When designing an encounter, it's tempting to focus the majority of your attention on the mix of monsters and villains. After all, coming up with interesting enemy synergies and evocative scenes of terror, threat, and evil-doing go a long way in making encounters both memorable and fun. Often neglected, though, is making sure that the setting you place these bad guys in offers both threat and opportunity of its own. When designed correctly, the terrain of an encounter can provide opportunity and challenges that not only compliment the opponents that you select, but can make combat the stuff of gaming stories for years to come.
First Things First
There are two ways to go about terrain selection for your encounter. The first is to think about the environment that you want to set your encounters, or an entire adventure, within, and filling it with the proper terrain. When it comes to dungeon and cavern settings, much of this work is already done for you. Take a look at Chapter 13 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook, especially pages 410&ndash416, and you'll find a good selection of terrain types to stock your dungeon. You'll also want to check out pages 193—194 of the Core Rulebook as it has the rules for difficult terrain and obstacles, and maybe take a peek at pages 244–245 Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide for some sample hazards to play with.
Picking proper terrain is all about creating interesting exceptions, so the first thing you'll want to do is make decisions about the baseline terrain for your dungeon. Unless your group is full of seasoned Pathfinder veterans, you'll want to set those baselines at or near the base assumptions of the Pathfinder rules: Masonry walls, flagstone, and wooden doors are a good start. For the most part you, and your players will not have to think about these areas of terrain at all. They're the standard dungeon dressing everyone is use to. Then you'll want to think about the possible exceptions for your dungeon. Are parts of the dungeon in disrepair? Are parts of the dungeon in the midst of construction? Does the dungeon serve as an entryway to a subterranean cave system? Does it lead to an underground river or water or magma? Once you are done imagining your dungeon, and maybe even sketching it on some graph paper, you can start to figure out where the exceptions sit, and then start brainstorming possibilities that you can't find in the rules... but we will get to that later.
Straying deeper into Chapter 13, you can make similar choices for large areas of terrain that are not dungeons, but the principles are the same. Find your baseline, and then ponder the possibility of interesting and evocative exceptions to that baseline. Take some notes, ponder some possibilities, and search the rules for similar types of terrain.
The other way to go about creating interesting environments is to think about the monsters and villains you want in your encounter in the adventure, and ask yourself two questions. The first question is, what kind of terrain compliments the monsters' or villains' tactics? The second question is, what kind of terrain compliments your PCs' abilities? Answering the second question can be a little tricky, especially if your end result is being designed for a nonspecific group of PCs (say you're writing an adventure for a convention or Pathfinder Society open call, or you're already thinking about next year's RPG Superstar). More often than not, you'll want to try to fill your encounters with terrain that does both simultaneously. This creates better-balanced encounters that don't favor one side or the other overly much, which not only tend to create more exciting encounters, but can also bypass the need to adjust the CR of your encounters because terrain favors one side more than the other.
Whenever possible, it's best to use a mixture of these two approaches. Treat each one as lenses toward your ultimate goal—to create a fun game experience in a world that seem rich, vibrant, and full of possibilities and potential dangers for the PCs to explore.
Designing New Terrain
Whenever you get the itch to create a new piece of terrain, you should shoot toward making your terrain challenging to interact with but not overly frustrating. In general, you will want one of two speeds for your new terrain. The first speed is terrain that has automatic effects when a creature spends an action to interact with it, but the effect is always constant. Unlocked doors, stairs, and small passageways all fall under this category. They talk directly to the action economy of the game. Someone must spend an action or slightly modify her normal actions in order to use them (think squeezing, opening doors, or basic difficult terrain). This type of terrain is easy to use, quick to remember, but it lacks variability. Some of the most exciting terrain features effects that do not guarantee success, or, better yet, feature varying degrees of success.
Enter the second speed of terrain, where actions are often required, but the effect is variable. Usually such variability is tied to the uses of a skill. For most terrain you will want to pick a basic skill that can be used untrained and that makes sense for the terrain type. Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Fly, Survival, Swim, and even raw Strength checks are some obvious examples, with Acrobatics already doing a lot of the heavy lifting with the terrain found in the Core Rulebook (see hewn stone floors, rubble, and slippery floors). But don't be afraid to mix it up a little with other skills, even those that can't be used untrained (Disable Device, Ride, and even Stealth are some personal favorites). Creating such terrain is just another way where PCs (or monsters) with high skill bonuses have an opportunity to shine, but at a cost. Failure is a possibility.
When creating new terrain, it is not only important to make sure that they work within the normal rules of the Pathfinder RPG but that they are also the right fit for the PC and creature mix you are designing encounters and adventure for. Designing a fight on a frozen lake may seem like fun, but the last thing you want to do is slow down the encounter to a crawl with every creature being forced to make an Acrobatics check in order to accomplish any kind of movement whatsoever. Consider creating relatively safe areas (maybe areas covered with snow or rough ice that grants more traction), giving clumsy creatures slightly suboptimal movement choices, while allowing agile creatures to gamble for success, or even the possibility of greater effect. With those sheets of ice, consider giving them the possibility of bonuses when higher Acrobatics checks are rolled.
Can We Get Some Examples?
With some of terrain philosophy out of the way, start fooling around with creating your own terrain. Tune in next Tuesday for some new pre-made terrain objects to spice up your game. Next week we will be focusing on some terrain primarily designed to limit or focus movement and action types, and the week after we will unleash some crazy terrain options that grant new action options, such as movement and even some terrain that grants creatures special attacks.
As I write this Cosmo is standing in our warehouse, shin deep in packing Styrofoam, yelling about "peanuts" to anyone who passes by. Such strangeness might be chalked up to the daunting nature of his task—though it is hard to tell with Cos—as he's surrounded by huge walls of boxes filled with books. Guides, of a sort. GameMastery Guides, even. Which he's helping to ship out right now.
