New DM to start Second Darkness

[TobiasBlues]

Hey all. I'm a fairly new GM that is going to be starting up Second Darkness for some friends coming up here. I was wondering if there are any tips that other GM's (or players for that matter) that have run through this AP could give me to help make this a fun adventure for my group.

Thanks for any advice.

[NobodysHome]

I am a player, and I am only just finishing Module 1, but I think that the key takeaways as a GM in Module 1 are:
- Play up Riddleport's lawlessness. My Lawful Good character kept wanting to go to "the authorities", but it helped immensely that there weren't any.
- Similarly, play up Riddleport's gangs. Our GM made the whole first module feel like we'd been caught in a bunch of meaningless gang warfare, making the final reveal (which I'm hoping/assuming exists, since I haven't seen it yet) all the more satisfying. So far, we feel like we got duped into helping a petty gang lord who isn't any better than any other petty gang lord, and it makes for nice roleplaying.
- Really focus on expanding Riddleport. Our GM revealed that all the NPCs, shops, building, and eccentric characters we'd been running into had all been made up by her. Apparently there's very little written up about Riddleport. Check out the guides to Korvosa, Magnimar, or Sandpoint to get an idea as to how to flesh out a city.

So as a GM looking objectively at Module 1, it seems like it was on the weaker side in terms of the APs I've run/played in. (Rise of the Runelords, Crimson Throne, Council of Thieves, Kingmaker, Carrion Crown, Shattered Star, and Second Darkness). But our GM spent time adding flavor to Riddleport and personalities to the NPCs with whom we were interacting, and it was a satisfying first module to play through, though we're all still convinced Saul was just out-and-out stupid and insane.

Anyway, hard to provide more when we haven't played through any more, but I thought you'd appreciate a reply from SOMEONE.

[Andrea1]

For NH's sake:

Sd swiftly starts to leave Riddleport after the second book so suggest that the players don't make PCs that are tailor-made for city adventures. If you hit Book 5, there is a very nasty situation where supposed allies send hit-elves after the PCs and that could be very nasty if things go bad, give the PCs a reason to keep helping rather than just flipping them off and leaving.

[Joey Virtue]

Read all the threads on here I have a conversion thread (using hero labs) I ran it almost all the way through my players really enjoyed it

[TobiasBlues]

Thanks for the help. I did find the conversions to Pathfinder rpg and plan on using them.