What "Themes" do you want to see tackled in an AP?


Pathfinder Adventure Path General Discussion

201 to 250 of 763 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>

zimmerwald1915 wrote:
UnArcaneElection wrote:
they uncover more secretive nefarious plots to undo the freedom of Andoran, including corruption from within . . . .
Wasn't this a Liberty's Edge plot already?

Maybe in a module or PFS Scenario (I'm certainly not familiar with all of those), but not in an AP.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

3 people marked this as a favorite.

I want an AP that properly explores an accurate version of elven culture in passing, rather than the (unfortunately) poor rendition in Second Darkness. I'd also like another AP with more interaction with drow, or even one that explores dwarves, the First World and fey, or other things like that.

Liberty's Edge

Cydeth wrote:
I want an AP that properly explores an accurate version of elven culture in passing, rather than the (unfortunately) poor rendition in Second Darkness. I'd also like another AP with more interaction with drow, or even one that explores dwarves, the First World and fey, or other things like that.

I believe those would be excellent grounds for the experimental line of modules (like The Slithering).


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Deriven Firelion wrote:

A Seven Samurai AP that starts off with a village and ends with the heroes squaring off in a battle to the death against a BBEG tyrant out to conquer the world.

Pretty sure that was the plot of Rise of the Runelords.

Liberty's Edge

6 people marked this as a favorite.

Having just been reading Lost Omens Legends, I really want to see an AP where the PCs are agents of Ardax Whitehair working at making his rule a success.

I think that would create a lot of really interesting dynamics with fighting the Whispering Tyrant, uniting the clans in the Hold of Belkzen, diplomatic missions to Sorshen in New Thassilon or Azaersi in Oprak, or other nations, finding out the truth about the previous warlord's death, and so on. There's a lot of meat there.

It would also give an excellent in for people who wanted to have an Evil campaign without requiring puppy-kicking and equally still allowing an entirely Good party. I mean, Ardax is Evil, but any Good Orc in Belkzen should 100% support his rule given what a huge step up it is from previous rulers, and he's even rewarded the orcish Sarenrae worshipers, which could easily instill loyalty.

It's also not inherently only Orcs and Half Orcs, as given his description his operatives could easily include members of other Ancestries as long as they make themselves useful.

Acquisitives

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Deadmanwalking wrote:

Having just been reading Lost Omens Legends, I really want to see an AP where the PCs are agents of Ardax Whitehair working at making his rule a success.

I think that would create a lot of really interesting dynamics with fighting the Whispering Tyrant, uniting the clans in the Hold of Belkzen, diplomatic missions to Sorshen in New Thassilon or Azaersi in Oprak, or other nations, finding out the truth about the previous warlord's death, and so on. There's a lot of meat there.

It would also give an excellent in for people who wanted to have an Evil campaign without requiring puppy-kicking and equally still allowing an entirely Good party. I mean, Ardax is Evil, but any Good Orc in Belkzen should 100% support his rule given what a huge step up it is from previous rulers, and he's even rewarded the orcish Sarenrae worshipers, which could easily instill loyalty.

It's also not inherently only Orcs and Half Orcs, as given his description his operatives could easily include members of other Ancestries as long as they make themselves useful.

I like it. Particularly the fact that there's a murder mystery in the middle.

Scarab Sages

Deriven Firelion wrote:

I would like to see an AP where the adventurer's acquire weapons in the first module that they build up throughout the series until they become legendary heroes renowned not only for their heroics, but for the legendary weapons they wielded.

Similar to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, where each character's name was indicative of their signature weapon.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

The One About the Druids. Druids are older than most every other religion except maybe Erastil, but they usually only show up as a single NPC, such as Nkechi. They might not have huge organized churches, but their traditions should come across as something that's incredibly well preserved or enduring. This AP would be mostly wilderness, with some protoganist vs. nature conflicts, in addition to the usual antagonists to fight. Maybe about maintaining a balance, maybe about relations with the fey, maybe the party helps the elves against Treerazor, or aids Ranginori's liberty agenda. At least adventure #5 involves answering the question: why would someone choose druidism over deity worship? Since the requirement to be neutral went away in PF2e, I'd also like for at least one adventure to involve difficult allies, unfortunate enemies, and a huge mulch pile of intrigue. Also would not mind taking some Lumber Consortium goon to the woodshed. Sample title of an adventure: Into the Maelstrom. Maybe they go to the plane to chase after a protean, maybe the Eye of Abendigo, maybe just a metaphor. Would also work as a straightforward implementation of "82-84 A druid from ages past has been reincarnated after a long slumber in the forgotten backwoods of a random nation. He has begun raising an army of isolated druids, barbarian clans, animals, plants, and fey to resume the war that was fought before the Green Faith was founded" from Quest & Campaigns, in which case I nominate Galt or Razmir as good locations to include or possible to start from.