That's right, the GameMastery Guide is shipping at this very moment. Tomorrow at PaizoCon hundreds of gamers will pick up their copies of our newest hardcover, getting one of the world's first looks at this indispensable new arsenal for Pathfinder GMs. In the days and hours to follow, subscribers and game stores should also be receiving their copies (if they're not there already), so keep an eye on your mailboxes and store shelves. And if you don't have your copy spoken for already... well, I won't get into numbers, but you might want to speak up soon! They're on sale now, so the time is finally here!
With the wait being almost over I could close this out here... but that seems lame. But what's left to talk about? We've looked at the rules, the art, the crazy extra elements, the dozens of pregenerated NPCs, the hundreds of charts, the art again, and tons more. Well, how about we look at it all again—in a totally new way. Below is the complete index for the GameMastery Guide, listing every topic, every table, and every NPC in this giant. That's it. That's everything. The whole book. How's that for a preview?
So thanks to everyone for reading, commenting, and being so excited about one of this year's biggest releases. And if you haven't checked out the GameMastery Guides and my past previews already, just click on the "Game Mastering" tag below for a look back at what everybody's been talking about.
As for what's next, next week it's time for something completely different.
To celebrate the return of our globetrotting senior art directorix, this week's preview takes another look between the words of the GameMastery Guide at more awesome art! Welcome back, Sarah!
Illustration by Christopher Burdett
Illustration by Eva Widermann
Next week, the wait's almost over, so it's time for the penultimate GameMastery Guide preview!
I'm really fond of all of Pathfinder's Adventure Paths. Being able to pick out my ideas, or having art for villains or creatures I invented, or hearing about how players contended with challenges we came up with all does my inner GM proud. But although we encourage every GM to tinker and make any of our published adventures theirs, there's a rich sense of satisfaction in knowing that your players have enjoyed the story you invented and the menaces you alone created.
Trick is, being a GM can be really hard... and time consuming... and a right pain in the...
With the GameMastery Guide, we've sought to help with that. While it's an easy claim to say, "Paizo Publishing's GameMastery Guide makes being a GM a breeze!" that over simplifies the matter. Being a GM can be a challenge, but that's part of what makes being a GM interesting, and what makes running a fun and memorable game a real achievement. Rather than trying to take all the work of being a GM out of your hands, the GameMastery Guide strives to help with that work, providing you with tools to inspire your storytelling, to provide PCs with details you didn't prepare, and to help you adlib when your party zigs when you expected them to zag. Such tools become most evident in the more than 100 charts and tables organized throughout this tome, providing you with facts, details, and inspirational springboards to keep your game fresh. Check out the sampling of clipped charts below for a peek at what I'm talking about. Hope you've got your percentile dice handy!
As for next week's GameMastery Guide Preview, in celebration of our wayward art directorix's return: More Art!
Let me let you in on one of the guiding philosophies of the GameMastery Guide. We didn’t make this book to let you run my game, or a “Paizo-brand” game, or any sort of game anyone here thinks you should run. We created the GameMastery Guide to give you the tools you need to run your game the way you want. For example, let me note a few entries in the index:
Airships
Evil Characters
Extraterrestrials
Gambling
Magic Shops
Parallel Worlds
Ship Combat
Space Travel
Steam Power
Space Travel
Time Travel
Undead Uprising
Definitely some unusual stuff in there, and likely several topics you’ll have no interest in including in your game. But if something on that list does strike your fancy, now you’ve got help on how to make it work. These discussions aren’t all meant to give you in-depth rules on how to do this or that: while several provide a host of new rules content—like ship combat and undead uprisings —others walk you through what you need to consider to include such elements in your game. And even if you’ve never thought about taking your game in an atypical direction, who knows what might inspire you? Maybe it is time to unleash an undead uprising on your campaign, or take your PCs where no one has gone before.
Play what your want: that’s the guiding message of this book. Heck, there’s even a section on personalizing published adventures to make them work better for you and your players. Also, rest assured that the topics presented above are some of the weird stuff—the parts of the book that take the discussions beyond the norm. There’s still plenty for GMs who never get tired of traditional sword and sorcery adventure. But how weird does the weird get? Well, I’ll let these crazy illustrations by Florian Stitz and Eva Widermann show you (at least I think those are the artists… Sarah’s out of town this week).
As for next week’s GameMastery Guide Preview: let’s just say that we’ve got some fantastically interesting toolboxes to open.
In just about a month (give or take a week or so), the thousands of pages we set free into the wild promise to return to us in shiny blue binding as the complete GameMastery Guide. In the weeks leading up to the GMG's release we'll be previewing some of that tome's coolest and most innovative aspects right here on the blog. What to kick things off with ended up being a real tricky decision, though. So rather than focus on any one element, I've gone through the book and snipped a handful of shots to give you an idea of what to expect merely from the text of this behemoth. Look closely and you'll likely notice that some snippets tease more than just a chart here or a new rules concept there. Also, since—aside from Christopher Burdett's thematically relevant compass rose—I've gone totally art-light here, tune in next week for a look at some of the GameMastery Guide's incredible illustrations, including its official mascot!
Having finished hacking away at the random encounter tables for the GameMastery Guide some time ago, I was recently set to work doing the same kind of thing for the Bestiary II. This time, however, instead of providing GMs with random encounters based on a plane's alignment, I got to make a separate table for each individual plane in the Great Beyond, Golarion's cosmos.
This is pretty exciting, because not only do these new tables utilize all the new monsters in the Bestiary II, but they also provide GMs with a plethora of inspiration, whether your PCs be traveling through the ever-shifting realm of the Maelstrom or ascending the soaring Great Spire in the Boneyard.
