New Runelords GM says hello

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nyarlathotep (no it's not), and I am very, very scared.

You see, I've chosen to run -- after much thought -- Rise of the Runelords. I started a thread asking for advice on which AP to run in General. Maybe you saw it.

So now, I'm here. And I'm terrified. I've only played in Pathfinder as a character, and I'm one of those sorts who learns rules as they're needed. High crunch systems generally aren't my first love, but I've been asked by some friends to give Pathfinder a go, and they wanted me to run one of the APs. So here we are. At the precipice.

Folks make characters this coming Sunday, while I will have roughly two more weeks to prepare. I've combed this forum for goodies to help enhance the experience, and I've probably missed as many as I've found. I will say that this is an incredible, creative community!

I've armed myself with various references, tables, cheat sheets and what not to try to make the actual running of the game smoother. I've bought condition cards, rules flash cards, etc. I've loaded up apps on my phone and tablet, and I'll probably use the Android version of Combat Manager to run fights on my Nexus 10.

Any sage advice? Things to keep in mind? Tricky bits? Often-overlooked NPCs? Fun Easter eggs that players shouldn't miss? Anything? Anything at all?

I'm sure a few sessions in things will get better. But for now, I'm going to be a bit nervous. As far as things related to the AP itself I have various resources cribbed from here, including carnival games, NPC guides, a few maps (though I can't find the one for the opening fight -- the site seems down). I have the official ROTRL Pawns and a large number of other ones to pick from for NPCs, etc. I'm going to spend my time reading and rereading the first AP section, practicing my annoying goblin voices, and generally trying to remind myself this is supposed to be fun.

In all seriousness, any advice would be most appreciated.

Brian
Not the crawling chaos.

The best, most serious advice I can give is this: remember that this is supposed to be fun. Everything else is 'fake it until you make it'. :)

(1) Take a deep breath. The story's the thing. Players are amazingly patient with new GMs who are willing to take the time to get things right, and who are willing to overlook minor rules for the sake of the story now and then.

(2) That said, stop with the panicking about the rules, and panic more about the NPCs. You're thrown off the deep end with an entire city to run from Day 1. I read and re-read the Sandpoint Gazetteer every single day from the day I agreed to run to the day I started. Every. Single. Day. So that I could bring the city alive. And it was well worth the effort.

(3) Consider spending some time before the AP even starts just getting to know the characters. I wrote a mini-novella for the PCs before they set foot in Sandpoint. I'd suggest doing something similar.

(4) Plan to go slowly at first. "This session, I'm going to introduce the characters to Sandpoint, have them play some of the wonderful games described in the various threads, and have them run into each other and do some roleplaying. That should take a full session."

Honestly, unless you have a group of players who prefer to play Pathfinder as a tactical board game (and there are quite a few players who like their games that way), spending some time just giving the players a feel for a city is well worth its while. I took the party on a side trip to Absalom, and they spent an entire 8-hour session just exploring the city, without a single die roll on anyone's part.

Allow the wonder of the world that is being presented to grow on them. If you've spent 6 hours getting all the PCs to Sandpoint, letting them participate in some games, go wenching or... er... what IS the maculine term for "wench"? And so forth... Anyway, if you've spent 6 hours just letting them feel the city, then if your goblin combat is horrific and it takes you 3 hours just to run a handful of goblins:
- You will likely be forgiven, because 2/3 of your game was excellent
- You'll learn to get better by doing poorly. Life works that way.

Keep posting here with questions. There are an IMMENSE number of problem points. The only ones you should worry about right now are:

Anyway, enjoy yourself, make sure everyone else is enjoying themselves, and don't hesitate to ad lib on occasion.

Happy GM'ing!

one thing I've found personally, double check what needs to happen in the future, and then feel free to change what you need to. for example, i cut out the encounter with the goblin in the closet,i like dogs, and could bring myself to describe ones death, and i didnt feel my players would greatly enjoy it or take anything from it. and i focused a little bit on one of my players getting up to some, uhh, things, with the shopkeeps daughter, and the trouble therein. the real key is to know your players, and do what everyone would enjoy.

good luck, and have fun

I recently ran this for a few friends of mine. Here is what I learned and really helped me:

1) Slow down. If you have the actual adventure path books like I did, or even better, the electronic PDF's separate them and just focus of each one, one at a time. If you have the "epic" spell book looking Rise of the Runelords book, it can be very intimidating.

