I apologies in advance if this isn’t the correct place to post this thread.
Ok so after 10yrs I and buddies decided to pick up pathfinder. I was the poor son of a gun that drew the DM card. I haven’t played RP games in a very long time.
I am trying to wrap my brain around the Campaign Settings, Adventure Path, Player Companion, and modules.
I have the following questions:
1.) Are they linked in someway so if I pick up a Campaign Setting I can pick up the adventure paths, player companion, and module books that go along with it? If so how do I determine what goes with what?
2.) Are the modules independent from the campaigns and I can pretty much apply them to whatever Campaign Setting I want to?
3.) What I really want to do is start them in area of the world play them one on Campaign Setting and lead them to Other Campaign settings so, that there adventure is never really done. Is there an easy way or a suggestion to do this?
4.) Do the books follow some kind of timeline so I should be careful what I pick cause I may be using it out of order of what time it was intended to be used for?
Basically I am just looking for someone to explain it so I have a good guideline to follow for the massive world that we are behind on.
I see that you are an Adventure Path subscriber. Each of these adventures takes place in a part of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting world called Golarion. None of the released paths that I've seen have any bearing on the other, so if you pick up Serpent's Skull #1 to begin, you should be fine.
You don't necessarily need any of the Player Companion or Campaign Setting books to play the adventure paths. All information needed to play an adventure path is contained in the book and the free Player's Guides that Paizo publishes (well those and the Core Rulebook and Bestiary)
The Campaign Setting books contain fluff information on the world of Golarion and the creatures that inhabit and visit. Some of the books are on specific places, some are on specific types of creatures, some are on the planes. They are mostly GM tools to give the world depth.
The Player Companion books contain fluff and mechanics for players. They can be on specific nations, specific races, or religions as is coming out next month, I believe. These books are meant for players to be able to build characters with depth.
The modules are standalone adventures that are self-contained inside the one volume. They take place at a location in the Golarion world. There are some modules that are chained together to form a sort of mini-AP (Crypt of the Everflame begins one called The Price of Immortality).
The adventure paths typically deal with a single focused area surrounding the plans of one BBEG. Typically, players don't have a clue what they are fighting outside of the titles of the AP (Rise of the Runelords, Council of Thieves, Serpent's Skull). They can sometimes feel like a series of disconnected events to players who don't pick up subtle clues throughout (Kingmaker is like this).
If you run an adventure path, start at book one of the adventure path and run through book 6. There are threads all over the board with people espousing why this AP is better than the other. Most of the APs run from level 1 to upper teens, so they last a while (my Kingmaker group is about to hit its one year mark, my Council of Thieves is closing in on 2).
|
I apologies in advance if this isn’t the correct place to post this thread.
Ok so after 10yrs I and buddies decided to pick up pathfinder. I was the poor son of a gun that drew the DM card. I haven’t played RP games in a very long time.
I am trying to wrap my brain around the Campaign Settings, Adventure Path, Player Companion, and modules.
I have the following questions:
1.) Are they linked in someway so if I pick up a Campaign Setting I can pick up the adventure paths, player companion, and module books that go along with it? If so how do I determine what goes with what?
Yes and no. Generally, for each AP (Adventure Path) there is a Chronicle and a Companion that are set in the same geographical area. For example, Heart of the Jungle and Sargava, the Lost Colony for the Serpent Skull AP. They aren't required, but they are useful to a GM, especially if the players start going "off the rails", and exploring a part of the area the AP doesn't get into. Also, though, there are numerous other Chronicles and Companions that don't line up with a specific AP.
2.) Are the modules independent from the campaigns and I can pretty much apply them to whatever Campaign Setting I want to?
They are separate from the APs, but are all set in Golarion (the main Pathfinder game world), and may require a little conversion if you're moving them to another setting.
3.) What I really want to do is start them in area of the world play them one on Campaign Setting and lead them to Other Campaign settings so, that there adventure is never really done. Is there an easy way or a suggestion to do this?
If I assume you mean move from one AP to another, then no. The APs generally go from level 1 - 16ish, so they aren't designed to dovetail with each other. It can take a long, [i]long]/i] time to get through even one AP, though, so you may find you don't need to do it after all. By that point, the PCs are powerful enough that they are making up their own plot lines, anyway.
4.) Do the books follow some kind of timeline so I should be careful what I pick cause I may be using it out of order of what time it was intended to be used for?
For the most part, no. The game world is designed so that the events in the APs have yet to happen, so you can play them in any order. There are one or two small exceptions to that, but it's pretty much Paizo's design philosophy to not obsolete their adventures.