As if having stores of creatures to fill entire planes with isn't sweet enough, the GameMastery Guide includes an entire section dedicated to the planes, detailing the specific traits and characteristics of each plane, as well as the dangers that may await adventurers. As an example for what kind of cool details you can find in the GMG, below is art for Ymeri, the Queen of the Inferno.
Illustration by Christopher Burdett
At any rate, I've been staring at these books and their tables and creatures and stuff for weeks now, and I'm still excited about them; that means all y'all on the outside have no idea what kind of awesomeness you're in for.
Words aren't supposed to float like this, bobbing in this slow, mildly nauseating way before my watering eyes. This sucks. And if you were at Norwescon this past weekend, I blame you. Con crud: it happens every time we go to a convention—and this time I didn't even go!
My office quarantine makes me but one gross cog in a large, messily predictable, sick-machine. Every 3 minutes Jason, through the wall to my left, coughs twice. Every 1 minute and 20 seconds, to my right, James "Harumpghs"—as Jacobses do. Every 25 seconds I sniff, punctuated by nose blowings after every 15, and with cycle-marking sneezes after every 30 blows. It's not pretty. I especially don't envy Chris, Judy, Rob, and Sutter outside our doors listening to this sickly symphony. Although, if anyone forgot their watches today, they can measure the time by the rising tissue tide.
Now that I've set the gross factor for your week, how does this pity party tie into Pathfinder and RPGs and everything you've come to expect from Paizo? Well, we're foolishly here at work aren't we? And never ones to let little things like our collectively decomposing bodies stop us from bringing new elements to your campaigns, please accept the following gaming grossness, along with an appropriately awesomely awful illustration from Jeff Carlisle (that unfortunately we didn't have room for in the GameMastery Guide, but I'm sure will find a home down the line). Now, back to trying to build a Skinsaw mask out of tissues and mucus...
Creeping Contamination (aka Creeping Crud or Con Crud) Type disease, contact or inhaled; Save Fortitude DC 14 Onset 1d3 days; Frequency 1/day Effect 1d2 Wis damage and target is fatigued. Any creature that comes within 5 feet of one infected with con crud must save or also become infected (whether or not this save is successful, the target is immune to the infected creature's con crud for 24 hours); Cure 2 consecutive saves
This past weekend was Norwescon 33, a fantasy/SF convention near Seattle, Washington. In recent years it's started to pick up some RPG momentum (thanks to the tireless efforts of Tim Nightengale, founder of PaizoCon), and we had several Paizo staffers attend to talk about fiction and gaming (including a most awesome two-hour workshop about learning how to paint miniatures).
In addition to the many people dressed in steampunk, fantasy, BSG, and Star Wars costumes, there were seminars about writing, getting published, game design, world design, and being a better Game Master, plus Josh Frost and a gang of volunteers ran more than a dozen games for Pathfinder Society Organized Play!
Photo #1 is from a panel called "Ask the Gamemasters," featuring Sean K Reynolds (me!), Erik Mona, and Jason Bulmahn. Photo #2 is a pic by Tim of the "Underwater Ninja Tigers! (or A Friendly Discussion on Monster Design)" panel, with James Jacobs, Erik, Wolfgang Baur, and the illustrious panel-crasher Jonathan Tweet! Overall, it was a good show for us and gave us some ideas for neat stuff at PaizoCon this year!
At long last the GameMastery Guide has left the building. Turns out these big books take an incredible amount of work and cause a good deal of sanity damage, but after finally flipping through the color proofs, it looks absolutely incredible. In the coming weeks leading up to this monster's release we'll be showing off some of the coolest parts, but for now, take a look at a few shots from the GMG's final days of development.
Testing out Chapter 5's random treasure generator. I think Josh got a potion of aid.
Yeah. A measly potion.
We started a contest seeing who could roll up the most valuable item. Lisa always wins.
Turns out there's a LOT of tables in this book. The ones here are just for the chapter on rewards.
My proxy. Allowing me to be in two places at once and make well-considered decisions.
Chris Carey and Jeff Alvarez pitch in for the book's penultimate layout checks. Art Directorix Sarah Robinson oversees the process.
Why is this happening in my office! Sutter and Judy Bauer enter the fray.
James uses charts to detail an NPC alter ego, then goes on to name, captain, and crew a ship with just a few random rolls.
And now we all get to take a long break and finally rel—hold on, the Advanced Player's Guide is due WHEN?!
Official Call for PaizoCon and Gen Con Volunteers!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Hello!
This is the official call for volunteer GMs and assistants to help Paizo Publishing run events at PaizoCon 2010 and Gen Con 2010. (If you're looking for the Origins Game Fair volunteer thread, click here.)
Paizo Con 2010
For Paizo Con 2010, I need a minimum of 20 volunteer GMs for Pathfinder Society Organized Play and I'll keep taking volunteers until the slots are full! Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering at PaizoCon 2010 as well as the events and slots for which I need volunteer GMs. I also need 2 volunteer assistants for the show—these folks will not GM, but will instead run Pathfinder Society HQ and will be my go-to guys and gals for all things Pathfinder Society. Volunteers must volunteer for a minimum of 2 slots and the volunteer assistants are volunteering to split time at HQ for the entire show. PaizoCon 2010 volunteer GMs and volunteer assistants receive the following:
(Volunteer GMs) A $10 per slot credit voucher for the Paizo sales area
(Volunteer Assistants) A $15 per slot credit voucher for the Paizo sales area
All PaizoCon 2010 volunteers can email me: josh@paizo.com with the subject line PaizoCon Volunteer. I can only take volunteers for Paizo Con who have purchased a badge to the show.
Keep in mind that you're volunteering for a slot, not a specific event. I'll assign people to events inside the slot they've volunteered for and I won't take requests.
