Dragon Themed AP


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Good day James Jacobs, Owen Stephens, Rob McCreary, Adam Daigle, Mark Moreland (anybody else I missed, I apologize) and to all the other die hard dragon fans out there.

I am writing today to correct a grave error. In over 100 issues of the Pathfinder Adventure Path series, there has not been a dragon themed AP as yet published. While dragons generally do make an appearance in every AP, in fact I don't know one that doesn't, they haven't had their own focused AP totally devoted to the fantastic race that they are. I have read the boards, and I have heard the reasons of why now is not the time for a dragon themed AP. "It would be too repetitive to kill dragons at the end of every book" "If it's just a dragon at the end of AP than it's not a dragon themed book" "We don't want to rehash or ripoff somebody else's work" "There is no champion currently at Paizo willing to take it on" Those are to name a few. I'm sure others could find more. But I will address these points.

"It would be too repetitive to kill dragons at the end of every book" That part I do agree with. However, with the WEALTH of dragon inspired lore that is already in the Pathfinder universe such as sorcerer bloodlines, Dragons Revisited, other APs, the beastiaries, half-dragons, and the new Legacy of Dragons coming out in July, there are other options. Dragons generally do have minions.

"If it's just a dragon at the end of the AP than it's not a dragon themed book" Neither was Rise of Runelords! Was there a runelord at the end of every book? No! You had me quaking in fear, and had the one Runelord hiding in the shadows!! It was great!!! I loved it!! I fought minions, and apprentices, and plot after plot before I finally hit the point where the Runelords plans were clear! And I loved you for presenting the AP this way. A dragon themed AP could do so much. A red dragon cleric of Rovagug is aiming to destroy Varisia!! Or an umbral dragon is working from the plane of shadow to conquer Cheliax. It doesn't even have to have the dragon as the main antagonist. A twice cursed bronze dragon oracle becomes the PCs patron. And that's just the ones I thought of while sitting here typing this. I'm sure others could easily chime in if you gave them 5 min.

"We don't want to rehash or ripoff someone else's work." Paizo doesn't "ripoff" others. A great example was carrion crown. You took the classic gothic horror that we all grew up with and loved, and made interesting and exciting stories of your own! You did a great job! You could do the same with a dragon themed one as well.

"There is nobody at Paizo willing to champion this as yet." Unfortunately, there I can't offer anything beyond the fact that whoever from Paizo would pick up the torch for this project would have the FULL backing of myself, plus a lot of others who have been screaming for this.

I can only speak for myself. Paizo as a company has done an outstanding job in it's lifetime. You took a game that I love, tweaked it, and put it out there. And not only did Pathfinder do well, IT OUTSOLD ITS PREDECESSOR!!! Why? You guys have a great staff and your authors are top notch!! You work as a team and it shows. I believe it would be a great AP once you guys finally do it.

And so this is where I plead for help. If I am wrong, than I will pipe down, put my tail between my legs, and not mention this again. But for the rest of you dragon fans out there, I'm asking for your assistance. If you do believe, as I do, that Paizo could put out a GREAT AP, than please comment below. No negative comments please. If you think that I am wrong, and must express it than send me a Private Message.

I don't think I am wrong though. You have a great staff and great authors at your disposal, Paizo. You could do a dragon themed AP that would be epic. If you truly want somebody to encourage you, than let me be the first. I don't think I will be the last.


I've actually mentioned in a previous thread how you could do a l-17+ level AP. The Big Bads of the AP would be a Greater Wyrm Blue Dragon and the Greater Wyrm Red Dragon that is out for revenge against it - because the Blue (as part of a plot to conquer a new region by weakening it) stole eggs of one of the Wyrm's great grandchildren and letting the newborn hatchlings loose in a region.

(A level 4-5 party would find a Red Wyrmling to be a challenge. Much of the adventure for the first book would be the adventurers dealing with damage caused by the baby dragon before finally tracking it down and killing it.)

The fact that the big bad of each book of the AP is a dragon doesn't lessen its impact. Let's take, for instance, Rise of the Runelords. Classic AP, the one that started the ball rolling. The players face THREE dragons in Book 4. In Book 5, there's another dragon. And in book 6 yet another dragon.

