Perram's page

You guys who have the PDFs could answer a whole lot of curious people by letting us know how many hit points the level 1 characters in the back of the adventure path have.

*Puppy Eyes*

I placed an order yesterday for a Pathfinder Launch poster to give to my FLGS (Paizo Order #1205639), and the order did not apply my 15% discount. I then noticed that none of the prices on the site were displaying my discount!

My last subscription shipment had the discount applied, but nothing seems to have it applied now.

jreyst wrote:

I threw together a simple page showing the top 10 roleplaying game sellers on amazon. The data is live so if you check back occasionally you should see different results. The page is at

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/sales-tracker

So that first number (which was 109 a few minutes ago and now is 117) that's the number of books they sold? They've only sold 117 books on Amazon....? That's much lower than I anticipated.

But I may just be looking at it wrong.

Robert

No, the first number is the book's "Rank" on the chart, lower being better.

Congratulations, guys, I am so very excited for you!

Are you running modules or printed adventures or something like that? I almost always run my own ideas, so that is where my suggestions come from.

No, I'm not running any modules for this game. (Though I am running modules for another game, and the prep work there is almost non-existent.)

If my decades of gaming have taught me anything, they've taught me that there will always be angry corner cases out there railing against some other aspect of the gaming industry. I'd like to stress, however, that taking this conversation down the road of "X website hates Pathfinder!" won't lead to anything positive. So let's avoid the cross-board bashing.

Yeah, I don't want this to become a flame post or edition war thread or any of that other bad stuff that is just no fun. I was just kinda shocked to see a lot of negative PFRPG comments out there on the other community boards, and was hoping to learn of the history behind it.

I even remember Jason making a post once where he expected a negative response when posting to one of the other boards.

Maybe I need to expand my community reach a bit... what other community sites are there out there besides those two? (Enworld, RPG.net)

What sites?

RPG.net, ENWorld, mostly, also The Gaming Den.

When I go to the other web communities to see what the discussions are concerning Pathfinder... the welcome is far from warm. I have come late in the game to Pathfinder, and I was wondering what was up with all the anti-PF out there?

Hi all. I would like some ideas that I can present to my DM or at least give him the link to here about ideas for a two person adventure.

I am playing a Half-orc rouge with the feats spell casting prodigy, collegiate wizard and dragon mark least at 1st levl. My stats are str18,dex 9,con17(18@4th)Int 16(prodigy gives me a +2 bump so its 18 for all spell casting)wis 9 and cha 11. I know the build seems crazy but I only cheery picked the rouge for the skills at 1st lvl, I personally would never play one as a class. I am going straight mage from 2nd lvl on but I need skills like spot, search and appraise as a mage. I picked the feats I did because two of them can ONLY be taken at first level.
This character is just as comfortable being in the courts of the noble houses or the royal courts as he is hacking through the untamed lands of xendrick or color spraying the attacking kobolds.
The only other player is a Halfling spirit shaman. He is beyond weak his strength is 6 but his dex is 20 and he has an ungodly AC @ 1st lvl of like 20 +. My AC is 12 so I get hit ALL the time. He stays at range and heals me.
So does anybody have any good ideas for a two person party where the main combat monkey is a wizard and a ranged combat spirit shaman?
I have looked on the wizard’s website and found some great ideas to give to my GM but the best ones come from other players so any serious attempts at help would be appreciated.

You are going to start running into problems mostly in the early levels when monsters start to get into your face. I would ask the GM if the party could have a statted out 'pet' if you didn't want an NPC on the team.

The GM wouldn't have to RP the pet too much and it wouldn't take up too much screen time. Something like a wolf or a bear, etc. If you are playing in a high magic campaign, I'm guessing Eberon, you may be able to get a construct to fill this role.

