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I couldn't find the 3mm board at Hobby Lobby today. I'll check tomorrow using the product name you mentioned. The sales folks at Hobby Lobby probably will think of it as craft foam, not a board, as it's floppy and not stiff (but will be stiff once you glue on the paper). Here's where you can get it online:
The plan in general would be to grab Bestiary images and use them? So far I've only used images from Paizo's commercial paper minis line, but you should be able to use any creature or NPC image which you can see on your computer, so long as you can get a high-res screenshot or export it. Usually I can just google image search for the creature names and find a high-res picture suitable for home-made Pawns (for use only for personal campaigns).
You bet! If there's a Hobby Lobby in your area, that's where I get the 3mm foam sheets (Hobby Lobby's brand is 'Funky Foam', and you can take in a picture from my blog post to have them help you find it). It's floppy when you buy it, but it gets stiff after you glue on the paper, seems just like balsa wood or the Pawns the Beginner Box has once you're done.
I have sponsored the club at the high school I work at for almost 18 years now, and we just started playing a Pathfinder game! This is the first year though that I have had all girl's in the club...I started last year running for my sons and their friends and that has been a lot of fun as well! That's really neat. I have kids ages 13, 15 & 17 and they roleplay (Pathfinder at the moment). I've given thought to getting a club going at their high school. What ages are the kids who play? Do you do it after hours on campus, and how long are the sessions? Also, do you use miniatures? And do you run commercial modules? I very much like the idea of RPG clubs at school -- sort of like a chess club on steroids! And the Pathfinder Beginner Box might be just the right tool for this target audience. Any tips from anyone on how to do this at a school are much appreciated!
Here's an intriguing idea. This article written by a middle school teacher on "Starting and Running a Role-Playing Games Club" seems to me to tie in rather nicely with the Beginner Box and the Beginner Box bash. This teacher has 30-40 students in her game club (they use D&D 3.5). Seems that without too much work Paizo could create a kit for teachers or parents who wanted to start a student game club with the Beginner Box as the core product. Note the "Setting Up A Learn-To-Play Convention" section at the second half of the above article. Seems to me with not too much effort Paizo could create a 'Beginner Box Learn-To-Play Club Kit' specifically for student organizations. I'm beginning to hear more and more of such student organizations. Another one is here: libraryroleplay.wordpress.com. A 'Club Kit' in my mind would be the Beginner Box plus some free PDF downloads -- essentially the 4 Word Docs that teacher lists in the above article, but formatted to fit Pathfinder's trade dress. One other thing that would be nice is if Paizo would offer the Player's Handbook (I forget what they call it) which comes with the Beginner Box as a standalone purchase, and offer a student discount on both the Beginner Box itself and the 60 or so page Players Handbook. This would be the perfect gateway for teenagers in school trying to learn the game on a tight budget -- teachers or parents buy the Beginner Box and 2 or 3 Player's Guides for each student game table. Once they're hooked after a few months of play, the Core Rulebook get's on their Christmas wish list :-)
If you don't have anything planned for after the AP, then I would start again with new PCs for your next campaign (whatever that may be). The AP is over, you don't have any plans for continuing it, so the logical "retirement age" is whatever level the PCs reach when the AP is over. Hope this helps! That makes sense. Thanks for the advice :-)
...the short answer is NO -- most people retire their characters after the conclusion of an AP. Most does not mean "all" -- but it certainly does mean "most". Thanks for this insight. Are you the Steel Wind of Chronicles:Pathfinder Podcast fame? If so, I just wanted to let you know I've been listening to that and I really enjoy the podcast -- it's very helpful to me as a new Pathfinder GM. :-)
I’m about to embark on running the Pathfinder Beginner Box adventure and I’ll be taking this opportunity to learn the Pathfinder rules better. What adventures should I run next after the Beginner Box adventure? Here’s one road map; feel free to give feedback: Start with the Beginner Box rules and the four iconic character classes. After that, run adventures in this order:
Here's a follow-up question: for those of you who have done multiple APs, do you generally retire your character after an AP ends, and then start a new 1st level character with the next new AP you start? I realize I didn't phrase my question very well. What I was getting at is "Do folks generally retire their 14th/15th level character at the end of an adventure path, or do folks keep those characters going in home-brew campaigns up to 20th level?"
