I dabbed a little with Pathfinder 1E and I recently decided, after some research, to fully commit myself to Pathfinder 2E. I want to better understand Pathfinder's world, so I've been considering running "Rise of the Runelords" since it was the first AP. Is this a good idea? Do you think it would be difficult to do the conversion? And why is that AP popular?
Thanks so much in advance.
Probably an easy conversion, outside of treasure and DCs, because most of the monsters should be in the bestiary. Anything specific like special enemies or bosses you'll need to do a bit more converting, but the story should work well. Might even work better because there are fewer "game breaking" spells to account for. It's also less reliant on splat book material than later APs can be, so you're less likely to find something with no corollary in 2e material.
I think RotR is a great AP. Fun high fantasy adventure and digs into Pathfinder and Golarion.
I think it's a worthwhile project. At this point, I'd personally wait until Bestiary 2 and the Advanced Player's Guide are both out first, just to see how many more enemies/spells/etc are already officially converted for me.
And here it is: link.
I'm not sure. Last time I checked in on that project it was multiple people kind of collaborating, but more making individual conversions tailored to their campaigns while sharing a few things with each other. At least for Runelords. Not so much collaborating to make a single conversion that general parties can use (or even one with suggestions for alternative options). Just go into it with the right expectations.
I dabbed a little with Pathfinder 1E and I recently decided, after some research, to fully commit myself to Pathfinder 2E. I want to better understand Pathfinder's world, so I've been considering running "Rise of the Runelords" since it was the first AP. Is this a good idea? Do you think it would be difficult to do the conversion? And why is that AP popular?
If you're looking to get into the lore of Golarion in the 2nd edition timeline, Rise of the Runelords is a little out of date. Several of the Runelords in that AP are canonically dead/reborn/changed alignment since then, and the specific countryside in question is ... very different after the effects of the P1e APs. I would recommend Age of Ashes, the first 2e AP, if you want to get into the world as it exists in the P2e campaign setting.
I would say Runelords is so popular because it was most people's first introduction to Golarion; it was the only AP available for early adopters so it's probably one that most Pathfinder players have played/ran so there's a common sense of nostalgia; and it has a classic "let's-go-adventuring" plot and feel. Several APs have more specialized or niche appeals ("everyone plays a pirate" or "urban fantasy," for example), but you can play through Runelords with a fighter-rogue-cleric-wizard party with a "we all met at the tavern" set-up. It's vanilla, and I don't mean that it's bland but that every group of gamers can bring their own mix-ins and make it work without flavors and preconceptions clashing.
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I dabbed a little with Pathfinder 1E and I recently decided, after some research, to fully commit myself to Pathfinder 2E. I want to better understand Pathfinder's world, so I've been considering running "Rise of the Runelords" since it was the first AP. Is this a good idea? Do you think it would be difficult to do the conversion? And why is that AP popular?If you're looking to get into the lore of Golarion in the 2nd edition timeline, Rise of the Runelords is a little out of date. Several of the Runelords in that AP are canonically dead/reborn/changed alignment since then, and the specific countryside in question is ... very different after the effects of the P1e APs. I would recommend Age of Ashes, the first 2e AP, if you want to get into the world as it exists in the P2e campaign setting.
+1 on Age of Ashes. The devs said one of its purposes was to introduce players to the setting. I believe it also has more globetrotting than Rise of the Runelords.
Rise of the Runelords is a little out of date . . . I would recommend Age of Ashes, the first 2e AP, if you want to get into the world as it exists in the P2e campaign setting.
Thank you for the suggestion. I went ahead and purchased 'Hellknight Hill.' There is a player that is talking about wanting to GM, so I may postpone reading through it until I know that either he's not GMing the next game or at least isn't running that adventure path.
I believe it also has more globetrotting than Rise of the Runelords.
Sounds good to me.
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Hellknight Hill is great! I'm running it in Play-by-Post right now.
If you end up GMing it, be sure to make use of the resources in the Age of Ashes subforum, particularly the GM reference threads for the various books (here's the one for Hellknight Hill) and the Community Created Content thread. (Clearly, those threads are full of spoilers, so don't read them until you're sure you're not playing it!)
One of the best things about Paizo APs is the GM community helping each other out with sandpapering rough edges, providing extra resources, and giving advice when your party doesn't stay on the railroad.