kingmaker. a lot of freedom in that.
also the other bestiary's are available online to view, if you don't want to buy EVERYTHING at once.
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Kingmaker is very sandboxy (the opposite of "railroady"), but it's also a "hex exploration" format, which is something a lot of people aren't familiar with, and can be quite jarring. Plus, if you don't get a lot of buy-in from your players, the AP can go south pretty quick.
You say you don't want to have to buy more than one bestiary. All the stat-blocks (pretty much everything but the art) is available for free at the Pathfinder Reference Document.
Depending on your tastes, you might find that every AP is "railroady or too much of a combat grind." They are written as a series of six adventures, so the players can't get too far off the track, and D&D-esque games are at their strongest in combat. Other systems do social interaction much better (like, sigh Pendragon), so it's hard to recommend a non-combat, non-railroady AP. Jade Regent, though, might be your best bet. While it is a bit on the rails, the first part of the AP literally takes place on a journey, so it doesn't feel too restrictive, and it encourages role-playing more than most APs.
May I recommend the Crypt of the Everflame, though? While it's a module instead of an AP, it has a great hook to get players into the game, and if the players are into it, leads naturally into it's two sequels. If the players don't like the plot, you can always pick a different module and they can move on to that.
If you dont like railroads, kingmaker is probably your best bet. I've enjoyed it immensly and you really do have the ability as a player to dictate the pace, as well as shape the world. My group debated and wrote in character a constitution for our kingdom that has been repeatedly used in roleplay situations with potential threats and with people within our kingdom. Its been a blast so far.
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You can still get it in PDF but I can understand your reluctance. Kingmaker would have been ideal.
All the AP's require buy in from players though. You need to make it clear to your players that there is a story to the game and some expectations are made that the players will buy in to that story. With some groups it works, with others... not so much.
Thanks. Kingmaker does sound really good but it seems to be out of print and tricky to get here in the UK. I don't want to invest time into something that is going to be awkward to obtain all the parts for. What s shame, it seem ideal...
Given international shipping rates wouldnt it be cheaper to buy the pdfs and print them anyway? Also at least for the moment it looks like paizo still has a copy (though 'non-mint' for the first two books) in their store. Up to you ofcourse but if its feasible, given your wants i'd go for kingmaker.
Way of the Wicked is really good.
It has lots of story built in but it's very open at the same time. You can easily build around or in it and the group can divert their attention to other things if they choose.
Also, its one of the few where you can be the bad guys and not worry too much about being stabbed in the back.