The One About Ceremony. The PCs come together because they all have minor roles to play in some ceremony, such as being professional mourners (like the start Carrion Crown or maybe War for the Crown, but less invested in the details). Or maybe they're florists or caterers. They use their diverse talents to make sure people they encounter are comforted by various rituals and traditions running as they should.

The One About the Fop. A dilettante or dandy starts out largely useless or mostly harmless, and by following the example of the PCs eventually becomes a useful fifth wheel. In my mind, this one could easily be the One About the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, where the NPC starts as a member for a frivolous reason, but events in the Eye of Dread region and the heroic examples of the PCs mean by the end it's a much more serious commitment to a cause. Could also work with the Knights of Lastwall.

The One About Dread. More like Strange Aeons or Tyrant's Grasp than Carrion Crown or the horror elements in Rise of the Runelords, this one would be about an ongoing struggle to do what one can, even when much more needs to be done. Would be a good theme for a trip leading to a climax at the Pit of Gormuz.

The One About the Legacy. Somewhat like Jade Regent, but instead of one big organization of enemies, the foes are less connected to each other and the organizing challenge is about living outside the shadow of one's parents. Also may be about coming to terms with the fact that parents are people too, in that they are flawed like anyone else even if you only ever saw their best side. Might be a good theme for an AP that reexamines the elves, or goes into the culture of dwarves. A great AP for a group that might like to try star & support, rather than an ensemble cast model, though this makes it a bit experimental. Different from Extinction Curse, in that the party has at least one person others specifically blame, hate, or mistrust, rather than them being representatives of some ancient injury.


Cydeth wrote:
I want an AP that properly explores an accurate version of elven culture in passing, rather than the (unfortunately) poor rendition in Second Darkness. I'd also like another AP with more interaction with drow, or even one that explores dwarves, the First World and fey, or other things like that.

Variation on this: You also wind up with the Elves rendered (as jerks) in Second Darkness as adversaries, but you can't just beat them up -- you have to find what makes them tick, and try to peel some of them away from that faction (bonus points if at least one Campaign Trait/Background is for a character that has family members like that who are at least as closely related as 1st cousin or *-in-law, and that you have to meet at family events fairly often).


Sveinn Blood-Eagle, Ruler of Kalsgard vowed to find a King strong enough to unite the Linnorm Kingdoms against the south before he died. As the Oracle foretold he found them in Valenhall. The only problem is... they're dead.

To break the curse and resurrect the body they need to resurrect the saga. The person who killed both was Baba Yaga. By cursing their name she killed a hero's story before they could gather a resistance against her.

This is an AP about building a fairy tale. A story strong enough to resurrect a King needed to unite the Linnorm Kingdoms long enough to rebuff an envious Runelord with her eyes set on upon the frozen north.

(This theme was inspired by three of the Linnorm Kings and Runelord Belimarius' entries in Lost Omens Legends)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

An AP on exploration. expanding the world

lots of encounters with beasts magical and otherwise. skills like cartography and survival playing a big part. another option would be like around the world in X days: a competition with glimpses in all sorts of locations with fights, troubles, mysteries, and puzzles along the way.

Acquisitives

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
CrimsonKnight wrote:

An AP on exploration. expanding the world

lots of encounters with beasts magical and otherwise. skills like cartography and survival playing a big part. another option would be like around the world in X days: a competition with glimpses in all sorts of locations with fights, troubles, mysteries, and puzzles along the way.

I think the around the world in X days would be fun. Especially if the party was in a friendly competition with another adventuring party, like Nellie Bly was with Elizabeth Bisland, although finding the magic Sail of Spirits or fixing the Axle of Ever-spinning three times might become a bit boring.

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Yakman wrote:
CrimsonKnight wrote:

An AP on exploration. expanding the world

lots of encounters with beasts magical and otherwise. skills like cartography and survival playing a big part. another option would be like around the world in X days: a competition with glimpses in all sorts of locations with fights, troubles, mysteries, and puzzles along the way.

I think the around the world in X days would be fun. Especially if the party was in a friendly competition with another adventuring party, like Nellie Bly was with Elizabeth Bisland, although finding the magic Sail of Spirits or fixing the Axle of Ever-spinning three times might become a bit boring.

Oh, a race around the globe! Getting to pick a track with a bunch of set encounters set around and some "roaming encounters". Could be set up sandbox style similar to Kingmaker but with much larger "hexes" to which encounters would be encountered. As they gain levels, they get magic or better traveling technology. Including perhaps steampunky zeppelins (airships) and things like that. This could be super fun.

