Adventure Path
Adventure Paths are adventure modules linked together by an interconnected story arc, with each adventure moving the players through a pre-written campaign from beginning to end.
The term was popularized by Pathfinder and Paizo's earlier Dungeon Magazine adventures, but predates it. The oldest published examples of this - rough parallels, at least - are the Dungeons & Dragons tournaments of the late 1970s. An earlier example had the players' avatars fighting multiple species of giants before ultimately battling against the drow who had roused them to war. That became the linked series G1-2-3: Against the Giants and then D1-2-3: Drow Trilogy. Usually APs start at a lower level, where such quests come to define the party who spends most of their career struggling along that road.
In Dungeon, their Adventure Paths went from level 1 to 20 (possibly hitting 21). Most Pathfinder APs for First Edition only go to 16/17 (Wrath of the Righteous and Return of the Runelords go to 20). Starfinder instead decided to experiment with AP length. Rather than have six books form one continuous story for a character's entire career, some of Starfinder's APs are only 3 parts but the next three part AP begins at the same level the last one ended at. Pathfinder 2e does a mix of 6-book APs that extend for all 20 levels and 3-book APs that only go from 1-10 or 11-20, with an upcoming AP themed on the four seasons as a 4-book AP going from 1-12.
One related thing is the Player's Guide that accompanies all the Pathfinder APs. This free digital guide gives the players enough information to make a character that actually fits the campaign's story and provides common knowledge of the area it is set in. These typically include the rules for any AP specific subsystem so it doesn't take up space in the books.
We're trying to keep this at summary-level, but we're still covering a lot of plot here, so if you intend to play any of these - shoo.
This article contains spoilers! You have been warned. |
Dungeon Magazine List[edit]
The Shackled City[edit]
Someone thought an inactive volcano was a good place to make a town on account he hadn't ever read A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slavelords. The PCs start of by looking for some kidnapped children and stumble into far greater conspiracies. Mostly based around a single city, with the outlying areas mostly being fluff and where you can make shopping trips to. Was later compiled into a single book with some fixes and new content.
The Age of Worms[edit]
In the shithole mining town of Diamond Lake, some newly unearthed archeological finds threaten to unleash a kickass metal albumsome long sealed horrors upon the world once more. Centered around a "Free City" which is really the Free City of Greyhawk with the serial numbers filed off, but can be replaced by any campaign specific large city with Waterdeep and Sharn given as examples.
Since the majority of the campaign is urban (though unlike The Shackled City, not all the same place), and travel is either off screen or teleportation based, it's less setting dependent than other adventure paths. Indeed, unlike most published adventures that aren't explicitly Eberron based, it works surprisingly well in the setting. The official conversion gives instructions for an interesting twists on generic ally NPCs (and explains where they came from). The name of the disaster the players are trying to avert also plays well with Eberron's epoch naming.
Savage Tide[edit]
The Pathfinder List[edit]
Rise of the Runelords[edit]
Pathfinder's 'flagship' AP, RotR hits a lot of more classic tropes. Starts off with the party fighting goblins and an evil Aasimar, moves on to fighting ghouls and a Lamia, then it becomes a mild wilderness game to fight your way to a big ass dam and fight several types of ogres and giants, save a few towns, then go off to fight dragons and ancient evil spellcaster. Initially released for 3.5 before getting an official compilation re-release for Pathfinder's ruleset.
Curse of the Crimson Throne[edit]
Characters face stomp a petty crime boss when the ruler of the city suddenly up and dies and his new queen takes over and it becomes very clear that she's nothing like how she appears. This adventure path was popular enough to get a full update from 3.5 to Pathfinder just like Rise of the Runelords did. Is also incredibly difficult if not fucking impossible. Do not attempt if your GM has any sort of malicious intent. Fucking bards, man, fucking bards...
Second Darkness[edit]
A somewhat janky AP, it starts off with the party working for a casino before spiraling into a massive conspiracy about secret elf societies and the unknown Drow menace. While many agree the overall idea sounds good, the execution left a very bitter aftertaste in people's mouths, mostly involving the casino and aforementioned elf secret society. Due to this it's probably in the top three of least played APs.