There wasn't anything really repetitive about it. Dragons are cunning and sneaky creatures as well as engines of destruction. Thus they would bully humanoids, bandits, and the like to fight for them (it's difficult picking up coins with claws, after all). And with a story linking the various dragons and culminating in the adventurers taking on the Greater Wyrm Blue (and probably the Red afterward), you'd not even have the sense of repetition. Instead, the dragons would really be boss-creatures that are the final encounter for each book.

So yes, it could work. In fact, Paizo could even do this as an Experimental AP, and have a "Tough Mode" adventure (tougher-than-average encounters for all the fights) to get the adventurers closer to or reaching level 20, and double the fun - not only do the players get to have an AP focusing on the thematic enemy of fantasy roleplaying games... but they culminate in the capstone level in doing so.

Liberty's Edge

I am working on a Follow Up to Dragon's Demand..
At the End of Dragon's Demand I made my PCs "Dragonslayer's Of Nazilli and Knights Of Taldor :)....Lady Tulia Spirit proclaimed them as such.
They were awarded the Lands of Nazilli. Their task restore the Ruins of Nazilli, secure the The Area from Monsters, Bandits and whatever else lurks in the Area that is Bad..

Adventure Paths on Dragons would be Great..
An Adventure Path could be done each Dragon Type..set in their own Environment. As such Their Minions would make sense.

Say
Black Dragon=Marsh Minions=Lizardfolk, Alligators,
Red Dragon=Volcano Minions=Fire Drakes, Fire Giants
White=Artic


I wholeheartedly agree. PLZ do

Liberty's Edge

I added a part 2 to Dragon's Demand and called the entire campaign "Dragon's Revenge." I relocated the entire campaign to Lands of the Linnorm Kings to give the campaign a Viking feel. I added quite a bit of additional content along with a Dragon Themed creation story that I am sending to the players between sessions. Needless to say it is just massive in size.


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This is certainly doable now, with enough variety of theme via Horror Adventures, etc. A horror black dragon issue, a blue or occult dragon with occult themes, and maybe even a mythic one to top things off.

The time has come!


I'm all in for this. Let's get a serious dragon AP going, Paizo. You could do something great here!

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

A dragon AP would work well, red hand of doom is still one of my favourite extended adventures. It's all about the settings rather than the dragons. If the setting and flavour are good then dragons become very far from repetative.

Grand Lodge

I've only played DnD once when I was young, but aren't there good DnD adventures, with dragons, you can take inspiration from and convert?

Paizo Employee

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Varun Creed wrote:
I've only played DnD once when I was young, but aren't there good DnD adventures, with dragons, you can take inspiration from and convert?

From what I can remember playing back in teh day, there were surprisingly few dragon adventures for a game called, you know, Dungeons and Dragons. Plenty of dungeons! Not really very many dragons.

Red Hand of Doom had some dragony stuff, but is probably closer kin to Ironfang Invasion overall. And I'm sure some dragons showed up in Dungeon magazine while I was subscribed, but I mostly just remember them showing up in the adventures with githyanki.

But a lot of writers seem to keep their dragons in reserve. Like "oh, I've got this really cool thing, better not waste it." So they largely gathered dust for many years.

On the whole, I feel like Pathfinder's done a better job of actually getting dragons out there to be slain. Not having them in the name might actually help. They're special because they're cool, not sacrosanct.

Cheers!
Landon

Shadow Lodge

Varun Creed wrote:
I've only played DnD once when I was young, but aren't there good DnD adventures, with dragons, you can take inspiration from and convert?

If I did that, though, what excuse would I use to throw money at Paizo?

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Meh.


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Gorbacz wrote:
Meh.

I'd say the same thing about your ROBOTZ WITH LAZORS!!!!!!

But I choose to play nice with you there. Least you can do is return the favor. ;)


Paizo could totally write a dragon themed AP set in Brevoy, which is basicially already russian Westeros. Have Choral or one his descendents show up as a red dragon with an army who wants to take back the country they made in the first place. They could explain what happened to the Rogarvia's, whats going in Skywatch and have a dynastic civil war as a conflict as well. It could be great. Also, Xa Hoi is ruled by dragons, so you can have a dragon theme and another Asian themed AP if they went there.


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Well Mengkare in Hermea is always an option, but there has been enough said about that already.

