Which AP volumes could be run as a separate module?

[Antariuk]

So after a hiatus my regular gaming group will gather again, and it was decided that I should run official, separate modules (for now). My home library isn't all that bad, many things from the 3rd edition era I can still put to good use, but it got me thinking - which AP's have parts you could run separately, without the need to rewrite much of anything?

My own AP experience is pretty limited, but I have the first 2 parts of Kingmaker and I think that you could run the first volume pretty much as-is and then follow up with something different (although you would want to fill some blank parts of the hexmap on your own, but that's nothing I'd consider much work).

So, which AP's parts would you run as a separate adventure?

[captain yesterday]

any Shattered Star, especially books 2 and 4:) Carrion Crown is also good:)

[thenovalord]

Just about all of them
Unfortunately

[Joshua Goudreau]

I'm running through Souls for Smuggler's Shiv right now and provided the connective material from the end is removed it could stand on its own without much work. Instead of the lead in to an epic quest it remains a stand alone tale of survival on a hostile island.

[Cthulhudrew]

Pretty much all of Carrion Crown. The first module in Second Darkness, certainly, and probably the second. The others start to get tired together after that.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Varnhold Vanishing is a fantastic stand-alone module.

[Lord Gadigan]

Curse of the Crimson Throne:

Skeletons of Scarwall can work as an independent dungeon crawl, assuming you give the PCs a different way to meet Sial and Laori and a different reason to want the sword.

Second Darkness:

The first two parts of Second Darkness work well as a two-parter where the PCs are trying to get a foothold in a town run by thieves.

Kingmaker:

The Varnhold Vanishing works as a good stand-alone investigating the disappearance of the citizens of a frontier kingdom.

Sound of a Thousand Screams could possibly be pulled away from the rest of the campaign too, with Nyrissa trying to reclaim some location that the PCs are in instead of the PCs kingdom. It'd make a good high-level thing that deals with weird fae places. Probably the hardest on my list here to pull over to use on its own, but still within the realm I'd consider farily easily-doable.

Serpent's Skull:

Souls for the Smuggler's Shive works on its own as an adventure where the PCs survive a shipwreck on an island.

Carrion Crown:

Every adventure of Carrion Crown. While it has an overarching plot, the majority of each adventure is self-contained and could be run entirely on its own. Out of all the APs, it's probably the easiest to do this with (followed by Shattered Star).

Jade Regent:

The Hungry Storm. Just give the PCs any reason to be traveling across the Crown of the World with a caravan. Some mention of plot-related NPCs will need to be cut / changed, but the actual story of the module stands alone.

Shattered Star:

Pretty much any adventure of Shattered Star except the last one. They're all artifact-piece hunts that can sit on their own if you want them to.

Reign of Winter:

The Frozen Stars. Just cut out the part in Baba Yaga's hut at the beginning and give the PCs some other reason to be on Triaxis. You could even do it with Triaxian characters working for the Skyfire Mandate.

Wrath of the Righteous:

Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth. If you somehow have decently-high-level mythic PCs but aren't running the rest of the campaign, you can slot this in as a solo-thing where the PCs are trying to rescue Iomedae's herald from Baphomet's Abyssal realm. It actually stands pretty much independently from the Worldwound-closing / war storyline.

Mummy's Mask:

The first two parts of Mummy's Mask run well as a two-parter. Just cut the other parts of the Pharaoh's soul from the storyline and run it as the PCs exploring tombs and dealing with the undead invasion.

The second and third parts of Mummy's Mask can also run as a two-parter. Just cut the other parts of the Pharaoh's soul from the storyline and run it as the PCs investigating a cult they've heard about and then tracking down and eliminating the possessed leader. It isn't quite as smooth as the first two on their own, and you'll have to change some of what the PCs are researching in Part 3, but it should fall into the same general level of workability as Sound of a Thousand Screams.

[Antariuk]

Thanks for the responses so far! Now I have some ideas for what to borrow from my buddy who owns about everything Paizo ever put to print :)

I totally forgot about Souls for Smuggler's Shiv - I am a player in a SS game, but since two of my players also are in that group it sadly isn't an option for me. Man, that island was good fun.

[Deadmanwalking]

Legacy of Fire:

The House of the Beast is pretty solidly independent if you like, just have the PCs approached about taking out the Carrion King. Though it works even better as a mini-campaign with Howl of the Carrion King. The End of Eternity also makes an excellent solo adventure as long as the PCs have some reason to want to escape the demiplane in question.

Reign of Winter:

I'd strongly argue that, much like The Frozen Stars, Rasputin Must Die! is pretty easy to slot in with any campaign involving a plausible way to wind up on, y'know, Earth. Some plot might need to be adjusted, but not a lot if you set it up right.

Curse of the Crimson Throne:

Seven Days to the Grave or A History of Ashes are both very solid possibilities for solo adventures if you futz with their premises a little (the Cult of Urgathoa is acting alone...possibly with a plant/ally in the city government for SDttG, or you need to ally with the Shoanti for some other reason for AHoA).

