What are your favorite AP adventures (single installments), and why?

[Matrix Sorcica]

There's a lot of threads about people's favorite AP, but I'm curious as to what adventure from each path is a favorite, and why.
By this I mean, I very often see Seven Days to the Grave mentioned as the best single adventure in Curse of the Crimson Throne. But why, and what about for all the rest of the APs that people has played?

Thanks.

[Kileanna]

Reign of Winter: as written, Rasputin must Die is awesome. It is very different, strategic, with an interesting and amazing backstory and a charismatic main villain. It was very fun to play and it had really difficult parts.
As my GM modified them, I'd say Mother, Maiden, Crone, but it had many differences from it as written and I loved it so much because it was very personal to my character.
The revenge of the Witch Queen is hard to categorize as my GM made an almost new story from scratch and I totally loved it, but itI wasn't the story as we all know it.

Curse of the Crimson Throne: Definitely loved Seven Days to the Grave. It is very well created and it creates a great mood.
Skeletons of Scarwall deserves a mention for being the first dungeon crawl that I really enjoyed.

Skull & Shackles:You gotta love or hate The Wormwood Mutiny. I love it. It does great in creating bonds between the party members and it gives a lot of freedom to develope both PCs and NPCs. Then it gives a perfect excuse to get rid of all tje NPCs that you dislike while keeping the others around. A lot of social interaction, character development: what's not to like?

[Pan]

CC Chapter 1 Haunting of Harrowstone Ghost are so under used. The town of Ravengro is creepy and a great scene setter for the adventure. The book lays out everything you need from RP opportunities, to NPCs, and especially interesting encounters. Top Notch!

SS Chapter 1 Smugglers Shiv is easily a top adventure for me. Its a really fun sandbox at low level. There are NPCs built in to help round out the party and add some fun RP.

MM chapter 1. The necropolis Delving has never been so fun! Some great low level opportunities to explore long forgotten and dangerous locations filled with treasure and secrets.

CC Chapter 4 Wake of the Watcher This chapter doesn't really fit that well with the plot and pace of the AP. However, it would be an excellent stand alone adventure for mid level PCs. Its creepy, Crawly, and lots of out of that world fun.

Obviously, I am a big fan of opening adventures. I think they have a big advantage for a number of reasons. First, they get to kick off a career campaign for the PCs so its all new and fresh. Second, its low level so there is plenty of room for both stat blocks and RP potential. The first chapter in my opinion is the best bang for the buck with the APs.

[captain yesterday]

Souls For Smuggler's Shiv is a classic.

Half Dead City is also a lot more fun then the reviews give credit to.

In Search Of Sanity, it night even be better then Souls For Smuggler's Shiv.

The Haunting Of Harrowstone, i am a huge sucker for ghost stories, one of my all time favorite adventures i've run.

Lords Of F!+$ing Rust, holy s$!* is this one fun! Words cannot describe how awesomely fun it is.

The Divinity Drive, holy f%%+ing s*#& is this one going to be fun to run!

As you can tell, i agree with Pan on the first level adventures. :-)

[walter mcwilliams]

Top three

- Seven Days to the Grave - Best in show for the CoCT AP which is full of outstanding installments. Could easily be worked into any urban campaign.

- Souls for Smugglers Shiv - My single favorite opening chapter. The fact that as a DM you have your party completely isolated from civilization is great. My party spent 80+ days on the shiv and it was tense.

- The Haunting of Harrowstone - Best bring the party together of all time. I like the fact that as a PC I had a large dungeon crawl with an actual goal and my support was not necessarily a friendly force. The mix of dungeon crawling and roleplaying with in the village make this one great.

- Wake of the Watcher - How good was Carrion Crown? It has two of my all time favorite installments and several others are close. No single chapter resonated more with me and my fellow adventurers than this chapter. I played an inquisitor of Iomede and we had a paladin as well and our alignments were sorely tested.

- Here There Be Monsters - STAP was a great great AP but this installment was the pearl. I mean come on folks its the Isle of Freaking Dread! Nothing else to say.

-Three Faces of Evil - The Whispering Carin gets an honorable mention from me, but I've run this AP twice (though never finished) and both times the second installment was the highlight.

