Pimp your favorite 10th level adventure

[Monkey King]

Two wizards, a ranger/order of the bow initiate, a rogue and a cleric. The players like intrigue and interesting characters, and meaningful combat. Not too keen on mindless dungeon romps.

Sounds just about ideal for Shadowcrag, which has about a 50/50 split between mystery/discovery and combat elements. The fights are all either directly related to the core story or optional combats that parties can talk their way around or avoid entirely if they like.

There's an emphasis on named NPCs with motivations. There's a dungeon of... 5 rooms? Something like that. It's got two important elements of the larger story, so it's hardly mindless.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

As one of the patrons for Castle Shadowcrag, I'd say that my impression so far is that it seems like it will be an iconic castle adventure, with some parallels to Castle Ravenloft - a big, "haunted" castle with a cool backstory and a really nifty/unusual hook that is unlike any other published adventure I've seen. I'm really looking forward to the finished product.

 

[Nlogue]

"Chains of Blackmaw" (Dungeon #135) is a pretty fun 10th level adventure, though I of course am biased. It's a prison adventure in which the PCs are forced to become inmates in order to save an innocent man sent to the Maw (the regions most secure prison, bristling with vicious thugs and murderers). The innocent merchant's son was framed for murder when his father refused to cave to the strongarm tactics of a powerful guild called the Covenant of the Knife (they wanted to use his business as a smuggling front). The party goes inside the Maw where they face corrupt guardsman, a slew of dangerous criminals, and of course multiple attempts on the merchant's son's life. Throughout they must figure out who is the dangerous Shadowmaster behind the Covenant and end him, before his guild does away with them. It ends in a wild prison break, where a few of the foulest specimins of criminality escape solitary (including the former warden who is now a dangerous lycanthrope) and wreak havoc on the prison.

The adventure's gotten a lot of good review from people who played through it (on the Paizo boards). Also on the paizo boards there is a thread were I posted a bunch of fun material cut from the original manuscript to save space in the issue. Kind of a director's cut if you will, which is chocked full of extra goodies. If you decide to go with "Chains of Blackmaw" hunt down that thread first. Good gaming!

Nick

 

[Firedancer]

"Castle Shadowcrag", a castle teetering on the edge of the Plane of Shadow, ships on March 1. Since it's a private commission, you can be sure your players will never have seen it, and since it was designed with 50 gamers critiquing and improving it in the Open Design style, you can be sure it's solid.

The fact that I wrote it may bias my opinion just a touch.

Successful pimping! I have donated to Shadowcrag and joined up for OD3! Just awaiting confirmation email from yourself and away I go.

 

[Munin]

I think I'm more intrigued by the patron idea than the adventure itself, but I'm sold. I'll be making a donation as soon as payday rolls around!

 

[Grimstaff]

Best 10th lvl addie? That's easy! : Vault of the Dragon Kings!

http://goodmangames.com/5029preview.php

Its just...wow!

But it is a "Dungeon Crawl", in spirit if not in actual locale, which is more a "Valley Crawl". Anything but mindless, though.

Its probably a good idea to mine past issues of Dungeon if you want something with more NPC interaction type stuff...

 

[Monkey King]

I think I'm more intrigued by the patron idea than the adventure itself, but I'm sold. I'll be making a donation as soon as payday rolls around!

Cool, and thanks to you and Firedancer! Yeah, there's definitely a whole patron interaction thing that's taken over the projects more than I ever expected.

For instance, I wrote some design essays just as freebies while I was getting the project off the ground, and they were so popular that they've become a regular feature ever since.

There's also Q&A with the senior patrons, and a (small) community of smart, motivated DMs. The initial idea was just about how to fund work like this, not tied to the standard publishers. The reality is that the patrons have a real stake in what projects come next, and what essays they want, etc.

 

[rom90125]

"Castle Shadowcrag", a castle teetering on the edge of the Plane of Shadow, ships on March 1. Since it's a private commission, you can be sure your players will never have seen it, and since it was designed with 50 gamers critiquing and improving it in the Open Design style, you can be sure it's solid.

The fact that I wrote it may bias my opinion just a touch.

Well, you sold me on Castle Shadowcrag. I just completed my donation and I can't wait for the PDF to show up! I'm geeked about this product, and more importantly, about the principle behind it's design.

 

[Ant]

"Castle Shadowcrag", a castle teetering on the edge of the Plane of Shadow, ships on March 1. Since it's a private commission, you can be sure your players will never have seen it, and since it was designed with 50 gamers critiquing and improving it in the Open Design style, you can be sure it's solid.

The fact that I wrote it may bias my opinion just a touch.

I've resisted for a while but you've got me. Donation paid.