New GM With Two New Players

[Pendar]

Greetings.

Last night my brother, my dad, and myself played through the Black Fang adventure. All three of us are brand new to Pathfinder. We had a blast playing (though we stayed up way later than we had intended), but there were some questions that came up during play that I couldn't find any kind of answer to in the Hero's Handbook or Dungeon Master Guide.

1. How do you determine the carrying capacity of a player and the weight of items?

2. How does searching for traps work? I know it is a perception check, but when a player searches for a trap does he have to specify where he is searching? Also, does he only search a five foot foot square or does the perception check cover a larger area?

This came about because at the beginning I was having the rogue do a perception check every single time he moved (because he indicated he was constantly searching for traps) and it was really slowing down the game. To speed things up I just made it where a perception check covered an entire area. If the rogue failed the check (by 5 I believe) the trap triggered.

3. Finally, what is a good next step after Black Fang? My brother has mentioned an interest in doing the Rise of the Runelord adventure pack, but some of the people on this message board seem to think that it isn't a good adventure for beginners. I'd like to get some more information before I decide what to do next.

Thanks in advance for answering my questions. I've been wanting to play a game like this for a while and I'm glad I finally jumped off the high dive.

[Kimera757]

1) See this link: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alignment-description/carrying-capacity (this is in the core rulebook somewhere)

2) See this link: http://pinkdicechronicles.blogspot.ca/2012/02/pathfinder-traps-searching-an d.html

I know it's in the rules somewhere, but could not find it in any of the SRDs.

3) It's probably less complicated than Kingmaker. That's the only official AP I've been through as a player.

[Wolfsnap]

Rise of the Runelords has some very adult themes in it. I personally like Kingmaker, but it can get bogged down with all the Kingdom-building and exploration rules.

You might want to try Legacy of Fire? There should be reviews of these Adventure Paths around somewhere.

[Jander Reiss]

I ran Rise of the Runelords. Compared to some of the other adventure paths, this one is easier on the dm to run. I have not run or played Kingmaker, so I don't know how that one compares.

[TorKa]

If you are going to play it as an on going thing you should invest in the Core Rulebook or the pdf of it. it will answer most of your initial questions.

[Pendar]

@Kimera757

Thanks for the information. The link to the Pink Dice Chronicles blog was helpful. My group has also decided to transition to the full rule set so I've gone ahead and ordered the core rule book.

@Wolfsnap

All of the people in my group are mature (well, mostly anyway) adults so adult content isn't something I'm too concerned about. I'm more interested in a campaign that is new GM friendly. I'll look into Legacy of Fire. Thanks for the reply.

@Jander Reiss

Thanks for the response. At this point, I don't even know what makes a campaign easier or harder to run. I've just read a few posts in other threads that said Rise of the Runelords might not be the best choice for a new group.

@TorKa

I ordered a number of the books this evening. My group had a great time and we're looking forward to doing it again. Thanks for replying to my post.