Reusing APs: Agents of Edgewatch

I’m a huge fan of Paizo’s Adventure Paths. I’ve run them, I’ve played in them, and I have a list of APs I want to play in that’s inadvisably long. Many players, however, prefer to run homebrew stuff, so they tend to ignore them, thinking there’s nothing for them to use there. What they may not know is that APs are often made of scenarios that you can yank out, file the serial numbers off of, and jam into your campaign.

So, what can you rip out of Agents of Edgewatch?

Important note: If you had any hopes at all of playing in AoE without being spoiled, turn away now. I'll be sharing many of the extremely significant scenarios in the AP.

Book One

Because the first book has the fewest ties to overarching plots, this is the easiest book to grab from. While every book has something to steal, this one has so many great things to snag. In fact, if you had to pick just one book to buy and rip apart, this is the one to grab.

Knight’s Marvelous Menagerie

In this scenario, the players deal with a petting zoo that’s lost its damn mind. The kicker is that the animals are being poisoned, but you could swap this out for so many things: A disease spreading through the area, some druid who’s gone off the rails, ghosts… whatever suits your plot. The end goal is to subdue as many creatures as you can without killing them and find a cure, which can easily take up a 4 hour session.

And, best part? It’s no longer necessary to kill off two adorable NPCs who are murdered off-screen. Knight and his ladylove vet can become regulars if your players are into that sort of thing.

Dragonfly Pagoda

A breakdown in worker compensation leads to a bunch of kobold contractors taking over a spa. This is a super interesting scenario where there’s so many ways players can approach it. Do they sneak past a dozen traps and try to subdue the kobold’s quietly? Do they take the side of the workers and find something more fair for all parties? Do they go in with swords swinging and leave a trail of bodies behind them?

Also, at the end of all of this, the PCs have a nice bath house! Trust me, they’ll find ways to use it when they feel like relaxing, or kicking off a little romance subplot.

House of the Planes

This is less useful as a scenario, and more useful as a super cool bar. Each room is themed around a plane. The NPCs detailed here are a ton of fun, and it would be a great place to toss players for grabbing hooks, clues, or just seeing what interested them the most.

It also introduces the owner of a local rag, which could be an interesting addition to your campaign. The newspaper plays a minor role in reporting the actions of the PCs throughout AoE, and if you have the creative juice for it, could be a fun way to give your players an spin on how the world at large might see their actions.

The Murder Hotel

As a True Crime fan, this scenario had me cackling. It’s clever, it’s dangerous, it’s creepy, and it’s based off of a real-life murder hotel. Trust me, anyone in your group who follows True Crime will have a moment where they say WAIT, I KNOW THIS ONE.

Because your PCs are the ones to figure out what’s going on once you get in there, it can be something you drop into any campaign where the players are in a reasonably big city with a fair number of people moving through it.

Book 2

Every Paizo AP includes a book that might as well be called “the one with the dungeon.” For Agents of Edgewatch, that’s book two, and it’s a super good dungeon. Expansive, including several levels, a broad variety of creatures, and it’s not so bespoke that it can’t be pretty much anywhere.

This also would be a book where I’d grab the book for the maps and print them, or just skip straight to getting the module on whatever VTT platform you use. Setting up the lighting for this dungeon was no joke.

Book 3

If you have a group with a face or a sneak who is tired of everything being a fight, I highly recommend grabbing the casino encounter from the second chapter of book three. It’s a heist, where the players have to infiltrate an upscale casino in order to get information and find (or rather, not find) a MacGuffin. Need to get some info to your players and they keep refusing to talk to that one bartender who knows the deal? Pass it via one of the many guests there. Need the players to get their hands on something vital? Put it in the footlocker where they’re supposed to find AoE’s MacGuffin.

There’s a huge lead-up to to the heist involving planning, so you can easily get several sessions out of this chapter. Players can choose their approach, getting jobs as staff or entrance via the rumor mill or sucking up to local celebs. It’s absolutely something where you can give them their options and then go catch up on your reading while they debate amongst themselves.

Book 4

Chapter 3 has a creepy carnival. Why do you need a creepy carnival? A better question is why haven’t you included one in your game yet?

Running around the carnival, the players are trying to find a madman who’s leaving behind Harrow cards, which adds another layer of creepy. The only thing I’d change, honestly, is the ending, which is extremely AoE specific. It’s easy to update, however: Swap out a trap for a fight, and you’re golden.

Book 5

The second chapter of book five includes an awesome map that’s made of ships. Like, six of them, each with three levels. There’s places to cross, to jump, and hell, I’m sure someone could break out their Drive lore and make some chaos.

The creatures included aren’t too spicy, so really, could work with most adventures. All you have to do is give them a reason to go mess about on ships, and a way to get there. Just be familiar with how you might split players to different levels if needed (Personally, I’d put all of the maps on one page if you’re using a VTT, but that’s just me).

Book 6

The cover of book six features a gnome who I was very distressed to learn was a major enemy. He looks awesome! He absolutely looks like someone I’d recruit to be in my party! Is he evil? SURE. He’s an angry architect. Who hasn’t been mad while working a desk job? And he’s redeemable. If you rescue anything from this book, make it this guy, who I’m sure the party could have a ton of fun getting to know and turning to the grey side.

To be honest, I would use Blume as a quest giver who has a ton of money and might be a tiny bit unhinged. Hell, maybe he lets the PCs set up shop in an unused wing that’s full of ‘creative’ architectural details. Think Winchester House if it were mildly sentient.

What did I miss?

I’m sure I skipped over an encounter that could be fun to run for players (I ran only about 70% of the AP in a West Marches setting), so comment if there’s one that should be included! Next, I’ll be pulling apart an older AP: Council of Thieves!