Xa Hoi is of course very interesting!

Shadow Lodge

Hayato Ken wrote:
Well Mengkare in Hermea is always an option, but there has been enough said about that already.

Yeah, that's not happening until the staff (never mind the fanbase) can agree about what's canon for the little island.

We could always return to Triaxus.


Delightful wrote:
Also, Xa Hoi is ruled by dragons, so you can have a dragon theme and another Asian themed AP if they went there.

That would be an awesome middle ground between the "demand" of a Dragon and of an pure Oriental AP.

Another option would be a Linnorm + Realms of the Mammoth Lords/Crown of the World.


You could always have a story about some bad a** dragon that came out of nowhere and is causing trouble in location "x". It could be one of the new true outer planes dragons from B6. Preferable if one of them is the CN and so it's presence can warping reality. Being as it is from the maelstrom no one has managed to talk with it or even know were it is from. So basically the PCs are sent on a quest to stop it one way or another.

Silver Crusade

Perhaps linnorms? I would like to see a Viking/dragon AP. :-)

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

Landon Winkler wrote:
From what I can remember playing back in teh day, there were surprisingly few dragon adventures for a game called, you know, Dungeons and Dragons. Plenty of dungeons! Not really very many dragons.

IIRC the basic pitch for the original Dragonlance modules was to create a sequence of adventures featuring dragons. In many ways that set of modules was the first AP.

I'd be up for a dragon themed Pathfinder AP.


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Surprised that nobody has mentioned Tian-Xia yet -- you know, Dragon Empires . . . .


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
UnArcaneElection wrote:

Surprised that nobody has mentioned Tian-Xia yet -- you know, Dragon Empires . . . .

...

Xa Hoi is like, three posts up. ;)


The problem with a Dragon themed AP at this time is that they can't really end it with anything less than a "Super dragon" at the end WoTC has Tiamat/Takhesis to end their dragon themed AP's with Paizo does not. And although I''m sure the creative team at Paizo could certainly come up with a great "Super Dragon" it would take mythic/epic abilities to take on a CR30+ creature. Ending a Dragon themed AP with a CR22 dragon would be like a letdown so until they introduce "epic-like" rules a dragon themed AP is not going to happen.


Why? An intelligently-played Elder Wyrm (especially Blue or Red) can be an extremely challenging and epic encounter. The adventure should include elements and tactics to help keep the adventure even more of a challenge. There are also magic items and the like that dragons could utilize to further up their advantages and make the fight into something the players will never forget.

And having one or two dragons for each book's end-boss can work quite well by having the players move toward these foes and using other foes as minions and the like. A Dragon AP does not need to be "every foe is a dragon or some sort of lizard-like creature." It just needs to have dragons be the ultimate force behind the adventure. The Big Bad, as it were.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Ending with CR 22 dragon is no more of a letdown than ending with a CR20 wizard or bard or what have you...

It's only a letdown if it's treated as "just another dragon."

The real problem, so far as Golarion goes, is that there aren't a lot of living dragons with any kind of street cred.

Maybe the bulk of the AP could be used to buildup the threat... I mean, Wrath of the Righteous opens up with the fall of Kenabres, which did a lot to convince our playgroup that things were getting dire, so the proposed Dragon AP would have to let the big lizard of doom rack up some wins.

Actually, that could be a relatively new narrative structure... instead of the PCs moving from victory to victory on their road to kicking the wyrm's face in,maybe they move from defeat to defeat- sure, they get more powerful, and they learn the ways of their foe- heck,maybe hey inflict some lasting scars along the way- but if the dragon has them on the run the whole time, it'd be something interesting to try out...


ladydragona wrote:
The problem with a Dragon themed AP at this time is that they can't really end it with anything less than a "Super dragon" at the end WoTC has Tiamat/Takhesis to end their dragon themed AP's with Paizo does not. And although I''m sure the creative team at Paizo could certainly come up with a great "Super Dragon" it would take mythic/epic abilities to take on a CR30+ creature. Ending a Dragon themed AP with a CR22 dragon would be like a letdown so until they introduce "epic-like" rules a dragon themed AP is not going to happen.

