Koren n'Rhys's page

I got the BB for my 12 yo daughter who successfully ran a few games. She decided she preferred being a player, but one of her friends is using it to run the game now. A great intro for younger gamers!

I haven't had a chance to do more than skim, but if that's the case cthulhudrew, then it's even MORE useful. And if it isn't all that helpful in simplifying full PF material for BB, then I hope Paizo writes something up that does the job. While there are some guidelines in the BB, a more detailed document would be great. I mean, "Ignore the stuff you don't recognize" only gets you so far...

Welcome Tim! Like you, I'm a old-school guy and run RC D&D. I picked up the BB for my 13yo daughter to run with her friends who play 4e mostly, and myself as a player too. It's simplified enough that she was able to dive right in, yet I can give her advice from a more OSR point of view. We've been very happy with it. I've held off on core books, thankfully, though I'll likely end up getting her a few things if she want them. I did look at the Bestiary Box at GenCon - more of those awesome tokens - but was able to resist so far.

Enjoy the game!

Thank you for the replies,

And in both of your examples, how do I factor in the bonuses they would get to those checks? Every player is going to have a bonus to stealth and perception.

You don't need full, up-to-date copies of everyone's character sheets, but you should have a reference sheet with the basics noted for cases just like these.

Keep in mind this is coming from and "old-school" D&D guy...

As a general rule, as a GM I will roll if it's a case of the PCs not really knowing if they succeeded or not. They check for traps and don't find any - did they fail the roll or are there none to find? Trying to be stealthy - they think they are being quiet, but are they really or have they been seen/heard? That sort of thing.

Welcome to the wonderful world of tabletop RPGs!

As for "making my husband pay"... he is and he will! I already made him buy me the Core Rulebook, the Game Mastery Guide, the Bestiary, the Adventurer's Armory, and Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition -pawns for Runelords to be ordered soon. I'm working on convincing him that now we need a new fancy table to play on (been showing him The Sultan from Geek Chic)...

Ouch! Now that's a woman who plays hardball! That Sultan would be amazing to have sitting in the gameroom...

Nice link Caedwyr - I had no idea that resource site was out there!

A couple comments though - first, they look great but wow, tiny print...
EDIT TO ADD: The generators are nice too, but really you are just picking which spells to print, rather than actually making your own.

Second, for Valanda: Be sure you realize those cards are based on the full spell versions for PF Core, NOT Beginners Box. If you have the time and computer skills, you'll most likely be better off if you use the templates to make your own cards based on the info in the box. It'll be less confusing for your young players.

BTW, awfully nice of your loving hubby to put the burden of GMing on your plate. Be sure to make him pay for that... :)

Enjoy the game with your family. Seeing kids grow to love it is a HUGE part of the fun!

Fair enough guys, thanks for the heads up. If we ever get that far, I'll look them over first. For now, I'll try to rustle up a PDF of Runelords 1 and the players guide to give her a little sandbox to build in.

I doubt we have any interest in the kingdom building aspect of Kingmaker, so that's out.
@Herbo - thanks for posting, I think there's some good thoughts there.

@Camelot: What do you mean by "adult material"? Kids today are pretty immune to most stuff. My girls will watch Law & Order (even SVU), CSI, NCIS and so on with no worries from me.

Thanks for the advice guys. I do have a couple of modules, as I said, and some other odds and ends, but wanted to pick up the first part of an AP just to give her a bit more to look forward to, as she gets more comfortable as a DM. I think I will grab Jade Regent since it's readily available, and maybe the PDF of Rulelords - thought that's till the 3.5 version. Maybe I'll just hold off until the updated PF version is released,

I've picked up PDFs of Everflame and Fangs from the Past. Also have lots of old Dungeon issues - nothing as new as 3.5 though. I'd rather not have her need to convert stuff if she doesn't need to.

My 13yo daughter has been running BB for myself and a few of her friends - we alternate weeks and I run Labyrinth Lord.

She's finished up both Black Fang and the mine adventure from the GM Kit. I know she plans to work up some of her own adventures, but I'd like to pick up the first part of one of the APs to give her something to sink her teeth into and get an idea of how to begin laying out a campaign.

Which one would you recommend as the best model for her to learn from? I'm leaning towards Jade Regent just because it's the most recent and still easily obtainable. Classes used isn't an issue, since we have Ed o' War's BB stuff, but she'd need to convert a lot of the new monsters and ignore a bunch of non-BB info obviously.

So... Thoughts?

We've run the black fang adventure from the box and the mine adventure. By "we", I mean my daughter (13/DM) and two of her friends (also 13), plus me and one other adult friend.

