My copy of Children of the Void (Pathfinder #14) arrived a couple of days ago, so I've spent a few hours happily reading through it and seeing what bits might be worth stealing for my other campaigns. I was rather surprised with how short the adventure is, but I was even more surprised to see an section at the start of the adventure which basically translated as "Oops! We didn't think through PF#13 that well".
I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but basically the PCs gain an interest in a business that they've been spending all of PF#13 running. There is a basic problem with giving the PCs a piece of real estate: it nails them down. And when the rest of the AP requires the group to be somewhat mobile... oops!
If I ever run this AP, I'm going to have a tidal wave wipe out that business. It actually works better for the AP in general, I feel, as it would motivate the PCs as well as destroying an anchor on them.
Keeping the PCs motivated in an AP is really, really hard. Heck, it can be hard enough in your personal campaign, and you know who are playing those games. Individual adventures with some links? (Which describes the Wizards 4e H modules) Easy compared to an actual AP. Maintaining a threat over 12+ levels requires very careful planning.
I think I managed to do this with my Fhoi Myore campaign, which began with a threat and ended with the defeat of that threat, with 15 levels of game between that. Normally my games get distracted before then.
In the Age of Worms AP, my favourite segment (by a long way) was the Prince of Redhand, which had some really great roleplaying, but also introduced the group very effectively to the city that they would end then entire AP ruling. One of the reasons that this worked so well was that the introduction to Alhaster came as the AP was coming towards its climax. It was the introduction to the place where everything would end, so all the detail wasn't wasted. The PCs were going to be there, rather than leaving there.
Longevity & relevance of NPCs is also something that can really add to the attraction of an AP. This is really, really hard to achieve in D&D, because you can run into the Dragonlance problem of script immunity. NPCs that stay home are easier to handle (see Lavinia from Savage Tide), but they're not quite as vital as NPCs that accompany the party. The best NPCs I've run in an AP were a couple of NPCs shipwrecked with the party in Savage Tide - the captain of the ship being one, and Avner, a spoilt, annoying noble, being the other. Avner in particular was really great, as I'd built him up throughout the last adventure, and then had him in the forefront for the next adventure as well.
Unfortunately, after that he faded into the background. The next adventure in the series didn't really have room for him. Oh, and it also separated the captain from the group as she sailed back to civilisation (there's a problem here in the adventure, actually, as it needs her to be in two places at once...) So, the two NPCs apart from Lavinia that the players really liked were shuffled offscreen. We never quite recovered from that; from here the rationale for the adventure failed and shortly thereafter we terminated the AP by mutual agreement.
Recurring NPCs - either friendly or villains - are great, but in a published adventure they give so many problems, especially for villains. Either it's a railroad to keep them alive, or you only use them once...
Cheers!
I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but basically the PCs gain an interest in a business that they've been spending all of PF#13 running. There is a basic problem with giving the PCs a piece of real estate: it nails them down. And when the rest of the AP requires the group to be somewhat mobile... oops!
If I ever run this AP, I'm going to have a tidal wave wipe out that business. It actually works better for the AP in general, I feel, as it would motivate the PCs as well as destroying an anchor on them.
Keeping the PCs motivated in an AP is really, really hard. Heck, it can be hard enough in your personal campaign, and you know who are playing those games. Individual adventures with some links? (Which describes the Wizards 4e H modules) Easy compared to an actual AP. Maintaining a threat over 12+ levels requires very careful planning.
I think I managed to do this with my Fhoi Myore campaign, which began with a threat and ended with the defeat of that threat, with 15 levels of game between that. Normally my games get distracted before then.
In the Age of Worms AP, my favourite segment (by a long way) was the Prince of Redhand, which had some really great roleplaying, but also introduced the group very effectively to the city that they would end then entire AP ruling. One of the reasons that this worked so well was that the introduction to Alhaster came as the AP was coming towards its climax. It was the introduction to the place where everything would end, so all the detail wasn't wasted. The PCs were going to be there, rather than leaving there.
Longevity & relevance of NPCs is also something that can really add to the attraction of an AP. This is really, really hard to achieve in D&D, because you can run into the Dragonlance problem of script immunity. NPCs that stay home are easier to handle (see Lavinia from Savage Tide), but they're not quite as vital as NPCs that accompany the party. The best NPCs I've run in an AP were a couple of NPCs shipwrecked with the party in Savage Tide - the captain of the ship being one, and Avner, a spoilt, annoying noble, being the other. Avner in particular was really great, as I'd built him up throughout the last adventure, and then had him in the forefront for the next adventure as well.
Unfortunately, after that he faded into the background. The next adventure in the series didn't really have room for him. Oh, and it also separated the captain from the group as she sailed back to civilisation (there's a problem here in the adventure, actually, as it needs her to be in two places at once...) So, the two NPCs apart from Lavinia that the players really liked were shuffled offscreen. We never quite recovered from that; from here the rationale for the adventure failed and shortly thereafter we terminated the AP by mutual agreement.
Recurring NPCs - either friendly or villains - are great, but in a published adventure they give so many problems, especially for villains. Either it's a railroad to keep them alive, or you only use them once...
Cheers!