Legacy of Fire[edit]
Genies and Arabian Nights the adventure Path. The final 3.5 AP. Among the very few modules set in a desert that is not Egyptian themed and isn't Dark Sun based. Though this is mostly accomplished by setting everything in ruins in the desert and restricting the actual desert to overland travel. Not technically a full campaign since as an experiment the modules have XP gaps that the GM is supposed to insert sidequests into.
Council of Thieves[edit]
The first AP written for the Pathfinder rules instead of 3.5. Be a hero and help the Nazis against the Mafia. Huge city but a total shithole. Has some major issues with player involvement because a lot of shit happens behind the scenes and the AP doesn't think much of informing the players about it. Needs some work from the DM. Starts off like a rebellion story, but does a hard turn into something else the last two books so if you wanna do that, play Hell's Rebels instead.
Kingmaker[edit]
Make Your Own Kingdom: The Adventure Path. Introduced the idea of an AP specific minigame. Unlike the future ones, this one actually works well enough to bother with it (it was updated in Ultimate Campaign to plug a few issues). The main complaint outside of the kingdom rules being imperfect is lack of foreshadowing for the true big bad: For the first few books the only clue you'll find is a non-decaying, carrion repelling unicorn corpse in the middle of the wilderness (Not an exaggeration).
Probably best known because Owlcat Games (a Russian game developer), with Chris Avellone leading the narrative design, got the rights to make a CRPG based on this and released it on October 2018. Also covers the vast territory east of the map: Iobaria, that is Fantasy Russia.
Got a hardback rerelease in October 2022 with the rules updated to Pathfinder 2e. If, however, you want to run the game in the original 1e format or in D&D 5e, additional splatbooks were also made available to convert it to those systems. Also has additional content such as an expanded story(that takes you all the way to Level 20), stats and quests for the companions and others from the video game adaptation. Has been fairly well received, all told.
Serpent's Skull[edit]
The jungle exploration path with lizardfolk, normally considered one of the weakest APs alongside Second Darkness and Wrath of the Righteous due to the tremendous amount of padding.
Carrion Crown[edit]
An AP centered on hunting down and/or dealing with a variety of monsters that one would see from the classic Universal monster lineup. You have ghosts, a Frankstein monster, werewolves, things that look like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, zombies, skeletons, and vampires. Very gothic horror to Hammer Films horror in tone and setting. Castlevania's notorious Medusa Head monster even makes an appearance!
Jade Regent[edit]
Travel to Tian-Xia to overthrow the current regime of a dictator and install its' proper inheritor, who happens to be one of your NPC bffs. A lot of the path is just getting there. Includes rules for managing a caravan, but they're so totally pointless you can just ignore them and the campaign is completely unchanged. Indeed, you should, since the caravan combat part was blatantly not playtested and effectively TPK city. Also includes a romance system for NPCs, with the particular odd bit that it is easier to get in a relative's pants because your relationship starts closer and nothing actually states the obvious to stop it.
Skull & Shackles[edit]
Pirates! You start pressganged on a ship, and after breaking free you need to make a name for yourself on the high seas. Awful for a GM that doesn't want to spend hours voicing the dozen or so important NPCs appearing in just book 1. Uses naval combat rules, though ship HP is so inflated boarding is the only practical option without house rules.
Shattered Star[edit]
Semi-sequel to Runelords (also touches Crimson Throne and Second Darkness), you need to assemble a powerful artifact and defeat a different villain of ancient Thassilon before they to rise to full power. While an interesting idea, it's almost nothing but a pure dungeon crawl.
Reign of Winter[edit]
Somebody turned down the thermostat in Taldor, so you go and investigate. Things get out of whack when you fight winter fey in the middle of summer, get teleported to Bumfuck, Icy Nowhere and get roped into a date with a Winter Wolf, and it only escalates from there when you go to another continent, another planet, and another galaxy on your quest to rescue damsel-in-distress Baba Yaga from her uppity daughter and son Rasputin(yes, that Rasputin), and his army of mustard gas elementals, Russian soldier zombies(to say nothing of living ones), and magically-animated tanks.
