Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords Base Set

Assuming we get to do other APs, yes, you'll be able to use cards from one with another.

Vic, as part of the subscription would we be able to pick up the set at GenCon this year and avoid the shipping fees of the first box?

That's the current plan!

Hi Vic :)

What is the pacing of the game supposed to be outside an individual session. What I mean is: I think you mentioned a session lasts about 1 hour. Then how does that fall in with the evolution of your "character" decks? How many sessions before a character deck is "complete"? Do you play the same adventure continuously with the same deck - or is the intention to play each adventure once-off with your character deck and then continue with the next adventure (i.e. Burnt Offerings, then Skinsaw Murders, etc).

First, on session timing: it depends on whether you're talking about new players or people who already know the game; the former will take measurably longer than the latter.

Time also varies based on the number of players. The Base Set box supports 1 to 4 players; with the addition of the Character Add-On Deck, you can have up to 6 players. More players will usually take longer.

A group of 3 or 4 experienced players might complete a scenario in 30-45 minutes—shorter if they get lucky, longer if a bunch of things don't go their way. A group of 6 people learning the game, though, might take 1.5 hours—more if *nobody* is familiar with the game and they're trying to learn as they go.

As for the evolution of your character deck, you can have the same character advance through the introductory scenarios and then the entire Adventure Path if you like (assuming your character doesn't die without getting raised...). That's a total of 33 scenarios (which may represent more than 33 play sessions—if the party fails to complete a scenario, you'll need to try again).

Even then, your character need not be "complete"—you could create your own scenarios with the cards you have, and continue to improve your deck and your character for quite some time.

It is relatively easy (if you want to spend a little time on it) to pick and choose things instead of have them determined by random selection from a larger deck to FORCE each scenario to FEEL like the corresponding portion of RotRL. This basically throws out the mechanic that keeps replayability high, though. If you do this once, and then return to the core mechanic for later attempts at the scenario, you can duplicate the FEEL of RotRL once, and then simply enjoy the unique game play other times.

I would love to see list of cards for "pre-programmed" scenarios like this one. We briefly considered that for the base set, but the idea of a 50-page rulebook containing 30 pages of lists didn't sit right. But yeah, I'd love to see the lists people come up with.

Mike

I would note that the above idea would *dramatically* increase setup time for each scenario, and in my book, that's never good.

Time also varies based on the number of players. The Base Set box supports 1 to 4 players; with the addition of the Character Add-On Deck, you can have up to 6 players. More players will usually take longer.

Vic,

I am very curious how this will work, if we play with less then 4 people would we still have 4 characters?

And do I read correctly that solo play is a possibility? Are the rules for solo play different than if you play with 2 or more players?

I really consider buying this as it looks like an easy way to get my kids in touch with RPG's. (Don't tell my wife ;-))

And in relation to that: how language dependant is this? In other words is there a lot of text on each card?

I am very curious how this will work, if we play with less then 4 people would we still have 4 characters?

Normally, each player has his own character, so 2 players=2 characters. However, we suggest that people try solo play with 2 characters. (You can play it with 1, but we think it's a bit more fun with 2.)

Are the rules for solo play different than if you play with 2 or more players?

The rules are the same, though we offer some strategies unique to solo play. Here's the excerpt from the rulebook:

STRATEGY: ADVICE FOR SOLO PLAY

Solo play is particularly good for quickly completing scenarios to advance your character if you want to catch up to other players.
Not all characters should be considered equal for solo play. For example, Lem is quite good at helping other characters—but when there are no other characters, he’s a lot less useful. Ezren doesn’t have any blessings, so when no one else can give him any, his progress might be inhibited. Merisiel, on the other hand, is great for solo play, because she gains bonuses when no one is at her location.
You can also play multiple characters if you like; we suggest you try solo play with 2 characters. Treat each character as if he were being played by a separate player (so if you’re playing Sajan and Valeros, advance the blessings deck at the start of Sajan’s turn and at the start of Valeros’s turn).
Some cards are particularly difficult in solo play. If your character can’t ever get out of the Treacherous Cave, your scenario will grind to a halt. When you encounter such a card, remove it from the game and replace it with another card of the same type that roughly matches its power level but isn’t quite so impossible to overcome.

how language dependant is this? In other words is there a lot of text on each card?

