[PF] Shattered Star Adventure Path - Anyone Tried It?

[Palanan]

Has anyone had a chance to try out the first chapters of the Shattered Star sequence? I'm running a 3.5 campaign and thought I might borrow pillage a little, but there don't seem to be any reviews out there yet.

Has anyone run what's available, or even flipped through the pages? My local B&N has suddenly dumped all their Pathfinder modules, so I'm flying blinder than usual....
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[Murg]

There are some reviews for Shattered Star on the Paizo website. They also have a forum set up specifically for Shattered Star.

[Palanan]

Thanks, I figured there would be. Unfortunately Paizo's website hasn't been responding this evening, at least not for me.

And, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's had a chance to run or play these. Some of the other adventure paths look interesting and this one caught my eye.

[Pink]

I've been running it with my online group, we're getting close to halfway through the first book I figure, and I've started reading into the second. I'm just gonna spoiler this so I can speak a bit freely.

My opinion of it so far is that it's quite good.

First of all, the series is generally a dungeon crawl, so if that isn't your group's play style, it doesn't really matter how good it is. But if your group doesn't mind or can enjoy it, from what I've seen so far, S* is a great AP.

From what I've seen in the two books, the general set-up of the adventures is a sandboxy area first, then the main dungeon.

The sandbox area is the area located around the main dungeon. This may be just travelling to the dungeon, or investigating to find a way in, or dealing with the inhabitants around and what not. For the first book your Sandbox is tracking down the initial artifact and informant that will set of the whole "rod of seven parts" quest that the AP is based off of. In the Port City of Magnimar you deal with Szarni Gangs, Enemies of the Pathfinder Society and the Police to try and track down where the pathfinder agent has run off too. The Second book has you navigating through swampland and dealing with the natives and their territory troubles to find a way into the dungeon complex. There's some great roleplaying spots, the books has a fair number of contingencies written in for player actions that I liked (Such as asking for a payment advance from the Sponser NPC, and what happens if the Party tries to use force instead of gold and words when dealing with the Scarzni. In the second book the whole two warring tribes is written deliciously, I can't wait to run it and see how my players choose to approach it.) as well as some 'mini-dungeon' spots. The book also has some quick small side quest notes on the front cover of the books and within key NPC profiles for a GM to flesh out and add as they like. A quick peek ahead showed an appendix of the third book has additional encounters and side quests for the Party's Base town so that you can create a more organic chaotic life of adventure instead of transition from one dungeon area to the next.

I will give a warning that to start, the adventure is pretty difficult. The first mini-dungeon has some tough tactical spots, and a surprise attack by dangerous opponents right after the first boss battle. Of course, it's possible to continue the campaign after losing this fight (even notes in the module on how to handle this if it happens), but it's still something to be sensitive about because if handled wrong it's kinda a gutpunch to a party. Once they get about level 2 though the difficulty evens out a bit as far as I can tell.

Then comes the large dungeon part. So far some nice standard DnD stuff done in good style. You got some traps, some secret doors, good history of why these are there and the nature of the dungeon. Also a good spread of enemies, and a surprising amount of diplomacy Party's can do if they desire that playstyle. Some groups just live in the area and, though it may be difficult, it is possible to convince some of them that it's worth moving out instead of getting into a combat about it. For that matter, the second books even has notes for such strategy as infiltrating the dungeon by disguise as it's leader (If you read more you'll see why there are such detail notes on this). It's definitely written with flexibility to be approached from a standpoint other than kick-down-the-door.

Overall, I'm quite enjoying it, I've yet to see anything that turns me off, alot of effort has been put into making these dungeons that are as interactive and diplomatic as Partys want them to be, or you can just to kick down the door style. But as a GM, you will want to familiarize yourself with some of the rule for the tactical combat on some areas. In an effort to make battles interesting some of the area do warrent some index cards with rule notes or tactical notes to remind you how to run the combat.

If there's anything specific you'd like to ask, feel free. For that matter, my group actually records and vidcasts our sessions, so if you have time you can actually check out how we've been playing here. (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV96NeFM7dD3lcLOia1xm0LEWY6tz68Ua&feature=view_all) (Note: the vidcast is a couple sessions behind)

[Palanan]

Thanks for the detailed comments, I really appreciate it. I especially like to hear that there are other ways to deal with situations than boot-to-the-head, since I enjoy roleplaying and I have a player who's naturally good at running a diplomatic character.

As a more general question, how involved would it be to adapt sections to a 3.5 campaign? I've never given Pathfinder a detailed read (the 576-page rulebook, urf) but they seem to be doing a lot of good stuff lately, and I'm really interested in bringing in some elements. Can Pathfinder material be included without too much trouble, or would I have to do some detailed rebuilding of all the NPCs?

[Alleran]

If you're playing through the second adventure (Curse of the Lady's Light) and your players happen to find the coffin with the strikingly beautiful woman, make sure one of them triggers the trap for the most possible hilarity.

[Palanan]

The silver-tongued PC is also an incorrigible ladies' man, so I'll definitely keep that part in mind.

:smallbiggrin:

[Pink]

Thanks for the detailed comments, I really appreciate it. I especially like to hear that there are other ways to deal with situations than boot-to-the-head, since I enjoy roleplaying and I have a player who's naturally good at running a diplomatic character.

As a more general question, how involved would it be to adapt sections to a 3.5 campaign? I've never given Pathfinder a detailed read (the 576-page rulebook, urf) but they seem to be doing a lot of good stuff lately, and I'm really interested in bringing in some elements. Can Pathfinder material be included without too much trouble, or would I have to do some detailed rebuilding of all the NPCs?

Incredibly easy really. PF is essentially just 3.5 with a few tweaks and house rules. Learn what the CMB/CMD is and it's easy enough to backwards convert to grapple numbers. Look up new abilities and feats as needed, or swap them with what you know. Play feats and spells as written in 3.5. Understand what skills got combined. Really, once you get a general feel for what changes were made, you can pretty much straight up use a PF stat block for 3.5, or vice versa. Honestly, if you play 3.5, you basically know how to play PF.

Alleran, Spoilers! Potential players could be reading! Though I agree, wonderful trap, I will be tempted to fudge it to make it happen in my campaign.

[Palanan]

Exellent, many thanks. You've convinced me to dive in.

:smalltongue: