# Carrion Crown Adventure Path



## Morrus (Nov 20, 2014)

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## dd.stevenson (Nov 21, 2014)

*3 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

If this had been sold as a series of completely separate horror adventures I would probably give the entire set four or five stars. But instead it's a path, and the pathy-ness is where this series really falls down hard on its face. If your players have any aversion to railroading they are guaranteed to balk at the heavy handed tactics used to force the adventure into the next horror-themed area. And the themes don't always mesh well, lending the whole experience an amusement park quality.


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## marroon69 (Nov 21, 2014)

*3 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

So AP started out great but it ended out being a little to much horror. When every day is horror...horror all the time you become numb to it. By the end the group was not even phased by all the horrible things that happened...so a little too much horror.


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## Fabio Andrea Rossi (Nov 21, 2014)

*4 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

Carrion Crown is a good tale: lots of well thought scenarios and situations. Not so much linked as a whole AP and some minor plot flaws here and there but overall excellent, perhaps a little too many combats for an horror adventure but well, this is Pathfinder, and at least most combats are pretty interesting!


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## lyle.spade (Nov 24, 2014)

*2 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

I played through all of books 1 and 2, and we made it about halfway through the 3rd volume before our group gave up on it. The Haunting of Harrowstone had enough flexbility in the plot, interesting NPCs and locales, and still pressure to move forward that it struck a good balance between player freedom and the demands of the story-as-expected. Book 2 seemed really forced - very much a typical "your patron wants this SO DO IT" approach to getting a party involved. It also became pretty transparent in terms of character advancement: the encounters are there to provide XP first, it feels, and story elements second. Seriously: you start the story and you know that the Beast is innocent...it's too obvious as a player...and so every 'clue' you're supposedly finding in character doesn't really help at all...there's no mystery. And the big trial is just a series of skill rolls. Our group found it, and the big battle at the end, to be very dry and predictable. By Book 3 we felt completely railroaded by the story, which again was made up of XP-generating encounters about which we did not care. For example, we wanted to skip the hunting lodge completely and keep moving after our real target...but the book demanded a long stay at the lodge, so there we were.The idea of a horror campaign really intrigued us, but good horror requires tension, and a predictable plot and obvious contrivances ruin any chance of that being maintained. I might pick up these books on sale or used for inspiration, but if you have a party that wants to be afraid or wants to unravel a mystery as players and characters, this - as written - will likely disappoint.


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## Fubbles the baby cow (Nov 26, 2014)

*3 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

I'm completing the 5th book of this AP with my group, and we've been running the AP for over four years.  I have mixed feelings about the AP.  I believe that Paizo's design goal for this AP was to present a horror-themed adventure path which features iconic undead adversaries, and presents an overall feel of fear, dread and horror.  To the good, the AP features a tour-de-force of classic horror monsters in the various chapters, focusing on one or two classic tropes per chapter.  Ghosts, zombies, werewolves, vampires, witches and a lich end-boss are all well represented.  If killing lots of undead in gothic settings is your cup of tea, have at it!  The AP delivers this very well.To the bad, the AP does not deliver on giving the players an overall feeling of impending doom, as a good horror-themed game should.  I think this is not so much a fault of the writing in the AP as it is a fault of the game system itself.  The Pathfinder RPG is essentially  a game of fantasy super heroes kicking ass and taking names.  In my experience, the game works best when the players are allowed to be awesome, and face challenging opponents without too much worry about being annihilated by the opposition.  This is not a good fit with a game that wants to instill a feeling of overwhelming odds, unbeatable opponents, and the threat of death (or worse!) at every turn.  There also seems to be a lack of connection between chapters of the AP.  As written, the main BBEG does not even become known to the party until chapter 5, and the party only sees him in person at the very end of the AP.  I had to make a lot of modifications to the AP to make the BBEG more personal and despicable to the group (thanks Paizo message boards!).    Paizo also has a severe crush on the Lovecraft mythos, which they tried to shoe-horn into chapter 4 of the AP.  It did not work.  The chapter seemed out of place, and was more of a side quest for the group; it didn't really contribute anything meaningful to the advancement of the main story.  Final analysis: If killing undead is your thing, this is the AP for you.  If horror themed games are more your style, skip this one, and play Call of Cthulhu instead.


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## Lwaxy (Nov 28, 2014)

*3 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

This AP has a really great start with the first adventure. The old prison needing to be cleaned out and the description of the town with all the small spooks etc really make for a great atmosphere. From there it slowly goes downhill.   Too much horror makes for a boring, predictable game, and it is worse when the story is so disconnected you are forced to railroad (or be railroaded). If you run this, I advise to add other stories in between the main part, and think of a better way to connect the single volumes. Or ust run them seperately to begin with, with only a hint of connection so your players won't feel forced so much.