EDIT: Also, I'm curious if anyone has timings for the Dungeon APs (Shackled City, Age of Worms, and Savage Tide). Here's a follow-up question: for those of you who have done multiple APs, do you generally retire your character after an AP ends, and then start a new 1st level character with the next new AP you start?
Which type of Paizo adventures take the least amount of prep time -- Society Scenarios, Adventure Paths or Modules? I’m somewhat new to Pathfinder and still learning the rules. I’m also strapped for time so I’d like to use some commercially published adventures that will actually save me time over writing my own adventures. From the adventures I’ve read and from posts on Paizo’s forums I’ve come up with a stab at how long Paizo’s different adventures take, compared to how many pages you have to read and digest in order to run those adventures. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
I’m sure people’s mileage may vary in terms of how long a game takes to run, and feel free to alert me if you think some of my numbers are way off. Based on the above though, it seems that for me, a new GM, that the Pathfinder Modules might be the lowest prep time adventures to run. My experience is that when there is lots of text (e.g. Society Scenarios or AP) I may read it, but if a few weeks pass before I run the adventure, I forget a lot, and text-heavy adventures require re-reading or highlighting which can be very time consuming. Thoughts? (By the way, my favorite adventure format is what Savage Worlds does -- they have One Sheet Plot Points adventures which are 2 pages for 4 hours of play (0.5 pages per hour of gaming)).
I'm about to start running "Rise of the Runelords" with 1st level characters. It looks to me like Adventure Paths end around 13th to 15th level. Society play restricts you to 12th level (forcing them to retire or stay at 12th level I believe). I've also heard it get's harder to play and/or GM at higher levels. So, in home games, using Adventure Path modules or homebrew campaigns, do folks typically 'retire' a character once they're around 13th to 15th level? How many keep their character going after 15th level? The reason I'm asking is I'd like to set a cap on level advancement so as not to have players in my group play with 19th and 20th level characters, but I'm not sure what the right lower level cap might be.
Thanks for the advice Dwilimir, but uh... most of us don't want to spend that time, we'd rather spend the money :P I'd rather spend the money too! But, for now, the pawn products are very limited. Also, I doubt Paizo will produce Pawns for every creature or NPC you could ever encounter -- this is a way to supplement a core Pawn collection even if/when they start selling pawn sets. But...agreed...doing this (like painting minis) is not for everyone.
I created a tutorial on how to make your own do-it-yourself Beginner Box style pawns. Here's an image of the finished product. The two pawns in the middle are from the Beginner Box; the others are ones I made myself using Paizo images. If you wanted to spend the time you could create a couple of hundred for all the monsters and NPCs you might encounter. I think this technique has a lot of promise. Only thing is you have to know a little about image editing (I use Gimp, but Photoshop will do) to pull this off.
About how many 4-hour game sessions does it take to get through a typical 90+ page Adventure Path chapter? I'm about to start running "Rise of the Runelords" (starting with the 1st book, "Burnt Offerings") with 1st level characters and I'm new to Pathfinder and I never played 3.x. I'm trying to get a sense of how long it will take to make it through this and future "Rise of the Runelords" AP chapters. Thanks in advance for any feedback! -- Dwilimir
If there was a way to find out all of the fonts used in the new character sheets, I'd be a happy camper. I believe those are commercial fonts you'd have to pay for, but perhaps a close substitute might be: Open Sans Extrabold (For the bold headline text in the sidebar) and Open Sans (for the body text) You can view them here:
And download them here: http://www.google.com/webfonts#UsePlace:use/Collection:Open+Sans. Both are free.
If there was a way to find out all of the fonts used in the new character sheets, I'd be a happy camper. I haven't had time to do this, but I've had good luck with www.whatfontis.com.
Even if it were fairly straightforward to rewrite the existing rules in a more attractive format, I'm skeptical whether that would substantially increase sales of the Core Rulebook. The value of re-organization and simplifying the rules (while not changing the rules mechanics themselves) goes way beyond the sale of the Core Rulebook. Most of Paizo's money is coming from other books such as the Adventure Path modules. If you can get more people playing the game, and a new, newbie-friendly format can assist in this, it will broaden the player base and sales overall. I for one have fallen away from Pathfinder because of just the usability issue. I didn't come from the 3.x days, and trying to master the Core rules is simply too daunting. Beginner Box gives me hope of mastering the rules. I'm a busy dad, and time is precious. I need this usability or I won't be playing Pathfinder, I'll be playing Savage Worlds or something that is approachable for someone new to the hobby who doesn't have a lot of time to pour over the rules.
