PF2E Adventure Path themes and motifs


Pathfinder Adventure Path General Discussion


My group recently finished Age of Ashes, and I'm trying to figure out which AP to play next.
It takes us more than a year to finish an AP, so I'd like to make sure the characters that are made really fits in the story and is one my players will enjoy playing.

To achieve this, I think it would help if my players knew the themes and motifs of said adventures before character creation. I've read through the various player guides, but I haven't purchased Extinction's Curse, Agents of Edgewatch, or Abomination Vaults APs yet.

I'd like to ask the people who have played or GM'd these APs, what are their themes and motifs?

For reference, my impression of the themes and motifs of Age of Ashes are:

Themes:
fighting for freedom, embracing different cultures

Motifs:
dragons and slavers

Also, if you think a particular AP strongly leans towards combat or roleplay, I'd like to know beforehand as well. Age of Ashes had a good balance throughout all books.


I have only GMed part of the way through Age of Ashes, though I am currently prepping Abomination Vaults. So far, I'm noticing it is a megadungeon with mostly combat/traps/etc. While it seems the default assumption is that all monsters are there to be killed, there are a handful of potential roleplaying opportunities. At least during the first book there is little variety in location. (Like you don't leave the dungeon and do missions in town, etc.) Lots of undead (at least in the first volume).
It is also a shorter AP (half the size of AoA), so it won't require the same amount of time or player commitment to complete.


Running AoE right now, I would say it has themes of corruption, betrayal, and resentment. It seems that many of the major players in this AP have been let down by the system or have twisted the system to their benefit. Motifs? That's a bit trickier, though as a GM, I would (and do) work in the many aspects of Norgorber: murder, poison, secrets, and thievery (though this comes up less frequently). The evils represented in this game work best when directly opposing the virtues of the players, but if you have the sort of group that's up for it, showing them the rationale for why resorting to those levels could be effective. Even tempting them. I, personally, have a player who started assisting in smuggling because she found it was helping an under-represented people and was something her boss (whom she hates) opposed strongly.

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