Shackled City Adventure Path?

[Crimson_Blade]

I was considering using the 3.5 Shackled City Adventure Path for my next campaign. From those who have read/played them, are they any good? Too hard? Not enough role-playing?

 

[LGodamus]

I havent played through them, but they look promising. One thing to keep in mind though...it would be quite easy for PCs to get in over their head. There are a few spots where NPCs arent meant for combat, but it could be provoked...to a bad end.

 

[Severion]

We are almost done with the second adventure in the series and so far its going well. The first two are 3.0 and designed to feature the MM2 and FF.

 

[gfunk]

I was considering using the 3.5 Shackled City Adventure Path for my next campaign. From those who have read/played them, are they any good? Too hard? Not enough role-playing?

Read our Shackled City Story Hour!
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=55180

So far we have gone through "Life's Baazar" and "Flood Season." We just started "Zenith Trajectory" last week. We have a party of 6 PCs:

A 7th level Trumpet Archon (me)
A 7th level Dwarven Barbarian (Battlerager)
A 7th level Elven Druid
A 7th level Halfling Rogue
A 5th level Dwarven Cleric of Mystra
A 4th level Aasimar Paladin of Lathander

So far, the lack of arcane magic hasn't hurt us.

(edit: i forgot a member of my own party! shame on me!)

 

[Olive]

So far, the lack of arcane magic hasn't hurt us.

With that much divine magic, not much could!

edit: bad bad spelling...

 

[Crimson_Blade]

I read your SH Gfunk; it's actually what interested me in the Adventure Path in the first place. BTW, didn't you forget a certain Halfling Rogue, or is that foreshadowing?

How do they compare to the first line of Adventure Paths, i.e. Sunless Citadel to Bastion of Broken Souls?

Furthermore, one main difference from the Dungeon path and the first one is that the Dungeon seems to be centered around a single city, Cauldron. Does this add to the series's quality, making the PCs feel more involved and actually care about the city's inhabitants? Or does the same location get repetitive and dull after a while?

 

[Old Fezziwig]

So far, so good, as far as I'm concerned. Of course, my PbP game is only on the first adventure (we're in Jzadirune right now, see my signature). I'm playing in a homebrew with a couple of nonstandard races and a party of six (plus one NPC, but he's not long for this world). There's plenty of opportunity for roleplaying in the first adventure. My PbP got bogged down in it for a little while. As for difficulty, there're a couple of nasty traps here and there, and characters that don't exhibit caution can have bad things happen to them. All in all, I'm very pleased with it so far.

best,
tKL

 

[KnightFever]

I completed the first part (Life's Bazaar) and I plan to master the second adventure (Flood Season). The first adventure revealed quite though for low level characters (2 killed characters), specially with the final encounter, so I choosed to strenghten a bit the abilities and equipment of the party. I also had to adapt the adventure to my campaign (rather human oriented). Otherwise, the campaign is fun to play, with a central plot and some nasty villains.

 

[Ketjak]

What are the Dungeon magazines they're in again? Man, I've got to organize my collection a bit better.

 

[gfunk]

I read your SH Gfunk; it's actually what interested me in the Adventure Path in the first place. BTW, didn't you forget a certain Halfling Rogue, or is that foreshadowing?

Ooops, heh heh. Freudian slip maybe? I changed my post above to include Tilly as well. He's still alive and kicking, I just forgot to include him for some strange reason.

How do they compare to the first line of Adventure Paths, i.e. Sunless Citadel to Bastion of Broken Souls?

It is an entirely different feel because you are rooted to one city, Cauldron. In the first Adventure Path we went all over the place: Sunless Citadel/Forge of Fury (near Ashabenford), Speaker in Dreams (Hillsfar), Standing Stone (in Myth Drannor), Heart of Nightfang Spire (near Thunderstone), Deep Horizon (Underdark), BoBS (all over the Planes).

The Shackled City kind of feels like Freeport. I DMed our current group through the first trilogy of Freeport modules and I think they would agree. You have a strong contact in the city (Church of Tyr) and all of your adventures are, more or less, sanctioned by them. Also there are large corrupting influences in the city, like in Freeport.

Combat-wise it is much more diverse. After playing D&D for so long, it is hard not to metagame when playing classic monsters in the MM. However, Shackled City uses more obscure monsters from MM2 and FF which throws a lot of uncertainty into the mix. Also, the new Path tries to highlight some 3.5 changes, but this will take a bit of tweaking by the DM b/c they weren't fully integrated yet (skeleton templates for example).

Furthermore, one main difference from the Dungeon path and the first one is that the Dungeon seems to be centered around a single city, Cauldron. Does this add to the series's quality, making the PCs feel more involved and actually care about the city's inhabitants? Or does the same location get repetitive and dull after a while

Eh, it's a mix. We do feel more involved but the problem is how small Cauldron is. The gp cap for magic items is quite low so we have to travel to the capital city for major shopping (thankfully I can fly) -- this is a bit of an annoyance. Also, if you are into that whole glory and prestige thing then it is somewhat difficult to gain reknown in a podunk town in the boonies.

Of course, this is simply my impression after the first two modules. It may try to branch out a little more. Personally, I like to adventure in different locales (the jungle in Flood Season was particularly nice) and choose where my PC will eventually "settle down."