Perhaps that´s what they are actually cooking up. The way Golarion vanished... Swallowed by a giant space dragon and kidnapped, now somewhere else in space. Totally doesn´t remind me of a certain storyline from some very dragon centric books :)

Silver Crusade

Cole Deschain wrote:
Actually, that could be a relatively new narrative structure... instead of the PCs moving from victory to victory on their road to kicking the wyrm's face in,maybe they move from defeat to defeat- sure, they get more powerful, and they learn the ways of their foe- heck,maybe hey inflict some lasting scars along the way- but if the dragon has them on the run the whole time, it'd be something interesting to try out...

I feel like this would be really hard to pull off, given the power level characters can reach vs. the assumed power level of an AP. People would end up killing the dragon way too early, or would be stymied by the plot not letting them.


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Cole Deschain wrote:
UnArcaneElection wrote:

Surprised that nobody has mentioned Tian-Xia yet -- you know, Dragon Empires . . . .

...

Xa Hoi is like, three posts up. ;)

Oops -- the short but unfamiliar name threw me off . . . .


Eliandra Giltessan wrote:
Cole Deschain wrote:
Actually, that could be a relatively new narrative structure... instead of the PCs moving from victory to victory on their road to kicking the wyrm's face in,maybe they move from defeat to defeat- sure, they get more powerful, and they learn the ways of their foe- heck,maybe hey inflict some lasting scars along the way- but if the dragon has them on the run the whole time, it'd be something interesting to try out...
I feel like this would be really hard to pull off, given the power level characters can reach vs. the assumed power level of an AP. People would end up killing the dragon way too early, or would be stymied by the plot not letting them.

Given an Red Elder Wyrm is a CR 23 encounter (if I am remembering correctly), having the PCs encounter it early would mean it kills them unless they are given some form of plot armor.

The solution of course is having the PCs encounter minions (including other dragons) before they face the Big Bad. In the case of the AP plot I came up with, it is actually two dragons, with the Elder Red using the PCs to gain revenge against an Elder Blue, but still intending on backstabbing the PCs. Essentially, the PCs would at one point be working for the Dragon, using its knowledge to attack the Blue Wyrm (which would underestimate the PCs, but not the other dragon. Thus the use of proxies for the fight).

There are several ways to provide incentives. And one other thing to consider is this: Pyrrhic victories. They win. They defeat one of the Dragon Bosses in a previous book. But the region is devastated from a dragon going to town and eating everything, so the PCs are forced to seek new allies or the like, or find a way to prevent the dragons from wiping out the rest of their community or country.


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Tangent101 wrote:
Eliandra Giltessan wrote:
Cole Deschain wrote:
Actually, that could be a relatively new narrative structure... instead of the PCs moving from victory to victory on their road to kicking the wyrm's face in,maybe they move from defeat to defeat- sure, they get more powerful, and they learn the ways of their foe- heck,maybe hey inflict some lasting scars along the way- but if the dragon has them on the run the whole time, it'd be something interesting to try out...
I feel like this would be really hard to pull off, given the power level characters can reach vs. the assumed power level of an AP. People would end up killing the dragon way too early, or would be stymied by the plot not letting them.
Given an Red Elder Wyrm is a CR 23 encounter (if I am remembering correctly), having the PCs encounter it early would mean it kills them unless they are given some form of plot armor.

Albeit, one of the things you could do with this is make it plain that if they choose to square off against the dragon itself, they will die. Heroic, in this case, means doing the best you can to mitigate the damage/destruction without having the ability to kill the thing. I think this could lead to some amazing adventure potential, because it would mean that the PCs have to play this stuff smart. Honestly, I kind of like the idea that the dragon actually wins some of the battles. That helps to build up the legend of the dragon in question, and it gives them the opportunity to meet said enemy numerous times throughout the AP before they're able to actually destroy it.

Another thing this does is enable you to play with the dragons themselves. Give us a dragon that doesn't abide by conventions. That way, knowing that you're going up against a red dragon doesn't mean you have the ability to prep for it. Throw some monkey wrenches in there to really screw with the PCs and make them far less comfortable about their tactics because the dragon's tactics are ever changing. Almost the Napoleon of dragons!

Also, there was talk of a hard mode AP. I think you could really get away with making a dragon AP hard mode, so that the power potential of PCs would also be mitigated by a dragon/dragons that are built unique and incredibly powerful. Make it life and death stuff unlike we've seen in any AP.