Scarab Sages

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

The One About Hard Bargains. I realized my cold war espionage vibe request far up thread would work really well with this theme as a revisit to Ravounel or even as an evil AP with tension between Nidal and Cheliax. They are allies, but exactly because they are both evil neither really trusts the other. Also a good theme to visit Rahadoum and see how the Laws of Man are sometimes a high price for freedom. Could also be a good one for a witch with a demanding patron.

The One About Difficult Compromises. Druma takes the lead on reorienting the politics of the Eye of Dread region. Or maybe, Qadira and Taldor work to reduce mutual tensions and reconcile in light of the recent regime change from War for the Crown. Maybe Kyonin becomes a little more open to the wider world. Could also be set in Galt, but would require major expectations management, since some of the Galt requesters seem to want an end to the defining violence of the place and some would prefer something about the intrigue and moral grey areas of living under the threat of the politics of the place without actually changing them. It would be tricky like with Council of Thieves.

The One About Easy Promises. Rulers and rich folk have an easy time making promises to the less powerful, serene in the belief that they can always easily renege. The PCs will disabuse them of this notion. Maybe they are vigilantes, maybe they were wronged and seek revenge, maybe they are tasked by a higher power in order to set things right. At least once, they themselves will struggle mightily to make good on some commitment they made lightly.

The One About Delicate Balances. Sometimes a small change can snowball into a vast avalanche. I kind of liked how Legacy of Fire and I3-5 back in the day handled this with unleashing genies, but the party was mostly off-plane while the consequences played out in LOF. I'd like something similar, but with them present while events are running along. Would be a good theme for plane hopping to liberate another elemental lord, or to destroy some other artifact. At the end of the campaign, the players should realize the world might regard at least some of their characters like Gavrilo Princip: very consequential, but worthy of commemorating with a statue only to relatively few. The accidental release of the balor from the lens of Galundari would be an interesting possibility, as he could go about trying to build a power base while the PCs oppose him.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

I've got a few.

I'd like to see an AP set in the Land of the Linnorm Kings, and while it should be obvious that I want to see Viking themes, I'd especially like to see a more well-rounded representation, not just the classic marauder version. While it's certainly true that the Nordic peoples engaged in raiding and pillaging, we don't always see a depiction of their less brutal aspects, such as their highly-codified set of laws and customs. They were also shrewd traders and skilled negotiators, and I'd like to see a depiction of medieval Scandinavian-esque people that isn't just Hollywood's roving raiders.

I'd also love to see an AP set somewhere in the Nex/Geb/Alkenstar region that explores the effects of magic on a society. This could easily be a multifaceted exploration. As an example, in Nex, magic is extremely commonplace, and has become an expected part of life. It should be easy enough to explore how much of an impact magic has on everyday life, and could be contrasted with Alkenstar, so we could also see how a society learns to cope when magic is no longer an option.
It could also be interesting to see the ramifications of magic suddenly being unreliable, such as if the Mana Wastes' infamous anti-magic and magic-warping zones began to expand and begin encroaching on Nexian territory. How does an extremely high-magic society respond to the sudden loss of said magic?

Another thing I'd like to see is an exploration of the Padishah Empire of Kelesh, but more specifically, I'd like to see how an empire builds said empire in a way that's good-aligned. We know that the Empire's patron deity is Sarenrae, and She has such a good opinion of the Empire that the ruler is granted an extended life, but there must be a continued building of goodwill in order for that agreement to continue. So how then does an empire expand its territory and absorb its neighbouring lands into itself in a way that's not only good-aligned, but also sustainable?
The usual method of imperial expansion is warmongering, but I can't see imperial conquer being particularly good-aligned, so it must be something else for the most part. The obvious option is diplomacy, but the level of diplomacy required to build an empire of that size must be staggering, and I'd imagine that substantial gift-giving is involved. At a certain point, the amount of financial return on said gifts must no longer be advantageous, so how does an empire that doesn't rely on conquering its neighbours expand its land in a way that's efficient and therefore sustainable?

Contributor

11 people marked this as a favorite.

I want a planar focused AP. Personal dream. I want to write on such a thing. :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Amber_Stewart wrote:
I want a planar focused AP. Personal dream. I want to write on such a thing. :)

Word on the street is you're a go-to for planar adventures and setting. Is there any particular plane you want to delve into that you've never gotten the chance to? If you could set a module or AP volume in a plane of your choice, what would it be?

Contributor

6 people marked this as a favorite.
Sporkedup wrote:
Amber_Stewart wrote:
I want a planar focused AP. Personal dream. I want to write on such a thing. :)
Word on the street is you're a go-to for planar adventures and setting. Is there any particular plane you want to delve into that you've never gotten the chance to? If you could set a module or AP volume in a plane of your choice, what would it be?