I believe that Pathfinder should be like classic games like Monopoly, where the rules don't change every 4 years. 10 years from now, the rules should essentially be the same. That being said, you can add in 'options' as has already been done with different XP progression tracks, or playing modules at different Tiers. I'd like to see one 'option' be a basic style (as has been discussed elsewhere). But I think PF 2.0 could have a very different presentation style. Pathfinder Beginner Box is a style that should drive this. I think
Another thing I'd like to see is, when rules are references, if they can be summarized in a sentence, to put those rules in-line. Particularly with Monster stats blocks, why not just put the short description of the Feat with the monster? Having to look up Feats for monsters is one pain for new GM's who haven't memorized them all. Also, I think you should have one volume for levels 1-12, and other for 13+. It will slim things down and simplify things as most people play in the 1-12 level, and that maps to PFS play. Just radically re-present the same rules, call it PF 2.0, maybe add a few more 'options' (basic style, whatever that might be), and I'd certainly buy that product.
I wonder if the game is capped at 5th level why continue? why not start over? With E6, you technically aren't capped at 5th or 6th level. You progress normally till 6th level, then get feats (and maybe HP, I don't recall) when you level up thereafter. So you continue to level up, but it's in a different way. So it's a lower-power level game definitely. If that's your style, you gain the simplicity of not having an explosion of new spells and other rules for the higher levels. If you like lower level characters, this can be a cool sweet-spot for play. I played a 1e character for four years (1980 to 1984) usually for 8 to 10 hours a week, and the character was at 7th level at the end. Lot's of old-schoolers played this way, so this idea (E6, or extending PFBB) is just catering to this OSR style of play, while using the newer-style 3.x, PF rules. In any case, there is no single style of play that will make everyone happy as people have different tastes. But, for my part, I'm voicing my taste for lower-levels and fewer rules :-)
Now if someone is running a Basic game, and we all know about it before hand, that would be fine. I would enjoy playing a basic game. I wouldn't enjoy going to a PFS game, and not being sure which rule set is being used....keeping one set in place is enough. That's exactly how I envisioned it, as mentioned in the OP: The idea here is GM’s could declare “I’m using ‘Basic Combat Style’ at my table to run this Pathfinder Society module,” and players would know what that meant. What I meant was that the GM would advertise that in the game ad, so there would be no surprises at the table. The idea is that, just like you can configure a given scenario (module) to different tiers, so too you could configure play for Basic or Core. I would envision Basic to be a subset of Core, meaning some characters which rely on Core features (Monks, etc., as you mentioned) would only play in Core games, whereas Basic characters (just the four or five classes currently included in Beginner Box) would 'play up' in a core game. Alternatively, maybe PFS is ONLY for Core characters, but Basic is there for folks who want to do that in home play. The more I think about it, I think that would be more workable -- PFS is for Core only, but I think adding a bit more support for people who wanted to remain in Basic (think E6) is something I'd love to see.
Anyone have suggestions for a module progression that would take PFBB characters from 1st to 5th level, ideally with PFS credit? I used to run Pathfinder, but the high crunch level and the 2-hour prep times for 4 hour sessions (reading and creating maps for PFS scenarios) turned my group off of Pathfinder. But, I bought the Beginner Box, and my son was so intrigued (he's 17) that he's wanting to resume play. (Aside: Kudos to Pathfinder to creating a product which produces such interest from kids!) So, I'm trying to figure out the best module path for our new PFBB characters. As mentioned in this thread, Crypt of the Everflame is a logical next choice. Crype of the Everflame has two sequals, but there is an XP gap as I recall, so any suggestions on other existing modules I could run to get us to 5th level? Ideally all the modules we run good get us PFS credit so by the time we're at 5th level, it's all with PFS XP so we can use these characters at Society events. Or perhaps this isn't practical, and we need a separate set of characters for PFS, and we'd start with non-PFS adventures, then just over to PFS with new characters? Is that a better strategy?