You have groups who ignore that sort of thing, rush in headlong, and get upset when they die off. You have GMs who don't have many groups and will let their players get away with BS like this and thus... meh. The way Runelords handled encountering Karzoug prior to the final fight worked quite well actually. And Queen Elvanna in Skyrim: Golarion Edition had a decent reason as to why she wasn't seeking out the group to wipe them out (if she even knew they were around).

But when you get down to it... a truly smart Big Bad would be preparing for the PCs once they had foiled a couple of their plans and would go after the PCs with considerable force. So you would need some sort of reason as to why the PCs aren't targeted.

One amusing aspect which most players probably would hate? The PCs are the beta-team. They are not the Heroes of Old. They are the ones going out and doing secondary missions while the Heroes do their thing. And then the Heroes get wiped out by the Big Bad and the beta-team suddenly has to step things up.

Another option of course is having the PCs be proxies. For instance, with the dragon AP I suggested, the Red Dragon is not really the Big Bad. She's just the final encounter. She has been sending the PCs after the Blue Wyrm, possibly to draw that dragon out, but fully intends after all is said and done to avenge her lost children and grandchildren by killing the PCs as well - just, after the Blue Wyrm is no more.

Again, that risk having the PCs being upset. Not every player can cope with the fact their characters are not, in fact, grandiose heroes who can destroy any foe with minimal effort... or in some cases are patsies for an evil opponent. (Again, consider Reign of Evil and how a number of groups were spitting nails because the AP assumes they free Baba Yaga and let her go on her way... not having any other way of saving Golarion... despite the fact that Baba Yaga had not done Golarion any harm over the long run and in fact may have helped Golarion by taking out worshipers of a certain demon lord. Then again, my view was that Baba Yaga should be considered CN, not CE. She ultimately doesn't care what other people thinks. But she is not malicious for evillolz.)


^Judging from what Baba Yaga did to establish Irrisen, and how it turned out, I'd say that qualifies as a Reign of Evil (interesting accidental name choice).

And what a lead-in for an ideaa I have had for PCs being the beta team,

Reign of Winter:
. . . and at the same time giving them a way to do the AP without accepting Baba Yaga's boon from her Rider. The twist: At about the same time the PCs (Taldor party) are about to head for Irrisen, Cheliax has sent a Hellknight party up to Irrisen to deal with the problem. The Hellknights accept Baba Yaga's boon without scruples (not exactly without hesitation since they are very contract-aware), but then end up needing the PC party in order to get themselves through due to the PC future parts of the AP, due to their own lack of certain skills that Hellknight training tends to stamp out, and grudgingly join up with them . . . But each party is watching its back in teh presence of the other . . . .


Tangent101 wrote:

You have groups who ignore that sort of thing, rush in headlong, and get upset when they die off. You have GMs who don't have many groups and will let their players get away with BS like this and thus... meh. The way Runelords handled encountering Karzoug prior to the final fight worked quite well actually. And Queen Elvanna in Skyrim: Golarion Edition had a decent reason as to why she wasn't seeking out the group to wipe them out (if she even knew they were around).

But when you get down to it... a truly smart Big Bad would be preparing for the PCs once they had foiled a couple of their plans and would go after the PCs with considerable force. So you would need some sort of reason as to why the PCs aren't targeted.

If you have groups that do everything in an AP exactly as it's drawn up, then you have groups completely unlike mine. I make sure my crew knows the expectation of the AP/campaign going in . . . that goes for the ones I wrote myself back in the day, as well as the pregens I run for them now. If they choose to "ignore that sort of thing," that's their choice. The consequences belong to them. That's called accountability, and I enthusiastically support holding my players, students, friends, etc. to it. ;)

If a GM with his group has a play style that differs and lets the group get away with things, I suppose he or she knows his or her group well enough to know what's fun to them. That's the best part of gaming with groups you know! The enjoyment level differs from crew to crew.

I also loved Runelords! How they covered Karzoug was fantastic, and I enjoyed playing that up too. Don't mind if they change up things a bit.