Abaddon and the Maelstrom are the ones I've put the most work into and are most interested in revisiting (especially Galisemni in the Maelstrom), but the Abyss and Axis are always fun, and I'd love to see more done with Nirvana. The Positive and Negative energy planes have such potential for use as well, though unlikely for an entire AP, but specific locations therein would be amazing to visit in an adventure.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Amber_Stewart wrote:
Sporkedup wrote:
Amber_Stewart wrote:
I want a planar focused AP. Personal dream. I want to write on such a thing. :)
Word on the street is you're a go-to for planar adventures and setting. Is there any particular plane you want to delve into that you've never gotten the chance to? If you could set a module or AP volume in a plane of your choice, what would it be?
Abaddon and the Maelstrom are the ones I've put the most work into and are most interested in revisiting (especially Galisemni in the Maelstrom), but the Abyss and Axis are always fun, and I'd love to see more done with Nirvana. The Positive and Negative energy planes have such potential for use as well, though unlikely for an entire AP, but specific locations therein would be amazing to visit in an adventure.

Would you envision such an AP as a 3 book AP that starts at level 10? Where would you start off a 6 book AP focused on the Maelstrom?

PS: regardless of the how, I’d love to see the project tackled too. Wrath of the righteous did such a great job of bringing the abyss to life, it would be awesome to see more planes get such in depth treatment.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm surprised that the later books of current APs don't do more plane-hopping already. After all, there are lots of high-CR opponents out there which don't stress the sense of disbelief you risk with CR 15+ baddies all over the place on Golarion.

Just get Todd to write one of books 4-6 in each AP. Sorted.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I don't know if this is AP-appropriate or maybe more for the general adventures line, but I've never seen any RPG adventure that does what the old computer game Quest for Glory did — at least not since D&D 3e was released.

Basically, I'd like to see a sandbox centered on a small town. This town has a number of problems, and a large number of Weird Places and Weird People in and around town. PCs come there for a variety of reasons, the chief one of which is to Make a Name for themselves (Quest for Glory's subtitle is, after all, "So You Want To Be A Hero").

The general focus would be on smaller encounter areas rather than larger "whole-level" dungeons. To make it more adventure path-y, you could have a widening scope: book 1 deals with a town and its environs, book 2 with a province, and book 3 with a country. I think the premise would have trouble working beyond level 10, so it's probably best suited to a "half-Path". Perhaps there could be hints here and there to a greater power being behind various threats, with the finale providing a possible connection to the other half-Path.

The closest thing I've seen to this in recent years is Operation: Shadowpoint for Star Wars: Age of Rebellion. It takes over where the AOR Beginner Game ended: the PCs have taken over a super-secret Imperial base, but now they have to run it. That means dealing with locals of various kinds, acquiring supplies, securing personnel, making sure the Empire doesn't learn what's going on, and such. The adventure has a mix of proactive stuff ("Here are some things you need, how do you plan to go about that?") and reactive stuff ("Something happens, how do you deal with that?") for the PCs to deal with. Something like that, but on a larger scale, is what I'd like to see, either as an AP or as a stand-alone adventure.


^If you start the town sandbox instead in a neighborhood (or even suburb) of a big city, you could probably get some more chapters out of it (even if not necessarily a levels 1 through 20 AP). I know a lot of people love to hate on Council of Thieves, but I thought the instance of it that I followed from start to finish was pretty cool despite having some problems (especially near to the end) due to GM disappearances. Too bad they didn't do a Council of Thieves Anniversary Edition . . . .

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
UnArcaneElection wrote:

^If you start the town sandbox instead in a neighborhood (or even suburb) of a big city, you could probably get some more chapters out of it (even if not necessarily a levels 1 through 20 AP). I know a lot of people love to hate on Council of Thieves, but I thought the instance of it that I followed from start to finish was pretty cool despite having some problems (especially near to the end) due to GM disappearances. Too bad they didn't do a Council of Thieves Anniversary Edition . . . .

This is kind of like Troubles in Otari or somewhat like Agents of Edgewatch. The original Rise of the Runelords also has an approach exactly like Staffan Johansson suggests.

One downside from a design standpoint in staying in the same place for a full AP is that other types of campaigns make it easier to scale the difficulty of encounters. For instance, in Kingmaker, it's pretty easy and also plausible for the CR to rise as the party gets farther from their home base. The linearity of Serpent's Skull, Carrion Crown, Reign of Winter, and Age of Ashes tends to make the process of leveling up seem natural, because the characters grow as they go. I'd be worried with a pure sandbox as a designer that it would not be legible to the players which areas are level-appropriate and which are not.