If your group hates fun, the author for the book with that last bit wrote an unofficial conversion that replaced going to WWI Russia with a trip to Greyhawk to fight Iuz.
Includes a Winter Witch prestige class in the player's guide, but you shouldn't play it. The title of the AP alone should tell you that half the bad guys are ice themed.
Wrath of the Righteous[edit]
The Demons of the Worldwound have decided that being trapped in the area around the Worldwound is a bum game, and break free, inadvertently giving your party mythic power in the process. You progress deeper into the Worldwound and eventually to the Abyss itself to save the world from demonic invasion. Dependent upon poorly balanced mythic rules (essentially a redo of 3E's Epic Adventures) and notorious for some very mismanaged NPCs. Unlike most APs, this one goes all the way to level 20.
By the time you get to the later books, this adventure path goes balls-to-the-walls loony with its monsters and setups. Things like Dragon-Riding Worms that Walk with tons of cleric levels become the foot soldiers of the big bads, and most of the powerful NPCs have statblocks that read like warped poetry ripped out of the anuses of the world's most sadistic GMs (the...thing on page 52 of City of Locusts is an exercise in absurdity).
One under-appreciated feature is the utter nightmare scenario in the event of PC Fail. Rather than getting a vague description of the villain's plans, the players are treated to a play-by-play of every nation in the northern half of the inner sea getting torn apart by the immense rush of demons. These two pages contain seeds for at least six awesomely brutal campaigns for any GMs who somehow accomplishes the herculean task of slaughtering a team of high-level, high-mythic adventurers. After it all, if you liked what From The Ashes did to Greyhawk, this is where you set up similar GRIMDARK for Golarion.
On December 4th, 2019, Owlcat Games announced that this AP is their next CRPG. After teasing fans for a few short days, it leaked very quickly and so they stepped up and admitted it is coming out. It will feature Seelah the Iconic Paladin and add the Witch and Oracle classes. They've announced they're reworking the Mythic system, though it remains to be seen if they'll fix the first book sharing an author with Siege of Dragonspear.
On March 12th, 2020, the Kickstarter campaign had officially ended with 2$ mil. Among new features are nine Mythic Paths, 9 new classes (Cavalier, Warpriest, Skald, Hunter, Arcanist, Bloodrager, Witch, Oracle and Shaman), 3 new races (Dhampir, Oread and Kitsune), mounted combant and crusade management with tactical battles like HOMM series. The video game was released October 2021. It's pretty good.
Mummy's Mask[edit]
The Ancient Egyptian/Osirion adventure path. In case you thought this would be a serious AP, book three is spent entertaining an obese female bureaucrat who has fallen for one of the PCs and is the only one willing to authorize them to visit the library they need to do research at. If you want to be Brendan Fraser from the Mummy series, really lean into it though. Expect lots of undead, bugs, elementals and other stereotypical enemies. Get's crazy when the flying pyramids come into play.
Iron Gods[edit]
Spiritual successor to Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Travel through Barbarians and scavenged technology land fighting aliens, an organization that wants to monopolize all high technology, and face down an AI that wants to make itself a god. Do not charge the final boss if its linnorm is still alive. Learn from others' mistakes.
One of the few APs to explicitly encourage playing a non-core race that isn't Planetouched. The Android race is included in the player's guide since it's a natural fit.
Giantslayer[edit]
Giants are ruining your day so you need to kill them before they kill you. Do not attempt to make giants fail will saves as your GM will fuck your ass.
Is Pathfinder's homage to Against the Giants a bit too well, with its plot falling into the same "go kill the next tier of giants" rut. Even more than G2-3, the 5th book is just a fire-themed version of the 4th.
Hell's Rebels[edit]
In a city at the edge of Cheliax, the Thrunes moved one of their family that even those devil-worshipers find too much. As he cracks down, you rise up. Well developed city. This AP actually is what most people thought Council of Thieves was going to be. Takes place almost entirely within one city, with a trip to a neighboring one, a few underwater segments, a visit to the outskirts and the finale being the only parts not to.
