Pseudopsyche
First Post
I love the idea of adventure paths, but I quail at the formidable challenge of keeping a group going for all 30 levels. So why don't we see more adventure paths (or plans for such) that span only one or two tiers? The advantages of a shorter path seem considerable: primarily a reduced commitment for its creators and consumers, while still affording quite a bit of space for grand adventure. Obviously I am not precisely the target audience for these things, so perhaps you can tell me the intrinsic appeal of spanning all 30 levels.
I can somewhat understand WotC's desire to show off the epic tier and how a single campaign can traverse all three tiers in their initial published adventures, but I'm particularly curious to know why the most prominent conversions expand originally 20-level (or shorter) APs across all three tiers. The popular Tales from the Rusty Dragon conversion of Rise of the Runelords initially put me off by deciding to add more encounters to even a Paizo AP in order to make up the difference in XP. For the conversion of War of the Burning Sky, while I'm not familiar with the original 3E version, it looks like the first adventure attempts to catch up by including plenty of skill challenges (good) and making the typical tactical encounter level + 3, while allowing relatively frequent extended rests. On paper, this approach seems to work well enough for the first adventure (and I love the depth of the plot and NPCs), but I worry how the demands of advancing through all 30 levels will constrain the conversion of the remaining adventures.
Finally, where are the 4E analogs of Lost City of Barakus or Red Hand of Doom, which are wonderful superadventures that can either form an entire relatively brief campaign or start off a longer one? I think Revenge of the Giants will be cool, but I long for a good heroic-tier superadventure or one-tier AP.
I can somewhat understand WotC's desire to show off the epic tier and how a single campaign can traverse all three tiers in their initial published adventures, but I'm particularly curious to know why the most prominent conversions expand originally 20-level (or shorter) APs across all three tiers. The popular Tales from the Rusty Dragon conversion of Rise of the Runelords initially put me off by deciding to add more encounters to even a Paizo AP in order to make up the difference in XP. For the conversion of War of the Burning Sky, while I'm not familiar with the original 3E version, it looks like the first adventure attempts to catch up by including plenty of skill challenges (good) and making the typical tactical encounter level + 3, while allowing relatively frequent extended rests. On paper, this approach seems to work well enough for the first adventure (and I love the depth of the plot and NPCs), but I worry how the demands of advancing through all 30 levels will constrain the conversion of the remaining adventures.
Finally, where are the 4E analogs of Lost City of Barakus or Red Hand of Doom, which are wonderful superadventures that can either form an entire relatively brief campaign or start off a longer one? I think Revenge of the Giants will be cool, but I long for a good heroic-tier superadventure or one-tier AP.