I for one would love to see the game broken into Normal play (1st - 12th) and high level 13-20. Or maybe even end break at 10th level. Here's how I'd like to see things play out for CR 2.0. Have Beginner Box be the main reference for levels 1-5. Have a new 'Core Rules Volume 1' which covers levels 1-12, with the same Beginner Box clarity and presentation. This would also match the Pathfinder Society level range. Have a new 'Core Rules Volume 2' which covers levels 13+, with the same Beginner Box clarity and presentation. This would cover all the high-level stuff. So for newbies, they'd start with Beginner Box. Soon thereafter they'd get CR Volume 1. Some power-players would get (or use at least) Volume 2, but many folks would be content with just Volume 1 and never play past Level 12. I think this would be a great compromise for those not wanting the dense and daunting 500 page book, wanting something that seemed rules lite and approachable, while not splitting the 'Basic' crowd into a different product line. And I think this would go a long way to making things easier for GMs. Playing 8th level? Maybe you digest 250 pages instead of 500. At the very least, the book would be lighter weight :-)
I totally understand the need to not split the Pathfinder product line by creating an entire new ‘Basic’ product line. Here is what I suggest as an alternative. Just as there are different XP tracks in Pathfinder Society (so you can stay at 7th level for a long time if you want to), so there could be a different ‘combat complexity’ method, a sort of sanctioned house rule which is called out in future editions of the product. It would be consistent with much of the Beginner Box rules. The “Basic Combat Style” might look something like this: -- No Attack of Opportunity
That’s it. All else would be the same. The idea here is GM’s could declare “I’m using ‘Basic Combat Style’ at my table to run this Pathfinder Society module,” and players would know what that meant. Also, new products might adopt the friendlier PFBB formatting, but that’s just a style thing. You’d have one set of rules, but approving a slightly different style of gaming which would let those accustomed to the Beginner Box to continue to play a lighter combat style while still coming into the full game. Sure, you can do this in home games already, but I’m particularly wanting to see out a codified, sanctioned way to run the game which you could bring with you to a convention and still feel like you could legitimately run the PFS game with. Another way to approach this would be to make the Basic Style the default option for combat (continuing the PFBB approach) and call out "Advanced Combat Style" in it's own section with all the traditional AoO type rules. I’m sure the list I have above could be improved upon, but I wanted to see if anyone else shared an interest in a sanctioned ‘Basic Combat Style’ option within the game.
What we're calling 'pawns' or more commonly known as figure flats. Here's some examples of them: http://www.pigames.net/store/default.php?cPath=27
What is usually done is that the rear side is just a mirror image of the front side -- both sides only show the front of the character. You only see one side at a time so the effect works OK at the table. I'd pay $ if Paizo would produce PDFs of these figure flats, with instructions on how to create your own do it yourself figure flats. That's what these other figure flat vendors do. Even better would be to have them as cardboard punchout packs as was suggested above.
I guess I'd best clarify I'm speaking about my particular group of teenagers; the kids in that group won't read a 500 page manual, but I'm sure some other teenagers might. Nonetheless, I suspect the Beginner Box and other shorter (less rules to read) format games and adventures have more appeal for the younger crowd.
Yep. What I've been doing is paste the paper on one side of the foam, then use that as a template to cut it out with sharp scissors, then past the paper on the rear, then trim the paper. I'm thinking of making a template out of plastic card and using an exacto knife on a cutting mat. If I have success with that I'll report it on www.rpghacker.com and here (if I remember!) :-).
