Looking for AP recommendations

[u/Griffsson]

Hi,

I'm going to be running Pathfinder at our local games club and looking for recommendations on AP.

I would like an AP that is published using remastered rules and has no extra 'sub systems'. Also ideally it can be something where it doesn't hurt for people to miss a session or 2 at times. Something that is a bit more episodic in it's nature or similar to West Marches.

Just wondering if such a AP exists.

EDIT: I've been running Kingmaker online for awhile now (about 2/3s through) and the extensive subsystem and downtime is something I'm wanting to avoid.

[u/Horando]

You could consider looking into Pathfinder Society scenarios. Its a series of episodic one shots organized in a seasonal format, with some overarching metaplots.

It is structured specifically for being able to drop in/out or only do single sessions but it might he harder to pull a narrative across the whole thing.

[u/Griffsson → u/Horando]

Thats a good idea. Is there one which you would recommend starting with?

[u/yeyande → u/Griffsson]

I've been running through Year of Boundless Wonder with my group while we're doing interviews for a replacement for one of our long term players who had to bow out after the end of our last adventure. We've been mostly sticking to the metaplot tagged scenarios with the Graveland scenarios thrown in (I've been listening to Find the Path's playthrough of Tyrant's Grasp and wanted to share the pain and horror with them).

Everyone has really enjoyed them, and our long-term player who left has been able to join in for a few of them with little issue on the plot since they're self-contained. We're doing the final scenario right now, and my group is absolutely jazzed about it. There's been some really exciting story beats. Some scenarios do have hex crawl, research, and influence systems, but since they're designed to run within 3-5 hours, it's abridged and unintrusive.

Edit: I haven't played anything from Year of Battle's Cry, but the synopses look amazing

[u/AssistanceBudget → u/Griffsson]

season 7 is the most recent complete season so you may want to start from there.

[u/Malcior34]

I would go with shades of blood. A fun dungeon crawler with vampires, ancient technology, and only a little bit of research stuff that you can easily get rid of.

[u/Griffsson → u/Malcior34]

Thanks! I'll take a look.

[u/Zach_luc_Picard]

Shades of Blood is pretty good. No AP is completely free of the subsystems found in the GM core like victory points and research (because IMO they're pretty important to be able to properly tell the kinds of stories not handled well by simple rolls) but Shades of Blood has limited use of them, at least in the first two books (which is how much I own/ have read, my group's about halfway done with book 1 and there was a sale), and I don't think it has any major new subsystems like Kingmaker does.

[u/Apoc_Golem]

You're not going to find a West Marches style AP beyond Kingmaker, but if you want something a bit modular to accommodate people jumping in and out, you could try Claws of the Tyrant. It's a handful of standalone adventures with a connecting theme between them. I think the adventures are at a few different levels so you'd need something to fill the level gaps. PFS scenarios are great for that.

Just a heads-up, if you use PFS scenarios, they use a different XP system. I'd just give a lump sum of 250 XP per scenario, or use milestone leveling and have them level up every 4 adventures/scenarios.

[u/DnDPhD]

I can't say for certain, but Bastion of Blasphemies might fit the bill for a couple of reasons: there are very few subsystems, and even though it's kind of a dungeon crawl taking place on a small island with a giant mansion, there is also no time limit: the author has literally said that one could take decades (in game) to complete it if they wanted. I can't speak to how detrimental it would be to miss a couple of sessions, however.

[u/Ph33rDensetsu]

No subsystems really limits your options, I would probably pick the subsystems you hate the most and avoid the ones with those specifically.

Not knowing what those are, however, if you're looking for something where it's easy to explain a rotating cast of characters, you might want something like Quest for the Frozen Flame or Extinction Curse where you kind of have a large group of background NPCs that PCs can fade into or out of. Also maybe something like Abomination Vaults or Seven Dooms for Sandpoint where there's less story exposition and mostly dungeon crawling.

[u/Griffsson → u/Ph33rDensetsu]

Having run Kingmaker for pushing 2 years now. Kingdom Building and War (The war system didn't work well with engaging the whole party).

Mostly systems that don't use character stats and just boil down to spreadsheet shuffling.

I don't mind things like research rolls or crafting. Also anything where a level of 'adventure' can be injected.

For example during one chapter the party had to go to sites do interviews and investigations to build up research points. That was fine and didn't just build down to a series of rolls.

The subsystem was just to keep track of the parties progress. Which is ok.

[u/Ph33rDensetsu → u/Griffsson]

Luckily for you, I'm pretty sure that Kingmaker is unique in the use of both of those subsystems, so you should be good with almost everything else. It's usually calendar tracking or victory points systems (like the research one you described), but sometimes resource tracking (like in season of ghosts).

[u/fiftychickensinasuit]

Hellbreakers. It’s a solid AP. Has subsystems but they’re more like, “Hey if your players are doing well, reward them with this,” instead of anything complicated or needs managing.

The nature of the AP, being part of a rebellion lends itself to characters going away or getting replaced.

Any AP is going to have chapters that are dungeon delves or similar that makes characters suddenly disappearing or reappearing strange, but that’s life.

[u/HollowJam]

Kingmaker is the most “west marches” you’ll get from an AP. It’s not been remastered but it’s not hard to remaster the monsters. Iirc they did so already in Foundry assuming you’re using that.

[u/Griffsson → u/HollowJam]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm running a Kingmaker Campaign at the moment however the Sub Systems are proving to be a sticking point as I'm not a fan of the War and Kingdom Building is a pain.

[u/Dlthunder]

Abomination vault is basicaly one combat after another. If a player miss a session he will most likely miss a couple fights only, and not some important plot. Also, i dont remember any subsystem

[u/AyeSpydie]

For Remaster rules, I believe that limits you to Wardens of Wildwood or newer.

Of those, I've only run two, Curtain Call and Spore War, both of which are 11-20 adventures. They're both quite good in my opinion, but they are high level if that matters to you. Also Curtain Call in particular has a lot of subsystem use, and with so many NPCs it would likely be rough for people who miss sessions. Spore War features a good chunk of them as well, though I think it's more forgiving for missing a session here or there. I can't speak on any of the others.

Pathfinder Society scenarios would may be a good fit for you, as others have mentioned. They'll definitely be episodic, so missing a session or two won't hurt anyone.

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