Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box (OGL) PDF

If you come across a box that is missing or piece or is misprinted or has other manufacturing errors, please contact customer.service@paizo.com.

Thanks!

If you come across a box that is missing or piece or is misprinted or has other manufacturing errors, please contact customer.service@paizo.com.

Thanks!

Sara,

Thank you for the info. I will send an e-mail to customer service. Take care.

Dave (DragonValor)

For REAL rpg newbies the PF box rules are still much too complex. For normal people its difficult to understand why they should read more than 20 or so pages of rules just in order to play a game. The result is flipping once through the 170p of the two books and then walking away.

Of course I understand that here on this boards, noone can follow this because its full of fans which are used to read and learn hundreds or thousands of facts and rules for the hobby.

But if Paizo wants to win the casual teen player from the streets a rpg ruleset has to be even simpler than the PF basic box.

This box will primarly for children which have already a affiliation to the hobby, like a gift from parents which are already playing the normal PF or PF veterans which just like to have a simpler rule system than the core set. These people are the customers of this box, but not the casuals and not the fresh blood from the streets.

Kids today grow up with video games. They understand that games work according to certain rules, that characters have health, and attacks do variable damage. Trying to find an age 13 kid in the USA who hadn't had some exposure to RPG-style video games is almost impossible.

For those kids, the Beginner Box rules are easy. Yes, there's a lot of material for the full play experience, but the basic mechanic of 1d20+mods is easy, and all the info you need to start playing is on the pregen character sheet. Our teenage playtesters were able to start playing within 10 minutes of opening the box, and when we stopped them at the end of the playtest session, they wanted to keep playing.

You're not wrong, Enpeze, that basic assumptions are important to spell out in a box like this. But my understanding is that they threw this box at some kids and watched them parse it, so evidently if it had been a problem at that time they would have added the necessary details.

I have done usability testing for popular childrens' toyline games (won't say which under NDA) and I can vouch for Sean's assertion. Kids understand the basic concepts of "life" and "attack scores" etc pretty intuitively. Rightly or wrongly, some of these companies actually add unexplained complexity to their games nowadays!

Exhibit A (and not the game I worked with): Pokemon cards.

For REAL rpg newbies the PF box rules are still much too complex. For normal people its difficult to understand why they should read more than 20 or so pages of rules just in order to play a game. The result is flipping once through the 170p of the two books and then walking away.

Of course I understand that here on this boards, noone can follow this because its full of fans which are used to read and learn hundreds or thousands of facts and rules for the hobby.

But if Paizo wants to win the casual teen player from the streets a rpg ruleset has to be even simpler than the PF basic box.

This box will primarly for children which have already a affiliation to the hobby, like a gift from parents which are already playing the normal PF or PF veterans which just like to have a simpler rule system than the core set. These people are the customers of this box, but not the casuals and not the fresh blood from the streets.

IMO, RPGs are not for "normal" people. They are, and should remain a niche product. I think that Pathfinder can grow organically (word of mouth, with the occasional complete newbie) without the need to water it down to a card game, or complete drivel.

Besides, a "casual teen" doesn't want to do anything besides get high and have sex =)

Kids today grow up with video games. They understand that games work according to certain rules, that characters have health, and attacks do variable damage. Trying to find an age 13 kid in the USA who hadn't had some exposure to RPG-style video games is almost impossible.

Yes I agree. The fact that kids are much more accustomed to the principles of roleplaying today than they were in last century shows that there is a tremendous potential out there for the P&P rpg company who is capable and willing to tap this unused potential. One of the major probs, such a company would have is to generate a ruleset which is not too complex for those kids (I call them "casuals").

For those kids, the Beginner Box rules are easy. Yes, there's a lot of material for the full play experience, but the basic mechanic of 1d20+mods is easy, and all the info you need to start playing is on the pregen character sheet.

Yes the basics are easy but this can said from almost every other ruleset today. For example take RuneQuest. Just roll % under and thats it. Or take Gurps. Just take 3dice and roll under. Easy no? In reality its not the basic mechanics, its the amount of details and the amount of pages which detracts the casual from acceptance, enjoying or even trying out a P&P game.

Our teenage playtesters were able to start playing within 10 minutes of opening the box, and when we stopped them at the end of the playtest session, they wanted to keep playing.

Thats fine, but are you sure that your teen groups has been representative for a test? (history check, sufficient amount of test groups etc.)

