I'm having a really good time so far. I don't think the winter theme will be redundant.
My players are a little over halfway through Snows of Summer.
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I did not yet have the chance to run this AP, but from reading it I feel it's going to be a whole pile of fun.
What I'm thinking is that if I actually run the AP, I might change things around a bit to finish the campaign at the end of part 5, as I feel part 6 is so miserably lesser than all the others (and especially 5) that it would be an inadequate finisher.
We just started the Maiden, Mother, Crone and its been a blast. Many of my players have said its one of the best campaigns they have ever played in. It can be really difficult (my group, except on player, enjoys that), plenty of role-play, hack'n'slash, and good isn't a necessity.
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As you level up the winter becomes less and less of an obstacle/hazard and more of a backdrop element. However, even if tat wasn´t the case, the team managed to keep the winter themes varied through the books, going all the way to earth itself.
Snows of Summer - Unnatural snow as a threat
The Shackled Hut - City plunged into eternal winter
Maiden, Mother, Crone - Winter as a scourge from powerful beings
The Frozen Stars - Borderline Sci-Fi generations long winter
Rasputin Must Die - The cold dread of war
The group I am running for is close to finishing Maiden, Mother, Crone. So far they have enjoyed it. The Snows of Summer had a lot of challenge built in from the harsh winter environment. Winter conditions still play a role in the Shackled Hut but are less severe assuming your players take measures to mitigate the environment. My group found The Shackled Hut on the easy side. This was primarily due to the Fighter with the Archer archetype owning a lot of the encounters. Maiden, Mother, Crone on the other hand has been owning them and as of the last session they are all now completely out of hero points, after each started the module with a full load.
My group is also very close to finishing book 3. It’s been a mixed bag some players really enjoy it and one of our players dropped out because it wasn’t speaking to him(it’s the first AP he's dropped out of after playing through 6). After running numerous AP’s for the same group I have come to realize my players like campaigns where they control things beyond the normal party; a country in kingmaker, a ship in skulls and shackles. And they like down time to craft items. In this AP they are constantly moving it seems to be hampering the enjoyment for my group. They also rated Carrion Crown lower than it should have been for the same reason.
Book 4 and 5 of this AP are very unique so once we roll through those it may pick up the rating from my group.
I personally would have liked to see more on Whitethrone the city is so fascinatinlgly unique that putting book 3 or 6 in Whitethrone would up my rating for the whole AP.
So far I would give it a 3 star rating. This could rise after we run though book 4 and 5.
I am running 4 different groups on this adventure path and man oh man how different each of the scenarios have become. Being one of those GM's who don't try to kill their players but giggle a lot when she does, this adventure has brought me a lot of joy. The lvl 1 is so brutal it wakes up the players and they start to realize they can't just return to town after every situation to heal up and buy/sell.
I do not recommend allowing a party of squish to play unless you really want to kill them before the Lodge. Then have at it.