My party was 9 when I ran this, 9!
Honestly, sometimes adults over think s*$& too much :-)
That is totally irrelevant.
From an in-game perspective there is really no reason for the PCs to solve the problems in part 2 and abandon their goal of stopping the WW. And because that is the case it is a bad adventure.
And that is the reason I can only recommend staying away from it.
It's relevant to the extent that it would probably only require minor modifications by the GM to convince the party that pursuing this lead is the best way to achieve their original goal.
The incorporeal monsters weren't that big of a barrier to martials in my group when they played through Harrowstone Prison, but spells like ghostbane dirge or alchemical ghost salt help, as do some of the items in the treasure caches that can be found early in Book 1.We found 1 magic weapon early on. But not much else. No ghost salt or anything else that would have helped. Of the 4 or 5 big bads in part 1 there have been 3 incorporeals. That resulted in 3 fights I had to sit by and watch because I was not the one to get the one magic weapon.
We did not have the money to buy consumables ourselves.Martials can't cast magic weapon, ghostbane dirge etc. Sure the casters could have done that. But a better adventure design would not leaave the martials at the caster's beck and call.
That's unfortunate, and seems to be a mis-step on the part of your GM rather than a flaw in the adventure's design.
dont forget
** spoiler omitted **
Again, this seems like a series of mis-steps by your GM:
Judge Daramid offers to double the sum promised in the professor's will if you help her; she doesn't keep the money if you refuse, though. Had my players shown no interest in this, I'd've probably drawn them back in by using the subplot about the body snatchers, Vorkstag & Grine--maybe even by having one or two of their characters kidnapped, which would hopefully spur the other PCs to find them.
My group enjoyed investigating the Beast's alleged crimes and helping the public defender at the trial, but that's not for everyone, I suppose. We got a lot of good roleplaying out of it.
Evidence at Schloss Caromarc points pretty clearly to the Whispering Way having broken in to do something heinous, and your PCs should have discovered this pretty easily since the goblins guarding the gates have gagged-skull charms on them (my group killed the troll bosses, subdued the goblins, and talked the information out of them instead of killing them outright, which was entertaining to say the least).
However, I'll concede that the ties are a bit tenuous--and if the GM has previously played up the urgency of stopping the Way ASAP, then it makes sense that you'd not want to bother with this perceived side trek and prefer to move on to tracking down the cultists. Unfortunately, without some quick thinking on the GM's part or ingenious use of divination magic by the players, the only way to figure out where they went next is to find and rescue the Count inside the castle.
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We have been playing through the AP's in publication order (which is cool because it lets you appreciate the NPC cameo's in the later AP's from the earlier games)
Rise of the Runelords: Solid starter campaign. Part 1 was fun, Part 2 is probably the best of the AP if you run the horror elements right. Part 3 was also enjoyable and balanced. Part 4 is really going to depend on your party's tactics. Part 5 is really, REALLY long. Honestly, the Runeforge takes the concept of Dungeon Grind and beats it to death with a hammer. Part 6 was pretty decent with a good triumphant ending. I recommend beefing up Karzog by giving him an additional free standard action each round, and doubling his HP, otherwise a solid party will paste him in 2-3 rounds.
Curse of the Crimson Throne: We LOVED the Roleplaying in this one. You've got to really play up the interaction with the NPC's and try to keep things moving at a decent pace. There really wasn't any downside to any of the parts, although Scarwall can get a little tedious if you treat it like a dungeon crawl instead of a horror setting.
Second Darkness: We also had a good time with this one. I would avoid allowing anyone in the party to play an elf unless they are going to play an Ekujae who isn't connected to the Kyonin "standard" style of elves. We had an Ekujae Summoner who really helped drive the plot since basically his people had spent an Eon waiting for this exact quest. Definitely encourage the players in the first three modules to put some points into professions, crafts, and other domestic or Social skills, otherwise they are going to have a really difficult time when they get to Zirnakaynin (sp?). Also, the rolling tower fight can be AWESOME if you run it right.
Legacy of Fire: We are about 1/2 way though the first module and have been having a good time so far. Pugwampi's are horrible, and using them liberally while other things are going on can not only be entertaining but can make things really, really dangerous for rash characters. Have fun with them. As a whim, we decided to toss out normalcy for this one and allow weird / odd / monster races for the PC's. So we've got a party with a Medusa Sorceress who wears a mask, a Kitsune Ninja and Ustalav Bat Skinwalker from the Pathfinder Society, a Kasatha Fighter, a redeemed Gnoll Barbarian who is a dedicated follower of Sarenrae and was raised by a human, a Goblin Alchemist Pesh Cook, and a Serpentfolk Oracle of Sarenrae (who had his stats HEAVILY lowered to be balanced with normal character power levels).
This goes mostly to magnuskn:
I ran Shattered Star from start to finish and i had... issues with the AP, most of them can be found here, long story short i wouldn't recommend it to a DM who doesn't have a lot of free time.