2) All you have to do is read through it. Get a tablet, the paper thing, not the thing you use your finger to scroll through the icons, and make notes. In other words: Go "Old School". Nothing says you cant have: Round 1 bad guys do this..Round 2 bad guys do this, and by the way have big letters of: DON'T FORGET THIS HAPPENS WHICH HAMPERS THE PLAYERS ABILITY TO DO THIS...

3) Just read the part you are on. Remember there is A LOT of fluff, pictures, background, and extra stuff. Once you have all of that hopefully you are not overwhelmed. So what do you have left?.. A lot of text that explains the encounters. Bite the adventure path off in small chunks. Read part 1 (Burnt Offerings) in a few days and then move to part 2 (Skin Saw Murders), read it through, and then go back and make your notes. Repeat for all six chapters. Once you have notes for each part, read the whole thing through (lock yourself in a room away form everyone else) and then put all of the pieces together, then go back and correct your notes. Trust me on this last step.

4) Finally, tell the story and have fun doing it. Rise of the Runelords is probably one of the richest storylines in the amount of depth of information that a gaming company has given in one set (or path) of adventures. Before Paizo created the adventure paths, I want to say the only thing close was maybe the Dragonlance original modules which took the PC's through the War of the Lance. Paizo has done an amazing job with the amount of detail of how some of the NPC's react with the party, and there is alot of stuff that goes on in the background.

Remember you arent or hopefully not doing this all at once. Rise of the Runelords takes along time, its meant to be fun, not a mad dash one shot weekend binge. Rise of the Runelords if run properly can take months or even years to finish depending how often your group gets together. Rise of the Runelords is something you want to look back on and say you had a boat load of fun, not: OMFG I would much rather had a root canal.

I want to point out something general to all campaigns - a mistake that after decades of GMing I realized I was making.

Here it is: Focus on making each individual moment cool. You have to keep the bigger story arc in mind, but the moment is the thing.

Especially on Adventure Paths, but also in the homebrew campaign I'm running, I found that I sort of was always leaning toward the future, the next thing, kind of always urging things forward.

Again, a bit of that is fine. You don't want to stall out. But definitely the bigger priority needs to be making each gaming session, each scene as cinematic and cool as possible.

-Marsh

You see, I've chosen to run -- after much thought -- Rise of the Runelords. I started a thread asking for advice on which AP to run in General. Maybe you saw it.

So now, I'm here. And I'm terrified. I've only played in Pathfinder as a character, and I'm one of those sorts who learns rules as they're needed.

I've just started doing the same, using Syrinscape, HeroLab, RealmWorks, and d20Pro.

My party (of 4) has finished "Local Heros" and are exploring the town. They seemed to have gravitated to areas not dealt with in the book: The Hagfish Nora water challenge, Junker's Beach, the Old Light, and Chopper's Isle. After much searching I found material for all of them.

The Hagfish

Shopkeeper's daughter

There's a Junker's Beach encounter in Pathfinder Chronicles; Sandpoint Gazetter.

The Old Light encounter I'm using is from Wayfinder 9 and Chopper's Isle in Wayfinder 7.

Wayfinder backissue PDFs are available free.

My players paid a visit to The Pillbug to score some healing teas and recreational herbs. This led to my favorite line to date: "You mean this dude will sell me drugs? Sweet!" The PC in question is very hippie-esque and seems stone all the time anyway, so...

I'm currently building a map for The Pixie's Kitten as they want to go whoring. The party is split 50/50 male/female (players and PCs) so that should be interesting. I'm working on an encounter that will provide more than they are bargaining for.

I also built up a map and series of encounters for the Boar Hunt, but the dice favored them and they found and killed a boar before stumbling into anything else.

