Interesting. Well, I've only been part of 2 so far, both as GM: Mummy's Mask and Giantslayer.
My Saturday group made it to book 4 in MM and then fell apart. Long story, lots of drama. We were enjoying it, however.
My Sunday group just started book 5 of Giantslayer but took a hiatus when 1 player went out of town for a few months. We will likely finish since we play religiously when we are all available, though when it is all said and done, it will be 2 years total time playing.
I'll be starting Hell's Rebels when my missing Sunday player returns (he plays Saturday, too) in several weeks. At least, that's the plan. We've been cursed so far, always finding reasons to delay the start (for 18 months now).
Next up for Sunday is likely either Iron Fang or CoCT. We won't vote until we get close to the end of book 6.
Interesting. The competition and timed events are the only thing that kept our interest up. I was a player and we ended around book 3-4. My GM didn't have very many nice things to say about the AP after leaving the Shiv...
Serpent's Skull - The group had difficulties with the railroady introduction, but in actual play, the island part was fun. When the competing organizations showed up, the interest in exploring a lost city evaporated, particularly when they realized it was going to be competitive *and* timed in some respects.
It's been a while for this one, so my memories are hazy. I believe this was the first AP that feature heavy involvement of the Pathfinder Society as it was one of the groups you could ally with, which my group chose. Coupled with this, the group went out of their way to keep their discovery secret. Having not one, but two (three?) other groups end up somehow learning what was going on and competing with them kind of deflated their whole approach. I remember them being really annoyed that anyone else even knew what was going on, let alone react in time to get an expedition underway. They also managed to keep almost everyone on the island on their good side, with one exception, and I think that NPC died on the island. The group was kind of geared up for a Pathfinder style cautious exploration and cataloging of their discovery, and the opposing groups basically threw that out the window. In retrospect, I probably should have just cut the competition aspect from the AP entirely and played the rest of it as a typical dungeon crawl, but hey... DMs make mistakes. :/ I have since learned that my group is not at all fond of timers. I usually just try to apply pressure while not worrying about an actual timeline. If I can force them to think quickly or stop dallying, I consider that good enough.
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It's been a while for this one, so my memories are hazy. I believe this was the first AP that feature heavy involvement of the Pathfinder Society as it was one of the groups you could ally with, which my group chose. Coupled with this, the group went out of their way to keep their discovery secret. Having not one, but two (three?) other groups end up somehow learning what was going on and competing with them kind of deflated their whole approach. I remember them being really annoyed that anyone else even knew what was going on, let alone react in time to get an expedition underway. They also managed to keep almost everyone on the island on their good side, with one exception, and I think that NPC died on the island. The group was kind of geared up for a Pathfinder style cautious exploration and cataloging of their discovery, and the opposing groups basically threw that out the window. In retrospect, I probably should have just cut the competition aspect from the AP entirely and played the rest of it as a typical dungeon crawl, but hey... DMs make mistakes. :/ I have since learned that my group is not at all fond of timers. I usually just try to apply pressure while not worrying about an actual timeline. If I can force them to think quickly or stop dallying, I consider that good enough.Interesting. The competition and timed events are the only thing that kept our interest up. I was a player and we ended around book 3-4. My GM didn't have very many nice things to say about the AP after leaving the Shiv...
Serpent's Skull - The group had difficulties with the railroady introduction, but in actual play, the island part was fun. When the competing organizations showed up, the interest in exploring a lost city evaporated, particularly when they realized it was going to be competitive *and* timed in some respects.
I can see that.
Just goes to show one AP aspect is a hit for one group, and a miss for another.
Completed
Shackled City
Council of Thieves
Skull and Shackles
In Progress
Wrath of the Righteous
Age of Worms
I am seeing that a lot of people has finished S&S but the threads for the last 2 books have almost no post. I wonder the reason...
