Hi all, I am looking to run this campaign for my players as it sounds like it fits in with the kind of game they want and I want (I really like the planet travel part and fairy tale parts).
However, I have run multiple APs before and my experience doing all the way back to Shackaled City is there is usually either a chunk or one entire adventure that could be cut out and have no impact on the story. Does this AP suffer any such issues?
And also just any other GM”gotchas” I should be wary of. Thank you.
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Honestly, with how it's written, books 3, or 4 could be taken out. I don't suggest that, mind you, I think they're all a blast but, yeah, there's not much connective tissue between them.
For advice:
The AP requires buy-in from your players. It's about helping someone evil in order to stop someone that's more evil. (I played Baba Yaga's evil sort of a "teaching people lessons even if it kills them" type of character). It's okay if not everyone wants is eager to help her, but they have to understand that it's neccessary. (My group wasn't sure if one of the PCs was going to attack her at the end, two of the other PCs wanted to join her, and if it came down to a PvP fight no one was sure which characters the fourth PC would side with. And it worked GREAT! There wasn't inter-party fighting but there was tension.)
The weather rules as written can kill your group at the Winter Portal. I always suggest the expanded weather rules in Ultimate Wilderness. And don't play the enemies to their maximum potential. It will be a frustrating fight that people (probably) don't enjoy, and has a decent chance of being a TPK or causing the group to have to flee even if they are fully prepared. (Also, the snow is meant to be a pain at first and then the PCs will find ways to overcome it. Be glad when they do because it's annoying to deal with all the time.)
I ran it on a VTT and the paperminis have (what I consider) to be pretty nice art and made it easier than searching for images for the tokens.
The PCs should go to level 2 directly after the lodge (it's poorly worded in the book) and some people have suggested to level the party BEFORE the lodge because of how deadly it can be.
For book 2, write out a timeline of the events and encounters as they're blended in together in-game but separate in the book.
Book 3 was pretty straightforward but with a confusing dungeon, I think. The fight at the pit in book 3 was nearly a TPK so watch for that. (And book 3 can age PCs and give them negatives if they're not careful.)
Book 4 likely has the PCs go through a tunnel but doesn't really describe the end. I think there was an important item in the book and I made it so that it could heat up and melt the ice at the end.
The most exciting book (book 5) is fantastic but nearly right away falls into feeling like it could take place on Golarion. To fix that, pick up On the Siberian Line. Trust me. Action, intrigue, spies, fighting on train roofs! One of the best add-ins I've ever read. The players learning where they were before they left the house had such a great reaction we had to take a break for a little while before continuing. PCs hearing the "loud drone of possibly giant dragonflies" shortly after they left the hut had them confused until the bi-plane came into view.
"Rasputin" was reputed to mean "the debauched one" so when his name would first appear I used the meaning rather than his direct name (because translation magic doesn't neccessarily understand proper nouns (and that way it was more fun when they first faced him).
I LOVED book 6 and I know at least some people on here will disagree with me. But the atmosphere of it, the calmness, the otherwordliness... I thought it was great. It tied in to Baba Yaga's origin and it made sense even if it wasn't some huge, dramatic, epic place.
Trap for the players to watch out for: Winter Witch or ice-based casters / weapons feel thematically appropriate but are a terrible choices as too many things are immune to cold.
Thank you!
Book 3 was so incredibly long. I had all the three maps fused in one giant map to seamlessly move from one dungeon to the other so it was really long until they realised that they were moving from one to the other. At some point they had done like 2/3 of the adventure but thought that they were like at the end of the first dungeon of three. In retrospect it was a very bad idea, since the players thought it was too long and dragging on.
It's still full of interesting lore. So run the adventure, but be sure that your group understands how far they are in their progression.
Book 4 is really disconnected from the rest of the adventure path. The final dungeon is very cool and a nice boss fight, and the siege is nice too.
Just as warped Savant said, On the siberian line is a freakin masterpiece and fits perfectly between book 4 and 5. (I asked my players if they wanted to do a nice sidequest that would suspend XP progression, everyone agreed and everybody enjoyed the adventure).
However, adding on the siberian line makes this AP a 7 modules adventure, which is getting long. Maybe shorten book 4, so it doesn't feels stretched.
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Book 3 was so incredibly long... At some point they had done like 2/3 of the adventure but thought that they were like at the end of the first dungeon of three. In retrospect it was a very bad idea, since the players thought it was too long and dragging on.
Something to help with this (because I didn't let the players know how far along they were at all) is to have each of the dungeons mood and descriptions feel very different from each other so they might realize that it's three inconnected ones.
EG: The Maiden was new and fresh and young (EG: stone looked newly carved), The Mother had more life in it (EG: the air smell like spring / flowers) the Crone was heavy, dark, and oppresive (EG: light didn't go as far, weird echoes, floors had obviously signs of wear / well-walked paths worn into the stone). I had Jadrenka show up in each because the players (and myself) really liked her. OH! I made it so that it didn't seem like SHE was attacking the PCs! Hold on, let me find my notes!Okay, I had to change some of the details to make Marislova and some of the interpersonal politics of the inhabitants make sense. I don't remember how it's written but I changed it so that Jadrenka was super insecure about Marislova (Kyrisyana had convinced Jadrenka that something was going on between Kyrisyana and Marislova, Marislova was trying to convince Jadrenka that Kyrisyana was lying and Marislova had had enough and just wanted to get out of the dungeon and away from everyone in it.)
