It can spread further beyond Alkenstar if you want, but it should at least start there!
The upcoming gazetteer in Guns & Gears has me /very/ curious about it, and the Impossible Lands are some of the most unique corners of the core setting.
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Hmm.
Thematically I'd like to see more of it's aesthetics include Garundi themes. It was founded by people fleeing Nex/Geb, but is also the "Wild West cowboy" part of the core. So I'm okay with long brown duster coats, and wide-brimmed hats, but I'd like to see that the people there are as diverse as we'd see in Quantinum, and some nods in the art towards the Horn of Africa or Sudanese/Ethiopian elements would be cool.
Make it explicit that it isn't just the American frontier ported into the setting, but a unique and ultimately African-rooted region which has some similar themes and aesthetics.
Purely thematic stuff, but an AP gets a lot of NPCs, and NPC art, and playing through a region and meeting those characters sets an understanding for a region better than any lore book would in many ways.
As for plot/villains? I suspect clockwork monster inventor goes to far would be appropriate, but there's already been a bit of that lately.
I’m wondering if you might span the whole region in some kind of political thriller; dealing with dissent in Dongun Hold, clashing with the spies of Jalmeray’s famed Conservatory, and working to prevent a devastating return to war between Nex and Geb.
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Maybe. APs often come in 2/3 part sub-arcs.
But I think an Alkenstar-themed AP would only leave Alkenstar once. I'd dig a book 5 journey to Jalmeray to unlock the final bosses weakness.
On the other hand, a 1-10 AP in Alkenstar which is more gritty and political followed by a separate 11-20 high level AP in Nex/Jalmeray would let both parts of the region tell concise thematically appropriate stories, and let PCs easily move from one campaign to the other in a way that isn't quite as round-about as Abomination Vaults -> Fists of the Ruby Phoenix.
Gunslingers + Magi + Tinkers = steampunk alkenstar shenanigans?
me likes.
How is that Magus working in a dead magic zone?
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My initial thinking is a Gebbite invasion of Alkenstar. One thing I can't think I've ever heard of Paizo doing (although I could totally be wrong about this) is doing a siege type campaign. This need not be the entire AP, but for a book? That would be pretty awesome, and would fit amazingly with the gun splatbook coming out. Imagine trying to survive a siege where you are fighting off the undead with guns, and you have to figure out how to do that while still producing ammo.
There was talk a while back about a campaign focused on a fantasy postal service, I would start such an adventure in the impossible lands, and especially in Alkenstar. Start with deliveries within Alkenstar City, branch out to the surrounding settlements, then eventually get tasked with crossing the spellscar to deliver messages and recruit allies from dangerous areas all around. Perhaps go to the Shattered Range and recruit a wild magic dragon to help with the war that Geb and Nex are building to, or deliver a message to and from Valkus Isle despite the odds, or disguise yourselves as ghouls to help spies in Geb. Meanwhile clash with spies trying to tamper with communications hoping to keep peace in the region by stopping anyone from travelling across the spellscar. I think there's a really interesting terrain to play around with for a campaign focused on pitting the PCs against the enviornment.
My initial thinking is a Gebbite invasion of Alkenstar. One thing I can't think I've ever heard of Paizo doing (although I could totally be wrong about this) is doing a siege type campaign. This need not be the entire AP, but for a book? That would be pretty awesome, and would fit amazingly with the gun splatbook coming out. Imagine trying to survive a siege where you are fighting off the undead with guns, and you have to figure out how to do that while still producing ammo.
Book 4 of Reign of Winter has a siege. And the pcs even got to decide which side of the siege they are on
I too would absolutely love an Alkenstar AP, but...my party has not made the jump to 2e and I don't think I could persuade them to even if I wanted to. As a result, I have not purchased any of the 2e APs, even though a few of them--particularly Agents of Edgewatch, Abomination Vaults, and Ruby Phoenix tournament--seem really cool.
You'll have to forgive me if this question's been asked a zillion times, but I don't frequent these message boards: Is there a way Paizo could be persuaded to publish 1e conversion guides, either in PDF or hard copy? I'm sure there's enough of a market out there for them to sell and believe me, I'd love to throw more money at Paizo if I had a reason.
Kind regards,
-GoW
This would quite literally double their mechanical workload. It’s not happening.
They made 1e for a decade; I expect them to make 2e for a decade.
You'll have to forgive me if this question's been asked a zillion times, but I don't frequent these message boards: Is there a way Paizo could be persuaded to publish 1e conversion guides, either in PDF or hard copy? I'm sure there's enough of a market out there for them to sell and believe me, I'd love to throw more money at Paizo if I had a reason.
I'm not sure there's a large enough market to justify doing twice the work on their flagship product, only to have that work result in raising demand for books they are no longer printing or a system they are no longer supporting and pulling attention away from books they are still printing. I suspect you'll have better luck organizing PF1 fans and players to create community-generated conversion guides online than you will trying to get Paizo to do more work on a system they've left behind. There's a discord server somewhere for converting PF1 adventures to PF2, perhaps starting something similar and advertising it on the PF1 messageboards, the Pathfinder_RPG subreddit, and other online communities will yield good results.
As a 2e GM who's done a bit of 1e-to-2e conversion, the bulk of any issues I've had with it has been 2e not having the same number of options or creature templates to build out some of the more specific 1e creatures and NPC's with. I would think that 1e, with its six bestiaries and dozens of splatbooks, would have more than enough material to backport 2e content enough to not need an official guide. Maybe look at the 1e-to-2e conversion doc they put out near 2e's lifecycle and do it backwards?
On the subject of the thread's actual question, however, as someone who is not wildly familiar with Alkenstar but who is pretty experienced in running weird west games, it could be fun to have some portion of the story involve chasing a fleeing outlaw into the Mana Wastes, where some ancient blasted ruin or mutated monstrosity complicates things. That's more of a scenario pitch than an AP one, though.
What themes or driving moral or philosophical underpinnings drive Alkenstar? I know they're a technological nation stuck in a magical dead zone between two mystical super powers, but I don't know much about what the average citizen or fervent patriot believe in. Independence, maybe?
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I would structure the AP with "nobody can play a caster" (though focus spells work fine) only to retroactively dual-class everybody with sorcerer once you leave the mana wastes. You see, you all had magic blood you just didn't know it having lived in Alkenstar.
Make the Alkenstar portion of the AP involve a lot of intrigue and social stuff so people don't just crater their charisma.
Play the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly soundtrack?
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Seems like we called it, folks!
Seems like we called it, folks!Was an alkenstar AP announced?
Yes! https://paizo.com/products/btq02ajl/discuss?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-178-P unks-in-a-Powderkeg
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If there's not a showdown on a speeding train, I will both suprised and disappointed.
Super hyped for this one!!