That said, I like this theme or idea for a follow-up to Jade Regent. I'd start with the party meeting at a tea house in Kasai, or starting and running such a business, and they would undertake a variety of neighborhood-improvement type projects. In this setup, the gatekeeping to increasing the threat level undertaken might be that as they put on bigger and better special events, they come to meet more powerful potential patrons, who hire them to take up increasingly difficult tasks.

As to the point about QFG1, as I remember it, every plot related quest is ultimately about the Baron and his household, since they all go back to Baba Yaga's curse. The succession of elementals in QFG2 keeps that game from being very open-ended too.


logic_poet wrote:
UnArcaneElection wrote:

^If you start the town sandbox instead in a neighborhood (or even suburb) of a big city, you could probably get some more chapters out of it (even if not necessarily a levels 1 through 20 AP). I know a lot of people love to hate on Council of Thieves, but I thought the instance of it that I followed from start to finish was pretty cool despite having some problems (especially near to the end) due to GM disappearances. Too bad they didn't do a Council of Thieves Anniversary Edition . . . .

This is kind of like Troubles in Otari or somewhat like Agents of Edgewatch. The original Rise of the Runelords also has an approach exactly like Staffan Johansson suggests.

One downside from a design standpoint in staying in the same place for a full AP is that other types of campaigns make it easier to scale the difficulty of encounters. For instance, in Kingmaker, it's pretty easy and also plausible for the CR to rise as the party gets farther from their home base. {. . .}

Big city supports this as well (think Pathfinder New York Absalom).

logic_poet wrote:

{. . .}

That said, I like this theme or idea for a follow-up to Jade Regent. I'd start with the party meeting at a tea house in Kasai, or starting and running such a business, and they would undertake a variety of neighborhood-improvement type projects. In this setup, the gatekeeping to increasing the threat level undertaken might be that as they put on bigger and better special events, they come to meet more powerful potential patrons, who hire them to take up increasingly difficult tasks.
{. . .}

. . . And they come up against increasingly powerful opposing interests.

And specifically for a Jade Regent follow-up, if the PCs grow out of the city, they can make the reverse journey over to Avistan (although the final should probably be somewhere other than Sandpoint, even if that is an intermediate stop for coolness' sake).


logic_poet wrote:
This is kind of like Troubles in Otari or somewhat like Agents of Edgewatch. The original Rise of the Runelords also has an approach exactly like Staffan Johansson suggests.

It's been a while since I played Rise of the Runelords (and we never got through it all the way), but that's not quite how I recall it. Yes, it does have the local to provincial to national stuff going on, but it's fairly linear in each of these segments. There is a loose bit between the goblin raid and the glassworks, but those events are strongly GM-controlled. My preference is for something that's more player-controlled, while at the same time having a main plot running in the background. I think the closest I've seen have been Souls for Smuggler's Shiv, although that lacks a safe-ish home base.

You could get the same expanding effect by using a mega-city like Absalom and expanding from neighborhood to ward to city-wide, but that would lack the exploration part.

Quote:
As to the point about QFG1, as I remember it, every plot related quest is ultimately about the Baron and his household

That's mostly true, and I wouldn't really mind the adventure having a similar connecting-the-threads thing going on either. The Star Wars adventure I mentioned does the same thing: all the parts deal with securing the spy base and making it operational. But there's a lot of player agency in how they do that, and what parts they go after. I think that's an important part of a well-done sand-box: some form of over-arcing goal, so it doesn't just become "Well, what now?"

Quest For Glory handles this first by way of the board at the Adventurer's Guild, which sets out a number of things to do. Some can be done immediately (locate the Healer's ring), while others take the whole game (drive away Baba Yaga). These quests then send you out into the environs, where you meet more people and have more encounters, and those in turn send you off to do other things. But the structure becomes more of a web than a line, and as a result it feels much more organic.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure Pathfinder is the best system for something like that, because of the meteoric rise (maybe not the best simile, but go with it) in power level. An encounter that's a challenge at level 2 will be a pushover at level 4. That's a problem that needs to be dealt with one way or the other, perhaps by the higher-level encounters being clearly signaled, or by not being "unlocked" until enough low-level encounters have been done.


Staffan Johansson wrote:
To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure Pathfinder is the best system for something like that, because of the meteoric rise (maybe not the best simile, but go with it) in power level. An encounter that's a challenge at level 2 will be a pushover at level 4. That's a problem that needs to be dealt with one way or the other, perhaps by the higher-level encounters being clearly signaled, or by not being "unlocked" until enough low-level encounters have been done.

