| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm curious to see how the Adventure Paths rank, if one were to "add up" everyone's rankings and come up with a "master list" of sorts. After I give my rankings in my second post, I hope other people will join me!
(WARNING: THIS THREAD WILL PROBABLY CONTAIN SPOILERS)
A barebones ranking isn't very useful to other people, so I am giving double weight to your vote if you do the following:
1. Give your criteria. For example, are you judging by meta-plot, by your group's particular experience, by what was provided to the GM versus what the GM added? Everyone has different reasons for their rankings -- please state YOUR reason(s).
2. Rank each AP with at least a phrase on what you thought of it. Rank those APs you feel you know enough about to rank. You must have either read, played, or GMed part of the AP enough. (Exposure to only part of an AP is okay.)
I will check here regularly and tabulate the results using my overly-complicated system detailed in the spoiler.
Here is the listing of the Adventure Paths. I include the Dungeon magazine APS as well:
A. Shackled City
B. Age of Worms
C. Savage Tide
1. Rise of the Runelords
2. Curse of the Crimson Throne
3. Second Darkness
4. Legacy of Fire
5. Council of Thieves
6. Kingmaker
7. Serpent's Skull
8. Carrion Crown
9. Jade Regent
10. Skull & Shackles
11. Shattered Star
12. Reign of Winter
13. Wrath of the Righteous
Here is my scoring system:
For the APs that you DO list, the #1 ranked AP receives 16 points. The remaining APs get less than 16, in proportion to the number of APs you list. If you mark any APs as a tie, they get an equal number of points.
For example, if you list 5 APs, they receive:
#1 choice - 16 points
#2 choice (tie) - 12 points
#2 choice (tie) - 12 points
#4 choice - 4 points
#5 choice - 0 points
Unlisted APs – no vote
I then mark down the average points that each AP receives. If you followed the guidelines above, then you effectively cast two votes.
I am primarily a GM, and I have been systematically reading through all the APs in order. I basically am ranking them by how excited I am to GM them: metaplot with exciting plot on the way is what I look for mainly.
1. Age of Worms – (read) This ends in an epic fashion (ending with Level 20), and was quite deadly (which I like!) in its original D&D 3.5 iteration. It mixes roleplaying (one chapter is almost entirely RP) and hell -- it culminates with two epic battles: with an undead dragon and a god! Very classic D&D feel.
2. Rise of the Runelords – (read, GMed Chapter 1) I like the metaplot involving the runelords. For me the main strength is the hometown and the connection players feel with it. Sandpoint is very well developed and the adventures are written in a way to strengthen the players’ connection to it. I like how you go to a pocket dimension during part of it. There is some lack of connection between chapters, however, and the BBEG isn’t clear early on.
3. Curse of the Crimson Throne – (read) This seems very interesting in Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 6 (everything that takes place in Korvosa), and the BBEG is clear relatively early on. Korvosa and its politics come to life. The parts taking players out of the city don’t seem as compelling, however, and I think players might feel like they’re an unnecessarily-long sidetrip.
4. Legacy of Fire – (read) This one just seemed like it would be a lot of fun. The first chapter is well-structured, giving a large area to players. The extradimensional trip looks fun. There is a very large dungeon later in the AP that seems like it would be a slog with many similar enemies, however.
5. Savage Tide – (read) There are basically are two parts to this AP. The first is a rollicking adventure that includes sea travel and ships, the mysterious Isle of Dread, and a war against pirates. But the extended trip to the Abyss (where the climax also occurs) isn’t my cup of tea.
6. Second Darkness – (read) The shift from running a gambling den in a town of criminals and lowlifes to being elf-rescuing heroes is jarring. Drow our cool, but I don’t see myself or my players getting involved in the elves-at-war storyline. However, the metaplot involves the end of the world, and... well, I'm just a sucker for drama shall we say.
7. Shackled City – (read) This was the very first AP and suffers from the fact that Paizo was still figuring it out as it went along. It has the least compelling story arc of all the APs, and it consists mostly of a series of dungeon crawls. BUT it has an interesting home base (a city in the caldera of a dormant volcano!) and there are very interesting and fun encounters (including the inevitable eruption of said volcano).