Some cards have a *lot* of text.

I've just started GMing RotRL AP. Will this game contain spoilers for my players?

Each side of the role card presents a different specialization for your character, allowing you to choose one of two different paths for your character’s continuing advancement. For example, one side of the role card for the fighter Valeros lets him specialize as a defending Guardian, while the other side allows you to advance him as an offense-oriented Weapon Master.

(This is something we added after the playtest. Hey, playtesters: Surprise!)

VERY NICE!

I've just started GMing RotRL AP. Will this game contain spoilers for my players?

See this post on the previous page.

Vic, I read a demo review over at Board Game Geek. One of the complaints was that you had to mark on your character's level up card, and that there was no real way to track what is in your character deck other than leaving the deck together. Like that player suggested to you at the con, pdf character sheets for leveling, and pdf deck sheets to track what is in your deck is something you should immediately work on for release. I'd definitely be printing those out all the time. This would work better, and allow players to play the game with different groups so they could reconstruct their decks to maintain different character builds if they are playing in multiple gaming groups etc.

So please consider hosting .pdfs of...
-Character Sheets for leveling
-Deck Sheets so players can play maintain builds in multiple games

Because you write on the cards as you complete scenarios are the cards going to be washable or is there going to be multiples of the characters in the base set or will there be some to buy in another add on deck? The reason I ask is i am going to play it with my family but would also like to take it to my local gaming store play it there and have character options open for any one to start.

The character and role cards (the only ones you mark on) are uncoated so that you can erase them if you mark them with a pencil (so long as you don't press so hard you make an impression!).

If you intend to have multiple versions of the same character, you might want to put them in clear card sleeves, which you can then mark with a sharpie (which would be permanent) or grease pencil (which you could wash off).

Astral Frog, you have some good ideas...

Go to Game Video
Video about the game from Watch it Played

Vic, are there rules to level any character to be able to handle any level scenario? For instance a friend comes over and wants to play with three players who are on scenario 16, can the new player "roll" a character of the appropriate level? It would be cool if there are rules for creating characters to handle later scenarios even though they have not played earlier scenarios.

As play-tested, if one of the existing characters died, the player returned to the next table with a basic, unadvanced character.

As long as only 1 died, this actually wasn't too bad. Since the players can trade cards between scenarios, you can trade cards from the advanced decks for cards from the basic deck, effectively boosting the new character.

I saw feedback from groups that lost more than one character who indicated that things went very badly for them after that, and things went into a spiral.

I have no idea what changes may have been made to accommodate those reports.

I should note that losing a scenario (without a PC death) is actually advantageous for character power and growth, if you replay said scenario. Simple failure isn't really a problem.

I was wondering why the 2 month release dates between each scenario?

Definitely agree about having some printouts available to keep track of stuff between sessions. I haven't played the game, but it seems like it wouldn't be too hard to make a "character sheet" that includes all info on the card that you're supposed to write on, plus a section to write down which cards you have in your deck. Just a simple pdf that you can print out would be great. It's a pretty safe bet that even if there isn't an official Paizo sheet, someone will create one anyway.

Vic, are there rules to level any character to be able to handle any level scenario? For instance a friend comes over and wants to play with three players who are on scenario 16, can the new player "roll" a character of the appropriate level? It would be cool if there are rules for creating characters to handle later scenarios even though they have not played earlier scenarios.

Basically, you'd use the same rules as replacing a dead character. He'll be a bit behind the rest of the party, but he could solo some of the previous scenarios to catch up.

Or heck, if you really don't want anyone to be behind, just have him build a deck using cards with a similar power level as the other players' decks, and check a similar number of feats.

I was wondering why the 2 month release dates between each scenario?

It takes a minimum of 5 sessions to play through an adventure, so releasing them 4 weeks apart seems too fast. We're definitely going to want feedback on pacing once you get into it, though!