Perhaps with proficiency level removed it could be done? That keeps low level creatures a threat while respecting the increased complexity of higher level creatures.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I think in terms of adventure paths, we should avoid variants in general, and in cases where they are necessary for the story (e.g. Strength of Thousands uses "Free Archetype") we should stick to rules variants that make the PCs more capable rather than ones that make them less capable.

Like I get that there are people who like "proficiency without level" but this is a product that Paizo has to sell, and "your characters are weaker than they would be normally" is a hard thing to sell to the entirety of your audience.


I absolutely hate to rely on references to pop culture, but I would like an AP designed like Dragon Age: Origins. The massive threat to Avistan is Tar-Baphon; have the PCs travel from country to country forming alliances and gathering materials for the war effort to come. From Alkenstar gunsmiths to Halcyon Speakers, to rubbin elbows with Telandia and Azaersi, you could get all the major players in the world to reveal their hand to slap the Whispering Tyrant about. Could be on the scaling of Wrath of the Righteous. A lot of the old APs happened almost completely on the down low. Of the APs I've played, I think of Iron Gods the most in how limited its scope of influence was, and that is something I enjoyed the least as a "hero."


1 person marked this as a favorite.

A sequel to Reign of Winter or Skulls and Shackles. A Viking themed AP. Or a classic horror AP similar to Carrion Crown.


An expansion on my last post. Outside of Ruby Phoenix tournament I have yet to see a PF2 AP that has heavy similarities to a real world culture. Things like shackles and Pirates, Reign of Winter and Russian Folklore, Carrion Crown and Victorian society, War for the Crown and War of the roses, Mummy's Mask and Ancient Egypt.

That's what I would like to see. And if that happens I will finally put down the PF1 stuff and jump to PF2.

The Ruby Phoenix tournament is a great start but unfortunately I don't see anything appealing out there to get a party high enough level to play it.

I'd like to see an AP set on Acadia where there are various peoples drawn from American Indian societies. Aztec would be especially appealing.

Or an Irrisian AP where Anastasia is struggling to change society and the old traditions are proving very hard to change. Look at Peter the Great impact on Russian history for an inspiration.

Return to the shackles - because Pirate themes are always popular but this time have Cheliax put out bounties for notorious pirates. The players are free booters working against the pirates. I would love so see some of the original shackles NPC's revisited a few years later.

Land of the linnorm kings with a Viking theme might be too of much of a male dominated society to put out a gander neutral AP. But maybe a heavy early AP emphasis on shield maidens, female chieftains, etc. to balance it out instead of being a male machismo thing.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

To answer the OP question many posts above, I'd like to say I don't like adventure themes that assume character backgrounds, i.e.: you're all cops, circus performers, evil, assassins, pirates, etc. Players usually want to play the character they want to play, and I don't like restricting them.
I think that now, in the early days of PF2 Adventure Paths, we need more "general use" APs. The themes should be focused on the motivations of the enemies and the types of encounters. Giants with incessant hunger, a lich and his undead cohorts trying to destroy the world of the living, a subterranean empire of drow waging a trade war to undermine the economy of surface world rivals, etc.
If these seem generic or retreading ground from PF1, that's purposeful. PF2 APs are a restart from PF1 - revisit those same themes.


roysier wrote:

An expansion on my last post. Outside of Ruby Phoenix tournament I have yet to see a PF2 AP that has heavy similarities to a real world culture. Things like shackles and Pirates, Reign of Winter and Russian Folklore, Carrion Crown and Victorian society, War for the Crown and War of the roses, Mummy's Mask and Ancient Egypt.

And I left out Jade Regent with a few real world cultural themes, with one module Viking themed, 1 Artic peopled themed(eskimo or sami), a small Mongol section and than Japanese themed.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I just finished reading Druma Prophet and Prophecy and it is the best campaign setting book I've read for Pathfinder. I think an International Intrigue AP heavily but not exclusively located in Druma would be quite something. And really quite novel, one of the things that John and Thursty did an amazing job in the book was both making the country incredibly organic, but also really unique and not like a cheap real world knock-off. I like my inspiration very loose and untethered from reality.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Harles wrote:
{. . .} Giants with incessant hunger, {. . .}

Suddenly, I have this vision of a giant Homer Simpson . . . .


1 person marked this as a favorite.
UnArcaneElection wrote:
Harles wrote:
{. . .} Giants with incessant hunger, {. . .}

Suddenly, I have this vision of a giant Homer Simpson . . . .

Unwittingly sitting at the controls of a nuclear reactor that could bring the end of the world.

I think we have an epic, save-the-world AP concept here.