Adventure Paths completed as Player:
Rise of the Runelords
Adventure Paths completed as GM:
Shackled City
Age of Worms
Savage Tide
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Legacy of Fire
Kingmaker
Jade Regent
Shattered Star
Serpent's Skull
Rise of the Runelords
Adventure Paths currently running as player:
Skull & Shackles (chapter six)
Adventure Paths currently running as GM:
Hell's Rebels (chapter six)
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Serpent skull: GM'd and incomplete after book 3
Shattered Star: GM'd and finished
Jade Regent: GM'd and finished
Reign of Winter: Player and Finished
Giantslayer: Player and finished
Mummy's Mask: Player and Finished
Kingmaker: GM and Finished
Wrath of the Righteous: GM'd and TPK in book 2
Second Darkness: GM'd and Finished
Currently Playing:
Legacy of Fire: GMing in book 4
Rise of the Runelords: Player in book 3
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Fully completed
Age of Worms (back when APS were 12 instalments in the Dungeon Mag!). Still my favourite one to date, but that's likely nostalgia and rose coloured glasss.
Legacy of Fire
Really impressive AP up until book six. By then things were bogging down horribly.
I DMd both of those.
I played in Second Darkness ??? ( the drow one), but it also became a hard slog at the end.
Made it through to the end of book 4 in Carrion Crown before personal life interrupted that one. So far it has been my favourite official Paizo AP. we switched up into fifth edition in book 2 of this one and really found the system made higher level gaming so much better.
The group fell apart through life stuff though.
Now well into book 4 of Iron crown and looking very solid to finish that AP in the next few months. Again using 5 th ed. This is a new group with me still as DM. These guys don't appreciate the AP style as much as my previous group. They really want more of a homebrew feel to their games. As such, another guy is DMing Kingmaker with them and they're loving it.
I've done three homebrew through to level 20 before though, and I'm not going down that path again. Way too much work now I'm all adult like and have a family and job etc etc
I may just have to find more folks to run the next campaign I'd like to try. - Reign of winter.
At the table we have completed:
Rise of the Runelords,
Jade Regent,
Giantslayer.
My group for the most part is able to play weekly but even then each of these took about a year.
I have a pbp Carrion Crown game on these boards that is so close to finishing. The guys are about half way through Book 6 and we are soon about to have our 4 year anniversary for the game!
Completed
Shackled City
Savage Tide
Age of Worms
Rise of the Runelords
Council of Thieves
Currently working on
Skull and Shackles
Reign of Winter
Mummy's Mask
About to start
Shattered Star
Out of the 6 of us, 5 of us run as DM.
Completed
Age of Worms
Rise of the Runelords
Hell's Rebels
About to start
Strange Aeons
GM'd all of them.
Most of the time we play the Italian version (IT), but we have also played them in the original language (EN).
Completed
- Rise of the Runelords (GM) (IT)
- Kingmaker (Player) (IT)
- Reign of Winter (GM) (EN)
- Warath of the Righteous (GM) (IT)
Partial (for various reasons)
- Carrion Crown (Player) Book 3 (IT)
- Shattered Star (GM) Book 3 (EN)
- Iron Gods (GM) Book 4 (EN)
Currently Playing
- Curse of the Crimson Throne (GM) (IT)
- Giantslayer (Player) (IT)
We play the german version, but we will start playing Hells Rebels on english soon.
Completed:
Carrion Crown (Kadaverkrone on german) Gm
Reign of Winter (Winterkönigin) Gm
Partial:
Rise of the Runelords (Das Erwachen der Runenherrscher) Book 2 Gm
Skulls and Shakles (Unter Piraten) Book 1 Player
About to start:
Hells Rebels Gm
Starfinder Dead Suns Player as soon as possible
Zero, but I'm a recent convert to Pathfinder and I'm currently GMing Rise of the Runelords as my first Adventure Path. The party just finished up chapter one after nine sessions, having started in late March and playing approximately every two weeks.
I've completed Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne as a DM and am currently running a modified Second Darkness (On Book 5) and Reign of Winter (On Book 4). Also have a sequel campaign to Runelords and Curse on the horizon to expand on the remaining loose plot elements.
Dm'd:
Skulls and Shackles (with many house stories added). Took 2 years but I work out several months. Best story and wonderful characters.
Played:
Rise of the Runelords (Up to book 3). We found it very boring and too archetypal.
Carrion Crow (Book 3 so far, good with some Diablo style music in the background)
Way of the Wicked (Abandoned after book 2. Not as interesting as we hoped)
Current:
Homebrew mix of Council of Thieves, Curse Crimson Throne and own plot...picking Sixfold, 7 days to the Grave, etc and mixing things in Westcrown.
