First Time GM Help with RotRL

[Wolfswift]

I've never really GMed before, and was preparing to start Rise of the Runelords with some friends. I did technically try to run this once years ago with a couple of other friends I thought it'd be easier for me to start with a preset campaign like Rise of the Runelords, so I bought the book. But I kind of broke down when they wanted to ask Ameiko if she was native born or if she immigrated and follow up with how was life in a foreign culture and so forth. I looked all around frantically and could not find an answer to this and was not sure if it was important or if I could fluff it and wasn't really sure how to answer even if I did fluff it and ultimately I gave up GMing back then.

But recently my new group seemed more chill and less into asking a million hard to answer questions and I thought I might could try again. Thus far my group consists of a Kitsune Wizard(Spellslinger), a Gnomish Tiefling Alchemist(Mind Chemist), a Dhampir Gunslinger(Mysterious Stranger), and a Human Vigilante(Magical Child), there is a potential 5th person who might join, no idea what they'll play, anyhow, been running into a few problems.

1. Spellslinger and Gunslinger want to know what kind of guns are available in Golarion, but as far as I can tell they are only mentioned much in Alkenstar, I suppose there they'd be "Guns Everywhere" but I'm not fully sure what guns are like outside there as they keep their gun technology a closely guarded secret, I've tentatively told them "Emerging Guns" but am not fully sure. How common should guns be in Golarion?

2. The Gunslinger's player insists that Pistol is a family of firearms and any pistol type gun is acceptable to start with and threatened to quit if he can't start with a Double-Barreled Pistol. I looked into it and it seemed to me they were only refering to the gun named "Pistol" exactly, but he argued and argued and eventually I noticed the Blunderbuss they can start with is worth a higher value even and the double-barreled pistol has a higher misfire chance and is otherwise mostly like a double weapon, it can fire twice, but takes -4 on each shot if they're both fired in the same round, so it seemed mostly balanced, but is that alright?

3. The party has no Trapfinding, I told the Alchemist he might consider taking Trap Breaker instead of Mind Chemist but he's dead set on Mind Chemist not only for the Cognatogens, but also for the Perfect Recall that replaces Poison Use at level 2, which is what makes it incompatible with Trap Breaker, the Trapfinding from Trap Breaker replaces Poison Use and Poison Resistance +2. No one else has any method of obtaining Trapfinding, so unless that potential 5th person makes a Rogue or something I'm worried the group might be missing a crucial role, but I'm not sure how nessessary it is in Rise of the Runelords, can a party survive without it?

4. I'm struggling to pool together information and study as much NPC and Sandpoint lore as I can, but I'm really worried I might not be able to answer any question a player might have, are there any good resources for this sort of thing?

5. I'm worried I might not have everything I need for GMing, I have a GM Screen, the Rise of the Runelords book, I'm trying to print all the important rules for reference as well, a dry erase board for keeping track of time, date and initiative or other information, loads of dice, pencils, I have some miniatures for players and NPCs and I'm planning to buy a Bestiary Box for the various size stands and printing off extra monster cut outs on card stock to stand in them as nessessary. I can't afford to use miniatures for everything and I figure it's good to have something different for the enemies so players don't try to wail on NPCs by mistake. I also plan on trying to blow up the maps in the books and get them printed with a 1" scale soon. But I constantly feel underprepared and nervous, am I forgetting anything important?

6. Also, I'm concerned if the Wizard and the Alchemist(With Mind Chemist's Perfect Recall ability) both focus on knowledge skills so much and step on each other's toes about who's the knowledge expert, similiar case with the Vigilante and the Gunslinger, they're both specializing in charisma skills heavily, I'm afraid if they might argue over who's the proper face of the party. I want to give everyone a chance to shine but am afraid of these double ups that might cause one or the other of them to shine a lot more than the other. I don't want anyone to feel left out.

I'm just really anxious and want everything to be great. I have so little experience GMing and I thought asking these things here could really help. Thank you for any advice you may have.

[rkotitan]

1.) Emerging guns.

2.) In an instance like that with a player who seems extremely dead-set on something I would probably allow it. Telling them they are wrong will only cause friction and stress. But... sometimes I can be accused of letting my players have wins so I can cut them down later.

3.) The party can survive without a trap-finder. There are actually ways to get around traps that don't require a rogue. Remember any character can find a trap with perception. It only takes a character trained in disable device to disable one and a rogue or investigator (some archetypes) to disable a magical trap.

4.) There is a thread somewhere here on the boards that has a LOT of community content. One of those posts has a document... a gazetteer of Sandpoint and its environs. It can be pretty helpful.

