Players may be the heroes of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, but whole worlds rest on the Game Master’s shoulders. Fortunately for GMs, the Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide is here to back you up. Packed with invaluable hints and information, this book contains everything you need to take your game to the next level, from advice on the nuts and bolts of running a session to the greater mysteries of crafting engaging worlds and storylines. Whether you’ve run one game or a thousand, this book has page after page of secrets to make you sharper, faster, and more creative, while always staying one step ahead of your players.
The 320-page Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide is a must-have companion volume to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.
The Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide includes:
Tips and tricks for preparing and running a better game, suitable for beginning GMs and battle-hardened veterans.
Step-by-step walkthroughs for creating campaign worlds, cities, cosmologies, feudal systems, and alternate dimensions.
Difficult player types, and how to handle them gracefully.
New rules for subsystems like hauntings, chase scenes, fortune-telling, gambling games, mysteries, and insanity.
Charts to help you generate everything from interesting NPCs and fantastic treasures to instant encounters in any terrain.
Advanced topics such as PC death, game-breaking rules, overpowered parties, solo campaigns, and derailed storylines.
Sample NPC statistics for dozens of common adventuring situations, such as cultists, guardsmen, barmaids, and pirates.
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-217-3
The worksheets from the back of the book are available as a free download (3.8 MB zip/PDF).
GameMastery Guide Errata Last Updated - 12/01/2010
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It looks like the Kingmaker adventure path will be getting some mass combat rules which is great, is there any plans to include naval combat or ship rules in this book or any other book on the horizon?
So what amazing product has been put in its February slot?
We haven't added any products—we're just taking the time to do this right.
And this is why we (your devoted fans) love you guys. The level of quality of work is simply unparalleled. I would rather wait an extra 30 days for a great book that im going to use for 10+ years then have that much sooner for an okay book.
So what amazing product has been put in its February slot?
We haven't added any products—we're just taking the time to do this right.
And this is why we (your devoted fans) love you guys. The level of quality of work is simply unparalleled. I would rather wait an extra 30 days for a great book that im going to use for 10+ years then have that much sooner for an okay book.
Hear hear! I have been totally blown away with the PF RPG core rulebook and the Bestiary, and on top of it all (having been so disappointed in most 3E supplements) I thought that APG simply couldn't add ANYTHING I would like or need or care about to the game -- however, having seen the playtest previews, I must confess that it appears I was wrong. Jason & The Paizo Design Team has NOT lost any "steam", and it looks like Paizo will actually EXPAND on the existing mechanics in innovative and exciting ways! If it means a few extra months of "polishing", I'm totally cool with that -- better that it will be done "right" than release something that is in serious need of houseruling/revision/errata. So, by all means take your time with GMG and APG! :)
I like everything I've read in the product description so far...
one additional thing I'd like to see is GM advice on how to create balanced prestige classes.
I dropped out of D&D after 3rd edition but before 3.5, so I don't know if this topic has been addressed anywhere else in the past. Moot point even if it was since we're talking about Pathfinder here, not D&D.
But I personally have a lot of ideas kickin around in me noggins for some prestige classes, but I sure could use some professional advice on how to make them balanced and playable and workable and fun and entertaining for me games, you know? :P
I have yet to find a G/DMG that really shows a person how to create a decent story. Plot, Conflict, etc. I have very little imagination when it comes to this kind of thing. Even if there's just a little chapter with tables that you can roll off of would be nice.
I would like a sentient book that understands everything about the universe and focuses it all down onto where I need the most help shoring up my DMing techniques! Yeah. Hyperlinked and with a plug-in to disguise gamer funk from players please.
I hope there will be pre-made encounters that feature terrain effects as well -- during the last session it took me some digging (in the middle of a combat) to find all the relevant rules and modifiers when someone asked "Can I charge or run in this forest, or do I need to roll an Acrobatics check? Does it cost two squares if I just move?".
I'd really, REALLY appreciate it if there would be a desert, forest, underwater, swamp, etc. encounter (one for each terrain, that is) that dealt with terrain modifiers and how to apply them; for example, "each creature can roll percentile dice to see if that square contains a tree" and "If someone uses Stealth...". Maybe these encounters could even list the most common skill checks associated with that terrain? It would be much more helpful than flipping between the skill and environment sections in the book when you're running, say, a combat in a cavern (with a slippery, uneven floor with several "levels" that require Climb checks to travel between) that features an underground river and a lake, plus half the combatants are making attacks from water against land-bound opponents who are taking cover behind stalacmites.
I didn't/couldn't read every post on this product, but did someone pipe up about rules dealing with high-level (12-13+ level) games/campaigns? Is is that covered under "broken"?
Is there any chance for a full author list ? From what I've gathered, apart from the Paizo staff there are several freelancers on the project - Jason Nelson, Hal McLean and Richard "M'naaaar" Pett as far as I remember. Who else is contributing to the GMG ?
