Rise of the Runelords versus War of the Burning Sky. Which one?

[joela]

no crawly

"Burning Sky" is refereshingly non-Dungeon-Crawly, and allows players to really play out the tactical side of things, along with some cool political intrigues.

Hmmm. I like that. Tell me more....

 

[joela]

new campaign

"Pathfinder" will run in a shorter time-frame (Six issues as opposed to 12), and allows you to be in on the ground floor of a brand new campaign setting, which is also quite cool. There's also supplemental material in addition to the adventure in each issue to enhance the setting.

I'll be using Eberron. Can I jettison the RotRL background w/o seriously harming the AP?

 

[joela]

campaign world

I'm not sure if adapting to a favored campaign world (published or homebrew) is a concern for you, but I'll comment anyways. Both are more difficult than the Dungeon APs to adapt, so that should be taken into consideration if that sort of thing is important to you. Of the two, it looks like Rise of the Runelords is far easier to do so than War of the Burning Sky (regardless of what the authors try to spin; I own RotRL, and have read all the [freely available] material for WotBS).

Good point. I'll be using Eberron and have much of the current action happening in Sharn.

 

[joela]

Setting

War of the Burning Sky really should be used in its own setting, or on a new continent of an existing setting.

I'm currently using Eberron as the setting. Your comment will actually make WotBS actually easier to adapt. Thanks!

I've set my War of the Burning Sky campaign in the distant past of the continent of Sarlonna, in Eberron. Check out my story hour for how its gone so far.

Coolio. Will give it a looksee.

However, you could squeeze it into another setting. Basically you all you need is a powerful kingdom dominated by its autocratic ruler, some neighbouring states and a sea coast.

Hmmm. Which Eberron kingdom to use. Karrnath?

However, since its going to take you from 1 to 20, why not just use it in its own setting?

Using a variant E6 rule. PCs start at 6th level and pretty much stay there while I adjust the AP to their level.

I think Pathfinder is great, but after Shackled City, and all those Dungeon adventures, I've got pretty used to Paizo's (excellent) style. As a result, I'm finding WotBS a nice change.

How's WotBS differ?

 

[Voadam]

War of the Burning Sky has more out right now.

 

[joela]

Epic

If you liked The Red Hand of Doom, Lord of the Rings, the original Star Wars trilogy, Dragonlance, ....

Oh. My. Uh, when does the compedium get released?

 

[Odhanan]

I love Rise of the Runelord, perhaps some of the best stuff in all of 3.5e (just my opinion)

I agree.

I don't know War of the Burning Sky, but RotRL is really, really good so far. It's Vanilla D&D, but one of the best vanilla you're likely to taste for 3.5.

 

[joela]

Vanilla D&D

It's Vanilla D&D, but one of the best vanilla you're likely to taste for 3.5.

"Vanilla D&D"? YOu mean a traditional dungeon crawl?

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Hmmm. I like that. Tell me more....

Where to begin?
Quick overview? (Free of major spoilers)

The first module has NO dungeons. (Sure there's some locations to explore, but nothing I would qualify as a "Dungeon".) It's very "Pulp"-ish, trying to escape a City under siege.

The second? A trek through a Fire-Forest. (Tone-wise, I love this module, but I'll admit that it IS a bit of a railroad.)

The third? Really brings the intrigue in, as the PC's try to neogiatie with various factions, as a hurricane swirls all around them.

You get the idea, I think.

The benefit of "Burning Sky" is that (as Ryan said), you are truly heroic charcters, in an EPIC sense (not Epic-level-wise, but on the general scale of things.)

You know who the enemy is from the start (though there ARE some twists, needless to say), and must work out alliances to defeat the greater evil. And your actions have consequences; if you piss off the Shalahesti Elves, they're not likely to rally to your cause, for example.

I'll be using Eberron. Can I jettison the RotRL background w/o seriously harming the AP?

With Pathfinder, you COULD transport things to Eberron, but it seems like Pathfinder is much more useful in using the world they establish, as well as being part of the appeal.

So, conversion-wise, I think "Burning Sky" might be easier to manage. (For instance, most of the faiths listed are generic. [IE: Torrent, a cleric in the first Burning Sky adventure is listed as a "Water Cleric", allowing you to subsititute a deity of your choosing without impacting much.])

My thought?
Pick up both if you can afford it!

Oh. My. Uh, when does the compedium get released?

Sometime after the series is completed, I would think.

And they seem to have foundered of late; the 7th Module was released a few weeks ago, and I haven't heard about the release for the 8th and beyond.

 

[Odhanan]

"Vanilla D&D"? YOu mean a traditional dungeon crawl?

No, that's not really what I mean. I mean an Adventure Path where you get to solve the problems of a village, find out about the plots of an ancient villain rising from his grave, discover secrets about the story of the world, get to kick the butt of goblins at low levels and rune giants at heroic ones, all this by doing this bit of investigation, that bit of character interactions, and a dungeon crawl here and there.

The "classic" D&D campaign in my mind.

That's the flavor that's amazing though. From the Goblins that seem cute and become really creepy to the history of the Empire of Thassilon that's just ... awesome, it's far from the industrial ice cream... it's the kind of vanilla ice cream you taste at the Ritz or Maxime's, if you will.