Concerns about the Adventure Paths
From AJS.COM
- Note: this article refers to the Dungeon Magazine Adventure Paths. Dungeon has since ended. The new APs in Pathfinder aren't covered in this essay.
There have been many concerns cited recently with respect to Dungeon's Adventure Paths
for Dungeons & Dragons and with respect to the World of Greyhawk setting, and I'd like to address them, just to have one place for the list.
Keep in mind that this is not an attempt to "retcon" or make the Adventure Paths "look good". There are certainly problems, but many that are frequently brought up already have their solutions in the published materials.
Contents |
Setting
These aren't Greyahwk modules
This is both fair and unfair as a criticism, but at its heart, it's basically incorrect. The Adventure Paths are set in Greyhawk by default. There is no Core Setting Diamond Lake, but there most certainly is one in the Adventure Paths (starting in Age of Worms).
The modules attempt to interact with the rest of Greyhawk fairly lightly, mostly because it makes conversion to other settings much simpler. However, they exist, as written within the setting of Dragotha, Sasserine, the Amedio Jungle and many other Greyhawk specific elements.
These modules break Greyhawk canon
Everything published since 1990 that touches on Greyhawk canon has broken something, and the Adventure Paths, being published in 12 parts each, and having extensive background material, are no exception. That said, they tend to hold pretty slavishly to the canon that exists up to the point that they need to introduce new elements. Shackled City was probably the most canon-unfriendly, only because its placement was rushed, and lots of the implications were not thought through. Age of Worms and Savagae Tide have been much better about their interaction with the canon.
Cauldron's location is just wrong
There are any number of reasons that Cauldron's location has been criticized. I'll just take the top few:
- Cultural aspects are way off
- The location for Cauldron was chosen after it was written up, and there are many changes to it that could be made by a DM who wanted to make it fit into the Amedio/Hellfurnaces area more smoothly. However, it is important to remember that Cauldron is not the result of local forces. It's essentially a frontier city, much like Denver was in the United States. This town has few local influences from the jungle and mountains surrounding it.
Realism
Cauldron's location redux
The physical location of Cauldron in a volcano disturbs some. Keep in mind that this is a long-dead volcano (if that were not true, then there would be no hope of living fish in its central lake). For more information on the stability of Cauldron and its geothermal nature, see the spoiler page at Cauldron and the volcano.
Dragotha
The character of Dragotha appears, and most of the concern that I have seen with respect to this icon of D&D is Dragotha's relationship with certain elements of the Greyhawk cosmology. Of this, I'll just say that Dragotha is no more and no less than a powerful dracolich. If you expected Dragotha to be immune to outside influence, then I'm sorry, but there's nothing particularly wrong with the way these events played out in terms of continuity or plausibility.
Quality
The quality of the books has been called into question on a number of forums and other communications venues. Of this, I'll only say that most of the people who say this have not read the modules, and most of the people who have read them, and still say this are comparing this to some of the most iconic and beloved modules in the 30 year history of D&D. In my book, that's damn-near a compliment.