Has the unfortunate flaw of predating Ultimate Intrigue. This means it can't take advantage of all the sabotage and social stuff that book introduced and has zero support for playing a Vigilante when it really should, a lesson that was not repeated when Curse of the Crimson Throne was re-released.
Hell's Vengeance[edit]
The bad guy path - Cheliax proper can't focus on the rebellion going on in Hell's Rebels because they're dealing with one of their own, an ill-considered attempt at their capital. You work for the Queen in helping put it down and restoring order in the lands in a manner befitting the iron grip of a dictator. Pretty damn great if you have an average to good GM though it can get a tad railroady at times thanks to the main hook for why the PCs are working for the Queen.
Strange Aeons[edit]
Lovecraft the adventure path, now made possible thanks to Occult Adventures. Lethal as fuck. Bring backup characters (which is weird, because the plot is heavily dependent upon the original PCs) and do not, I repeat DO NOT have any mental score below 10. You'll be insane by the end of the first book. Also bring a tank along with you everywhere.
Ironfang Invasion[edit]
One of the more "traditional" adventure paths. This one involves stopping a massive hobgoblin army, though it does have some relatively unusual twists in the later books. Set in Nirmanthas, the country of Robin Hood (or Wood, for those of us who live in T.H. White's books).
Ruins of Azlant[edit]
Visit the ruins of not-Atlantis and fight evil psychic fish (Aboleths), lots of nautical themes and aquatic monsters. Also, there's a magic theremin as an optional treasure. Like Council of Thieves, it makes the mistake of setting up the players to care about a settlement that's almost a non-entity for the second half of the plot. Likewise the player's guide and first three modules imply the players will be isolated from civilization for long periods and may need to craft to get their needed magic items, but book four introduces a what is effectively a large city for magic item purchases and the players don't really have time to craft much in book 3 onward.
This is unique among adventure paths in that the last section actually deals a little bit with the legendary city of Absalom. By that, I mean that there's a footnote saying that it gets nuked to shit if the players don't defeat the final boss within a certain time frame.
War for the Crown[edit]
There's a Succession Crisis in Taldor, so it's time to play the Game of Thrones... or it would be if it could decide what the hell the main conflict is supposed to be. Women can't inherit, except half the characters are women who inherited their position. A dozen factions are involved in the power struggle, but you are literally only given more details than the names of three of them, and one of those three doesn't show up till almost the end.
Also development made Taldor fit the AP instead of making an AP to fit Taldor. Taldor previously had stuff like sumptuary laws against beards (which has been an actual plot point in an older module, where Taldor's aligned PCs are ordered to shave a disgraced noble as part of demoting him to commoner) and bans on Sarenrae worship, since she was the patron of their worst enemy (and this ban actually had large amounts of crunch behind it, devoted to how worshipers hide their faith). This was dropped because it supposedly made them a "joke" and it made it unfriendly to potential PCs respectively. Despite these being established in fluff that was supposed to reflect the present day it was retconned into weird shit in the past people vaguely remember. This was even though the AP itself portrayed the current emperor as increasingly erratic and mad with age, leaving a perfectly reasonable explanation for ditching them without retcon. Also added to Taldor to make this AP was heavy institutional sexism, something that was never alluded to before. Oh and even though Taldor has a colony in Kara Tur Tian Xia, one that is explicitly its only actual accomplishment in centuries and most productive part of the empire, it is never mentioned (not even as a potential homeland of a PC).
A good GM though can make it work though and weave in those issues as much as they want.
Return of the Runelords[edit]
A sequel to Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star. You know those ancient max level wizards who ruled the world millennia ago? They're back! Goes to 20, which it does by excluding a lot of the non-adventure parts of each book that were previously included.
The adventure deals with five Runelords in total (Greed was dealt with in Rise while Sloth either had his ass kicked or kicked stratospheric ass in a Pathfinder Society Adventure), although you only ever fight two of them at full power. Two of them have been weakened by various forces (read: other Runelords) smacking the gravy out of them before the players have a chance to fight them (granted, these weakened versions will probably take at least one or two PCs to the grave with them). The last one gets a redemption arc that no rational GM or party should fall for (A Chaotic Neural 20th-level 10th-mythic-tier Full Caster with +41 to both Bluff and Diplomacy is an extinction-level event in any campaign, and that goes double for somebody who's been built up in a decade's worth of lore as being a sadistic and manipulative tyrant).
