I'm not using item cards, but I bought the map folio, so I can comment on that.
Unlike map folios for the latest APs, the RotRL one only includes maps you already have in the AP. While it's certainly useful to have them on a separate sheet to avoid flipping your AP volume back and forth, it doesn't add a lot of game value. There are two larger maps (Sandpoint and Varisia) that are nice to have in big format, but not a must-have by all means.
A last word about the Paper Minis: I purchased the first two volumes' minis and I really like them, despite (few) letdowns like the Skinsaw man. I'm using about half of them despite having almost all D&D mini ever produced at disposal. They're cheap, most of them are well-drawn and easy to build.
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So I am preparing to run this adventure path as a first time GM and i wanted to get as much help as I can. I know paizo has done a good job of supplying game material for each AP be it flip maps, game cards, folios and the like. So my question is, what is there out there for rise of the runelords AP that I can pick up to help me along as a first time GM? Don't be afraid to name everything either I'm looking at everything as a possibility.
I used the Map Folio to great effect (and still do; my group is starting the fourth book here shortly). Having nicely printed maps to lay out for players is always a good idea in my gaming world.
The item cards were fun to use at my table, but somewhat incomplete in my opinion. I kept feeling like I should either have a card for all the loot beyond coins and mundane items, or the most important/rare items. Neither approach can be achieved with the deck, though, and that frustrated me. I guess a little too OCD for the realities of the product line.
That said, I did end up buying a lot of the item cards and use them for all magical equipment or special quest items as I have cards available. My players have small 1/2" width 3 ring binders for their character sheets and notes, which include card folio inserts to hold their equipment cards. Getting a card from some enemy or treasure pile makes them excited, so I guess it does what it is meant to do.
I really like the cards for scrolls and potions - people remember them much more now than when they were just written on a sheet.
Hey there, here are the things I'm planning to use in one way or another, in no particular order:
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- Faction Guide: I am entertaining an idea of replacing the Brotherhood of the Seven with the Aspis Consortium, and throwing in sidequests involving the Arcanimirium, Bellflower Network and the Pathfinder Society. And of course plenty of stuff about the Old Cults.
- Pathfinder #46 (Wake of the Watcher): lots of information about Lovecraftian creatures and cults (related to Leng).
- Giants Revisited: lots of stuff about giants that will probably be useful. It should be out before I get to the real giant-y part of the AP.
- Inner Sea Magic: includes rules for sin magic.
- Goblins of Golarion: plenty of flavour for the little guys that are the main enemies for the first book.
- Faiths of Purity: background for some of the residents of Sandpoint.
- Faiths of Corruption: background for some of the bad guys.
- Lost Cities of Golarion: additional information on Xin-Shalast, including some ideas for extending the campaign beyond the end of the sixth book.
- Misfit Monsters Redeemed: flumphs! After all, Leng is rather otherworldly. I also plan on making Mhar a serious threat, and using its threatened reappearance as a means to extend the campaign.
- Rival Guide: the Kodar Kneecappers were built for RotRL, but in general the whole thing is good for getting ideas for building rival adventuring groups.
- Lost Kingdoms: presumably will have plenty of information on Thassilon.
- Dungeons of Golarion: should have some useful ideas to help turn Runeforge into something really epic and worth exploring.
- The RotRL hardcover: when it comes out, I'll switch to it as my basic information source for the campaign.
That's all, off the top of my head.
Howdy! I don't have any plans to use any other published adventures as part of the overall campaign. There are a few fan-made sidequests that I may throw in that are available in this forum, such as Power Word Unzip's Night at the Opera. Other than that, I plan to allow quests to evolve a bit more organically. I am putting my party on medium advancement (presuming I have four players, it's beginning to look like I might only have two!) so I have lots of room to award roleplaying XP and send the PCs off to do things that aren't part of the AP as written without causing trouble with mismatched encounter CRs later.
The sorts of things I'm considering adding to the AP are factional powerplays in the town council, or political machinations between Korvosa and Magnimar, or an investigation of the past of the Kaijitsu family that will foreshadow Jade Regent. Just sort of filling in the gaps--I find most published adventures by necessity focus on the high points of an adventure: the big combats, the detective work to find out who the big bad guy is, the revelations of betrayal from a trusted ally, that sort of thing. What they don't tend to do well (IMO) is paint a complete picture of the social and political climate that forms the backdrop for the adventure.
By using the word 'backdrop' to describe it I freely admit that it's far less important than the swashbuckling derring-do that most gamers enjoy, but a campaign never feels complete to me (as a player or GM) without some reference to social change and politics, and I'd like to get the PCs involved in it if I can rather than just shoving a 'here's the situation' monologue into the beginning of each session. I have at least two players who will really enjoy it, so here's hoping they can bring the other two along for the ride. : )