I might need to start running a new campaign as soon as Sunday (tomorrow). The first session will likely consist of little besides character generation, but it might be nice to give folks some background on what sort of adventure they're generating characters for. Since I've just purchased some Hell's Rebels PDFs from the Humble charity sale I'm thinking of using that Adventure Path as the basis of the campaign.
I'm hoping folks can give me some impressions on whether Hell's Rebels is a fun AP as well as whether it would be good for players who aren’t very experienced with Pathfinder. Everybody involved has played RPGs before though one guy hasn’t played in around 20 years and another two haven’t played Pathfinder before though they have some experience with AD&D and possibly 3e (not sure how much of the latter). The fourth player is very experienced with the Pathfinder ruleset.
I have Crimson Throne and Legacy of Fire available as backup options. The experienced player is currently in a Council of Thieves game and has been through Kingmaker, Rise of the Runelords, Savage Tide, and Second Darkness. I’m looking for something I can run with minimal preparation away from home though, so the fact that Hell’s Rebels seems to have a Pathfinder Pawn set seems like it could be pretty helpful.
Are there any potential gotchas I should worry about here? Maybe this is the hardest AP ever and inexperienced players could have a tough time? Maybe the adventure is boring, tough to run, etc? There aren't a lot of reviews out there yet, so I'm seeking input from those who might have played, run, or at least read the AP. I'll probably check out the Player's Guide here shortly.
If you incorporate all of the rebellion management rules, it could get a little heavy for people who haven't played before. But they give advice on how to handwave the rebellion management, which brings it down to a much more manageable (hah, irony and puns!) level. If you have a player who's run Kingmaker before, though, the rebellion management is fairly similar to kingdom management from that AP, so he may be able to take the helm on running it.
Other than that, it's quite doable even for new players, and a very gripping story. I would definitely suggest having the Player's Guide (a free download) available to your players. It's one of the best ones Paizo's put out so far, and very helpful for making characters that'll have a good grounding in the story.
I do have a player who has been through Kingmaker, and she actually enjoyed some of the kingdom management stuff. I'm currently trying to download the Player's Guide, but the process seems a little backlogged due to the Humble Bundle volume.
If the darned thing ever downloads perhaps I'll print out a few copies for the group. The DM for our RotRL campaign put the Player's Guide for that into binders with the Sihedron symbol on the front. In addition to looking cool they gave everybody a place to store character sheets, notes, etc. I know there's a 3 hole punch around here somewhere...
I do have a player who has been through Kingmaker, and she actually enjoyed some of the kingdom management stuff. I'm currently trying to download the Player's Guide, but the process seems a little backlogged due to the Humble Bundle volume.
Just start the personalizing process and keep clicking the link every two minutes or so, that way you do not get logged out. Clicking the link before it isn't ready doesn't "reset" the process. Might take 10-20 but you will get it.
I think Hell's Rebels would be good for new players. Rise of the Runelords is IMO the best AP for new players but Hell's Rebels is solid. There is a good amount of roleplaying involved in addition to fighting so that would be a good way to get them into the mindset of the best part of the game IMO.
I found the rebellion management to be a pain, unless you just have one guy do all of the work. Trying to rule by committee makes you spend half of your game-time just managing the rebellion. But a single competent person can make all of the decisions and rolls in a tiny fraction of the time.
I am running Hell's Rebels for some young teens + my brother. Book 1 is very good for inexperienced players. It's when you get to book 4 and beyond that things get wonky.
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It sounds like this AP has quite a bit of RP in it. I'm thinking of picking up the "Social Combat" cards so that even if we don't have any players who are comfortable talking in character the RP encounters can be more than me just describing the NPC and having the player with the highest Diplomacy make a single d20 roll. Has anybody used those?
@Melkiador - I wonder if handling some of the rebellion management stuff between sessions might make sense (using dice servers if needed)
@Serisan - Oddly enough, the Humble Bundle only included the first 3 books. I guess maybe that's Paizo's way of getting you to buy the other 3!