Dont get me wrong. I dont try to be the wisenheimer (one of my favorte words in the english language :))here, but I am concerned that roleplaying is going the way of the dodo over the next decade and the only real solution to prevent this prob is to bring in fresh blood. And this can only be done by a major publisher like paizo or wotc.

Dont get me wrong. I dont try to be the wisenheimer (one of my favorte words in the english language :))here, but I am concerned that roleplaying is going the way of the dodo over the next decade and the only real solution to prevent this prob is to bring in fresh blood. And this can only be done by a major publisher...

I think we are all in agreement that we do not want to see RPG go the way of the dodo, and that fresh blood is needed. But, not just any fresh blood will do. I think that is the problem other RPG companies have made. We need discerning fresh blood - an educated audience, if you will.

I saw this at the game shop but the box was very different in shape and size. One here and amazon it looks to be about 81/2 x11 but in the shop smaller. Is there two types?

I saw this at the game shop but the box was very different in shape and size. One here and amazon it looks to be about 81/2 x11 but in the shop smaller. Is there two types?

The dimensions of the box are actually 9 by 11 1/2 inches by 2 3/4 inches. We don't have different box sizes.

It is a big, heavy box.

My old blue box feels flimsy by comparison, so you are definitely getting your money's worth with this one!

I had the privilege of examining a Beginner Box my GM recently purchased, and *wow*! It was a lot cooler than I expected. I thought I carefully watched the video and read everything about it, but here are a couple of things I did not expect:

1) the cardboard standup things (forget what they're called) are impressive for what they are. The artwork is top notch and they are printed on some pretty thick cardstock/cardboard. I think they're a great gateway for those who don't have any real miniatures--yet. :-)
2) The biggest surprise for me was the two books in the box. Considering the price, and everything included, I was expecting a couple of flimsy, "module" sized booklets. Oh, no! Instead, there are two actual *books*, one for players and one for GM's, and they seem to be the standard, full-color, 64-page, bound volumes, not unlike an Adventure Path volume, or one of the many sourcebooks. (I believe the GM guide might actually be quite a bit longer in terms of page numbers).

Unless I just haven't been paying attention, I think Paizo could do a better job of making it clear how thick these books are and the high quality of all the contents. Frankly, I don't see how they make a profit on this product at such a low price point. It could easily sell for (conservatively) 50% more than the retail price.

I've shifted this one from my "probably buy" list, to my "must have" list (and I've been playing Pathfinder and the world's most famous roleplaying game for over 20 years).

Well done, guys!

ETA: Okay, I just re-read the product description, and it clearly lists the number of pages in each book. So I guess all I'd say is, maybe those facts could be better highlighted or something? I had no idea.

Thats fine, but are you sure that your teen groups has been representative for a test?

Yes, we had a professional focus group company find us five teens that are in the target demographic: those who are interested in fantasy and games. To exclude that group in order to test people who wouldn't normally be interested in a fantasy RPG would be dumb—as dumb as choosing people who aren't interested in sports to playtest a sports video game.

To reiterate my earlier point: it's actually very hard to find a teenager who isn't already aware of video games, fantasy games, or fantasy. And for a typical teenager, telling them, "in this game you can play an elf, elves are sort of like humans but they live a long time, speak a different language, and have an affinity for the natural world, bows, and magic," is insulting their intelligence. They're going to respond, "duh, it's an elf, do you think I don't know what an elf is?" So: we write an introductory product to turn these potential gamers into gamers, rather that writing a box to convert someone who's not likely to be a gamer into a gamer.

Yes, we had a professional focus group company find us five teens that are in the target demographic: those who are interested in fantasy and games. To exclude that group in order to test people who wouldn't normally be interested in a fantasy RPG would be dumb—as dumb as choosing people who aren't interested in sports to playtest a sports video game.

Thank you for stoking my long-suppressed fantasy that Paizo might hire someone in-house to manage exactly that kind of testing on a routine basis. Dreams hurt, Sean.

Exiled Prince wrote:

I saw this at the game shop but the box was very different in shape and size. One here and amazon it looks to be about 81/2 x11 but in the shop smaller. Is there two types?

The dimensions of the box are actually 9 by 11 1/2 inches by 2 3/4 inches. We don't have different box sizes.

Could you perhaps have confused it with the Beginner Box Heroes Miniatures set?

Enpeze wrote:

Thats fine, but are you sure that your teen groups has been representative for a test?

Yes, we had a professional focus group company find us five teens that are in the target demographic: those who are interested in fantasy and games. To exclude that group in order to test people who wouldn't normally be interested in a fantasy RPG would be dumb—as dumb as choosing people who aren't interested in sports to playtest a sports video game.

