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First off welcome to Pathfinder.
The adventure books can be tricky to get a feel for as how they work is that all six books in a path, such as the Rise of the Runelords you picked up, are a whole campaign within 600 pages.
All adventure paths were written with 4 players and 1 DM in mind.
All characters are susposed to be at a 15 point buy.
I run mine at 25 or 30+ point buys but I make them a lot tougher as well. It requires basically rewriting the whole path. I think next one I will do a 20 buy and see how that works. I have read about people doing the paths successfully at 10 point buys.
I don't know if you have PF or 3.5 version. It was released to celebrate Paizo's 10 year anniversary.
I have the older version, but the jest is the same at least with all the other paths I own.
the KISS version
In Part one.
It starts with an intro for YOU.
Then read the section for the swallowtail festival as sorta an intro the campaign for the characters. Keep reading until you get to the Lunch: Lunch is provited for free.... section. Stop before Consecration. Do not read that section.
Now that you have set the mood for your players and they have some idea of whatswhat. Let them have a couple minutes to talk with themselves bout what you just told them.
This will let them feel like they are part of the story, not just being read it aloud. ALso most pople can only focus for 5-10 minutes before it is just blah blah blah. So keep that in mind with you descriptions or stories you tell. KISS - keep it stupid simple/short.
Anyway.
From now on in the adventure path. You only read the information in the red/orange text. Such as in the Initial Assult(EL1) you would start it like this.
YOU as the DM, slam you hand down on the table to make a vary loud noise..
Your players will look at you cuz you did then. When they do or most of them do you read the colored text aloud starting with
"A sharp retort, like the crack of distant tunder... and end at .. , scratchy voices."
then just follow as instructed in the book.. Any other questions or more detailed specifics as to what your looking to know, PM me or respond to this post of yours.. others will chime in, sometimes new peoples posts such as yours gets lost here, other times a million people post in the thread. It is, like everything in these games we love so much, a dice roll.
Hope that this helps Scaleclaw
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Heya welcome!
I have run two APs now so I can offer a little advice. However, I have not seen the beginners box so have no idea what that booklet looks like.
Each book is designed for 4 players of 15 point buy to advance in the range of 1-3 levels by book/chapter conclusion. The parts you are to read to the players will be in a different font color. The read out loud section is usually around a paragraph.
I recommend you familiarize yourself with the entire book or chapter before playing. Being prepared will help the game run much smoother. I use 20 point buy and have 5 players. I do have to adjust slightly the encounters from time to time. You will want to take into account player experience and number before choosing a higher or lower point buy.
I do not use experience points I prefer to use the advancement track. I find this to be more convenient for my play style. Basically you tell the players to level up once they meet certain milestones in the adventure.
APs generally revolve around the same place in Golarion. You should read up on the country and/or regions that you will lead the players through. This will help you add some flavor to the game. I would not worry to much about knowing the entire inner sea region just what you need to run your adventure. The APs also include good flavor material inside them.
Visit the Rise of the Runelords forum section for ideas and peek at other folks games. That will help with AP specifics. The advice section is always good for any help you may need.
Last thing I want to mention is that you should realize the entire adventure is not necessarily linear. Meaning that you do not always start on page 1 and end on the last page. Sometimes you will be jumping point to point based on how the players proceed with the adventure. Some pages will offer only stat blocks or background info and will not have direct impact on your adventure. This is why prep is key for running a successful adventure.
If this is your first time Dming or if you are with other players, some who may either be new or play infrequently, I would recommend a 20 or 25 point buy for four players. I ran the AP and I think running it at 20 help reduce the chance of TPK, either because I goofed up or they used bad tactics.