Some beginner questions


Beginner Box


Hey there,

Me and a couple of friends bought the beginner box and played our first game this friday. I was the GM. None of us ever played a pen and paper rpg before. 4 hours later they were done with creating their chars...and 5 hours later the adventure provided in the beginner box was complete. And it was extremely fun!

Now the questions:

1. What do we need to expand our game? What books? What other misc things(like pawns or stuff).

2. I'm currently trying to make next week's adventure. I took some tips from the book on what to do next but what should i use to make maps? I have the back of the map that's easy to use, but i'm planning a 2 level map. What do you guys use to make maps ?

3.If it's not in the rules but it makes sense should i roll with it? The players found some imaginative ways to approach some situations that made sense so i let them do it and invented rules on the spot.(for example using a grappling hook to take the big ruby from the altar).

4.Any other tips and tricks?

Thanks !


I can answer the 3rd... As GM you are the arbiter of rules. It is your creation (not necessarily story) The spell Prestidigitation I have done some rather amusing things with.

If you believe they can do something, perhaps a skill to try it.

Players don't follow your script, you do the script to fit them.
Now, fun idea, jumping back to forth up close walls, ala Jackie Chan, you could do as an acrobatics (or multiple ones) at a decent dc instead of perhaps climb.

Grappling Hook to get stuff, nice idea.

Later, you can look at the book and go, "That's how I could/should have handled that. I'll do that enxt time."

Welcome and well come to an exciting new world.


Welcome Axell! I'm also new to Pathfinder, but have been playing D&D for nearly 30 years. The Beginner Box is GREAT!

1) As I like the idea of keeping my game BB only, I bought the Bestiary for new monsters, but haven't yet purchased the Core Rules. The stuff I do use from it is free and legally online at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ so I can pick and choose the elements I want (such as levels 6-8). Either way, those two books are a great way to continue OR supplement your boxed set adventures.

Definitely check out the free BB downloads here on paizo.com too. They have more of everything imaginable for the BB and are a great source of additional fun!

2) I use the blank map from the box with wet-erase markers, and erase as needed for space. The flip-mat basic you buy (not the one in the box) is double-sided blank, so you could always use both sides for your two level dungeon that way.

3) Precisely what IejirIsk said: Yes. Always roll with it if the players are clever. Enjoyability, humor, and pacing always trump tracking down specific rules IMO.

4) If you had a blast... and it sounds like you did... just keep on keepin' on! Way to go!


Thanks for the tips and thanks for that website. Been browsing it half a day at work.
I found a flip map/core rulebook/bestiary and bestiary box pawn set for purchase without the 70$ shipping cost here at paizo, so i'm gonna buy those as well.


Welcome to the world's greatest game!

1. What do we need to expand our game? What books? What other misc things(like pawns or stuff).

You have, hopefully, many years of play ahead of you and these things will come in time. Don't buy too much too soon. Pick up one book at a time so you can absorb it, and hopefully use it. Having a wealth of figurines might take years, so just get what you need and improvise the rest for now. If you don't have a combat mat then pick one up. I go medium sized, but bewteen all my group members we have at least three different sizes and have used them all. Make sure your players contribute to purchasing materials.

2. I'm currently trying to make next week's adventure. I took some tips from the book on what to do next but what should i use to make maps? I have the back of the map that's easy to use, but i'm planning a 2 level map. What do you guys use to make maps ?

1/4" graph paper and a combat mat. Sometimes its simply free-form, fun map drawing, other times I give more thought to how an actual builder might have constructed it. If I am in a curious location in the real world, I will draw inspiration from that.

3.If it's not in the rules but it makes sense should i roll with it? The players found some imaginative ways to approach some situations that made sense so i let them do it and invented rules on the spot.(for example using a grappling hook to take the big ruby from the altar).

Yes. Rather, when a player asks to try something, make a habit of allowing them to try. Decide on what you or the player will roll (attack, skill check, ability check, saving throw, etc.), and don't be afraid to make the DC high if that is appropriate. On the other hand, the player who has invested every resource into being the very best at something should succeed quite a bit, so don't be threatened by that. After the combat or session is done, you should talk about how it might be handled in the future. It might already be covered in a rule or feat that you don't know about.

4.Any other tips and tricks?

No one person's fun should occur at the expense of another's. You will encounter situations in the future where this will happen. Address it before it gets out of hand. Your job is that of story teller and referee. Do not take sides. Do not punish the players for suceeding, if you think they did so too easily. Your job has more work, stress, and responsibility than the players'. Please remember to have some fun yourself, lest the rewards are lost on you.