To reiterate my earlier point: it's actually very hard to find a teenager who isn't already aware of video games, fantasy games, or fantasy. And for a typical teenager, telling them, "in this game you can play an elf, elves are sort of like humans but they live a long time, speak a different language, and have an affinity for the natural world, bows, and magic," is insulting their intelligence. They're going to respond, "duh, it's an elf, do you think I don't know what an elf is?" So: we write an introductory product to turn these potential gamers into gamers, rather that writing a box to convert someone who's not likely to be a gamer into a gamer.

Roughly 3/4 of my 15yr old brother's school class know what RPGs are. It's an even mix of boys and girls. In backwater Poland.

Really enjoying this box set in preparation for playing a Rise of the Runelords AP next Spring. I'm a new DM and all of our players are new to Pathfinder so the box set rules have been a great help.

I was wondering if anyone knows where I can purchase (online) bases to fit the the cardboard pawns from the box set so that we can stand them up on the game mat?

Really enjoying this box set in preparation for playing a Rise of the Runelords AP next Spring. I'm a new DM and all of our players are new to Pathfinder so the box set rules have been a great help.

I was wondering if anyone knows where I can purchase (online) bases to fit the the cardboard pawns from the box set so that we can stand them up on the game mat?

The bases are in the boxed set. Contact customer service here if you didnt get them.

The bases are in the boxed set. Contact customer service here if you didnt get them.

Oh! Thank you very much I will do just that . . .

IMO, RPGs are not for "normal" people. They are, and should remain a niche product. I think that Pathfinder can grow organically (word of mouth, with the occasional complete newbie) without the need to water it down to a card game, or complete drivel.

Besides, a "casual teen" doesn't want to do anything besides get high and have sex =)

I'm fairly normal - please, don't suggest I should not play RPGs.

You also insultingly under-estimate the majority of teenagers I know (I'm a teacher, I know a lot).

First off: Loving the community here big time. My only other major RPG home on the net is Mutants & Mastermind's excellent atomicthinktank forums and so far this forum is its equal as far as good attitudes and helpfulness. I especially love the hands on attitude that the Paizo creatives seems to exhibit here! Cheers for that!

After checking out my buddy's Beginner Box, I'm picking this up tomorrow at my FLGS, and I'm happy to say that Pathfinder has revitalized my love and fascination for DnD. This is after 30 years of play. I guess I just have edition burnout from 4E. While I have had great fun with that game, Pathfinder has something in its feel that brings out the memories of AD&D for me. I did skip out on the entire 3.0/3.5 runs so this is all so fresh to me.

Ok now that we have that out of the way, wish me luck as I'm going to be using the Beginner Box to bring my partner into tabletop gaming for the first time. He is over 40, loves fantasy and sci fi, but is not the biggest gamer on any level (video, board, card) to say the least. He is however curious about what I do on many weekends and is willing to give it a shot.

I'd love to hear any stories that you all have to share about your experiences in bringing in non-gamers, especially older ones, into the hobby, as well as any tips you may have.

I get this box whit my subscription, this box is amazing, the books are amazing to watch, but if you are no nub is not new stuff, but even if you have years playing the mat and the paws are amazing assets (I need more pawn bases, you plain to sell them separately? y want more), AMAZING WORK, I have two or three friends to maybe start to play thanks to this box.

Just wanted to chime in on how great the Beginner Box is. A few years back, I purchased the Pathfinder core books in PDF format to give the rules their due. Honestly, I thought that there was way too much complication for a casual game with my kids. So I moved on.

I'm a sucker for Quick Starts/Fast Play rules though, so when I saw the Beginner Box video on youtube, I got excited. I put off picking up the Skyrim soundtrack and bought the Beginner Box instead. I am glad that I did.

From my perspective this is the perfect product. This is what I was looking for when I bought the crappy new Red Box from Wizards. That the authors were able to distill the core concepts from the Pathfinder Core rules into an easily digestible form is amazing to me. The layout and fonts were a big plus too.

My first game was last Thursday. It was an immediate hit. The wife and kids loved the pre-gens and we quickly picked up the rules as we went. I think the detailed, section by section descriptions really helped. Having the maps and minis were also great. I have plenty of plastic minis, but it was nice not having to pull down the big fishing box full of them. I had dice already, but another set is always welcome. These dice are pretty cool too.

I'm not sure if the sales and reception are good enough to warrant, but I would personally love to see another boxed set that is analogous to the old Expert set.

