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So my buddy's homebrew campaign (in which I am a player) comes to an end soon. It will be my turn again to DM. Now I've already run five Paizo APs to completion, so I consider myself an experienced hand at this. I've never run RotRL before (played it, though), so I already decided to run the Runelords AE, because it is arguably the most classic AP and the AE hardback tends to sing my name at night.
Then Hell's Rebels got announced.
You see, my friend's campaign takes place in Isger and heavily features Hellknights and the like. Running Council of Thieves now would possibly be a good centerpiece for some kind of "Cheliax Trilogy", concluding with Hell's Rebels further down the road.
So I've got the beloved champion in one corner and the not-so-beloved but possibly continuity-creating challenger in the other corner. My players would probably be fine with both options. What would you, mighty Paizo Community, recommend?
If you run CoT, make sure that Janivan and Areal's messages line up about the betterment of Westcrown, not overthrowing Thrune as many would want.
Plus don't make Westcrown such a pit that people start thinking that it is better off bulldozed. No public executions, feeding halflings to dogs or heretic burning.
I'd still recommend your original plan - Rise of the Runelords.
You've played through it, so you already know (to a degree) how the story should flow and some of the pitfalls.
With Council of Thieves you would be starting, in effect, blind. The campaign has some serious pitfalls (especially in The Bastards of Erebus and The Twice-Damned Prince).
Council of Thieves is also limited because there isn't a "Westcrown Sourcebook." Since the city and its future are so central to the story it really needs one.
Thanks for the input so far. Due to the great work you guys did in the CoT subforum, I'm already alerted to CoT's pitfalls. I'm running Serpent's Skull right now, so this kind of stuff (which requires heavy customization) ain't exactly new to me.
Still, it's a good point to keep in mind, since RotRL can pretty much be played by the book.
You may want to ask your players. I'm running Runelords right now and I love it and so do my players, but my understanding is that CoT has a lot more roll playing in it than runelords, though there is a good about in it as well.
Another thing to consider is since Runelords doesn't really need a lot of changes, you can spend your time customizing things for your party members, like I gave each starting character a personal quest that tied into the main story in some way. Alternatively you can spend that time taking a nap.
Thanks for the input, guys. I've read CoT and while it has some great elements, I'm leaning towards RotRL at the moment. This might also be because after a grimdark low-fantasy campaign in Isger the more heroic/epic approach of RotRL might be a nice change of pace.
However, the jury is still out, so let's hear some more advice.