Director of Brand Strategy
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I'm trying to throw together a quick adventure for walk-ins to play through at my FLGS when they come in for free product. I know that WotC does a lot of these pickup games on special days and I thought people coming for free swag would be a great chance to hook some new blood on Pathfinder and the Pathfinder RPG. Anyone have any suggestions on doing this with 24 hr turnaround time and without having access to either the Bonus Bestiary (until Saturday morning, that is) or the final RPG rules? I thought I might also use a map pack or flip mat to showcase the GameMastery line as well.
Any suggestions would be more than welcome! Thanks!
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I'd probably pick a flip-mat and design an encounter or a couple of encounters around it, with a simple goal achievable in less than an hour. People coming into the store probably aren't going to want to spend a lot of time, but might be interested in giving the game a shot. I might consider using one of the monsters in the Bonus Bestiary as the centerpiece of the encounter, but you won't be able to get that until the day of, so you might as well do with 3.5 versions. For rules use the Beta version.
Spend most of your time pre-making four to six simple characters at a high enough level to show off some cool rules elements unique to Pathfinder.
I might suggest some kind of raid on Flip-Mat: Ship or Theater or Cathedral, which offer multiple rooms to provide more than a single fight. I find that Flip-Mats give me all kinds of improvisational ideas as well, as many contain little bits of furniture, tables, windows, and other elements that can be pulled into a fight that I might not otherwise have thought of.
I recently designed my PaizoCon adventure in this manner, using Flip-Mat Wilderness, Flip-Mat Market Square, and Map Pack: Caravan. I looked at what I had and the story suggested itself. But even then, I only ended up using the Caravan set, because the party never even got to the other ones before running out of time. And it was a 4 hour event.
Keep it simple. Do not overprepare the "story," but include enough combats in slightly different circumstances for the players to get a feel for their characters. Put most of your attention into preparing the character sheets.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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some great advice
Thanks, Erik! This is exactly what I was looking for. Since I'd be using the 3.5 versions of the monsters, at least for my own preparation, can you say whether the CRs changed for any of the 13 monsters? The preview lists the allip, caryatid column, faerie dragon, huecuva, shadow mastiff, and the cover shows what I assume is some variation of a naga. I could put something together using these, I guess.
And baron, yes, I'm going to try to do this tomorrow at Compleat Strategist. I will try to get there at the time they open and play until there seems to be no more interest.
What flip-mats do you have available, Mark? I wouldn't mind helping you brainstorm something. Short workable sessions are some of my favorite things to develop.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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What flip-mats do you have available, Mark? I wouldn't mind helping you brainstorm something. Short workable sessions are some of my favorite things to develop.
The flip-mats I've got are Tavern, Dragon's Lair, and Forest. I have the Inns, Farmstead, Village, Wizard's Tower, Caravan, Dungeon Chambers, Keep, Waterfront, and Countryside map packs.
Looking through the Tome of Horrors, it looks like the CR on the five creatures listed are 2 and 3, so I imagine a third level adventure might be workable. That is assuming the CRs didn't change drastically and there's not one super-uber-cool monster in the Bonus Bestiary that I'll simply have to include. I just won't know until tomorrow morning if there is or not.
I look forward to your suggestions!
Okay. Usually, I like to start with a locale and come up with great characters (i.e., pregens) as if I were going to tell a story. Then, once I've got those elements, I focus on how the story might play out...i.e., what villain/monsters/obstacles will they face? And what goal will they be trying to achieve.
So, based on what you've described, I'd recommend the use of just two of those maps. One is a flip-mat, so you can show them what that looks like. And the second is one of the better map packs, so you can highlight that GameMastery product as well. Out of the ones you listed, I'd probably go with the Tavern flip-mat and the Wizard's Tower map pack.
Okay, if that's your starting locales, how are they related to each other? Since you know you've got a tavern and a wizard's tower in play, I'd recommend putting the overall adventure in a small town where both structures can co-exist. Maybe the wizard's tower is just on the outskirts of town. But the tavern is obviously a central building within the town itself.
The next choice is what kind of characters to do you want to take on this adventure? Well, what if they're all apprentices to the wizard, having some well-deserved time-off to celebrate a birthday party or welcoming a new apprentice to the fold? Or, maybe they're just good friends of the wizard (i.e. he could be a friend of theirs who retired awhile back and they're just in town to visit him)? Or, maybe they've come to consult with the wizard about a specific magic item they've discovered? Or you could go with some combination of characters from all of those backstories.
Meanwhile, back at the tower itself, something "bad" happens to the wizard. Some foul arcane experiment goes awry. A disgruntled former-apprentice shows up to exact some revenge against him. Or a rival wizard (or wizard school) attempts to put the guy out-of-business. The bottom line is that the trigger scene would take place in the tavern when something shows up to disrupt the PCs' merry-making. Whatever it is, it becomes obvious to them it could only have emanated from the wizard's tower...or it's clearly something that would also propose a threat to the aging wizard's safety if more of them are in the area. And, presumably there would be, so the PCs need to hurry back to the tower to save him.
That should make for the basis of an easy plot. For the characters themselves, you'd want to do something to highlight a few differences between them...i.e., don't just make them all wizards from different schools. Or, rather, do make them from different schools and traditions, but maybe multiclass them so you can highlight the abilities of some of the other classes in the Pathfinder RPG. Some suggestions:
- A dwarven fighter/transmuter (melee specialist)
- A gnome rogue/illusionist (stealthy trickster)
- An elven ranger/sorcerer (bow specialist, fey bloodline)
- A human cleric of Nethys
- A human paladin/abjurer
- A human bard
All of those guys are either students of the school, friends of the wizard in the tower, or visitors using the wizard's tower to conduct some magical research on items they found on previous adventures.