- Test of the Smoking Eye - This installment of SS and much of the AP was wrongly criticized for its planar travels but my players loved it and so did I. An abyssal plane that's actually a piece of skin! I mean come on folks cool and icky at the same time.

- Hook Mountain Massacre - As good as all the chapters of this classic AP are this Deliverance meets the Giant Series was just to much fun.

[Matrix Sorcica]

I'm finding these responses incredibly interesting. Thanks, all.

Others?

[GM_Solspiral]

I'll second Rasputin Must die- because animated freaking tanks, troops, undead Cossacks, and a final boss that refuses to stay down. What's not to love about that?

Call Forth the Darkness- Want to take your newly minted super villains and build up a lair? F**k yes you do!

[Kileanna]

Oh, yeah! Call Forth the Darkness was awesome! I didn't enjoy as much as I could because a lot of time spent between sessions, players who came and left and GM burnout, but the book itself is awesome!

[Cat Whisperer]

I GM'd Shattered Star, and while it wasn't my favorite of all APs, I did really enjoy part 2.

Why? ... without spoiling anything, it's a game changer. Nothing like that had ever been done before. It was cool, thematic to the AP, and my players loved it.

I ran Shattered Star for the same group that I ran Rise of the Runelords for, so that added to the fun.

[Cole Deschain]

Rise of the Runelords-
-There's a lot of solidly excellent work in this AP, but I tip my hat to The Skinsaw Murders. While The Hook Mountain Massacre gives it a run for its money, the creepy, creepy stalker-villainy of Skinsaw gives it a slight edge.

Curse of the Crimson Throne-
-Seven Days to the Grave- Accept no substitutes. Honorable mention to Skeletons of Scarwall.

Second Darkness-
-The Armageddon Echo- Honestly, possibly my least-favorite AP, but the central conceit of this particular adventure is really cool.

Legacy of Fire-
-The End of Eternity- No other published adventure has scratched my Sindbad the Sailor itch quite like this one.

Council of Thieves-
-The Sixfold Trial- Council is another AP I'm not all that wild about, but this volume is just plain fun.

Kingmaker-
-Stolen Land. Despite Kingmaker really not panning out as an AP I enjoyed (it's not bad, it's just not for me), this first volume may be my favorite first entry in any AP anywhere.

Serpent's Skull-
-Souls For Smuggler's Shiv- I'm just a sucker for a good shipwreck story. I've even repurposed this to serve as the kickoff for Skull & Shackles.

Carrion Crown-
-Wake of the Watcher- I like Lovecraft.

Jade Regent-
-Night of Frozen Shadows- Vikings and Ninjas... okay, then!

Skull & Shackles-
-Raiders of the Fever Sea- Some of the most straight-up piracy you really get up to in the "Pirate AP."

Shattered Star-
-The Asylum Stone- Fun with Kaer Maga and other strangeness.

Reign of Winter-
-Rasputin Must Die!- I do a lot of reading on the topic of World War I... so the basic premise has appeal. Add to that a mechanically sound outing and a suitably terrifying adversary and, well... you get a winner.

Wrath of the Righteous-
-City of Locusts- Conditionally. You have to be in the mood for the over-the-top madness that is WotR, but if you are.... stomping into the Abyss and pushing Demon Lords' faces in while heavy metal music blasts out of the air around you because the entire AP is a 1980s album cover....

Mummy's Mask
-Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh- Awesome on-theme fun.

Iron Gods-
-The Divinity Drive- A smashing payoff to an incredibly fun AP.

Giantslayer-
-Battle of Bloodmarch Hill- It distills the AP's entire basic notion (sometimes players just want to kill monsters and take their loot) into a digestible and engaging low-level slugfest.

Hell's Rebels-
-Breaking the Bones of Hell- SUCH a kickin' payoff to a great campaign. Also, you know.... punking Barzillai one last time? Yes please. But seriously... most of this AP is solid gold.

Hell's Vengeance-
-Wrath of Thrune- Infiltrate, corrupt, overthrow...

Strange Aeons-
-Dreams of the Yellow King- I like Lovecraft. And I love the Dreamlands.

[captain yesterday]

The Hellfire Compact.

:

So wait, all Tammy has to do is knock over a tannery, and you'll make her sheriff!!.

