Tim-Ra the Undying's page

I think I first heard about Pathfinder through ads in Dragon. I downloaded the beta rules, but never got around to playing it until 2013. I'd been running D&D 3.5 for a full decade at that point, because I never liked 4E enough to GM it. I made the change to PF in large part because I was using Green Ronin's Freeport setting for a 3.5 campaign, and they had announced that their next setting guide would use PF. My family and another couple in the group relocated for work in mid-2013, which allowed us to continue the campaign after a long hiatus, and I used that time to convert the campaign. That game continued for another year or so after that, so we counted that a success, and PF1 was solidly our new system of choice.

A year or two later, we all got into PFS, and from then on, the majority of our gaming was Society-related, though we still did occasional homebrew campaigns and one-shot modules as well.

Java Man wrote:

2005? Get off my lawn yah dang kids!

I can shout that now to the kids of the kids I first told to get off my lawn.

Same here. The alias I'm posted under is the one I created for whenever someone makes me feel ancient for being a TTRPG player since 1984. :D

My kids were born in 2004 and 2005, and both have been playing TTRPGs from a young age. The elder one has been GMing PFS 2E since Season 2 or 3, I think, and now GMs SFS 2E, too.

I started playing D&D in the mid-80s with Basic and Expert, then AD&D 1E. As 2E, 3E, and 3.5 came out, I readily adopted each new rules set as my go-to game. But 4E failed to grab me--it was the first edition that I wasn't excited to GM. So my group and I stuck with 3.5 for about 10 years, until we finally decided to try PF 1E. Then we pretty much left D&D behind--though I did frequently convert material from my sizable D&D library to PF.

My wife and I tried out PFS sometime during the next couple years, and that soon became a large percentage of our gaming. I had mostly run homebrew campaigns up to that point, but eventually got burnt out on the amount of prep work required, so organized play let me keep scratching the GMing itch for much less work.

When Starfinder came out, it took a little time to get traction in our area, but once it did (mid/late-S1 of SFS), that became a regular part of our diet, too.

Similarly, PF 2E faced resistance from many of our local regulars (including the store owner, who was perfectly happy to host it but decided it wasn't his thing after playing a few times). But between the end of new 1E PFS material and my wife becoming a VO, 2E soon vied with 1E for our game of choice.

Somewhere along the way, we tried out D&D 5E. I enjoyed it, both as a player and GM, but it just wasn't as robust as PF1 or PF2. My kids (who were teens at the time) got into it far more, and it was definiteky their (and their friends') game of choice for a few yesrs. But then the 6E OGL fiasco soured all of us on playing more 5E, or wanting to ever try 6E.

I still play PF1, just not as much as I used to. Some of us locals who regularly GMed PF1 formed a weekly round-robin group (which went online during covid and has atayed there). We're be wrapping up our latest campaign in the next couple months, and I'm not sure if the group will continue. My wife and I also started playing in an old friend's PF1 homebrew game, but we're the two remote players in an otherwise in-person game, which can be challenging at times.

There is a lot that I like better about 1E and a lot I like better about 2E, and I'm not really sure how to articulate my reasons. I haven't yet GMed 2E, which is probably the longest that I've ever played a RPG without taking a turn as GM. But with SF2 coming out, I've decided to try running that early on, which means that--as my wife and eldest child put it--"then you can come run PF2 with us, too!"

There are still some 1E adventures that I very much want to play or run, but I can see that the end of my engagement with thst edition is looming on the horizon. Keeping two versions of two RPGs straight in your head is a lot of work, and probably not viable long-term.

Is there also a rework of the Organized Play systems in the works? A more maneuverable boon purchase system would be amazing!

This would be the single most welcome thing to happen in the parts of the Paizo site where I spend any significant amount of time, but it sounds like we will have to keep waiting a bit longer for that...

My first post is in 2011, but I can't imagine I was lurking around much before that. That is about when I started playing RPGs in earnest. Now excuse me while I wither to dust and ponder the illusion of time.

You sweet summer child. If you're turning to dust after only 13 years of gaming, what about us ancient ones who have been at it for 40+?