Okay, so I picked up the RotRL anniversary edition, leafed through it and loved it enough to get 3 groups going at various times over the past year and a half. One ran into scheduling issues 3 chapters into the first book, another TPK'd on the front door step of Hook Mountain in book 3 and the last just TPK'd on the trapped bridge in the fourth chapter of book 1. As a DM I really want to keep running an AP and my players are all interested in continuing, but I don't have the heart to delve back into RotRL (both TPK groups wish to pick up where they died with new characters).
Any suggestions for another AP to try out? My one group (group A) also doubles with Kingmaker and part of us also play Carrion Crown. I'm not a huge fan of CC and I don't think my other group (group B) would like Kingmaker's sandbox approach for the first 2 books. What else can people recommend that has a mix of good RP and dungeon crawling?
Oh, Serpent's Skull is also out as 2 of group A's players have done the first book of that adventure.
Both groups liked Sandpoint and the overall pacing of RotRL. Group B is fairly new to Pathfinder as a whole but not to D&D, but I'm sure they'd still appreciate something that was good for beginners but also puts a new twist on the genre - they really liked the goblins for example.
Group A is all veterans so if anyone can think of any APs that present something really unusual, that would be cool.
Has anyone done the Shattered Star? I read a bit about it and it seemed like a good start, especially since both groups are familiar with Varisia. I don't have access to the Magnimar splat book though so that could be a problem?
I greatly recommend Jade Regent, It starts in Sandpoint and explores around there for the first volume so the Varisia lovers will have a good foundation. It's paced well for the most part, but some tweaking will be required with the third volume to correct the caravan rules.
Reign of Winter is also solid and offers a bunch of great role playing encounters as opposed to just hack and slash dungeon crawling. A bunch of unusual stuff crops up so it may be good for your veteran group looking for something different.
thanks Atheral. I haven't looked at much from either of those so I'll have to hunt them down. Jade Regent is a semi-sequal to Runelords, isn't it? Doesn't Ameiko Kijitsu play a role in that one?
Is Reign of Winter one of the newer APs?
I suppose you could consider it a kinda sequel or follow up. Both Ameiko and Shalelu are among the big four NPCs that travel with the party throughout the AP and play major roles throughout the adventure.
Reign of Winter is the one that just finished up in August centered around Baba Yaga. I'm currently running that one myself and the group I'm running it for seems to be enjoying it. Defiantly calls for a non standard party or creative solutions alot of times.
Non-standard party design is pretty much my group's modes operandi. The RotRL team was grapple monk, shielding paladin, magus and UMD // TWF rogue.
Carrion Crown is one of my favorites. It offers a lot of role playing opportunities and is a very challenging adventure path.
I'm playing Carrion Crown right now actually with a group, it is fun!
Allowing the players to be their own version of Jack Sparrow in Skulls and Shackles has proven so popular, I now have 4 groups from the games club all running through it due to feedback from my first group. So my Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings are pretty packed with nautical pirate fun.
It was so good that my original group want to go through it again with different characters! And I am not getting jaded by running the other groups, every group is trying different things with different degrees of success - one group even trying to buddy up to the main baddies of the first chapter ( that will end so well for them ;D ). Each group also has a varying experience of Pathfinder, with one whole group of beginners. SO I suspect this AP could be an offering that satisfies all your players :D
Other may have had varying experiences, but my groups all think that this is the AP of APs so far!
We haven't tried Reign of Winter yet (which also looks awesome sauce) or Wrath of the Righteous (the latter is going to be our foray into Mythic Adventures gaming).
But for out and out fun, Skulls and Shackles is my recommendation for the way to go if your group has a liking for Pirate themes.
Has anyone done the Shattered Star? I read a bit about it and it seemed like a good start, especially since both groups are familiar with Varisia. I don't have access to the Magnimar splat book though so that could be a problem?
My group and I have been enjoying Shattered Star quite a lot. Although it's very dungeon heavy, the dungeons are very well crafted. They are flavorful and allow for a lot of roleplay. You can check how things unfolded for us in our campaign journal.
It's easy to get the PCs to get a feeling of their surroundings and why what they do matters because the AP takes place in Varisia and Magnimar, which they've already visited in RotRL.
Curse of the Crimson Throne is one of the more highly regarded APs that Paizo ever put out. It was released as 3.5 so you'll have to do some conversion, however, there's many a conversion thread already in place here on the message boards to help with that. A great many people consider the second chapter of that AP to be the greatest chapter of any AP ever produced.
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If you would like to try something very different from Rise of the Runelords (for variety) I really recommand going for Reign of Winter - do note though that it has some elements many gamers don't like (but others adore) for example
Just curious why you don't have the heart to continue RoTRL? It sounds like your players want to continue.
I'd agree with the recommendation for Curse of the Crimson Throne as quite possibly the best of the APs. Running Jade Regent currently and also quite good (though Book 3 needs to be stripped down quite a bit).