Bottom line for my group: We like what we understand? I think S&S was popular cause of the NPCs and that you can understand what their angle is. Empathising with a Golden Dragon and their grandiose schemes is harder than empathising with Sailor Joe who was a galley slave and now is in a crew carving himself a place in this world.
It is definitely what I prefer to GM.
We play once every 2-3 weeks. We have been playing APs mostly since 3.5, though we have sprinkled a few modules in as well.
In the last 10+ years we've started and finished just 2:
Savage Tide
Rise of the Runelords
In between those we played an AP length d20 Star Wars, Dawn of Defiance as well.
We just started Curse of the Crimson Throne.
Like the title says, how many APs has your group played from start to finish? And how long did they take to play through?
I've only completed one (RotRL), and played a couple more partially. RotRL took approximately a year of bi-weekly sessions.
Wow, that is lightning. Our group has just finished RotR after 4 years of bi-weekly sessions. To be sure we missed several of those, but made up for them with quite a few 10-12 hour (sometimes two day) marathon games. I would say the lengthy run time is due to 3 players with 2 PCs each, plus a couple cohorts; and largely because a couple of us are a bit chess-playery...ish.
We are also on the cusp of completing Way of the Wicked. This game was concurrent with RotR (opposite weekends), with a similar group makeup. And it is exceeding 4 years...
I am jealous.
I am supposed to be GMing CotCT starting next month. I DO NOT wish to run that AP for FOUR YEARS...
I ran Runelords for three years (real time) from 2011-14, and we only got through Book 3 before the group disbanded due to people moving away, taking on new Real Life responsibilities (i.e. kids, jobs), and general calendar synchronization trouble.
We tried to meet weekly on a weeknight, for a four-hour session. When we did meet, we usually only got in two-and-a-half to three hours of actualy play per session. (The rest was small talk, drinks, etc.)
We once went eight weeks in a row where we couldn't get a quorum for gaming night (which we decided was three of five players, plus the GM). We then had one session, and it was four more weeks before we had another quorum.
Bottom line: It can be really hard to get five to seven adults with full schedules and multiple responsibilities together in the same room for 4-5 hours at a time on a regular basis!
And PbP is even slower! I've been running a Runelords campaign on the boards. It started on July 1, 2014, and we're currently in the Boss Fight of "Burnt Offerings."
And PbP is even slower! I've been running a Runelords campaign on the boards. It started on July 1, 2014, and we're currently in the Boss Fight of "Burnt Offerings."
Holy crap. That equates to like...weeks between turns. I would have to re-read twenty posts, every time it was my turn, in order to know where I was and what was happening...
Never got to 20th level.
One reason why a lot of the theoretical discussions on these boards is pointless. There is much discussion on the strengths/weakness of classes/abilities talks about levels most people never get to.
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Let's see...
Completed:
Reign of Winter as player (Kit Vulpik, Kitsune Swordsfox)
Mummy's Mask as player (Karrain, Strix Arcanist and Llelwen Moonshadow, Elven Lunar Oracle)
Jade Regent as GM (Changed to start in Amanandar)
Partials:
Rise of the Runelords (The horror elements of the first segments of the campaign were not to our taste)
Hell's Rebels (On hiatus until next month)
In Progress:
Iron Gods as GM--starting Valley of the Brain Collectors. I'm seriously considering commissioning a picture that looks like a B-movie poster of the party with the module title in 'creepy letters' above them.
Reign of Winter as Cithembi, Catfolk Oracle--because I realized my first time through that a Desnan with the Heavens mystery would be a ton of fun for RPing through the second half of the campaign.
Wrath of the Righteous as Sverixalint, Bronze Dragon Warpriest of Apsu--a solo campaign, because what could be more awesome than a dragon facing legions of demons? Also a solo mythic character might be just about properly balanced for the campaign.
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GM in 3e (Paizo only for this thread), completed APs: Savage Tide, Curse of the Crimson Throne (beta conversion), Council of Thieves, Kingmaker (as a direct sequel to CoT, lots of homebrewing involved) and Shattered Star.
Player (Paizo only for this thread), completed APs: LoF, RotRL, 2ndD, SSkull, CC, JR, RoW, MM, HR. Continuing character likely to enter into Ruins of Azlant after the current Slumbering Tsar/Rappan Athuk (by FGG) pairing are concluded.
