# The Adventure Paths: The Best Ones Are?



## Knightfall (Jan 4, 2011)

The adventure paths for Pathfinder are top notch, but which ones stand out as the best?

Vote for your favorite(s) and explain why!

Knightfall


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## dmccoy1693 (Jan 4, 2011)

Kingmaker gets my vote wholeheartedly as the top AP.

Edit: Ohhh forgot to explain why:

It fits my style of play. I prefer to have a goal and let the players get their of their own accord. Along the way they have encounters, but it is when the players decide to deal with it or when they stumble across it is when they deal with it. 

Compare that to Curse of the Crimson Throne. One of the adventures, our group was told right from the outset, "you have to do X. But to be able to do X you have to first get magic item Y. But to find out exactly how to get to Y, you have to first be trusted by Z clan. To be trusted by Z clan, you have to be have someone from clan A who is highly regarded for their neutrality watch you perform operation B." I didn't find that adventure alot of fun. Why couldn't I just goto clan Z and kick the crap out of them until they told us where Y was. Why couldn't I just use magic to figure out where Y was? Its our adventure, why can't we do it the way we want to do it. 

And that's what Kingmaker does. Here's your goal. If you want to skip the rest of the adventure and go straight to the main bad guy, go right ahead. You'll be at a lower level and it will be difficult, but it can be done.


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## Maidhc O Casain (Jan 4, 2011)

I really like Kingmaker for the reasons listed above, as well as for the kingdom building rules it introduced.

But my favorite so far is Serpent's Skull. The first installment is almost pure sandbox (like Kingmaker), but I love the flavor, and I love the way they've detailed the NPC interactions with the party. Also, the choices the party makes early on regarding the NPCs will have far reaching effects through the story.


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## Mojo_Rat (Jan 5, 2011)

the only one I have done so far is second darkness. I enjoyed it a lot and feel itbis a very good introduction to some historical facts of golarion.


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## Celtavian (Jan 5, 2011)

*re*

I've done Second Darkness, Kingmaker, and am now on Rise of the Runelords. All of them have been fun, but Kingmaker is my favorite so far. I like the perfect balance of story, sandbox, and goals.


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## Dark Mistress (Jan 5, 2011)

I liked all of them to one degree or another. Some of them appeal to different play styles or themes. Which will have a lot to do with which one you like best. So I will list them in order.

These are all very good.
1) Rise of the Runelords
2) Kingmaker
3) Curse of the Crimson Throne
4) Serpent's Skull (this one is not all out yet so it might be moving up the list)

These are good
5) Legacy of Fire
6) Council of Thieves

These are ok
7) Second Darkness


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## Qwillion (Jan 6, 2011)

Kingmaker because I love a sandbox.


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## Volaran (Jan 6, 2011)

I have played in Second Darkness, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and am currently playing through Legacy of Fire.

I have GMed Rise of the Runelords, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and am presently running Kingmaker.

I've read through Crown of Thieves and Serpent's Skull, but will exclude them from ranking, as I have not experienced them in play.

1. Rise of the Runelords.  
This is honestly a very close race along with Kingmaker.  RotRL edges the others out for me because it was an excellent introduction to the adventure paths and Golarion in general, and Varisia specifically.  The party gets many memorable encounters, and a truely epic villain.  The gold standard for the Paizo adventure paths.

2. Kingmaker
My players are just now getting the kingdom-building stages, but love the sandbox style of adventuring.  As a DM, I also enjoy the option for lengthy time-lapses between adventuring sessions, as the meteoric rise to power of the PCs in any adventure path does strain credibility a bit for me.

3. Legacy of Fire
Part of this is a personal fondness for genies and desert adventuring.  My group is only just starting adventure 3, but I've really enjoyed how fleshed out the background is.  I can't speak for this one from a DM perspective, but I really like all of the flavour.  My GM had toyed with adapting some of the Kingmaker kingdom rules for Kelmerene, but ultimately decided against it.  Once again, points from me for allowing lengthy breaks between the adventures.