For Gen Con 2010, I need a minimum of 50 volunteer GMs and I'll keep taking volunteer GMs until the slots are filled! I also need 3 Volunteer Assistants for the show—these folks will not GM, but will instead run Pathfinder Society HQ and will be my go-to guys and gals for all things Pathfinder Society. This year I'm also seeking 4 "booth volunteers." These folks must be highly knowledgeable about all of Paizo's products lines, must be well kept, clean, and professional, and must be able to stand and move for up to 6 hours at a time. Booth volunteers will work the Paizo booth sales floor, answer questions, and let Paizo employees know when product needs to be restocked. Booth volunteers will not work the register and will not have access to the back area of the booth. Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering at Gen Con 2010 as well as the events and slots for which I need volunteer GMs and booth volunteers.
Keep in mind that you're volunteering for a slot, not a specific event. I'll assign people to events inside the slot they've volunteered for and I won't take requests.
Volunteer Tiers and Rewards
Volunteer Assistant FULL! No more needed.
Booth Volunteers FULL! No more needed.
Tier 1 GM Volunteers
Tier 1 GM volunteers are my workhorse, every day GMs. They are invaluable to making the show a success! Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 8 slots. Tier 1 GMs may feel free to volunteer for more than 8 slots if they so desire. I only have room for 24 Tier 1 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier. Volunteers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers who have previously worked for Paizo over new volunteers. Please do not volunteer for Tier 1 if you have any doubts that you won't be able to attend the show. Tier 1 GMs receive:
A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2010 badge
A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room in the Marriott Downtown Indianapolis
A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE autographed copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Advanced Player's Guide hardcover at Gen Con
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2010 T-Shirt
Tier 2 GM Volunteers
While the rewards for volunteering for this tier are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from Tier 2. Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 4 slots. Tier 2 GMs receive:
A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2010 badge
A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2010 T-Shirt
Tier 3 GM Volunteers
This is the minimum volunteer level. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 2 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:
A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2010 T-Shirt
Volunteering for One Slot
While we will gladly accept anyone who wants to run just one slot during the show, there are no rewards for doing so other than our thanks.
When Volunteering...
Please be specific about what slot you are volunteering for. I will assign folks to scenarios on an as-needed basis, so you really only need to tell me the slot(s) you're volunteering for (since I won't take requests). I will update the needs in the thread below as I receive volunteers, so you may look there to remain up to date on where we still need help. Lastly, you must have a gencon.com account and you must include your gencon.com account # in your email or I won't be able to get you a badge (obviously this is only for volunteers who are volunteering for 4 or more slots).
One of the neat peripheral elements of the GameMastery Guide—aside from 300+ pages of hardcore GM focused tools and rules—are new chapter openers. You know, the big pictures with the little stories next to them that start every section of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Those. Our own Fiction Editor James Sutter is tackling these, and there's something really cool about finally getting a bit of a story to go along with some of the coolest scenes in the Pathfinder cosmology. For example, here's Chapter 6's opener, along with its companion, the cover to The Great Beyond.
"Sing the songs with us, O bastard prince!" The keketar's voice was high, euphoric. Several of the words formed shapes in the air, one turning to a centipede that writhed as it drifted away.
"Join us in the dance and we will remake you/make you so beautiful. We will sing the stars from the sky/sea."
"I'll pass," Seltyiel grunted. Beneath them, the islet was already crumbling. It wouldn't last another minute under the keketar's influence.
The hell with it. He'd only get one shot anyway. Summoning the last of his magic, Seltyiel leapt backward, out into empty space..."
And expect 8 more just like this in the upcoming GameMastery Guide!
One of my first duties at Paizo was to create some random encounter tables for the GameMastery Guide. It took more than three workdays, and by the end of the process I was seeing tables in my sleep. It was a little bit like the first time you play Guitar Hero, and you look away from the screen and think the world is scrolling up for a couple seconds. Except with tables. But, I'm done with that, so that's kind of neat. Now I can dream about normal things, like giant robot rock operas and going to Chipotle with my ex-boss of three years. Rest assured, GMs, there will be no shortage of random encounter tables for when your PCs randomly wander off into the woods, or cave, or different plane of existence. I've even snuck out a piece of art from the book by artist Kieran Yanner.
On a completely different note, I GMed a Pathfinder game yesterday, and it totally rocked. I'm always the GM, so it's not like it was a new experience or anything, and I've been running Pathfinder since it came out, but I finally figured out a core component to any tabletop roleplaying game: roleplaying.
You see, for quite some time, I was having trouble encouraging my players to roleplay. I'm the type of person who writes out the five-page character background when I'm a player, and I will totally handicap myself and give myself silly stats and gear if it matches my character concept. I don't expect every player to do this, but it would be kind of cool if my group got into character every now and then. Being a fairly chill GM, I wasn't going to force them to roleplay against their will or anything, since that would kind of defeat the purpose of playing a game. No, what I wanted was for them to want to roleplay.
So, I've been thinking of ways to do this, and I stumbled upon a rather valuable, yet seemingly obvious, idea. The notion was simple, and I presented it to my group before the game. "Alright, guys, I'm thinking of trying this new thing; everything you say at the table is in-character, unless you preface with 'Out of character,' and it can only be game-related at that." They were all kind of like, "Hmm, I dunno about this, Patrick, but we'll give it a shot for an hour and see how it goes."
One hour later: awesomeness. Few distractions, if any; everybody's talking with epic accents and saying ridiculously metal (aka really, really cool) things; and we're all getting really immersed in the game. The dark and brooding wizard was dark and brooding; the charming bard was courting the maiden he had saved from a coven of hags; the druid was giving the totally rad armor of a fallen cleric to the church instead of selling it for mad gold; and the summoner was poring over books in the library and hypothesizing the origins of the mysterious crystals they had found in the abandoned temple. This group of hack-and-slashers actually began to care about the adventure and NPCs I had crafted for them. Success.