Prematurely ended primarily due to high school-grade drama nonsense: GM for CC and JR; player for S&S.
Currently playing IRL in Giantslayer, but it's been slow going with the gorram Real Life Monster showing up so often the past 3 years. We've been nibbling on Chapter 3 all year long (2017).
APs absent from consideration at present: Skull-n-Shackles, WotR, Hell's Vengeance , Iron Gods, Strange Aeons and Ironfang Invasion.
I would GM WotW and Strange Aeons. WotR is just a bit too far out there for me. S&S ... maybe, with the right group, as a player.
Iron Gods I'm on the fence about.
Ironfang Invasion I've not looked into at any great length. Writing and reviews show excellent promise, however.
GM in 3e (Paizo only for this thread), completed APs: Savage Tide, Curse of the Crimson Throne (beta conversion), Council of Thieves, Kingmaker (as a direct sequel to CoT, lots of homebrewing involved) and Shattered Star.Which was your favorite to GM? Favorite to play?
I'd have to say the CoT/KM mash-up as the GM. Were I to revisit the concept I'd heavily beg, borrow and steal to transform the entire campaign into a mash-up of Game of Thrones and fey, probably using a different starting point before the characters are called home to actually begin Kingmaker.
Right behind it would be a continuing-characters or descendants of characters connecting RotRL to CotCT to Shattered Star. Shattered Star of all the APs I've GM'd begs for a proper Chapter 7 to dig out Sorshen and put her down.
As a player ... oooh, that's a tough call. My least favorite of the ones I have personally played from among the Paizo APs is Mummy's Mask.
Of the third-party campaigns, FGG's Slumbering Tsar Saga IMO is much better than Rappan Athuk. Slumbering Tsar is magnificently brutal, especially when well-run. Both feature awesome opening scenes that manage expectations. By which I mean "bring your A-game or die, a lot". First session in Slumbering Tsar, four out of five characters were killed in the opening encounter. Glorious!
If I had to say which one of the listed Paizo APs I would want to play again from the "I finished these" list ... Rise of the Runelords. Many APs don't hold a lot of replay value for me. RotRL does with just a bit of re-flavoring and tweaking here and there. After all, it does not have to be "Big K" in there, it could be any Runelord or similar villain the GM wants that fits within the overall themes and has some method of attaining the same capabilities. Some more fudging and redirection within the existing space of the scripted materials allows for copious amounts of extra level advancement if the GM is so inclined.
I have Game Mastered Runelords, Serpents Skull and Shattered Star and I've played Carrion Crown, Iron Gods and Skull and Shackles.
We are nearly done with Reign Of Winter, with Crimson Throne and Mummy's Mask in the queue.
Seems to take around 9 months for our Sunday crew (5 hour sessions) and around a year for Tuesday (3 hour sessions).
Reign of Winter complete in less then a year.
Many thanks to my players for keeping up the insane pace I set.
Organized Play Lead Developer
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Legacy of Fire: About 2 years, 1.5 times a month for ~6 hours a session
Kingmaker: About 2.5 years, averaging about once a month for ~7 hours a session
Council of Thieves: About 4 years with a pretty active play-by-post group
Mummy's Mask: About 3 years while playing fairly consistently 2 times a month for about 3 hours
I'm currently playing through Wrath of the Righteous (virtual tabletop near the end of book 3) and Shattered Star (in person near the end of book 2). I've played bits of Rise of the Runelords and Giantslayer, but the campaigns fell through for other reasons.
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I guess I could update on current status on my roll20 games
Ones I'm running:
RotR completed, took over a year with weekly game but that was with breaks and playing The Moonscar with group's back up PCs after Runeforge goldfish cameo so would have taken less if we played every week.
Crimson Throne: One session away from first book's finale, started 2 months ago, another weekly game to replace RotR.
Iron Gods: one session away from finale of fourth book, started around 9 or 8 months ago, bi weekly game though sometimes we play weekly.
Ones I'm playing:
Kingmaker book 1 completed, bi weekly started around 6 or 5 months ago, we have had some breaks.
Reign of Winter I'd guess we are in middle of third book, another bi weekly game, started bit before kingmaker so around 7 or 6 months.
Ironfang Invasion: started last week, bi weekly game :D
I just completed GMing Iron Gods and Mummy's Mask over the last few weeks. Together with Runelords, that means that I've run three to completion overall.