Vic, I read a demo review over at Board Game Geek. One of the complaints was that you had to mark on your character's level up card, and that there was no real way to track what is in your character deck other than leaving the deck together. Like that player suggested to you at the con, pdf character sheets for leveling, and pdf deck sheets to track what is in your deck is something you should immediately work on for release. I'd definitely be printing those out all the time. This would work better, and allow players to play the game with different groups so they could reconstruct their decks to maintain different character builds if they are playing in multiple gaming groups etc.

So please consider hosting .pdfs of...
-Character Sheets for leveling
-Deck Sheets so players can play maintain builds in multiple games

Vic, I have been thinking about this. What you guys could do is create 11 RPG-style character sheets for the 11 classes in the card game. These sheets will have the base-stats for each character and areas to mark changes like the small cards do, and they will have a section for marking what cards build your character. This would be more in the spirit of Pathfinder as well! Then host these .pdfs in the appropriate section of your web-site for download.

I'm a huge fan of pathfinder. And the ability to recreate my 1/2 Orc barbarian in this game is indiscribably awesome, but my question is about future endeavors. Since a big part of TTRPG's is the ability to have varied adventure settings and story lines limited only by the players wallet. Are the developers looking into creating more adventures and campaigns??? Not to say that what is and will be available isn't enough but are they considering makeing it a sort of extension of pathfinder. Although I imagine the base game plus expansions is pretty hefty I want something to do at twentieth level other than stare down at my enemies corpses bathing in the perfection that is my own skill. Or perhaps. (Though I have no idea how) maybe a large expansion enabling players to make their own adventures???

I'm a huge fan of pathfinder. And the ability to recreate my 1/2 Orc barbarian in this game is indiscribably awesome, but my question is about future endeavors. Since a big part of TTRPG's is the ability to have varied adventure settings and story lines limited only by the players wallet. Are the developers looking into creating more adventures and campaigns??? Not to say that what is and will be available isn't enough but are they considering makeing it a sort of extension of pathfinder. Although I imagine the base game plus expansions is pretty hefty I want something to do at twentieth level other than stare down at my enemies corpses bathing in the perfection that is my own skill. Or perhaps. (Though I have no idea how) maybe a large expansion enabling players to make their own adventures???

It's not a focus of the rulebook, but by the time most players play through the full Adventure Path, I think most of them will have a pretty good idea about how to create their own scenarios, and they'll have more than 1200 cards to use for that purpose.

I should also say that "recreating your half-orc barbarian" isn't quite in the scope of this game. If you choose to play the Barbarian, you do it with our iconic barbarian, Amiri. You'll be able to choose how she develops, both in terms of her stats and her deck, but we're not talking about a direct translation of your RPG character sheet.

MicMan wrote:

I would love to subscribe to this but shipping and handling to germany is at over 60 bucks (likely because the box is large and heavy).

Yeah, it's 14"x14" and weighs about 6 pounds (at current estimate). International shipping will be a killer on that; there's no way around it. You may find it worthwhile to purchase the Base Set locally and begin your subscription after that, when we'll be releasing bimonthly card decks.

It is such a pity that you can't find better international shipping deals, to NZ from Paizo is $72 shipping, amazon.com is $9.99; that is a huge difference :( I'd rather buy direct but there are limits, still I hope to pick up the non core bits in the sub when available

John Graham 323 wrote:

I'm a huge fan of pathfinder. And the ability to recreate my 1/2 Orc barbarian in this game is indiscribably awesome, but my question is about future endeavors. Since a big part of TTRPG's is the ability to have varied adventure settings and story lines limited only by the players wallet. Are the developers looking into creating more adventures and campaigns??? Not to say that what is and will be available isn't enough but are they considering makeing it a sort of extension of pathfinder. Although I imagine the base game plus expansions is pretty hefty I want something to do at twentieth level other than stare down at my enemies corpses bathing in the perfection that is my own skill. Or perhaps. (Though I have no idea how) maybe a large expansion enabling players to make their own adventures???