4. Curse of the Crimson Throne
Both as a player and a GM, I enjoyed the continued fleshing-out of Varisia, the story of the Vancaskerkin family, and the story of Korvosa itself.  That said, there were a few things that stretched my disbelief as this adventure path went on.  Most notably is the 



Spoiler



almost overnight appearance of the Grey Maidens as a credible military force within the city, displacing the established city watch and military orders almost completely.  The players are also encouraged to tie themselves strongly to Korvosa, but spend almost a third of the adventure path away from it.  My understanding is that this was somewhat addressed in Council of Thieves, which is complete city-based.


  I also think that a fair amount of the Crimson Throne is _very_ linear (talk to group A to get an item for group B who will give you access to group C, who have the information you need), but Paizo does try to address this in side bars for groups that want to stray from the path, and experience the adventure in other ways.  The GM will have the tools, but will need to put a fair amount of effort into using them. 



Spoiler



The default path in adventure 4 is probably the most respectful to the Shoanti clans, so I think a good-aligned party or one containing Shoanti characters are the most likely to take it.  Impatient, or more neutral/evil aligned parties would likely be less inclined to do so.



All that may sound fairly negative, but I thoroughly enjoyed CotCT as a player, and my own players seemed to have similar fondness.

5. The Second Darkness
The weakest of the adventure paths is still fairly strong.  I do feel that there is some discontinuity between the first two adventures in the series and the rest.  



Spoiler



A great deal of effort is made to get the players interested in running the Golden Goblin, but it barely shows up after the first adventure.  Our group also felt like we were constantly being lead around as cannon fodder or living shields for the elves for the last 4 adventures, with very little consistent pay (a big thing for our primarily neutral, but evil-leaning party).  That said, it was nice to have the third of Varisia's four cities fleshed out, as well as a great deal about the elves, and the drow of Golarion.  Spending time in Zirnakaynin posing as drow was a great time.



If I run another adventure Path, I am undecided as to whether it will be Council of Thieves or Serpent's Skull.  This thread may help me decide.


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## Noir le Lotus (Jan 8, 2011)

I don't know all the APs so I voted for RotRL that I played (well only the 1st half but it was really good) and Kingmaker that I'm actually playing.

I read CotCT and I found it not so good : the basic idea is good but I didn't like the way it was treated. The BBEG (big bad evil girl ) is identified at the very beginning and one of the 6 adventures is just a big stupid dungeon crawl. 

I don't really know about the others APs : I was interested in the drow one but I heard it is not so good.


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## Mojo_Rat (Jan 8, 2011)

Noir le Lotus said:
			
		

> I don't know all the APs so I voted for RotRL that I played (well only the 1st half but it was really good) and Kingmaker that I'm actually playing.
> 
> I read CotCT and I found it not so good : the basic idea is good but I didn't like the way it was treated. The BBEG (big bad evil girl ) is identified at the very beginning and one of the 6 adventures is just a big stupid dungeon crawl.
> 
> I don't really know about the others APs : I was interested in the drow one but I heard it is not so good.




I agree with what one of the previous posters said about second darkness in that early  on there's lot of focus on riddle port. then bam no longer of any real focus in the ap. however the AP has ALOT of golarion history in it that I think makes it well worth playing.


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## neofax (Jan 9, 2011)

All of the AP's up to and including Legacy of Fire are 3.5 rules and not Pathfinder.  So the DM will need to convert them to Pathfinder.  However, to rate the AP's based on flavor/mechanics/appeal/style, here is my list with 1 being the best:

1.  Legacy of Fire(sorry I loved Al-Qadim and Kingdoms of Kalamar, so how can I not like this)  DMing
2.  Rise of the Runelords (it just has pretty much every main genre thrown in.  Want mystery, check; Want horror, check; Want fantasy, check; Dungeon crawl, check; Hack'n'Slash, check.  Yes, you may have to slug thru some parts you may not like, but it is not your typical long wait nor is it totally boring.)  Played
3.  Kingmaker (So far, I like it because to me it feels like RotRL by including many types of genres, but it does it by giving the players the ability to control when the events will happen.  My biggest problem is not the AP itself, but the hype people place on it.  Is it a sandbox, sorta as you still have to accomplish the tasks provided to achieve the final X to unlock the next book or end of campaign.)  DMing
4.  Serpent's Skull (From what I have read, this may just beat out all of the AP's to date.  I am eagerly awaiting the final books to render a final verdict, but I think Paizo has done a great job with this AP so far.) Read
5.  Curse of the Crimson Throne (Great story, poor execution.) Playing
6.  council of Thieves (Have not read or played but this AP holds more appeal to me than Second Darkness)
7.  Second Darkness (doesn't do it for me and probably will not ever pick up the AP to read)

