As the first Adventure Path I ever purchased from the Pathfainder Game system, I have to say that I was instantly imptressed. It is fully packed with ample background info and gamemastering data and really set my team of mostly new D&D players on the right track to having excellent D&D adventures. All of the Pathfinder game system products I have purchased thus far have been of exceptional design and authoring. I look forward to many years of memorable adventures and can't wait to fully establish my team in the Pathfinder rules when I integrate the newly released core rullebook into our campaign.

I was really impressed with this adventure. The city of Sandpoint, its history and background, and its NPCs are extensively detailed making it a joy to read and very easy to DM. The main villains are very interesting, instead of the usual cardboard characters one sometimes finds in lesser quality works. The goblins are given a new life, and are a blast to throw at the PCs. Some of the encounters are quite challenging, and I would recommend toning them down a bit for less experienced groups.
The chapter describing the ancient empire in Varisia is also interesting, albeit small. The monsters in the bestiary are quite interesting also, specially the Attic Whisperer.

All in all, I strongly recommend this product.

Enclosed is an exerpt from the review on my blog. My full review is a bit longer than is allowed, however it can be found on my blog which is attached to my profile.

Summary

The characters are present in the village of Sandpoint, when a host of goblins invade the town, that shows an unusual amount of organization that is atypical for goblin tribes. With the initial goblin foray defeated, the effects of the attack linger on. Clues lead the characters to a goblin hideout on Thistletop for the final showdown with mastermind behind the attacks.

Key features

1. A large dungeon adventure with 2 dungeons for the characters to explore.

2. A fully mapped out village of Sandpoint, along with a gazetteer detailing the village.

3. An interesting article by Wolfgang Baur titled The History of Thassilon.

4. The Pathfinder Journal, which has the feel of the older pulp sword and sorcery writing. Now the first one is more of a general introduction, and in the next books, it follows in a first person narrative. While there are a number of folks that consider this a flaw in the design, I consider it a feature.

5. A re-imaging of the classic goblin monster, that is both a bit comical and horrific. Count me as a proponent of the new image. I have always like their image as the small monser in the closet, that struggles in the realm of planning, but can still cause significant distruction due in part to their number.

Suffice to say that first installment is very solid, and there is plenty of information provided to allow for quite a bit of role playing and adventuring around the town. For a low level adventure, there is a good amount of action, and note worthy combats to be had.
Overall, I give this module a solid thumbs up, and it is one of my favorites in their Pathfinder lineup.

Rating: 4 1/2 Dragons (on a scale of 5)

Second best of the adventure paths, only slightly less fun that Savage Tide.

This is a high quality, in all aspects, adventure/campaign book that is worth getting in print and pdf. I would have liked to give this product 4.75 out of 5. 5 means perfect and though there are minor (very minor) issues I am rounding up.

The book's layout is physically perfect and uses superior quality paper much better than most paper used by other companies for their "adventure path" eqivalents. Sections are set out in a logical fashion: Adventure; background enhancements; Pathfinder journal; Bestiary and Pregenerated Characters. These are all the materials that a DM needs to fashion a long term campaign.

Unlike other reviews, this is most certainly not vanilla and I would refute the calls for "more icing". For sure added extras would be fantastic but there is all you need to create and personalise RotRL into your own game. There is just enough for the inexperience DM to run the adventure linearly and enough "holes" for a veteran DM to be creative and add their own take to the storyline.

An unrated aspect of this product is the support. There are multiple forum postings that support DMs and players who are experiencing this campaign. There forums are STILL alive and questions can be asked and global responses received. The Paizo staff listen and where there are unseen shortcomings have been realised support products have been released for purchase to enhance, ie, Maps.

The only thing I am not fused on is the Pathfinder Journal as it has no direct relevance to the adventure path itself. It is background for sure but I would think that the section would be better served as a separate book. This would save on product cost and S&H. I would not rate this as a minor issue or higher.

This is one of the best if not the best opener for a campaign I have ever read, played or DMed. I HIGHLY recommend this product to any DM, beginning or experienced, to purchase and run.

The first AP to launch the NEW Paizo.

And I was not disappointed.

The fine folks at Paizo make a stand to show us that the decades old boring vision of fantasy roleplaying is not the only option out there. Re-imagining the cannon fodder race of goblins has given their first book so much praise and awards the big boys must be worried.

A fantastic story and a compelling adventure are sure to grab your players by the throat and make them beg for more. The goblins are no longer cannon fodder... they are MONSTERS! My players developed a vicious hatred for goblins I have never seen them exhibit ever before for any monster. Just the mention of "goblin" is enough to get them red in the face and ready for a bloodthirsty combat!

I've got no idea what it is like to actually play the adventure, but BOY does Paizo put out a product that is easy to DM. I didn't have to tweak a thing. The NPCs were well detailed and believable, and it was so easy to come up with ways to make the PC's a part of the Sandpoint community. The battles were fun and interesting, the supporting articles were great, and the physical quality of the product top notch. Just a great product.

If you want to stand up in your community -name it Sandpoint- you have to do some heavy monster killing, serious townfolk rescuing, charismatic -eye-blinking relationships, deep dungeon delving and treasure hauls from outdoors; then this is your chance! This adventure has it all. And developed in a great way.

For those of you thinking of getting into the Pathfinder APs, start here. It continues the tradition of Shackled City and Age of Worms while instilling the world of Golarian with its own life and future.

I would have liked a bit more detail on how to make the PCs native to the town, but that is a minor issue.

Excellent quality in both production and design. I plan on using it in the FR, and it does not seem like much work to transplant Sandpoint.

Everything about this works well, from the high quality paper to the NPCs to the overall design.