Lack of the Circus?

[Barator]

A game that I was in the GM doesn't have time to continue, so I'm looking at trying to step up to runn something. The concept of the Circus AP excited me greatly, and so even though I would be converting it out of PF2, I wanted to take a look at Extinction Curse.

Minor EC Spoilers:

I have heard that book 1 is the most circus oriented of the books, and the only one where a performance is built into the story.

But book 1 has nearly nothing to do with the circus. Most everything in it is just a light atmosphere of circus during the first chapter, and after that it feels like the author just went down the road of very standard D&D adventure.

Do the later books actually involve the circus that much? I have heard that this was an unfortunate bait and switch (comparable to Second Darkness) where the Circus isn't very important and could be completely dropped and the rest of the game would continue normally.

I guess I have answers to the my concerns from other reviews, but kinda hope someone can save this thought and tell me that EC becomes a wonderful and circus filled game, rather than false promises.

Thanks for reading!

[Paul Watson]

Barator wrote:

A game that I was in the GM doesn't have time to continue, so I'm looking at trying to step up to runn something. The concept of the Circus AP excited me greatly, and so even though I would be converting it out of PF2, I wanted to take a look at Extinction Curse.

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for reading!

The Circus of Wayward Wonders is very much a backdrop and stage setting to a fairly traditional adventure. It mostly serves as the plot device for moving the players to where they need to be and providing a consistent core of NPCs to role-play around. You can enhance the circus by giving more focus to the performances, but that is not the AP as written.

There are times in the adventure path where using your circus performance gives bonuses but they are not especially frequent. There is also a minor "gotta catch 'em all" focus of recruiting new acts with several prospects in each adventure.

[Barator]

Thank you Paul. That is what I had seen referenced in many posts, but very clearly stated in your comment here.
I sadly don't think that the AP is for me and think it is very sad that they didn't make the circus the story.
Time to look at others...