The more recent adventure paths have a section in the 6th book that describes different ways you can go about continuing the adventure after the AP has played out.
Does it suggest I write adventures?
Yes, but you've spent a year or more running the adventure path so there's no better person than you to flesh it out further. My own personal preference, however, is to start a whole new adventure path with new 1st level characters.
Adventure paths as "continuous campaigns" are generally designed to advance player characters through their entire career from 1st level to 20th level as part of one long narrative of connected adventures. Alternatively, you can run player characters through an "episodic campaign" where they take part in disconnected adventures that are not a part of one long story. This can be done with modules. Modules are different from adventure paths in that they have a limited narrative scope and generally advance characters 1 to 3 levels. Some modules have connections and can be run sequentially, but they are usually designed to be independent of one another.
Hope that helps.
Does it suggest I write adventures?
Specifically it gives you concrete suggestions on what sort of adventures you might tell moving forward as well as providing a frame for that.
For example in Kingmaker it is eight pages of words detailing five different ways you can continue, including details of a CR 25 foe.
It's pretty decent in the amount of detail and suggestions offered.
Yeah, in the middle of a long campaign I often see shiny feats and classes I'd like to play.
I'm not very bad about it -- I don't have the urge to abandon my character in the middle of a campaign in favor of a new build like some players do -- but when level 17~ comes, I'm kind of ready for a new character and a new story.
I wouldn't hate using my 20th level capstone abilities, though.
Keep in mind that it takes a fair amount of time to complete an Adventure Path. I've run several now - Age of Worms and Rise of the Runelords each took about 2 years. I'm currently running Kingmaker, and with more than a year of playing, we're about 40% complete.
I've heard of groups here on the boards that can complete the APs a lot faster than this, but I have the (unconfirmed) impression those are students who have a lot more free time, so can meet more often or for longer sessions. For comparison, my group plays weekly, about 5 to 6 hours per week.
Adventure paths are a wonderful way to get some practive writing your own stuff when you want to, without the stress when you don't. I ran Age of Worms (from the old Dungeon magazine) pretty much as written. For Rise of the Runelords, I mostly stuck to the adventures for the first 3 chapters, with some additional material I borrowed from Moonbeam's excellent campaign journal here on the boards; then I heavily modified the last 3 chapters. (I certainly didn't need to do that, by the way - but I had the time and some ideas I wanted to try out, so I tinkered as much as I was confortable with.) As for my current Kingmaker campaign, that one really encourages a lot of GM creativity, so I've been adding in a lot of extra material as I go.
How do your players take being constantly restarted Lakeside? or the that generally the way of it regardless of what you're doing?
That is generally the way of it; although, I have known people who've played characters up past 50th level! These are what I call "never-ending campaigns". :p
However, adventure paths are not designed to be never ending. They are complete stories with a beginning a middle and an end; and when the story ends you either start a new story with new characters or a new story with the old characters. In the latter case, with 20th level characters, you will need to consider playing "epic level" adventures. Epic level adventures are designed for characters above 20th level. There are rules in 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons written for playing epic level, but I don't think there are many published adventures for that high of level so you would need to create your own.
But, like others have said, people generally get bored playing the same characters over and over again. Half the fun of this game is creating characters, which is not what's happening if you're playing the same characters all the time.
By now Ive run a large number of the APs: Shackled City, Rise of the Runelords, Council of Thieves, Jade Regent, and Kingmaker. My players really enjoy the stories and their conclusions, and they also really look forward to the next AP. This gives them the chance to play something new and experience another great story. As we progress through these APs, some of our former PCs come back as NPCs. For example, I am playing in Shattered Star currently, and we have employed for information a PC who is in control of the Thassalonian Library from RotRL.
It's a minor thing, but adds some continuity to all of our APs.
How do your players take being constantly restarted Lakeside? or the that generally the way of it regardless of what you're doing?
It usually takes us about a year to a year and a half to complete an AP. Usually by then, they are tired of the PC and want to try something new anyway.
Some run longer than others.
And many GMs aren't sticklers for rigid character progression. My philosophy is that any character that's valid by the rules is good enough, if a new feat that's perfect for you gets released mid-campaign, I only ask that you role-play the desire to retrain.
Life is too short to get locked in to mediocre choices.
Incidentally, depending on your group APs can run a lot longer or shorter. Mine tend to run around 3-4 years, but that's probably because we have quite a few games competing for a weekly slot.
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How do your players take being constantly restarted Lakeside? or the that generally the way of it regardless of what you're doing?It usually takes us about a year to a year and a half to complete an AP. Usually by then, they are tired of the PC and want to try something new anyway.
Yup, I'd consider that quick :)
It all depends on your group and schedule.
CotCT took one of my groups almost 3 years, playing 3 hour sessions bi-weekly.
CoT took another 2 years, playing 2.5 hour sessions bi-weekly.
My Runelords group is in between books 4 & 5 after 3.5 years, but that group is on an erratic schedule, with another GM running long stints of Ptolus.
So after you've spent years going to level 17, with many players on their 2nd or 3rd character, a lot of players are ready to start a 1st level character in a new storyline.