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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 5819472" data-attributes="member: 5948">Having read through most of them... A common problem with many of APs is that the PCs start in a wonderful,  lovingly-detailed location, which they are encouraged to have ties to,  family in, relationships with local NPCs, and which they then almost  never return to.  Later APs do improve on this front though.  Another  frequent issue is that the APs will often set up the group on a  collision course with one of the great evil powers of Golarion - the  Whispering Tyrant, the ancient runelords of old Thassilon, a beast of  Rovagug, Treerazer, a dead snake-god, a wyrm dragon, etc etc etc - and  then wimp out and have the final confrontation be against some crippled  lesser version stripped of most of their power, or wannabe, or minion  attempting to reawaken the REAL bbeg, because Paizo doesn't want to take  their APs to 20th level (I darkly suspect the reason for this is that  PFRPG didn't actually manage to address the broken maths of high-level  d20 in any meaningful way and they know full well this was the case, but  that's neither here nor there).  This could be a major frustration if  your group gets the wrong expectations over the course of the campaign. Runelords looks good, there's a nice variety of enemies and scenarios  from investigation to haunted houses to open large-scale battles, though  #5 looks like a bit of a dungeon-crawly slog to me (ymmv on whether  that's a good thing).  Not sure how the final bbeg will stand up solo  against a solid group of PCs though, it could be a letdown.  Also, while  #6 looks like an awesome adventure, it probably needed more fleshing  out of the location to do the slightly sandboxy-y structure justice.   Kingmaker will depend hugely on the GM imho  - because of the non-linear structure, there's lots of mini-adventures  and micro-dungeons with a couple of rooms and a monster or two, which  give some kingdom-building advantage when they're completed.  Could me  monotonous unlesss handled well.  As others have mentioned, #6 seems  tacked on the end as an afterthought. Serpent's Skull is heavily site-based, PCs will probably spend most of  the final four advantures in the path in the same two closely-related  locations.  Which is an advantage because they're well fleshed out (a  lesson Paizo learned well from runelords #6) and a disadvantage because  those sites are very isolated which means PCs will either have trouble  acquiring gears, spells, disposing of loot etc, or else will be blipping  back and forth across the continent like maniacs once transportation  magic becomes available. Carrion Crown has some nice ideas which don't work out too well, just  from a look over.  THe bbeg comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing  whatsoever (the authors even admit this in #6 I think, and admit it was a  mistake).  The overarching plot is thin, and depends on a series of  unlikely coincidences in the first few adventures.  There's some poor  organisation too - the PCs spend all of #4 trying to retrieve an item  that's vital to the plans of the bad guys, and presumably succeed - but  then the plans go on as normal in later adventures as if it'd never  happened.  The assumed course of PC action in #5 will be very  problematic for paladins or certain priests, and lethal if intelligent  NPCs are played even moderately intelligently if PCs don't follow the  script.  And the structure of #6 is just odd - the majority of the  adventure is dedicated to a single preliminary site, while the big final  confrontation in one of the most legandarily evil and dangerous places  in Golarion seems like an afterthought.  Also, if Wind Walk works the  same in PFRPG as in D&D3.x (I don't actually know off the top of my  head!), then a huge part of #6 is completely bypassable. It's a long time since I've read Second Darkness, but you'd really need  to looove drow, since there's a horde of them.  Bit of a turnoff for me  personally, but again, ymmv.  I've got a vague recollection of there  being issues in the final couple of adventures with important, powerful  NPCs being hit hard with the stupid stick to make the plot work.  And the first couple of adventures assume you're self-interested street scum, while the last few only really work with altruistic capital-H heroes. Legacy of Fire has a nice strong theme all the way through, and doesn't  stick you with fighting the same critters (serpentmen, undead)  continually either.  But while some individual bits are great, there's  back-to-back advantures and #4 and #5 where the PCs are trapped on other  planes and can't return, and I'm not at all sure how that would play. Curse of the Crimson Throne and Council of Thieves are both heavily city-based, but one thing neither of them have is a genuinely intrigue-centred module, which I think it a glaring hole.  It's always 'a bit of intrigue but then the PCs solve it by violence anyway'.  Skeletons of Scarwall is a giant dungeon module full of undead, what it's doing shoehorned into a city campaign just before the climax I'll never know.  Anyway, it's ages since I've read them both so I won't try to comment on them too closely or I'll get them horribly confused....Some of the cooler-looking single adventures in the series (again, judging from a readthrough rather than a playthrough..)Skinsaw Murders (there is that one legendary killer encounter though...)Hook Mountain MassacreSpires of Xin-Shalast (with the above reservations)Seven Days to the GraveShadow in the SkyHowl of the Carrion King (just for the gremlinny critters!)End of EternitySixfold TrialSouls for Smuggler's ShivTrial of the Beast (thought the first encounter is kinda pointless and the last is seriously morally skeezy if played out as written)</blockquote>

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