I guess my point is that even if you think you know your group (mine consists of close friends), they can still pleasantly surprise you, given the opportunity.
This week Paizo posted new product descriptions for dozens of products to be released in the third trimester of 2010, including new hardcover books, a revision of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, and a brand new line of Pathfinder novels!
We've been hard at work on these items for months, and even though you'll have to wait until at least September before they hit your game table, we're thrilled to finally be able to discuss some of this stuff in public. The suspense has been killing us!
Folks are already discussing some of our new releases on the paizo.com messageboards, but as the commentary has been flying fast and furious over the last couple days, I figured it might be helpful to post a broad overview of our new offerings here on the blog, with direct links to the products in question.
So without further ado, let's plug ourselves into the future-caster time machine and take a journey forward to September through December 2010. Bring your dice and a few character sheets. You're going to need them!
PATHFINDER FICTION
The biggest announcement is a brand new line of Pathfinder novels written by some of the biggest names in fantasy fiction! The first book, Winter Witch, by New York Times best-selling author Elaine Cunningham, explores the tale of a barbarian shield maiden who ventures from Varisia to the winter-locked land of Irrisen to rescue a possessed sister—and the canny young cartographer who follows her into that haunted land. The book formally releases in September, but we'll have copies on hand at this year's Gen Con Game Fair as a special preview. October sees the release of Prince of Wolves, by former Amazing Stories and Dragon editor Dave Gross, which revisits the Pathfinder agent Varian Jeggare and his tiefling assistant Radovan, last seen in the Pathfinder Journal section of the Council of Thieves Adventure Path. Additional novels will follow in 2011 from well-known authors including Paul S. Kemp and other familiar faces. Stay tuned for more info!
NEW HARDCOVERS
Following up on the forthcoming GameMastery Guide
and Advanced Player's Guide, 2010 will see the release of one more hardcover rulebook in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2! Like the first Bestiary, Bestiary 2 will include more than 300 monsters for use with the Pathfinder RPG, including old favorites like the hippogriff and new planar creatures like the aeons and proteans. This book will cover most of the standard monsters from the history of the game that we couldn't fit in the first Bestiary, as well as tons of other great monsters you've never seen before. Each monster will receive a full page or a 2-page spread, using the same format as the original book.
Supplies of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover are dwindling faster than we can count, so in September we'll release a revised edition in the form of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting World Guide: The Inner Sea. Fully updated to the Pathfinder RPG rules and with expanded coverage of nearly every nation, the latest version of this book contains a new cover from Wayne Reynolds, an updated map, fixed errata from the first edition, and more than 300 pages packed with tons of information about the lands, peoples, beliefs, and cultures of the world of Golarion. Paizo Creative Director James Jacobs is giving this project his personal finish, making sure our campaign setting book is a solid bedrock of our publishing operation for years to come. We're really pleased with the early development of this book, and think it will be an ideal resource for all Pathfinder players and game masters.
PATHFINDER CHRONICLES
In addition to the revised campaign setting, in late 2010 we'll release the Inner Sea Map Folio, a massive 32-panel map of the Inner Sea region containing all "canonical" locations from every Pathfinder product published to date! This monster is sure to brighten up the gaming room or man-cave of any Pathfinder enthusiast, and its "four poster" format will even allow for easy reference at the game table for those lacking the wall space to do it justice. The Campaign Setting product line will also see a new Classic Monsters-style book in the form of Misfit Monsters Redeemed (and you won't believe what that's about until you read the description, believe me) as well as Lost Cities of Golarion, which explores six adventure locales from throughout the world of Golarion.
PATHFINDER PLAYER COMPANION
We can't let the GMs have all the fun, after all, so we've also planned a couple of sure-fire player's guides for the last third of 2010 that will be must-buys for Pathfinder RPG players. October sees the release of the Inner Sea Primer, a slimmed-down overview of the Pathfinder world designed specifically for players. This book will include tons of new character traits tied to the regions and religions of Golarion, and will provide a perfect "gist" of the setting for those looking to dip a toe in the water without needing to buy a big hardcover book. December sees the release of Halflings of Golarion, which rounds out the player's guides to the standard "demihuman" player character races in the Pathfinder RPG with plenty of details on how to integrate them into Golarion campaigns. Lots of fun equipment and lore in this one for fans of halflings (and everyone else, too)!
PATHFINDER MODULES
Gamers have been asking for a high-level Pathfinder adventure since the very beginning, and now I'm pleased to report that the time has come at last! Shipping in September, The Witchwar Legacy takes 17th-level player characters to the snow-shrouded witch kingdom of Irrisen to thwart a plan by the Ice Queen involving the insidious Baba Yaga herself! If that's not enough, in November we'll release a brand-new 1st-level starter adventure called The Godsmouth Heresy, set in the shadowy city of Kaer Maga, site of June's City of Strangers sourcebook!
GAMEMASTERY ACCESSORIES
Paizo's popular map products keep on coming in the last part of 2010, including the first-ever crossover between the Map Pack and Flip-Mat lines! Everything starts innocently enough in September with the release of Flip-Mat: Forest, but things really get interesting in October, with Map Pack: Shops. This 18-tile map set includes the interiors for several different stores, apothecaries, taverns, and the like, but things become super-special when you combine this pack with November's Flip-Mat: City Streets, which details a mercantile district suitable for use with other city Flip-Mats. The roofed buildings on this Flip-Mat (suitable for rooftop chases) correspond exactly to the interiors presented in Map Pack: Shops, providing a uniquely immersive tabletop experience. And if that's not enough to impress your jaded players, spring December's Map Pack: Ambush Sites on them. They probably deserve it.
