Advice for New GM-Which Adventure Paths are the best for campaigning?

Hello, I started GMing a Rise of the Runelord campaign with some friends and they’re all having fun, and so am I as this is my very first time running any kind of TTRPG. I have been collecting more Adventure Paths for 1st edition (I still need to read up on the rules for 2nd edition, as Extinction’s Curse seems to be a big Adventure Path), though I’m wondering if what Adventure Paths I am looking at are any good.

Here’s the AP’s I have in full:
-RotRL Anniversary Edition
-CotCT Anniversary Edition
-Hell’s Rebels
-Hell’s Vengeance
-Ironfang Invasion

AP’s I do not have all parts but am working on it:
-Reign of Winter
-Jade Regent
-Ruins of Azlant
-Iron Gods
-Return of the Runelords

AP’s that I have no parts but am considering getting:
-Strange Aeons
-Mummy’s Mask
-Giantslayer

I have heard some of these would need a little homebrew tinkering (like a part of Giantslayer that gets pretty repetitive with their encounters), but any other 1E AP’s that are fun to play with?

dunno what the linking rules are, but a pretty good breakdown of the APs can be found by websearching "Tarondor's Guide to Pathfinder Adventure Paths"

dunno what the linking rules are, but a pretty good breakdown of the APs can be found by websearching "Tarondor's Guide to Pathfinder Adventure Paths"

Did a reading on this, I had no idea Kingmaker was that well loved. Definitely gonna do Curse of the Crimson Throne next with other friends after Runelords.

You might be interested by my recent quick assessment of AP's popularity here

Of the ones you have, Curse of the Crimson Throne is, I think, one of the better ones for new groups as it's relatively straight-forward and has a good mix of RP and fighting.
That being said, I think Hell's Rebels does the same type of story much better, but can be a lot more nuanced and more role-play heavy than some groups would like / it might not be what new players or groups expect, especially if they're more into fighting.

Of the rest of the ones you have listed, Mummy's Mask is a GREAT AP for a new GM / new players to start with.
Not many chances for role-playing, but the story flows really well, doesn't need any modifications, and it's easy to wrap the game up early at the end of either books 2 or 4 if the group isn't working out / you're not enjoying being a GM. (The Mummy's Mask board on here is pretty quiet, not because it's not a good AP, but because there's not much say about it / GMs don't have many questions / people aren't looking for advice on how to make it better or fix things)

Curse of the Crimson Throne is awesome. You won't be disappointed there.

I ran Extinction Curse and my players enjoyed it quite a lot. It's not the best PF2 AP, but its entirely enjoyable and is fairly straightforward to run. (I always cringe when people recommend Kingmaker as a first AP, because it's huge, complicated, and has a lot of extra rules to track and learn that are AP specific and often don't work that well. PF2 Kingmaker's Kingdom Rules require house rules to be playable.)

dunno what the linking rules are, but a pretty good breakdown of the APs can be found by websearching "Tarondor's Guide to Pathfinder Adventure Paths"

Tarondor's thread about it has resurrected again: Tarondor's Guide to Pathfinder Adventure Paths.

KoolKobold's list of adventure path has a surprising degree of overlap with the adventure paths that I have run, given that I have run only four adventure paths and started a fifth.

Rise of the Runelords - This is acknowledged as a great classic roleplaying adventure. The setting and the mysteries are outstanding. I played the D&D 3.5 version converted to PF1 rules. That version had a reputation as combat heavy and the final boss of the 2nd module often killed parties. Paizo toned down that boss for the anniversary edition.

Jade Regent - This is usually rated as below average. Though its theme is an oriental adventure, the party does not reach Tien Xia until the fourth module, Forest of Spirits. And half of that module is a dungeon crawl through the House of Withered Blossoms. The fifth module had a problem in that its large-scale story is about the rebellion against the corrupt government of Minkai, structured as a montage of events over which the party has little choice. My players took control of the narrative and had more fun.

Iron Gods - This adventure is like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial, "You got science fiction in my fantasy! Two great tastes in one candy bar." The alien high technology in Numeria gives a flavorful twist on a fantasy adventure. This adventure offers good things for many different kinds of players. My party wanted to play with the high technology, but it does not become available as gear before 7th level, so they contented themselves with mundane crafting. The story has no time pressure, so the party could spend months crafting. The adventure path is divided into three two-module parts, and sadly the middle part about the interesting android Casandalee wanders around cluelessly in search of her.

Ironfang Invasion - This adventure path is a war story. The Ironfang Legion, angry about its betrayal by military nation Molthune, invades anarchist nation Nirmathas. Due to Nirmathas's lack of an organized army, the party ends up as the most powerful force opposing the invasion. They are distracted from the invasion during the 4th module, where they learn the secrets of the Stone Road, and the 5th module, where they rescue the goddess Gendowyn. I converted this one to PF2 rules, and my players asked for so many extra quests to rescue villages that I extended it to a full 20 levels.

That being said, I think Hell's Rebels does the same type of story much better, but can be a lot more nuanced and more role-play heavy than some groups would like / it might not be what new players or groups expect, especially if they're more into fighting.