As for the festival, I cobbled together various sources to come up with this (mostly found in these forums):

-----
Speeches

Father Zantus
Welcome! Today’s a day of celebration and first of all I’d like to ask our dear Mayor Deverin to step forward and say a few words…

Mayor Deverin

I see everyone’s arrived. Even Larz Rovanky has left off tanning hides to be here. I’m sure his workers are glad it’s not their hides getting tanned – at least, not today!

When the chuckles die down and Larz stops glowering, Mayor Deverin continues.
Citizens of Sandpoint. Today we celebrate!

It is almost precisely five years since we started to build our new Chapel. I know almost everyone of you has participated as they can and has helped in ways available for them. And today this major undertaking is finally coming to and end.

But this is not the end. No! Quite the opposite. Today marks the beginning of our future. A future we’ve paid for in sweat. Today we put the late unpleasantness behind us and begin a a new chapter in our lives.

So mark this day for it’s an important day.

Anyway, I can smell the lunch being prepared already. A round of applause for Ameiko, Garridan, Cracktooth, and Jargie!

At this, more cheering erupts: the enticing aromas drifting over the crowd are mouthwatering.
Now it is time for the other speakers so, I’m going to sit down. But one last thing. Today, as mayor, I am declaring a town order: have fun!
The crowd responds with a roar, and it is a while before the Mayor can continue.

So without further ado, let me welcome our dutiful Sheriff, Belor Hemlock, to the stage!
She gestures towards a dark-skinned, bulky man, clearly of Shoanti descent, dressed in well-kept armour and with a sword at his side. Sheriff Hemlock nods and steps up onto the stage.
Sheriff Belor Hemlock

Yes. Um. Ahem.

As Kendra said today’s important. It’s five years since we started to build our Cathedral. And it’s five years since the Fire of Sandpoint.

Now, I know Kendra doesn’t want me to talk about Chopper or the evil things that took place before the fire.

(Stops. Draws breath. Then continues.)

So, all I’ll say is we lost many good people to Chopper. And we lost many good men and woman that night of the fire. Friends, fathers, mothers, people carrying out their duty or worrying about feeding their families. They will be missed.

I’d ask everyone here to join me for a moment of silence to honor those who have passed.

(An awkward moment passes.)

Then finally I’d ask everyone to please be careful in the evening’s bonfire. No really, I’m serious about this. We don’t need to repeat the fire, okay?

Thanks.

Father Zantus returns to stage:


Father Zantus

Our next speaker is Mr. Kajitsu. Unfortunately a sudden illness has prevented him for joining us today and so he won’t be speaking. So, let’s just move forward and give the stage over to our beloved Cyrdas Drokkus!

Cyrdas Drokkus

Why thank you, thank you thank you. As always you’re such a lovely audience!

Alright! After the sobering words of our very own Sheriff Hemlock I want to get everyone back on track! Today’s about celebration! Heck, today is about awesome!

And with awesome I mean our amazing founding families that formed Sandpoint Mercantile League; the Kaijitsus, our esteemed glass makers, the Valdemars our trusted ship builders, the Scarnetti’s our ruggedly handsome loggers and the Deverins our reliable farmers and brewers. Of course it was Kendra who archistered this amazing, amazing feat.

And the end result is the majestic view you see behind me! It took years to finish the cathedral, but the it is truly impressive. To the south, facing Sandpoint’s heart, are the shrines of civilization: Erastil and Abadar. To the west, ,offering a view of the Old Light and the sea beyond, are the shrines of Shelyn and Gozreh. And to the east, offering a view of the Sandpoint Boneyard and the rising sun, are the shrines of Sarenrae and Desna.

Six powerful gods who will look after the seven virtues that we honour. Those will give us strength and make Sandpoint stand tall and proud no matter what lady fate decides to send in our direction!

And finally, this wouldn’t be a speech of Cyrdas Drokkus, the man you’ve come to know as the mysterious patron and fearless leader of Sandpoint Theather, unless I’d have a specific treat for you in the end! This time I’ve set out to out do myself for this is no mere treat, but a dramatic reveal! I know most of you are keenly waiting for our brand new production “The Harpy’s Curse” which will be premiering tomorrow. So this is the best time to announce that the lead role of Avis aka the Harpy Queen will be played by none other that the famous Magnimarian diva Allishanda!