GameMastery Cards keep coming as well, this time in the form of new GameMastery Condition Cards, handy reference cards for all of the various conditions in the Pathfinder RPG rules.
PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH
And, of course, we haven't forgotten the date that brought us to the big dance in the first place. The last trimester of 2010 will see plenty of action in the Pathfinder Adventure Path line, as the Serpent's Skull Adventure Path takes a jungle trail toward its stunning conclusion! Ruined Azlanti cities, Red Mantis assassins, monkey-men, the Pathfinder Society, ancient serpentfolk, and one very, very angry Gorilla King are all in store in a quartet of adventures by Tim Hitchcock, Kevin Kulp, Greg A. Vaughan, and Graeme Davis! The Serpent's Skull is a return to classic-style adventuring in the Pathfinder tradition, and we can't wait to get you guys into the jungle!
I'm saving our Planet Stories releases for tomorrow's blog, so be sure to tune in then for some of the biggest Planet Stories news we've had yet!
So much is happening here at Paizo these days that it's difficult to remember the uncertainty and horror of the last few years, with major changes to our business, our game system, and our lives. All of us really appreciate the support you have shown us so far, and we look forward to more exciting products in the months and years to come!
Well, Friday was my first day as the new Editorial Intern at Paizo, and I must say I'm not disappointed.
One of the first things I noticed in the office was that everyone spoke like a GM at all times, talking about drawing up maps and discussing the finer points of the gnomes of Golarion. It's awesome. Being the only Pathfinder GM in my group back home, my players often don't understand the work that goes into running a game, which, as I'm sure many GMs can attest to, is a little frustrating at times.
At any rate, it has been a fun transition, going from an environment in which I am the most experienced and rules-learned person at the table to Paizo, where I am practically the polar opposite. It puts GMing into perspective, to be certain; crafting the world of Pathfinder is a bit more daunting a task than designing a two-level dungeon for Saturday night's session. Which makes me all the more excited to work here.
My day... week... life as of late has pretty much been dominated by putting the final (-ish) touches on our next big hardcover, the GameMastery Guide. It's at that weird and exciting point right now where it's making that transition between a maddening number of .doc files and something at actually looks like a book. So between the dozens of tables, charts, stats, and hundreds of pages of advice, some pretty awesome art and incredible layouts are creeping in. While I'll save most of the really exciting parts for previews closer to this behemoth's release, I wanted to throw one of my favorite new half-page illustrations out there. For now, though, it's back to those endless tables. 100 dungeon features, here I come...
As editorial intern, it's sometimes my job to oversee the first formatting/editing/obvious-problem-catching pass on certain items, one of which is chapter nine of the GameMastery Guide! Woo! Super exciting. As a brief introduction, it includes a large number of common NPC stat blocks of various levels and classes meant to accommodate an unpredictable player group or campaign. When your players decide that the fisherman ferrying them to the Isle of Terror is suspicious, his full stat block is merely a quick page-flip away. Needless to say, all of the free-form GMs out there will find it a handy tool when the players decide to enter a town you expected them to avoid, try to pick fights with a priest, or get run out of town by the village militia. They want to enter in the arena? Well, there are three different gladiators in the chapter already. Does the barmaid you winked at try to help you in the all-too-predictable drunken brawl? Yes, and she has Throw Anything.
I know it's been a while—whole months in fact—since we dropped a huge hardback tome on you all, but rest assured, we've got more in the works! Right now, on top of all the usual Pathfinder swag you've come to expect from month to month, we're also working away on our third huge tome, the GameMastery Guide. Meant to be the go-to source for Game Masters of all stripes and skill levels, the GameMastery Guide is in invaluable resource and toolbox offering hundreds of pages of new subsystems, common stats, advice, tables, and tons more, all from some of the biggest names in gaming. We're already elbow deep in the book's construction and over the course of the coming weeks will have plenty more of the content and awesome art to show off. For now, though, check out the cover on the GameMastery product page and one of this book's mascots, every tricky GM's favorite beastie, the mimic.
7. You are running an Adventure Path, and one of your players is ignoring the obvious hook. Do you gently nudge him in the planned direction, or do you go with the flow and see where this digression might take you?
Lisa Stevens: Basically I try to nudge, or I may come up with a different hook. For example, in Shackled City, there is an adventure where the players need to be convinced to go to an evil plane, and I just knew the hook as written would not work on my players, so instead I had the NPC seek out one of my PCs who was a rogue, and basically had the NPC convince him that great wealth and power were to be had there, and then I just let him convince the rest of the party. But in one of my early D&D groups, my players made me a sign that read "HINT HINT," and they told me to hold it up whenever they were being too dense. So basically I would be like, "The bartender begins telling you about an old abandoned mine..." (holds up sign).
F. Wesley Schneider: I think the most interesting thing about being a GM is the art of getting the players to do exactly what you want but making them think it was their idea. There is nothing more satisfying than having your players come up with this really brilliant and clever idea, and it's exactly what you wanted them to do from the beginning.
James Jacobs: I let the players do their own thing, but they eventually end up where I want them regardless. Basically I just remain flexible and adapt.
Erik Mona: I just let them go wherever. I'm perfectly happy allowing them to dictate the action.
Jason Bulmahn: Depends on the group. Sometimes you'll get a bunch of chaotic players who want to be the embodiment of mayhem. In those situations you have to make a decision: do you keep slapping them with plot hooks or do you just wander off aimlessly into the woods?
Sean K Reynolds: I don't plan too far ahead, so I can remain flexible to my players' actions.
Joshua J. Frost: I try to gently nudge them back, usually with an NPC. But if they insist on running off, I'm pretty good at improv.
