General Advice requested


Shattered Star


So I am a long time DM/GM (20 years) but have taken a year or so off the hobby, and prior to that had not had a successful game for a few years. Finally we have gotten some new blood into the gaming group, and I'm going to try to run Pathfinder.

So I picked up the first couple volumes of the Shattered Star AP. I have a potentially large group coming to play. A few of those players are new to Pathfinder (and d20 in general).

We're starting with character creation using the Beginner Box this Sunday. I might try to run them through a few of the beginning scenes of Shattered Star ... or maybe a couple of test combats so they can get their feet wet.

Any advice you can give ... either about Shattered Star or in general about getting this group excited and having fun (several of the longtime members of the group - myself included - are just now trying to overcome some recent personal tragedies, which is part of the reason this is seeming so challenging to me).

Thanks


If it's a group of new players, my first advice would be don't worry about the rules too much. When playing with people new to the game, I usually ignore certain rules like attacks of opportunity, concentration checks, prepared actions, and combat maneuvers, and instead gradually introduce them as the players progress.

Shattered Star has a very large number of combat encounters, possibly more than any other AP I've done. With a big group, this could slow things down considerably, so I recommend skipping some of the less interesting encounters, but giving the characters a bit more exp to compensate (or just have them level up at certain milestones).

One thing I've noticed about new players is that they often feel a bit clueless when they get to select a new feat on odd level ups. For that reason, it would probably be best if you had a handy short-list for good feat recommendations for certain classes.

Grand Lodge Contributor

Depending on the resources you and your players have available, you might want to limit character options to just the Core Rulebook to keep things manageable so you all know where to look for something.


The first book of SS is probably a great introductory adventure as it starts with investigation, puzzle-solving and a fair amount of RP. With a new group of players as much as I love the first fight with the pugwampis they are frustrating with the rerolls. I'd suggest changing them with something similar (or doing away with the bad luck effect). I'd just jump into the module as is given that is a slow start to things.


Thanks for the tips. In fact, I am limiting character creation options to the Beginner Box for the time being.

I too was concerned with the pugwampis unluck aura effects, so I am glad to see I was not alone. I will examine an alternate creature to summon in.

Grand Lodge

You can use the Pugwampis... just don't do the unluck aura.


Or just plain old goblins.

Ignore the logic of it and let the little bitey idiots try to set fire to the library and run around inducing mayhem.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Since the adventure is supposed to be about them being beginning Pathfinders, maybe the free 3-scenario First Steps arc from Season 3? It makes a good introduction to the Pathfinder Society (as well as playing d20 games in general), and you can change it from "Get to know these faction heads before you pick a meta-faction to play" to "Go run some errands for higher-up Pathfinders to get your feet before we ship you off into Varisia." It gives a good all-around test for the characters - though it will level them up to 2nd if you follow the PFS progression; not necessarily a bad thing if you want them to be a little more robust going into some hefty dungeoneering.

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