Tyrant's Grasp[edit]
Paizo attempts to run Survival Horror in Pathfinder. Poorly. So poorly nobody realized it was supposed to be one till the final part said it was. The first two parts don't have any opportunities for shopping, but that's described as being so the action "flows quickly" and to make the PC feel "out of their depth" rather than resource management. It turns out a game with super human heroes, math that means mobs of enemies rarely being much of a threat to mid-level heroes and completely falls apart without the heroes getting proper gear is a bad system to make a survival horror game in.
The story also ends with all the PCs dying irrevocably (unless you play your cards right) and they only stop the big bad's current scheme, not kill him, because he needs to survive to be a major figure in 2E (although you do make sure he never has access to his most powerful weapon again). This makes it a pretty shitty send-off to the edition.
The Pathfinder 2E list[edit]
Age of Ashes[edit]
The first 2E AP. Finally delivers on the long standing fan request of having a dragon as the big bad instead of just the big bad's sidekick. The general premise? An abandoned Hellknight citadel's starting to get all active and burning, and the squatting tribe of goblins present are worried about things attacking them. As it turns out, there are other squatters as well, and their intentions are far more malicious.
Extinction Curse[edit]
This AP is a bit caught between two worlds: One is the typical AP fare, in which your party is trying to put a halt to some doomsday prophecy. The other is the fact that your entire party's actually a traveling circus who's stopping into a sleepy little town and have to contend with a rival circus run by a bitch of a catwoman they just broke free from.
Agents of Edgewatch[edit]
Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha gonna do?
Absalom is having a once-in-a-three-hundred-years festival and they want to make sure everything goes off without a hitch! So you're recruited as a batch of agents to a special group of city watchmen specifically made for the job.
The Abomination Vaults[edit]
An old-school dungeon crawl. A mysterious lighthouse suddenly lights up, warning that an ancient crypt may soon be opened up and an evil sorcerer might unleash the ancient terrors within. And, of course, there's gotta be a bunch of plucky young adventurers ready to stop this all from happening. Against all odds this is the third AP to be adapted into a video game by BKOM Studios, being called Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults, not as a CRPG but as a Diablo clone.
Fists of the Ruby Phoenix[edit]
Essentially what happens if you made an AP out of Mortal Kombat. An ancient sorcerer in Tian Xia announces a long-anticipated tournament in a secluded island where the greatest warriors can compete in teams for a chance to win some of the organizer's legendary treasures. Best hope that the party's not just here to be a snack of tasty souls. Waldorf and Stadler, pray for us.
Strength of Thousands[edit]
The magical school AP, focused on the not-African school of Magaambya. Of course, alongside their obligations as students the party also has to contend with a curious ongoing menace that's attracting swarms of irritable insects. Perhaps along the way, they might even get closer to the legend of Old-Mage Jatembe and his Magic Warriors than you might think.
Quest for the Frozen Flame[edit]
Another setting-specific AP, now set in the more primitive Land of the Mammoth Lords. The players are members of a tribe tasked with retrieving an ancient artifact to save their tribe as well as prove their worth as Mammoth Lords in their own right.
Outlaws of Alkenstar[edit]
The Wild West Mad Science AP. Some nerd decided to make liquid dynamite and instead of making a scientific award as a result, has caused full on chaos as Crime Lords, Governments, and Goblins desperately try to get their hands on the formula for it. Complete with bank robberies, shootouts, and even an excursion in an airship.
Blood Lords[edit]
Curse of Strahd meets War for the Crown. For the first AP to be made explicitly for neutral to evil parties in this edition, it seems like a better attempt than their first try back in 1E, but the true pull of the path comes not with the story, but with the unique Archetypes that come with. Lichdom awaits!
Gatewalkers[edit]
Little is known officially but this appears to be a 3-part Adventure Path centered on traversing realities/dimensions/other planes. Why does this sound familiar?
