Way of the Wicked

Wow, posts 2 days in a row! This trend isn't going to continue.

Another great Adventure Path that I've read through over the last 6 months is Fire Mountain Games' Way of the Wicked. Yes, this is an evil adventure path. It removes some of the problems of an evil AP by making the default alignment Lawful Evil and giving the PCs a powerful patron to help keep them in line early on. It comes with lots of great options like a LE version of an Anti-paladin (although I hate that class descriptor), and an archetype for clerics that want to channel positive energy.

The first part starts with a jail break and assuming it is successful, the PCs soon meet their new patron and things take off from there. Part 2 has the PCs running their own dungeon and trying to keep out or kill off the damn heroes that keep invading.Parts 3 and 4 have the PCs gathering allies (there is a great henchman system - and the Leadership feat could be used in a way that does not break the game) and raising an army. Parts 5 and 6 are quite epic as the PCs reach 20 level making it quite a journey that takes place over a couple years.

The 6th book strongly reminds me of the sixth part of Kingmaker - lots of set pieces or 1 or 2 encounters - often against nearly epic opponents. Aside from the fact that this AP is sooo long (after the PCs hit level 12 or so we rarely get more then a couple encounters done per game night) it would be perfect for our group. We all love playing evil, there's a fairly straightforward plot (with only a handful of important on-going NPCs), lots of interesting fights, and just enough role--playing that we can ham it up between battles where we try to demonstrate our evil awesomeness. The trick would be too seriously trim down and combine the last 3 or 4 books books into something fun that makes sense.