8. Council of Thieves – (read) This has the excellent murder play/adventure, but an incomplete first volume that requires the GM to do a lot of work, and the “meh” overall story arc rule this out for me. If I were to run this, I would completely retool it, have the Council take over the city, and center it on a growing war between the rebels and the Council which is now the ruling government.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
i already did this thread during GENCON called "whats your favorite AP (spoilers probable), should be here somewhere
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Our group has played kingmaker, serpents skull, and just finished jade regent. I liked kingmaker the most. The more sandbox style with some intrigue and politics (they way we played it anyway) was the most enjoyable. The other two were a little to linear with a fixed set of ways of doing things that I thought was ok, but not the best. I would like to say that for all the AP I have read the "hooks" are flimsy at best and any gm should spend some time on that part of the adventure (the hooks in the winter one with baba yaga were particularly terrible).
#1. Runelords (Anniversary Edition)
#2. Reign of Winter
#3. Wrath of the Righteous (just from the one bit currently seen)
#4. Jade Regent
I've no others purchased and will thus not vote on them.
i already did this thread during GENCON called "whats your favorite AP (spoilers probable), should be here somewhere
Yes, there's actually many threads where people rank their APs. But I wasn't sure if I should tabulate them if they didn't intend them to be tabulated (and some are older when there were fewer APs). I'm hoping to collect as many as possible in one thread with the explicit goal of adding people's votes together.
If anyone wants to copy and paste their old lists, that's fine too!!!
i already did this thread during GENCON called "whats your favorite AP (spoilers probable), should be here somewhereYes, there's actually many threads where people rank their APs. But I wasn't sure if I should tabulate them if they didn't intend them to be tabulated (and some are older when there were fewer APs). I'm hoping to collect as many as possible in one thread with the explicit goal of adding people's votes together.
If anyone wants to copy and paste their old lists, that's fine too!!!
D'oh! i don't know how to copy and paste, guess i'll have to ask my wife:) curse you technical ignorance!!
also it should be pointed out i just never took the time to learn, i just use the computer recreationally:)
after getting Rasputin Must Die! and reading Brandon Hodges' brilliant intro and the adventure itself (also brilliant!), i'd like to change my ranking a bit
1. Reign of Winter, yes Rasputin Must Die! is that good and the whole path itself is mind blowing! way to not pull any punches Paizo! every single person involved in this AP deserves many, many pats on the back (from the art dept on down Kudos!)
2 (tie) kingmaker
2. (tie) Skull & Shackles
4. Jade Regent
5. Rise of the Runelords
6. Shattered Star
7. Carrion Crown
8. Council of Thieves
9. Serpent's Skull
i don't have Legacy of Fire or Curse of the Crimson Throne yet but i will:)
holy fecal matter batman i did it!!!!!!
thank you innocent (but most probably evil) looking bird!!!
i'm copying and pasting everything now!!!
even if i have nothing to say:)
Since we including Dungeon era Paths:
1. Age of worms (DM'd)..I love the Greyhawk setting, the 1st adventure is as good as any ever published..anywhere, rod od seven parts, Tenser, Dragotha..and Kyuss as an afterthought
2. Shattered star (read)..Love Varisa, like all 6 adventures a lot, brillaint clone trap in second adventure seals the deal
3. Curse of the Crimson Throne (played)..classic rebellion against evil monarch..first 3 adventures are brilliant
4. Rise of the Runelords (read)..just a very solid path ..all 6 adventures good
5. Legacy of Fire (read) ...I love the setup adventure, and overall like the plot.
6. Kingmaker (read)
7. Reign of Winter (read)
8. Jade Regent (read)
9. Savage Tide (played)
10. carrion crown (read)
11. skull and shackles (read)
12. Council of thieves (read)
13. Shackled City (Dm'd)
14. Second Darkness (read)
Yeah, no problem. Please repost and I'll keep updating! I know that when I started GMing, I perused so many threads looking for people's impressions of the APs. It would be cool to have them together.
Oh, and feel free to link to other useful threads.
Still, I wouldn't mind if this became the Borg of AP threads. :D
I guess I'll do this again, I'll only list the ones I've played through or have read completely. I'm currently being an active player in Rise of the Runelords and Second Darkness, so I am ignorant of how they are beyond level seven and thus will leave them out of the list.
