Hi there, and welcome to the "GM Club" ... I think you are in for a lot of fun times ahead (I am GM-ing Rise of the Runelords now (the Anniversary Edition) and my group has nearly completed Chapter 4).
The best advice I can think of, be prepared, do your best to read the part(s) you plan to run for your group ahead of time, know the capabilities of the "bad guys" ... and above all - have a good working knowledge of the abilities of your PCs. (I can't tell you how many times I've been "caught off guard" not remembering the specifics of a certain feat or class ability) but also be sure you know the capabilities of the villains (also known as "your" characters). :)
***I have also forgotten a spell or ability or attack that a bad-guy had, and it might have changed an encounter (not necessarily making a TPK (total party kill) but certainly making the fight more memorable).***
The designers/writers/developers at Paizo obviously don't know your players tactics (and you might not either at first) but as the AP progresses you'll get a better idea about what they can do (and will do) and can adjust accordingly, don't always adhere to the "Tactics" section of a bad-guy's stat block ... adjust as needed for your group. Make the fights challenging and memorable ... I always like it when my players recall a big fight or a battle with a monster or BBEG (big bad end guy/girl) and say what an "epic" fight it was, or "Wasn't it cool when ..." Stuff like that.
Oh, one more thing, if your players "go off the beaten path" or decide to check out/explore a room or "dungeon chamber" other than the one you are expecting ... roll with it ... (of course it's better to be "prepared" ... but in case you aren't, make the most of it). I've had a few occasions during RotR when the PCs went a different route than expected and found the "boss" monster or main villain of a given part FIRST instead of fighting through the mooks and minions. :)
Good Luck and Have Fun!!
~Dean
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I flagged to ave them move this to the RotRL thread. The biggest thing I would suggest is to read the whole campaign all the way through before prepping a session. That way, you have an idea of the big picture once you start digging into the gritty details. Also, head to the RotRL forum and there are a lot of resources available!
There are alot of great GM resources on this forum.
I'd suggest this starting out:
Make your players care about Sandpoint.
Tie them to the narrative with shared backgrounds and campaign traits. (I allowed 3 traits per character 1 had to be a campaign trait)
Read up on all the NPCs and try to work up some events and non-combat interactions that put some depth into the town (this will become important later when you attempt to foreshadow future events, if the only time an NPC talks is for foreshadowing, the players will be suspicious of anyone who talks)
There are many great ideas on expanding the Swallowtail festival
I'd also recommend reading the "obituary" thread and familiarizing yourself with the fights that tend to cause TPKs so you can make sure you understand everything that is happening in those environments to try to help the players get a clear image of what their options are (and perhaps find ways to avoid the worse results.
Print out the stat blocks for all the monsters that the party is likely to encounter in a particular session. Then go through the sheet with highlighters and highlight key aspects - eg green for initiative, AC, HP and saves, red for to hit, damage, yellow for special abilities that could affect combat, blue for magic items (loot and ones usable by the critter in combat). That way you won't spend half the night flipping through the Bestiary or the AP itself trying to work out what each critter can do.
Prepare any random encounters you may have and prep the monsters as above. So if you roll a random encounter you have the encounter ready to go.
Print out the battlemaps that various people have prepared for the AP - look in the community created stuff thread in the ROTL forum.
Watch out for the mephit in the catacombs of wrath. She can easily devastate a party if youre not careful..
Also, make sure your party are clear who the npcs important to the plot are. I did this by giving all of my players a notebook each and giving them printed pictures to stick in. Its work and uses alot of ink, but canbe really rewarding as they'll be able to keep straight just who is related to who... Which can become very confused by the time they get to the misgivings.
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Also, make sure your party are clear who the npcs important to the plot are. I did this by giving all of my players a notebook each and giving them printed pictures to stick in. Its work and uses alot of ink, but canbe really rewarding as they'll be able to keep straight just who is related to who... Which can become very confused by the time they get to the misgivings.
Notebook is a good idea, though fortunately, one of my players takes really good notes.
I don't want to hijack your thread but I'm in the same seat as the OP. I was GM in AD&D 2nd edition so I'm a bit rusty.
I was wondering if the PC needs to know the background of the church in Sandpoint?
Also, I got 5 players (human pally, drow rogue (!), elf ranger, elf mage and a dwarf priest). Is there something wrong playing this campaign at 5 players ? Should I adjust encounters ?
@Quellious ; if you prefer I do a separate thread, please tell me. I just thought it might helpful for you as well.
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One thing to bear in mind is that the whole first module is essentially just a warmup. As above, getting them to care about Sandpoint is the key. Once chapter 2 begins they begin to get swept up in the metaplot, but until then you really can't mess it up. (Within reason.)
I say this because my party is really confused by all the detail they're being offered up front. They really want to go after Chopper, are confused as to what Shelelu's role in all this is, and suspect Vin and his daughter... They aren't used to interacting with the scenery... :)
One other thing to recall is that drow are unknown to the surface world at this point of Golarion's history. So people will look oddly at a black-skinned elf, but not think "evil!" - mind you, elves will know otherwise and likely react negatively.
Well, I'll ask for a split thread, don't want to garbage the op thread.
If there's any moderator, would you move my first questions and the answers on that topic;
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pw76?New-to-AP-few-questions#1
Thanks a lot!
If you have the cash buy Hero Lab and use the RotRLs por files from d20pfsrd. I am in no affiliated way with Lone Wolf software. Although I've been playing RPGs for almost 20 years I can not understate how much easier Hero Labs has made GMing. My group tends to drink...alot and Hero Labs tends to help me remember special abilities and spells plus retooling encounters is way easier