Father Zantus

Father Zantus takes the stage again and motions towards a corner of the square, where a covered wagon has appeared and is being wheeled through the crowd by two acolytes. It is a slow process, as the square is already crammed to bursting point, but somehow the wagon manages to reach the middle as the throng parts to let it pass then closes again in its wake.

When the goddess Desna first fell to earth,

says Father Zantus, his voice suddenly taking on the commanding resonance with which he delivers his sermons,

she was gravely injured by her fall. A blind child, full of kindness and light, nursed the goddess back to health with no thought as to who this injured lady might be. As a reward, Desna transformed the child, who was reborn as an immortal butterfly.

With this theme of rebirth in mind, I declare the Swallowtail Festival…open!

As he utters the final word, the acolytes pull back the cover on the wagon, releasing a furious storm of a thousand swallowtail butterflies that swarm in the air in a spiralling riot of colour to a great cheer from the crowd.

Lunch

Lunch is provided free of charge, at the expense of Sandpoint’s taverns, each bringing its best dish in as much a bid to win new customers as to feed a hungry crowd. It soon becomes apparent that the darling of the lunch is, once again, Ameiko Kaijitsu, whose remarkable curry-spiced salmon and early winterdrop mead easily overshadow the other offerings, even the Hagfish’s famous lobster chowder and the White Deer’s peppercorn venison, both of which would not be out of place in a royal banquet. It is a rare treat for most of Sandpoint’s common folk to sample such delicacies, and they attack the fare with great zeal. Luckily there is more than enough to go around, and everyone heads into the afternoon with full stomachs and a more refined palate.

Throughout the afternoon, the swallowtail butterflies provide an endless source of amusement for the town’s children, who try in vain to catch them as they perch on trees, walls, or buildings. Despite the children’s best efforts, the butterflies always manage to stay just out of reach, always a little too quick for their pursuers.

Games

The Devil Hunt

Do you have what it takes to bring down the infamous Sandpoint Devil and keep him from menacing the surrounding area? Take a shot and see. This is an archery range setup on the beach down by the Lighthouse. Two large targets, with silhouettes of a scary looking winged horse on them, are set up 50 yards away from a firing line. The bull’s-eye is about where a horse's heart would be. There are bigger concentric circles around the bull’s-eye.

One copper piece per play. Using the longbows provided, fire two arrows at the target, scoring the best one. Hitting a bull’s-eye wins a small pie. Hitting anything else wins progressively cheaper trinkets for each band outside the bull’s-eye, with nothing for a miss. Hitting AC 20 gets a bull’s-eye, each band out side that is AC 18, AC 16, AC 14, and AC 12.

This game is being run by Jodar Provolost (CG male human Expert 1/Ranger 3), an older balding Varisian with black hair, a big thick black mustache, and a noticeable big belly. He is a mediocre carpenter, but is considered one of the best hunters in Sandpoint. He is friendly, but has lots of bad jokes, and particularly likes telling his (untrue) stories of his encounters with the Sandpoint Devil. The pies have been provided by Alma Avertin from Sandpoint Savories. They aren't her best work, but they are good enough for what they are.

Sheriff Hemlock has asked Jodar to quietly make note of anyone who scores a bull’s-eye, or gets both shots in either of the center two circles, so that he can later approach them about joining the militia. Jodar asks anyone who wins his or her name and then announces quite loudly "Attention! Insert name has done Sandpoint a great service. He or she has slain the Sandpoint Devil! Here's your pie!"

The Goblin Toss

Three Goblins have found their way into your house and are tearing the place up! Grab them and toss them into the fireplace before they can destroy everything. This game is a simple bean bag toss setup in the middle of the Sandpoint Market square. A board is setup with lines of three holes. The board is 10 feet from a throw line. The closest hole is the largest and the farthest hole is the smallest. There are buckets of beanbags sewn to look like Goblins by each of the three stations. Each bean bag has a Goblin name printed on it.

