Hi,
I have been visiting the Paizo site for awhile, reading up on the work being done on the Pathfinder RPG. I am looking at starting playing/DMing again and have a couple of questions about the Pathfinder range (Companion, Adventure paths, Chronicles, etc).
1) Are any of the Companion or Chronicles products required to run any of the Adventure Paths or do they expand on the setting information provided in the Adventure Path?
2) The group I'll be DMing for includes 2 people that haven't played D&D before, 1 that hasn't played since 1st edition, and 2 that have played 3.5. What would be a good Adventure Path to run for this group?
I'm looking for one that has a good mix of hack & slash and roleplaying.
Thanks.
In answer to your questions,
1. No nothing other than the AP books are required to run the AP's. You are correct in your assumption that the Chronicles and Companions are additional information. The Player's Guides for Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne are useful for the players, and the Second Darkness Companion and the Legacy of Fire Companion takes the Players' Guides.
2. In my opinion any of the AP's are good for beginners. Presently I am running Second Darkness and we are still in book 1. There is enough leeway in that AP for some significant Hack-and-slash and role-playing to possibly satisfy anyone. In book 4 The Endless Night it appears that there is mostly role-playing involved because the party enters a Drow city as Drow. I will say no more in case someone is playing that AP.
These are just my thoughts. Perhaps others have more clear opinions that they will share.
Just my 2 cp.
I'm with Silverhair on his advice above. The Player's Guides for the first two APs, which migrate to Pf Companions for the two most recent APs. I'd get those to support the APs, but the rest is optional. Cool, yes. Desirable, eventually. Required, no. Except for that little voice that insists that I eventually collect everything...
And though I have my favorites at this point (Crimson Throne and Legacy of Fire), I crazy love the APs and can't recommend them enough.
Welcome to the boards, Azhur.
Thank you for the welcome and the advice.
I was first introduced to Paizo's work through the hardcover Shackled City Adventure Path.
Does the Legacy of Fire setting have similarities to the Al-Qadim setting (loved that setting) from AD&D 2nd ed?
Thanks
Thank you for the welcome and the advice.
I was first introduced to Paizo's work through the hardcover Shackled City Adventure Path.
Does the Legacy of Fire setting have similarities to the Al-Qadim setting (loved that setting) from AD&D 2nd ed?
Thanks
Similarities in that both are Arabian Nights in feel and flavor, yes :) Lots of good stuff in them so far, and two more issues to come out in June and July.
To expand a bit:
You can run the APs perfectly fine without any other stuff. They all contain support articles that help you flesh out the world further, for when you want to get off the beaten (adventure) path a bit.
The Player's Guides are quite helpful, though! For Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne, they are free PDFs (the print versions cost 2 dollars). For Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire, they're Pathfinder Companions, so no free PDF.
For the later APs, they will have free player's guides again (PDF only, though, as far as I know).
That said, the other products really can be helpful for a GM, and some do expand on the regions and topics that are used in the APs. The APs contain all you need to run the adventures, but the other products go into more detail for the stuff around the adventures, which can be helpful if you wan to know more about the world around the APs themselves.
Pathfinder Chronicles is more generic settings information, suitable for both GMs and players. Beyond the Campaign Setting, there are a number of city guides (that deal with one city in greater detail), regional/national guides (that detail a regon or even nation), two ...Revisited books (Great books! They reinvent classic critters, giving them fresh new ideas while still staying true to their roots. There's one with 10 classic critters like orcs, ogres, goblins, kobolds and the like, and one with the 10 classic flavours of dragon, with more to come), and some that deal with other matters, like Gods & Magic and The Great Beyond (Golarion's Cosmology)
Pathfinder Companions are geared a bit more towards players, and have more crunch in them. There are some regional guides for this or that nation, racial guides (we have elves already, others will follow, dwarves first among them). There have been two AP player's guides in there, but that will change again (though the companions that launch with the APs will be of the region the AP takes place in, making it useful to those who want to play it).
There are a number of books that are quite useful if you play this or that AP: Guide to Korvosa is nice if you play Curse of the Crimson Throne (who plays mostly in Korvosa), Into the Darklands can be nice if you have Second Darkness, Dark Markets is good if you play Legady of Fire.
2) The group I'll be DMing for includes 2 people that haven't played D&D before, 1 that hasn't played since 1st edition, and 2 that have played 3.5.
Pathfinder is no more difficult than a normal 3.5 campaign and actually quite a bit easier in some aspects, namely skills. I taught roughly 5 people to play 3.5E and of those 5, 2 went on to become DMs. I'm guessing your 1E player will either wet his pants because 3.5E/PF is so much easier or will become frustrated because this "isn't HIS D&D" that he remembers.
I have done the the first 3 modules in the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP and have enjoyed it quite a bit so far.
The only additional book I own is "Gods & Magic" which is well done and relatively informative. Apparently the individual modules have more specific write-ups on each deity, but being a player that's sort of out of the question. (and Gorum hasn't been done yet *sigh*)
Curse of the Crimson Throne and Rise of the Runelords both have FREE DOWNLOADABLE 'player's guides' which provides information on the specific region/important people involved AND a pretty cool way of hooking the party together through a common cause, which then gives them a choice of a few 'mini-feats' to boot.
Apparently the individual modules have more specific write-ups on each deity, but being a player that's sort of out of the question.
You can still ask your GM for a printout.
Those write-ups rock!
Thanks all for your advice.
I have decided to run the group through the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde adventure first using the Pathfinder beta rules as a starter.
If the starter goes well and all players want to play some more D&D, we can look at investing in the Adventure Paths and the Campaign Setting.
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As others have said, the only essential thing you would need for an AP is the player's guide for it.
If your players like to immerse themselves into the setting and are of the heavy background type (as mine are), you'd find Gods and Magic very useful. The Gazetteer or the Campaign Setting will also be of use (but having both would be quite redundant).
The rest of the Chronicles and Companion books are, indeed, more useful if you're NOT running an AP than if you are. They have excellent fluff, but it's mostly DM stuff, and the DM stuff for the APs is properly covered by the AP themselves.