Pathfinder Way's page

[Note: The contents of this post are hereby released to the Public Domain, via Creative Commons 0: https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/cc0/ ]

To Chris Cocks:

D&D is no longer cool. Your leadership killed the golden goose. Several attempts were made to firmly monetize, 'digitally enclose', and corporatize a vibrant 50-year cultural community. Which resulted in cultural destruction, and a flight of refuge into other communities, more nourishing.

I speak as a D&D refugee myself. DMing since 1983, I thought nothing would quench my love for Dungeons & Dragons. When, just before the OGL debacle broke, I watched the One D&D celebration with Ginny Di--even though I hadn't even planned on switching to the new edition--I was on board.

Yet the brutish OGL debacle, the myopic push toward an AI micro-transactional enclosure, the unapologetic corporate-toned half-measures...these have turned me to a staunch opponent and lifetime boycotter of D&D and Hasbro. On rare occasion, I will still purchase a used/second-hand D&D branded item. For new RPG products, I only buy from Paizo and other companies with integrity.

Yet, I truly believe in amends. You still could turn it around. You could be remembered as a D&D hero, on par with Ryan Dancey, Lisa Stevens, Eric Mona, Peter Adkison...and even in the circle of Gary and Dave.

Here is the main suggestion:

-Separate the D&D RPG from Hasbro. The association with Hasbro is inherently tainted and toxic within the cultural legacy of D&D.
-But, at the same time...retain for Hasbro the perpetual rights to produce D&D-branded hardware and media products: including film/tv rights, toys (action figures, plushies), merch/swag, video games, and animated digital products. That is actually what Hasbro is good at: making cool stuff. Cool hardware/toys and big media tie-ins. Do that.

As for how to separate the D&D RPG from Hasbro, I offer a few different ways:

A) Certify the D&D RPG Studio as a Certified B Corp whose mission is truly devoted to fostering the long-term culture of D&D, in palpable ways, laid out in a public mission statement. It is possible to certify just one branch of a corporation. This is the only option I can see for keeping the D&D RPG within Hasbro/WotC's fold, and still sharing the same office space. Though it's the least drastic of my offerings, I personally would consider ending my boycott if the D&D RPG Studio were explicitly bound to be devoted to something other than "corporate shareholder profit above all."

B) Sell the D&D RPG rights, in full, to Paizo and Paizo Workers United.

Please note that I suggest an innovative arrangement whereby Hasbro (D&D Media Properties) retains a perpetual (forever) right to use the contents of any D&D RPG book (past, present, future) as a source for their toys, hardware, and media productions. And vice versa: Paizo D&D RPG Studio would retain a perpetual right to make RPG products (books, PDFs, cardstock play-aids and pawns, and non-animated digital tools) based on any Hasbro D&D media/toy product. There would be a perpetual profit-sharing agreement between the two D&D entities, negotiated up front. Not even requiring future "approvals" for using each other's D&D IP.

C) Fully divest the D&D RPG Studio as a distinct (non-Hasbro/non-WotC) B Corp. With the existing D&D RPG staff as the basis. No longer based in the WotC's office. Unless significant business/support staff were brought in, it might not be viable.

D) Keep the hardware/media rights with Hasbro...and keep the Hasbro D&D trademark registered for use in film, tv, video games, and toys...but open the D&D RPG trademark to the Public Domain, within the fields of paper books, PDFs, cardstock play-aids, and non-animated digital tools. This could even include the truly magnanimous gesture of releasing all of the pre-5.2E D&D PDFs, artwork, and logos to the Public Domain, via Creative Commons Zero.

Mr. Cocks, you would become a D&D hero.

