Have you ever played an adventure path twice?

[Korahir]

This is a pretty simple question, but I'd like to hear your thoughts about it because I fiddle around with an adventure idea that shapes up to get bigger and bigger and has potential to be played in a lot of ways and may end up as an adventure path for Pathfinder I just will throw onto people via the internet.
I tend to create sandboxes for players who like options and one thought of mine was: is it relevant to think about replayability of an adventure path. I.e. I'd love too replay Red Hand of Doom (played it in 3.5) but playing the goblin side. I am currently running Rise of the Runelords for a group and playing Kingmaker (both Pathfinder). I don't think I want to replay those but they aren't built that way.

[Pugwampy]

I have no problem playing my favorite module twice as long as its new bunch of players .

I very much doubt those fancy boxsets were meant to be played only once.

[weckar]

Played? No.

DMed... Well, not an adventure path per se, but I've DMed the 3.5 long version of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft multiple times. The only real difficulty I encountered was stepping in with certain expectations of the players' actions the second time around. These often did not hold true.

[Korahir]

I have no problem playing my favorite module twice as long as its new bunch of players .

I very much doubt those fancy boxsets were meant to be played only once.

I think publishers are more interested in selling the next fancy boxset than making you replay the same one again.
Why is it important to have a new bunch of players and not the same players with different characters? Do yo mean favourite module as a DM or player?



Played? No.

DMed... Well, not an adventure path per se, but I've DMed the 3.5 long version of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft multiple times. The only real difficulty I encountered was stepping in with certain expectations of the players' actions the second time around. These often did not hold true.

Can you elaborate on those expectations? Where the tied to certain encounters or choices they players made and expected different outcomes?

[weckar]

It was mostly regarding choices the players made, and how certain NPCs were responded to. The groups I've run it with were quite on opposite sides of the sympathetic -- pragmatic spectrum.

For example: at one point there is meant to be a Tarot-type reading that will dictate much of the plot from there on out. The first group mostly went along with it (except for one player), but in the end didn't encounter most of what was referred to. The second group got to this part of the map rather late and had killed the person who was meant to provide the reading. Things deviated.

[Korahir]

It was mostly regarding choices the players made, and how certain NPCs were responded to. The groups I've run it with were quite on opposite sides of the sympathetic -- pragmatic spectrum.

For example: at one point there is meant to be a Tarot-type reading that will dictate much of the plot from there on out. The first group mostly went along with it (except for one player), but in the end didn't encounter most of what was referred to. The second group got to this part of the map rather late and had killed the person who was meant to provide the reading. Things deviated.

Thanks, that's helpful. I already try to avoid events that dictate plot rather than open possibilities. Although keeping everything open is impossible and consequences for all actions can never be thought. I have years of experience in dming groups who find a way the adventure path isn't meant to be approached. This is exactly what I want. No railroad, just a place where certain things happen.

[Pugwampy]

Why is it important to have a new bunch of players and not the same players with different characters? Do yo mean favourite module as a DM or player?

Well regardless of dice rolling , the players will know all the silly traps and tricks of that dungeon unless DM radically changes the trap and monster setup or length of time past between last players.
Its unfair to moan at players who in theory "dont know" about so and so trap or room trick because they played it before .

The box sets give you the basic run through but then tell to change the dungeon format next time.

Yes I mean favorite module as DM . There is this awesome sauce scary ghost house mod called Dead Mans party .

[Zombimode]

I'd love too replay Red Hand of Doom (played it in 3.5) but playing the goblin side.

The Thing is you wouldn't be replaying the adventure "Red Hand of Doom". You would be playing a complete new adventure that happens to share the setting and starting situation of another Adventure (namely: Red Hand of Doom). Aside from some parts of the fluff and backstory and some statblock, there is no overlap in the material.

[Korahir]

The Thing is you wouldn't be replaying the adventure "Red Hand of Doom". You would be playing a complete new adventure that happens to share the setting and starting situation of another Adventure (namely: Red Hand of Doom). Aside from some parts of the fluff and backstory and some statblock, there is no overlap in the material.

Very true but would you like an adventure path to include this option so you can even decide mid game to switch sides?

[weckar]

I generally dislike adventure path structures to be honest. I prefer area maps where 'things go on'. An overarching goal is nice, but not needed. Both EtCR and Keep on the Borderlands are amazing examples of this. They also seem easier to replay.