Make it a fighter for class, or just keep advancing its animal hit dice when it would 'level up.' I wouldn't make the character too complex, just something to get in the way. As you get higher levels, your spell casting and gear will help to build up defenses, but its those early levels that are the danger for caster types, and a double caster party needs something to plug those holes.

What are you doing, first off? What I mean is, what do you concider prep time?

Thanks for the answers everyone.

For my usual prep work, I'll create a general outline of the adventure and the important details of what has happened so far. Usually I write it from the point of view of "What do the various NPCs want, and what will happen if the PCs do nothing?" And then I adjust on the fly as the PCs change things.

I don't bother statting up any NPC that won't see combat besides the usual Name/Appearance/Alignment/Personality notes where I detail out their motives and role in the plot.

The campaign I'm running right now is very urban, so the "monsters" that my PCs are up against are almost all NPCs. Guild Thieves, thugs, ex-pirates, foreign agents. It is statting up these critters that stalls me out the most.

I love Pathfinder, and 3.5 before that, but I my prep time between sessions is often quite a bit, especially on the NPC design front. What advice do you guys have for a GM wanting to speed up his prep time?

Since the 1st edition is about to launch, I think we need to have some of the basic forums on the board, like a PFRPG GM section for asking advice / sharing tips etc.

Spoke with my FLGS - The Tin Soldier they have ordered 110 PFRPG Core Books and 91 of them have been pre-sold.

Wow, that is awesome to hear.

My FLGS is only ordering 10 :( (8 are preorders)

I'm doing the same thing as you, different city though (Toronto).

Your city might have several D&D web groups already. I'd join them and advertise in them, constantly.

www.facebook.com, meetup.com, and just doing a search on "YOURCITY, dungeons and dragons" should net you maybe another society or two. You might find things posted in other comic/gaming stores.

There are lots of D&D 3.5 players looking for games, but most of them are not aware of Pathfinder. Your job is to make them aware of Pathfinder, especially since Pathfinder can't directly use the words "D&D" in their marketing. But you can. Spread the word brother!

The notice boards in game stores are also ok, I'd use a one page description of your game and little tear offs with your name, number and email to answer questions if people are interested. That and dropping a business card with game information into each person's purchase at the gaming store, although this is more expensive.

Anyway, good luck with it and keep in touch with any successes or challenges you might have, so that we can all learn from each others experiences.

Well, my city is actually a very small little city, with less than 8,000 people in it, and I have looked before, and there is no other organized game groups. (There are plenty of gaming groups, but no formal organizations.)

Our store doesn't actually have a notice board, but it will let me put signs up throughout the store, including the RPG shelves and the tournament room.

smell of orange blossoms in the wrote:

I'm interested...although I run a mac and all the software you mentioned is new to me.

Still, with the lead time I'm sure there's nothing I couldn't muddle through....

The choice of software is based on the fact that I use a mac I can help you with that end of things.

TenOfWar - Generally folks know not to talk over each other. There is also chat within maptools to help defray the cacophony.

I'll be back and see if I can figure out a time to play. Any particular time folks are interested in?

If folks wanted I might be talked into doing Legacy of Fire or Rise of the Runelords instead.

If it is a weekday, I work until 6pm EST ish... so any time before that is straight out, I'm afraid. As for the choice of adventure, Legacy of fire would be great fun, but I'm equally interested in the others, including Dungeon-a-day.

Perram wrote:

What I would like is a book of stock NPCs that I can use to speed up my prep time. Not a book on personalities, really, just a book that includes commonly used NPCs that appear as adversaries for all the common hummanoid races, and at a variety of CRs.

Thieves, Brigands, Guards, Street Boss, Orc Warriors, Goblin Archers, Old Witches, demon summoners...

Basically all the math / equipment done up for you quickly and easily, with accompanying art. I know its something I can do myself without too much effort, but it definably represents one of the largest time expenditures I have before each session.

You mean like THIS? :D

Oh man, I was already drooling over that book, now even more so! *Hugs Paizo!*

The preview statblocks seem to indicate that there are no bonus hit points any more.

