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Hello all!
There are over 44,000 posts on this AP! Please help :)
In the interest of preserving my gaming group, I have decided to run Rise of the Runelords. My previous DM/GM experience is all Star Wars, either Saga Edition or the West End Games D6 version.
I intend to have 3-5 players, and the intereted people want a longer running campaign lasting us a year or two. So we discussed the slow path and all like that idea. We want a level 17-20 experience.
So finally, my question is this; what do I add? For organizational puposes, I just want to look at the first book and go from there. I already looked at Wayfinder 7, and plan to add the Swallowtail Festival Games, Choppers Isle, The Lure of Greed, and the Hag and the Seeker.
Is this enough to finish Burnt Offerings and be at the fast path XP?
What did you add for your group?
I see some posts about adding books from other AP's, but none seem to be well developed/finished. I want to run this AP and give my players an optimal experience!
Thank you in advance to all contributions!
My suggestion would be to ignore the Xp and level the characters up at the appropriate time but I always ignore xp.
If the characters are level 17-20 by the end of part 6 then they are going to overwhelm it and you will have to rewrite it anyway, may I suggest instead of doing that you plan an add on after part 6 there are some suggestions at the end of part 6 or you could have the pc's go after one of the other Runelords there are notes on where the runelord of Wrath is in 'Dungeons of Golarion' and you could enhance her with a few mythic talants to make her a serious opponent for the pc's. Given that the runewell of wrath under Sandpoint is awake it is logical that she could be returning as well.
There is a PFS module going after a weaker runelord (Krune I think) you could use that before part 6 and some of its earlier scenarios form that season may work but I have not read or played the, so you need a better source on them
I did not add any extra modules to the campaign but it looks to me some elements of shatterred star are logical as they are set in the same level range and similar locations as well as having a rune lord theme, you could have scholars helpng the pc's point them at some of these locations without knowing they are linked to the 'wrong' runelord.
I recommend you stay with fast xp or even better, follow JohnHawkins recommendation and ignore xp and level jump the group according the the milestone plan provided in the AP (this helps if you're varying the number of players more or less than the target of 4.)
There is no need to slow xp to meet your goal of a campaign lasting a year or two and getting to those levels. The fast path produces that outcome.
Slow xp would be what you would do if you wanted to change the campaign story by adding elements such as the one's you listed or parts of Shattered Star, etc. If adding those elements is really your top priority then yes, but I interpret your post to mean you think you need to add them to get a 2 year campaign.
For context, my group has played 21 sessions so far in 10 months and they just finished Book 2. I haven't added any new material and we're following the fast xp path.
The OP's group wants simultaneously to have a longer campaign experience, and to reach Levels 17-20.
"Leveling up when the AP says so" doesn't give the group more of an experience, which is what they want. @Brady-Wan, I suggest looking at the GM Reference threads for each module, where other GMs have shared their experiences. I know that there is a possible encounter with a certain psychotic ghost that is suggested in Sandpoint. Still, you really would have to either come up with a lot of your own material, or plug in prepublished material into the AP.
Keep in mind that you want 2.25x the number of encounters, to convert an AP meant for the Fast track to the Slow track.
It does seem that the easiest prepublished material to borrow from, is the Shattered Star AP. It has a lot of dungeons that are relatively easy to plop into another campaign, and it has a multi-part Macguffin that is related to the Runelords -- you can reskin it so that it is a device needed to deal with the Runelords, which fits nicely with the RotRL storyline. The main threat in RotRL is already far enough in the background that it's conducive to such a "plug-in."
As for reaching Level 17-20, the AP as written seems to assume that the party reaches Level 18 as a result of the final encounter, so already, as written, the AP does not depart far from the group's Level goal. Still, if they want to reach Level 20 during the course of the campaign, the Anniversary Edition of the AP does give ideas for extending the campaign on pages 368-369.
I have chosen to build a grander campaign than that of just Rise of the Runelords, and I'm doing it by adding four books from other AP's that are thematically perfect fits. I've been working on the re-writes for more than half a year, and its becoming a very finished product. I'm not going to lie, its incredibly exciting and we started our gaming sessions just this past month.
If you're interested at all, I would be happy to discuss it with you in as much detail as you'd like, as well as to make recommendations on things to include or exclude that I've already considered at length. We can talk here or you can contact me privately - either way I'd love to help!
Story Archer, I wouldn't mind listening in on that discussion! I would follow a thread in which you talked about expanding RotRL.
Story Archer, I wouldn't mind listening in on that discussion! I would follow a thread in which you talked about expanding RotRL.
I started one here, but it kind of got thread-jacked a little, and it was just a breakdown of what I am trying to do anyway. There have already been some modifications based on recommendations from veteran players and GM's with experience from those AP's.
The truth is, I'll be telling the Shattered Star story but I'll be using the excellent Rise of the Runelords to do it, plus a few additions like Seven Days to the Grave from Curse of the Crimson Throne. I'm actually amazed at how well its all come together - I think its a marked improvement over either AP alone, story-wise. The plan is to get my PC's to level 20 by the time all is said and done.
I have just got my group to CH3 (close to the end) and we're using the standard fast experience. Most of us in the group are agreed on it's horrible and we never want it again, there is simply no chance to enjoy your level before two adventures and a new level.
I think slow works but you need to be ready to create much more custom content, this is something I really feel I personally missed out on and the campaign isn't as personal to my PC's now.