Honestly, the most fun i've ever had as a player.

[Jason Nelson]

Cole Deschain wrote:

Legacy of Fire-

-The End of Eternity- No other published adventure has scratched my Sindbad the Sailor itch quite like this one.

Writing that adventure for me was definitely a love letter to all things Harryhausen.

[Wrath]

Legacy of Fire - book 3. The first time my group were plane hopped and it has a really cool blend of fighting and roleplaying aspects in order to,navigate your way out.

Carrion Crown - the first book is still my favourite in this one. It really sets the mood for the entire campaign and the setting itself. Plus, the introduction of ectoplasmic undead to provide an ethereal feel without punishing low level characters. It was basically an homage to,13 ghosts, which is a pretty cool movie in its own right.

Second Darkness - book one of this AP. we really got to build up some cool Rep in town before the AP took a complete 180 on us as players.

Curse of the Crimson throne. - book one. We spent three weeks using email to build up backgrounds for the characters in this one. By the time I DMd the first instalment, my players hated Lamm as much as their characters should have. It made that first session one of the most memorable gaming moments my old group ever had.

Iron Gods - book 2. I played Scrapwall as Bartertown from Mad Max 3 in this one. The post apocalyptic feel really added to things and my players loved it.

Rise of the Runleords - the skinsaw murders. It just screamed spooky Texas chainsaw type stuff for the first part, then becomes a cool haunted house romp for the final,act. The introduction of haunts as a mechanic in this one also changed the playing field for me as a DM. I ran this prior to its revision for Pathfinder.

[Almonihah]

Reign of Winter: Book 5, because my character got to fight tanks with a rapier and dodge bullets.

[Andostre]

Cole Deschain wrote:

Kingmaker-

-Stolen Land. Despite Kingmaker really not panning out as an AP I enjoyed (it's not bad, it's just not for me), this first volume may be my favorite first entry in any AP anywhere.

Why is this your favorite first entry?

[Cole Deschain]

Andostre wrote:

Cole Deschain wrote:

Kingmaker-

-Stolen Land. Despite Kingmaker really not panning out as an AP I enjoyed (it's not bad, it's just not for me), this first volume may be my favorite first entry in any AP anywhere.

Why is this your favorite first entry?

A combination of setting, flavor, and a love of stomping bandits.

[Cthulhudrew]

Lords of Rust is one of my favorite single issues of an AP. With the exception of the almost out of place sidetrek at the beginning of the adventure, this was just a really fun post-apocalyptic style adventure all the way 'round. Even better than just playing it straight is to really play up the various factions and conflicts in the area and have the PCs do some roleplaying and negotiation.

[Wrath]

Cthulhudrew wrote:

Lords of Rust is one of my favorite single issues of an AP. With the exception of the almost out of place sidetrek at the beginning of the adventure, this was just a really fun post-apocalyptic style adventure all the way 'round. Even better than just playing it straight is to really play up the various factions and conflicts in the area and have the PCs do some roleplaying and negotiation.

I ran it as a "Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome" setting. So much cool potential. Plus I was playing Fallout 4 at the time I started it. Post apocalypse FTW.

[Gorbacz]

Hey Cole, thanks for formatting, stealing shamelessly, also I agree with many of your picks so easy mode engage.

Rise of the Runelords
-Burnt Offerings

Curse of the Crimson Throne
-Skeletons of Castleva...Scarwall

Second Darkness
-Children of the Void

Legacy of Fire
-The End of Eternity

Council of Thieves-
-The Sixfold Trial

Kingmaker-
-Sound of a Thousands Screams

Serpent's Skull-
-Souls For Smuggler's Shiv

Carrion Crown-
-Trial of the Beast

Jade Regent-
-The Hungry Storm

Skull & Shackles-
-Island of Empty Eyes

Shattered Star-
-The Asylum Stone

Reign of Winter-
-Rasputin Must Die!

Wrath of the Righteous-
-City of Locusts

Mummy's Mask
-Empty Graves

Iron Gods-
-The Divinity Drive

Giantslayer-
-Battle of Bloodmarch Hill

Hell's Rebels-
-The Song of Silver

Hell's Vengeance-
-uuughhh....