1.) Curse of the Crimson Throne - Urban AP with lots of roleplaying and a fixed setting for 2/3'rds of the AP. Best RP AP so far from Paizo, IMO.
2.) Jade Regent - The epic journey, a group of interesting NPC's along for the ride and the latter half is in an awesome asian setting. The newly introduced subsystems, however, suck and do not work. But they are entirely optional, so they are not as much of a detriment so as to destroy the whole AP. But, I repeat, they suck and caravan combat can even end the campaign by sucking so much. I cannot emphasize this enough. I love Ameiko and Shalelu, by the way. I kind of had my problems with their characterization for a while, but since I've associated Ameiko with Korra and Shalelu with Asami, both from The Legend of Korra, it has worked out excellently.
3.) Shattered Star - While I haven't played this one yet, I've read it through completely and I am very impressed by the setpieces, the roleplaying opportunities and the general level of ingenuity in putting together the whole AP by the different authors.
4.) Reign of Winter - Also an AP I have only read through so far, but the whole feeling of the AP I got from those pages was very epic and the fifth module is the best work I have seen Paizo publish.
5.) Carrion Crown - Five of the six modules manage to maintain a good ratio of investigative roleplaying versus combat encounters. Sadly the last module is the one which skews that rate almost 100% towards combat and the AP also suffers from being highly episodic, with extremely tenuous connections between the modules. The BBEG comes basically out of nowhere, unless the GM re-writes the AP to include him earlier.
6.) Kingmaker - This one did not work out at all for me. Too much work left to the GM to get good roleplaying off the ground. Too much blanks to fill in. Too episodic, with a severe illness of "one combat per day" encounters. Kingdom management in the original AP was broken, due to magic item shops generating way too many resources. Other people love this AP, but I had to give up GM'ing it, because I hated it so much.
I'm having fun with spreadsheets!
Also, I read through Captain Yesterday's thread since it's so recent, and I included rankings from there in the spreadsheet (giving more weight when comments were given). I did not add some posts when it wasn't clear how to score them.
#1. Age of Worms
#2. Curse of the Crimson Throne
#3. Wrath of the Righteous
#4. Kingmaker
#5. Rise of the Runelords
#6. Savage Tide
#7. Reign of Winter
#8. Shattered Star
#9. Legacy of Fire
#10. Carrion Crown
#11. Skull & Shackles
#12. Jade Regent
#13. Serpent's Skull
#14. Council of Thieves
#15. Second Darkness
#16. Shackled City
If anyone wants to revise their rankings, just post here again!
1. Kingmaker (read, GM'd)- I am ranking this as a GM who ran this adventure path (modified of course) for two groups and had an amazing time with both. The AP was a perfect mix of freedom and ideas. It started with a framework that as written would have still been great fun, but it really shone when the players got to act in the sandbox and create their own plots in addition to or in place of the plot as written. In short, this was not only the best adventure path I've ever read, but was the framework for both the greatest game I've ever GM'd for any system and another very different but still fantastic game. The ability to run two different games with wildly different results from the same AP is the strength of this sandbox framework and the reason I think it's the best AP ever written.
2. Rise of the Runelords (read) A solid adventure path that was fun to read and which I've been wanting to have the time to run since reading the first adventure.
I'll probably add votes for other APs I have read and/or run parts of later, but for now it's late and I'm off.
|
1. Age of Worms (DM): Classic D&D. I have had the most fun working on this AP than any other. I still find myself returning to it, recently started converting it to PF. It had the best introductory module ever.
2. Savage Tide (DM): Great recurring villain and roleplay opportunities. My group never finished this one but they absolutely hated Vanthus, and loved his sister.
3. Curse of the Crimson Throne (Read): I love the setting and plot for this one. I hope Paizo does this as the next anniversary edition.
4. Rise of the Runelords (Read): More classic D&D. Love the foes faced, the town of Sandpoint, the goblins. It was a great intro to the world of Golarion and Varisia.
5. Reign of Winter (Read): Only part way through this one. So far it is amazing. When I read an adventure and start breaking off to write down notes, I know it's good.