It's not a focus of the rulebook, but by the time most players play through the full Adventure Path, I think most of them will have a pretty good idea about how to create their own scenarios, and they'll have more than 1200 cards to use for that purpose.

I should also say that "recreating your half-orc barbarian" isn't quite in the scope of this game. If you choose to play the Barbarian, you do it with our iconic barbarian, Amiri. You'll be able to choose how she develops, both in terms of her stats and her deck, but we're not talking about a direct translation of your RPG character sheet.

I was wondering if the locations and creatures had that kind of flexibility, or if for example a temple of sarenrea is used as a location once for one scenario and after playing through that scenario it's useless??? Also when I said "recreate my 1/2 Orc barbarian" i ment I was really glad they took time to create the other classes besides the four vanilla characters in pathfinder . Plus any barbarian will always be my unslaad<==that's his name!!!. Also (assuming you were a play tester. . . !!!or even a developer!!!) I remember my first role playing experience. Skills, gear, attributes, dice. It was pretty difficult to understand, could this be used as a sort of tool to help ease a new players into the PFRPG??? It doesn't seem to have all the fluff of backstory and role playing. (At least not that I've seen.) I own the beginner box but even that can get tough for some people I know.

It is such a pity that you can't find better international shipping deals, to NZ from Paizo is $72 shipping, amazon.com is $9.99; that is a huge difference :( I'd rather buy direct but there are limits, still I hope to pick up the non core bits in the sub when available

Ever since the USPS did away with Surface Mail in 2007, there is literally no cheap way to send an item that weighs more than 4 pounds overseas. (How does Amazon do it? Easy—they lose money on it. We can't compete with that.)

I was wondering if the locations and creatures had that kind of flexibility, or if for example a temple of sarenrea is used as a location once for one scenario and after playing through that scenario it's useless???

There are some story-specific locations that are used in only one scenario, but there are other locations that are used several times. (Even if we only use them once, you could easily use most of them in a scenario of your own creation.)

...could this be used as a sort of tool to help ease a new players into the PFRPG??? It doesn't seem to have all the fluff of backstory and role playing. (At least not that I've seen.)

This isn't a roleplaying game, but it might introduce some familiar RPG concepts to some folks.

Subscribers can now choose to pick up August Subscriptions (including the Adventure Card Game) at Gen Con 2013!

There are some story-specific locations that are used in only one scenario, but there are other locations that are used several times. (Even if we only use them once, you could easily use most of them in a scenario of your own creation.)

This isn't a roleplaying game, but it might introduce some familiar RPG concepts to some folks.

Awesome!!! Just wanted to say thanks Vic for the replys. Really looking forward to this game. I love pathfinder and being able to introduce my nephews to it in a (somewhat) easy to understand, & manageable way is a real treat, can't wait!!!

I would note that the above idea would *dramatically* increase setup time for each scenario, and in my book, that's never good.

And of course, that was another reason we didn't do it. :)

Still, the idea of "canned scenarios" seems interesting to me, and within the scope of the game if you're willing to do the work. I don't actually know what the psychological effect of the predictability would be, but I'd love to hear reports from folks on it.

Mike

I am a little confused about this product.

Are the cards you get random (such as when you buy Magic: The Gathering card packs and booster sets), or is it a fixed set, where everyone who buys it gets the same cards, the same number of cards, and there are no randomized sets?

If it is the former, I have absolutely no interest in it. If it's the later, I'm very excited for this product!

===
Taffer

I am a little confused about this product.

Are the cards you get random (such as when you buy Magic: The Gathering card packs and booster sets), or is it a fixed set, where everyone who buys it gets the same cards, the same number of cards, and there are no randomized sets?

If it is the former, I have absolutely no interest in it. If it's the later, I'm very excited for this product!

===
Taffer

It's a fixed set. No random packs here!

This is one of the items I was excited about but had to cross back off the list because of the volume of PPM released over the same period. I hope this does not sell out too fast so I can maybe pick it up later in 2014.

