Adventure Paths are serial adventures for the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

 fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 roleplaying game. Though originally applied to the series of Third Edition modules beginning with The Sunless Citadel

The Sunless Citadel

The Sunless Citadel is an adventure module for the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.-Plot summary:This 32-page book begins with a two-page introduction. According to the adventure background provided, the plot involves a fortress that became buried in the earth ages...

, the phrase has more recently come to apply nearly exclusively to several lengthy series, each consisting of 11-12 installments, published sequentially in Dungeon

Dungeon (magazine)

Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...

 magazine. In 2007, Paizo Publishing attempted to trademark the term "Adventure Path," but the US Patent & Trademark Office determined that it was too generic for protection. Adventure Paths are also available from third party publishers, such as 0Onegames's Road to Revolution campaign arc, EN Publishing's War of the Burning Sky series for D&D 3rd Edition and subsequently updated for D&D 4th Edition, and its ZEITGEIST adventure path is due for release throughout 2011 and 2012.

Background

Typically set in the Greyhawk

Greyhawk

Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...

 campaign setting

Campaign setting

A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...

, the Dungeon adventure paths to date are:

• Shackled City
  Shackled City
  The Shackled City Adventure Path is a role-playing game campaign designed for Dungeons & Dragons, originally appearing as a series of modules in Dungeon Adventures, later published in a hardcover edition collecting all previous installments plus an additional chapter written especially for the...
  
  
• Age of Worms
  Age of Worms
  In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Age of Worms is an age of darkness and despair heard of only in ancient prophecies...
  
  
• Savage Tide
  Savage Tide
  The Savage Tide Adventure Path is the third and final Adventure Path for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game published in Dungeon Adventures...
  
  

Shackled City is also available as a hardcover book, and both Dungeon publisher (previously editor-in-chief) Erik Mona

Erik Mona

-Career:Erik Mona served as the editor-in-chief of Dragon magazine since 2004 and Dungeon magazine from 2004 to 2006; at the time, both magazines were published by Paizo Publishing, until the license through Wizards of the Coast expired in September 2007...

 and current editor-in-chief James Jacobs have repeatedly expressed a desire to do a similar collection of Age of Worms and, in the further future, Savage Tide and its eventual successors. However, this is subject to approval from Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...

, which has not been received to date.

Both the Age of Worms and Savage Tide Adventure Paths were supported with articles in Dungeons sister publication Dragon

Dragon (magazine)

Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...

, entitled "Wormfood" and "Savage Tidings" respectively.

Future

With the transference of Dragon and Dungeon back to Wizards of the Coast, Paizo is continuing the Adventure Path concept in their new monthly publication, Pathfinder

Pathfinder (periodical)

Pathfinder products are published by Paizo Publishing and are designed to be supplements to Dungeons & Dragons and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game...

. Wizards of the Coast is continuing the Adventure Path concept in the monthly online Dragon and Dungeon publications.

Pathfinder Adventure Paths

• Rise of the Runelords
• Curse of the Crimson Throne
• Second Darkness
• Legacy of Fire
• Council of Thieves
• Kingmaker
• Serpent's Skull
• Carrion Crown
• Jade Regent
• Skulls and Shackles