Mummy's Mask started early 2015 and was fully finished this past Sunday, October 1st. With the exception of the last two sessions being on Sundays, this group met for an average of 3 hours once a week on weeknights.
Iron Gods started January 2016 and fully finished two weeks before Mummy's Mask did. This group met on Sundays for an average of 6 hours of usable play time.
Both were an absolute blast to play. Going forward, I'll be starting up Strange Aeons with the Mummy's Mask group tomorrow, and two of the players from the Iron Gods group are taking over alternating GM duties for Reign of Winter and Hell's Rebels on Sundays. I'm really looking forward to playing in person with a group for a change!
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Completed
Carrion Crown (As a GM. About 1.75 years with a group at the local gaming store.)
Rise of the Runelords (As a GM. About 1.25 years on Roll20.)
Wrath of the Righteous (As a player. About a year on Roll20. The experience was like pulling teeth for me. Only finished because the DM was a good friend.)
Unfinished
Hell's Rebels (As a GM. Currently being run. We are about 1.5 years in at this point at the local gaming store. In the late part of book 4.)
Curse of the Crimson Throne (As a GM. Currently being run. We are about ten months in at this point on Roll20. We are in the later part of book 4.)
Skull and Shackles (As a GM. About 6-7 months on Roll20. Ended because I realized how uncomfortable I was with such a morally ambiguous path.)
Giantslayer (As a GM. About 5 or 6 months at the Local Game Store. Ended because I realized I wasn't a fan of the path and wasn't enjoying DMing it.)
Shattered Star (As a GM. About a month. The group wasn't enjoying the Dungeon heavy path and I ultimately agreed.)
Finished running Hell's Rebels last night, which brings my count up to eight APs completed as a GM (eleven if you count the Dungeon APs).
Up next: Dead Suns.
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‘Rise of the Runelords’ DM
‘Curse of the Crimson Throne’
‘Kingmaker’ DM
‘Carrion Crown’ (PC 1st 1/2 ; DM 2nd 1/2)
’Shackled City’ DM
’Age of Worms’ DM
‘Wrath of the Righteous’
‘Second Darkness’ DM
‘Shattered Star’ DM
‘Serpent’s Skull’ DM
‘Strange Aeons’
‘Legacy of Fire’ DM
‘Ironfang Invasion’ DM
‘Giantslayer’ DM
’Way of the Wicked’
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If this thread has come back, I'll give an update. *shrug*
Finished:
1. Curse of the Crimson Throne (Player)
2. Serpent's Skull (DM)
3. Kingmaker (Player)
4. Skull & Shackles (Player)
5. Reign of Winter* (DM)
6. Shattered Star** (Player)
7. Iron Gods (Player)
8. Giantslayer** (Player)
* With a shortened Book 6. Only did one of the demiplanes then jumped to the last demiplane
** With a shortened Book 6 due to DM having to leave the group but wanting to finish the AP
*** With shortened Book 5 & Book 6. DM changed this to only hit the main encounters to wrap this AP up.
Unfinished:
1. Age of Worms - DM'd to the beginning of book 10 (of 12). Ended due to military deployment.
2. Rise of the Runelords - Player to mid-book 2. Ended due to military deployment.
3. Second Darkness - Player to beginning of book 5. Horrible "Memory of Darkness" ended that campaign.
4. Council of Thieves - Player to end of book 5. Campaign ended due to TPK and wanting to move on to something else.
Currently Playing:
1. Carrion Crown - DM in Book 5
Take Away: I've noticed that more recently my group is willing to just "shorten" the end of an AP instead of abandoning it entirely. I bet if we were playing "Second Darkness" now, we would have just skipped Book 5 and finished the AP with a modified Book 6. Just my random thought.
Some serious thread necro. Since I previously posted, I might as well update:
Finished Giantslayer in February (took 18 months).
Will finish Ironfang Invasion either next week or the week after.
We figured out how to motor through them plus we've been playing 8-hour sessions missing only a few weeks since we started.
Up next, reboot of Mummy's Mask with the Sunday crew.
The Saturday crew never managed to finish MM, then we started HR but stopped after the first part of the first book, and finally played CoCT and through book 4. The group pretty much fell apart after that.