Best Opening for an Adventure Path?

[Palanan]

I'm looking for an AP whose first book could double as a stand-alone module. I've played in Runelords, and I know that the chapters of an AP are designed to flow into one another, but I'm wondering if there's an AP with an especially interesting and well-rounded first chapter, with a self-contained story which isn't just a lead-in to later books in the AP.

Ideally I'd like something which emphasizes exploration, negotiation and roleplaying, as opposed to a low-level dungeon crawl, and which is a little more creative than the typical "you protect a small town from goblins." Are there any APs with a first book like this?

[the_david]

Does it have to be an adventurepath? The way you're describing it is that you just want a standalone adventure. Paizo has plenty of modules to choose from. Is this story suppose to lead upto a specific adventure?

I'd recommend the Falcon's Hollow modules. (Hollow's Last Hope. Crown of the Kobold King. Carnival of Tears. Revenge of the Kobold King. Hungry are the Dead.) It's written for third edition, but it should bring the PCs from level 1 to 7. That may be a little bit more than what you're aiming for though.

[Arutema]

Of the APs I'm familiar with, only the first book of Iron Gods fits the bill. Your hometown is saved, and there's only rumblings of larger powers at work. It is, however, dungeon-heavy, with most of the book devoted to exploring the crashed spaceship under the town.

[Incorrect]

Now that you mention Exploration.. The first book of Kingmaker is basically just the players exploring and mapping a large area. You could easily cut out the mentions of building a kingdom, and just give them the assignment of exploring and clearing dangers.
The area is inhabited both by dangers and potential allies.
It is also easy expand by creating your own content and just place it in one of the empty hexes on the map.

But, as mentioned, it sounds like you want a standalone adventure :smallsmile:

[Corlindale]

Part 1 of Serpent's Skull is pretty stand-alone, as far as I recall. Players are marooned on a deserted island and have to get away.

I think they find some maps that lead them on to the rest of the adventure, but you could cut that and just make the adventure about getting away.


I also really like the opening of Carrion Crown. "Players have to attend the funeral of a common friend" is a good way to bring the party together logically and tie them to the setting, and the adventure itself is a fun mix of investigation, social encounters in the city and a creepy dungeon crawl with some puzzle-solving elements. It shouldn't be too hard to cut out the stuff that leads on to further adventures (just remove the cultists and simply let Lorrimor die as a result of investigating the ghosts themselves). Some of the encounters are pretty tough, though.

[ghanjrho]

It's not Paizo, and it is Evil, but Book 1 of Way of the Wicked sounds like exactly what you're after. Escaping the prison (with almost no resources) emphasizes exploration and tactics, and the Siege of Balentyne at the end of the book is a delightful sandbox that strongly favors a more left-handed approach, as opposed to breaking down the door.


Additionally, it is designed to function as an independent module, as are Books 3, 4, and 5.

Essentially, instead of kicking off the rest of the campaign, Sakkarot's invasion functions as the "one swift kick" from the famous quote. Only it actually worked.

[DrMartin]

Iron Gods first module works very well as a stand-alone story, as mentioned above.
Reign of Winter could be easily adapted, if you make the BBEG of the first book the one in charge and give the players a way to make it back to where they started after they foil her plan. (I'm trying very hard to keep the description spoiler free :smallredface: )

You could play a few of the Tales of the Old Magreve. It's a series of finely written, loosely knit together fey-themed adventures that span from level 1 to 10, if I remember correctly. They are more connected by themes and ambience than a tight plotlines like most APs, so it may or may not be the cup of tea you are looking for.

It covers a bit more than what you've asked, but the Dragon's demand is an adventure that takes characters from level 1 to level 7 (so roughly the first 2 volumes of a given AP). Haven't run it or played it (or read it, for that matter) but it has excellent reviews.

You could probably adapt the first two chapter of The War of the Burning Sky to be a closed story as well (War of the Burning Forest? :D )

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by the_david
Does it have to be an adventurepath? The way you're describing it is that you just want a standalone adventure. Paizo has plenty of modules to choose from. Is this story suppose to lead upto a specific adventure?

Each individual AP book is typically 96 pages, as opposed to much leaner stand-alone modules. So I'd prefer an AP for the extra richness and detail of each individual chapter.


Originally Posted by Corlindale
I also really like the opening of Carrion Crown. "Players have to attend the funeral of a common friend" is a good way to bring the party together logically and tie them to the setting, and the adventure itself is a fun mix of investigation, social encounters in the city and a creepy dungeon crawl with some puzzle-solving elements.

This sounds excellent, even though it's not strictly an AP. I'll definitely check into this.


Originally Posted by DrMartin
Reign of Winter could be easily adapted, if you make the BBEG of the first book the one in charge and give the players a way to make it back to where they started after they foil her plan.

One look at this and I want to start singing "Let It Go." :smalltongue:


Originally Posted by DrMartin
You could play a few of the Tales of the Old Magreve. It's a series of finely written, loosely knit together fey-themed adventures that span from level 1 to 10, if I remember correctly. They are more connected by themes and ambience than a tight plotlines like most APs, so it may or may not be the cup of tea you are looking for.

In fact this sounds fantastic, and after checking the Paizo site this book seems just about ideal.

Sadly, it's not available on Amazon, and I've never ordered anything from the Paizo site before. But this one looks wonderful.

[killem2]

I will check out the very first adventure of Way of the Wicked but said of being evil you can make it good

[Kol Korran]

While I haven't played it, I too heard very good reviews about "The Dragon's Demand", even from a friend's playing group, who triedit with players new to the game, who really enjoyed it.

Some time ago I played in a PbP forum part of a stand alone module called "To slay a dragon" (or something very similar). It is supposed tonfot chaeactera from level 1-7. The start was quite nice you are in a small rural area, with various little quests and areas to explore (woods, ruined castle, little swamp, strange stone circle) and so on, with issue little quests. Each quest felt quite open ended as to how we approached them, and it felt like tiny fun sandboxish area. Great for building interactions and very simple and engaging on new players. I'm not sure if the module or the GM made it so brutal (It was TOUGH!), but that could easily be adjusted.

Due to RL, I had to quit, before the second part, which involved a long journey (Lord of the ring style?) Towards the lair of a dragon that has been terrorizing the region. Sounded quite fun!

From a flavor perspective, Wrath of the Righteous has an amazing opening scene, and a fantastic concept for the first module, from which you can take into lots of places. The mechanical execution of that module however is quite lacking... the first two levels the party basically just tries to make it to the surface through an immenswlynlinear dungeon. The second part, in which they are in a ruined city, filled with marauding demons was fantastic in concept, and has tremendous potential, but the module reduced it quite a lot. And the final feels like they are just protecting the party so much, and already the opposition seem as dumb as hell, even though story wise this feel like one of the best and most epic scenes I've seen in modules. I have had quite a few ideas on adjusting this. If you like the basic story though, I could help adjusting it.