Changelog

It turns out that I'd been using a d20 skill list for the conversion to skills throughout the adventure path! This meant that references to Knowledge, Craft and Profession skills were peppered throughout the Player's Guide, Bestiary and core conversion document. These have all been updated and the Knowledge (Darklands) skill is now listed as being a Darklands specialization on any Int-based skill or Survival.

On the Pathfinder 2e front, the second section of Chapter 4 is almost done, which puts us very close to being done overall! The tasks left to do are:

• Lots of rooms in the final two dungeons

• The BBEG end-game combat

• A polish pass on the whole AP, focusing on how epic the items feel, general progression issues, etc.

Chapter 3 was completed last month, and now Chapter 4, Section 1 is complete! It took longer than expected because I was distracted by the 5e conversion (so many monsters converted!) but it's now done and I've been working on some background material required for Section 2 of the final chapter.

Along those lines, the Down Through the Darklands: Dangers of Northeastern Isger supplement has been updated with geography information on the rivers and mountains of the area around the adventure. This was a huge pain because sources conflict on names, local geography and other details. But what we have there now should be good enough for the campaign, and any ambitious GMs that want to keep up with the latest edits (the Travel Guide is coming out, and might contain some details) can integrate them as needed.

At this point, I feel very confident in saying that the first pass edit for the entire AP will be done by the fall, and the final edit by the end of the year!

Chapter 3 is complete! This has been an immense amount of work, but I'm finally done! Chapter 3 explores the depths of Orv, specifically the Midnight Mountains, providing players with the chance to meet up with the fearsome gug, a militaristic mining fortress founded by the drow and a strangely surface-like trading city.

During this time, I've also begun the 5e conversion, with the first chapter being complete and a conversion guide for Pathfinder 2e creatures now having been added to the rapidly growing collection of books in this adventure path's orbit.

I'm back to working on Chapter 3, focusing on the realm of Orv and specifically the Midnight Mountains. I've added the Pech (ancestors of the Dero and former slave race of the enigmatic Vault Builders), a new artifact, and am working on a quest giver character that will throw a monkey wrench into the party's plans in Chapter 3.

You might be wondering if Down Through the Darklands! is dead... well, it's not. The silence has been misleading. A combination of life, work and actually running a DTtD campaign has slowed the progress on new sections, but small fixes are being made and I'll probably be publishing a "how to trim down the encounters for less combat-oriented players," document soon.

Overall, I would say that my original timeline is still plausible. I intend to be done with this AP by fall, but should that not pan out, I'll keep working on it and I can't imagine it taking longer than the end of 2021.

The next projects for the AP are:

• Finish Chapter 3, wherein our heroes finally make it to the last section of the Darklands that they'll be exploring

• Put some polish on some of the treasure allocation in earlier chapters

• Write up a guide for running the campaign in roll20

• Expand a bit on some of the NPCs

Chapter 3 is a departure for this Adventure Path because it's so isolated from the rest of the campaign, both physically and conceptually. So the goal in Section 1 is to give the PCs that impression of being adrift and out of control. Then, as Sections 2 & 3 progress, they should start to feel more and more back in the driver's seat until eventually they return home. That's the goal, but so far I'm having trouble getting my head around it, just like the second section of Chapter 2 when I first tackled that. But I'll get through it and progress will begin again.

Also, I've started running a playthrough for some friends! We had a great first session, but it's clear that the Xulgath Haunt in Section 1 was a bit too deadly, so I'm re-tuning that.

Recent work:

• Came up with the map for the first of three levels of the Necropolis dungeon

• Added a few new creatures to the Bestiary

• Added a few new hazards to the Hazards book

• Updated some of Chapter 1 Section 1 based on my playthrough

• Added a fun side-area to Chapter 2 Section 3's assassin hideout dungeon