Good party hooks to start rise of runelords

[Gilbetron]

I'm looking to start up a RotR campaign shortly, but I like to have a strong "glue" between the characters, rather than "you stick together because ... well ... you do". Anyone have any suggestions how to do it that fits in well with RotR and/or Golarion? One thought I had was make them all part of a military group that just got done fighting some war in a distant land and have come to Sandpoint to get away from "all that". But I don't know Golarion well enough to find where such a war would have occurred. I can make stuff up, but I like embedding it in the setting as it exists.

Thanks!

 

[FoxWander]

When I ran it I had everyone be from Sandpoint, since it starts at 1st level. The town is designed well enough that there is a starting "hook" for almost any character type.

Our bard had connections to the Sandpoint theater, the thief knew a lot about the shady side of the prominent families- as well as several run-ins with the town guard, our cleric worked in the temple that is the scene of the first encounter. There's even a monastery where our half-orc monk was staying! It's really easy to give everyone a solid connection to the town and the people in it so they naturally feel like fighting the goblins and investigating what's going on.

Also- you don't have to know Golarion all that well. Since this AP was the introduction to that setting the books do a good job of expanding the world as you go.

 

[Volaran]

I would also strongly recommend having a the party, or at least a majority of them, be from Sandpoint, or at least the surrounding region (a Varisian from a caravan that stops there frequently, or a Shoanti from a tribe that trades with the town) for example. Giving the party strong ties to Sandpoint will pay off later, and also helps with ties to Magnimar and Varisia as a whole.

 

[Crothian]

When I played we also started from Sandpoint. Each character lived there and we even had a session or two that just had the PCs going around town. We were introduced to many of the NPCs the campaign used plus others the DM wanted to use and we got a good feel for the town. It worked out well even though the campaign died in book 2.