Make Your Game Your Own

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Unveiling the Pathfinder Second Edition Gamemastery Guide!

As the Game Master of a Pathfinder campaign, you’re the architect of your players’ adventures—a rewarding but sometimes challenging responsibility. With this book, your job just got a whole lot easier! Whether you’re building your own monsters and adventures, looking for new subsystems to play out cinematic chases or tense infiltrations, or simply want to speed up your game with scores of NPCs ready for action, the Gamemastery Guide has you covered!

Pathfinder second edition gamemastery guide

The focus of every Pathfinder game is the players—their characters are the stars of the show and appear in every scene that plays out in game. But what about those scenes? What stories are being told? What old legends are being discovered, and what new ones are being forged? Who are the villains, the allies, the traitors, the lovers, the monsters, and the gods? Who runs the world? When you’re the Game Master, that’s all up to you!

Chapter 1: Gamemastery Basics

The role of a GM can be complex, challenging, and sometimes difficult, but ultimately rewarding. Luckily, you’re not on your own! Not only will the other players at your game table help you tell collaborative stories, but you can use the advice here to make your games run more smoothly and feel more exciting.

Inside you’ll find guidance on Running Encounters, Running Exploration, Running Downtime, Adjudicating Rules, Resolving Problems, Narrative Collaboration, Special Circumstances, Rarity in Your Game, Campaign Structure, Adventure Design, Encounter Design, and Drawing Maps.

Chapter 2: Tools

While the Core Rulebook provides all the tools you need to be a Game Master, you may want resources to create original game content, whether it be new items, unique creatures, or a sprawling new world for adventurers to explore.

Inside you’ll find tools for Building Creatures, Building Hazards, Building Items, Item Quirks, Intelligent Items, Cursed Items, Relics, Artifacts, Gems and Art Objects, Afflictions, Building Worlds, Nations, Settlements, and Planes.

Chapter 3: Subsystems

When your game goes into uncharted territory or you want to emphasize an element of gameplay that usually gets overlooked or condensed into a single check, you can use a subsystem. As the name implies, subsystems are extensions of the main rules system that allow you to explore a particular topic or style of play at your table.

You’ll find subsystems for Victory Points, Influence, Research, Chases, Infiltration, Reputation, Duels, Leadership, Hexploration, and Vehicles

Chapter 4: Variant Rules

While the rules presented in the Core Rulebook are designed to give you and your group a baseline experience that’s easy to learn and fun to play, sometimes you’re looking for more customizable options. That’s where variant rules come in: options to alter the game’s rules to fit your needs. This chapter adds a collection of variant rules to your toolbox, often with additional options for how to use them.

You’ll find variant rules on Ability Score Variants, Alignment Variants, Deep Backgrounds, Feats and Features, Level 0 Characters, Magic Item Variants, Proficiency without Level Skill Points, and Stamina.

Chapter 5: NPC Gallery

Monsters and PCs aren’t the only inhabitants of your world. Though they might not be heroes, NPCs can play various roles in your game, such as calling PCs to adventure, serving as obstacles in social encounters, or opposing PCs in battle. This chapter presents almost a hundred NPCs for your game, plus rules to modify them to fit any particular niche.

You’ll find a gallery of Courtiers, Criminals, Devotees, Downtrodden, Explorers, Foresters, Healers, Laborers, Magistrates, Mercenaries, Mystics, Officers, Performers, Publicans, Scholars, Seafarers, Tradespeople, and Villains.

To learn more, don’t miss these episodes of Pathfinder Friday!





Our next Pathfinder rulebook will be the Bestiary 2. We release an average of three new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game products annually. With your ongoing Pathfinder Rulebook Ongoing Subscription, we'll send you each new installment and charge your payment method automatically as we ship each product. You only need to sign up once, and never need to worry about renewal notice or missed products.

Lastly, don’t miss the live interview with Managing Designer and Gamemastery Guide co-author Mark Seifter tonight on Know Direction on Twitch!

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks,
Marketing and Media Manager

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Pathfinder Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Pathfinder Second Edition
Grand Lodge

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Huzzah! May the shipping snafus be resolved soon!


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Huzzah! May the shipping snafus be resolved soon!

Amen, brother! :)

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, LO Special Edition, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

So excited for this book! Yea hoping the awesome Paizo goblins get the dreaded shipping monster under control. :)


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Slamy Mcbiteo wrote:
So excited for this book! Yea hoping the awesome Paizo goblins get the dreaded shipping monster under control. :)

My personal theory is that the warehouse raptors have gotten cheeky! ;)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Cheeky raptors? are those the one with frills that open before they spit poison on you?

But yes, so excited for the book, if only the shipping raptors would take pity on me.


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Disappointed to not see anything on class design. Is there a blog detailing some of the design patterns, reasoning, and exceptions?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I just found out that this book has a Bag of Weasels as a magic item.
So I think it's officially the best book ever.

Design Manager

6 people marked this as a favorite.
Doktor Weasel wrote:

I just found out that this book has a Bag of Weasels as a magic item.

So I think it's officially the best book ever.

I can't believe I'm saying this but there actually exists a lengthy and substantive thread with really great discussion whose entire premise is exactly your post.


I haven't been active on the forums for a while. I'm glad to see my opinion is not unique.

Wayfinders

5 people marked this as a favorite.

This is seriously one of the Best DMG / Gamemaster books I have seen since playing from 1984.

Great job Paizo!

Liberty's Edge

This is a great book. There are definitely subsystems I am going to be using in future games. Between the improving magic item rules, stamina and resolve and how viable non-magical healing is I am going to have to work on a no divine, low magic campaign to run at some point.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well, at least I get to see some of the book now. Yay

Sovereign Court

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

As my only GM'ing is and probably will always be limited to PFS, how much of this book would be useful to me?


2 people marked this as a favorite.

No literary lists in 2e? I miss the inspirational reading lists.

Liberty's Edge

Benjamin Debrick wrote:
As my only GM'ing is and probably will always be limited to PFS, how much of this book would be useful to me?

Some of it. The Subsystems might well come up in PFS, as might the NPC Gallery and the Gamemastery Basics (ie: the GMing advice section) is as useful in PFS as anywhere. That's probably about half the book, though a lot of it will come up pretty rarely (ie: I wouldn't be surprised by the Research Rules coming up, but I'd expect it to be rare).

That's all GM facing, of course. It's bordering on useless for a PFS player (well, I guess understanding the Subsystems might be useful, though not strictly necessary). All the player facing stuff is in among the optional rules and modifications and thus pretty useless for PFS.


Mark Seifter wrote:
Doktor Weasel wrote:

I just found out that this book has a Bag of Weasels as a magic item.

So I think it's officially the best book ever.
I can't believe I'm saying this but there actually exists a lengthy and substantive thread with really great discussion whose entire premise is exactly your post.

Best book, best community. Just like that.

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