6. Legacy of Fire (Read): I held off reading this one for the longest time because I wanted to play it, and after I fell to temptation I completely regretted it. It would be awesome to play this one.
7. Jade Regent (Read player's guide): The great journey AP, ending in an asian setting. Love both of those themes. This AP inspired me to create an entire party of PCs for myself. I'm holding off reading in hopes to play one day.
8. Skull and Shackles (Read player's guide): Be a pirate! Yaaargh! Inspired to play this one as well.
Thanks for your posts, but please include all APs you have an opinion on. The quirkiness of the scoring system means that if you list only your favorites, you actually hurt the APs you list last. (I'm averaging the relative placement each AP has within people's lists.)
I fully intended on putting Kingmaker on the bottom, no worries.
But your scoring system seems flawed. I am quite sure from what I've seen in cursory reading that I would have scored Skulls & Shackles and Serpent's Skull lower than Carrion Crown, but since your scoring system lacks numerical values aside from the place on one's own list, the lower ranked AP's get a way worse deal than some of them actually should. After all, I self-selected the AP's to run which I thought would work best for myself.
All in all, your scoring system should have included grades, not just numeration.
It would seem that Skulls & Shackles and Serpent's Skull should be included in your list (perhaps I should go ahead and add them in your vote).
Yes, I see the value of a "MetaCritic" kind of average grading system. It honestly didn't come to mind because I'm familiar with people creating so many ranked lists on these boards. It would seem to call for a larger sample to have much use, since everyone has their own idea of what an "A" requires.
I agree with magnuskn. I would not want Jade Regent to be ranked significantly lower than a #4 from someone who had 10+ APs to rank just because I only had four APs on my list. I ranked the FOUR THAT I OWN (even if I don't own all of Wrath of the Righteous or Jade Regent - the latter because I was buying them at a gaming store and they didn't have #5). I chose NOT to rank the APs that I do not have a direct knowledge of.
So please remove my choices from your ranking. I did not wish to damage the ranking of any AP just because I have a limited selection. And for that matter... some of us only really got into Paizo's APs when Paizo put out the Anniversary Edition of Runelords. Without that? I'd never have been hooked into campaigns that cost $120 each.
Yeah, same here as Tangent.
I have run or am running Legacy of Fire, Shattered Star and Kingmaker (twice). I have carefully read every AP, and closely studied their themes, plots and pace, as well as read many of the comments on their individual messageboards.
I do not for an instant believe in an absolute ranking. What might be wonderful me might stink for you and vice-versa. I often hear my favorites lambasted and my least favorites lauded, so it is definitely a matter of taste. Still, here is how I'd rank them personally.
_____________________________________________________________________
1) Legacy of Fire - I love the themes, NPCs, locations and story. It's not perfect (I skipped one of the books and substituted my own adventure), but it is very, very good.
2) Kingmaker - This is not an AP for a novice GM, nor is it short. But boy is it full of old-fashioned D&D goodness! I love the sandbox feel and the story. It definitely needs more foreshadowing of the BBEG, and I would definitely use Ultimate Campign's kingdom-building rules, but it is still one of the all-time greats.
3) Rise of the Runelords - This was a lot of fun to read, and it's already a modern classic. I'd love to run it someday.
4) Shattered Star - Some people have objected to the dungeon-heavy theme, but almost no one seems to object to what might be charitably called the homage to the Rod of Seven Parts. Either way, I love this AP. It's chock-full of great dungeons, cool villains and neat artifacts. It's lots of fun in the mode of "Temple of Elemental Evil".
5) Age of Worms - I've been told by someone I trust that this adventure is series of TPK's. It didn't seem so to me. What I can say is that it has great flavor, great locales and some of the coolest villains of the entire run.
6) Curse of the Crimson Throne - Great plot and villain.
7) Savage Tide - This one suffers a bit in the middle (you're on the Isle of Dread a looong time, but it has a great start and a truly epic and awesome finish. Where else can you say you fought
8) Wrath of the Righteous - I've only read the first book (all that's out as of this writing), but I love, love, love the premise. I'm thinking this one has a lot of potential to rise in my estimation by the end of its run.