Curse benefits from its authors having a rather better sense of the society they were creating and its implications for what an overthrow and replacement of tyrannical power would look like in its context than Rebels does. You have to do quite a bit more detective work into Ravounel's society than you do Korvosa's to get a good sense of it (or rely on these forums to do it for you which, to be fair, we have). This is a problem not just for verisimilitude, but because it leaves internal faction management -- what should be a high priority for leaders of a mass party uniting everyone from the despised and otherized proletarians of Devil's Nursery to the most august if liberal personages of the Court of Coin on the basis of lowest-common-denominator politics -- completely unexplored.

Warped Savant wrote:

That being said, I think Hell's Rebels does the same type of story much better, but can be a lot more nuanced and more role-play heavy than some groups would like / it might not be what new players or groups expect, especially if they're more into fighting.

Curse benefits from its authors having a rather better sense of the society they were creating and its implications for what an overthrow and replacement of tyrannical power would look like in its context than Rebels does. You have to do quite a bit more detective work into Ravounel's society than you do Korvosa's to get a good sense of it (or rely on these forums to do it for you which, to be fair, we have). This is a problem not just for verisimilitude, but because it leaves internal faction management -- what should be a high priority for leaders of a mass party uniting everyone from the despised and otherized proletarians of Devil's Nursery to the most august if liberal personages of the Court of Coin on the basis of lowest-common-denominator politics -- completely unexplored.

Yeah.... I didn't have those problems with Hell's Rebels.

Did your group not enjoy Hell's Rebels, zimmerwald?

Warped Savant wrote:

That being said, I think Hell's Rebels does the same type of story much better, but can be a lot more nuanced and more role-play heavy than some groups would like / it might not be what new players or groups expect, especially if they're more into fighting.

Curse benefits from its authors having a rather better sense of the society they were creating and its implications for what an overthrow and replacement of tyrannical power would look like in its context than Rebels does. You have to do quite a bit more detective work into Ravounel's society than you do Korvosa's to get a good sense of it (or rely on these forums to do it for you which, to be fair, we have). This is a problem not just for verisimilitude, but because it leaves internal faction management -- what should be a high priority for leaders of a mass party uniting everyone from the despised and otherized proletarians of Devil's Nursery to the most august if liberal personages of the Court of Coin on the basis of lowest-common-denominator politics -- completely unexplored.

I dunno... I really think Hell's Rebels does a fantastic job of getting you into Ravounel really quickly. The mechanics and the Player's Guide and a good DM should pull you in immediately.

And b/c it doesn't do a 2 book excursion from the city in the way that Curse does, you are right there in the thick of it the whole time. I like Curse, but honestly, Hell's Rebels seems to me like the superior AP (that vol. 100 is something else (admittedly, I've only read it, the group I was playing in broke apart early in Book 2).

Did your group not enjoy Hell's Rebels, zimmerwald?

Ah, to have a group! To experience APs in play, as a game, rather than simply as a reader using a sociological lens!

Warped Savant wrote:

Did your group not enjoy Hell's Rebels, zimmerwald?

Ah, to have a group! To experience APs in play, as a game, rather than simply as a reader using a sociological lens!

Welllll, approaching something like an Adventure Path in that way is not fair to the writers and creators of the Adventure Path, which is intended to be a work of entertainment, not a scholastic study or detailed simulation of an imaginary society that covers all angles including those not appropriate to cover for a game that's aimed at a PG-13 type rating.

It's like complaining about how awful a sledgehamer is at peeling an orange. Sure, it'll get you into the orange, but it makes a mess.

It's like complaining about how awful a sledgehamer is at peeling an orange. Sure, it'll get you into the orange, but it makes a mess.

Now I feel like you're judging the way I eat oranges.

Yakman wrote:

dunno what the linking rules are, but a pretty good breakdown of the APs can be found by websearching "Tarondor's Guide to Pathfinder Adventure Paths"

Did a reading on this, I had no idea Kingmaker was that well loved. Definitely gonna do Curse of the Crimson Throne next with other friends after Runelords.

Kingmaker is arguably one of the most popular AP's we have. My best advice is to make sure what sort of story your group is after and find one that fits. I ran Ruins of Azlant for my group and they enjoyed it (not the least of which because they were fans of Lost, the TV show).

Mummy's Mask seems like a good fit as well. My group also really enjoyed War for the Crown ( I just upped the Regency bits and made it more 'upper crust society during the day, Robin Hood vigilantism at night')

imo, reading both Curse and Rebels, while they’re similar in some ways, they’re extremely different in other ways, with Curse focusing mostly on helping a whole city, while Rebels has you fight House Thrune with a rebel group of freedom fighters.

also that volume 100 is very handy with the NPCs, I ended up using the Terrible Tup for my RotRL campaign as an unlikely source of info about Thistletop and Nualia (though I changed his alignment from NE to CN).

if I were to choose the next session after RotRL is done it’ll most likely be Curse, with Iron Gods or Ironfang Invasion being close seconds

I haven't done many APs but I would suggest that for a new GM that Ironfang Invasion is pretty good. The Ironfang Invasion channel here contains lots of recaps from a few of us. There is also a podcast (This Golarion Life) I used to listen to that went through II (and had other stuff which I ignored) which was good for GM prep.
You can handwave away the subsystems and keep things fairly simple, or you can allow the players to go admin-heavy if they want. Plenty of opportunities to role-play NPC interactions if you want, or can work for murder-hobo groups too.
There isn't much city-based stuff (until the end of book 3).
Also very easy to scale things up or down if required.