One copper piece per play. Take three Goblins and try to toss them into a fireplace. Kids have to try and hit the biggest and closest hole, which is AC 10. Women use the medium sized hole, which is AC 12, and adult men use the smallest and furthest hole, which is AC 15. The bean bags have a range increment of 10' and there is no non-proficient penalty. Get all three in and win a small bag of venison jerky. Anything less gives a cheap trinket. Something Swallowtail related most likely. Nothing for not getting any in the fireplace.

This game is being run by Daverin Hosk of Goblin Squash Stables. He's getting perverse pleasure out of the idea of tossing Goblins in the fire. It's for this reason that he has written a Goblin name on each beanbag, just so he can desecrate some Goblin's memory even more. It's well known his hatred of Goblin's and nobody is surprised to see this game. Chod Bevuk of the Sandpoint Meat Market has provided the venison jerky for the prize. It is quite tasty and next to Ameiko's salmon, it is the talk of the event. Unfortunately there's been lots of young children asking their parents if the jerky is really made of Goblin meat from the Goblins they threw in the fireplace, like Daverin says it is. Some adults have heard the rumor and actually believe that it is Goblin meat!

The Lighthouse Smash

Who needs a Lighthouse without a light? The old Lighthouse has become an eyesore; let's knock it down so we can use the stone to build something new. This game is set up at the end of Junker's Way next to the Lighthouse. It has a table with nine square stones stacked on it in a pyramid shape. Three on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top. There is a firing line 20' from the tables. Using the mini-catapult, try to knock down the stack of stones within three shots.

Two copper pieces to play. You get three shots. It takes a total of three hits to knock down all the stones. Hitting higher ACs counts as more hits, so that it is possible to knock them down with one hit. Hitting AC 12 counts as one hit, Hitting AC 16 counts as two hits, and hitting AC 20 counts as three hits. The catapults have a range of 50', so there is no range penalty, but there is the normal non-proficient penalty of -4 if someone does not have proficiency with siege weapons. Knocking down all the stones wins a small toy catapult; it amounts to being a slingshot. Anything less provides some other cheap trinkets. No prize if nothing is knocked down.

This game is being run by Aesrick Battlehorn. He's been working on the mini catapult and toy catapults during his spare time all year, in preparation for the festival. The mini catapult is quite a work of art. He's carved it to look like a stone giant with its arm throwing the stone. He suspects that he'll be able to sell it in Magnimar for quite a bit after the festival. It's about 2 foot tall, but functions just as a real catapult, albeit with less range and much less damage. He's worked very hard at keeping it a secret all year, so that he can surprise everyone with it.

He's got a soft spot for the kids and helps the kids aim it so that they can win the toy catapults, negates the non-proficient penalty; much to the consternation of mothers. According to many mother's complaints, "They are just the right size for young boys to shoot an eye out with!" This complaining doesn't stop those same mothers from handing over the two coppers for their sons to play. There is no shortage of boys crying because they've been hit in the head by a flying stone.

Dragon Races

There's been talk of starting Dragon farming in Sandpoint, so we've gotta find out which ones are the fastest so that we have the best dragons! Pick yourself a dragon and pit it in a Dragon Race against your friends.

The final game is located in the Sandpoint Market Square on the south side by the docks just at the beginning of Market Street. It has two double lane tracks set up next to each other with a three-foot wide gap between the two tracks. The tracks are 30' feet long. Near the starting line there is a large cage with 12 lizards in it. Each one has a set of twig and cloth wings attached to their backs. Each one is painted a different color so that they look like little dragons. Without touching the lizards, goad your lizard down the track. Get him to cross the finish line before your opponents and win a prize!

