Has anyone written their own guide to this AP?
Compared to many of the guides especially the later ones the one for this AP is somewhat lacking. There are pretty much two relevant pages (only one of which have actuall character tips) and the rest is loads of information on varisia
Or is the pull supposed to be that the first page of character tips is all you need and the rest is really flexible ?
I have some friends who want to pick between adventures and this one doesn’t seem to sell Rise as much as the other APs respective guides
It's their first, and thus far from their best.
On the other, Rise is (deliberately) a pretty by the numbers plot in terms of broad setup. Sandpoint, the town you're in, faces a numbers of threats, a dark power rises, and our heroes stop it.
I can see how the guide might seem lacking if your players are already familiar with Golarian and Varisia. For my group, none of which knew Golarion, it was great for giving them some baseline knowledge of the world their characters supposedly knew all about. Plus, the title of the AP gave them an idea of what they were going to be doing/facing.
I can't speak to character tips, etc., as I don't believe in them.
I would observe there are two versions of the Player's Guide - one explicitly for the Anniversary Edition and one for the original 3.5 Edition. Frankly, the original player's guide is superior. Though my group was new to Golarion when we started RotRL so all of the original edition's info on Golarion and Varisia, etc. was really helpful for us. Much of the information in the original Player's Guide subsequently got published in the Inner Sea World Guide and other books so it would have been redundant for the AE version. The vast majority of the original guide is compatible with Pathfinder and the Anniversary Edition. It wasn't until we were well into the AP before I realized there even was a specific AE player's guide.