Sionainn T. Mac Innéirghe
Twelvefold Works Publishing

You are welcome to contact me at: twelvefoldworks@pm.me

A Paizo-related question recently asked on Ben Riggs' "Reading D&D Aloud" Patreon Discord channel:

Hi, my name is Sionainn (formerly known as Travis Henry). I’m the CEO of Twelvefold Works Publishing. One thing I’m proud of is that I provided detailed feedback on drafts of the ORC license via conversations with Eric Mona on Discord, pointing out several things which apparently everyone else missed, which resulted in several specific revisions and improvements. (If you don’t believe me, I could show you the conversation screenshots and the resulting changes.)

I’m writing because I watched an Indestructoboy video recently where he jadedly opined that there’s no magic sword which will overcome D&D/WotC/Ha$bro.

I’d like offer my vision of a magic sword. [BTW, I hereby release all original content within this post to the Public Domain, via the Creative Commons Zero license.]

Is it doable? If Ben Riggs proposed this idea to Eric Mona and others, could it become a reality?

Here are the features:

1) For a provisional name, let’s call this: “The TRPG Alliance,” or the “Alliance” for short.

2) This Alliance would be a tactical, practical, visionary cross-publisher alliance of Paizo and potentially all of the other established “non-Hasbro” TRPG publishers. Let’s say for example, including the likes of Kobold Press, MCDM, Goodman Games, Monte Cook Games, Green Ronin, Pelgrane Press, Free League, Modiphius, KenzerCo, Necrotic Gnome, Chaosium, and Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

3) Unlike, say the totally open ORC license, and the DTRPG Community Content Programs (e.g. Pathfinder Infinite), this would be an invitation-only business alliance. Paizo would be central, and would only invite participants who bring a commensurate backlist of stored value and proven track record of quality and reliability.

4) One goal would be for any and all of each company’s (wholly-owned) adventures and worldbooks/setting sourcebooks, monster books, etc. to become available in all of the house systems of the Alliance.

5) “Available” could mean anything from a simple (but official) bare-bones conversion doc, a full-blown PDF conversion, print-on-demand, hard copy retail publication, and/or crowdfunded products.

6) There would be a private inter-company file sharing cloud where all of the member companies would upload and share the original design files of all of their backlist adventures and sourcebooks.

7) Trust and goodwill. It would be an unprecedented agreement which would spell out from the start that member companies wouldn’t even have to ask permission to convert any of those products, and could even use the original art, fonts, and graphic design! And just add their own house system stats, and other necessary modifications and adaptations—whatever revisions are considered essential to that rules system.

8) Mutually lucrative. The Alliance agreement would feature a no-hassle royalty laid out up front, with no further permissions or pre-review required. That is one reason why only trusted companies would be invited.

9) However, as a trial experiment, this agreement could have a limited timeframe (e.g. 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?) and a limited number of titles shared per company. With the option of renewal and expansion, if the parties found the Alliance beneficial.

10) This could mean for example, that the 40+ Pathfinder Adventure Paths would eventually become available in all of the other rules systems: Tales of the Valiant, Draw Steel, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Cypher System, Adventure Game Engine, 13th Age, Year Zero Engine and Mörk Borg, 2d20, Hackmaster 5E, Old School Essentials, and Savage Worlds.

11) The existing Savage Pathfinder sourcebooks and adventure paths (Savaged! Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne) are great examples of what can be done.

12) And vice versa, the Dragon Empire, Ptolus, Old Gods of Appalachia, Deadlands, Freeport, etc. could become available in Pf2 and all of the other Alliance rules systems as well.

13) Smaller stalwarts or up-and-coming companies with a proven presence in the TRPG space could be invited to join the Alliance eventually, such as Dungeon Coach (DC20), Nimble 5E, 9th Level Games (MAZES), Evil Hat (FATE), Lumpley Press (Powered by the Apocalypse), Square Hex (The Black Hack), The Questing Beast (Knave), Troll Lord (C&C), Rebellion (Tunnels & Trolls), etc.

14) It would be an especial coup for Renegade Games to join the Alliance, with their Essence 20 system, since they are close IP partners with Ha$bro. Though their wholly-owned IPs are relatively few (e.g. Kids on Bikes).