One copper piece to play. Once they have four people with a dragon picked, place them in the starting lanes. At the sound of the whistle, the gates are lifted and you goad your dragon down the track without touching them. To do this, each person racing makes an initiative check and players attempt to goad their lizard in initiative order. The lizards are notoriously difficult to deal with, so you must make a DC 14 Handle Animal check to get them to move. The lizards move 5' on a succesful check. On a failure they do not move. On a failure by 10 or more, the lizard actually moves backwards. The first lizard to cross the finish line wins. The winner gets a big cheap medal that says "1st Place Swallowtail Dragon Races" and 2 Copper Pieces. All other places get nothing and the others get nothing.

This game is run by Gressel Tenniwar. He's running it on the orders of Jubrayl Vhiski, but nobody knows this. Jubrayl is using it to run a gambling scheme betting on the races. Nobody knows it but 9 of the 12 lizards were secretly well fed the night before and they are tired and are even more difficult to move. These 9 are DC 16 to move. The other three are quite hungry and haven't eaten in about a week. These are at normal DC 14. In fact if some raw meat or other small rodent like thing is held in front of them they will be DC 12 to move.

Jubrayl and his men know which three are the hungry ones and use this to fix the betting. Jubrayl has also ordered that one of his men should always try to be in the race each time, so that they can pick one of the hungry lizards in order to hedge the bets even more, but not make a big deal if any group of four really want to race each other. The GM should pick the nine that are well fed. Anyone that watches more than 5 races with one of the hungry lizards can make a DC 20 Sense Motive check to notice that some of the lizards seem more motivated than others. Jubrayl and his men will disappear if it looks like anyone has caught onto their scheme. Gressel will claim ignorance and one of his barmaids will back him up when he claims they are all well fed.
------

Dave

First I'll assume your trepidation is more like asking the cute redhead in 5th hour to Prom and less like a visit to the dentist.

Second, here are some random tips:

I can't say Pathfinder is as crunchy as they come but it sure is in the ballpark so if crunchy is not your thing...

References, cards, apps and the like can be very helpful but they can also be distracting if you're trying to pick up something new - too many inputs flood the system.

What is the experience level with Pathfinder among your players? Similar to yours or better? (Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!)

Back to the crunchy bits - Pathfinder has innumerable class combinations (like the Chipotle menu) I recommend you go with Core Rulebook Only at the start. If someone argues for some other class from some 3rd party rulebook, say No, but tell him/her he/she just volunteered.

Volunteered for what? To Help, of course! You don't need to know all the rules, your players need to know the rules too. Each player should be expected to know the rule mechanics that apply to his character. And when some situation arises where no one knows the rule - Bob just volunteered to look it up.

GM: "Bob while I look over what's going to happen next, you go find out how grappling works."
Bob: "Why me?"
GM: "Because you wanted to play the Kenku druid-paladin with a Warforged animal companion, that's why. You're clearly well suited to help us with the rules."

What are your players looking for in the game? Advice above about storytelling and frolicking through Sandpoint are all very good but if your players spend Sunday making up characters, they might want to take them for a spin. That means something more significant than carnival games. The players may be desperate to stab something. If you don't give them something appropriate to stab, they may stab something inappropriate.

How rules-lawyerly (that is too a word) are they? Some groups aren't going to care or maybe even notice if pc's and npc's don't follow the exact initiative order from round to round; other groups might have a cow. Your players can vary on this too ("Got your first class ticket to GM FrustrationLand right here! Get 'em while they last!")

Read some of the campaign journals for Rise - not simply for ideas but to get a feel for how things might go, what sort of crazy choices your players might make.

Most important advice: your players are ignorant. I don't mean that as an insult but simply they will NEVER know as much as you do about the adventure even if you gave them entire AP to read because even then they wouldn't know how you interpreted it, which elements you think are important, etc. (The campaign journals will give you insight into how other GM's viewed the material as well.) As a result of this ignorance they are going to be constantly struggling to figure out what the bejeebers is going on - don't be surprised when something painfully obvious to you is completely lost on them. Don't be afraid to simply tell them information if they appear confused - remember their characters would have access to a lot more sensory information and history then you can readily provide and there will always be more they don't know than what they do know.