I think this is the tip of an iceberg for a group of D&D fans that are looking for something professionally produced, supported, modern _yet_ simple. I agree. Here's my short wish list, followed by some insight to why I want these wish list items. Here's what I'd like to see: 1) Official sanctioning of 'basic' style play. All this is is approving the 'lite' way of playing (no AoO, etc.) in PFS modules. At a PFS event, GM just notes "I'm using the Basic Style rules" so as to alert player that the 'advanced' rules aren't in play. This means GM's that like the 'lite' / basic style can continue to GM that way. 2) (Optional) An expansion or two (another box set or just rule books maybe) that takes you through level 12, still using this simplified (no AoO, etc.) approach. This second item is optional though; I'd like to have it, but I could live with simply Paizo sanctioning 'basic style' play, and letting me run the existing PFS scenarios with fewer rules. Why do I want this? Here's the thing. I'm trying to GM a group of teenagers who grew up on video games where you don't read a manual, ever. You learn the rules as you play and generally you don't ever read any rules, ever. I've GM'd several games (about a dozen or so I think) with the same group of teenagers. They don't read the 500 page book, and they never will. It's just too big. So the only rules they are picking up are ones they can easily learn at the table and not forget in the 2 or 4 weeks between sessions. They do seem to be willing to read other RPG books which are < 60 or so pages. While I'm willing to teach them AoO and what not, this 'I don't read lots of rules' mentality is hampering our growth. As it is, I'm in the process of switching to Savage Worlds, because my experience with this is that it is a system that lends itself to not reading the rules. What you can learn at the table is truly all you need to know of the game. What I'd like to see is that we run in 'Basic' mode in our home games, use 60 page rules books. At conventions their characters would be allowed at the table. They could play in a Core rules game, and just lose some of the extra edges like AoO. If they did something that provoked an AoO but they didn't know what that was, the GM could nudge them through it. If the continued to want to hone their skills, then they could always move over to Core at that point and read the 500 page manual and other material. So I understand not wanting to split players. I'm just asking for support for Levels 1 to 12 to be allowed to play in 'Basic' style, and keep all the scenarios and adventures paths to be the same content (maybe flagging 'Core' rules when they are used in the material so 'Basic' players could skip over them). I wouldn't see anything over Level 12 to be needed for Basic; if you get past that you're really ready for Core. I don't think these teenagers in my group will EVER want to 'step up' to Core, unless they play for a couple of years. Basic, Beginner Box style is really all they want for the first year or two, and maybe always. But they do love the setting and the modules. And, we're already doing this. We have three XP advancement tracks (slow, medium, fast). We have different tiers in scenarios to support parties of different levels. I'm just asking for a similar approach to essentially allowing a house-ruled 'basic' style of the rules, not an entirely new product line.
Personally I prefer the tokens, because I can make my own. I might be able to fab the pawns, but I'd have to find a source for the plastic bases. Here's how I'm making my own cardboard figures very similar to what is in the Beginner Box. Buy some white 3mm craft foam from Hobby Lobby or a similar craft store (I bought a 12" x 18" 3mm sheet of craft foam, called ‘Funky Foam’ from Hobby Lobby; it costs $0.99). It seems like it will be floppy, but don’t worry, it will be stiff like cardboard or balsa wood by the end after you glue on the paper. Then, find monsters of your choosing (either online, or you can do a printscreen from a PDF and edit out any stray text or colors) and resize to fit the pawn / figure flat size you want. Make two copies of the image. Image tip: Make it 200 or 300 DPI (dots per inch); this is important if you are doing a screenshot which by default is 72 DPI and may look pixelated when you print). Finally, print out the monster and cut it out to the size pawn you want. Glue (I use rubber cement, but any kind should do) one monster piece of paper to one size of the craft foam. Cut out the craft foam using the paper pawn as a guide. Then flip it over and paste the other monster paper to the reverse. Finally, once dry (rubber cement dries in only a few seconds, one reason I like it) you can insert it into these bases from Fantasy Flight: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1400 I actually bought mine here: http://www.ccgarmory.com/bogaacplst.html $2.00 for 10 stands. I spent $10 and got 50 of them. Enough for a small army battle! With a little bit of time in Gimp or Photoshop, and some cutting and pasting, you can crank out very cheap figure flats / pawns similar to what is in the Beginner Box (better, if you want an image on the rear). Follow my blog at www.rpghacker.com as I will put up a more detailed tutorial on all this when I have time, including (I hope) some templates for the pawns.