As to what a "truly smart Big Bad" would do can be dependent on the Big Bad, and whether said Big Bad is having fun . . . or not seeing a threat. You speak of foiling plans, but if the PCs aren't foiling plans, but merely being nuisances because the Big Bad is actually the victor in those plans (to a point), the Big Bad may find itself enjoying their interference. And that's just one possible reason; others are certainly feasible. Forcing them to do what they can in a series of no-win situations, which they can score minor victories in, would be something fun and different, however. It's forcing them to cope on a whole other level than they're used to, and it makes the consequences real.

Now, I'll concede that there are a number of people that couldn't--or wouldn't--handle this sort of AP well, which is probably why something like it will never make it to print. I know my players would eat it up though, because they love challenge and suspense, and the thought of going up against high CR cities killers at level 3 or 4 would be a rush of adrenaline they'd be all about! I think there's many that would enjoy it. That's personal preference though. To each his/her own. =)

Happy gaming!


Thanks everyone for not letting the idea die!!


I support this. Wholehertedly. More dragonsssss!!!!!( i also vote for Belisle as main artist BTW)


I'm on board for this.


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You can also ask for more dragons in Tian Xia overhere.


Quote:
One amusing aspect which most players probably would hate? The PCs are the beta-team. They are not the Heroes of Old. They are the ones going out and doing secondary missions while the Heroes do their thing. And then the Heroes get wiped out by the Big Bad and the beta-team suddenly has to step things up.

This is something that really gets under the skin of most players- when I've employed it, it's been something that drives them to do things, but also colors their characters as less than good( as the players rankle at the idea of not being the main focus of the story, and tend to do... not nice things... to try and get the spotlight back)

However, I think this would be a great intro and through-line. I would do it before the first book is even done. The party is doing normal low-level stuff but in the shadow of the final machinations of the high level party about to take out the dragon, only the high level party loses. I'd have the high-level party direct my players to undertake a task to 'help' them defeat the dragon. It may or may not end up being my player's fault that the high-level groups fails. But it does two things- thrusts the newbie characters into the limelight, and also shows them (they should get to witness the awesome powers the high level brings to bear) how badass the dragon is.

Maybe they feel like they need to atone for their failure to help the high level party, maybe the countryside compels them to do it, or maybe they see a chance to grab glory for themselves. The more I think about it, the more I think it could be really fun.


A dragon themed AP would be awesome. I appreciate the experiment with the Cthulu stuff and I am a fantasy/sci-fi mix fanboy, but the hobgoblin war and Giantslayer have no interest for me. As for Cheliax, blah. How about a dragon AP set in Andoran, in which a blue or green dragon slowly manipulates the downfall of the first real democracy seen in the Inner Sea, trying to move the country backwards towards a tyrannical ruler in the name of their own version of liberty? Or one of the outer planar dragons decides to conquer another area via a planar portal? You could even do a combination of outer planar travel and dragons, which is something we haven't seen at all.


What does one consider as a Dragon themed AP?

Curse of the Crimson Throne has a pretty major theme with a certain Dragon.

Serpent's Skull doesn't have dragons necessarily, but it does have other reptilian influences.

Shattered Star has a little dragon in part 5 if I recall (though maybe not so small a dragon).

Would a Dragon based AP be more like Dragonlance with draconians...not sure they could do that or copy that idea.

However, if they ever did a Tian Xia AP (like completely Tian Xia)...a dragon AP could go hand in hand with that type of mythos.


A dragon themed AP would have a dragon as the BBEG. Not as a lieutenant or local color as Paizo often uses them, but an actual draconic main badguy. A grand example is Flame from Dungeon 1, or the red dragon in the otherwise blah Dragon Mountain. They don't need to be around every bush as they are in FR (along with 27 other super good groups of high level NPCs) or hanging out eating along with people in Greyhawk city (ala Greyhawk or steel dragons), or two entire nations of them with 2nd Ed Council of Wyrms or the 3.5 retread of the same in Eberron, but more then just an encounter to get your slay on. That's how you do a dragon themed AP. We've had fey, demons, randomly emo lich wannabes, pirates with weather crowns, oni, an immortal wizard from a 10000 year + civilization founded on sin, and so on. Dragons are the next logical step.


GreyWolfLord wrote:

What does one consider as a Dragon themed AP?

Curse of the Crimson Throne has a pretty major theme with a certain Dragon.

Serpent's Skull doesn't have dragons necessarily, but it does have other reptilian influences.