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## Mullog (Nov 29, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

Had so much fun being a DM. Amazing NPCs, great locations (haunted prison, trial, lost-in-the-woods lodge, vampire underground). It s an horrific roller coaster, full of role playing opportunities, mixed with fun fights. The intrigue is pretty simple and linear but it's well balanced with very different atmospheres and memorable places to visit!


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## Dragovon (Nov 29, 2014)

*4 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

I liked this one.  The was a suggestion in it to add the Carrion Hill module in at one point.  I did that and it worked well.  Would love to see a part 2 done like Emerald Spire wherein you go after the Whispering Tyrant.


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## Starfox (Dec 9, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

Again, I've only read this adventure path, not actually played it. This is a series of six excellent horror adventures. There is an optional connecting plot, but it really only matters in parts one and six. The rest are separate adventures on different themes; gothic, vampires, werewolves, Cthulhuoid, we have it all! Each is good, but the connection between them is pretty tenuous. This is true to the genre - think of this like "tales from the crypt" or some other horror series, each episode separate but with an overreaching plot.


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## Waller (Jan 20, 2015)

*2 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

I can't really recommend this AP.  It feels disjointed.  I enjoy the idea of a horror-themed path, but sadly TSR captured horror in Ravenloft far better than this years earlier.


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## mxyzplk (Jan 23, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

Plenty of atmosphere in this AP, from ghosts to Frankensteins to werewolves to vampires to Cthulhus to liches.  It's super railroady and we often had to just metagame and say "we're here because the plot says we're supposed to be..." As with many APs, the first half is the best and then it gets patchy when you hit the high levels.


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## concerro (Mar 14, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

This one has more opportunities for RP. I like it a lot, and I would have given it 5 start if not for book 4. Book 6 was okay.


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## Nightfall (Mar 14, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

There are parts I love (Chapter 4 for example for the entire Cthulhuian horror setup), and parts I think need fixing (looking at you chapter 3!) But overall, my won experience (especially running it) has been pretty positive. I hope some day to do this again.


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## thom_likes_gaming (Apr 15, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

I had the pleasure of running this as a DM through the 2nd Book, and I read the rest as well, several times. I can see some of the criticism provided in other review as legit; the AP is certainly not sandboxed, the fact that basically you have 6 books each using a slightly different (horror-)theme could hurt the cohesiveness, yes. To us, it wasn't a problem, and we enjoyed that there was plenty of opportunities to roleplay. My players enjoyed the setting, the gloomy Ustalav.  As a DM I had no difficulties running the modules, all the information was there.


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## PurpleDragonKnight (Dec 16, 2015)

*1 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

I played this AP twice so I know a bit about this one.  Both times I played more to hang out with great players than I did for desire to play this heap of crap.  The second time around, the GM was kinda hopeful about the whole gothic feel to this, but by Chap 2 he was kinda miffed by the whole thing.  I mean a haunt is cool until you have a cleric channeling, at which point it has the same effect on the campaign as a corridor riddled with traps when you have a rogue built to own traps with no chance of failure - the GM stops bothering and hand waives those things...The story is just bad, and mainly relies on a "horror feel" that's supposed to be there but don't quite materializes.  Plus the whole Whispering Way angle is weak.  They should have devoted more time on this.  The AP sure doesn't have the same feel the Pathfinder Novels provides for Ustalav...


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## Lichhunter (Aug 20, 2017)

*5 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

Not sure why this gem winds up so low on the Adventure Path hierarchy.  I'm a fan.  

Its path reminded me of Against the Giants with the gradual progression of monster difficulty but in a gothic horror kind of way.

The final confrontation in Gallowspire was maybe a weak point, but not that weak, and it didn't turn me off to the whole adventure path which was deftly laid out and described beautifully.


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## Enrico Poli1 (Apr 6, 2018)

*3 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

I remember that the FIRST adventure was really great, one of the best 1st-Level modules I ever experienced. That level of excellence was kept for the first half of the SECOND module, "Trial of the Beast" (second part was a slog). Adventures 3, 4 and 5 were rather dull and boring in my experience. The 6th one was better, but not at the levels of the first modules. 
I think that the authors divided the modules thematically (Horror Stories? So, ghosts in the first adventure, then Frankenstein, then werewolves, Chtulhu, vampires and... a Legendary Lich Lord in the end!), but that was not enough, they had to work more on the style, because I found no horror in these horror adventures.
So, if you want to taste this AP, I recommend to play the first installment, maybe a half of the second one.


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## Oculto (Nov 26, 2018)

*2 out of 5 rating for Carrion Crown Adventure Path*

An excelent first chapter.. .. ... and thats all.


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