9) Skull and Shackles - I'm not a big fan of the pirate memes, but this adventure seemed very well written. If I were to run it, it'd be with full naval guns and small arms, though.
10) Carrion Crown - This one has some truly great moments, and a surprisingly wide variety of opponents. Still, it is a bit of a railroad, even for an AP, and I hate that the BBEG is not who you think it is for most of the adventure. It felt like a cop-out to me.
11) Serpent's Skull - I loved the "lost city" theme and some of the truly creepy opponents. It had a sort of "tiny sandbox" feel to it that I'm still undecided on. So, high marks for theme, lower marks for pace. It felt quite long, and the last adventure seemed to be just a fight through a series of bad guys.
12) Reign of Winter - I respect what this AP attempted, and "Rasputin Must Die" is truly awesome. But the PC's never felt in charge. The whole AP felt like a movie the PC's got to watch.
13) Council of Thieves - I paid the least attention to this one. I guess I just didn't connect with it.
14) Second Darkness - Better than its reputation. Cool opponents and some very neat challenges. Still, it felt like two loosely-connected stories with very different themes.
15) Shackled City - Never intended as an adventure Path, SC felt long, repetitive and disjointed. It was a series of mostly fun reads and some very evocative settings, but in the end, I think that Paizo got much better as they developed the AP genre and there are simply better AP's to play.
Yeah, same here as Tangent.
yes I'm with these two please disregard mine as well i'll just keep track on the thread i started if you want to keep score or whatever for me it sucks the joy out of it
After thinking about it:
1. Rise of the Runelords
2. Shattered Star
3. Reign of Winter
4. Curse of the Crimson Throne
5. Serpent's Skull
6. Jade Regent
7. Skull & Shackles
8. Carrion Crown
9. Second Darkness
10. Kingmaker
11. Legacy of Fire
12. Council of Thieves
Wrath of the Righteous: Rank pending till I read it all, but so far it just may end up in my top 5 ;)
I've read all of them. I've played in about half of them. The first two could be ranked in either order, depending on my feelings that day. I think they are head and shoulders above the rest.
1. Savage Tide
2. Curse of the Crimson Throne
3. Rise of the Runelords
4. Legacy of Fre
5. Skull and Shackles
6. King Maker
7. Age of Worms
8. Shackled City
9. Carrion Crown
10. Council of Thieves
11. Jade Regent
12. Serpent's Skull
13. Reign of Winter
14. Second Darkness
15. Shattered Star
Wrath of the Righteous is only one issue in. Way too early to rank it.
|
Of the products in the AP line I've read or played in full...
1. Curse of the Crimson Throne
2. Reign of Winter
3. Rise of the Runelords
4. Kingmaker
5. Council of Thieves
Of the products in the AP line I've read or played in part...
1. Wrath of the Righteous
2. Jade Regent
3. Carrion Crown
4. Shattered Star
5. Skull and Shackles
6. Second Darkness
Here is how I would rank them:
1-Skulls and Shackles (GMed)
2-Curse of the Crimson Throne (played)
3-Kingmaker (GMed)
4-Carrion Crown (GMed)
5-Rise of the Runelords (played)
6-Shattered Star (GMed)
7-Serpent's Skull (played)
1. Savage Tide
2. Age of Worms
3. Rise of the Runelords
4. Curse of the Crimson Throne
|
Shackled City Adventure Path....
Age of Worms AP.......................
Savage Tide AP..........................(still avoiding spoilers)
.
.
.
Rise of the Runelords...............
Curse of the Crimson Throne.....
Second Darkness.....................
Legacy of Fire.........................
Council of Thieves...................(still avoiding spoilers)
Kingmaker.............................
Serpent's Skull........................
Carrion Crown........................
Jade Regent............................
Skull & Shackles..................(temporarily cancelled subscription for Pirates, of course)
Shattered Star......................
Reign of Winter.......................
Wrath of the Righteous...............(Not enough yet published but Vol 1 is strong.)
Criteria:
1} Great background and Fluff so DMs can easily make the Campaign "come alive" with NPCs, sites & creative encounters.
2} Playability -- flow of game, campaign-build strategy, encounter design.