Additionally, most first chapters are workable on their own, if you're willing to head off on a thematically similar campaign, even one with very different details.

[Joshua Goudreau]

Speaking of Reign of Winter, I ran the first installment The Snows of Summer as a stand alone and it worked just fine.

Spoiler:

Just drop the Black Herald and change the references to the White Witch to refer to Pavril and have the ritual at the end close all the portals.

When I ran it we decided about half way through to drop the campaign so I needed to change the references at the end but it worked out just fine.

I'm currently playing in a Second Darkness game and we recently finished part two, so I second what was said above about those installments.

[feytharn]

The first and second Rise of the Runelords books make terrific standalone adventures.

[Fabius Maximus]

The Infernal Syndrome, part 4 of Council of Thieves, should work well on its own, too.

[Pan]

carrion crown:

You could easily run books 1,2,4 as modules with minimum effort. Book 6 wouldnt be too hard but you would need to adapt the plot and accept the fact its one huge dunegon crawl. (Bonus for running book 4 wake of the watcher is that you could also run carrion hill along with it)

serpent skull:

Book 1 is a fantastic sandbox adventure and I highly reccomend it for this purpose. The rest of th AP sadly falls flat and is not reccomended.

[leo1925]

thenovalord wrote:

Just about all of them

Unfortunately

That.

[Wrath]

While you guys state it's unfortunate, I think the entire fact they have a major plot that runs through them but can be ignored if you want...is actually brilliant.

The AP's and modules are Paizo's bread and butter. The fact they have written them so you can run it as a campaign OR as individual modules if you want is very smart.

If you want more thread ties to the AP's, they give you huge amounts of background material for all the badguys in their campaigns and you can place as much or as little of that into your games as possible.

Carrion Crown that someone mentioned earlier, is a great example. At first they seem like disparate missions, but when you keep in mind the campaign traits, it gives the party a clear goal from the moment they

Spoiler:

discover professor lorrimar was murdered and later link this to the forceful removal of the governors ghost from Harrowstone by a mysterious group

All of that is in there for the DM to use, but they don't overplay it as the AP's can also be run as standalones if needed.

Every AP I've run from Paizo, and that's about 5 so far, has had this feature. None of the groups I've run through them felt there wasn't enough plot to hold them together. Use the background at the beginning of each module to work them together as needed.

Cheers

[WitchyTangles]

Skeletons of Scarwall was the latest one that I used and it worked really well for us.

[DM Nerk]

Skull and Shackles:

Book 2 (Raiders of the Fever Sea) is mostly a sandbox. It's good, piratey stuff with a bit of dungeoning. Other than starting with a ship they need to disguise, there's no real connection to the previous book, and I can hardly recall any connection at all to the rest of the AP, other than "hey, we're pirates and getting a reputation."

Book 4 (The Island of Empty Eyes) could work with a bit of set up. The general mission is pretty discrete (tame the island and then entertain the pirate lords) and could be run separately pretty easily. It's a nice mix of everything I like: puzzles, dungeon-crawl, wilderness exploration and roleplaying, with piracy of course. The only real changes that would need to be made would be a reason for the saboteur to want to sabotage them, but adventurers who don't make enemies?

[leo1925]

Wrath wrote:

While you guys state it's unfortunate, I think the entire fact they have a major plot that runs through them but can be ignored if you want...is actually brilliant.

The AP's and modules are Paizo's bread and butter. The fact they have written them so you can run it as a campaign OR as individual modules if you want is very smart.

If you want more thread ties to the AP's, they give you huge amounts of background material for all the badguys in their campaigns and you can place as much or as little of that into your games as possible.

Carrion Crown that someone mentioned earlier, is a great example. At first they seem like disparate missions, but when you keep in mind the campaign traits, it gives the party a clear goal from the moment they
** spoiler omitted **

All of that is in there for the DM to use, but they don't overplay it as the AP's can also be run as standalones if needed.

Every AP I've run from Paizo, and that's about 5 so far, has had this feature. None of the groups I've run through them felt there wasn't enough plot to hold them together. Use the background at the beginning of each module to work them together as needed.

Cheers

I agree that it's a feature, i am saying that it's a bad feature.

[logic_poet]

Part four of Second Darkness, Endless Night could work as a stand-alone infiltration mission, with a little minor rework of who is helping the PCs and why the villains need to be infiltrated. Since drow are CE demon worshipers, that part is not too hard for a party of mostly good heroes, and the person who helps the PCs is a spellcaster for hire, so you can just switch his employer.

[Sunderstone]

I always wanted to run Souls for Smugglers Shiv (everything ending just before the Dungeon at the end) as a prequel to the Skulls and Shackles AP. The PCs would eventually be "rescued" by a passing ship, that ship being the Wormwood, that rescue being pressganged into service, etc.
It's much better hook IMHO, than the existing starting hook of the Wormwood Mutiny.

I was even toying with making Shiv, a zero level adventure ala Goodman Games zero level rules. That would still be sweet.

Basically any AP starting module runs well as a stand alone, along with a few middle chapters mentioned above.