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Hello. Me and my group of friends got really interested in a tabletop rpg, and were referred to pathfinder. We love the core rule book, and every has made a first level character. I was appointed as the GM, and this is a very intimidating task for me. I've never GM'd a game, so I bought Rise of the Rune Lords. I also bought the map folio, the gm screen, all my own die, etc. Please don't get me wrong, I am dedicated to learning this.
My question is, where do I start? I have all of these products, and all of these rules, and 5 PC's. But when I start reading the rune lords GM book, I'm not sure how to set up the "maps" how to do NPC encounters, I just am not clear on how to get the game going. Do i need to buy maps premade? I've purchased a vinyl mat and some water soluble markers, and had planned on drawing the maps.
Again, my question is just how to start and continue a campaign. I'm not sure where to start my PC's, who they need to talk to, what map we're going to be on, etc.
If you could email me that would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'd love some sort of an experienced GM penpal. If anyone would like to help and coach me along some things, I would really really appreciate it. Thank you! Please contact me here zfpayne@gmail.com thank you, happy adventuring :)
Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords pbp;
we've been going for a few years; here's how our adventure started out.
The dm'll just kinda sketch a map out on a grid, and you can put markers for combatants and keep track like that.
We used to just describe on graph paper and everybody'd draw it out at home on their own graph paper, but we've started using spreadsheets on google.
You can draw it all out on vinyl and use minis or pennies; it can be as complex or as simple as you like......just throw the pc's in there, and send in the pyromaniac goblins! I'd try to start kinda easy with 4 goblins until everybody knows what they're doing.....
Yeah, pretty much.
The first encounter starts with goblins running amok, trying to burn Sandpoint down.
I'd come up with a little group of them to encounter, and you can draw a map of the groups' immediate surroundings, and go from there.
Then more goblins appear.....it's a little chain of encounters that starts the whole adventure off.
Welcome to the club dude!
Wow. Taking on an Adventure Path is a daunting task for a first-time DM. Still do-able with help from your good ol'friends on the Paizo messageboards! :)
Start by reading (thoroughly) the DM part of the core-rulebook. There are quite a few tips in there on how to run a smoother game. Then read through the rest of the core rulebook, with an extra-careful look at combat. No need to get ALL the rules under your thumb; Just be familiar enough with them that when a situation arises, you'll know there was a rule in that book that you just read.
Second, read the entire first volume of the Rise of the Runelords. Then go back and do a more thorough reading of the first two chapters, as this will no doubt be what your first session will be about.
The way I started, I typed up (on Word) sheets of who was in Sandpoint, the important places, and added a few rumors. I gave this to the players a few days before playing and told them that they were new arrivals to this small town from a boat that came from far away... (we used to play in my own created world, so when I told my players we were gonna try Golarion, I told them that we would be exploring this new land together; That there would be some stuff that their characters knew, but that we, including me the DM, were not familiar with yet.)... I also handed them copies of the Sandpoint Map, and another map of the Sandpoint area (whick was just a close-up
of the map that shows the Sandpoint surroundings carefully excluding the Goblin hideout).
I described that the players were on a LONG boat journey (their origins weren't important for the moment), and that they actually already met and started talking on the ship. I narrated the arrival of the ship at Sandpoint in the early mornings, the constant sound of the woodmill that could be heard, the locals getting ready for a festivity of somekind, the renting of a room at a local Inn, etc...
So you start at chapter one. Read the boxed text and there you go. You re now DMing... lol
I tend to read, narrate, or describe most places and events that my players go to, and only resort to actually drawing a map of the immediate surroundings when a fight breaks out. There are rarely precise locations for enemies, so place them as you see fit on the battle map.
Ultradan
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That was very helpful, thank you. Yes it is very intimidating being a first time GM, but all of my PC's are also first time, so we're all sort of in the same boat :) Last week I drew up a small dungeon map to practice combat before we started a campaign, it lasted 5 hours hahaha. A lot of fun though. I was just curious if there were specific maps I needed for this Runelords campaign, or if it just gives me the story and I take it from there, creating my own maps, etc.
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There should be relevant maps for most of the encounter areas. I'm not sure about the town parts of the festival at the start. you can usually approximate outdoor stuff even if it's shown on a map in the book. Also don't worry about transcribing the maps exactly as they appear in book itself. Main point right now is to keep the game rolling and have fun. If you do slip up on something, you're friends should understand that you're having to learn even more new stuff than they are and should understand. Have fun with it!