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We're halfway through book 2. I rather like it, it's got a clear hook and theme. The plot is going places, but it's more like a sandpath than a railroad. There's room to find your own way to achieve your goals.
In-game difficulty is fairly good, not too easy and it's got a sense of urgency that keeps you from taking it safe and easy. The boss of book 1 hits like a truck though.
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I just finished GMing the AP.
It's a fun campaign in a clear genre mold. It runs relatively short by AP standards (Book 3 in particular). It's easy to GM in the sense that there aren't many really complex fights, and that the PCs generally have a clear idea what to do next (and when the don't, the adventure quickly comes to them). Some sections need a bit of suspension of disbelief/quick thinking to fly, but no more so than any non-trivial pre-written adventure...
I would say therefore that it is suitable for a first time GM, though even a short AP is still quite a lot of commitment first time out! We play a lot and it took 6 months to finish.
A couple of potential gotchas:
1) I found it definitely works best if run "Star Wars style", with an incompetent enemy vibe (poor comms, sloppy training, dodgy tech, whatever). Allowing well-organised, well-planned enemy responses to several sections (either half of Book 1, 2nd half of Book 2, 2nd half of Book 3) will likely wipe the PCs and clearly isn't intended by the authors. For some elements this works better than others: cadets on Nakondis could believably be overeager/undertrained, and rivalry between Evandrian & the Rune Wardens helps to explain the lack of any decent defensive reinforcement/overwhelm strategy on Aurelos. Particularly on Gulta though, where 1 bad roll can (should?) quickly lead to an overwhelming escalation, I found it necessary to say "yes" a lot to players' ideas which should perhaps not have worked to overcome the tricky set up & minimal options to rest.
2) My players were very cautious about tipping their hand on Outpost Zed. Given that the station is obviously much bigger than the section presented in the book, they wanted to go creeping about way off script to get more intel rather than opening up to anyone. In hindsight, I wish I'd had Sayonsi be a bit more explicit about the safety of talking to people, and that the merchants on the promenade were by far the most likely lead. I had to resort to some slightly heavy-handed "overheard" tidbits about local hostility to the Azlanti to get my players to talk to anyone, given that I run pre-written adventures because I lack time to generate heaps of new material!
3) The difficulty of the fights was all over the place for my players; mostly easy to very easy (leading to overconfidence and sloppy tactics), with one or two pretty hard unless the dice are with you. It's worth thinking ahead about what to do if the PCs lose the harder fights (especially Sharu at the end of Book 1).
I just finished GMing the AP.
It's a fun campaign in a clear genre mold. It runs relatively short by AP standards (Book 3 in particular). It's easy to GM in the sense that there aren't many really complex fights, and that the PCs generally have a clear idea what to do next (and when the don't, the adventure quickly comes to them). Some sections need a bit of suspension of disbelief/quick thinking to fly, but no more so than any non-trivial pre-written adventure...
I would say therefore that it is suitable for a first time GM, though even a short AP is still quite a lot of commitment first time out! We play a lot and it took 6 months to finish.
A couple of potential gotchas:
** spoiler omitted **...
Question. Should the PCs be at a higher level when they start the AP?
No, Against the Aeon Throne starts at level 1.
No, Against the Aeon Throne starts at level 1.
I know.
BUT, what I am asking is that for better encounter balance (i.e., competent enemy reactions), would the AP work better if the characters were more powerful?
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No, Against the Aeon Throne starts at level 1.I know.
BUT, what I am asking is that for better encounter balance (i.e., competent enemy reactions), would the AP work better if the characters were more powerful?
I'm a player, and we are 1/3 of the way through book 3.
my answer would be absolutely not. at a higher level we would have steamrolled our opponents without mercy.
No, Against the Aeon Throne starts at level 1.I know.
BUT, what I am asking is that for better encounter balance (i.e., competent enemy reactions), would the AP work better if the characters were more powerful?
My 2cp: I agree not if you run as written. But there would be an interesting variation to Book 1 starting the PCs at level 2 (say) and running the enemy smart. You'd likely have to rework it a little bit & think through tactics etc., but it would mostly work as a framework.
I think you'd have a major problem with the 2nd half of Book 2 run smart (unless you wanted a siege/pitched battle - in which case, I'd suggest you're so far off script you might as well write your own adventure). I decided it was easier to run the Azlanti dumb throughout than to make them dopey just for Bk 2 Part 2!
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We just concluded the AP today. This was a really fun adventure, especially book 1 and the first half of book 2. The middle of book 3 was also superb. Nothing really dragged, and the adventure moved forward consistently.
We were in a bit of a rush today, so we called it after the big fight in the lab, which was a close thing (if i'd have brought my fumble cards, we'd have tpk'd).
This was a great experience, and I think everyone in the group had a fine time.
We just concluded the AP today. This was a really fun adventure, especially book 1 and the first half of book 2. The middle of book 3 was also superb. Nothing really dragged, and the adventure moved forward consistently.
We were in a bit of a rush today, so we called it after the big fight in the lab, which was a close thing (if i'd have brought my fumble cards, we'd have tpk'd).
This was a great experience, and I think everyone in the group had a fine time.
Are you done with these characters? Or does your GM have a continuation in mind?
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Are you done with these characters? Or does your GM have a continuation in mind?We just concluded the AP today. This was a really fun adventure, especially book 1 and the first half of book 2. The middle of book 3 was also superb. Nothing really dragged, and the adventure moved forward consistently.
We were in a bit of a rush today, so we called it after the big fight in the lab, which was a close thing (if i'd have brought my fumble cards, we'd have tpk'd).
This was a great experience, and I think everyone in the group had a fine time.
the next game we are playing is a homebrew beginning at level 10. PUMPED.
i do not think we are not going onto signal of screams after that. i think it'll probably be Attack of the Swarm or Dawn of Flame.
My PC officially left the party at the conclusion of AtAT, so she wouldn't be a part of a mid-level AP if we were to begin one of them in any event.