Pathfinder 1E What do you think of Paizo's Adventure Paths so far?

[joela]

There are currently six APs with the seventh (Serpent's Skull) just released to subscribers. What's your opinions about them? Favorites? Few you want expanded? What were they thinking on some of them? Share!

Rise of the Runelords
Goblin raids on the coastal town of Sandpoint presage a growing danger in the ruin-choked wilderness of Varisia. An ancient evil stirs to waking life in the distant mountains, drawing crazed murderers, inbred ogres, warlike stone giants, and creatures fueled by the power of sin into an epic conflict destined to create a new generation of heroes!

Curse of the Crimson Throne
The city of Korvosa is perched on the edge of anarchy—the king is dead, and rumors whisper that his young queen might be responsible! This urban campaign of decadence and dark dealings casts the heroes against plagues, barbarians, riots, and worse!

Second Darkness
A strange shadow lurks in the sky above the city of Riddleport, and the doomsayers take it as a sign of the approaching end of the world! The true menace comes not from the skies above but the benighted passages of the subterranean Darklands, leading the heroes on a sweeping quest that begins in a star-struck city, weaves through ancient elven ruins, and unmasks the terrible secret of the dark elves!

Legacy of Fire
Long ago, two warring armies of genies fought on the slopes of Pale Mountain, and the world shook under the power of their wishcraft. Today, the armies are wakening, and one potent efreeti warlord is ready to pick up where he left off! This outrageous, inventive campaign takes the heroes to all corners of the desert land of Katapesh and beyond, with journeys to strange demi-planes and even the fabled City of Brass!

Council of Thieves
Once the seat of mighty Imperial Cheliax, the decaying metropolis of Westcrown now stands wrecked and ruined, haunted by mysterious shadow beasts and besieged by the agents of the nation's new diabolical rulers. Amid this chaos, a growing schism in the city's influential Council of Thieves threatens to tear Westcrown apart unless a new group of heroes rises from the ashes of empire to chart a new destiny for the lost souls of the city.

Kingmaker
The wild and dangerous Stolen Lands lie in the northern reaches of the River Kingdoms, realms ripe for the taking! Yet those who would become rulers of these new lands will soon learn that claiming a kingdom and keeping it are two different beasts. Can the heroes protect their lands from jealous and deadly enemies?

 

[neofax]

Here is my take on them:

Rise of the Runelords
If you do not like solving mysteries and puzzles, steer clear! I however really enjoy it.

Spoiler

Granted, we have just made book 4 and some of the missions seem alot like Scooby-Doo as you pull the mask on whom you thought it was only to find someone else.

Curse of the Crimson Throne
I have only got to play like the last half of this AP and it is fun, but not great IMHO as we are on the last bit and it seems like a hodge-podge of missions that so far doesn't seem to have a bearing on one another. Although, some of the previous missions seemed this way until the thread sewed it all up into a nice package.

Second Darkness
Never got to play it, but I have heard it is not that great.

Legacy of Fire
Caveat to this one is I am a huge fan of Middle Eastern culture, so it goes without saying this is my favorite. I like the huge scale that the AP takes on(I am DMing this one and I really want to convey this). It feels upon reading the outline, that the players seem to get swept up into something they didn't plan for and now they have a morale/ethical problem to either help save the world or retire and plant pesh.

Council of Thieves
Haven't played it, but it doesn't strike me as a AP that I would get into.

Kingmaker
I DM this one for my kids and now a group of players. This is my second favorite AP. I really enjoy the open endedness of the game. My kids really like it as the feel as if they are making a true change in the world around them and they can basically do whatever they want.

Serpent Skull
I have skimmed thru the first book, and like the concept. However, I can see this AP becoming a pain if the players cannot agree on actions.

 

[renau1g]

I can comment on Legacy of Fire (from a player POV):
It is great fun, I also love the vibe of the area and it's been a blast so far (we're in the first module though).

Kingmaker: I am currently running this (although converted to 4e) and really love the open/player-driven adventures here. There's the main quest to do, but like many CRPG's the players can spend long periods of time doing other things, building their kingdom, etc. which I like. Least rail-roady of the group I think

Serpent Skull: I've read this one and think it's great as well. Also has a pretty open first adventure (obviously haven't seen more) that's great for exploration and has some cool NPC's (IMO)

 

[Dark Mistress]

I like them, I like that they are more than just adventures in each book. Now as far as the adventure section goes the higher level they go typically I like them less. Normally one of the first three AP books is the best.

What I think of them as a whole AP, well so far here is my list of the ones I like in order. Best to worst but even the worst one I thought was pretty good, just with issues.

Rise of the RuneLords
Kingmaker
Curse of the Crimson Throne
Legacy of Fire
Council of Thieves
Second Darkness

 

[Dog Moon]

There are currently six APs with the seventh (Serpent's Skull) just released to subscribers. What's your opinions about them? Favorites? Few you want expanded? What were they thinking on some of them? Share!