Let us Combine a few of these ideas. All vigilante party set in Rahadoum trying to fix the ecology but using some gorez clerics or jaidi or other nature gods. hiding behind the mask to fix things. this would be a very CG lean.

Love the Orc idea above but I have an Orc pitch. Set the city building one on the edge of Belkzen and former Lastwall. Or Guild one here.

Please please do the take on Treerazor campaign. It lets you "fix" the elves. We get demons again in a new evil flavor and this could feel alot like the alien plant pitch in this tread.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Davor Firetusk wrote:
I just finished reading Druma Prophet and Prophecy and it is the best campaign setting book I've read for Pathfinder. I think an International Intrigue AP heavily but not exclusively located in Druma would be quite something. And really quite novel, one of the things that John and Thursty did an amazing job in the book was both making the country incredibly organic, but also really unique and not like a cheap real world knock-off. I like my inspiration very loose and untethered from reality.

Druma is the nation that I'd like to see take the lead in reorienting the Eye of Dread region around the return of Tar-Baphon. Maybe Paizo has not wanted to jump into a direct spinoff of Tyrant's Grasp too soon. Jade Regent was four years after Rise of the Runelords, and Shattered Star another year.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I kind of like the idea of "The Americans": The AP. Your party are deep undercover spy ring in a foreign nation. You not only have to run missions each book to thwart particularly important military, economic, and political developments, but you also have to fit in with the neighbors, your co-workers, and... your kids, who don't know you're undercover.

You could call it "The Andorens" or "The Galts Next Door".


^I was toying with the idea of a character for War for the Crown who would have this kind of job.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
AnimatedPaper wrote:
Staffan Johansson wrote:
To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure Pathfinder is the best system for something like that, because of the meteoric rise (maybe not the best simile, but go with it) in power level. An encounter that's a challenge at level 2 will be a pushover at level 4. That's a problem that needs to be dealt with one way or the other, perhaps by the higher-level encounters being clearly signaled, or by not being "unlocked" until enough low-level encounters have been done.
Perhaps with proficiency level removed it could be done? That keeps low level creatures a threat while respecting the increased complexity of higher level creatures.

I was rereading this, and I remembered an adventure I designed (but didn't get a chance to inflict on my friends) for 4e that I called "Blackmire". To sum it up, it was a superadventure based in and around a single location, an extensive swampland called Blackmire that was home to a lizardfolk tribe, a family of black dragons, and beset by explorers from a couple different factions looking through some ruins. My original notes had 5 factions, but I eventually condensed it to 3 (with the option to reintroduce the 2 other factions if I felt the need): a LN order of divine characters, a TN arcane/loremaster faction, and the Lizardfolk/Dragon group. Characters could align with any or all of them, completing missions that all offered.

The important part, and relevant to the quoted text, was that as they completed missions, stuff...happened within the other factions. There was a primordial demigod of madness trapped underneath the swamp, and it would successfully drive whoever the players did not align with insane. The factions would then reinforce themselves, revealing higher level abilities and allies to eventually try and take over Blackmire and release the demigod, with the players (aided by the faction they sided with) having to stop both other groups and a splinter faction of their own (because why waste prep work?).

Anyways, that's how I had planned to keep a 10 level campaign in more or less a sandbox; any challenge left for later got progressively harder because the entire area was progressively getting worse even as the players put out minor, then major, challenges.

Given that this was 4e, I represented ratcheting power increases by having more encounter powers unlocking whenever you wound up facing a particular challenge based on what the party had already done. So if they, say, wiped out the Lizardfolk early, perhaps the dragon is still a young adult and able to be driven off. But if they left them for later, after finding and activating some temples, that same dragon would have encounter powers related to the temples and perhaps a template or 2 slapped on top.

I could see similar methods applied to a PF2 campaign.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

What do folks think the odds of a Mzali-focused AP look like?

It’s a chance for a novel genre turn (espionage/revolution) with clear and interesting good and bad guys (a rebel alliance of oppressed people and marginalized tradition faiths aides by other heroic groups versus an undead tyrant), with the added bonus of a setting the team seems very confident in.

I think it could be great, but I wonder how necessary Walkena is as a big bad for the Mwangi region, given that Usaro has fallen.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
keftiu wrote:

What do folks think the odds of a Mzali-focused AP look like?

It’s a chance for a novel genre turn (espionage/revolution) with clear and interesting good and bad guys (a rebel alliance of oppressed people and marginalized tradition faiths aides by other heroic groups versus an undead tyrant), with the added bonus of a setting the team seems very confident in.

I think it could be great, but I wonder how necessary Walkena is as a big bad for the Mwangi region, given that Usaro has fallen.