Most important rule: Fun trumps. Fun trumps rules. Fun trumps story. Fun trumps expectations. If you expect them to seduce the barmaid and negotiate with the Mayor, and they do the opposite - roll with it. I know this sound stupidly simple and obvious but it's the #1 GM crime: GM expects things to go 1,2,3 and gets emotionally invested in that sequence. When things go 3,1,2, the GM copes badly and everyone stops having fun.

My 2 coppers'-worth (most of it focused on character creation) ...

To avoid too many cakewalk combats (something which usually frustrates GMs and even some players), remember that an AP is written for a 4-character party using 15 points for their builds. (Some players can take this limitation and still create combat monsters.) If you have more than four players, there are various threads which give advice on how to adjust for the party's improved action economy.

Do not allow the Advanced Race Guide until you are very comfortable with the crunch therein. Even then, don't allow the players to stitch together their very own race/race variant. I strongly suggest keeping the players limited to the CRB races. Again, you can experiment later with more advanced races, but get used to the crunch first.

I also second the suggestion to limit the classes/sources available for character creation, etc., although I personally would allow more than just the CRB (Core Rulebook). Classes which I would avoid: Gunslinger, old Summoner (the one from the APG; the new Summoner from Pathfinder Unchained is better balanced), and old Rogue (the one from the CRB; the new Rogue from PU got a much-needed power-boost). Some tables avoid the Summoner (old or new) entirely, as too many summoned monsters can become a spot-light hog (and can be subject to accidental player error).

Spell-wise, I am inclined to limit the party to the CRB and the APG, with spells from other sources allowed on a case-by-case basis. Obviously, certain newer classes - in particular the psychic spell-casting classes from OccA (Occult Adventures) need the spells from the book in which they first appear.

All of the above probably sounds very negative, but it's meant to help make your life easier. You can always let in something new at a later date.

Even though it might spoil a bit of the AP, I would still recommend that the players get a chance to read the free RotR AE Player's Guide. For both my groups, I told them flat-out that extremely urban characters were not suitable, and that this particular AP would be a Wizard's paradise. (*grumble* And yet, in one group, the closest they got was a Magus - something which I think that they will regret later in the AP.)

For both my groups I gave them two free traits, one of which must be a RotR campaign trait (found only in the AE player's guide plus the back of the Varisia player companion). The other main source of traits was Ultimate Campaign. Avoid the "Sandpoint campaign traits" at the back of the APG, as they are not for RotR and might even spoil a plot point or two. Also, some seem a tad bit over-powered.

I made colour copies of the NPC pictures in the AE book, and also bought the face card deck for RotR. It helps a lot to have an idea of what the NPCs look like - for both players and GM. The Shopkeeper's Daughter incident seems to work best if the player in question can see what she looks like. Incidentally, in one of my groups that particular sub-plot continued through to the end of the first book and beyond, and gave me the chance to introduce her older sister and her boy-friend. All of which made the opening of the second book that much more effective. :)

It seems that Chopper's Isle is an adventurer magnet. Both of my groups insisted on investigating that place, so the Wayfinder adventure was most useful. However, try to put them off from Chopper's Isle until they reach character level 2 at the very least. Among other perils, a certain pit in that side-trek could spell TPK for a L 1 party. Not to mention the high Climb checks needed to get up onto the tidal island. Falling damage can kill!

In my campaigns, I re-built certain NPCs using some of the newer classes (with good results). However, you might want to hold back on that until you are more comfortable with the crunch.

As others have already noted, the RotR sub-forum is still active and helpful, particularly the GM thread for each book.

Last but not least: remember that goblins are crazy little murderous bastards! :)

My advice as a player in ROTRL; go slow. Let the players set the pace. Build up the social encounters.

Figure out in advance if any players are natives of Sandpoint (or long time residents). If so, give them social spoilers. After all, if they're locals they know the Mayor and the Sheriff. They know the Averton twins and Ameiko Kaijitsu. They know Gorby and a hundred other characters. Even if they are not close friends, they know these people, and they may well know Tsuto and Nualia. So carefully figure out the background of these characters and give them the info they should know.

Don't be afraid to toss in a few extra goblins on the fly if the PCs are plowing through Burnt Offerings with no resistance. Just one or two extra goblins turns a lot of cakewalk encounters into good challenges.