For your campout, I'd stick to the pregens. As noted by Cpt Kirstov, you can add the Barbarian and have five players.

The black fang adventure ran fine as is. The mine was really short. They give your a section to expand yourself (beyond the chasm) and I'd recommend you work up something for that area to make sure you don't run out of things to do.

First, I think you'll find it is much easier to simply start a new character rather than switch from one class or race to another. Use the experience to try out other race/class combinations and see which ones you enjoy.

Next, I strongly recommend you download the PFBB Race Addendum and PFBB Consolidated Class Conversions from EdOWar's blog >HERE<.

Ed has taken a great deal of time and effort to create the extra races and classes from the Core rulebook, as well as the other PF books (Advanced Players Guide, etc) in BB format. That is, 5 level limit, simplified feats and spells and so on. Later on, when you run a full PF game, you'll be familiar with the basics behind all those additional options and the transition won't be such a shock.

Welcome to the game, and the boards. Your English is just fine, so don't worry on that account!

That's really too bad. I understand that Paizo needs to protect themselves and their IP - I assume the changes you need to make are to not copy the trade dress of the official pregens - but that was the whole point of your work here. But... Boo. Really.

I'll say again that I believe there is a decent sized group out here that wants this simplified version of PF and has no desire to move on to the full game. Yes, we can create our own versions of the content from the SRD but when we're playing with kids, using the box as the educational tool it's designed for, continuity of presentation is key, and DWishR's pregens allowed the GM to offer new classes, or expand the party if there are more than 4 players, without adding another layer of confusion or difficulty to the process.

I really hope you guys don't feel like you need to come down on EdoWar for using the color-coded block format for the feats and skills he's produced as part of his class conversion project.

DWishR, these are fantastic! A great way to introduce a couple of new classes to the BB family. Thank you for taking the time to design them!

Any chance you'll be doing more of them? I'd love to see Seoni - the sorcerer is probably the next class I'd like to add to BB. The Bard too, but it looks like he's a gnome...

Oh, I already grabbed all of Ed's stuff. No doubt it's fantastic work and we are using some of it already. I just wanted to throw my support in for some official stuff from Paizo. I think they're missing out on a great opportunity here.

Nature's Champions pack: Barbarian, Ranger, Druid & Sorcerer (fey blooded or dragon blooded). Half-Orc and Gnome added to races. Throw in a wilderness adventure advice for GMs and a Hexploration adventure included. Add Survival skill, plus more feats.

Urban Heroes: Bard, Monk and Paladin. Add half-elf and halfling races. Advice for Running urban and mystery adventures. Add combat manoeuvers. Throw in a mystery adventure.

By this point the Players will either bs ready to play the full game or they won't.

>BUMP<

Another vote for this idea. I think you need to rethink your decision on this Paizo! As many others have said both here and on other forums, it's the presentation that people like.

I'd like to see a couple of things.
1)Themed class packs as Dudemeister suggests which expand our race and class options, with the appropriate feats, spells, etc to expand the BB system. Again, not a divergent product line, but a simplified one, to cater to those who don't have the time or desire to learn the complexity of the Core PF system.

2) BB Adventure Paths, again in the snazzy BB format. You could also dual-stat your APs, or maybe put an appendix in the back with the stat blocks for BB.

I'd buy some of this stuff, really I would, but I won't on PF Core products. I'm too old and time-crunched to invest in the minutia of the system.

I totally agree with Mooncabbage here. I think a parallel line of box sets - ala Mentzer BECMI D&D - is a great idea. I would like to see some more class and race options added over time, but in the simplified BB format.

I run BECMI myself but bought the box for my 12yo daughter to run. She plays in my campaign (and so do some of her friends), and also plays in a D&D4 game or 2 run my those friends. It seems like the kids ignore a lot of the more complex rules, so the intricacies of PF Core are beyond them.

The BB simplifies enough that they seem to use much more as written without being overwhelmed. That said, they do want more class/race options, but not so much skills. Feats... maybe. So, expanding the BB ruleset would be a smart move, I think. I found EdOWar's BB classes and we have been using some of those in the meantime.

I would love to see more adventures as well. Not the shorter Bash type or full adventure paths, but something suitably in the middle. I'm curious to see how far along 0One Games carries their new Basic Paths line.

Thanks for the reference DarkWhite. :)

I'm slowly working through all the additional core classes. When they're finished I'll put them together into a single document.

-Ed

That will be an incredible resource once you do Ed. I just picked up the BB for my daughter to run for her friends (I run labyrinth Lord for her/them) and am gathering your classes to give her more options if she wants them. I say the more the merrier! IMO, you can add more options without increasing the complexity of the game.