3} Personal experience DMing parts or whole and, for CC, K & CotCT, running a PC. Note, I have not DMed whole or parts of JR or RW -- only read these two.
|
Wrath of the Righteous shouldn't be an option. You can't judge an AP on one part.You can if you're judging it with other APs you've only read in part :P
Yes but for the purposes of this exercise it shouldn't be compared.
Case in point, Serpent's Skull. The first part is beloved by a lot of people but actually the AP is very low down on the scale.
If you were comparing 1st books then that would be fine but this is pretty much an unfair comparison.
|
|
My list:
Shackled City Adventure Path....B-
Age of Worms AP.......................A-
Savage Tide AP..........................A-
Rise of the Runelords...............B
Curse of the Crimson Throne.....A
Second Darkness.....................B
Legacy of Fire.........................A+
Council of Thieves...................C-
Kingmaker.............................B
Serpent's Skull........................C
Carrion Crown........................A-
Jade Regent............................B+
Skull & Shackles..................C+
Shattered Star...................... Not played or read
Reign of Winter.......................C-
All this is based on how much fun I had playing running or reading them.
okay since everyone is going with traditional alphabet grades from school, here goes, from oldest to newest,
i don't have nor have i read Original Rise of the RuneLords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Second Darkness or Legacy of Fire (or the earlier APs like Savage Tide etc) unless mentioned all are just read and not played (yet)
Rise of the RuneLords Anniversary Edition A+ i love this one it has it all, from crazy goblins to serial killing undead onward into haunted houses and cannibal hillbilly ogres and giants and dragons, they didn't pull any punches or leave anything on the table.
Council of Thieves incomplete, but based on the first three i have i'd go with a solid B+ - very gritty and urban, i like the lower level range myself and books 2 and 3 are awesome, not to mention the fact that the PCs get to bust out their thespian hops in book 2.
Kingmaker A++ infinity, one of the all time classics in adventure writing and structure, i was able to play a little of this but not nearly enough. i literally can't wait (soon my precious! soon!)
also when you add the map folio, kingdom building rules and everything else this is what every sand-box style campaign should emulate.
Serpent's Skull A, i'm sure my grade will get people in a frothy rage, and when you just read through and look at the lack of maps and switch back and forth between straight line adventures and sandbox style its understandable. however after running thru most of it, it is a lot more fun to GM and play thru then most people give it credit and with 3 bestiaries out, the map folio and the ARG, APG, UC and UM it is a regular tour de-force, book 2 was especially fun to go thru and the unstructured nature of book 3 makes it ideal for GMs that really want to get weird with it.
Carrion Crown A+, nobody does horror adventures like Paizo and CC only confirms this, from a haunted prison to a non-stop trial thru Frankensteins castle and then a murder mystery in werewolf infested woods and night of the living dead scenarios, aliens, vampires, evil backwoods cultists, witches, then a final battle in a dead city on top of a tower in a storm of dead souls. it doesn't get much better! we pl;ayed thru a bit and plan to do so again this fall.
Jade Regent A++, full disclosure, i'm a fan of traveling since getting married to my wife 12 years+ ago we have traveled over 15,000 miles by car, entirely in the USA, and my last campaign i played in before hiatus 20 years previous was an epic journey from WaterDeep to Kara-Tur. as you can imagine this one gets me in the heart:) i've been running it with my wife and kids and it has been a blast!
Skull & Shackles A++ infinity, the reason i retired from RPGs 20 years ago was their was no support for being a pirate or even battles at sea that i could get excited about, and since coming back i have been quite vocal about the need for a pirate AP since discovering Pathfinder and that was always my number one request since day one for me! i'm glad to say Paizo does not disappoint! it has everything you'd want in a pirate campaign, my one complaint is I WANT MORE!!!! :)
Shattered Star A+, when i first heard about Shattered Star, i was a bit ambivalent as an AP all about six different dungeons in Varisia (a land i was kind of indifferent to in the first place) boy was i wrong! simply awesome!
Reign of Winter A++, just 4 words, Baba Yaga and Rasputin! will run this one soon! i don't care for who, but someone!
thanks! have a great day!
|
Well, I like ranking APs so I'll join the fun, though I still maintain that there should be a sticky thread for this sort of thing...