James Sutter: It depends on the type of game I'm running. A lot of the time I'll just play a sandbox style of game, where I'll show up with some sticky notes and that's it. If it's an AP, I generally try to weave and nudge them in the right direction. But I also tend to play with big groups; my last campaign had eight players. In those situations, I really feed off of what my players give me, and in a lot of ways depend on that. I'm a big fan of using experienced players to my advantage, too. I rely on the more experienced players to help coach the novices.
Chris Self: If the players are following something that might actually lead somewhere, then I'll let them do whatever, but if they're just sort of spinning their wheels, I'll try to nudge them in the right direction. I actually once played in a campaign that fell apart because the GM gave us too many hooks and not enough of a nudge in any one direction.
I've never minded players wandering off. I'll kill them wherever they go, one way or another.
6. Many GMs feel that deus ex machina is cheap, and simply refuse to ever use it. Others feel it is okay if it is properly set up ahead of time. Do you ever use deus ex machina as a storytelling device?
Lisa Stevens: Yeah, but hopefully they didn't know it! (laughs) I think that's the trick for something like that though, right? If you're playing the hand of god, you need to make it feel like a natural part of the story. I think probably every GM has been in this type of situation, unless you're maybe a proponent of the chaos theory and really like everything to be off the cuff, which could be fun, but yeah, I definitely have used it.
F. Wesley Schneider: I don't like to use deus ex machina plots. Most players, I've found, don't like to play the role of the damsel in distress, they like to play heroes. So I usually create a way that gives them a chance to solve the crisis.
James Jacobs: Yes. If it's good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for Pathfinder. (grin)
Jason Bulmahn: I think this is a useful storytelling device that must be used sparingly. It sits in the bag of GM tricks that a Game Master is allowed to pull out exactly once during a campaign. I think it is especially useful early on by giving PCs a forewarning of the kind of powerful enemies that are to come later on. For example, let's say a red dragon attacks their town. Well, at 1st level they're not going to do so well. But then you have the high-level wizard who's their friend show up and drive away the red dragon but is himself killed, and you've just set up a powerful enemy. It allows you to sort of play with a system that is restrictive by CR. In that way it's a useful storytelling device, but again only sparingly.
Sean K Reynolds: Never.
Joshua J. Frost: Only if it's appropriate for a story, never for combat. If I'm doing my job as a DM right, then the combat should already be fair enough.
James Sutter: I think it depends on the situation. I think James Jacobs said it best when he said avoid it when you can, but sometimes it can work well, especially when you realize you've made a mistake. If you send your PCs against a horde of werewolves and they don't have any silver weapons, have the townsguard come in and save them, but then have the players owe the townsguard a favor, so they still have to earn it. I'm totally stealing that from Jacobs, but I think that sums it up rather nicely.
Chris Self: I think it's necessary, but try to keep those sorts of things behind the scenes if possible. There should be a real reason for everything.
I think if done incorrectly, deus ex machina can come off as patronizing.
5. You have a scene where a large orc tribe is attacking a village. You have all of the orcs and various NPCs represented on the map. Do you roll for each and every orc and NPC, or do you, in the interest of saving time, just decide how many of each side dies each round?
Lisa Stevens: Usually the background, especially if it's a bunch of no-named NPCs. But if it's a bunch of NPCs that maybe they know and had invested a little time with, then I'll definitely roll for them. I think it makes it more visceral if you have a situation where the flower shopkeeper is about to get killed and they have to get to him before the bad guys. When I ran the first Rise of the Runelords adventure, and there is the scene with all of the goblins attacking ~~**SPOILER OMITTED**~~, I just sort of told my players that they saw goblins running innocent townsfolk through. I think it lent an air of urgency to the scene, where my players understood they had to hurry because people were dying, and I think that accomplished that dramatic tension well enough.
F. Wesley Schneider: I usually just relegate that to background scenery.
James Jacobs: I just keep it in the background, unless a player gets involved. But if it's an important NPC, I keep track and give the players time to do something about it.
Erik Mona: No, I don't keep track of everything.
Jason Bulmahn: Nothing is more vain and distracting than a GM who has two NPCs having a long conversation between themselves and I feel it's the same with battle. Generally I let the PCs' actions dictate the ebb and flow of the battle: if they are doing well, then their side is doing well.
Sean K Reynolds: The scene reflects how well the players are doing, so
the action remains solely focused on the players.
Joshua J. Frost: I roll for everything. It keeps combat fair.
James Sutter: I keep track of as much as they can interact with. There's a good example in Savage Tide, there's the adventure Tides of Dread where the players face an enormous invasion. With situations like that, I think it's best to break things up into more manageable chunks. Because I mean, if you've got 50 characters to keep track of, then a single round would take forever.
Chris Self: I use mini rules for that, and keep things focused on the players.
I'm too lazy to keep track of everything, but I was once in a guy's campaign who kept track of everything; it was kind of cool, in that I felt like there wasn't as much GM fiat.
4. You have been playing a campaign for many months, and your group suffers a TPK. Do you fudge the rolls, contrive a reason for them to be brought back, have them create new characters and pick up where the others left off, or just scrap the campaign?
Lisa Stevens: I've never had a TPK; it's been close! (laughs) I'm a big believer in creating and building a campaign over time. I've had key NPCs die and had to completely reinvent the story, but I don't think I'd ever allow the PCs to get to the point where they are faced with a TPK. It would ruin the story, and it would ruin my fun as the GM. I mean, it would be like watching a season of CSI and halfway through they replaced all of the characters and actors and never resolved any of the plot threads.
F. Wesley Schneider: Yes, I usually try to save them. I mean, if it's just one or two characters that die, then that's fine, you can pick up your new character at the next town or dungeon. But if it's the entire group, then yeah, I usually contrive some way for them to keep going. I mean, I've fudged dice, I've had them maybe captured instead of killed, and so on.