Count me as another person who has definite concerns of having players write on their character cards. That's a big no-no in the circle of players I run with, many of whom are long-time trading card games players. Some sort of character sheet PDF to mark down your cards and your bonuses would be absolutely necessary to interest me in this game.

Accidental damage to the player character cards sounds almost impossible avoid with forcing the players to write on them and that just sucks, because it makes it less attractive to replay the game in the future.

theres a card game to wow i got to try this!

We will be putting up character tracking sheets in PDF form before the release date.

I'm glad that you decided to put the character tracking sheets in PDF. Now all I need to do is wait for the remaining characters to come out as WizKid miniatures (I've got all 7 that have been released so far) so that I can use them instead of the tokens. :)

Edit: For some reason I missed Amiri and Harsk. I've got all 9 that have been released so far.

We will be putting up character tracking sheets in PDF form before the release date.

Thanks! Now I'll have to see when I can liberate the large amount of money I need to buy the base set. Probably from a local provider, I fear, the shipping to Germany would otherwise be too much.

Just ordered it and the character add-on deck from Amazon.co.uk . They have a very good price for us Europeans, with a decent shipping price. I guess I'll start a suscription for the other decks later if the base set plays well.

I wonder why amazon.co.uk is so cheap on this. I just checked it and both the base price and the shipping is cheaper for me too. But that's going to New Zealand!

Edit: That is, the price and the shipping is cheaper for me relative to Amazon.com.

So, in the unlikely case that I get all my six players in the group I GM for together for this: How would playing with seven players ( including the add-on classes set, of course ) affect the game? The game length is set by the blessings card stack at 30 turns, but would one additional character unbalance the game too much in favor of the players?

Having looked around a bit on the web, it seems that the main problem with playing with seven players would be that there are not enough cards to build seven players decks. Would buying a second classes add-on deck remedy that or are the cards from there too class-specific to help out?

Having looked around a bit on the web, it seems that the main problem with playing with seven players would be that there are not enough cards to build seven players decks. Would buying a second classes add-on deck remedy that or are the cards from there too class-specific to help out?

Here's what I'd say: When I was playtesting, I had only the 4-player set, and we were able to easily make 6 characters out of it. I imagine with the 6-player expansion you should have no trouble making a 7th deck.

I don't know, however, if this would unbalance the game. The blessings (timer) deck starts at 30 no matter what, and each player you add just means that deck goes away that much quicker, but you also have more blessings to be thrown around for people to explore more times in any given turn. I'd say try it out and let us know if the game feels too easy with 7 players.

We will be putting up character tracking sheets in PDF form before the release date.

Thank you for listening! This decision will be very popular at Board Game Geek!

Having looked around a bit on the web, it seems that the main problem with playing with seven players would be that there are not enough cards to build seven players decks. Would buying a second classes add-on deck remedy that or are the cards from there too class-specific to help out?

Playing with 7 would also create a problem with regard to locations. Each scenario has a certain number of locations based on the player count. I would think it might unbalance things too far towards the players if the ratio of locations to players was off.

magnuskin wrote:

Having looked around a bit on the web, it seems that the main problem with playing with seven players would be that there are not enough cards to build seven players decks. Would buying a second classes add-on deck remedy that or are the cards from there too class-specific to help out?

Playing with 7 would also create a problem with regard to locations. Each scenario has a certain number of locations based on the player count. I would think it might unbalance things too far towards the players if the ratio of locations to players was off.

While this is true, it would also be pretty easy to fix: There are always two more locations than there are players, so just add one more location, with one more henchman, and it would probably work out fine.

quick question.

any plans on releasing the RuleBook as a PDF (and if so when)??? I like having it on my ipad mini before i buy the game. and this is the first game I've bought before release. Also I like having the rulebook at the table when teaching the game to people. Rulebooks are usually pretty big so i download the pdf to my ipad since its usually smaller.

any plans on releasing the RuleBook as a PDF (and if so when)???

You can download a PDF of the rules here...

http://paizo.com/download/pathfinder/PZO6000-Rulebook.zip