15) Since any sale of a converted product would provide a royalty to the original publisher, there could even be interlinked pages at Drive Thru RPG…and even on their own website storefronts. So that the consumer can find whichever rules adaptation fits their table.

16) The Alliance would make a webpage which showed which products are available in which Alliance house systems.

17) There’d also be an Alliance quality mark/logo, which could be displayed on books to build awareness of this shared pluri-centric Alliance culture.

18) Another goal of the Alliance is to instill a culture of pluri-system familiarity, respect, and usage among consumers. So that’s more and more gamers are used to nonchalantly trying out many different systems. For example, in this culture, it would become common for players to convert their PC from one system to another, with different GMs playing in a shared world, but using different Alliance rules systems.

19) In other words: a pluri-centric but intentional and formative culture. In contrast to the monolithic/monocrop culture of D&D/Ha$bro.

20) To foster this culture, there ought to eventually be a robust, official conversion app between all of the Alliance rules systems.

21) Another goal: The Alliance intentionally produces Public Domain (Creative Commons Zero) SRDs for all editions of the traditional fantasy game. *Exact* clones ruleswise, except for using a completely different terminology (synonymy), and a different presentation (i.e. completely different explanatory text and chapter order).

22) And, with Azora Law Firm as consultant, the Alliance prepares from the start to fully defend the explicitly stated US copyright law that “game mechanics cannot be copyrighted.”

23) So that the Original Era, Blue Era, First Era, Magenta Era, Red Era, Second Era, 2.5 Era (Skillful Power Era), Karma Deck Era (card-based game mechanics), Cyclopean Era, 3.0 Era, 3.5 Era, Fourth Era, 5.0 Era…and even the 5.2 Era…game mechanics are fully entered into the Public Domain (not only the OGL, CC, or ORC). Including not only the Core rules, but even all of the published variant, optional, supplemental, and expanded game mechanics, seen for example in the splatbooks and magazines. Each and every detail of the game mechanics are released into the Public Domain.

24) In this way, all of the Alliance’s adventures and settings could now be published in all of the legacy rules editions. For example, all of the 40+ Pf APs, Old Gods of Appalachia, Dragon Empire, MCDM’s Strongholds & Followers, etc etc., could be purchased in OE, 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E, and 5E versions.

25) If there is still perceived value in other legacy systems (for example, the FASERIP system), these could be extracted for the Alliance’s Public Domain SRDs as well.

26) Yet another goal of the Alliance: The agreement would provide a means for testing the waters of a limited but “official” “megaverse” (polyverse/alloverse) which begins to slightly connect the setting IP of all the Alliance members. Basically, the agreement would be something like this: Any new product from an Alliance publisher can refer to one copyrighted proper name (e.g. world name, placename, person, or organization) from each of the Alliance members. The surrounding paragraph (up to say, 200 words) can make any claim to connection with that proper name, with no review or veto from the IP owner necessary. Again, this is where trust and goodwill come in.

27) Though this “one copyrighted name” experiment would end if or when the Agreement ended, the Agreement would stipulate that, once published, the name can be forever included in reprints of that particular product, without having to revise it if the Agreement ends.

28) Yet another goal of the Alliance: Bringing the wholly-owned worlds of TSR/WotC-credited authors into the Alliance Polyverse. Since the Alliance is aiming to supplant the D&D/Ha$bro culture as a whole, the Alliance seeks out luminaries (and their wholly-owned, non-Ha$bro worlds), such as Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (World of Darksword, World of Sovereign Stone), R.A. Salvatore (World of Corona), Ed Greenwood (World of Falconfar), Elaine Cunningham (World of Changeling Detective Agency), Bruce Heard (chief designer of Mystara > now with his wholly-owned World of Callidar), Larry Elmore (World of SnarfQuest), Luke Gygax (World of Okkorim), Sean K. Reynolds (World of Five Moons), Rob Kuntz (World of Kahlibruhn), Jeff Grubb (World of Toricandra), Chris Pramas (World of Dragon Fist, formerly WotC-owned, now owned by Chris), the Estate of James Ward (World of Metamorphosis Alpha, World of Green Races and Dungeon World), Steve Sullivan (World of Illion, the implied setting of the 1982 D&D Comic Strips), Chris Holmes (World of Caladan, seen in J.E. Holmes Maze of Peril novel), etc.

