Adventure Path Three: You'd Do...

[zoroaster100]

I'm currently running the Shackled City adventure path and collecting Age of Worms to run in the future. I think the adventure paths are pure genius and the future of D&D. I've seen some interesting ideas mentioned on this thread that I think should be worked in to the next adventure path. I for one would love to see the third adventure path include some travel to interesting locations, like to the Isle of Dread or to some distant mountain peak or a lost city in the desert, where the heroes have to travel the wilderness to find something or someone to complete the next stage of some quest or learn some clue to the larger mystery being revealed through the adventure path. I'm not to keen on planar travel, though I'd be o.k. with a single extraplanar excursion in the later adventures in the path.
Some random thoughts:
I do think Iggwilv would make an interesting villain, but in order to avoid having the path focus on outsiders, she should be deeply enmeshed in a worldly political plot for world domination, using demons only as tools.
I would like to see the next adventure path use a living chromatic dragon as a major mastermind villain with political/military ambitions and plots.
Although I agree with staying away from evil cults given how much they're used in the first two paths, I think an organization or two are necessary elements of a good plot. But next time it would be interesting to see a government sponsored organization or other temporally/politically focused organization be a major player (not necessarily the ultimate villain), rather than a crazed cult trying to end the world/open a gate for infinite evil/etc.
I like the idea of a major war being part of the plot, either an ongoing war or a potential war that can be averted.
I also like the idea of the traditional Evil Horde of orcs, goblins, trolls, etc. playing a major part in the adventure path, perhaps related to a brewing war/political intrigue plot.

 

[RodneyThompson]

I'm going to sound like the weirdo here, but I actually like when a campaign isn't super far-reaching and focuses on one region. I suspect Age of Worms will be just about the right balance. I like my players to develop ties to the towns and people they visit throughout a campaign, and one of the biggest compliments my players gave me while running Shackled city was that Cauldron really came to life as a town. Thus far my players have a very good sense of the way Diamond Lake works and the general motif of the town. I'd just be worried that a campaign that takes you to a new place every adventure might not let the players develop ties to the world.

I'd also like to limit the planehopping to maybe one adventure, but I'm not opposed to having it. In fact, Test of the Smoking Eye was unanimously the favorite adventure of my entire gaming group, me included, throughout the whole Shackled City campaign.

And I do have one more request: develop long-term villains in addition to the individual lackies you snuff out every adventure. In my SCAP campaign I introduced the big baddies early and often, and when it came down to the final showdown it made it that much more satisfying. Age of Worms seems to be suffering from the same problem (though I'd say it's a minor gripe at best) in that there's no bad guy that the players know about in the early adventures, and it seems like they won't figure out who exactly they're opposing until late in the game.

 

[the Jester]

I also think the next logical step for this series are novels, I think they would add so much more depth to whats already available.

I would hate to see that. When novels are written about modules, the modules potentially lose a lot of their surprises.

 

[JoeGKushner]

In terms of big bad, a horde style campaign, or an army invasion one would be a good idea. The players might hear about the big bad from the start of the game but never actually meet him until the end, or near the end.

 

[Shade]

I'd like to see more of the same...tons of nostalgia, tie-ins and updates of things from past editions, while infusing interesting new critters, items, and organizations into the mix.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, in terms of nostalgia, what else could be hit?

I don't think we'd want to see anything about the Temple of Elemental Evil, Scourge of the Slavelords, White Plume Mountain or the Tomb of Horrors.

But...

What does that leave? Isle of the Ape? Something about Saltmarsh perhaps using the DMG II updated info? Maybe something with Iuz since he already controls a nation in the generic setting? Or should the main villain be far more obscure?

 

[diaglo]

Or should the main villain be far more obscure?

you could go with Asberdies from D1. i did/am.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Well - there's always a revisting of the Slave Lords and GDQ1-7 or parts thereof.

(Demonweb pits I'm a little iffy about - but the rest interests me a great deal).

A reminagined Slave Lords brought in a new direction with stronger villains might be an extremely entertaining module series. The classics are exactly that - classics - but they are utterly lacking in the details and little touches that the current market expects. (Back in the day, we had to add our own touches!)

There are some issues with the Giant series now in 3E though. The way that giants have changed over the versions increases the deadliness and requisite levels to go toe-to-toe against Giants considerably.

Not too sure how all of this would sit with WotC. But if they were open to it, I'd think something like that would be amazing.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, the Slave Lords made a late 2e appearance didn't they? Revenge of the Slave Lords or something when TSR/WoTC was doing their Return things? I know that White Plume Mountain, Slave Lords, and Tomb of Horrors all get updated. It's one of the reasons I figured that they'd want to stay away from them.

Even more unlikely for some since they're updating them online for free.

If it wasn't so completely impossible, I'd love to see the campaign seeds in Magic of Incarnum made into an adventure path. It's the perfect way to introduce that type of magic t othe setting but it'd rely way too much on having the Incarnum book to fully use it, even if they included the notes on different powers and abilities in the stat blocks at the end of the adventures. It just has such a good build up of why the various Incarnum races are gathered and how to effectively increase their presence in terms of use.

 

[RodneyThompson]

I'm going to call it a hunch, but I doubt we're going to see any reprints or revamps for the next AP. Maybe as a standalone adventure...but not as an AP. You're pretty much guaranteed 3 things: it'll require no more than the 3 core books to play and won't call on concepts from variant books; it'll be set in a setting generic enough to be used in any campaign world, but will likely use some Greyhawk base presumptions; the story will be original and only have small nods to past adventures and books.