[Ualaa]

I did a complex 4E adventure, that took characters from 1st to 20th, first with my regular group and then later that same year for another group when I was working out of town for a summer.

From the DM side, I was intimately familiar with the material, being the author. And I had fun running it twice.

[Pleh]

You know? Some video games are fun to play twice to explore the iterations.

But somehow, it's never quite as fun the second time.

I mean RPGs, of course.

[Buufreak]

Not played, but I ran the early parts of Scales of War for 2 parties that were new to tabletops and wanted something simple and premade for them to enjoy. I got vastly different results between them.

[thorr-kan]

I've never played the same module twice, but I have played modules and later run the same one. My experience is all with the Al-Qadim boxed sets.

I loved playing through those modules. They were fresh and exciting while we had a great DM. 20 years (literally) later, I'm having a blast DMing these same modules for a fresh group of players. It's interesting comparing my hazy-20-year-old memories to the decisions my current players are making. Then we were college students; now we're all looking down the barrels of 50, excepting those who're looking at 50 in the rear-view mirror.

I'd give an awful lot to run through these modules again as a player. I think it would be fun. But I'm not certain it would be as fun.

[LoyalPaladin]

I've never played an adventure twice. But I wouldn't mind playing through the War of the Lance game again. It's by far my favorite module I've ever played.

I'd give Expedition to the Demonweb Pits a go again. But in a few years when I'm done with therapy from the last time through.

[Eldariel]

Well, I can certainly run campaigns many times but I'd hate to enter a campaign knowing beforehand what I'm looking at. That takes away the mystique and the surprise and I might get lazy with my character and play and even careless enough to accidentally metagame or things of that nature. Overall, I have to heavily reign in my own thinking when working with known factors my character is not aware of, which is just annoying. Easy enough to do on a creature level but much harder to do on a campaign-level. Thus I'd at least prefer the DM mixed things up a bit before playing the same campaign path again. Some of my favourites, such as Red Hand of Doom and Bastion of the Broken Souls I would definitely want to replay though - and I'd actually like a chance to run RHoD with my latest set of reworked Goblins (basically optimized and build into a slightly more hierarchic, militaristic system).

[Krazzman]

Nope.

So far I played carrion crown until book 4. We are still playing... maybe on another group of players/dm it would be fun again.

We joined at level 6 for the Tsar Saga AP and it would be really new to play from level 1.

I DM Hells Vengeance until mid book 3 so far but would love to play in a cool group.

We started Strange Aeons not too soon ago as such I can't tell if I would play again.

[Nupo]

I have DM'ed the old module "Keep on the Borderlands" more times than I can count. Well renditions of it that is. Some years ago I divided it up into nine separate small dungeons. The way it was originally designed that was pretty easy to do. With just a few changes you can throw them in almost anywhere and they work.

[Firechanter]

Not as tabletop, as such. I've only replayed several computer games, like Planescape:Torment or Neverwinter Nights 2. Usually trying out different character setups and/or making different choices.

At the table, I'm playing in a game now that runs an AP that I have nibbled at for a couple of sessions before (about 5 combat encounters), so I reckon that doesn't really count.

[Nibbens]

I've played Rise of the RuneLords twice and DM'd it once. I love that setting. In actuality, I found that I had to sit back at parts and let the other PCs puzzle their way through some of the decision making. Other times, I found that sticking true to my characters motivations made the decisions for me - so even though I knew what was coming, I wasn't metagaming per say. Lastly, the fact that I had two separate DMs and Now DMing it myself - it really was three separate experiences.
Every DM brings something new to the table, and each one focuses on different aspects of the story. It really can be enjoyed more than once.

Also, a bit of transparency here: My second DM knew full well that it was my second play through. I didn't keep that from him at all. Knowing this, he sometimes went out of his way to subvert my expectations. Those games were truly awesome, because I knew what the game could have been, and how it had been changed.

[EvulOne]

I ran an old story of mine twice now, once about 15 years ago and then again more recently for another group and they seemed to love it. I have an old Role-Aid module called the Lich Lords and I ran that three times, each time the players died. So I literally have their bodies placed in the Lich's buried city along with their equipment still there to be found if I ever run it again.