As I said, I didn't like the actions between the hag coven and Jadrenka so instead of using the book as written I changed it so that Jadrenka had been weaked by her fight against Vsevolod, the coven was then able to trap her in an extradimensional space. Jadrenka was able to reach out and "project" herself occasionally but the hags knew she was doing it and would send things after her and the PCs that forced Jadrenka to retreat / disappear to the extradimensional space again. (So while talking she was looking over her shoulder and was obviously scared. That way it was the hags intiating the attacks and not Jadrenka.) Jadrenka also couldn't simply tell the PCs what was going on because part of the ritual that bound her to the extradimensional space prevented her from being able to talk about certain things. Once the three hags are dead Jadrenka is deposited back into Artrosa and can teleport to where the PCs are (assuming she wants to) and explain anything the PCs missed out on.
In D7 I had writing on the wall or a note or something that said: "There is a cancer in the womb of the crone, preventing the warden from protecting this place. To face the Curse of Eons, you must have time on your side.” so that the PCs had an idea of what they were supposed to do.
Book 4 is really disconnected from the rest of the adventure path. The final dungeon is very cool and a nice boss fight, and the siege is nice too.
Just as warped Savant said, On the siberian line is a freakin masterpiece and fits perfectly between book 4 and 5. (I asked my players if they wanted to do a nice sidequest that would suspend XP progression, everyone agreed and everybody enjoyed the adventure).
However, adding on the siberian line makes this AP a 7 modules adventure, which is getting long. Maybe shorten book 4, so it doesn't feels stretched.
My players really liked book 4 so we ended up to stretch it out a little / they took time off after everything was finished in the final dungeon in order to explore the world more and so they could be celebrated for the heroes they are (which doesn't happen enough in this AP so the happiness and merriment was a nice distraction. (I ignored the gaes 'cause i didn't like the idea of it and I knew the players that took on the Black Mantle* wouldn't drag there feet with getting things done so it felt unneccessary.)
*One of my players refused the Black Mantle knowing that it meant he wouldn't get +2 to a stat of his choice.
I liked Siberian Line enough that after buying the PDF I decided I wanted the physical book enough to order it off of drivethruRPG. I cannot express how much I like that module.
I use milestone levelling so XP wasn't a problem, and the players know I add stuff so levels are sometimes longer than they would normally be. I think I had them start the book (in the hut) as level 13, levelled to 14 at the end of Siberian line, then went with the spots listed in the AP.
And I ended up to add The Witchwar Legacy to the end of the campaign, making it nearly 8 modules long :)
(For Witchwar Legacy I gave them a Mythic rank and had Kostchtchie recreating Rasputin's body in the final place in Witchwar Legacy which he was going to use to manifest himself on Golarion)... Here, I'll put the plot details I used for that behind a spoiler:
(Don't forget, Kostchtchie is based off of real-world Koschei, so Rasputin knows him as Koschei.)
He goes to Rasputin and promises to elevate him to if he can lock her up.
Rasputin gets Elvanna to help in return for the promise of her ruling all of Golarian and gaining their mother's power.
She's doing the ritual, which is giving Kostchtchie more power.
Since Rasputin died Kostchtchie has recreated his body in The Witchwar Legacy and is using Rasputin's body to return to Golarian.
Baba Yaga knows where Kostchtchie will be reborn as she knows where the Torc is. She'll only tell the group if they release her from the matryoshoka doll.
As a warning, if you add in On the Siberian Line and are using a VTT, the maps all have the tags on them so I had to edit them or find alternative maps to use.
(My group plays in person but we use a VTT 'cause I don't like drawing maps and the digital ones look better)
It fits in to the point that it replaces Part 2 of the actual book.
There's a bit of a connection between some of the enemies and Baba Yaga, and it includes an investigation / quest to learn where to actually go for the next part of the adventure.
Book 4 is totally fine and fun, it's just the one that feels the most disconnected.
The integration of siberian line is a perfect fit. It grounds the adventure even more in reality than just doing book 5, improves on the military aspect, makes russia feel larger, introduces the most lovable NPC of the AP (well, except Nadya).
DO NOT miss this opportunity ;)
Book 4 is totally fine and fun, it's just the one that feels the most disconnected.
The integration of siberian line is a perfect fit. It grounds the adventure even more in reality than just doing book 5, improves on the military aspect, makes russia feel larger, introduces the most lovable NPC of the AP (well, except Nadya).
DO NOT miss this opportunity ;)
Lance Corporal Samuel Hooley!
Such a wonderful character!Snezhana Bovarina was also a favourite of my group.
Hopefully we didn't hype it up too much for you; I hope you enjoy it.
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My players got somewhat frustrated at the lack of meaningful progress in books 3 and 4, and the overall disjointedness of locations in 3, 4, and 6.
Book 1: We help the locals and learn the main objective of the AP is to save Baba Yaga.
Book 2: We rescue/acquire the hut, which is cool and necessary.
Book 3: We get some keys for the hut to take us to the next place?
Book 4: Oh, those keys didn't take us to the right place, so we have to find other keys this time.
Book 5: Oh, this dude actually has Baba Yaga. Weird. How do we open this?
Book 6: Why is this how we open this? Stopping Elvanna is obv important, but it's odd the process for actually freeing Baba Yaga. Lotta locations feel very disjointed (because they literally are).
I really hate that Paizo doesn't have email notifications, so I missed these replies. Thanks, everyone, good ideas. I especially like adding Siberian and Witchwar.