I know there's a large amount of publishers listed in the store of this site, but I'll be damned if I can find what's truly good within with the way they're stuffed together in a mass like they are. So I'd like to ask the community what the best non-Paizo created adventures are and the best publishers that create consistently good material.
They can be sold on this site or the RPGDriveThru (Not sure the rules on listing other sites so I won't put the link down), but I'm really interested in any adventures or good publishers who use the Pathfinder/OGL/3.5 ruleset.
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War of the Burning Sky by EN publishing. There isn't a Pathfinder version though, just the 3.5 and 4e ones. The 4e one is known to have some issues with skill chalenges, and I think EN publishing should have toned down all the extra feats and rules, but the adventures and the setting are amazing. Over 700 pages for just $10.
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Frog God Games makes some excellent materials. There's lots of stuff to recommend, but I'll shout out specifically Nicolas Logue's Razor Coast as a high fantasy Polynesian setting. I had thought pirates had been done, but Razor Coast added some interesting takes, including undead cannibal pygmies and perfectly playable volcano gnomes.
Also, I'm currently reading AAW's Rise of the Drow. Classic (in a good way) "underrealms" adventure.
Are you looking for single adventures (modules), or full adventure paths? Is there a specific trope you're interested in, such as Lovecraft and crashed spaceships, "underrealms", kingdom building, undead demon lords? Sandbox vs more linear adventures? Something with a campaign world, vs something specifically generic to drop into a campaign world?
As for publisher's, it depends on if your looking for character options, adventures, adventure paths, or campaign settings. Some publishers you might want to check out are Kobold Press, Legendary Games, and Rogue Genius Games.
I know there's a large amount of publishers listed in the store of this site, but I'll be damned if I can find what's truly good within with the way they're stuffed together in a mass like they are. So I'd like to ask the community what the best non-Paizo created adventures are and the best publishers that create consistently good material.
They can be sold on this site or the RPGDriveThru (Not sure the rules on listing other sites so I won't put the link down), but I'm really interested in any adventures or good publishers who use the Pathfinder/OGL/3.5 ruleset.
I'd recommend Way of the Wicked by Fire Mountain Games.
I'm interested in any genre, really, as long as the adventure is well made. Modules and paths are both good for me as well. I appreciate what you guys have said so far and am looking into them.
Edit: Frog God Games has some VERY cool stuff to them. I really like their art style as well.
Also, the deal going on for the PDF of War of the Burning Sky is amazing. That much content for that low of a price is definitely being added to my list. ... Now I just have to hope the sale lasts till Monday lol.
I would second Fire Mountain Games. Way of the wicked is one of the best campaigns I have DM'd. Also second Frog God Games. Both Slumbering Tsar and Razor coast are a lot of fun. I would highly recommend.
Way of the Wicked looks very interesting. I've never done an evil path before, so I'm curious how players would react to that. Does the series have a real plot or is it just Murderfest 2016?
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Way of the Wicked was the original PFRPG evil campaign. I played in it and it was fun.
I also like the 0one Games urban adventures. Both the original Great City serial and the new Sinking serial have some seriously fun potential and lots to build off of. Dirt cheap also. Check out my "Tatterdemalion" review!
Frog God games offerings have that old school feel. They are dungeon crawls with an emphasis on deadly. But that is what they pride themselves on.
Raging Swan is my new favorite. They are on sale this week and have tons to pick from. For delicious free samples, go to their website. I also reviewed their Fane of the Undying Sleeper.
Legendary Games has several modules on par with Paizo's APs. They are designed as plug-ins for the existing APs, but could be used on their own. Beautiful art and layout adds to the appeal. I liked "Cold Mountain".
Kobold Press has a few offerings that look pretty good. I really like their take on civilized Kobolds and their undead empire looks to have a lot going for it as well.
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I'm currently a player in a WotW book, and to me it's just a boring railroad. (That means it does have a real plot, if you call sitting on a boat waiting for the next encounter a plot.) Now to be fair, the other players don't really understand the concept of playing an evil character to the point that one of the players is somehow incapable of lying although he maxed out his bluff skill. So much of it is that the group isn't right for the game.
The general plot is that you're working for the Asmodean pope and you have to do what he says. Murderfest is supposed to get you killed in this game.
I'm kind of happy that it's a railroad. I mean, if it's TRULY boring, I can spice it up a bit, but I'm always worried that dark path campaigns will just have you doing immoral things for the sake of immorality instead of a true plot (which, to be fair, is much more easier to create for a good or neutral character).
Still need to check out Raging Swan, as I've only seen a few of their items, but I'll look into what's listed! Same goes to the legendary adventure that was kickstarted. Thank you all for the help so far.
I had that problem too. I just feel icky playing an evil character. DMing them is fun for me, since I don't feel personally invested. You do have to play a LE character. Book 2 is a lot less railroady and that's where my group ran into trouble. Basically you have 30 days to "endear" yourself to the village. A giant sandbox where no one could agree on the best approach.
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I'm currently a player in a WotW book, and to me it's just a boring railroad. (That means it does have a real plot, if you call sitting on a boat waiting for the next encounter a plot.)
In all fairness, it sounds like you're still in the first half of the first book. WotW railroads you through the first couple levels, and I think at level 4 it opens up into sandboxes, and later books stop defining plots and more define situations for you to deal with.