I'm not so sure, the early stat blocks seem to hint that it doesn't exist, but the last few have exactly 6 more hit points than they should have.

What I would like is a book of stock NPCs that I can use to speed up my prep time. Not a book on personalities, really, just a book that includes commonly used NPCs that appear as adversaries for all the common hummanoid races, and at a variety of CRs.

Thieves, Brigands, Guards, Street Boss, Orc Warriors, Goblin Archers, Old Witches, demon summoners...

Basically all the math / equipment done up for you quickly and easily, with accompanying art. I know its something I can do myself without too much effort, but it definably represents one of the largest time expenditures I have before each session.

I'm just wondering if anyone is interested in a online game using Dragon's Delve, Monte Cooke's Dungeon a Day creation. I will be using the Pathfinder RPG rules. Considering it's only a month until the final game I might just delay until after August 13th to start.

I haven't decided on a game night but it would likely be a weeknight, from 4PM until 8PM PST.

Though I love Pygon's TableTop I get frustrated screwing around with Windows so I'll be running the game on Maptools using Ventrillo for voice.

Anyone curious?

I would be interested, yes.

Paizo, Kobold Quarterly, and Mouse Guard for me!

Good luck Paizo!

Ok, that makes a lot of sense. Something I'll need to try and prevent.

On the subject of advertising, what should I do there? The store, unfortunately, does not have any Pathfinder promotional material placed up, so I think at minimum I'll need to buy another poster and give them to put up...

What else should I prepare to get the word out? Fliers? Cards that the clerks can stock in the check-out bags? Set up some in-store demos? Buy some radio air time? Set up some web space?

I'd use PFS scenarios as they're designed for this sort of situation, but I agree with you that making it an official PFS scenario might detract from things. Of course, you could get some numbers off Josh ahead of time and make it a proper PFS game, if the players want that without giving them an overhead.

Ask the shop owner if you can use some miniatures from their supply. Battlemats and miniatures are very useful for beginner games. It also means your regulars can easily buy 'their' character from the store which should be an incentive on their side.

Advertise!

Apart from that, you've got things pretty well organised.

What's the policy on food and drink? And you might find yourself getting a group of regulars which would be a barrier to entry for new people. Does the shop have the space to play two or more tables?

Yeah, the shop is capable of handling about 8 separate tables if I need it, but I think I would have to cultivate a few GMs first. (Which I do hope to do!)

The store does let us use their loose D&D minis (but doesn't encourage it), but I'll have to bring my own Mats / Maps / Props (most of which I buy at the store, of course.) The tournament space also has stocked snacks and drinks, and they allow food to be delivered to the tournament room if we want to send out for pizza or something more substantial.

I'll be allowed to run the register and facilitate any purchases at the store the group wants to make. (I used to be a manager at the store, and still help from time to time.)

Question:
How does the group of regulars become a barrier for new players?

I tried this thread in the PFRPG forums and it didn't get any real response, I figure this might be a better place for this particular topic, so I'm giving it another shot here:

My local FLGS has agreed to let me run a monthly promotional Pathfinder game and will even be encouraging my efforts by allowing me to grant my attendees a store discount when they play. In exchange I'm supposed to encourage that they order their books through the store, of course. If it works we may be increasing it to bi-weekly.

The purpose of this group is not to be a steady traditional role playing group, but to promote the play of the game. (I will also most likely be running a steady group at the store as well as this promotional session. And I already participate in 2 other PFRPG groups outside of the store.)

What I was envisioning was having the play be mostly a series of One Shots, perhaps using Pathfinder Society. But I think that making the event PFS would actually hurt the purpose of the group as I wouldn't be able to have pleople come and go as they wish, especially as the adventures began to increase in level.

Here are my ideas so far:

• I would run PFS adventures to facilitate the 4 hour block one-shot nature of the monthly session.

