I think many players greatly enjoy an expanding body of supplemental material and I agree with the recommendations above regarding how to run a game using it.
I’m one of the minority that find allowing expanding rules within a campaign reduces my enjoyment.
I started PF organized play only a few months ago, and I’m having a blast with it. But I can already sense that it’s going to run its course for me relatively soon as the accumulated weight of additional rules lead to it no longer providing the elements I find most enjoyable.
A consistent set of rules enhances verisimilitude for me by creating a sense that I understand how the world works. When the rules expand, I lose some immersion. It can all be rationalized away, but I haven’t been able to really succeed at that. Over time, I find it impossible to pretend the world has sufficient internal consistency to maintain suspension of disbelief. For me, it’s like having a movie director step into frame and announce to the audience that they’re just watching a movie.
I also find that new rules tend to slow down the game as people who are still learning them have to refer to the source material, often in the middle of combat.
I’ve GMed extensively for several game systems over the past 30 years, but I’m not the right person to GM organized play. I understand the idea of GMing by presenting the scenario as written and then letting the players describe what the rules let their characters do, but I enjoy it more when I understand those rules. It might let me find a more interesting way to play encounters; it lets me help the players ensure they’re applying the rules correctly; it prevents other players having to choose between correcting a fellow player or letting a mistake go by; it lets the players focus on role-playing their characters because someone else is making sure the mechanics are done right.
I aspire to a sort of Zen rules-fu, where the players focus on the story they’re telling, the choices they’re making, and the characters they’re playing, with the rules applied smoothly and without noticeable effort to resolve the consequences of those decisions and actions. That’s hard to do. I think it’s even more difficult at a table where no single person understands all the rules.
Fortunately, there is no real problem here. Organized play will continue to generally use supplements as they are released (helping Paizo make money, stay in business, and continue to make great gaming products). Players like me can find or create home games that limit the use of supplemental material.
But if I had a magic wand, I’d love to find a way to combine the advantages of being able to play more often and with a more diverse group of people, with my preference to play with a constant rule set. Also, maybe we could put a few charges of fly in it :).