Way of the Wicked is great. Some of the most fun I've ever had GMing.
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That depends. What are you looking for?
But if you come from a d20/3e background: there are a lot of very good PF 3pps out there. Quality is overall much higher.
Check out these threads:
New to 3pp...
Pathfinder 3pp suggestions
Recommendations for 3PP
What do you seek? Tell us about your campaign, your PCs, or where you want your campaign to go.
That said:
Necromancer Games/Frog God Games: old school adventures, dungeons, megadungeons, mini sandboxes. Slumbering Tsar, Rappan Athuk, Stoneheart Valley, The Lost Lands, City of Barakus, Tome of Horrors revised (which is also on PFSRD). Also Razor Coast! Just read the reviews. Tome of Adventure Design! Upcoming: The Blight by Richard Pett.
Kobold Press/Open Design: Midgard campaign setting (more eastern european myth/tropes incorporated vs traditional western fanatasy), excellent adventures. Excellent books on Game Design.
Legendary Games: stellar supplements to Paizo APs, mythic material.
Raging Swan Press: Generic, medieval fluff and cruch, great DM aids, great adventures. Check out the numerous free previews for any product on their website.
Rite Publishing: great crunch pieces, Coliseum Morpheon (high level advanture in the plane of dream) & Faces of the Tarnished Souk (great NPCs), Japanese Horror setting: Kaidan (check out the free adventure), Adventure Quarterly is Dungeon magazine's successor.
AdventureAWeek: lots of adventures, Rise of the Drow super adventure, modern web supported layout
Dreamscarred Press: PF Psionics
Fire Mountain Games: Way of the Wicked (the evil AP), Underdark Sandbox AP is in the works but i would recommend buying it only when finished
0One Games: The Great City material, City AP.
TPK Games: Bleeding Hollow & The Reaping Stone horror adventures, Laying Waste: A Guide to Critical Combat.
Alluria Publishing: awesome underwater stuff and some fey material
Super Genius Games/Rogue Genius Games: great crunch.
Drop Dead Studios: Rogue Glory (fixing the Rogue class, also check out 101 Skill Uses by Rite for this)
Four Dollar Dungeons (4DD): outstanding, cheap adventures. Just read the reviews.
For keeping up read this forum and check out Endzeitgeist.com.
The bigger ones are Frog God Games (the heirs of Necromancer Games), Wolfgang Baur's Kobold Press, Legendary Games, Rite Publishing, ENWorld Publishing, Raging Swan Press. But there are a lot more with excellent quality and also among the smaller and very small ones.
About adventures specifically check out 3pp AP recommendations
And for completeness sake here's the 3pp campaign setting thread.
Shadows of the Dusk Queen looks excellent and I am about to pick it up now (came across it when someone mentioned Kobold Press to me above).
I'm also very grateful towards Thanael for his generous amount of recommendations and the mentioning of a site that does reviews; that'll help greatly in the future.
Edit: After viewing the Shadows of the Dusk Queen PDF real quickly, the production quality is impressively high. Of course, this is coming from seeing black and white PDFs from rather small companies, but still.
Margaret Weis Productions and the Dragonlance Classics and Age of Mortals trilogies.
WoW has a plot mechanic that specifically prevents P v P and maintains party unity. It also gives quite a strong overarching party goal which is pretty world shaking. Throughout the whole campaign it felt that the party had the power to achieve things themselves despite this mechanic and until the very last book when the wheels fell of it held together. In the end our party fragmented and evil destroyed evil - so there was a morale code - but we lasted until 18th level which I never thought would happen.
Aw... I'm a "someone". ;-) I read all Endzeitgeist's reviews. Never had a rotter from something I bought on his recommendation. I don't think I've ever seen him review official Paizo documents, however.
I've been re-reading Tales of the Old Margreve. A lovely Slavic dark fae setting, it really set the bar for 3rd party fae content, and it set it very high. It's a unique mix of plot hooks, mechanic hooks, statted adventures and campaign setting. It can be dropped into Andoran/Taldor very easily and can replace the Arthfell, as it is similar in ideas.
Sinister Adventures is the precursor to Razor Coast. It was supposed to evolve into Razor Coast, but that is a long story best left to another post. I liked the adventures in this setting, and they do mix nicely in Razor Coast, which assumes you already have a campaign in place to fill some level holes and dead time.
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Ahem,
since Thanael was kind enough to mention it (thank you Thanael), the Blight is presently just over a week into our kickstarter, please do pay us a visit .
Huzzah!
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I'd like to thank you all for your help. I've used all the budget I set aside towards this kind of thing on my current paycheck using your advice!
I got the following:
Shadows of the Dusk Queen
War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign
GM's Miscellany: Tribes Most Foul
GM's Miscellany: Urban Dressing
GM's Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing
GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing
While Shadows and War of the Burning Sky look quite interesting, I can't wait to use the Raging Swan Press's GM's Miscellany packs I bought. They'll be the perfect thing to add flavor to ANY campaign I care to ever have.
Thank you all once again :)
EDIT: I'd also like to add that I'm not on the payroll of Swan, if it seems that way lol. I actually discredited getting their stuff at first because of the jet-black bland covers they have; really been proven wrong, though.
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Hey, Raging Swan puts out good stuff!
Since we're on the subject, might I also recommend checking out The Sunken Pyramid, also from Raging Swan Press
Huzzah!