D&D 5E What Paizo Adventures (Paths or otherwise) Have You Run in 5E

[payn]

Curse of the Ceimson Throne is very, very good despite the side trip to Scarwall. But it has issues with the opening. The player motivation piece is tied to an NPC who likely doesn’t survive book 1.

Curse of the Crimson Throne is the same. Get them invested in the city and the whole thing becomes extraordinary. Curse also doesn’t have the hide the bed guy until late in the campaign problem. She’s front and center from book 1 on. There’s also some support material revolving around the spirit possessing her that would allow you to make some real neat additions to the campaign and expand it to level 20.

@Reynard Curse was an early AP and Paizo was still getting their feet under themselves so the campaign traits and players guide was still being perfected. My group had a minor speed bump at the getty up becasue of what thullgrim says here. I'll spoiler my fix to this when I ran it after playing it.

Spoiler: spoiler

I did a minor rewrite of the players guide and traits. I came up with an NPC half-orc mother superior of an orphanage. All players grew up with her in some fashion (orphan raised, student, volunteer, etc..). She was the tie to Korvosa and what makes the otherwise bleak city seem a bit less bleak. That makes Lamb the villain of the first book a competitor as he is taking kids away from the orphanage to be crooks for him. When the PCs get lamb, they have a tie to the city and a way to keep going together instead of everything being resolved so early in the AP.

 

[TheSword]

@Reynard Curse was an early AP and Paizo was still getting their feet under themselves so the campaign traits and players guide was still being perfected. My group had a minor speed bump at the getty up becasue of what thullgrim says here. I'll spoiler my fix to this when I ran it after playing it.

Spoiler: spoiler

I did a minor rewrite of the players guide and traits. I came up with an NPC half-orc mother superior of an orphanage. All players grew up with her in some fashion (orphan raised, student, volunteer, etc..). She was the tie to Korvosa and what makes the otherwise bleak city seem a bit less bleak. That makes Lamb the villain of the first book a competitor as he is taking kids away from the orphanage to be crooks for him. When the PCs get lamb, they have a tie to the city and a way to keep going together instead of everything being resolved so early in the AP.

Just to chime in…

The first mission is to set the gritty tone of the city and to bring disparate PCs together into a group.

It is very much assumed by the end that the existential threat to the city is motivation enough. If you need more will depend on your players. If they are more heroic types and face into the plots then it will likely be enough. If they need more justification to take risks then @payn and @thullgrim ’s suggestion is likely needed. For my players the simple existence of orphans was enough without needing to be linked to an orphanage. Then again they did set up their own street gang

 

[payn]

Just to chime in…

The first mission is to set the gritty tone of the city and to bring disparate PCs together into a group.

It is very much assumed by the end that the existential threat to the city is motivation enough. If you need more will depend on your players. If they are more heroic types and face into the plots then it will likely be enough. If they need more justification to take risks then @payn and @thullgrim ’s suggestion is likely needed. For my players the simple existence of orphans was enough without needing to be linked to an orphanage. Then again they did set up their own street gang

Spoiler: spoiler

My choices went beyond "you all want to get this dude" because after they all got that dude, it was sort of why stick together? The group did but it felt more like the adventure demands it than it was interesting to actually do it. You dont need stronger links to orphans, you need stronger links to the city and between the PCs. Sure, some groups will naturally say im from this city and im supposed to care about it, but if you add links to that it becomes organically stronger. YMMV.

 

[S'mon]

I think it depends on what of campaign you want to run.

Rise of the Runelords is fairly traditional D&D type fair.

Shattered Star is Pathifinder’s version of a megadungeon in some respects.

Second Darkness has a ton of great ideas in it, but is a hot mess on execution. If you’re doing a total re-write though it might be worth thinking about.

Wrath of the Righteous is awesome but very specific. You want to kill demons here’s your chance. It fits together plot wise very well though all the way from book 1 to Book 6. Many APs have an issued where the BBEG doesn’t get introduced until late in the game.

Curse of the Ceimson Throne is very, very good despite the side trip to Scarwall. But it has issues with the opening. The player motivation piece is tied to an NPC who likely doesn’t survive book 1.

Iron Gods you’re familiar with. Structurally that campaign works well and has some great set pieces. It’s vers peanuts butter in my chocolate though. Your players have to lean into the tech stuff to really get the most out of it.

Reign of Winter has an issued where where you almost feel bad for the supposed BBEG and your players are essentially ensorcelled to work for someone who they are going to want to kill. But the actual adventures work and book 5 is a gem.

