Adventure Path for 3.5E?

[dead]

The Adventure Path series was basically the first bunch of adventures WotC published. They, if played through, would take characters from 1st to 20th level. Unfortunatly, they lacked any sort of continuity or interconnectivity, and worked better as individual adventures. Here's a list of them, with starting levels:

The Sunless Citidel- 1st
Forge of Fury- 3rd
The Speaker in Dreams- 5th
The Standing Stone-7th
Heart of Nightfang Spire- 10th
Deep Horizon- 13th
Lord of the Iron Fortress- 15th
Bastion of Broken Souls- 18th

I always thought this series advanced PCs too quickly. Does anyone agree?

I mean, where looking at 8 short adventures (32 pages each; maybe the last one is 48 pages?) that will take 4 PCs from 1st to 20th level.

That's not a whole lot of gaming sessions before - "wham bham!" - your character is suddenly epic level!

I remember in previous editions of AD&D you'd rise to, say, 9th level reasonably quickly and then, after that, you'd advance at a snail's pace. You'd be lucky ever to reach 20th level.

With the new edition, advancement takes a steady linear path (which is good) but is it too quick? Is 8 short adventures (probably taking 2 sessions tops to complete) sound like the kind of time and challenge that should get PCs from 1st to 20th level?

 

[Nilhgualcm Leahcim]

My largest problem with the adventure path series was that their just didn't seem very many opportunities for actual roleplaying. I know that this is something that the GM has to provide, as published scenarios can't anticipate the roleplaying tastes of every group that will play in them, but there seemed to be very little opportunity to talk through a situation other than *slam*, next monster. Just my two cents worth...

 

[MerricB]

I always thought this series advanced PCs too quickly. Does anyone agree?

They seem about right to me - but I'm looking at it from a different perspective than you are.

By the traditional advancement of 1E and 2E, absolutely they advance the PCs extremely quickly. However, for many groups today, they don't play on a daily basis and they don't keep together for six+ years.

Actually, that's true of all eras of D&D. It just wasn't officially recognised until 3E.

The Adventure Path is designed for the default advancement rate of 3E (which many experienced players change to fit their needs).

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

My largest problem with the adventure path series was that their just didn't seem very many opportunities for actual roleplaying. I know that this is something that the GM has to provide, as published scenarios can't anticipate the roleplaying tastes of every group that will play in them, but there seemed to be very little opportunity to talk through a situation other than *slam*, next monster. Just my two cents worth...

You must have looked at a different Adventure Path than I did...

The Sunless Citadel has a lot of role-playing in it - why do you think Meepo is our iconic kobold? (Not just him, but several other encounters as well).

The Forge of Fury is somewhat role-playing light, although there are opportunities if the DM wants to run it that way.

The Speaker of Dreams is a town adventure with a huge amount of role-playing potential.

The Standing Stone is another adventure which revolves around the role-playing skills of the group.

Heart of Nightfang Spire returns to primarily a dungeon-crawl, although I remember a few groups to role-play with.

Deep Horizon - despite its bad press - was really fun for my group to go through, with a lot of role-playing as well.

I don't know the last two that well, but I don't think they're devoid of role-playing.

Cheers!

 

[Staffan]

Why hasn't any other company picked up on the idea of the Adventure Path? I mean we do have series of modules like Rappan Athuk and Witchfire, but I mean a truly epic series of adventures like the first Adventure Path and SHackled City? 32 pages, saddle stitched and ready to go! I would be all over this like a fat kid on a twinkie man.

Basically, adventures don't sell all that well to begin with, especially not considering the work that goes into them. If you then make adventures where part 2 is based on part 1, you limit the audience for part 2 to those who bought part 1 in the first place. From a business point of view, it makes much more sense to make two independent adventures instead, possibly with some mild hooks between them that can easily be ignored.

 

[Nilhgualcm Leahcim]

Merric,

You're absolutely right. Sorry about the brain lapse there . It's been a bit since running some of the earlier games, and we ran a couple of them many times. Sadly, the last few times we ran The Sunless Citadel , it was far from enjoyable, as the party who went through actually went out of their way to kill Meepo. One of my favorite encounters, now that I recall, is in the same module where the player's interact with the Kobold Sorceress Queen. My party kind of blew that one off . I guess my previous party actually killed some of those adventures for me. Now, I want to find a new bunch and run them through the path proper! Thanks for reminding me about a couple of those (forgot about The Speaker in Dreams , my characters ran roughshod through that one too. Grrr..) and sorry about sounding like a sad sack earlier. Thanks Merric!