Stolen Fate[edit]
Another upcoming 3-part Adventure Path, this one centers on Pathfinder's Harrow Deck used most often by the Varisians in-setting, capping off with the discovery of some sort of major Harrow artifact.
Sky King's Tomb[edit]
Why did they have to make Dwarf Fortress in the sky a third 3-Part adventure path in a row? This would have been a awesome 6 parter, yet Paizo dropped the ball on it by halving it. At the very least, we finally get to learn more about Dwarven history in the world of Golarion, which is nice.
Season of Ghosts[edit]
All that's known about this one is that it's Pathfinder's first 4-Part AP, it's focused in the Tian Xia nation of Shenmen, and that it's focused on the four seasons.
The Starfinder List[edit]
Starfinder's APs tend to follow an unusual pattern, though every AP (so far) usually goes from level 1-13. Alongside the traditional 6-book APs, there are also smaller 3-book APs, some going from level 1-7 and others unrelated AP going from level 8-13.
Dead Suns[edit]
An omnicidal cult and a renegade faction of the cyber-lich planet of Eox are on the hunt for a weapon so powerful it can blow up suns. It's up to YOU (a small group of recruits to the Starfinder Society) to find the clues as to where that weapon is and make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
Against the Aeon Throne[edit]
The Azlanti Star Empire's been trying to colonize a frontier world, and a friendly NPC's been kidnapped. The only thing to do is slap those purple-eyed space-fascists right in the face and rescue that NPC!
Signal of Screams[edit]
You got invited into a swanky as hell resort. That'd be all fine and dandy...if there isn't some seriously fucked up shit hiding in here. Welcome to another horror-themed AP, this time with more shadow-things.
Dawn of Flame[edit]
No don't delay, act now 'cause time is running out/ Riots will try to go far, go diving into a star/ If lost bubbles you follow, you'll see tomorrow/ But if your Party's done, an Efreeti will take over the Sun
Attack of the Swarm![edit]
After all the intrigue and sabotage and all the other stuff, here comes a straight-forward AP with a straight-forward enemy: The Swarm, that discount Tyranid race who were essentially relegated to the backstory on why the warlike Vesk decided to join the Pact Worlds and all. You, the party, are part of a Planetary Defense Force tasked with defending the latest target of the Swarm for long enough until everyone can evacuate and, perhaps, find a way to turn the tables.
The Threefold Conspiracy[edit]
An adventure path focused heavily on mysteries and conspiracies centered on the infiltrators (Grays, Reptoids, and a third species). What starts as a mere whodunit mystery soon devolves into conspiracies inside of conspiracies, with alien infiltrators inside planetary governments. All in all, expect someone to make references to a certain legion that doesn't exist.
The Desolation Ark[edit]
What starts off as a mere evacuation as some archaeology team falls under attack spirals far out of control as the research site is revealed as a massive and ancient beacon that emits a signal that heralds a massive vessel (A 'Doomsday Ark', if you will) that threatens the very existence of the Pact Worlds. Despite being a 3-book AP, this one sees the party level ramp up pretty quickly to level 20.
Fly Free or Die[edit]
An Adventure Path that's very clearly tied to things like Firefly and Guardians of the Galaxy. You are a bunch of blokes operating a cargo freighter for a shipping company, living on the day-to-day. However, you'll get tied up in the antics of a crime lord and the ever-present allure of greater loot in the hopes of breaking free of a dead-end job.
Horizons of the Vast[edit]
You're now in charge of colonizing a newfound planet and managing all the shit that happens with the early colonization. Yes, this includes managing various political bickering as well as saboteurs.
Drift Crashers[edit]
So the Drift - Starfinder's less hellish equivalent of the Warp - has suddenly collapsed upon itself, robbing all society of FTL travel and trapping your ship in the middle of a hostile realm.
Drift Hackers[edit]
A sequel to the above, now set in the divine domain of the suddenly-vanished god Triune. With the Drift now in disarray and the city leaderless, you're now stuck with the weighty task of bringing it all into order as well as discover just what caused the Drift to collapse in the first place.