Thanks !


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Hi there - and as veryone else has said, "Welcome aboard".

A few points that may be of use/interest (feel free to ignore - see rule "1")

1) Rule "1" - it is your (and your friends) game. You may run into some oiks who try to tell you you are playing badly/wrongly/whatever. Ignore them - if you are having fun, then you are doing it "right" (in so far as that means anything). Hopefully you won't run into any idiots like that, but they are around

To expand your game, there are a couple of things I can recommend

2) Have a look on line - there are LOTS of things you can (quite legally) lift from web sites and use. Paizo here has some add on adventures specifically for the Beginners Box; Likewise, there is an additional PDF you can get designed to make moving to the "full" game much easier. Have a look, and don't be afraid to steal ideas

3) Using pre-made adventures. Thoughts on this vary, as many people like to create their own adventures, but I think when you are just starting out, having a helping hand with a pre-designed adventure is a really good idea. There are some designed specifically for the beginners box as complete adventures. I am cursed with a bad memory though, so can't remember the names of them. I believe they had quite reasonable reviews, though, so may be worth looking up

4) If you want to spend some money, some of the better options include:-

a) The Bestiary 1 - a whole lot of new monsters. If there are sections on the descriptions or stats you don't recognise, ignore em, and just use what you recognise

b) The GameMasters Guide is also a good book if you are just starting out. It gives you a good grounding on running adventures, how to handle problem players, etc etc. Pretty good book in my opinion

c) The Core Rule Book ("CRB") - bit odd listing this one last, as it is truly the core of the system. The reason I listed it last is that it is chock full of rules... The others have bad guys you can pick and choose from, or good generic advice on what to do. The rule book has a lot of rules and can be overwhelming. Very very good book, aned essential at some point, but read the PDF I mentioned at the top first if I were you.

5) Have fun - never get so bogged down in rules that you spend 30 mins trying to work out what the book says - take a punt, guess at how hard it should be, and make the player roll for it ("OK - you are wearing a blindfold, on the back of a dragon, and you want to jump off just as it passes over the mill pond (which you can't see), stealing the bad guy's dagger as you go, making a perfect swan dive while singing "All Hail Desna". "sigh*. OK - lets start with a perception roll, DC 35 or so and work from there..."). Look up the rules AFTER the game - try not to use too much time in game.

Bahh - I could go on and on, boring you to tears. I'll end with just remember it is a game, and it should be played as such, not a competition. As GM, any time you want to kill the players, you can. Your "job" (apart from having fun) is to to give the players a chance to kill themselves ;-)

Cheers

Aiddar


I cant remember what the name of it was... but i'll quote it anyway.

Quote:
Alright, you walk into the room, now i'm gonna roll some dice for effect, and make some shit up.

<-- that is probably main rule of DM'ing


1. What do we need to expand our game? What books? What other misc things(like pawns or stuff).

This can get expensive quickly. The Core Rule Book is a good idea if you think you're going to stick with the hobby, then you can buy other books as you progress, I'd do it a little gradually. PDFs are good alternatives to the expensive books, especially if you have a tablet/ipad to read them on at the table. Conversely, if you have a laptop, it can do all kinds of things, like access the PRD or d20pfsrd and you can look up rules as you go. This slows the game down a little, so you'll want to constantly be learning new rules and tricks.

As far as pawns or minis, the best investment I have made was to buy a box of zombies from Games Workshop for their Warhammer game, I painted them up, and numbered the bases, and they are my go to mooks. Over the past couple years I have bought D&D/Pathfinder minis, reaper minis (usually for me or my wifes PCs) and have amassed a decent collection. Minis get expensive quick though, so don't overwhelm yourself too quickly.

2. I'm currently trying to make next week's adventure. I took some tips from the book on what to do next but what should i use to make maps? I have the back of the map that's easy to use, but i'm planning a 2 level map. What do you guys use to make maps ?

The flip map that you have in the BB is a great resource, that and wet erase markers will serve you well. I bought the game mastery flip map years ago, and still use it all the time.

As you get more into things, you can buy tiles, the map packs, etc. Worldworks games has some pretty cool terrain and if you have the time and more importantly, the money, you could probably use their products to create your two level map. (In 3d two levels)

There is also something out there called "inked adventures" that work pretty good for cheap tiles that you can print off, they're a little cartoony though, so if that isn't your thing, you won't like it much.