While I like everything about this idea personally, the level of xenophobia in Mazali would mean that the AP has to start somewhere else and the the ability and expectation that the whole party be capable of passing themselves off not just as human, but Mwangi is pretty restrictive for an AP.

I do love the setting and story of Muslim, using it heavily in my homebrew, but players really like having freedom when it comes to selecting ancestries, especially in a 20 level adventure.

It could work as a level 10+ AP or as high level module though.


I would agree. The themes sound interesting, but the location limits what they can do with it. Razmir might work better for that purpose.

As a One-Shot or Adventure though, I think Mzali could work.

I’d want to see how the Strength of Thousands AP interacts with Mzali first though. We’ll have a better idea of the location soon.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
keftiu wrote:

What do folks think the odds of a Mzali-focused AP look like?

It’s a chance for a novel genre turn (espionage/revolution) with clear and interesting good and bad guys (a rebel alliance of oppressed people and marginalized tradition faiths aides by other heroic groups versus an undead tyrant), with the added bonus of a setting the team seems very confident in.

I think it could be great, but I wonder how necessary Walkena is as a big bad for the Mwangi region, given that Usaro has fallen.

Strength of Thousands:

Sadly because they are visiting Mzali in Strength of Thousands, I suspect we won't see more from Walkena for a little while. Just reminding us he's a threat, and leaving him waiting for a few years is my expectation.


vagrant-poet wrote:
keftiu wrote:

What do folks think the odds of a Mzali-focused AP look like?

It’s a chance for a novel genre turn (espionage/revolution) with clear and interesting good and bad guys (a rebel alliance of oppressed people and marginalized tradition faiths aides by other heroic groups versus an undead tyrant), with the added bonus of a setting the team seems very confident in.

I think it could be great, but I wonder how necessary Walkena is as a big bad for the Mwangi region, given that Usaro has fallen.

** spoiler omitted **

I didn’t know that! Are the synopses for Strength of Thousands posted somewhere?


1 person marked this as a favorite.
keftiu wrote:
vagrant-poet wrote:
keftiu wrote:

What do folks think the odds of a Mzali-focused AP look like?

It’s a chance for a novel genre turn (espionage/revolution) with clear and interesting good and bad guys (a rebel alliance of oppressed people and marginalized tradition faiths aides by other heroic groups versus an undead tyrant), with the added bonus of a setting the team seems very confident in.

I think it could be great, but I wonder how necessary Walkena is as a big bad for the Mwangi region, given that Usaro has fallen.

** spoiler omitted **
I didn’t know that! Are the synopses for Strength of Thousands posted somewhere?

Just the blurbs on the upcoming books, the one mentioned is the 4th book I believe. I'm very interested by that one in particular. It seems to be a grand tour of the Expanse in general as an AP.


vagrant-poet wrote:
keftiu wrote:
vagrant-poet wrote:
keftiu wrote:

What do folks think the odds of a Mzali-focused AP look like?

It’s a chance for a novel genre turn (espionage/revolution) with clear and interesting good and bad guys (a rebel alliance of oppressed people and marginalized tradition faiths aides by other heroic groups versus an undead tyrant), with the added bonus of a setting the team seems very confident in.

I think it could be great, but I wonder how necessary Walkena is as a big bad for the Mwangi region, given that Usaro has fallen.

** spoiler omitted **
I didn’t know that! Are the synopses for Strength of Thousands posted somewhere?
Just the blurbs on the upcoming books, the one mentioned is the 4th book I believe. I'm very interested by that one in particular. It seems to be a grand tour of the Expanse in general as an AP.

I’m desperately hoping volume 5 actually goes to Akiton, instead of just centering on the Door to the Red Star itself.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

As I understand it, RPG books like direct market comics are solicited to retailers before they are sent to the printer which generally includes some summary of the contents, since the retailer response of "how much to order" is useful to base on something more substantial than the title and cover.

So we just have the solicits for the first 4 Strength of Thousands books.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.
vagrant-poet wrote:
keftiu wrote:

What do folks think the odds of a Mzali-focused AP look like?

It’s a chance for a novel genre turn (espionage/revolution) with clear and interesting good and bad guys (a rebel alliance of oppressed people and marginalized tradition faiths aides by other heroic groups versus an undead tyrant), with the added bonus of a setting the team seems very confident in.

I think it could be great, but I wonder how necessary Walkena is as a big bad for the Mwangi region, given that Usaro has fallen.

** spoiler omitted **

I mean Walkena was CR 16 in 1e. You are around that level in that ap book.

I think implication is that there might not be Walkena after that book anymore <_<

201 to 250 of 763 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Path / General Discussion / What "Themes" do you want to see tackled in an AP? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.