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Hey, congratulations on picking a cool adventure path :)
You absolutely don't need to start with Rise of the Runelords. That one is an extremely classic adventure path, very typical fantasy. Great if you like that.
Iron Gods is different: it's all about a fantasy world where suddenly some spaceships fell out of the sky and now there's robots and laser pistols in the hands of barbarians.
It's a bit hard to give specific advice if you don't have questions, so is there something in particular you want help with?
We are glad to help, even if merely because it lets us tell stories about our own campaigns. (I started a chronicle at Iron Gods among Scientists, but did not keep it up.)
First, the six "Sticky" threads in the Iron Gods forums that are named after the modules deal with the issues that come up in those modules. Sometimes the modules have mistakes in them, or a place where the players frequently get overwhelmed. Search the sticky thread if you have questions about the module.
Second, Fires of Creation is a good module for beginners. The PCs can usually retreat to town easily if the hazards hurt them more than expected, except Hetuath could kill an entire 1st-level party in a single encounter. And it has social interaction in town and a possible alliance with the skulks to add some variety. Some people play Pathfinder for the combat, but others play for the variety.
Third, past the first module, the Iron Gods adventure path grows rougher because the players have to learn some new rules from the Technology Guide in addition to the regular rules. The Technology Guide is available online at the Pathfinder Reference Document and at www.d20pfsrd.com.
Fourth, since your players are new, too, they might want to review some guides while designing their characters. A list is at Guide to the Class Guides or perform a web search on "Pathfinder Guide to <the desired class>". Be warned that these are optimization guides for building powerful characters. Paizo adventure paths don't require optimized characters. The players don't have to follow the guides' suggestions and ought to make their own choices for fun. Nevertheless, an informed choice is better than an uninformed choice.
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The way the story is set up, it's perfectly fine for the PCs to start out as normal fantasy characters that don't know much about technology. I think the player's guide goes maybe a bit too far in encouraging people to start all-educated.
What is good I think as a GM is to from the beginning portray Torch as basically a nice place with mostly decent folk who you'd be happy to have as neighbours. The overall story is about the players standing up as heroes to defend the land from bad stuff, it helps if they feel that the country is worth defending :)
Something I would recommend is not using Experience Points, but instead using the recommended points in each book of the adventure path for leveling people up. It means you don't have to worry if players miss a few encounters and "need to grind" before going to the next chapter, or that they might get too much XP and be too strong for a chapter to be fun. By just leveling up when they get to the right part of the story, you take away a thing to worry about.
An advantage to that is that you can insert encounters between the written chapters if you think something needs a bit more spotlight. If you want to insert a few more encounters in town for example, it won't change the level of the PCs when they get to the next scripted part of the adventure.
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An advantage to that is that you can insert encounters between the written chapters if you think something needs a bit more spotlight. If you want to insert a few more encounters in town for example, it won't change the level of the PCs when they get to the next scripted part of the adventure.
This is good.
You should consider adding some more Technic League encounters. A great source for a couple is the Wayfinder #16 . Also, the "Purse The Iron Princess" mini-adventure from that source would help bring in more of the tribal Kellids, if you want to do so.
Another thing I would suggest is to get the e-pub Reign Of Stars. This book will help you get a feel for how the Technic League functions, as well as providing some more of the local flavor of Numeria.
A word of caution: At the end of Lords Of Rust the players may want to go straight to Palace Of Fallen Stars. This is a bad idea, but the characters may not realize that. Have a plan to put them back on track.