And have fun. There is no greater bit of advice than that.

My advice would be to give each of your players some time in the limelight each session. Especially in social encounters at the beginning of the AP, it's ok to cut from the fighter asking about Chopper's Isle to the cleric chatting up Brodert about Thasillon to the wizard scouting out Turandurok, and then back to the fighter. It gives the players time to process info and think about what they want to do in the moment, which they like. It also keeps things moving even when things are not moving, and things can go very slow in the beginning. My players took two sessions to get to know Sandpoint, and I ended the second with the beginning of the raid as a cliffhanger.

Which reminds me, cliffhangers are good to have on occasion. When not overused, they keep your players hungry to play again, and engaged during the downtime between sessions. You can use that later to take care of logistical things via email which makes your game time more efficient and more focused on the fun parts of adventuring.

Something I'm trying to get better at: thinking of what opponents would say during combat. Describing combat is great, epic rolls are epic, but nothing gets players invested in a fight like having the enemy seem real. You can describe them all you like beforehand, and describe what happens helps, but anytime the villain is taunting, or boasting, or generally leaking information during combat- that's an enemy my players remember. Something as simple as Erylium yelling "Get out of my queendom! And don't hurt any of my subjects while you go!" Suddenly she isn't just some random ridiculously hard-to-kill monster placed there for xp: you get a sense of how she sees herself and her relationship to her surroundings.

...and I'll probably use the Android version of Combat Manager to run fights on my Nexus 10.

I could use some help managing a more speedy combat. If you or anyone could point me towards a link for what you use similar to this, I'd really appreciate it. I have an Android as well, and a chromebook for quick rules reference/DM screen.

Thanks.

I GMed Pathfinder Society quite a bit before running an adventure path, and Runelords is my first AP. Nearly two years later, my PCs are only 12th level, and we're still having fun with it.

But the biggest thing I've learned that helps my sessions go smoothly is to read every section of the adventure twice before running it.

First, go through and get the flow of the plot and the understanding of every NPC and monster's motivations. Decide how specific people will speak and behave around your PCs. But don't look at the details of monster stats or rules stuff yet.

Then go back and re-read, to make sure you remember as many of those details as possible, and to pay attention to the details the second time. That includes looking at every stat on the monsters and making sure you know what they all mean. Spend the time to look things up and take notes so you won't forget the important details when it comes up.

And after all that, expect your players to find some way to make all that prep useless, and force you to improvise. If that happens, don't be afraid to say "let me think about that for a minute" before responding to your players about things. Take the time to come up with good answers to their unusual behavior.

Nyarlathotep93 wrote:

...and I'll probably use the Android version of Combat Manager to run fights on my Nexus 10.

I could use some help managing a more speedy combat. If you or anyone could point me towards a link for what you use similar to this, I'd really appreciate it. I have an Android as well, and a chromebook for quick rules reference/DM screen.

Thanks.

I'm using Combat Manager on the laptop I use when I DM. I don't know how I would had managed without it really, it's that good in my opinion. All the RotR baddies are in their database as well, so when prepping for a session I just add the opponents for each room/encounter in separate files in Combat Manager, and then as the PCs progress I'll just load them up. Saves me lots of work, and keeps me from making mistakes. I bought the Android version to support the developer even though I use the free PC one.

Sometimes I do roll stuff 'manually' though, especially important stuff - nothing beats rolling that natural 20 at a critical time and seeing the player start to sweat... ;-)

Most important rule: Fun trumps. Fun trumps rules. Fun trumps story. Fun trumps expectations. If you expect them to seduce the barmaid and negotiate with the Mayor, and they do the opposite - roll with it. I know this sound stupidly simple and obvious but it's the #1 GM crime: GM expects things to go 1,2,3 and gets emotionally invested in that sequence. When things go 3,1,2, the GM copes badly and everyone stops having fun.

This. So much times this.

I bought the Android version to support the developer even though I use the free PC one.

Thank you for the tip. An Android version gives me hope that I can get it to work on my Chromebook, after all!