+1 for a rules light Pathfinder.. I would SO like a rules-lite version of this game. As many have said before, I'm busy, and I just don't have time to spend the many hours digesting all the advanced rules in the CRB. I don't think I'll ever be able to GM a convention game with Pathfinder, as I won't ever be able to (or patient enough to) master the rules, and confident to deal with the rules-lawyers who have spent those many hours reading rules. I don't think having a sanctioned rules-lite option means you have to 'split the customers' though. Imagine this: next version of the CRB tags advanced rules like AoO. There's one book, and you can run your games in 'lite' mode or 'advanced' mode. Same customer base. Same modules. Played in two different styles. Then, when you run a Society adventure, you advertise it as 'run using Basic (Lite) Rules' or 'run using Advanced Rules'. New modules likewise tag advanced rules; if you're running it in Basic mode you just ignore them. We're already doing this with the Tier system -- we ignore the monsters statted out for different levels. To be honest, I'm using Savage Worlds at the moment because Pathfinder's current ruleset is just too heavy for the teenage audience I'm GM'ing for. None of these guys wants to read that 500 page book. If I can get a fully sanctioned 'rules lite' mode in our Pathfinder games, I'll gladly return to the fold running Pathfinder games. In any case, I'll be buying the box set and hoping something like this is in the working for future games! Best of luck -- I'm sure you folks are thinking about all these things. :-)
Absolutely love this new box format and it's contents! Some products and features I'd like to see in the future now that we have the Beginner Box: 1) Have the entire Bestiary 1 & Bestiary 2 set of monsters available as a cardstock counters (just use existing art from Bestiary), with monsters which appear in bulk (orcs, goblins, etc.) as standalone sets so you can get lots of them. I guarantee you I and many others would buy this. Also, have a large range of character portraits (again, just use existing art, and print the cardboard counters in China). Woohoo! 2) Support running Pathfinder Society modules in 'Basic/Beginner' mode. This would do two things: 1) I know so many people who don't care for extra rules like attacks of opportunity, combat maneuvers -- how about just sanction running Pathfinder modules in this 'Basic' mode way, with the caveat that GM's advertise this in their game announcements? And 2) It would allow GM's to run Society modules for Levels 1-5 in 'Beginner' mode -- so you can advertise 'Newbie Friendly' games which ALSO give you Pathfinder credit, yet don't use rules like AoO, combat maneuvers, etc. I do know many of the 'OSR' crowd who currently won't look at Pathfinder due to rules complexity might take a second look if in fact there was formal support for a 'Basic' mode as a longer-term, fully sanctioned form of play. 3) Lastly, I'd love to see the 60-odd page Player Handbook (or whatever you called it) as well as the 4 character sheet dossiers available for purchase in PDF and/or hardcopy format. This way a GM can buy the beginner box once, but run literally dozens of 'introduce newbie players to the game' sessions by just buying the incremental parts they need rather than having to buy another box set each time they run an intro game. What a great way to get GM's to evangelize the system! I also think this is a whole new market -- I know many teenage type players who are willing to play but not willing to read a 500 page manual. If a GM were running a Beginner Box game, the GM or players could buy Player Manuals for each player. After they mastered that part they could move on to other books.
I wonder if this will be compatible with Pathfinder Society Scenarios? I hope so, as this plus PFS scenarios for several games seems like a magical combination for entry level players. Also, I wonder if this is just stripping down the rules, as opposed to simplifying them? For example, would the character sheets still work with Herolab? I'm sure PaizoCon will answer these questions though...
By the way, the introduction of the Bestiary explains how to read a monster stat block. The relevant text is here in the PRD. :) Cool. Thanks for the link!
I'm new to GM'ing Pathfinder, and I'm trying to decipher a couple of the stats for some of the NPCs listed in a Pathfinder scenario. For these offense stats:
1) Does the "Melee shortsword +3" mean an attack bonus, pre-calculated to include all bonuses such as Base Attack Bonus? 2) The "Melee shortsword +3" is to hit only, and is not a damage bonus, right? 3) Does the "19-20" for the melee shortshord mean "possible critical on a 19 or 20" and if the critical is confirmed, it's double damage? 4) Does the "x3" for the Ranged shortbow mean "possible critical on a 20, triple damage if critical is confirmed"? Thanks in advance for any feedback. Below is the full statblock for the example I'm referencing. --------------------------------------------------------------- =================================
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I'm starting a play-by-post PFS game hosted at RPOL.net. Our first scenario is "Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible." This is a Pathfinder Society Scenario for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2 and 4-5). The Pathfinder Society sends you to the fabled Kingdom of the Impossible, the island of Jalmeray, to stop an Aspis Consortium black market relics dealer who is organizing the local bandits and violently robbing Jalmeray and Pathfinder Society caravans laden with relics, artifacts, and magical mysteries. When a venture-captain is murdered by the Aspis Consortium agent, it's up to the PCs to find him and do whatever it takes to stop him. This game is for official Pathfinder Society credit; I will fill out and submit a Chronicle sheet for your character at the end of the adventure (which I'm attempting to complete in 4-6 weeks, but we'll see how it goes). To speed up play I will not be using a battlegrid (instead I will using maps and text descriptions) and we will roll four rounds at a time during combat (to speed things up). The end result is faster action and (in my opinion) a more enjoyable play-by-post experience. I am looking for good writers who enjoy colorful role-play with other interesting characters. Learn more online here: Pathfinder Society: Tales of Legend. If you have questions feel free to email me at eli.shinn@rareclarity.com.