Also, kudos for this book Paizo. Anything you do for time-starved DMs is great.
Is there any chance for a full author list ? From what I've gathered, apart from the Paizo staff there are several freelancers on the project - Jason Nelson, Hal McLean and Richard "M'naaaar" Pett as far as I remember. Who else is contributing to the GMG ?
Also, kudos for this book Paizo. Anything you do for time-starved DMs is great.
We'll probably be announcing the full author list at some point. Not yet, though! :)
Erm, nope. There was no such promo - you had to subscribe to the RPG line in order to get the PDF.
Yup, but if you preordered and then subscribed, your preorder was converted automagically into the subscription. Perhaps that's the cause of the confusion?
My dear chaps and chapesses, Erik and James came down to let me out only yesterday. I've been locked in a moist chamber in the northern Marshes of Finland, with a steady drip drip drip until I completed Thousand Screams.
There are quite a few of my own screams in there, lots of screams in fact.
Screams.
Screams!
Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The Night!
The NIGHT!
Can't wait to see the gamemastery book to see what goodies we can unleash in the future.
My dear chaps and chapesses, Erik and James came down to let me out only yesterday. I've been locked in a moist chamber in the northern Marshes of Finland, with a steady drip drip drip until I completed Thousand Screams.
There are quite a few of my own screams in there, lots of screams in fact.
Screams.
Screams!
Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The Night!
The NIGHT!
Can't wait to see the gamemastery book to see what goodies we can unleash in the future.
Now, back to your cells cupcakes!
Slithers off to yorkshire.
So it *was* you I have heard howling in the chamber next to mine, during the cold, dark nights! I *thought* I recognised the desperate, otherworldly cries and incoherent sobbing, but I assumed it was only the North Wind or those damned Imps playing tricks with my own deranged mind. Good to know I still have some shreds of sanity and reasoning left! Having said that... I hope you enjoyed your stay in Finland, where the ideals and spirit of Cheliax reign supreme! ;)
My dear chaps and chapesses, Erik and James came down to let me out only yesterday. I've been locked in a moist chamber in the northern Marshes of Finland, with a steady drip drip drip until I completed Thousand Screams.
My dear chaps and chapesses, Erik and James came down to let me out only yesterday. I've been locked in a moist chamber in the northern Marshes of Finland, with a steady drip drip drip until I completed Thousand Screams.
Slithers off to Yorkshire.
{Fixed that for you; it's upper case, when you refer to the home of England's capital city...}
Slithers is right, or maybe Squelches.
Thanks to the recent blizzards and the sudden thaw, I hope you brought your bog-snorkelling kit.
My dear chaps and chapesses, Erik and James came down to let me out only yesterday. I've been locked in a moist chamber in the northern Marshes of Finland, with a steady drip drip drip until I completed Thousand Screams.
Slithers off to Yorkshire.
{Fixed that for you; it's upper case, when you refer to the home of England's capital city...}
Slithers is right, or maybe Squelches.
Thanks to the recent blizzards and the sudden thaw, I hope you brought your bog-snorkelling kit.
Ah, but I was in Rotherham, and that's surely yorkshire
Squelches is right, I hope you have some ranks in swim.
My dear chaps and chapesses, Erik and James came down to let me out only yesterday. I've been locked in a moist chamber in the northern Marshes of Finland, with a steady drip drip drip until I completed Thousand Screams.
it says May, but i thought i heard at a gaming store it was supposed to hit shelves in march...or is that a different book?
If I understood correctly, they pushed back the release date to "get it right" (i.e. some parts of the book still needed to be polished). And I'm glad that they did it -- it shows how dedicated to producing quality Paizo really is! :)
I hear you can get $90,000 for a testicle. And with roleplaying being almost as expensive a habit as hard drugs, you may just need it.
Dang, $90,000? That's pretty tempting, ya know .... ;) Especially since the operation is a lot less invasive .... hmmm ....
And 50% of the population has two of those as well! And, weigh the odds. Those of us with a chance at reproduction only need one, while others who've tossed the option out the window for whatever reason (or have all the rugrats they want) don't need any!
Every time I think Paizo is going to drive me insane with all the OUTSTANDING resources they have produced, they produce another one... dang...Well, just tallied up my cart for all of their back issue resources, and it looks like around $400... good thing I don't have to explain it to the wife, or she would have both my testicles AND the $180K to show for it.
I hear you can get $90,000 for a testicle. And with roleplaying being almost as expensive a habit as hard drugs, you may just need it.
Why buy testicles?!
I mean, who'd WANT three?
GRU
You're a fish... what do you know about human testicles?
You've never heard of fish balls?
Of course I have -- all Chelaxians are great culinarists! Now, fish balls are salty, but human testicles taste... a bit weird, like telephone-flavored ice cream! ;)