Love the box, but the magic staves in the GM book are confusing.

4500gp for a Staff of Scorching is amazing... and conflicts with the costs for Staff creation in the Core book.

Deliberate to give new wizard players a nice staff, or a PF rule change so finally wizards under 10th level can afford one?

Reverse-engineering the price of these items, it looks like two things going on with the staves in that book.

One, the staves are set at caster level 5 because the Beginner Box doesn't go up to the PF-default caster level 8, and we didn't want to confuse people by introducing a higher caster level, nor did we have the space to explain the change. So they're priced at CL 5 instead of CL 8, which is okay because as written you're not getting the "functions at CL 8th minimum" benefit like you would in a Core Rulebook staff.

Two, it looks like the pricing error that started in the APG is happening here: the listed Price is actually the Cost, and each should be listed as twice that amount. However, that means all staves are WAY more expensive than you could ever get in the level 1-5 range for the Beginner Box. Even a CR 8 encounter, which is should be challenging for level 5 PCs, only awards about 3,400 gp in treasure, compared to 9,000 gp minimum for the price-adjusted staffs. And that's sad. So I'm okay with introducing cheaper staffs in this way (especially as PF staffs are kinda overpriced anyway).

I get this box whit my subscription, this box is amazing, the books are amazing to watch, but if you are no nub is not new stuff, but even if you have years playing the mat and the paws are amazing assets (I need more pawn bases, you plain to sell them separately? y want more), AMAZING WORK, I have two or three friends to maybe start to play thanks to this box.

I don't see anything for bases by themselves, but there's several products that will give you both more bases and more monsters to play with:

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary Box

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Rise of the Runelords Pawn Collection

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Skull & Shackles Adventure Path Pawn Collection

Ultimategallo wrote:

I get this box whit my subscription, this box is amazing, the books are amazing to watch, but if you are no nub is not new stuff, but even if you have years playing the mat and the paws are amazing assets (I need more pawn bases, you plain to sell them separately? y want more), AMAZING WORK, I have two or three friends to maybe start to play thanks to this box.

I don't see anything for bases by themselves, but there's several products that will give you both more bases and more monsters to play with:

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary Box

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Rise of the Runelords Pawn Collection

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Skull & Shackles Adventure Path Pawn Collection

Of those three, only the Bestiary Box contains bases—the other two assume that you also have the Bestiary Box.

We are looking into making additional bases available for sale separately.

My bad! Thanks, Vic.

Of those three, only the Bestiary Box contains bases—the other two assume that you also have the Bestiary Box.

We are looking into making additional bases available for sale separately.

All your base are belong to us?

Kinda wish they made this as a rules light version instead of a Beginners set, with levels 1-10 who don't want all the details PF core has, something I could use as a main rules set without all the rules complications and BS. Add in another race and class or two expand to level 10 or 15 and I would have been satisfied. Maybe they could bring out an expert set expanding it to level 15 or so, would be like the original D&D B/X versions then. Too bad had promise.

That's not going to happen, the BB is the most rules light PF there is.

I'm ordering this for my kids, seems to be the exact right product to get them introduced to Pathfinder (they are huge M&M and DC Heroes fans).

Then I can GM a campaign for them when i get back to civilization.

Sweet!

Just bought a copy last night. This is a wonderful box set for the starting player or group. My son was very drawn in by the pictures. Brovo for your effort to make it so well illustrated.

I do have one question on the Pawns: Why did you just mirror the illustration on the "back" rather then flip it so the immage was the same on both sides? Not a big deal per say, more a curious visual... One side the character is left handed, the other they are right handed.

In any event: 5 Stars out of 5 from me. :-)

I just purchased this a couple of days ago (both the actual product and the PDF). Unlike the Bestiary Box product, it does not appear as though the PDF package contains the pawns. That's rather annoying - is there any way to get the pawn images?

Edit: Never mind - I was just being obtuse. "Token Sheets" == Pawns

So I absolutely love the beginners box. My friends and I have been out of gaming for quite some time and it was a great way to get back in without having so many rules to bog us down. However I am now looking at expanding and upgrading to the main set of rules. I don't want to have to have my players re-role all the work they put into there characters already. Does anybody have an easy way to upgrade the beginners box characters to the main game characters?

Or can I run some of the main Pathfinder adventures using the beginners box rules?

You can run Pathfinder adventures using the Beginner Box rules. We're working on a detailed free PDF that walks you through how to read PF stat blocks and what to look out for in the Core Rulebook and in PF adventures.