29) So as to add those “TSR/WotC-adjacent”, non-Ha$bro worlds to the Polyverse and its Alliance house systems.

30) Same for Appendix N worlds. Jointly-negotiated, multi-rule-system Alliance agreements would be sought with those Literary Estates, where feasible.

31) “It’s all T×T.” ‘This last proposal is more tentative, but the Alliance could seek to develop a shared trademark which phonetically “evokes” the legacy editions. Perhaps through a shared agreement with the current owners of Tunnels & Trolls, the Alliance might be name itself the Table×Top Alliance…T×T…pronounced “tee ‘n tee.”

32) In these ways, perhaps Paizo and its Alliances would be in a position to supplant the hopelessly corporatist D&D with an ethical culture of T×T.

33) Lastly, to the extent that the T×T Alliance itself needed any sort of separate legal embodiment, it could be minimally incorporated as a certified B-Corp, with a unionized staff, affiliated with United Paizo Workers.

So that’s my question, Ben, would you help present this actionable vision to Paizo and other industry leaders?

***

Ben Riggs replied:

D&D is a language and a culture as much as it is a game and a product.
Asking how to supplant Hasbro is asking how to replace English as the common language of the world.
In both cases, I would point out that the dominance of D&D and the dominance of English are, in fact, side-effects and by-products of other circumstances.
If you want to supplant D&D as the dominant game, the way to do it is in fact simple. Make a game that's so good that old players stop playing D&D to play it instead, while simultaneously doing a better job at getting new players into your game.
This has happened in fits and starts across the history of the industry.
There was a time when White Wolf games were both better at bringing people in and people stopped playing D&D to play them.
The rise of Paizo was very much people stopping playing D&D to play Pathfinder.
So while I love the idea of cooperation in the TTRPG economy, and cooperation often benefits all, I am skeptical that it is a key to ending the dominance of D&D.

Even as an experienced follower of Paizo, I often get Pf1 and Pf2 sources mixed up when I'm looking for stuff online. Because their logos are very similar.

And one of my new players accidentally shelled out a lot of money for a big Pf1 hardcover thinking that it was Pf2.

Thankfully, in today's announcement I see you've made the Starfinder 2E logo very visually distinct from the Sf1 logo. Awesome!

Could you please do the same for the PfRm logo?

I’m new to Pf2. We are learning and enjoying the clarity of the Interact action. Whether an item is Worn or Stowed is important in this action economy.

I found some good info here:

Carrying and Using Items / Wielding Items:

https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=186

says: “Worn items are tucked into pockets, belt pouches, bandoliers, weapon sheaths, and so forth”

Given the importance of whether sonething is worn of stowed, i’m surprised there aren’t rules for how many pockets, belt pouches, and straps a character can fit on their body. And how much Bulk those containers carry.

Though sacks have an equipment listing, I don’t see any write-up for pouches (other than a spell component pouch), nor for bandoliers (other than a hand crossbow shootist bandolier ).

Merisiel is even depicted in the Beginner Box as having a back-mounted dagger bandolier, plus various strapped on daggers.

Is there a write-up which I’m missing?

Has anyone reverse-engineered how many pockets, pouches, straps, etc. are visible on illustrations of Pf iconics?

are there rules for a 1st-level character intentionally jumping down from a 10-foot height?

Hi, I'm new to Pf2, trying to sort through what is actually Pf2, and what is my muddled memory of features from playing previous editions (AD&D 2e Combat & Tactics, 3.5e, Pf1, 5e).

In Pf2, is there basically no trouble with shooting, for example, a shortbow while standing next to an enemy? (Besides the longbow Volley trait.)