Mummy’s Mask is very pulpy, very D&D meets The Mummy (1999). It’s a good time and book 2 is great.

I really like the opening idea of the first two books of Legacy of Fire. Djinn aren’t often the focus of a campaign so there’s some unique monsters you get to play with you don’t use. A trip to the City of Brass is on the cards in that series.

If I were going to pick one to convert to 5e my first choice would be Rise of the Runelords. It best fits the assumptions of basic D&D tropes wise. If I were going to pick the one I’d really want to do it would be Wrath of the Righteous. That campaign is oozing with flavor but it’s demons all the time.

If I were picking something I was rewriting from scratch I’d honestly look at Shackled City. It’s got some default assumptions to deal with, like it was written for 6 players, and it’s a slog, but the core premise is engaging enough and if you can sell the idea of Cauldron as home and get them invested in it, the setting will sing.

Curse of the Crimson Throne is the same. Get them invested in the city and the whole thing becomes extraordinary. Curse also doesn’t have the hide the bed guy until late in the campaign problem. She’s front and center from book 1 on. There’s also some support material revolving around the spirit possessing her that would allow you to make some real neat additions to the campaign and expand it to level 20.

My big problem with Curse of the Crimson Throne was book 4 in the Cinderlands which seemed pointless, I ended up not using it. Book 5 Scarwall was a bit of a slog but it has a clear quest to get the item you need to complete the AP.

 

[thullgrim]

My big problem with Curse of the Crimson Throne was book 4 in the Cinderlands which seemed pointless, I ended up not using it. Book 5 Scarwall was a bit of a slog but it has a clear quest to get the item you need to complete the AP.

I think book 5 works better if you can convince your players it’s a raid for the mcguffin and not a clear the dungeon situation.

 

[Zardnaar]

Didn't play crimson throne or mine it.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Don't have much/any real practical experience on this front, as I am seemingly forever an aspirational "armchair DM", but theorycrafting how to go about porting various adventure modules/paths/etc. into a new setting (primarily either Eberron or Planescape) is a favorite pastime of mine, along with brainstorming stupidly massive AP "mashups".

My long-simmering "magnum opus" is an Eberron Savage Tide conversion that incorporates elements from several other APs and adventure modules, pulling from D&D, Pathfinder, and others. Truthfully, it's grown way too big to actually run, so it's become more of a writing exercise at this point.

Also have a less developed War for the Crown / Curse of the Crimson Throne mashup centering on a succession crisis/civil war for the throne of Breland that threatens to boil over and reignite the Last War.

And then I have a Planescape Dragon Heist conversion that I'm thinking of weaving in elements from both Turn of Fortune's Wheel and Agents of Edgewatch.

 

[Nightfly]

Curse of the Ceimson Throne is very, very good despite the side trip to Scarwall. But it has issues with the opening. The player motivation piece is tied to an NPC who likely doesn’t survive book 1.

When I ran Curse, this cropped up. One of my players was very disappointed that the motivating NPC died in session 2, since he'd based his entire character on his thirst for revenge. Too bad, because my favorite thing about that adventure is the way the characters are all thrown together for a common goal at the very start. So much cooler than "you all meet in a tavern". In retrospect, maybe I should have downplayed that NPC a little, or even told my players straight up that it was a device to bring them together as a party, not a long-term adventure arc. I dislike breaking the 4th wall that way but it's better than having the players feel cheated.

Curse of the Crimson Throne is the same. Get them invested in the city and the whole thing becomes extraordinary.

Indeed. If you get your players to care about Korvosa, it's just magical.

Curse also doesn’t have the hide the bed guy until late in the campaign problem. She’s front and center from book 1 on.

Yes, although I kept the BBEG's true nature hidden from my players until the very end of book one. It's easy to present her as young, timid, and overwhelmed. And the fact the people of Korvosa distrust her is frankly based on xenophobia and sexism, so my party viwed her as a sympathetic victim. They were shocked when she went full Mussolini at the end of the first adventure, which delighted me. And of course that made them hate her even more.

 

[Nightfly]

My big problem with Curse of the Crimson Throne was book 4 in the Cinderlands which seemed pointless, I ended up not using it.

I was wary of that too, but the Cinderlands portion went well for us. Good villain in the Wastelander, great social/roleplaying stuff, cool location and monsters. Scarwall was the part where my players got restless.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I saw it here.

Dark Sun 5e

I hope @toucanbuzz doesn't mind me highlighting it. It’s a very professionally written conversion and a great example of what can be done with 5e!

I downloaded it and just went through it. You're right, it's incredible. Nice work @toucanbuzz !