Concerning evil PCs, if you and the other players don't like how things turned out with them getting betrayed, I'd ask the player to limit his evil to NPCs. Maybe have a "I'd kill just about anyone for their boots, except for you guys because you're pretty cool" attitude concerning the party. If everyone had fun regardless or really enjoyed that part of the game, then ignore me :p
Anyway I don't know anything about the adventure you mentioned specifically so I can't give ya specifics. I know that in a lot of games I've played the old fall back on introducing a PC in the middle of a dungeon is "You find this guy chained to a wall, obviously a captive but he looks like he could be good in a fight." Anyway, as you are new to DMing I would do what you're thinking and try checking out an AP. Try taking a look on the Paizo store, not just for their stuff but third party adventures as well; some are costly but many smaller ones are really inexpensive. They could give you some ideas or you could just run them straight.
Also check out pfsrd. It has pretty much all of the Paizo book options as well as quite a few third party stuff; it's a great resource, especially if you don't have the core books.
Fireman Tim has some cool 1 page adventures built specifically around the Beginner Box. As to bringing in a new PC to replace the evil rogue, here are some ways:
1. as a former prisoner of the goblins
2. a ranger/tracker/bounty hunter following the PCs for loot
3. a helpful NPC from Sandpoint who was moved by the PCs to join the fight
Since they're still in BF's cave, obvious avenues to continue the adventure would be:
1. Secret door - just make one up and then add a level
2. Magic portal - whisks the party to the wilds outside Sandpoint and they have to make their way back to town
3. Treasure map - found among BF's loot and leading to fabulous wealth
4. Evil legend - hieroglyphs partially obscured by the dragon speak of a dragon king whose egg waits to be hatched somewhere nearby
How comfortable are you with making stuff up? If I wanted to continue the adventure from the exact spot your game left off, I'd run something like this:
"As you begin to take in the hoard of wealth Black Fang had amassed the sudden sound of staggering footsteps can be heard" - this is where I'd intro a prisoner who freed themselves from a weak goblin prison. That PC would go on to mention that the goblins' lair delves deeper than the PCs thought. For food, clothing and equipment this new PC will show the rest of the party how to get into the next section of the lair.
The adventure would continue then after the PCs have gone back to town, re-supplied and outfitted the new PC with gear. During that time they'd also have the opportunity to talk amongst themselves or the townsfolk. Finally they'd then go back down into the caves, follow the new PC to a secret door, and then enter dungeon level 2 for more adventure.
|
Do you want to continue to have a long-term campaign? There are lots of ways to proceed:
- "Monster of the Week": If all of you are beginners, you can probably get a lot of mileage out of just having the PCs track down a new threat each session, like one week its goblins, and the next week its ghouls and the next is giant spiders... just look at what resources you have and use those. As you gain more confidence as a GM, you can start dropping hints to some larger over-archin plot.
- "Canned Adventure": Use an adventure path. (I do not recommend Rise of the Runelords as a starting adventure for RPG newbies. Anyone else have suggestions on a good place to start?) You can also run a series of one-off Pathfinder Society adventures, which is a bit like the Monster of the Week idea, but with more meat on the bones. Don't worry about sticking to a particular location in game- the PCs can always travel somewhere for an adventure, or you can relocate the adventure so that it is closer to them.
- "Monty Haul": Just drop the players into a big, random dungeon filled with big random monsters guarding big random loot, and let hilarity ensue.
- "Free Verse": This relies on players coming up with their own motivations for their characters, and you have to improvise more. Ask your players what they want their characters to do long term. "I want my character to become a warlord and conquer half the world!" "I want my character to destroy the god of thunder and take his place!" I want my character to start a holy order of Knights who rid the land of evil!" "I want my character to discover the ultimate secret of the universe!" Once you have that info, you start creating paths to those results. Your job is to provide opportunities that lead to those results and challenges to make the Journey interesting. You have to have motivated players, though.
You can also construct your own adventure path. It's a lot of work, but can also be a lot of fun. There's no wrong way to do this, as long as everyone's enjoying themselves.
Good luck!