I only got to play through some of the APs, but I'm an avid reader, so here goes:
1) Curse of the Crimson Throne - As far as telling a great story goes, you just can't get any better than this AP. An intricate tale of the fall of a city, brought down by it's own queen... the level of detail, the numerous awesome NPCs, and the gloomy mood all hit just the right spots for me, I think. I'm playing through this one right now and having a blast. my players are, too.
2) Reign of Winter - This is a fresh one, and it climbed to a very respectable rank. The campaign kicks off with a couple of truly cool Irrisen themed adventures, and then it gets *really* crazy. Despite a weak part #3 and an underwhelming part #6, I feel this campaign will go down in history as something truly unique.
3) Shattered Star - despite my "numerous long dungeons can never really be a fun campaign" philosophy, I have to face the fact that Shattered Star is one hack of an AP. It includes some of the best mid & high level dungeons Iv'e ever encountered, and it actually involved a lot of roleplaying, and goes to some really interesting locations.
4) Carrion Crown - more of a romp through Ustalav than an actual campaign, Carrion Crown still gives a home to some of my favorite adventures ever from Paizo - the first couple of books are simply amazing, and while I certainly get the complaints about the later half of the AP and I suppose it night not be all that fun to play, it sure as hell fun to read!
5) Rise of the Runelords (RE) - the classic that started them all! Rise of the Runelords is a concentrated dose of all that's good in classic D&D, and the experience of it's writers is easily apparant - they know exactly how to make a "regular" adventure. While I don't like the fourth adventure to the point that I think it brings the entire AP to a halt, the rest of the AP is good enough to secure a "top 5" spot on my list.
6) Second Darkness - you all get to crucify me for this, but I really like this AP, even the infamous part 5. The first two adventures are cool, but the third one gives me an elven skirmish war, the fourth one an awesome infiltration adventure, and the last couple are solid though unspectactular high level adventures. The second book is maybe my favorite single adventure from the 3.5 era of APs.
7) Savage Tide - I actually played like the first half of the AP, but high school ended before the attack on Farshore and the campaign with it. While me and my players were truly having a blast with the sea voyage and exploring the isle of dread, I think this campaign takes way too long to reveal it's plot to the players, who kinda just seem to go on random (and awesome!) adventures for 7 successive modules. Still, part 3 was the most roleplay our group ever had (it took us over a dozen sessions to complete, most of them without rolling dice at all) and I got to have a T-Rex munch on the summoner, which was satisfying.
8) Legacy of Fire - the Arabian Nights vibe is OK, though not a major attraction for me.However, the first two adventures I played as a mini campaign of their own, and they were AWESOME. Part 4 of the AP is big time cool as well, but the rest I'm kinda lukewarm about. Adventure 5 is bad enough to make the AP unplayable, IMO.
9) Council of Theives - I like some of the concepts, I certainly appreciate what the second adventure is doing, but the AP as a whole seems like a miss to me. It was an attempt at an urban AP that never leaves the city it starts in, and I feel that Westcrown was just not able to support an entire AP. I mean, spending the fifth adventure of a campaign in a crawl through a thieves guild is less than exciting, and story-wise the campaign never quite finds itself.
10) Serpent's Skull - The AP is unplayable. Part 3 is so astoundingly bad I wouldn't have believed Paizo is responsible if I wouldn't have read it with me own two eyes. And the bad part is that the later half of the AP is only a mediocre string of three adventures. Just about nothing about them made me particularly excited, which is a shame. I played part 1 as a standalone and it was one of the best D&D adventures ever, and part 2 looks like it could be really fun too.
11) Kingmaker - Now we are truly in the "APs I don't like" territory. I guess for some people Kingmaker is the epitome of what they want from a campaign, but when I read it, I felt more like I'm reading a bunch of pre-written random encounters. The first 5 books of the AP are essentially about walking through the wilderness and... what, exactly? looking for something exciting to do, I guess? I want my APs to have exciting set pieces, an engaging story with engaging NPCs, and some sense of direction. Kingmaker lacks all of those. Book 6 is really good though.
