So, there's this idea that's been in my head for a while, of running a gestalt-style campaign where all the players take Vigilante levels on one side of their build, really lean into a 'party as superhero team' idea. Having recently wrapped up a long term campaign, and now getting the itch to DM again, I'm trying to decide what the right AP to use for the concept would be. The various urban campaigns--Curse of the Crinson Throne, Hell's Rebels, and War for the Crown--seem like obvious choices, but if the party's going full four-color heroics, there might be something to a more gonzo tale with higher stakes. Curious if the community has any opinions, suggestions, or advice!
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We talked at length about exactly this, Gestalt/one-side-Vigilante with Council of Thieves. Of course, those discussions were years before 'Hells R-&-V' or WftC were published. At the time I was really hoping to play in a Gestalt, evil-PC, campaign of CoT. It never panned out, though.
Considering all the options for APs now, hmm,.... I actually think the best choice for this is Blood Lords! My second recommendation is Agents of Edgewatch and followed by the three older APs, Second Darkness, Council of Thieves and in fifth, War for the Crown.
When you look at actual gameplay (rather than what may 'sound' good), those are my five. The two Cheliax APs, Rebels & Vengeance, I think have many moments each where a Vigilante group may ruin the fun of the games' conceit. And the second half of CotCT just ain't made for the Vigilante.
A lot of those are definitely not what I expected. I'd love to hear your thoughts in more detail about what makes those good options, and why you think Vigilante stuff would be counterproductive to Hell's Rebels.
Edgewater and Blood Lords do seem tricky, since I'd have to back-convert them to PF1E.
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I think that much of the 'as-intended' roleplay of Hells Rebels relies on the possibility of the PCs, um, getting caught(?). Maybe, like, the textbook example of when the Commune spell or the Locate Object spell effectively ruins the adventure -- and DMs have to plan ahead to think of inventive, out-of-the-box ways to circumvent potential problems with divination spells.
I will point out, admittedly, that I read your OP again just now and perhaps interpreted your intentions a little incorrectly. I missed the "Super Hero Team" purpose, which is never how I viewed the Vigilante Class (unlike my peers among gamers, I have zero background in comics).
I think that if you're going with the super hero / alter ego vibe, Agents of Edgewatch probably is ahead of the others.
Take a really close look, though, at SD and CoT. I don't know how tricky it would be for you to convert the two PF2 campaigns, but the really early APs, and obviously WftC, ought to seem quite doable.
(I wish I had time to grab those APs off the shelf for a quick perusal to give specifics -- but it's tax season and I have business obligations.)
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Council of Thieves certainly has premises which would be a magnificent fit for suoer hero themes, between power plays in an entrenched crime family, the Shadowcurse, and the small-v vigilante revolutionary group. They never seemed to quite mesh together very well on my previous read-throughs of that AP, though, and the last point definitely feels like it was done better in Hell's Rebels. Vigilante secret identities do make it more difficult for the Thrunes to figure out who the Silver Ravens are, but it doesn't strike me as so foolproof as to be problematic, and there might even be a benefit to the players having a ready-made explanation for why the Thrunes can't track them down as easily as their resources might suggest.
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We ran Hell's Rebels for a little bit, and tragically, one of our players suggested that we should have all run "Magical Child" vigilantes, a.k.a. Sailor Moon.
It's only a tragedy if your table didn't go for it :V
Probably worth noting that in Paizo canon, at least one former Hell's Rebels PC was a Vigilante (this remains her NPC descriptor in 2E products).
We ran Hell's Rebels for a little bit, and tragically, one of our players suggested that we should have all run "Magical Child" vigilantes, a.k.a. Sailor Moon.But who would be Tuxedo Mask?
