In light of the pandemic, I decided I’d like to start a pathfinder campaign on roll20. I’ve had some experience DMing, with my last AP being rise of the runelords (which was fantastic). Anyway, my group is generally pretty inexperienced. Some have played a bit of DND 5th edition here and there and only one of the five has actually ever played pathfinder. I was wondering what APs you’d recommend? I’m leaning towards skulls and shackles and might modify the ship combat if need be. It seems like something this group would like but I’d love to hear some feedback.
The ones I can’t do (or more accurately would rather not do bc I’ve run them or played them) are:
Rise of the runelords
Hells Vengeance
Kingmaker
Giant Slayer
Thanks!
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For new players or new GMs I always suggest Mummy's Mask and I think running it on roll20 would be pretty easy. And Ancient Egpyt!
The starting premise is easy to get the players to buy in to (The Ruby Prince / Pharaoh of Osirion is opening select tombs in an ancient necropolis for groups to come and explore. The players are one of the groups that win the chance to explore 3 tombs / buildings, things go bad, and then they have to learn about what's going on and research how to stop it.)
It's written as a mystery but doesn't depend on the players discovering the right clues and jumping to the correct conclusions; it's not the kind of mystery where the players have to figure out clues and can therefore either completely miss them or randomly guess the right answer. Instead, the PCs slowly learn the history of the ancient evil and realize where they need to go to next to learn more. It's nice rails where the PCs are proactively following them rather than being reactive (eg: Runelords, IMO, is reactive because the PCs keep being told by NPCs where to go next and what to do).
There is some hexploration in the middle, but it's limited so getting all of those maps ready beforehand would be easy.
The combat is relatively straightforward with some wonderful terrain pieces and interesting situations. Yes, it's an undead heavy campaign, but the type of undead constantly changes so it doesn't feel like a slog, and my players never went "aww, man! MORE zombies? We're bored of them!"
As much as it's a dungeon crawl campaign, there's different reasons to go to them and all of the dungeons exist for a reason. It is the only AP I've read where very nearly every encounter feels like it's important or adds something to the story. (The only time where it doesn't is a couple of the ones that can take place during hexploration, but even then, they're showing why it's a mostly unexplored area.)
The board for Mummy's Mask isn't very busy on here, but I think that's mostly because the AP is written well enough and everything is so connected that GMs don't have many questions to ask about how something works, don't go looking for advice on how to tie parts of the story together, and don't have to talk about what to add in to flesh things out. (There is, throughout the entire campaign, only one thing I would add in / change, and that's just slipping in a single sentence.)
The thing I'd be worried about with Skull & Shackles is that it starts really slowly and inexperienced players might think that they can kill any enemy put in front of them.
For new players or new GMs I always suggest Mummy's Mask and I think running it on roll20 would be pretty easy. And Ancient Egpyt! ...
Thanks so much for the detailed response. I loved the overall idea of skulls and shackles but definitely agree with what you said about the slow start and tough enemies. I actually played one session of that with my experienced group (though with an inexperienced dm) and we ended up trying to mutiny right off. Didn’t go so well... I also don’t love the heavy ship combat in the second or third book.
Anyway, I hadn’t thought much about mummy’s mask but from the way you described, I’ll definitely look into it. Proactive and straightforward seem perfect for the new group. Plus, honestly, I’ve always enjoyed a good dungeon crawl and with the setup and the ambiance, I think everyone else will too.
Plus side of giant slayer is the bad guys are giants. Like 80% of the time. So making a group of dwarves to fight giants will make the group feel really heroic and classes like ranger cant really go wrong with favoured enemy.
It allows a lot more room for mistakes because you've got such easy obvious choices for what to play and do. Great for starter groups.
Downside of giants in general is that they can end a campaign super fast when you come at them with bad combat tactics. I always clench a little bit at the first ogre fight with someone who's new to the game.
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Something to keep in mind is that the APs draw their material from all the books that were current to their writing. So the newer the AP, the more rules it includes. Also because of this, the APs have an increase in combat difficulty from the oldest to newest.
I would caution against hells vengeance. An evil game as an introduction pathfinder gaming sounds like a terrible idea imo.
Having played through the majority of Skull and Shackles, it is not a friendly way to start Pathfinder. From what I’ve played of Mummy’s Mask, I think Warped Savant is spot on. Anything with specific boxes for PC’s to operate in should be good for new players (I’m thinking dungeons, clear plot lines, obvious good and bad guys, etc.). Never played it, but I’ve heard Shattered Star is pretty dungeon heavy and has a good overarching theme (iirc, the PC’s get hooked up with the Pathfinder Society).