12) Shackled City (RE) - Uggh. Paizo learned how to make the best APs in the world, but this first test run was, to me, a huge failure. I bought the hardcover mega book with the entire AP in it for a discount, and I regret it greatly. This AP is horrible. It has a whole bunch of weird stuff just to be weird, it certainly has no connection between separate adventures, and just all around seems BAD. Plus, art and layout are truly subpar to the Paizo standards. Kingmaker I can just say is not to my taste, but Shackled City is I think an objectively bad campaign.
Rest of the APs (Skull and Shackles, Age of Worms, Wrath of the Reightous) I didn't read in full.
Sorry folks, haven't been here when I thought there wasn't much interest after some folks made valid points suggesting a grading system.
What do people think of my using a grading system instead?
A - 4.0
B - 3.0
C - 2.0
D - 1.0
F - 0.0
But it also means there is less data to work with. (And people could post to add grades if they haven't already.) I would still give double weight for people who say a phrase or more on why they give their grade.
Should I try this?
I honestly hate picking favourites. However, I will try to do this after work.
What I've ran or played:
Age of Worms: A (4.0) You are fighting your way into a cliffside, giant inhabited-city that's being razed by flights of dragons, some of which are Great Wyrms. Yup, that's why this is one of the best.
Savage Tide: B+ (3.5) Agreed that it loses a little pacing in the middle, but overall, this AP is rock solid, challenging, and ends as climatically as an AP ever can.
Rise of the Runelords: (4.0) A I've got a soft spot for this one, but as a whole, its great from beginning to end. I ran it during 3.5 before the conversion, but since I have the Anniversary edition and different players from the first time, I'm heavily inclined to run it again. Some APs are worth running twice.
Legacy of Fire: B (3.0) My biggest objections are the railroad like nature of the middle parts, the isolation of the latter parts, and the overall ease of the beginning. House of the Beast is pretty awesome, but the weakness of desert environments in 3.5/PF combined with few ranged combatants makes the first parts a little easy, at least for the group I ran. Still, the whole flavor of 1001 Golarion tales combined with Pesh dealing gnolls and ruby-selling, plane hopping slavers makes for a great backdrop.
Council of Thieves: C (2.0) As a whole, there's just too much disconnection between the various modules to make it work a written, and the premise is slightly misleading. That said, with a little DM work and the huge amount of DM material posted on these boards, this can turn into a completely memorable campaign, an urban version of Kingmaker where they players influence nobles and scoundrels to claim their stake in the benighted city of Westcrown. Speaking of Kingmaker...
Kingmaker A (4.0) While I know for a fact that the game I am playing in is using some of my own DM's and DM-aka-Dudemeister's material to supplement what's in the books, I have to say that every session has a special, epic feel to it. As our kingdom expands amidst the fey-heavy backdrop with each of us taking place in great battles or directing the ebb and flow of our people, it has a feel to it that is different from all the other games I've played in.
Carrion Crown A (4.0) While there's occasional points where the connection between what's happening in the module and what is occurring with the overall plot-line becomes fuzzy, my players haven't noticed. To be fair, I've written a lot of my own supplemental material for this AP, but using it in addition to what's written has given my players a great experience. This is a difficult AP, make no mistake, but my players are experienced and enjoy the challenge, as well as the whole ambiance of horror and ancient mystery. Its been a blast to run so far.
I also own Second Darkness, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Shattered Star, and am getting Wrath of the Righteous as it becomes available. Of all of these and Rise of the Runelords, I'm most likely to run Runelords again simply for its lead in to Shattered Star. (Also, letting group recover from fighting Demons after a long Savage Tide campaign makes me want to run an AP before WotR.)
1 - Kingmaker: Am both running and playing in it and love everything. The Ultimate Campaign expanded my ideas on this and will nominate this before all others.
2 - Jade Regent: This is the first AP I ever bought, and began to ran before my group fell to pieces. Still, the story is well made, and Ninjas vs Vikings is just epic.
3 - Second Darkness: I love whole overarching plot and theme. Finally got to show some of my friends just how truly nasty drow could be. And end-of-the-world plot? Oh yes indeedy!
4 - Rise of the Runelords: Classic adventure AP. Sure the BBEG isn't in your face from the get go, but I honestly feel that that works for this AP. Plus it has dragons, giants and a lost city of gold and jewels.
Seeing as how a fifth one doesn't get points anyway, why list it.