Shattered Star has a little dragon in part 5 if I recall (though maybe not so small a dragon).

Would a Dragon based AP be more like Dragonlance with draconians...not sure they could do that or copy that idea.

However, if they ever did a Tian Xia AP (like completely Tian Xia)...a dragon AP could go hand in hand with that type of mythos.

Dragon AP:

Take Daralathyxl, show what we know with that name (a red great wyrm) to be just a clone (several actually) of a far more powerful being (say mythic great wyrm with archmage tiers). Give him a secret cult and a plan (like turn the continent into an environment more suitable for a draconic tyrant...), give him sutably powerful minions and there you have the bare bones of the AP.

Grand Lodge

Btw.. Are there any dragon hoard size indicators? I'd assume at least 10 x wealth by level/CR?

Silver Crusade

So keeping this thread alive. Who else would like to see a dragon themed AP? An AP where a dragon is the BBEG at the end. Paizo did a good job with the Dragon's Demand module. Let's get an AP where the PCs thwart a plot by a dragon!


Honestly, the fact that Wizards of the Coast actually has adventures where dragons are important is one of the few things that keeps making me think about going to 5e. I hope that Paizo does a dragon AP at some point.


Of course I do, but I have already said as much...multiple times:)

Besides even if we got a dragon themed AP with a dragon big bad they would more then likely just troll us and revel that the dragon was just a pet, under mind control, host to a aberrant being, possessed by a demon, etc.


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I'd love this.

I'll echo what several others have already said: every enemy wouldn't need to be a dragon. Look at The Dragon's Demand. You face kobolds, monsters from the Dark Tapestry, humans, a naga, etc, all in service of a young adult dragon. Build on that. Have draconic sorcerers and bloodragers, clerics and antipaladins of Dahak, half-dragons, drakes, wyverns, wyvarans, etc. Heck, the big bad needn't even be a dragon. Perhaps lurking behind it all is a Wyvaran half-dragon Cleric of Dahak 20, who's seeking some relic of ancient power that will allow his god to defeat Apsu at their final showdown. There are a lot of ways for it to go besides just throwing dragons at the PCs.

Or you could go with a Viking theme, where a PC gets to become a Linnorm King at the end.


I'd totally be down for an AP featuring/centered around the Esoteric dragons.

Kick it off with an Occult dragon sending the PCs off on a wild, adventure through the Ether, Astral, and Dream/Nightmares. Side jaunt to the First World, face off against some Linnorms and Jabberwocks. Make it a funky, LSD trip through the mind, soul, space, and time. Real "Puff the Magic Dragon" imaginary headtrip stuff.


Somebody further up mentioned Brevoy and Choral the Conqueror. I would second that!

1. Choral, an ancient wyrm, could take human form for most of the AP. Start as an advisor to Surtova, to properly unite Brevoy and to rescue the Rogarvias from whatever hell, demiplane, they have been sent to.
2. The PC's could be involved in court intrigue, exploration of the mountains between Brevoy and Iobaria, investigating Skywatch to gain aid against Choral etc.
3. Imagine the ending of Book 5 with Choral sitting on the throne of Brevoy, and then morphing into his true dragon self as the PC's arrive to kill him.
4. If the PC's have been clever and neutered many of his plans, then Book 6 could have another invasion from Iobaria, including Cyclops, Giants, Orcs, Centaurs and more Red Dragons.

This would be a great AP to go up all the way to level 20. Particularly if the PC.s start out as the squires, apprentices, lackeys of higher level NPC's in Restov, wishing to stop Surtova from consolidating his hold on Brevoy. What better way to introduce beginning PC's to the corridors of power, without having the power themselves to influence anything but the fringes.


Yeah the villain at the end of each AP volume doesn't have to be a dragon(except the final one anyway). But it could be dragon themed such as half-dragon template, wyvaran(with class levels), sorcerer(dragon bloodline), bloodrager(dragon bloodline), maybe some kind dragon themed shifter, etc.

As the big bad, I don't want to see a chromatic or even corrupt or crazy metallic dragon. I want them to use one of their many pathfinder true dragons(except umbrel). The ones that I would most like to see would be astral, cloud, crystal, etheric, forest, nightmare, lunar, sovereign, or underworld.

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