I would like to one day check out Paizo's other AP's from when they wrote Dungeon Magazine.


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## fletch137 (Jan 11, 2011)

Let me preface all this with the note that I haven't played any of these APs.  My current lack of a gaming group means my sole RPG experiences these days come from reading the adventures and *wishing* I could play them.

I got a late start into Serpent's Skull, only just now getting the first three books.  However, I'm *really* liking the way this campaign is growing and it might be my favorite of the bunch.  It has a good mix of adventure types: survival, expedition, dungeon, and even some politicking, yet each adventure keeps to a consistent theme and doesn't feel at all patchwork.  As an added bonus, it not only explores more of Golarion's forgotten past for the fans, but the "forgotten past" part of means it's easily translatable to other settings.

Kingmaker's high on my list, too, despite not living up to my very high expectations.  On just the read-thru, it feels kind of repetitious. If I were a player, I don't know how long I could tolerate "we go another hex, what do we see?" and the often unconnected series of lairs and monsters that pepper the region.  Heaven help me once my PC becomes a noble and I'm still expected to sludge through bogs and fetch dragonfly wings for my subjects so they can make capes.  Fortunately there's enough nobility-based adventures in the later books (the festival, the war, the alliance with the Nomen, etc.) that there's still a campaign there, but I'd likely cut out all the hex-crawling from books 4 and 5.  And although the campaign takes place over in the forgettable corner of the map (far away from my beloved Varisia...at least Serpent's Skull has an option for letting players be *from* from Magnimar), the exploration, kingdom building, and epic finale (combined with even more epic ways to continue past the end of the adventure path) make this a campaign worth making some allowances for.

Honorable mention goes to Curse of the Crimson Throne, but not the one y'all are familiar with.  The Crimson Throne I have in my head, heavily adapted to include elements from Rune Lords and Second Darkness (and even Bloodsworn Vale), is all levels of awesome.  I can't really recommend CotCT based on my personal adaptations, but I'm such a huge fan of Varisia as a mini-setting that it's worth the cutting and pasting to make the most uber-Varisian campaign I can.


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## concerro (Jan 12, 2011)

You can throw away the Kingdom building, which is what the Hex exploring is for in the background.


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## TheAuldGrump (Jan 12, 2011)

Hmmm... Kingmaker is pretty darned wonderful, with a nice sandbox. Even better it has settlement rules which don't assume that the PCs are all high level adventurers. And fey who are not all cute and friendly....

Curse of the Crimson Throne. Mmmmm.  Why plague is still to be feared in a world with healing magic. Intrigue, urban adventuring, and an NPC hero who may or may not end up being an ally of the PCs. Plenty of hungry undead, curses, and a shapechanger or two.

The Auld Grump


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## fletch137 (Jan 12, 2011)

concerro said:


> You can throw the Kingdom building, which is what the Hex exploring is for in the background.




True, but the kingdom building's sort of the point.  I'm only thinking that hex-by-hex exploration might get a bit old after six levels or so.  By then, I'd certainly be willing to allow my hypothetical players to spend build points to send their army out to claim hexes while the PCs did nobility stuff like deal with Varnhold or visit Pitax.  And if the army comes back and says "yikes, there was a big, wangering giant!", the PCs can make a special trip out to make it stop.


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## Celebrim (Jan 14, 2011)

I've not played any of them, but I have read through the first parts of RotRL and was impressed by the talent on display.

However, not enough impressed to want to run it.  Instead, it struck me more as something worth stealing ideas and scenes from.  