• Before each session I'll have a time block dedicated to creating characters / leveling up characters / general questions and answers.

• I will have a selection of pre-gen characters available for use. (Another reason it couldn't be a 'real' PFS game, I'm guessing...)

• I'll slowly advance the level of the adventure to accomidate the regular player's character advancement. The Pre-Gens will automatically level as well, and I'll have several "if you haven't leveled up to X yet, you can do so now" points for people who aren't able to make every game. This will probably be slightly behind the possible level of a regular player.

• Every so often, I'm not sure how often or when, I would do a 'reset' for the adventures and begin again at level 1.

The goal of these regular events are to promote the game, provide an easy method to play the game regularly/get answers to Pathfinder questions, so I want to make it as easy as possible for someone to just walk up and start rolling dice.

At the same time I also want to promote the FLGS to return the favor. After all, the FLGS is important to our hobby's continued fruition.

The Question:
So I ask, what advice do you all have? Any assumptions I'm getting wrong? What promotional material would you suggest I provide? I'm able to budget a small amount of money to this project on a recurring basis, but not excessively so.

Will local gaming store even have the PF book on the 13th or is it delayed like on Amazon? Hate to make a 1 hour and half trip to find out it's not out yet. No real gaming store near where I live. Do have couple of comic shops but they are 80% comics and 20% gaming. If I want him to order it in I can usually get from Amazon in about 1/3 the time.

(Well, I don't want this thread to become a advert for the gamestore itself, so if you PM me I'll send you all the information you need if you don't already have it. They hope to, but I'll ask them to make sure, I know their managers are excited about its release and that I'm not the only one with a pre-order for it through them.

As with any gamestore, I would guess:

You can always call them the day of or beforehand and they'll let you know. They will probably even hold it for you behind the counter if they have any spare.)

My local FLGS has agreed to let me run a monthly promotional Pathfinder game and will even be encouraging my efforts by allowing me to grant my attendees a store discount when they play. In exchange I'm supposed to encourage that they order their books through the store, of course. If it works we may be increasing it to bi-weekly.

The purpose of this group is not to be a steady traditional role playing group, but to promote the play of the game. (I will also most likely be running a steady group at the store as well as this promotional session. And I already participate in 2 other PFRPG groups outside of the store.)

What I was envisioning was having the play be mostly a series of One Shots, perhaps using Pathfinder Society. But I think that making the event PFS would actually hurt the purpose of the group as I wouldn't be able to have pleople come and go as they wish, especially as the adventures began to increase in level.

Here are my ideas so far:

• I would run PFS adventures to facilitate the 4 hour block one-shot nature of the monthly session.

• Before each session I'll have a time block dedicated to creating characters / leveling up characters / general questions and answers.

• I will have a selection of pre-gen characters available for use. (Another reason it couldn't be a 'real' PFS game, I'm guessing...)

• I'll slowly advance the level of the adventure to accomidate the regular player's character advancement. The Pre-Gens will automatically level as well, and I'll have several "if you haven't leveled up to X yet, you can do so now" points for people who aren't able to make every game. This will probably be slightly behind the possible level of a regular player.

• Every so often, I'm not sure how often or when, I would do a 'reset' for the adventures and begin again at level 1.

The goal of these regular events are to promote the game, provide an easy method to play the game regularly/get answers to Pathfinder questions, so I want to make it as easy as possible for someone to just walk up and start rolling dice.

At the same time I also want to promote the FLGS to return the favor. After all, the FLGS is important to our hobby's continued fruition.

The Question:
So I ask, what advice do you all have? Any assumptions I'm getting wrong? What promotional material would you suggest I provide? I'm able to budget a small amount of money to this project on a recurring basis, but not excessively so.