Hi, I’m new to Pf2, and I’m enjoying it.
My question is this: I understand what the action symbols “mean”…and yeah, the “arcing arrow” shape of the Reaction symbol is intuitive…yet I’m stumped on what those diamond shaped blobs—and the diamondy stuff inside them—is supposed to actually depict.

Yeah I realize that two diamondy blobs = two actions, and three diamondy blobs = three actions; and a hollow-ish diamondy blob = free action. But what “image” are the icons supposed to depict?

If they were simply diamonds (solid for Action, hollow for Free Action), I’d “get it”, but, artistically, what image is the diamondy stuff inside the diamonds supposed to evoke?

Hi, could anyone point me to a PC ancestry (official, 3PP, or homebrew) for:

Leprechaun
Banshee
Werebear
Cowfolk

Glad for any help. We're converting from 5e homebrew.

So, the Nomadic Halfling heritage grants two bonus languages. Then it says: "Every time you take the Multilingual feat, you gain another [i.e. one] new language."

But the Multilingual Feat says: "You learn two new languages [...] "You can select this feat multiple times. Each time, you learn additional [two] languages."

The Nomadic Halfling heritage seems to be saying that if you have the Nomadic Halfling heritage, you only get one language when you take the Multilingual feat. Which seems to be the opposite of the intent!

Or does it mean to say:
"Every time you take the Multilingual feat, you gain a bonus language due to your heritage, in addition to the two languages you gain from the feat."

Since PF1 was sometimes called "D&D 3.75E", what does that make PF2?

D&D 3.752E?
D&D 3.76E?
D&D 3.85?
D&D 3.75^2E ("3.75 Edition Squared")...which comes to "D&D 14.0625E"!..."D&D Fourteen-Point-Zero-Six-Two-Five Edition" or "Fourteen and Six-Hundred Twenty-Five Ten-Thousandths Edition"!
D&D 5.75E

Any other possibilities? Which do you like best?

Of these, I'd go with 3.75^2 (with the 2 written as a superscript when formatting allows). Because the aim is to totally "leap frog" over WotC's iterative sequence of D&D. Squaring the number is a leap.

Could Paizo open up the World of Golarion intellectual property for self-publishing via a dedicated venue at DriveThruRPG, à la DMs Guild?

I'm looking forward to PF2. Three things I could do without though, are the implicit allusions to hard drinking, alchemical "drug" use, and "anarchist"-style bomb-lobbing.

As for alcohol: I understand that many RPGers are hard drinkers, yet it's a turn off for others. For example, awhile back I saw a PF2 advertisement with (IIRC) a big glass o' wine placed next the book. C'mon - it's not necessary. Anyway, I heard on the forums that soft drinks will be added to the equipment list. Nice.

I prefer that the Alchemist doesn't turn out to be a just a sort of veiled fantasy equivalent of a meth-lab producer. That desolate path doesn't need to be glorified.

Lastly, I heard the Alchemist class will have several other options besides the bomb-throwing, crazed, anarchistic sub-class. Good. More of that. How about an Alchemist who really lives up the original Hermetic archetype?

The only Paizo product I own is the Pathfinder Beginner Box. (Though I've preordered the Playtest rulebook, because I'm excited about the game in a way I haven't been since 3E.)

And...but...well..I'm into math-lite games. Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I just like it to be simple, okay?

I realize that Paizo is focused on getting PF2 right. But just to say: I wish Paizo would release a math-lite "Simply Pathfinder" RPG as well.

When I proposed this for PF1, people just directed me to the Adventure Card Game. But I'm not talking about a card game - I mean a RPG.

Some suggested Pathfinder Microlite - and that is closer to what I'm looking for - but its implementation was a bit clunkly.

The Pathfinder Beginners Box is a good start, and I heard Paizo reps say that there are plans for a PF2 Beginner Box as well.