With that in mind, I would appreciate it if people mentioned the particular modules or scenes of the AP that they felt worked the best and were most enjoyed and well remembered by their group.


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## concerro (Jan 14, 2011)

The exploring can be done away with also. I would have skipped over a lot of it to get to the posters(quests), if my players did not want to do the exploring.


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## Crispy Critter (Jan 14, 2011)

Celebrim said:


> I've not played any of them, but I have read through the first parts of RotRL and was impressed by the talent on display.
> 
> However, not enough impressed to want to run it.  Instead, it struck me more as something worth stealing ideas and scenes from.
> 
> With that in mind, I would appreciate it if people mentioned the particular modules or scenes of the AP that they felt worked the best and were most enjoyed and well remembered by their group.




One in particular that comes right to mind is from the second module in The Council of Thieves AP. It's called The Six Fold Trial and one chapter is devoted to a death play titled "The Six Trials of Larazod." What is a death play you may ask? Imagine acting in front of an audience with a chance that you can actually be killed during the performance. My players told me it was one of the most memorable sessions they ever had. Each one played a character in the play, said the lines and then fought for their lives.


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## Celtavian (Jan 15, 2011)

*re*



Crispy Critter said:


> One in particular that comes right to mind is from the second module in The Council of Thieves AP. It's called The Six Fold Trial and one chapter is devoted to a death play titled "The Six Trials of Larazod." What is a death play you may ask? Imagine acting in front of an audience with a chance that you can actually be killed during the performance. My players told me it was one of the most memorable sessions they ever had. Each one played a character in the play, said the lines and then fought for their lives.




That sounds interesting.


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## mxyzplk (Jan 18, 2011)

Dark Mistress said:


> These are all very good.
> 1) Rise of the Runelords
> 2) Kingmaker
> 3) Curse of the Crimson Throne
> ...




I almost completely agree with Dark Mistress, except that I enjoyed Curse of the Crimson Throne the most; I'd swap it and Rise of the Runelords on that list.

Crimson Throne had great villains and NPCs; you got to spend a lot of time in the city of Korvosa which rewarded investment in the setting; it did have its overly linear bit in the middle but the adventure came out and said "Hey GM, this is linear as written, you'll need to mix this up a bit." I don't need a printed adventure to give me more sandbox, I can toss random encounters with the best of them.

Having said that, Kingmaker is also awesome and is my #2 - it's not just a random sandbox, it's a cool Golarion flavored sandbox.

Runelords was classic too.  Serpent's Skull may end up beating it, time will tell.

Legacy of Fire was nice and Arabian flavored but just didn't have as much zazz.  And Council of Thieves started to get a little boring.  

Second Darkness had several good chapters but was very ill conceived in chapters 4-5. It's still ok - I am using the first two chapters as part of my non-Second-Darkness campaign - but it's definitely the least good of the APs.

As for the older ones, you don't list them but I count them, I'd put Savage Tide and Age of Worms up in the bottom of the very good category, and Shackled City in good around CoT.


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## mxyzplk (Jan 18, 2011)

Celebrim said:


> I've not played any of them, but I have read through the first parts of RotRL and was impressed by the talent on display.
> 
> However, not enough impressed to want to run it.  Instead, it struck me more as something worth stealing ideas and scenes from.
> 
> With that in mind, I would appreciate it if people mentioned the particular modules or scenes of the AP that they felt worked the best and were most enjoyed and well remembered by their group.




In RotR, the goblins and Sandpoint (Chapter 1), the haunted Foxglove Manor (Chapter 2), and the demented hillbilly ogres (Chapter 3) are all awesome classics.  Chapters 4-6 were less compelling but there were still cool parts later on - the wendigo stuff, for example.

In CoCT, all the parts were good but different - I enjoyed all of chapters 1-3 and 6 (the parts in Korvosa).  I felt the Shoanti part (Chapter 4) and the Scarwall part (Chapter 5)
were too forced in context, but would be good to take and expand upon unto themselves.  And Kaer Maga was really interesting.

In SD, the Riddleport part in Chapters 1-2 was really cool.  After that, not so much.


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