Protips for Rise of the Runelords?

[Mjollnir075]

Here's the skinny,
Starting a Rise of the Runelords campaign this coming weekend, and I'm looking for any tips from people who have DM'ed this before.

The party is gestalt, with three PCs. Non-optimizers, its more of a beer and pizza kind of game.

Party consists of a

1 - Halfling Ninja/Gunslinger
2 - Half Elf Mindchemist/Magus
3 - Elf Reincarnated Druid/Witch

Books we have access to are Core, Adv. PG, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Campaign, Advanced Race Guide, Ultimate Equipment

Tips I'm looking for are..

Do I run enemies as gestalt?
Should I have any DM Npcs?
The first one would be a Npcs named Chugga-Wugga, a Ranger/Barbarian Goblin(or Hobgoblin) who was exiled from the goblin tribes and seeks to make a name for himself as a real hero. Comments/Suggestions?
Any standout npcs I should alter for any reason?
Any quests I should alter for any reason?

Basics of the game:
PCs are part of the "Pathfinders", pretty much just boiled down to adventurers guild. They are opening a new Pathfinder Chapterhouse in Sandpoint with a npc as pseudo-leader, though the PCs will have most of the say in the guild. They will be able to trick out their Pathfinder Guild House with some of the rules in Ultimate Campaign. They will be able to recruit certain Npcs to the "Pathfinders" as they meet them and do quests with them (see above spoiler).

TLDR; any tips for even basic ROTR campaign will be welcomed. Thanks Playground

[Craft (Cheese)]

Well, it depends on how you want to run the module: Obviously, you can modify it as little or as much as you like for your particular game, and what modifications you intend to make will affect what suggestions I should give you drastically. The following advice assumes you're going to run the module mostly as written:

1 - Restatting the enemies to be gestalt shouldn't be necessary: The module's encounters are designed for 4 PCs, so the power boost from being gestalt should (hopefully) have things even out a little bit.

2 - A DMPC should also be unnecessary: The module itself gives one to the players (Shalelu) at the low levels when they'll need her most. You can replace her with your own if you like, but you'd be making extra work for yourself for no good reason.

3 - I don't know how far you've read ahead in the AP, but RotR doesn't actually spend all that much time in Sandpoint once you get to around the midpoint of the second module. The PCs having responsibilities in town (like having a Lodge to run) might interfere with their ability to participate in the later quests. That's not to say you shouldn't do it anyway, just that you should be prepared to have to choose one or the other.

Personally, I'd start up the lodge and let the players decide what they want to do. If they get bored of it, they can leave it's management to an NPC they've recruited (at least temporarily) and go questing. If they wanna stay in town, then that's fine too, the AP has no strict timetable.

As for how the quests themselves should be modified, this very much comes down to taste so I can only give my own opinion: The biggest problem with RotR as a campaign is incoherence. RotR is ultimately a collection of standalone modules that feel like they were written in isolation by different authors and then strung together after the fact with only the flimsiest of justification. The AP lacks a consistent tone, whipping back and forth between lighthearted action-adventure to disgusting gore-fest at the drop of a hat. Aside from having to adjust for the power level of the NPCs you can have the events of RotR play out in any order you like without it affecting the "plot" all that much.

Read through the whole AP before the adventure starts. Decide on one tone in advance and adjust the parts that don't fit to match with that tone. Add in better elements yourself to connect the different modules besides sihedron runes being planted everywhere.

[Baroth]

I'm currently running RotR, my first DM and rpg experience, with my players currently around level 13 and 2/3's of the way in. I agree with the above statements, except I have found I've had to vastly adjust the power level of the enemies in order to keep things interesting in the first couple of sessions. The first couple of days worth of playing are filled with low level monsters that pose no real challenge. My group has 4 players, 3 of which are powergamers, all of which have played for several years, and we are using every sourcebook currently available, so your experience may differ.

one of the most important things you can do is write your own material in the campaign. Agree with the above poster who says the flow between chapters isn't there. The most memorable things so far that have happened are the things that weren't in the book. Have the goblins attack Sandpoint in force. Create goblin heroes to challenge the P.C's. Get one of them to drink the waters of lamashtu and turn him into a horrible monster. Let the P.C's take over Sandpoint after the raid by killing off the Mayor and letting them play Kingmaker for awhile. A lot of RotR just feels like encounter after encounter of low level monsters, so do your homework in order to make it memorable.