Youtube is always a good place to check otherwise give me some specifics about dungeon building and I can answer them.
I fudged a lot of stuff that I either didn't understand or didn't know about, but we all had some fun.
Good, good. That's the simplest way to get results, and the ideal outcome: keep things moving along, and make sure everyone has fun.
prepping for a dungeon
Preparing for the party to enter a dungeon, or preparing to create one of your own?
Either way: make sure the party has a reason to go there, challenges to overcome while inside, and somewhere to go once done.travel
"Handwave" it. Three days later, the party arrives at the Lair of Unspeakably Fluffy Bunnies.
spell prep
Ignore it - everyone gets all their spells back in the morning. Unless the casters are overshadowing the non-magically-inclined - spell preparation is mostly useful for keeping the Wizards somewhat in check.
Is there something from the BB that I'm missing or is there a lack of RPG knowledge on my part?
The latter, I'm afraid. Most Game Masters have been players themselves before running a game of their own, and so have been able to learn the rules first - and learn a few tricks from their GM(s).
Alex, did you & your players have fun? If you did, then you did good. Add other things as you become more comfortable with the rules. Keep talking to people here and take everybody's advice with a grain of salt. Why? Well, it may not work for you the way it works for them. We can give you all of the advice in the world, but nobody is absolutely right or wrong. Try out the things as you learn them. If it doesn't work for you, then let your players tell you so, then do something else the next time it comes up. I use electronic aids to help me run my games. I just started using the BB minis as the first minis I have ever used in 20+ years of gaming. If you make a mistake in rules interpretation, you don't have to always go back & change it then & there. Sometimes, most of the time actually, it is better to go on & do it right the next time. Remember to have fun above all else.
Thanks! I mean, I understand that stuff, I just don't actually understand the mechanics of sleep, food, travel, etc. some explanation would be nice, I can't seem to find anything on it in the rules.
Those are mechanics that I always found tedious, so I don't use them. The most I did was deduct food every day from their totals, if I even remembered to bother with having them worry about it at all, lol. As for travel times, I sometimes have it already written down because it is in the adventure. Sometimes I just wing it. Retired military I have a decent idea of how far a person can march in a day, so I adjust for normal people & for horses & terrain & whatever. Usually it is only important if you want to run random encounters.
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Thanks! I mean, I understand that stuff, I just don't actually understand the mechanics of sleep, food, travel, etc. some explanation would be nice, I can't seem to find anything on it in the rules.
Most of those rules are not in the Beginner Box, because they add additional complexity that really isn't needed for most people's games. If you are interested, you can find the relevant rules on overland travel in the Core Rulebook or the Pathfinder Reference Document.
As for sleep, here are the basics from the full game: most characters need to sleep for 8 hours a day. Anyone who doesn't get enough sleep gains the Fatigued condition for the next day. Arcane spellcasters (Wizards) need to sleep for 8 consecutive hours, or they don't have the opportunity to regain their spells. Clerics don't necessarily need sleep to regain spells, as long as they pray at the appropriate time (usually dawn). However, they can still get fatigued like anyone else.
Regarding food, most people I know just buy an appropriate number of Trail Rations (at 5sp each), and just use one per day to represent the food they're eating.
What you might find beneficial if you have a long journey you want to play out would be to play out the first day's travel -- setting out, stopping for meals, making camp in the evening, setting watch at night, and breaking camp in the morning. Then you can just say, "you continue like that for the next four days, until around lunchtime on the fifth day, when you see something interesting. . . " or whatever.
Note that most people tend to find these sort of mundane details rather tedious (it's an adventure game, after all!). But if your group is into that stuff, then by all means fill in as much detail as you like! Just don't worry if your group prefers to handwave it and just say, "you travel for four days, until something interesting happens..."
Good luck, have fun, and feel free to ask questions if there's anything else we can help you with :-)
Thanks! I mean, I understand that stuff, I just don't actually understand the mechanics of sleep, food, travel, etc. some explanation would be nice, I can't seem to find anything on it in the rules.
Do you WANT rules on these? I guess it depends on how simulationish you want to be, but these sorts of things are kind of scattered around throught the core rules, and are excluded (I believe) from the begginner box to make things easier.
For instance, sleep. Technically there is no penalty for a mundane character for not sleeping. The good old fighter can get away with it. The casters (cleric, wizard etc) have to rest for 8 hours to be able to get their spells back. Usually dms also use this as the time for characters to get their 'per day' abilities back, like a barbarian's rage, or a cleric's domain abilities.
Food, also is sort of laid out in the core rules. There are rations you can by that are measured in days worth. And you can use the skill survival to forage for food in the wilderness. There are also prices for some kinds of prepared meals you could purchase in a tavern or inn.
Travel again is codified in the core rules in terms of walking/hustly/forced march speeds and their effects.
Basically these are all highly specific rules that are intentionally left out of the begginner box because many dms who have been dming for years simply ignore them, mostly ignore them. If you really want them, we can point you to the relavent sections of the PRD (an online reference document for the core rules). But I dont know how much they would add to a game filled with begginners.
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Think of the game as a movie or tv show. Usually they only show the interesting things. Shows that include long boring, dull sections usually lose their audience very quickly.
For roleplaying, try to keep a high level of action/discovery. I would never ever handwave the death of a PC. If they are in a situation that could kill them, make the rolls, give them every chance to overcome it. If you don't have rules for it, make some up that you feel are fair. But for mundane (real-world) boring stuff. I just skip it.
One GM trick I decided on that has really helped to move the game along is:
In combat, once you have moved on to another player (or monster) there is no going back in time or unwinding the clock. If a player realizes that they added wrong or forgot to add extra damage, etc - don't go back to adjust anything. They can get it right next time. And same for the GM.
The only exception might be when a PC is killed and a mistake was discovered.
Another thought, if you don't have the Core Rulebook. Here are a couple of links for you to look at for rules that aren't in the Beginner's Box. SRD stands for System Refernce Document.
Definetly check out the SRD as Xorial has suggested. The Core Rule book is great to have as well as I find having a book in had is sometimes easier, as that is a bit more complicated you may want to wait until you have a better grasp of the BB.
My methods fall in line with those people's above. I make sure my players have food on them, for me it is assumed the party gathers and hunts to suppliment their own stock. So it is hand waved unless they are in a harsh environment where skill checks might come into play. Sleep and spell prep go kind of hand in hand, if the party is disturbed more than once in a night I will ask if they spend extra time sleeping/preping before they head off for the day as sometimes it is an option with concequence. Travel is sort of hand waved, I use the overland travel numbers based off character base movement and eyeball it from there (you can only move as fast as your slowest party member).
SGH
Thanks a ton you guys. Just ran a 4 hour campaign without a hitch! I didn't include any of the food stuff or anything, I'm just usually concerned with playing games the "right way". I guess if everyone has fun, it doesn't matter.
If everyone had fun, then you are doing it the right way.
I'm just usually concerned with playing games the "right way".
Then please be advised there's not really such a thing as "the right way" when it comes to roleplaying games. In fact, I'd call it more of an activity than a game at times. The rules are many and occasionally conflicting, nebulous or even superfluous. Almost all groups have "house rules" and the game relies on GM decisions (which might be arbitrary at times) and players' common sense.
Strict "rules-heavy" games can be fun, and have the advantage of everyone knowing what they can and can't do in your adventures. But it's by no means the only way to play the game.