First Adventure Path?

[MajinBerzerk]

So I'm considering running this adventure path. I'm done a bit of GMing before with D&D 5e, but never anything for Pathfinder outside of a couple of small modules (We Be Goblins).
I've been inspired by a challenge laid down by the Glass Cannon Podcast to try and run War for the Crown with an all cavalier party. Even considering turning it into an Actual Play podcast.
However, I've done some reading of Book 1 and everything looks super intimidating. Lots of NPC's. Lots of things to keep track of.
I'm also worried that the PCs will either build themselves for the social play and be terrible cavaliers, especially without their mounts for what looks like a lot of time. Or they'll gimp themselves socially and some of them will be really bored during these situations. That or I'll have a bunch of sessions filled with a bunch of 'Aid Another' checks, which I don't think would make for the best gameplay.

Am I in way over my head? Should I run a different AP? Maybe Ironfang Invasion? Or something else? My issue with that would be that the challenge was War for the Crown. Any advice here would be absolutely amazing.

[Steve Geddes]

I think it’s a difficult AP for a new DM. However, I think the biggest hurdle is running so many NPCs with so many agendas, so if you’ve done that a lot in other systems I don’t think you should stress about it being Pathfinder. I personally find it much more difficult to respond to player attempts to derail the plot than their efforts to derail combat strategies - so regardless of system, intrigue scenarios are considerably harder (in my mind) than combat-focussed ones.

I appreciate that’s not much advice - it’s just me saying I agree with you. :)

In terms of all cavaliers, it’s definitely going to be tough for them in places (but any such campaign with weird PC restrictions is going to be tough, so they shouldn’t be surprised by that). I’d definitely be sure they were all on the same page: “you each need to be useful in a social/intrigue setting, you need to be competent in combat and you need to be okay when your mounts aren’t always available/optimal”.

If they struggle to hit all those goals at once, you could give them a 25 point buy head start (or adopt a more generous rolling convention). I’ve also given extra skill points in similar situations (ie when running a campaign for a small group of players). That’s a decent way to broaden their abilities, without too much risk of making them overpowered.

I’d definitely get them to build their PCs together to ensure they have as broad a range of options as possible(albeit they will inevitably have some serious weaknesses as a group).

[MajinBerzerk]

Thank you for the response! That was definitely helpful advice. I certainly haven't ran this many NPCs with different agendas before. Sorry if I didn't make that super clear. My DMing experience is definitely limited.
Using a higher point buy is definitely an option I hadn't considered. Might be food for thought.
Overall though, maybe this wouldn't be the greatest option in the world for my first ever AP. Might try something a little more 'traditional'. Like I said above, I'm considering Ironfang.
Any recommendations? :)

[Steve Geddes]

I did enjoy reading Ironfang Invasion, though I’ve never run it.

Curse of the Crimson Throne is my all-time favourite AP. I really think it has something for everyone - the only thing really “missing” is much in the way of extra planar stuff. I’d always recommend that AP to anyone, even a better place to start exploring Golarion than Rise of the Runelords, in my opinion.

Strange Aeons also looks intriguing for the right group. (I was really hoping that’d be Skid’s AP).

[ratcatbo]

Crimson throne is great and rise of the runlords is a classic

[MajinBerzerk]

I didn't realise Curse of the Crimson Throne was THAT good. I'll give them all a look. Thanks!

[grandpoobah]

A lot of players (myself included) loved Kingmaker. You get to build a kingdom and explore the wild. There's lots of downtime between each chapters, and each chapter has a different feel. I felt it was "easy" as written, but you can spice it up by adding (lots) more random encounters and beefing up opponents.

I liked Ironfang Invasion, but it has its own style/challenge (constantly on the run, low on supplies).

I think you'll hear lots of people on the boards give their own favorites, best to read why they like a specific AP and see if that fits your players and your GM style. With so many APs out there, you should be able to find a nice entry point.