Non-Paizo Adventure Paths[edit]
Gygaxian 1e Adventure Path[edit]
In ye olden days of AD&D 1e, Gary Gygax (and some others) penned a number of adventures that are still beloved to this day. Back then they were mostly for tournament play, with various tables all traversing the same dungeon at the same time to see who could defeat the dungeon first, the fastest, and with the most points. Many of these adventures were later strung together to form a sort of proto-adventure path, a sign of things to come in later years. While not wholly official, Gygax and numerous others are on record of the specific order one should play some of these adventures, with said order being
A party of adventurers who manage to survive this massive gauntlet of quests, dungeons, and extraplanar traversals would be mighty indeed!
Gygax in later years would refine the list some more for his home games and add a whole slew more of these adventures, some well known and just as beloved (B2: The Keep on the Borderlands) as well as ones most people sorely wish would just never be touched again (EX1: Dungeonland EX2: The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror mostly). That said, just the ones listed as the "official" path would still take ages to complete with a dedicated group of gamers and be a story they would tell for decades.
Dragonlance[edit]
Seriously: if Tracy Hickman's thirteen-module (or more) aerial-lizard epic doesn't count, nothing counts.
Dawn of Defiance[edit]
A free series by Wizards of the Coast for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game Saga Edition. Shortly after Revenge of the Sith Bail Organa gathers allies to make the first strikes against the new Empire, starting with dealing with the Empire's mysterious "Sarlacc project". Since at the time (and even afterwards) the intertrilogy era had little going on in it the writers were allowed to go nuts and make a love letter to the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Scales of War[edit]
After taking over Dungeon Magazine from Paizo and continuing it as a digital only publication, Wizards of the Coast tried their hand at an AP of their own called Scales of War. It's largely forgotten because it was published in the digital only Dungeon issues and for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Even those that did like 4E weren't too fond of it, calling it disconnected, repetitive, and pure dungeon crawl.
Warlords of the Accordlands[edit]
Alderac Entertainment Group built this whole setting around a card-playing saga. In 2006, that saga got DEE-TWENTIED in its (massive) Campaign Adventure Book. Quick n' dirty summary: the Medusan cabal has murdered the land Larisnar's best heroes. This has caused the Accord to break, and plunged the land into chaos. The party goes through various trials to uncover the cabal, and to gain enough intel (and personal XP) to confront it.
Way of the Wicked[edit]
An adventure path devoted to playing evil characters. Notable not just for being made for evil characters, but portraying various evil schemes from the other point of view. Break out of jail! Sabotage a town from the inside! Run an evil lair and conduct evil rituals! Slaughter towns! Rule over your conquered kingdom! A shame the art isn't that great. It even has a mini-series adventure about playing as a bunch of inept underlings for your main PC's evil overlords.
Predates Hell's Vengence and indeed likely part of why the latter exists. This series repeatedly topped the best selling third party Pathfinder products.
The same creator made two books into a second all underground adventure, but it since wound up vaporware.
The Northlands Saga[edit]
Relatively low magic viking adventure with a strong emphasis on Norse culture. Latter books are weaker than the earlier ones because they were made from an outline and notes. Includes time skips of significant length (several years). Since it's light on magic items and high on money, bring a crafter wizard.
Printed in Pathfinder and 5E flavor.
Trail of the Apprentice[edit]
Intended for much younger players and absolute beginners. The first part is as much cliché as possible: Village hires the PCs to kill some orc bandits who live in a cave. The following parts however are much more original with backdrops like a haunted museum, the trap filled labyrinth of a master thief and a dungeon where every room mimics a different plane.
Printed in Pathfinder and 5E flavor.
Legendary Planet[edit]
An homage to the old Sword and Planet subgenre of fantasy. The PCs have been kidnapped from their fantasy planet(s) by aliens intent on dissecting them and/or turning them into mutant mind slaves. They escape, but can they find a portal that will take them home? Notably the Player's Guide says the PCs could play almost anything without issue since no organization the PCs know of exists in the plot. Uses the mythic rules, but with fewer problems than WotR due to slower rate of gain mythic tiers and Legendary Game's own fixes/expansions to the Mythic rules.
Printed in Pathfinder, Starfinder and 5E flavor.