Rise of the Runelords

Hard to say. Seemed interesting, but the DM who ran it ran it poorly, so at some point, we were all like 'nope, gotta end it'.

Curse of the Crimson Throne

This one was enjoyable for people, even though I ended up running it in 4e. So it was a little awkward, but still fun. Never actually finished because our group had trouble getting together for a while.

Second Darkness

Never played it.

Legacy of Fire

Currently in the middle of this one. It's been pretty enjoyable so far. Although we all sorta thought it was annoying is that we free the town and start to make it our home... and then proceeded to leave to the larger city where events have continued to keep us away from our home. Otherwise, enjoyable so far.

Council of Thieves

I think this is the worst one for us so far. The only cool thing we remember was the play. The rest of everything we found to be sorta bland. Like the end boss... we entered the giant statue and started fighting some people and the DM had to have the guy basically say slightly roundabout 'I am the end boss'. Just wasn't a very exciting Adventure Path for us.

Kingmaker

We'll be working on this one as soon as we finish the Legacy of Fire AP.

 

[Cor_Malek]

I actually think of D0,1,1.5 and E1 as of an adventure path, one that I really like. Actual adventure paths just didn't grasp me, but then again: a) I had merely a glimpse (preview pdf's, and at a bookstore) b) I'm really not a printed-adventures kinda guy. Kobold King and Carnival of Tears melted my icy armour with their foulness and possibilities to expand though.

However - if/when I'll be placing another order in an online shop - I'll probably order one part of some kind of adventure paths, maybe even a random one. The adventure is like half of the book, maybe less, and I really like all the supplements - new monsters and setting info, as well as maps. The setting info alone, makes it worth the price for me. Don't know how the numbers look like, but just to signal possible issue regarding translations: while I'd like to see the core book translated - I really couldn't care less for additional materials being translated. The core, I want in my language as to make sure I won't have a player bail out only because of the language barrier. Additional materials would be used by me, and I'd actually prefer original to localised version. Not to mention that

As to bad sides - I really disliked some parts of layout, which is even more visible since there's so huge difference in quality within one book. I don't know if that's true for other books, the one I looked at was part 1 (2?) of Rise of Runelords - part of pictures are well below normal PF quality, and handouts fonts were (at least to me) impossible to read.

OK, that was rantlike, maybe I'll edit it later on, but to summarise:

+

• micro setting info
• maps
• new monsters and NPC's with background
• background and development info for pretty much every NPC

-

• Some graphics below normal PF quality
• most of rest (in Rise of the Runelords) not really my type
• CRAZY* amount of treasure (again, p1 RoR)

*Seriously, freaking crazy. I thought that it was a lot in the first town, but the part in the Head Island (yeah, it was awhile ago. The goblin settlement on top of huge statue's head) - are you kidding me? I had to flip back to check what PC levels it was for, they could've bought a city or two with that amount of cash.

All in all - I liked Game Mastery modules better, but I'll buy some of AP solely for additional data, either to fill up my order (prints) or if I don't buy anything for awhile online - pdf's directly from Paizo.

 

[Mojo_Rat]

My group upon starting PFRPG did second darkness as our fist imersion into the system. I am enjoying it alot. I think given that we dont know alot about the world as players Second darkness offers alot of world historical detail. I havent enjoyed a premade adventure this much in years.

have no experience with any other AP though

 

[IronWolf]

I am most familiar with Kingmaker as I am preparing that one for a campaign starting in September. At initial read it looks great. Looks to have the potential for a lot of fun for the group and I think they are looking forward to it as well. The writing is good, the maps are cool and the artwork is good. The new mechanics for kingdom building and mass combat also are nice, not too complicated rules to add these elements to the AP.

I do not have as much familiarity with the other APs, but what the parts I have read also look quite favorable to me as well. Paizo puts out some great stuff in my opinion.

 

[Votan]

So far I have started DMing Rise of the Runelords. The plot has worked quite well and the plauers seem to be putting their own spin on the plot which is really cool. So far so good.

I actually started subscribing to Paizo with Kingmaker due to good buzz and I have found that path to have a lot of good ideas and to implement some things that I have missed since AD&D. Very nice take on the "noble ruler" traditional RPG adventure sequence and it reminds me a lot of the name level campaigns from back in the day.

I bought Council of Theives but I wasn't as impressed with the plot. Mostly because I wasn't clear that it would to my strengths as a DM. I'm quite looking forward to reading Serpent's Skull.

 

[IronWolf]

I actually started subscribing to Paizo with Kingmaker due to good buzz ....

Yep - Kingmaker is what got me as a subscriber as well! The campaign just seems to fit the mix of what my pen and paper group likes. We start in September!