the first installment of the AP. Soon.
I have to finish CotCT and run RotRL first though, so I have lots of time....
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Other options, that will let you read Shattered Star:
1. When you do eventually play in CotCT, play an Oracle of Time or a Diviner who happens to have some random insights into the future. That way, the parts you're "spoiled" for are actually part of your character's flavor!
2. Only read or play Shattered Star while super drunk, so you don't remember anything afterwards.
3. Actually, #2 is the only other option that you need.
So, what kind of spoilers are there in Shattered Star for Crimson Throne? Do we know that already in more detail?
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There are significant " spoilers" in Shattered Star, concerning Rise of the Runelords, Second Darkness, and Curse of the Crimson Throne.
They are 5 or so years old, after all.
I applaud your tenacity avoiding the storyline spoilers, but I feel you're doing yourself a dis-service, and missing out on some great gaming/reading.
Why not GM CotCT yourself? I'm sure there's a group willing to start that AP up, especially for PF rules.
I am also assuming here, only skimming Shards of Sin, but it is assumed 'everyone' knows at the beginning of this adventure path that a very powerful wizard of old Thassilon (the runelord of greed) tried and almost succeeded in coming back into his power, likely resulting in a hostile takeover of Varisia. He was narrowly stopped by a group of adventurers, and the lost city of Xin-Shalast was discovered and is actively being explored/plundered. For those who have yet to play Runelords, this would be a fairly large spoiler as the first few chapters they don't even know the events taking place have anything to do with ancient Thassilon. Small caveat would be as the flagship AP, it has had a lot of limelight and likely anyone who hasn't yet played it at least knows its related to Thassilon and the Runelords.
I have not played this campaign, and likely never will, but I happen to know from other discussions that the spoiler for this path in Shattered Star is that the 'events' obviously have already taken place. This would be the discovery of the secret of the origins of Drow, and their attempt to drop a meteor on Riddleport, recreating Earthfall.
Curse of the Lady's Light involves the PCs going to an old lighthouse, where a group of Grey Maidens now dwell. I don't know much other than what has been introduced in the chapter summary for the product itself, but its obvious the presence of these women would be a bit of a spoiler for Crimson Throne. For observant players, it is a bit obvious though if they pay attention to the Shattered Star Players Guide, as there's a Grey Maiden right on the front page.
It is likely also assumed the players in Shattered Star would know Queen Ileosa's evil reign had been defeated in a citywide revolution of sorts, ousting said Maidens. It may also spoil the fact that she was in cahoots with devils and dragons and such. Nothing real solid, but spoilery of the plot nonetheless.
These things being said, Paizo has noted that these are 'spiritual' continuations of the first 3 paths, assuming the events of these paths have already taken place and although you will be going different places and meeting new people, there may be passing information given out regarding these paths (see spoilers above).
So, are my players and I missing out if we haven't touched the earlier APs? Should I just leave out those details if possible, or might they add a sense of "adventuring is good business right now, we should get in on that!"
So, are my players and I missing out if we haven't touched the earlier APs? Should I just leave out those details if possible, or might they add a sense of "adventuring is good business right now, we should get in on that!"
It depends on if you're planning on running the other APs anytime soon.
If you're not then don't worry about it. Leave in the spoilers. Your players won't know its source and they probably won't care. They'll just see a dynamic, organic world that they get to goof off in.
Creative Director
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So, are my players and I missing out if we haven't touched the earlier APs? Should I just leave out those details if possible, or might they add a sense of "adventuring is good business right now, we should get in on that!"
Leave them in. That way they can be "reverse easter eggs" if your players ever go back and play one of the earlier APs. Knowledge of earlier APs is absolutely not required to enjoy Shattered Star.
So, are my players and I missing out if we haven't touched the earlier APs? Should I just leave out those details if possible, or might they add a sense of "adventuring is good business right now, we should get in on that!"Leave them in. That way they can be "reverse easter eggs" if your players ever go back and play one of the earlier APs. Knowledge of earlier APs is absolutely not required to enjoy Shattered Star.
That is precisely what I am thinking. As an aside, let's be honest, by the time you play the other APs your players won't remember anything. =)
I was less concerned about spoilers and more concerned about annoying the players with "Wow, there sure was a lot of cool stuff going on recently that you guys can't get directly involved with!"
It's mostly hypothetical, though. I'm just about to start Skull & Shackles, so it will probably be quite some time until I even have the option to play this.
I was less concerned about spoilers and more concerned about annoying the players with "Wow, there sure was a lot of cool stuff going on recently that you guys can't get directly involved with!"
Then don't run it that way.
The GM determines the feel of everything. Things feel dickish only when the GM wants to be a dick. If something's written in a dickish manner then don't run it dickishly. If you read something awesome and want to be a dick to your players because you know something they don't know then just don't.
You're the GM. You decide if you want to be a dick. Not the adventure.
Given that the prep talk in the first AP-part includes spilling... ahem... some beans as to the outcome of CotCT, the path actively taking place in the neighbourhood might really spoil some the events.
As for Runelords regarding Xin-Shalast, that is less of a spoiler, since it does not affect much in the AP itself. The chars have to "discover" it anyway.
And the events of "Second Darkness" ? Just how public were wide parts of the story, especially since the laater half takes place more inside Kyonin and the Underdark... How much public knowledge is that ? I wonder
Overall, it seems pretty hard to ignore the events in Korvosa, even if they never go there. It's the sort of news that travels. Less clear so about Runelords and other Adventure paths
You can portray the 'Villain' as a sort of ambiguous thing. If your PCs learn in Shattered Star that so-and-so was acting most unbecoming of herself, when they encounter her in the first AP (in a room with a high level NPC I might add) they'll just see a grief-stricken person with immeasurable weight thrown upon her. When it becomes obvious that the person named as a Villain actually is a Villain, and not just historically blackened or used as a scapegoat, it's too late to stop them in any way but the culmination of the AP and the completion of the story.
You can especially accomplish this by having the Grey Maidens, who make a huge appearance in the second book, treat the supposed-villain in an incredibly positive light and call the "Adventurers" murdered and usurpers who created a story to seize power.