5.) Sounds like you have it covered. There is likely a pawn pack for Rise of the Runelords you could order if you think you need one. I usually (when playing in person) use the same minis for everything (a troll for a giant, or a decent representation for random humanoids). You sound pretty solid on what you need. What I would do is get the feel for running the game and think about ways you want to handle certain mechanics. When I played in person I would write up these entire sheets of paper for upcoming encounters that had notes about abilities and an initiative track etc. It's different for all DMs.

6.) My suggestion is to make sure that in any given situation (like the group searching a room) you take the time to look at each player and ask them what their character is doing. If they are talking to an NPC make sure you say, "Who is taking the lead on this check (diplomacy etc)" and then ask what they say and ask if other characters want to provide input as aid another action and what they say. I think you will find that the players will often default to the player with the higher bonus and aid them with their check to get the best result. Just don't forget to get input from all your players when you can.

Finally my biggest advice is to not get too hung up on things. Let the game flow and if you think that some rule or restriction (within reason) is going to slow things down or make the game less fun let it slide in the moment.

Everyone should have fun.

The rule of cool.

The most important rules in the game. IMO.

EDIT: Sandpoint GM Guide

[Wolfswift]

1. So I was right, hoorah.

2. I am thus far allowing it, but that same player also DMs for the group's 3.5 games fairly often and criticized me for making too many allowances and letting the players walk all over me, then threatened to leave the game again a while later when I mentioned maybe we don't need laptops and phones out at all times at a PEN and PAPER game. <.<

3. I do realize it's possible to find magical traps without it, I also know it's potentially possible to bypass, destroy or set them off safely without actually disabling them, I just worried and wasn't sure if maybe some had very high DCs to notice or were incredibly hard to get around or trick and might absolutely require Trapfinding. It's really too bad, my next character idea is actually a Rogue, but I don't want to have a Mary Sue who Deus Ex Machinas and steals all the limelight.

4. So that thread had the one resource I had found useful so far, that NPC listing, I was also hoping to find something more like full stats for each NPC and potentially more information on each building and likelyhoods of encountering which NPCs in each without having to skim the whole list to find which NPCs can be found where and when or how often.

5. I figured whatever pawn pack will due, I figure can print more creatures on cardstock to stick into the stands, important thing was to aquire the multiple sized stands to start with.

6. I only worry if a player might feel they have to take the backseat on their specialty all the time. That "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride." kind of feeling, where they're always second fiddle or what have you.

[Askar Avari]

Hey there Wolfswift. I'll put stuff in spoilers to avoid clutter.

Guns:

Under most circumstances, I would advise against allowing guns in RotR because the book is very clearly not prepared to handle them. vs. touch AC will be easy even for your wizard before too long. That said, with two characters interested in gun specialties, banning them obviously doesn't work.

Instead, I'd pay more mind to balancing encounters later in the game that are too easily defeated simply by bypassing armor/natural armor. Several of the dragon and giant fights come to mind. That being said, with such a ranged attacking focus in your team, your party will be shut down by effects like wind wall and fickle winds. They'll have to learn to handle issues like that sooner or later, so toss anti-archery abilities at them in low-pressure fights first so they realize they'll have to deal with it.

Double Barrel Pistol & the Gunslinger's Player:

To be honest, this player you've talked about who DMs 3.5 seems like a jerk. Unless he's just interested in the double-barrel pistol for the flavor (I doubt it), there's probably something he's looking to exploit with that gun in particular. He's definitely in the wrong to try and classify 'pistol' as a class of weapons - there is no such class of weapon and he's just pushing until you relent. While it may not matter much right now, that whole 'let me play exactly how I want to play regardless of the rules as written or I quit' attitude is going to cause problems sooner or later.

I understand this isn't the kind of advice you're seeking, but I'd recommend sitting that player down and ask him if he really wants to play, and if he's willing to play on the same playing field as everyone else. If he's so desperate to quit if you ask for a simple level of cooperation, perhaps it is best he quit.

Trapfinding:

Trapfinding is in no way necessary to play RotR. I'm DMing a 6-person party, and none of them have trapfinding (or even disable device). While there are sections that are punishing because of this, it's in no way a deal breaker. However, an option for getting trapfinding might be taking the Rogue VMC (grants trapfinding, sneak attack, evasion, uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge) on a character with high Dex. Given your particular party, that's likely most of them that could do that.

Really what your party seems to be missing is someone capable of removing debilitating status conditions in a timely manner. You could solve both of these problems with an Oracle (Seeker), if your 5th player would be interested in something like that.

Sandpoint Info:

Honestly, there's a lot of ways to go about this. For starters, of course, read Appendix 2 of the Anniversary Edition to get a basic idea of the layout of the town and who the major players are. The Sandpoint NPC guide can give you a quick reference for NPCs you want to use (Ameiko, Brodert, Belor, Kendra, and anyone the PCs take a liking to). After the first few sessions, ask the PCs which NPCs they like and what they'd like to see more of in town, then fill out backstories or other info based on what they want to see. If you're really stuck on what to do with a character or location, hit up this forum - Sandpoint's been developed and re-developed for 12 years, there's no shame in tapping other peoples' creativity.