You can also go here: http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/memberlist.php Type in your ZIP, put in a search radius (maybe 30 miles) and do a search. There are many dozens of RPG players here. Search in the page for Pathfinder or D&D 3.5 (who might be interested in Pathfinder) for connections. Here's another Dallas area Pathfinder campaign looking for players: http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/20851
Madness Comics in Plano would be a great location and many of the folks who can't make it to the Arlington group had said that was their preferred alternate location. I can't recall if there is a way to private message people on the Paizo boards, but if all of you would join the Yahoo group at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/pathfinderdfw/ we could exchange emails and coordinate something. My email address is stan [at] rareclarity [dot] com if you'd rather just email me.
Hey y'all, idilippy here from Dallas and I was wondering if anyone on these boards was running, or interested in running, a Pathfinder game in the Dallas area? Check this out to find Pathfinder players in the DFW area: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/pathfinderdfw/ There is currently some games running at Lone Star Comics on the west side of Dallas (in Arlington if I recall correctly). This is described in the group above. There is also a game on the east side of Dallas in the Mesquite Lone Star Comics: http://www.mycomicshop.com/ourstores/events Join and make a post to the Pathfinder DFW Yahoo group above to get connected and meet folks; there are some folks (me included) that might be interested in starting a game in Plano.
Erik, so having played 4e and PF, which do you like the best? (or, perhaps a better question, which do you find yourself playing more of these days?).
I can give them a pregenerated character and a set of dice, sit them down at a table and tell them: "Tell me what you want your character to do and I'll tell you the mechanics for doing it, like what die to roll, where to find the right modifiers on your character sheet, and how to move your miniature." Then once they are hooked, they can start reading the rules at their own pace. Thanks for everyone's comments. The quote above helps me understand how to get others into an otherwise rules-heavy game. Also, I think the combat can be frustrating at first while you learn the rules, but I'm sure that improves.
In the past I've played 0e and 1e editions of D&D. I've been playing a house-ruled version of Swords and Wizardry. I really like the quality of the Pathfinder adventures. Rather than convert them to Swords & Wizardry, I'm considering making the jump to Pathfinder/3.5 OGL and using the Pathfinder adventures and rules. I had a bad experience a year ago playing a demo of D&D4e -- I had a high level character (12th level maybe?) and it took 40 minutes for a single combat. Booooring. Too many dice rolls slowing down the game. Also, I run a game group with kids 12-17 years old, and I'm not sure they have the patience to read a 300+ page manual to understand a game before playing. Questions: 1) How long does combat typically take in Pathfinder? (I'm thinking 4th to 8th level range). 2) What kind of rampup time is there to learn Pathfinder if you've never played 3.5e? Are there any quick-start guides or anything to get people started in a game short of reading the huge manual? (I wish the Pathfinder boxed set being talked about was out -- I'd buy that for sure!) Thanks in advance to any tips! -- Dwilimir
A couple of blog articles which speak to the discontent of many that games are too long, and the desire for a rules-light line of games: http://blog.retroroleplaying.com/2010/09/time-and-learning-new-roleplaying- games.html http://lawfulindifferent.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-are-games-so-damn-long.ht ml
I won't belabor points already made here, but I am VERY interested in a Pathfinder product which is a complete BASIC product line, where the current Pathfinder becomes "Advanced Pathfinder" and a new stripped-down rules-light product becomes "Basic Pathfinder". The demand for rules-light products are huge. There is a large pent-up demand for OGL/OSR products, but there haven't been products that have a high-quality production value, nothing like the Pathfinder line. A basic Pathfinder version (maybe with three classes, a 64 page basic rulebook, a bestiary, and a full line of modules (just stripped down versions of the current Pathfinder modules) would be an amazing product which would appeal to brand new audience. I haven't bought into the Pathfinder line because I prefer rules-light systems, and those who game in my group are like me -- we're busy people and don't want heavy rulessets. I would gladly plunk down $100s of dollars on product if only Pathfinder had a 'basic' version which was a full game unto itself with a full, stand-alone product line. Guys, just strip down the Pathfinder stuff to look something like Swords & Wizardry, keep all the excellent art, brand it 'Pathfinder Basic' and you'll have a huge new audience! Then you can have intro. sets for BOTH Pathfinder Basic and Pathfinder Advanced. Best yet (in terms of making $ for Paizo) -- if someone tires of having spent $100s on Pathfinder Basic, then can spend $100s more and convert over to Pathfinder Advanced! |