But what I'd really like to see are these four features to be included either in the PF2 Beginner Box, or as a distinct "Simply Pathfinder" or "Pathfinder Junior" product:

1) Scalable complexity (perhaps three levels: let's call it "Beginner Pathfinder", "Junior Pathfinder", and "Little Pathfinder"). Meaning that there's three benchmarks of simplicity: from the Beginner Box (almost as complex as PF), to a younger kids' version (simplified even more than the Beginner Box), to a young children's version (like WotC's Monster Slayers game).

2) Directly convertible. A system for converting any PF2 character or monster into (or out of) any of these three levels of complexity.

3) Little or no math. The Junior and Little levels would use no math. For example, just use 1d20 for all rolls (maybe with penalties and bonuses turned into 2d20 and take the lowest/highest), or adapt the elegant Tales of Equestria system.

4) Playable at the same table as players who are playing the full PF2! So one player could be playing PF2 with all the bells and whistles, another playing with Beginner-statted character, and a younger player playing according to Junior rules...seamlessly at the same table.

There are examples of super-simple RPGs:

Monster Slayers (super-simple D&D) released as PDFs by WotC. But it's really too simple - the complexity isn't scalable.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/monsterslayers

No Thank You Evil! Has scalable complexity.

Tales of Equestria. No Math! Elegant use of all polyhedrons.

In the run-up to 3E, WotC coordinated with various IP-holders in order to assure 3E/d20 adaptations of various key fantasy and sci-fi worlds: Diablo, Star Wars, Wheel of Time, and Call of Cthulhu d20 were all published by WotC. KenzerCo's Kingdoms of Kalamar and White Wolf's Warcraft book were jointly produced with WotC and licensed to display the D&D brand. Dune, Middle-earth, and Star Trek d20 were planned but fell through.

I realize that Paizo has said (something like): "We don't intend to fill the niche of WotC/Hasbro."

But what if Paizo tried to? ...Tried to offer PF2 as a universal, cross-genre system...tried to evoke a "Second Renaissance of the d20 System"?

Yeah, there'll be a Pathfinder-Compatible license: "We will be offering a Compatibility License for Second Edition, including a new Compatibility Logo. Information on that will be announced in 2019, including details on how publishers can get early access to the finished rules." (from the Playtest FAQ)

But beyond the Compatibility License, I'd be glad for Paizo to be proactive, and in the build-up to PF2, reach out to a bunch of key RPG companies and licensed IP-holders (such as Cubicle 7 who hold the Middle-earth, Warhammer, Dr. Who, and Lone Wolf licenses), and see if at least a one-book PF2 adaptation could be jointly produced, for many existing fantasy and sci-fi settings. If mutually profitable, they could be followed by further product - much of which could be restatted versions of existing products, like Cubicle7 has done for the new Middle-earth 5E product line vis-a-vis its The One Ring house system.

It'd be a question whether Paizo would require all these adaptations to use the PF2 PHB, or if they'd be standalone PF2-fueled games specially approved by Paizo, or if Paizo would produce genre books (PF2 Sci-Fi, PF2 Modern) which would serve as the basis.

If you were King/Queen of Paizo, which worlds and settings would delight your whim? Which companies would you broker deals with?

Here are some ideas:

Key fantasy settings presently published via another TRPG system:
*Game of Thrones PF2 (in coordination with Green Ronin)
*Middle-earth PF2 (with Cubicle 7) As an aside: a few years ago, I wrote to C7, and suggested that C7 make a 5E adaptation of The One Ring, simply as a way of expanding the reach (and sales) of Middle-earth gaming. On the message boards, I was universally jeered.."it'll never happen...C7 already has a house system...you're wishing for a pony." Yet, it happened.)
*Conan PF2 (with Modiphius)

Some biggies which haven't been given TRPG treatment yet, which would require Paizo producing the book themself, or subcontracting it to an existing TRPG design studio who's familiar with PF2.
*Harry Potter PF2
*Legend of Zelda FP2
*Dark Tower: The Worlds of Stephen King PF2.
*Pokemon PF2

Also:
*various popular computer/videogame RPG and Anime settings.
*Any and all worlds listed in Appendix N.