James Jacobs: Every time I've had a TPK, that's been the end of the campaign. Start over.
Erik Mona: Depends. If... Well, it just depends.
Jason Bulmahn: Sometimes I'll fudge but I try to gauge the group and see if they're interested in continuing. Sometimes I'll start a new group and tackle the same storyline from a different perspective. Like for example let's say they're all soldiers under a warlord and they all decide that he's evil and turn against him but are all TPKed, well the next batch of characters they make might be a bunch of villagers whose village was destroyed by the same warlord.
Sean K Reynolds: What I would probably do is have everyone create secondary characters where it is their sole purpose to rescue the other group. That way the players are still responsible for saving themselves.
Joshua J. Frost: If everyone dies, it's over. A chance to start something new.
James Sutter: If it's my fault, I'm not against saying, "My bad," and resetting the encounter. But in general, this doesn't happen. I do believe that character death is one of the most important parts of the game. Even as a player, having a character die in a very dramatic way adds so much to the experience. In fact, I've had campaigns where one of my PCs would get killed, then create a new character, and for the next several sessions the plot would revolve around their quest for revenge.
Chris Self: I'll actually roll back the last combat and let them retry. I'm the type of GM who pulls punches if necessary. I see roleplaying games as more of a cooperative storytelling, and TPKs are just no fun.
I've never had a TPK in any game I've ran, more's the pity, but I think I would probably figure out a way to continue the campaign if my players were really, really keen on continuing.
3. Do you encourage your players to create well-thought-out backgrounds complete with hooks that you can insert into your campaign?
Lisa Stevens: I do, but don't reward. I basically tell my players that if they come up with interesting backgrounds, then they'll get more out of my campaign; it will be more personal for them, as I'll take their hooks and use them in the plot. If you don't create a background, then you'll still have fun, but maybe the story won't be as personal for you. Either is fine; I let the players decide what they want out of the campaign.
F. Wesley Schneider: Yes. They don't have to write up elaborate histories, but I usually ask them to at least provide me with their characters' shticks.
James Jacobs: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
Erik Mona: Doesn't matter. If a player is really into that, then I'll take the hooks and weave them back into the campaign, but if a player doesn't care then neither do I.
Jason Bulmahn: I'll ask but won't mandate it. I leave it to player discretion. I'll definitely reward the effort, in that the story will be tied to their history and generally benefit them in some way and be more personal.
Sean K Reynolds: Encourage.
Joshua J. Frost: Yes, I encourage.
James Sutter: Once their concepts are made I like to work with them to get them all together, but there are some players who just like to show up and go, and that's fine. I think well thought out is more fun, but of course sometimes my problem is that I'll create a really long and detailed history and then die after one session. (laughs)
Chris Self: Absolutely.
I've always thought this was one of the best parts of running a campaign!
We continue our Ask a Pro series with what is either the most important part of NPC interaction or the silliest part of a roleplaying game, depending with whom you speak.
2. When delivering the lines of NPCs, do you prefer in-character or third person?
Lisa Stevens: In character.
F. Wesley Schneider: Depends... Important, named characters usually have a voice of their own, but if someone is just going to the blacksmith for a quick purchase, then I will usually just say that costs so much gold or whatever.
James Jacobs: In character. Maybe not always with a voice, but definitely always in character.
Erik Mona: In character.
Jason Bulmahn: Depends. If it's an important NPC then I'll do it in character, but it's Joe Schmoe guard I'll generally cut through it.
Sean K Reynolds: Mix.
Joshua J. Frost: Always play the character.
James Sutter: Totally the voices. I think that if you can find a really funny or interesting voice, it's the best part of a character.
Chris Self: I do third person. I'm bad at voices. Generally whenever I use funny voices, my players ask me to stop. (laughs)
I've never used the voices... I'm just not much of a character actor!
After I started my internship at Paizo, one of the things I found really intriguing was seeing how the pros did things—little things, really, like how they pronounce tarrasque, for example. Then it occurred to me that most people who roleplay often never experience anything outside of their own group of players, so I figured maybe some of you might be as interested as I am in knowing how the pros GM, so I whipped up some questions for the folks here at Paizo.
1. When you call for your players to roll Perception checks, do you pull those who succeed aside, or do you simply look at them and say, "You see/hear...?"
Lisa Stevens: I just do it in front of everybody. I trust my players, they're all pros. But sometimes I might do it just to see how someone will react or to see how someone might attempt to convey the same message to the rest of the group. It becomes really interesting when two players' characters are a bit antagonistic with each other; it's fun if one player makes the roll, but the other doesn't. I like to give that player the info just to see if he'll share the info, and if he doesn't, how the other player might react.
F. Wesley Schneider: Depends on the situation. If it's something more epic, I've found that it is much more exciting and suspenseful when a player reveals the information than the Game Master.
James Jacobs: I just say it in front of everyone.
Erik Mona: That really depends on the dramatic tension. If it isn't very important, or it will just slow the game down, then no. But if a player has a different agenda than the rest of the group, then certainly.
Jason Bulmahn: Depends. If it's a situation where the results aren't immediately obvious I might, but if it's a situation where a monster is about to jump out and attack and everyone will know in just a few seconds anyway, then I just say it.
Sean K Reynolds: Tell everyone and trust people not to metagame.
Joshua J. Frost: I just say it in front of everybody.
James Sutter: In front of everybody; I trust my players and depend on player honesty.
Chris Self: Everyone. I trust my players to keep player knowledge and character knowledge separate. Besides, with things like Perception checks, everyone will know it within moments anyway.
This first question is something I've often wondered how other groups handled. For me, I've often just said, "All right, you two see...," but after a while, I started to think, "Man... this is almost a waste of time having them roll at all, since at least one person always succeeds! It's good to know I'm not the only one who plays this way.
New Blog Entries
