Pathfinder 1E Wondering which are the best Paizo APs?

Aloïsius · Apr 15, 2015

Morrus said:
No, that's the strength of this kind of list. It's an aggregate because everybody does not have the same taste.

I understand your point of view...
However, I wonder if some kind of sliders could be done.
Sandboxy<------------------>Railroady (should find a non derogatory term... Linear ?)
Epic <----------------------->Gritty
Bash'n Slash <------------->social interaction/plot heavy

Of course, that's because I'm lazy and can't read tons of reviews to select the AP I should buy.

gamerprinter · Apr 15, 2015

Tastes will always be different, consider that because Giant Slayer is more typical fantasy, I won't look, as I'm far from interested in generic fantasy - I prefer the oddballs like Carrion Crown and Iron Gods, while I wanted to like Jade Regent (since I was a contributing author) it was too much a travelog across the known world with only the last portion dealing with Asia - someplace I wanted to play in. I didn't care for the major part being a caravan ride across half the world, thus JR wasn't my cup of tea.

Which is why in my Kaidan, Curse of the Golden Spear trilogy, which like JR involves a party of "westerners" visiting the far east, the travel time to get there is hand-waved, as the true goal of my trilogy is spending time in fantasy Japan, not spending 3/4's of PCs level acquisition just getting there.

Starfox · Apr 15, 2015

Morrus, sometimes I want to both laugh at and give Xp for a post. Like yours above!

gamerprinter said:
Tastes will always be different, consider that because Giant Slayer is more typical fantasy, I won't look, as I'm far from interested in generic fantasy - I prefer the oddballs like Carrion Crown and Iron Gods, while I wanted to like Jade Regent (since I was a contributing author) it was too much a travelog across the known world with only the last portion dealing with Asia - someplace I wanted to play in. I didn't care for the major part being a caravan ride across half the world, thus JR wasn't my cup of tea.

Its easy enough to skip the first 3 adventures in Jade Oath and go straight to the ending. A better idea is probably to play Kaidan-style adventures until you have the appropriate level and standing to do the last three.

But yeah, Jade Oath is a strange centaur; forequarters is an arctic trek, hindquarters is a Japanese ghost story.

gamerprinter · Apr 15, 2015

Starfox said:
Morrus, sometimes I want to both laugh at and give Xp for a post. Like yours above!

Its easy enough to skip the first 3 adventures in Jade Oath and go straight to the ending. A better idea is probably to play Kaidan-style adventures until you have the appropriate level and standing to do the last three.

But yeah, Jade Oath is a strange centaur; forequarters is an arctic trek, hindquarters is a Japanese ghost story.

True enough, but I prefer a lower level game, so I was looking forward to being a lower level PC in the orient, not a 9th to 12 level PC before I first arrived in Tian Xia. If playing a Kaidan style game, I'd have little reason to leave Kaidan and finish in the city of Kasai - the Jade Regent being an alternative stand-in for the emperor is counter to the way Kaidan's empire works. There isn't an easy way to have an alternative to the emperor of Kaidan - the current one is the same one from Kaidan's founding 700 years ago - the emperor of Kaidan is a ghost trapped in a five year old's mind and body with his grandfather, a graveknight and Shogun, as the actual ruler. The politics that makes for the Jade Regent concept to work, doesn't fit Kaidan canon.

BTW, its "Jade Regent", not Jade Oath which is analog China from Rite Publishing, something quite different than JR.

Darkrist · May 25, 2015

Rise of the Runelords

Darkrist · May 25, 2015

Kingmaker

Darkrist · May 25, 2015

Legacy of Fire.........

Starfox · May 25, 2015

Darkrist said:
Legacy of Fire.........

This is an outlier, most people seem to think this is a weak AP and it has low ratings in the reviews section. But I'd gladly hear what makes it the best one - sometimes all a product needs is to look at it from a new angle.

Lord_Blacksteel · Aug 3, 2015

One more consideration: Did those rating a particular AP just read it? Did they run it? Did they play through it? if they played or ran how far did they get? Quite a few reviews of long adventures like these are from an "I read it" perspective and while there's some value in that, I would be a lot more interested in the views from someone who has actually run through them. I realize there's no easy way to screen for those. I am running Wrath of the Righteous right now and so far I would rate it pretty highly, but that's only "so far". Once it's finished though I hope to be able to contribute something more than "It's great! - Five stars!"

ETA: As I write this, Giantslayer is ranked 2nd and the final adventure came out last month. Both reviews mention only having read it and not played it. I suspect the rankings will regularly jump all over the place for the newer APs.

Jeff Lee · Aug 5, 2015

As a GM, I've run Curse of the Crimson Throne (back in 3.5), Second Darkness (converting from 3.5 to PF) and Skull & Shackles. All are excellent, though some people have certain problems with the middle of CotCT and others don't like the initial set up for Second Darkness. A good GM should be able to adapt as needed.