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Hello, I'm interested in running Dooms as looked fun but some of my players who aren't very experienced with Golarion expressed some concern that this looked too similar to Abom Vaults which has been their only other AP. They enjoyed AV but we only got through the 1st book, and aren't sure if they want to do another "small town next to a megadungeon" adventure. Also none of us have played the original Rise of the Runelords so there's less nostalgia factor for us. I love a good dungeon but perhaps I should consider a different AP with more roleplay potential? They are excited with the idea of starting at lvl 4 instead of lvl 1, and would love to see options to start at mid-early level for similar adventures in the future!
Maybe for someone who's had a chance to look more at the adventure, what do you feel the ratio of 'megadungeon' to roleplay or even other types of encounters?
Thanks!
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This is a fair question that is pretty subjective to answer. I will do my best to talk about the pros and cons of 7 dooms for the party you describe and why it might still be a good fit, as well as some thoughts about other APs that might fit.
A whole lot of APs are going to have one town that serves as the "civilization" nearby where a lot of social encounters and opportunities will reveal themselves. Sometimes, these exist just for one book, or maybe 2, but it is a very common trope that theoretically could get stale, but a whole lot of that depends upon how they are written.
Sandpoint in this book is probably one of the best examples of this I have ever seen and is going to be much more involved in the story than Otari was for Abomination Vaults. I really liked Abomination Vaults, but the web of factions and NPCs in Sandpoint is basically a whole social/PR adventure combined into mega dungeon crawl, and even better, it does all of this in the AP itself, utilizing already existing game rules and terminology, so you don't have a lot of work to do as a GM to make the town come alive as more than just the place to go sell your stuff after a day of adventuring.
As far as the backstory, yes, 7 dooms is tied to about 4 first edition APs, with lots of easter eggs...but it is also a really good summary and collection point for over 10 years of PF1 lore about Varisia, the Runelords, some demons, and even some bizarre cosmic horror stuff, all of which stand on their own pretty well. You get the info you need to make these plots meaningful and the AP has multiple opportunities to use the game's research system for your party to engage in learning more about these mysteries and myths of the region.
Dungeon Ecology. Paizo does dungeon ecology very, very well. Abomination vaults had a very interesting dungeon ecology, very closely tied to its main plot. I think the dungeon ecology of 7 dooms is even better though and there are tons of opportunities for you as the GM to let NPCs grovel and deal in this AP. THe "everyone fights to the death" vibe of many APs is deliberately limited in 7 dooms, and there are delightful NPCs that will happily help you kill a rival only to betray you later, or to run off and cause problems down the road. Abomination vaults had a fair bit of this too, but almost every level of the mega dungeon in 7 dooms has an NPC with goals and motivations that don't line up with the rest of their supposed allies. So even in the dungeon there are going to be lots of role playing opportunities and chances for the players to do more than clear room after room.
That said, a very large chunk of this AP is going to be dungeon crawling. There are maps provided to do your own wilderness and traveling adventures to mix in, if you want to, but you will have to do a lot of that homebrew work on your own. This Adventure Path ending at level 12 leaves you a lot of room to add in some other kinds of adventure, even in the middle of this one, if you want your PCs to gain half a level or possibly even a whole level in the middle, as well as creating a party that will be able to travel around afterwards and continue their adventures if you want to.
SO if it is just the idea of an AP set in a small town next to a big scary dungeon that is off putting to your group at this point, you might want to consider a different adventure. Seasons of Ghosts features a really well built small town, but is a lot more than a dungeon crawl, and has a lot of social and other types of encounters. Strength of Thousands is another AP that really veers away from dungeon crawling with some cool places to go, but it is a full 1 to 20 AP, which might be a big ask for your group if you all wanted to move on from Abomination Vaults after 1 book. If your group is interested in something shorter, set at a different level, in a very different kind of place than Otari or Sandpoint, I would actually recommend The Slithering module. it starts at 5th level, has a good mix of different kinds of encounters, and has a setting that really feels different from the classical fantasy RPG settings of Otari and Sandpoint. I ran it for a group and they had a lot of fun with it. I would still highly recommend 7 dooms, but maybe take a break from dungeon crawling with a module before returning?
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Really appreciate the detailed response! We've been playing some other systems between AV and now a return to pf2e so perhaps their palate has been cleaned for more megadungeon :) I enjoyed Otari but indeed felt like my group didn't really need to interact with it that much. I know in book 2 there was a bit more town plot but overall they weren't too interested in Otari. From reading a bit of the players book, Sandpoint sounds much more exciting and I know we're missing tons of nostalgia hooks that I'm sure other players will love.
Thanks!
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If you have enough time available, you might want to kind of recreate the nostalgia by using this possibility shared by James Jacobs himself to bring PCs to 4th level :
"Convert "Burnt Offerings" (the 1st adventure from Rise of the Runelords), and then have the PCs take 17 years off after they finish that adventure to live in Sandpoint as citizens, before continuing with "Seven Dooms for Sandpoint.""
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If you have enough time available, you might want to kind of recreate the nostalgia by using this possibility shared by James Jacobs himself to bring PCs to 4th level :
"Convert "Burnt Offerings" (the 1st adventure from Rise of the Runelords), and then have the PCs take 17 years off after they finish that adventure to live in Sandpoint as citizens, before continuing with "Seven Dooms for Sandpoint.""
If you're less worried about the nostalgia, Rusthenge is nearby and runs from 1st to 4th. It also deals with a remnant of Thassilon.