In terms of adversaries, I'd probably use the caryatid columns from the Bonus Bestiary, a bunch of Small escaped elementals or mephits from the SRD, a magical trap, an encounter with the bad guy's minions who invaded the tower, and lastly, the primary villain himself (i.e., a higher level wizard? a summoned demon/devil that broke free? a malevolent genie from Legacy of Fire? etc.)
Hope that helps,
--Neil
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Great ideas, Neil! I like the combo of the two maps you suggest. I think I'll run with that.
Considering I'll be doing a 2-hr (maximum) mini-adventure that I'd like to run several times, I think I'll go with only one or two possible casters. Throwing in multiclass characters might not be the best way to showcase what Pathfinder has to offer. Not that the multiclassing potential of Pathfinder isn't cool, but it might be too much for the type of preview game I'm trying to run.
I think I'll have someone be either an apprentice or a simple servant (if it's a melee or skilled class instead of a caster) who is off for the day celebrating his temporary freedom in the tavern. I could even roll randomly to see which PC it is so that it's not automatically the arcanist.
I guess I'll start to work on my PCs then!
Hey Erik or someone else at Paizo, wanna give me a hint of a few more creatures from the new book so I can try to use as many "new" monsters as possible?
Hey Erik or someone else at Paizo, wanna give me a hint of a few more creatures from the new book so I can try to use as many "new" monsters as possible?
Do you mean the PF RPG Bestiary? How about this: If its a recognizable monster that was in first edition, and second, and third, it's probably in ours.
If you mean the Bonus Bestiary... just wait till tomorrow man!
Huff! Fine. I'll just do my best without any spoilers.
The product description and the blog on it spoil like 70% of the contents.
But is 70% spoiled really spoiled? I mean, you could always nibble around the edges, right? It's that other 30% that makes it so irresistably tasty! ;-D
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And baron, yes, I'm going to try to do this tomorrow at Compleat Strategist. I will try to get there at the time they open and play until there seems to be no more interest.
A tad early for my blood good sir, I work until 5 am.
I hope to make it there by 1:30 pm to join up and your welcome to come with me to the roof of the Gansevoort hotel for food and drinks at my weekly soirée after we're done.
Swimsuits and Patron ... in the rain no less.
SAVE ME A COPY !
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Director of Brand Strategy
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And baron, yes, I'm going to try to do this tomorrow at Compleat Strategist. I will try to get there at the time they open and play until there seems to be no more interest.A tad early for my blood good sir, I work until 5 am.
I hope to make it there by 1:30 pm to join up and your welcome to come with me to the roof of the Gansevoort hotel for food and drinks at my weekly soirée after we're done.
Swimsuits and Patron ... in the rain no less.
SAVE ME A COPY !
I have no control over whether you get a copy or not. I am just running a game, but their distribution of free swag is their own thing. Come when you can, I hope to run through it a couple of times, but that'll depend on how interested people are. I fear that without more planning time and placing signs and internet postings about it I won't get very many people.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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I'm back home now. No one showed up, either for my game or to do more than get free swag and leave. Damn the rain and all the inconveniences it causes.
But, on the bright side, I did get a Bonus Bestiary without having to randomly roll a 9 on the d20 to get it. The store owners were gracious enough to let me have it without the randomness because of my enthusiasm and willingness to run a game to keep people in the store.
I am going to refine my adventure now that I have the book, maybe even make a higher level one using modified iconics from the previews, and add in some elements featuring the CMB/CMD rules that are clarified a bit more in the Bonus Bestiary and try again in a few weeks. I figure if I advertise this time, and let the store put up a flyer I can get 4-6 people. If it isn't raining.
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Yoda, I came by at 1:40 pm and I brought 3 players and a friend (to have a better chance of getting the Bonus Bestiary) and alas you were gone.
: (
I was hoping to get a game on and then take you to the rooftop brunch but as you said the weather bloooows chunks. Akin to Seattle weather I would think.
: P
Good luck for your future games, Yoda.
I'll let the guys in my circle know about it.
None of them is currently playing Pathfinder, not even Beta, but i did bothered them quite often about it, so they know about it and i might be able to convince some of them to try it in your game at the Strat.
Well thats honestly disappointing and sad you couldn't get anyone to join in a pickup game at the store. It doesn't seem all that long ago when that was common and a easy thing to do. *sigh*
True that.
It is easy to make a pickup group in an online MMORPG, but to gather a group of players around a table is quite a challenging task nowdays.
A sign of times...
/5 LFG Pathfinder players, lev 1 to 3, any class welcome, PST ;)
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Yoda, I came by at 1:40 pm and I brought 3 players and a friend (to have a better chance of getting the Bonus Bestiary) and alas you were gone.
: (
I was hoping to get a game on and then take you to the rooftop brunch but as you said the weather bloooows chunks. Akin to Seattle weather I would think.
: P
Really?! I had just left not a half hour earlier. Had I known a specific time you'd be there I would have gone in later, but sitting around from 10:30 when they opened, with no one coming in to play was too boring for me. I read the whole bestiary twice and then moved on to some PFS scenarios I'll be running soon, but at a certain point it wasn't worth sitting around.
I'll be fine tuning the adventure, probably redoing it to include the 8th level iconics we're getting previews of, and running the preview sometime next month. I'm going to post here, in the store, and on the meetup site when I'm ready to do it.