What adventure campaign to run.

[Ulfen Death Squad]

Hello everyone. I am new to GMing and newer to GMing pre built adventure paths. I am currently running a group through Thornkeep and they have expressed interest in doing a new campaign once Thornkeep is over. I want to run one of the adventure paths that gives PFS credit so that I can get credit for it with pfs. But since the players and I are in our first pre-built campaign, I was hoping to get some thoughts on what campaign to buy and run. I want to save Rise of the Rune Lorsd until a further point in time.

Any comments on what to purchase are greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Kris Myatt 47]

My first suggestion would be Kingmaker. But only if you and your group are interested in making kingdoms and running them while adventuring. If that is not your cup of tea, Jade Regent was another good one. My only issue with that one was keeping track of the caravan, too. I really goofed that part up. lol But again, depending on the role-play, a character could end up "ruling." Don't want to ruin it, but do want to be upfront on an issue.

As for the Rise of the Rune Lords, I need to get that one myself. Wish I could give you some more ideas, but those are the only two I've had the pleasure of running myself for the most part. In the middle of playing Carrion Crown and Skull and Shackle AP's.

[Ulfen Death Squad]

Thanks for the input. Kingmaker would have been my first choise because I have heard great stuff about it through people I do pfs with. My problem right now is that I want the GM cred with pfs for running the adventure paths and pfs doesn't credit kingmaker. I know that Jade Regent and Skull and Shackles do give credit along with Reign of Winter. How is Skull and Shackles doing, without too many spoilers?

[Douglas Muir 406]

PFS doesn't credit Kingmaker? What the hell is wrong with these people?

Personally I didn't think much of Skull and Shackles. It's not *bad* -- there hasn't been a bad AP yet, although a couple have come close. If SaS had been three modules long it would have been totally awesome. But at six it is (IMO) kinda grindy and a bit thin.

Jade Regent is good, but you and your players have to be comfortable with having NPCs be very important. In Kingmaker, the goal is for the PCs to become either the King of a new kingdom, or the King's close allies and advisors. In JR, the overarching goal be to restore one of the NPCs to her lost and rightful throne. (Not a spoiler; that's in the first module.) I think that can be a lot of fun, myself -- but you and your players have to be down with it.

Reign of Winter is pretty good but very, very railroady. (As in, you spend three and a half modules -- more than half the AP -- running around collecting plot coupons.) This is to a great extent offset by the interesting scenery along the rail line; you go to some cool places, meet interesting creatures and NPCs, and do some some wild and crazy stuff. But you don't have a lot of real choices as to where to go and what to do. If your players don't mind that sort of thing, then this is a strong choice. If they are the sort who want more sandbox-y adventures, then maybe not.

I think either JR or RoW could be a fine choice. Note that both are well supported with secondary stuff (splatbooks, cards, maps, miniatures...) and both have active forums here at paizo.com. If it were me I'd probably pick Jade Regent, but ultimately it depends on what kind of players you have and what you like running. They're both well-designed APs with a lot of interesting stuff going on.

Doug M.

[Ulfen Death Squad]

Thank you for your input. The group I am GMing for is relatively new to table top RPG play. Three of the four have never played before and the fourth hasn't played since D&D 2. After a few society scenarioes to get them used to the play, I have been running them through Thornkeep. They have not liked the forced dungeon by dungeon play. I wanted to try and offer a good variation for the next AP. But since I am new to GMing and have never gone through any of the APs besides Thornkeep, I have needed ideas and help.

[Ulfen Death Squad]

In our group outing today, it seems that the overall sensus was to play Skull and Shackles. Two of the group loves the idea of playing a pirate type PC. Even with how much fun I am having with Thornkeep as a GM, the party isn't liking it that the entire AP is one big dungeon crawl and wants the variety. Iguess a good way of looking at it is that if Skull and Shackles doen't live up to what my group wants, almost everything else is getting good enough reviews to satisfy and almost anything that isn't one big dungeon crawl would do.

Thank you two again for your time and comments.