It sounds like Abomination Vaults would be right up your alley. It’s absolutely the most straightforward AP in 2nd edition so far, and it’s a dungeon crawler. There’s very little going on plotwise to keep track of as a GM. The overall genre is a general horror vibe, I’d say.
I’ll also throw out Outlaws of Alkenstar as a suggestion. It’s set in a wild west/steampunk city and focuses on the heroes going up against a corrupt financier to keep him from getting his hands on the formula for a powerful new explosive. It’s very fast-paced, pretty friendly to new players, but the second book does require a bit more work on the GM side to make interesting. As written, it’s just a long string of encounters that ultimately feel pointless.
Both are 3 books, and span levels 1-10.
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Copying from a recent Reddit comment of mine on the topic, giving an overview by level and premise, as you asked:
Age of Ashes, Extinction Curse, and Agents of Edgewatch all suffer some from coming out early; they're pretty overtuned, with a reputation for being quite lethal. Each has its own perks and flaws. All of them are full 1-20 APs.
AoA takes players all across the setting; fun for sightseeing, but somewhat disjointed as a plot, with the motivation for continuing sometimes dubious. Extinction Curse wars between being a story about being circus performers and being a story about an ancient tragedy leading to an invasion from subterranean demon cultists; the two halves, predictly, don't fit together well. Agents of Edgewatch casts you as cops and came out at the height of protests against police brutality... and early on, has you beating up on workers protesting illegal treatment, which went over predictably poorly.
Past those three, things improve significantly, as Paizo figures out their own math and finds some newfound confidence. Abomination Vaults is universally beloved, a 1-10 megadungeon full of strange factions and occult mystery that ties into the Beginner Box and sold well enough for a collected hardcover. Fists of the Ruby Phoenix is an 11-20 (and so inadvisable for new players) about an anime-inspired fighting tournament in Tian Xia, Pathfinder's Asia-equivalent, that's a lot of fun.
Strength of Thousands is a 1-20 set in the Mwangi Expanse, Pathfinder's West Africa, where the PCs are first students and later staff at the oldest school of magic in the world. SoT depicts African-inspired cultures with an amazing flair, and frequently prioritizes non-violent solutions to problems over mindless, bloodthirsty combat. It has a lovely supporting cast and just generally is great.
Quest for the Frozen Flame is a 1-10 set in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, a faux-Ice Age land of nomads and megafauna, where you play as the scouts of a clan desperately trying to outrun their murderous rivals in pursuit of an ancient artifact. It nails the sort of primal fantasy it's going for, IMO, and deserves more love than it gets - but I believe Book 2 has some slight narrative hiccups (the community has proposed fixes on the official Quest for the Frozen Flame forum, on Paizo's site). EDIT: As others have raised, it's also lacking access to shopping; as PF2's math assumes you'll have Runes by certain levels, the easiest fix is to use the Automatic Bonus Progression variant rule: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1357
Outlaws of Alkenstar is a 1-10 in Alkenstar, a steampunk city in the wild magic zone of the Mana Wastes, having turned to gunpowder and technology in the face of unreliable spellcasting. As the title suggests, your outlaws are on the run - in this case, from a conspiracy within the people tasked to keep the peace within Alkenstar! It's got a fun premise... but honestly, this one fell flat for me, with inconsistent tone and messy jumps between volumes. YMMV.
Blood Lords wraps up next month, a 1-20 where you play troubleshooters for the political elite in Geb, a Lawful Evil nation where the undead openly rule, trying to stop a treasonous plot that reaches to the high halls of power. Despite the premise, it's more hostile to Chaotic characters than Good ones, and has a lot of fun with the setting.
Kingmaker is a beast, a 1-20 about carving out a kingdom in a fey-cursed wilderness and trying to protect it from all the plots that swirl around it. Exploring the wilderness, micromanaging settlements, an absolutely massive twisty-turny plot, hundreds of pages of additional info... Kingmaker is a behemoth, and one I think would overwhelm even a veteran group. Go for it if you have true passion, but it's gigantic to the point of being almost unwieldy.
As a bonus: Gatewalkers is a 1-10 that begins to come out in January, where the characters have seemingly had their minds altered by an alien touch, sweeping them up into a mystery that runs all over a surprising number of strange locales. I'm really excited for it!
The common advice is Abomination Vaults. I'll also personally recommend Quest for the Frozen Flame and Strength of Thousands, with the warnings that the former needs a little plot smoothing-out (again, the official forums can help) and the latter is a full, likely year+-long campaign.
Hope this helps!
Give what you say, I would second Abomination Vaults as a smart investment - and if you want to continue after that concludes at level 10, the upcoming Stolen Fate is an 11-20 that’s been said to fit onto it reasonably well.
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Awesome, yeah I was guessing Abomination Vaults as well. Good to have confirmation on that. Thanks!
Seems a good fit gor your needs.
Be sure to get the collected edition. It has a few perks and corrects some mistakes IIRC.
As for any AP, peruse the relevant threads on this board. They are full of collective wisdom.
Be aware that a few rooms have encounters above the level's level. Hapless PCs who stumble on those should be allowed to run away and come back later after a few level ups.
Enjoy.
