RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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In the last couple of months, I've had the opportunity to run some Season 0 scenarios, and to play in a couple others. And I always catch myself reaching for the Bestiary instead of the 3.5 Monster Manual. (When I was at Origins, I was caught volunteering an extra slot and didn't bring a Monster Manual, so I *had* to use the Bestiary version of monsters. The world did not end.)
So, to the gamemasters out there, are you still using the 3.5 version of monsters when you run Season 0 scenarios?
To Mark and Hyrum: how is the conversion project going? Could you use some volunteer help?
A general question: which do you believe to be the strongest Season 0 adventures? Which do you consider to be the most problematic for using Pathfinder rules as they currently stand?
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In the last couple of months, I've had the opportunity to run some Season 0 scenarios, and to play in a couple others. And I always catch myself reaching for the Bestiary instead of the 3.5 Monster Manual. (When I was at Origins, I was caught volunteering an extra slot and didn't bring a Monster Manual, so I *had* to use the Bestiary version of monsters. The world did not end.)
So, to the gamemasters out there, are you still using the 3.5 version of monsters when you run Season 0 scenarios?
To Mark and Hyrum: how is the conversion project going? Could you use some volunteer help?
A general question: which do you believe to be the strongest Season 0 adventures? Which do you consider to be the most problematic for using Pathfinder rules as they currently stand?
I stopped bringing my 3.5 Monster Manual several months ago and just use the Bestiary. There is usually one of my judges who has the MM on him should I really need it. That said, I've stopped offering a lot of the season 0 stuff as it generally doesn't feel as 'toned' as the other seasons.
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We find ourselves going to the Season 0 well more often as our group size has grown, and as the old folks started new characters to allow for the second generation of players to join. Under the new replay rules, it's getting harder to find scenarios that everyone can play with only 2 active GMs per night (granted, we're playing weekly now, so it's our own fault). People don't like to play down to accomdoate enw players, they'd rather run lower-level characters.
Many of the older players don't like Season 0 because of only 1 PA, although IMHO for new players it's great because it minimizes the faction missions in favour of the group mission.
I usually use Bestiary instead of MM, unless it's a huge difference in CR... that doesn't happen very often. Anything in the mod I use as written and just calc CMB/CMD on the fly if I need it.
Strong ones: #5 Mists of Mwangi, and it's been converted to PFRPG. (Although there is still some confusion about an effect in the game, and several fights were changed significantly in the PFRPG version to the point that it's much easier.)
#2 Hydra's Fang Incident is pretty good, and usually teaches new players a valuable lesson...
We just played PFS17 Perils of the Pirate Pact and it was well-received as well. PFS7 Among the Living is fun, too... overall strong scenario, good end fights and lots of fun. I haven't run into any that were particualrly hard to resolve in Pathfinder, but there are some that are just not as strong as later seasons.
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I like to have a print-out of the page for the creature out of the Monster Manual or Bestiary. I can stick it into the scenario hardcopy and that way I avoid having to tote around another book. I like to replace the MM versions of the monsters with the PF ones whenever possible. Sometimes the CRs don't line up perfect though... Recently I ran Perils of the Pirate Pact as well.
Usually I have a good notion if the party is capable of handing the PF version of the monster or if I should just stick to the MM. I think the effort to convert the Season 0 scenarios to PF has stalled, but with PaizoCon & GenCon upon us the guys in charge have bigger fish to fry.
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So from my experience, with good prep time I try to use the updated monsters that have been converted already. For example lost at Bitter's end has some monsters that gained threecr. I used the higher paizo updated monsters. Now the many fortunes of grand master flash the cr's are a bit higher in this mod the older monster are more appropriate. I try to read and rebuild npc's. When it comes to missing feats I usually assign combat manuever feats, this helps npcs providing more tactics with out changing the the encounter to much.
Director of Brand Strategy
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To Mark and Hyrum: how is the conversion project going? Could you use some volunteer help?
We have a number of scenarios that have been converted, some of which have been converted, developed and laid out but are awaiting editing when there's time between new products in the editing queue. Some have been converted but not yet developed.
Our priority remains getting high quality new material out on time, but right behind that is getting our three-year-old material updated so it is easier for GMs to run and serves as advertising for our currently-supported rules set.
There is currently nothing anyone outside the company can do to speed this process up, but if we have an opportunity for the community to assist in any way, I'll be sure to let everyone know.
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For season 0, I use the 3.5 monsters because they don't always convert appropriately. I've heard of TPKs happenning when GMs use the PF Bestiary mobs instead of the 3.5 mobs, and I wouldn't want that to happen.
In general though, I stopped GMing season 0 mods until after season 3 comes out. Getting 1 PA per scenario kind of gimps players. Also, it seems like the quality of scenarios is only getting better over time.