It'd be cool to make deals with some of the smaller but classic fantasy TRPG worlds whereby their IP would could be eternally referenced as being part of, or connected to, the Golarion Multiverse. Such as:
*Tekumel PF2
*Glorantha PF2
*Lankhmar PF2
*Trollworld PF2
*Wilderlands PF2

Examples of sci-fi settings:
*Star Wars PF2 (w/ Fantasy Flight Games)
*Star Trek PF2 (w/ Modiphius)
*Doctor Who PF2 (w/ Cubicle 7)
*Westworld PF2 (currently a popular television series)
*The Handmaid's Tale PF2 (currently a popular television series)

Examples of horror settings:
*Call of Cthulhu PF2 (with Chaosium. Unlike the recent Cthulhu PF1 kickstarter, this would be a full adaptation of CoC)

Examples of superhero settings (maybe a joint project with Green Ronin, to make a PF2-iteration of Mutants & Masterminds):
*Marvel PF2 (or specific movie/tv tie-ins)
*DC PF2 (or specific movie/tv tie-ins)

So those are some examples of a PF2-fueled, universal TRPG renaissance. What's your pleasure?

In the GlassCannon PF2 podcast, when Fareez the Rogue was stabbing at the Lesser Shadow but no one else could perceive it...couldn't the others just strike at the 5-foot square which the rogue was obviously attacking? Wouldn't it be a "blind strike" (total concealment, with a 50% chance of missing)? Still better than standing around.

I wonder if the rule for striking a totally concealed opponent's square is the same in PF2. Or if JB and the GC crew just overlooked it.

Has anyone written about using the PFBB as a complete RPG?

I mean, using it as a complete "P5" RPG (like the "E6" game where D&D is capped at level 6.)

And then extending that with a simplified system for a higher level play (levels 6 to 20+), consisting of a regular feat progression instead of class abilities, and with simplified spell-lists?

There's a new blog here: https://sites.google.com/site/dndphilmont/blog

There's a quote from Lisa Stevens and a suggestion of opening up the world of Golarion into the Public Domain.

Would people help me by posting links to previous threads and fansites which discuss or depict how Middle-earth could be run with Pathfinder RPG rules?

Ideally, I'm looking for a conversion from someone who is familiar with the vast body of Pathfinder classes, spells, and monsters, so that the most "Tolkienian" features could be chosen.

Thanks for any help.

I'm starting a gaming group with some friends in our 30s and late 20s, most of which haven't played rpgs before. They are intelligent, creative people, though not gearheads. We have been playing Settlers of Catan and RISK. I played D&D as a teen, but have only played 3e a few times in the past decade.

This is what strikes me: Pathfinder is so complicated! The book is humongous. My friends will see that and be like: "you've got to be kidding me."

I like the previews I've seen of the Pathfinder Beginner box, and I intend to buy that. I aim to stick with Beginners rules indefinitely, and keep running the Beginner's adventures (the free downloads and the few third-party beginner's adventures), and maybe run Runelords using Beginner rules (if that is feasible without a major conversion effort).

I looked at True20, Microlite d20, and Dragon Age, and I like aspects of those, but not quite for me.

What I want is an RPG that is:
1) Clearly a D&D/Pathfinder/OGL-style game (the six attributes, and so forth)
2) The complete game fits in a small, thin book.
3) Supported with a line of quality adventures (that's why I like Pathfinder). Entirely adventure-driven...I don't especially want a setting...just adventures.
4) As streamlined as the D&D Next Basic rules I've been hearing about (attribute checks, no skills, no feats)

I wish Paizo would make a super-streamlined game that was hardly more complicated than Settlers of Catan: call it "Wayfarers of Golarion RPG" or simply "Wayfarer". It could be the little brother of Pathfinder.