Strange Aeons-
-Black Stars Beckon

Ironfang Invasion-
-Fangs of War

[Cole Deschain]

Gorbacz wrote:

Hey Cole, thanks for formatting, stealing shamelessly, also I agree with many of your picks so easy mode engage.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

[Haladir]

Hmmm...

Cover-to-cover, Burnt Offerings form "Rise of the Runelords" is a near-perfect adventure. It also works extremely well as a standalone.

Sticking with Runelords, the "Misgivings" section of The Skinsaw Murders is one of the best haunted house adventures I've ever run.

I have to agree with the consensus that Seven Days to the Grave from "Curse of the Crimson Throne" is also fantastic. I haven't run it straight, but I have stripped it for parts and used several encounters in my own "Champions of Old Korvosa" homebrew campaign.

Outside of APs, some of my absolute favorite modules are:

Murder's Mark. An excellent murder-mystery investigation that's charged with local intolerance of an outsider racial minority. That theme seems particularly timely at the moment. (I've run this adventure three times in three different game systems: Once in Pathfinder, once converted to Swords & Wizardry, and once converted to Dungeon World.)

Feast of Ravenmoor. Extremely creepy, and is one of those adventures with an ambiguous ending. If they win, the PCs have to contend with whether or not ridding the weird village of a hidden evil cult really did the villagers any favors.

[Gothair Starkantes *]

RISE OF THE RUNELORDS: the strong adventures, for me, were the middle ones. In particular HOOK MOUNTAIN MASSACRE for the Kreegs, the NPCs and the lake monster scene. And the siege in the first part of Fortress of the Stone Giants.

CURSE OF THE CRIMSON THRONE. Edge of Anarchy is very very good, but SEVEN DAYS TO THE GRAVE is the "must play" adventure, with a unique context, strong roleplay with NPCs, and intriguing story.

KINGMAKER. A very strong beginning: both Stolen Land and RIVERS RUN RED are excellent. I chose the second as the best because you start the build your own kingdom minigame. The last two deserve to be played, too. Especially the sixth, Sound of a Thousand Screams, departs from the sandboxy feel of the other installments and is more a Lewis-Carrol inspired fairy-tale. A "must play", but even than, the two starting adventures are better.

CARRION CROWN. The first adventure, HAUNTING OF HARROWSTONE, has an intriguing plot, a mystery story, roleplay, and strong NPCs. A must play. So for the first half of the second adventure, Trial of the Beast.

JADE REGENT. I really appreciated the unique "Marco Polo's expedition" caravan experience in the third adventure, THE HUNGRY STORM.

SKULLS AND SHACKLES. All adventures are consistently good, and the first three are excellent. Perhaps RAIDERS OF THE FEVER SEA grants the most satisfying "pirate experience".

SHATTERED STAR. The second adventure, Curse of the Lady's Light, offers some unique opportunities. Anyway, in my opinion the true gem is BEYOND THE DOOMSDAY DOOR, a grand high-level megadungeon with interesting NPCs.

REIGN OF WINTER. This is my favourite AP and, in my opinion, each adventure is a must-play experience. The story and NPCs, the locations and even the enemies and objects remain consistently unique and memorable. At the beginning, with The Snows of Summer you got that feeling of immersion in a fairy-tale. That feeling intensifies and takes a distinct Russian flavour with the second adventure, The Shackled Hut. Maiden, Mother and Crone you descent in an incredible dungeon but also enter the esoteric world of the witches, and you meet the feminine archetypes. For me it was a deep, psychological experience. The Frozen Stars has a really unique setting. If the DM wants, he can work on this one; for example, I played that in the Star Wars universe. Now that Starfinder is out, it could be possible to reskin and play this adventure in Starfinder, and it would play great.
RASPUTIN MUST DIE, the fifth adventure, has the incredible merit to show that Pathfinder can be played on Earth, in an historical setting -in a modern setting with gunpowder! -, meeting and fighting against historical characters. I even reflected on the possibility of my PCs meeting with Lenin or Trotsky. The sixth installment, The Witch Queen's Revenge, goes deep in the world of mythoes, is rich with interesting set pieces and encounters, and concludes this incredible campaign in a very good way, but remains the weakest of these adventures.
Anyway, I'm really really happy to have played through all of it, this Adventure Path was one of my best roleplaying experiences.