Best First Edition Path for a First-Time GM

[quibblemuch]

NOTE: Since I hope to be a player in whatever Path our group chooses, please avoid spoilers in your replies.

I'm the long-time regular GM for our group. One of the players has expressed interest in taking the Throne of Power & Anguish when we're done with our current AP. He's played for years now but never GM'd.

What would people recommend as a good First Edition AP (we have no plans to update) for a first-time GM? Bonus points for why.

EDIT: We have played the following:

Carrion Crown
Hell's Rebels
Reign of Winter
Hell's Vengeance (just book 1)
War for the Crown
Emerald Spire (not an AP, I know, but we played the whole superdungeon)

[Davor Firetusk]

Could you share a bit about your groups play style/ preferences?

[quibblemuch]

We're a small group. Two players and a GM. We've done a fair breadth of play-styles; from the murderhobo fest that Carrion Crown inevitably becomes to the intrigue of Hell's Rebels and War for the Crown. Because we're short-handed, the players tend to play smarter rather than hulk-smash.

Mostly, I'm looking for the AP that presents the easiest transition from player to GM. For example, I would never recommend War for the Crown to a first-time GM--there are a LOT of moving parts, subsystems, NPCs to track, etc. and that, in a first-timer's hands, can quickly get both overwhelming and unfun. Make sense?

[W E Ray]

I was prepared to answer with 'Giantslayer' since it is the AP that, after thinking about the list of APs with your situation in mind, is the easiest one to run with very little extra work on the DM's part.

As you know, some APs (such as 'War for the Crown') can require a massive amount of extra preparation and time to DM. One can't just skim over the published text and wing-it from session to session (The way one can with 'The Emerald Spire'). That's why I wanted to suggest 'Giantslayer.' It seems easier to run right from the page.

But I've changed my mind.

The most important thing is for the DM to have a passion, a zest for the campaign he or she is about to run. Therefore, give the player the link to the overview of the APs and let him or her browse the synopses, pick a couple or three that sound interesting, read a bit more about those, and pick the one that sounds most fun to DM. Like, I think 'Wrath of the Righteous' is waaay too complicated to try to run for a first time DM. But if a player reads a few paragraphs of its overview and is blown away by the idea of running it -- it will work out better than, say, 'Giantslayer', if that AP doesn't really inspire the player. Even if it is considerably easier to run.

[Davor Firetusk]

Ray has some solid insights, but it might be helpful to at least have a smaller list to look through for something that sounds fun.
Shattered Star's biggest critique as a lot of dungeon crawl also makes it pretty straightforward to run as a GM, and on balance if the PCs are playing smart also one where I don't think there would need to be a lot of finessing of encounters.
Rise of the Runelords would also be a solid choice, but even a decade later there can be some very challenging portions for a small group of PCs in the later books. A new GM might find running all the spellcasters at the end a bit of a challenge.

I think Council of Thieves might also be a solid choice, there is intrigue but not as complicated as either of the Hell's APs or War for the Crown. It finishes at a slightly lower level as well. The most common advice on that AP is to switch the order of books 5 and 6 which is not that big of a modification based on my read through. It's also early Pathfinder so the monster choice and rules are straight CRB.

[W E Ray]

.... Of course, all of what I said still doesn't represent my real advice -- which is to suggest to the player to look at Modules, rather than APs. In a module you can finish in a month or so, the group isn't stuck with a choice that turns out to have been a mistake.

Have the player peruse the Modules line to find one that feels really exciting and awesome. APs are Long commitments, as you and your group know, and starting off with a short adventure will be better just in case the new DM blunders early on or realizes too late the DM's Chair is more uncomfortable than initially assumed.

Modules

[quibblemuch]

That's not a bad idea. I'll definitely float that. When the other player GM'd, he did a Starfinder AP that was much shorter than a typical PF 1.0 AP and that seemed to work.

[Warped Savant]

Mummy's Mask, hands down.
Super easy to follow from a GM stand-point, fairly classic style of game, if the GM is finding it too much it's easy to remove the connective tissue and finish the game at the end of book 2 or 4 and still have the campaign feel like a full story.

[Grankless]

Mummy's Mask or Carrion Crown.

[Coridan]

I'd say Curse of the Crimson Throne hardcover. Not only is it one of the best APs (in my opinion the best), hardcover compilations means it's gotten a second pass from the developers/writers to clean up the kinda of little frustrating bits that sometimes end up in the regular schedule which makes it easier to run in general.