Also, there is gaming paper, you can buy 1 inch graph paper and pre-make all of your maps. Its rather cheap, and lets you pre-make, save, and re-use maps. Along these lines, the back of christmas wrapping paper is also in 1 inch squares so if you have some of that laying around, profit.

Terrain can be time consuming and expensive. Much like minis.

3.If it's not in the rules but it makes sense should i roll with it? The players found some imaginative ways to approach some situations that made sense so i let them do it and invented rules on the spot.(for example using a grappling hook to take the big ruby from the altar).

Thats all good, and as others have said, it is your game. As you get more comfortable, you might assign AC to the ruby, and require a ranged attack wielding the grapple hook to latch on to it.

Chris Perkins has said, try to always say yes, and when in doubt, improvise. It sounds like you were following his advice without even trying.

4.Any other tips and tricks?

We use a facebook group to communicate with one another through out the week. Thats been helpful.

I mentioned his name above, but youtube Chris Perkins and watch him GM some games, he's a great GM, and pretty easy to listen to and watch. Though he is stuck with 'that other game' and not pathfinder, the skills are the same.

Sovereign Court

The best thing I can suggest as a tip is simply to remember that in the end it's a game. Something designed for you and your friends to have fun with. So long as your enjoying yourselves your playing the game correctly no matter what anyone else says. ;)

Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

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{1. What do we need to expand our game? What books? What other misc things(like pawns or stuff)}

Right away? You don't need anything. After you've played for a while, if you feel like adding more, download the Beginner Box Transitions document from the Beginner Box website. It'll walk you through other rules that are in the Core Rulebook and explain how to read monster stat blocks written for the core rules. Then you can consider picking up the Core Rulebook (more classes/skills/feats/spells/magic items) and the Bestiary (more monsters).

Don't feel pressured to do anything too soon. We designed the Beginner Box so you'd have enough stuff to work with for level 1-5, which (given the pace of a typical campaign) is several months of playing once per week. Have fun, enjoy the game. :)

{2. I'm currently trying to make next week's adventure. I took some tips from the book on what to do next but what should i use to make maps? I have the back of the map that's easy to use, but i'm planning a 2 level map. What do you guys use to make maps ?}

I draw them on graph paper. If you don't have graph paper, you can Google "free graph paper" and find several websites that let you pick grid sizes and print them out (4 or 8 squares to the inch is probably best).

{3.If it's not in the rules but it makes sense should i roll with it? The players found some imaginative ways to approach some situations that made sense so i let them do it and invented rules on the spot.(for example using a grappling hook to take the big ruby from the altar).}

Yes. It's not a videogame where if you can't get through a door if you don't have the right key. If the fighter wants to hack the door apart, or the wizard wants to blast it with a burning hands, let them be creative about dealing with challenges. That doesn't mean their creative attempts always work, but allow for reasonable solutions you hadn't thought of.

{4.Any other tips and tricks?}

Have fun. Have fun. Have fun.


WoW! thanks for all the help!
I already bought some graph paper, some markers and some transparent plastic sheets to put over the map/graph paper to draw things on the spot without drawing over the layout directly and started drawing the map and fleshing out the story and encounters. It's going to take a while but i'm enjoying it so far.

I've also downloaded all the free stuff from the site I found relevant,even some free beginner adventures( something related to free rpg day).


two things you need imagenation and maps then start making up a new campaign


If you go shopping for figurines, pick up some that peak your interest and build an encounter around them. If you do this periodically you will end up with not only some inspired battles, but a good variety of minis too.


Book depository actually had a good sale on pathfinder stuff yesterday, so I went and bought Core rulebook,Bestiary, Bestiary cardboard miniatures and Advanced player book for 100 euros total. Was worth it. Now waiting for delivery.

I have my cardboard pawns for now so it will take a while before i go for actual minis.


I also recommend reading lots of fantasy fiction. I've always found it easier to improve when I have all those stories in my head and the PCs go directions I wasn't expecting. :-)


Hello guys. I've also just started playing Pathfinder, and what can I say? I love it.

My question is: are there any pawns to buy from Pazio for the PCs? What do you use instead of miniatures when you create a character?

This seemed like perfect thread to ask this question on. Also, your answers were of great help to me as well. :D

Thanks!

Designer, RPG Superstar Judge

Alex, I think you should take a look at the NPC Codex Box. :)

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