Silkygreenbelly wrote:

At work during the christmas season we get our customers through the wait as fast as possible by having one line that filters into multiple registers. That way if one register/customer has a problem that stalls the transaction, everyone in that line isn't screwed. we have one person at the front of the line pointing the customer to the first open register. Probably wouldn't work at a con though, cause it means you have one reeeeeally long line even though it is moving quickly.

We pretty much do the same thing, but we have a dedicated line for credit card transactions for when the line gets really long and the cash/check line is one line into two registers.

Which line would you think would be faster? I can pay either way, but knowing which line to get into would be best.

I suggest that we go ahead and start organizing a support group for Pathfinder fans who blow their backs out carrying their group's copies of the Core Rules...

Porter's Anonymous? The Nodwick Foundation? Helping Hands for Hirelings?

I was hoping for halflings. :(

I'm trying to support all of the channels on this one.

So far I've:
1) Pre-Ordered the book through my FLGS (and paid in full in advance!)
2) Subscribed here at Paizo
3) Will be picking up a copy at GenCon (And hopefully getting it autographed!)

I would really, really consider getting hold of Steven Muchow's SORD+ rules compendium. It is well worth $3 and will give you tons of ideas (in the off chance you don't use it).

HERE and HERE are some relevant threads

Oh very nice, thanks for the reference!

Hello everyone!

While I wait for the PFRPG GM Screen to be delivered, I've been working on constructing a PFRPG Cheat Sheet to use at the table. Instead of being a fold out screen, it will be a single sheet of paper, printed front and back, that the GM can keep in front of him on the table and 'flip' to the information he needs. I'll be printing mine off on card stock.

When I'm done, I'll be more than happy to post up the document somewhere for anyone who wants it to use.

So, I was wondering: What information should it have on it? I started this project by first making a 'Status Effect' cheat sheet and then wondering what I could print on the back after sending it out.

Here is my thoughts, so far, but I'm really hoping for some nice suggestions:

1) The CMB Size Chart (perhaps a unified chart for both the attacks and CMB values on separate columns.

2) The XP chart for planning encounters / awarding XP. Perhaps even slap on the expected wealth chart, too.

And... that's where I run out of ideas.

Wow nice!

Are the screen's panels set up horizontally (like 4e's screen) or vertically?

Well, if the art they are showing is to scale, it looks like it will be vertically aligned.

1000px total wide, meaning each panel is 250px by 324px tall... so standard letter format.

Ordered!

I'm so glad to hear it will be on hard stock. I have to admit that the 4e DM screen has spoiled me and made me envious, and I was hoping the Pathfinder one would be as good.

My only question is will it have the status conditions summarized in it?

I too want to rock the house, Pathfinder style.

I humbly demand (yeah...thats not passive-aggressive...) the Pathfinder DM screen. Hmm...I should get a list..

^_^

I'm surprised we haven't seen more about this, considering how close we are getting to the expected date.

My hopes for it are that it will include the status effects as that is the most common thing I forget and the 4e screen was so nice to have them.

It would also be good if it were made of that same type of material, too!

Reckless wrote:

Reckless wrote:

Just to be sure, the Pathfinder Adevantage discount will count for books bought at Gen Con, right? I'm pretty sure you guys applied it to the maps and stuff I bought there 2 years ago.

Bump da question

Yes, Pathfinder Advantage applies to all sales at GenCon. Remember, however, that for the Pathfinder Advantage to kick in, you must have had your first subscription shipment sent. Just signing up for a subscription doesn't give you the PFA. You need to actually have had a shipment sent. We had people last year who signed up the day before the convention and then were really disappointed that they didn't get the PFA on their purchases. So plan ahead!

-Lisa

Sorry if this is a newby question, but how do we get the discount? What do we have to bring? I'm going to be there for GenCon and you can bet the Paizo booth will be my first stop.

This looks like a very useful product. I use a lot of HeroMachine for my NPCs, so having a full set like this will be very useful!

I've been looking for a new poster and just couldn't find one I liked...

This is perfect, at a perfect time.

Ordered.