If you really want a more fleshed-out version of Sandpoint, download or purchase the Sandpoint: Light of the Lost Coast Campaign Setting Guide. It's brilliant IMO, and really helps flesh out certain characters (like Ameiko, Shayliss, and many of the merchants. It also adds a lot more queer characters if that's a detail that will impact your table.

Supplies:

Honestly you sound super prepared. As mentioned, picking up the RotR pawn pack can help distinguish characters without tipping your players off as to which NPCs may be enemies - plus it's just cool to get a hold of official art for NPCs. For a more cost-conservative approach to mapping, I'd recommend just grabbing a Chessex Mega Mat and drawing maps as you go. It also lets you edit maps without much issue, which has been a great boon for me (again, party of 6).

Party Roles:

This can be tricky, and it really depends on how cooperative and into roleplaying your PCs are. If your players are always trying to act as effectively as possible, yeah, you'll probably run into situations in which one player eclipses another. That being said, having two librarian characters never hurt anyone - you WANT players to pass Knowledge checks and be informed. Given the high Diplomacy scores you'll probably have with two Cha characters, your party should be EXCELLENT at mundane methods of information gathering, and that makes for a fun party! My party is garbage at this (few knowledge skills, low Cha, no skill emphasis on Diplomacy).

All of that said, the party likely should split their specialties. For instance, a mysterious stranger could likely be good at Bluff, Stealth, Perception, while a Magical Child has plenty to gain from a high Intimidate and Diplomacy given their Social abilities. Meanwhile, there are like 8 major Int-based skills to split between a wizard and a alchemist. Wizards have more of a reason to invest in Spellcraft, Linguistics, Arcana, Planes, History and Religion, while an Alchemist could go for Craft: Alchemy, Arcana, Nature, Dungeoneering.

The same goes for out-of-combat. Spellslinger and Gunslinger may both be 'gun-based damage', but spellslingers are likely more focused on elemental effects and AoE control, while the Gunslinger is a classic single-target killer. The magical child (and their familiar/s) will likely be a highly flexible control/support character with espionage capabilities. The alchemist . . . well, there's a lot of ways they could go, but they're probably a more focused control character.

The real question? Who on this team is going to have the defenses to stand up in melee? All-ranged is going to be rough.

I'd just talk to the players and encourage them to specialize slightly differently if being the best at something is important to them. If not . . . let them roll for the actions they roleplay. Overlap should be organic in that case.

[Roonfizzle Garnackle]

While much has been already answered, I'd like to provide some feedback on the skill overlaps.

When I started RotRL a million years ago, we had a party of 3. A Paladin, a Monk, and a Sorcerer. All told, we had 6 skill points/level to rub together.

There are more than a few skill checks in the early books, and when it came to knowledge's specifically, we ... couldn't beat a 10 on more than a dozen occasions. We visited 4+ locals, a certain innkeeper, a sage, a sheriff, a book shop owner, and a mayor (if I recall correctly) ... and still couldn't get information on several, plot pertinent, DC 15 items.

Skill overlaps, especially in knowledges, is NOT a bad thing. I took a look and there are dozens of DC 15 to 30! checks in the first book alone. Many of them are expected to be failed, but... Sometimes the Dice Gods Favor you. Sometimes they don't.

Personally, I'm notorious for having poor dice luck. It happens.

[Lanathar]

Pay a lot of attention to Askar’s first two points

The AP is not designed for guns and touch AC given the enemies that appear later. Based on how you have described one of the players it wouldn’t surprise me if they knew this

So look at the spell counters and perhaps try to adjust the rules so that the gap between touch and normal AC is reduced. There really is no good answer as to why guns should target touch AC when used by a full BAB class. That is resolutely not what touch AC was designed for (it was designed for wizard spells ). Touch AC on guns seems to be for flavour / realism only

And interesting test would be if you said you were changing the gun rules to target AC -2 (for example. Perhaps something different) - perhaps ignoring shields as well. If the gun players kick off then they are probably just trying to power-game

That said perhaps a discussion needs to be had as to what the players want from the game. If they want to god mode it without being challenged and you are ok with running that sort of game then don’t push back. That is not how I run my games but I do have a split in my party as to what they want that has emerged over 3 books of an AP. Best to try and discuss it early

*

As to the double barrelled gun player: let him quit if he won’t accept a normal pistol

Double barrelled pistol is absolutely not in the rules . There is no “argument” to be made. The pistol is the weapon. They are not weapon groups

If he can’t accept this then I shudder to think what further problems he will cause down the line. He sounds like a jack ass