So I absolutely love the beginners box. My friends and I have been out of gaming for quite some time and it was a great way to get back in without having so many rules to bog us down. However I am now looking at expanding and upgrading to the main set of rules. I don't want to have to have my players re-role all the work they put into there characters already. Does anybody have an easy way to upgrade the beginners box characters to the main game characters?

Check the excellent Beginner Box forums right here at Paizo.

You'll find great ideas on how to convert up to full Core, as well as fan made BB versions of the rest of the Pathfinder classes.

Enjoy!

What is the recommended minimum age range for this? I'd love to get this for my nephew but want to be sure he's old enough.

Thanks!

The box lists 13+ as the recommended age range, but that is very much dependent upon the child in question. (I started gaming when I was ten, for example.)

I did a search of this thread, but couldn't find anything.

Could someone please list specifically what pawns come with this product (goblins, paladins, etc.)? I'm considering purchasing it solely for the pawns and flip mat, but I'm withholding until I know more about them--particularly whether or not they are redundant with existing pawns (such as from the Bestiary Box) or flip maps.

Could someone please list specifically what pawns come with this product (goblins, paladins, etc.)?

I quote Adam Daigle in this thread:

Human Cleric (male)

Human Cleric (female)
Elf Cleric (male)
Elf Cleric (female)
Dwarf Cleric (male)
Dwarf Cleric (female)
Human Fighter (male)
Human Fighter (female)
Elf Fighter (male)
Elf Fighter (female)
Dwarf Fighter (male)
Dwarf Fighter (female)
Human Rogue (male)
Human Rogue (female)
Elf Rogue (male)
Elf Rogue (female)
Dwarf Rogue (male)
Dwarf Rogue (female)
Human Wizard (male)
Human Wizard (female)
Elf Wizard (male)
Elf Wizard (female)
Dwarf Wizard (male)
Dwarf Wizard (female)
Kyra
Valeros
Merisiel
Ezren
Black Dragon
Dire Rat (3)
Giant Spider (2)
Giant Centipede
Goblin (4)
Goblin Boss
Goblin Dog
Orc (2)
Orc Boss
Ghoul (2)
Reefclaw
Skeleton (4)
Zombie (2)
Troglodyte (2)
Wolf (2)
Ogre
Animated Statue (2)
Air Elemental
Earth Elemental
Fire Elemental
Water Elemental
Skeletal Champion
Ghost
Mummy
Will-O’-Wisp
Gargoyle (2)
Werewolf (2)
Barghest
Salamander
Hell Hound (2)
Gray Ooze
Mimic
Boggard
Boar
Venomous Snake
Medusa
Green Hag
Serpentfolk
Doppelganger
Manticore

That list looks totally awesome. Gonna have to pick this up now.

Just got this last night. Opened up the dice, rolled the d20, got a 1. Either got cursed dice, or the game wants my kids to plow through it.

I love the Beginner Box, it's pretty much the best boxed starter set I've ever seen (and I've collected all the D&D boxed sets from 3rd Edition on).

My only serious complaint would be that the "Hero's Handbook" for players is just packed with information, somewhat dense and claustrophobic - seems like it could be a bit much for new players. Perhaps a few extra pages to spread things out on to lend a little more white space could help relieve the sense of every page brimming with more information than I at least could digest comfortably. Fortunately, the character sheets are very easy to follow instead and this booklet still makes a good reference guide for occasional use, so this isn't a disaster by any means.

The "Game Master's Guide", however, was a real treat to read - this boxed set is especially user-friendly for new GMs, with all the fantastic GM accessories (a good set of spare dice, a blank grid dry-erase map, monster and NPC pawns, a booklet with a nice short sample adventure and great advice on creating your own adventures, and an excellent monster bestiary and other great reference sections and tools.) It should be quite easy and exciting for a new GM to jump right into running the first game, and these components should come in quite handy to GMs for the full-size Pathfinder game long after moving on from the Beginner Box introduction, too.

With support up to 5th level, character generation information, and adventure creation information, replayability on this should be fairly high, and, though the price seems a bit steep for an introductory product, we easily are getting our money's worth from it.

Aside from that crowded player's book (a minor complaint), Paizo's designers did an excellent job here!

I can't find this in stock in the UK. Is it out of print?

It's in print, and any game retailer should be able to order it from their distributor. If your retailer has asked their distributor and is not getting the right answer, please let us know!

On amazon these things are running for like 70 dollars new.

Just downloaded the updated PDF. Er, Ezren? Is there something you'd like to share?