On that note, running your players through a handful of PFS scenarios could show them the ropes and let them trial a few characters to feel things out (case and point from my own life, it took one game as a dedicated blaster to realize that I love the idea more than actually playing it!). Any of the questline scenarios would have my vote for beginners.
Jade Regent?
It encourages heroic characters and getting to build relations with a small group of NPCs, for roleplaying. It's got a fairly straightforward plot without being too railroady, and because it's an early AP not too many rules/classes involved.
We're currently in book 5 (on hiatus :( ) and I've enjoyed playing a melee character because there seemed to be a lot more fights where the terrain / environment added to the challenge than in other APs. Some of those came from the add-on books by Legendary Games, which are excellent.
If you do play it, ditch the caravan rules and take a more "the NPCs are there in the background where you need them" approach.
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I would second Gummy Bear's suggestion. A couple of PFS scenarios would introduce the basic rules and the players try out their characters. Afterward start Shattered Star. Let them level up to 2 from the PFS scenarios and use the Pathfinder Society link to make the transition. Being a level ahead will be a nice bit of insurance for new players. There are some tough fights in it.
Mummy's Mask would also be a very good choice. If you want a more classic feel for the campaign though, Shattered Star has that while also helping helping them stay on track and giving them an easy intro to RP character development, they're Pathfinder agents.
I would advise against any AP which has its own sets of rules, such as Skull and Shakles or Kingmaker. Your players will not be able to learn the main rules with extra rules added.
It is not an AP, but if you want PCs to reach level 2 before starting an AP as Gummy Bear suggested, or just want them to discover the rules for a One-Shot, I would advise running Crypt of the Everflame. There are some puzzles that will need PCs to use some key class abilities and key actions, they will encounter some classic monster-types, and it has a good learning curve with its challenges being benine at the start then becoming more and more dangerous until getting to a legit "Pathfinder" level of dangerosity. A nice tutorial.
I would advise against any AP which has its own sets of rules, such as Skull and Shakles or Kingmaker. Your players will not be able to learn the main rules with extra rules added.
It is not an AP, but if you want PCs to reach level 2 before starting an AP as Gummy Bear suggested, or just want them to discover the rules for a One-Shot, I would advise running Crypt of the Everflame. There are some puzzles that will need PCs to use some key class abilities and key actions, they will encounter some classic monster-types, and it has a good learning curve with its challenges being benine at the start then becoming more and more dangerous until getting to a legit "Pathfinder" level of dangerosity. A nice tutorial.
Kingdom building is optional though it takes a bit of the fun out.
I'm honestly not sure I'd recommend Mummy's Mask. There's a fair number of INSTANT DEATH encounters in there, fairly early as well.
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I agree with the idea of Mummy's Mask being used. It has some nice maps and flexibility, that being said. I would also recommend splicing in a bit of Legacy Of Fire and a Handful of PFS Desert Scenario's as some of the sandbox encounters could be useful to giving your Player Characters a Full Desert Campaign.
It was what I going to do with my Desert campaign I was starting to run here on the forums and then life kinda jumped me in the shadows, and now I live in Alaska.
If you can find a copy or a PDF of al-qadim and few of the older books they also have great material for ideas set in this type of setting. [Granted written in 2nd edition rules so would take some converting or playful building in some cases]
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It is not an AP, but if you want PCs to reach level 2 before starting an AP as Gummy Bear suggested, or just want them to discover the rules for a One-Shot, I would advise running Crypt of the Everflame. There are some puzzles that will need PCs to use some key class abilities and key actions, they will encounter some classic monster-types, and it has a good learning curve with its challenges being benign at the start then becoming more and more dangerous until getting to a legit "Pathfinder" level of dangerosity. A nice tutorial.
Totally agree! Crypt of the Everflame is an amazing module that can lead into two decent ones*. It's also super appropriate for a group of new players as the basic premise is a "coming-of-age" thing that the children of the town go through.
*The 2nd part (Masks of the Living God) is an intrigue adventure that has some problems as it expects the players to put themselves into a situation that would be difficult to justify staying in, even in the name of heroics. The 3rd part (City of Golden Death) is back to a more classic adventure/wilderness exploration.