I used to play the original 1st edition from the 70s and 80s. I had not played in awhile and stumbled into the pathfinder society group playing a prepared Pathfinder society module. Decided to sit in with a pre-rolled character. 1st lvl female cleric but with cloth and a long scimitar. Apparently some special type that had the ability to perform heals or damage against undead 5 times per day. Anways it was a two parter where we had to kill assist someone in the dungeon already and then kill some zombies. My faction was shadow so I also had to retrieve some brains with another member of my party. Turns out we did pretty well and nobody died but I did end up stuck in the pit in the center of the dungeon for a few rounds. The "alchemy" in the group burned the zombie we needed but we were fortunate enough to still get the brains.
I have to tell you this adventure and the next one brought back lots of good fun and memories and I will definitely be coming back.
p.s. I shelled out the $$ to pick me up a core rule book. Pricier then what it would have cost in the 70s but I think its going to be well worth it. Started putting together a character for the next session. Can't wait.
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Pricier then what it would have cost in the 70s but I think its going to be well worth it.
I hope you don't base everything you buy on prices in the 70's ;)
One reason the Core book is a bit pricey is because it covers both what both the Players guide and GMs guide used to, so it is 2 books in 1. The PDF is only $9.99, in fact so far all Pathfinder Rule books PDFs have been only $9.99.
Oh there weren't any PDFs in the 70's...;)
There are many class abilities you might have to squint at to recognize (that heal/damage undead 5 times per day is the latest iteration of turning undead for instance), but welcome back :)
Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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From one old school guy to another, welcome aboard!
I, too, made the jump directly from 1st Edition to PFRPG - about 4 years ago, now. I subsequently went from never playing Organized Play to doing so constantly, from running a single home game to running three, and have enjoyed every minute. I think you will too. Good luck with everything, and let us know if you need any help.
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I'm another old schooler from the 80's. Played D&D and AD&D back then, mostly AD&D for a few years. About 6 months ago, I decided to see what D&D looks like these days, and checked out 4th edition. But in looking for local groups to play with, I discovered that Pathfinder's more popular around here, and now that I've tried them both, I kinda understand why.
As others have said, you can get the rule books electronically for only $10, but I think it's worth having the Core Rulebook in hard copy, despite the sticker shock. You can also look through most of the material from the core books in the online prd.
Welcome to the Society!
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Another welcome from an old-school D&Der -- I started playing in '82, though I never really stopped, through many editions of the game. :-)
Yeah, the absolute price of a Pathfinder Core Rulebook feels high, though, as Dragnmoon notes, it's essentially a PHB and DMG in one volume. I do recall paying $12 for my 1E AD&D PHB, and the princely (back then) sum of $15 for the DMG...but if you add those together, that $27 in 1982 dollars would be $63 today, simply due to inflation. Given that, the $50 sticker price on the Pathfinder book isn't bad, in comparison.
Yeah, the absolute price of a Pathfinder Core Rulebook feels high, though, as Dragnmoon notes, it's essentially a PHB and DMG in one volume. I do recall paying $12 for my 1E AD&D PHB, and the princely (back then) sum of $15 for the DMG...but if you add those together, that $27 in 1982 dollars would be $63 today, simply due to inflation. Given that, the $50 sticker price on the Pathfinder book isn't bad, in comparison.
Also, buying through Amazon.com would be even cheaper -- practically approaching the cost of AD&D PHB + DMG regardless of inflation!
I've played everything from old Basic & Expert boxed sets, AD&D eds 1-3.x, and now Pathfinder. [Have been stuck in a couple of 4E games, which I kinda-sorta-really-truly hate and despise.]
Every time the edition changes I groan. But PF is a really great game, imo; I bought my core book recently, and will probably snag the APG and a Bestiary or two before I'm done. Probably not ever going to pick up any campaign setting stuff, because I like building my own to suit my prejudices about how a world should run.
Joined PFSOP because I moved away from my gaming group, wanted to find some gamers where I live now. Which is working out jim-dandy fine, btw.
I really like what PF has done with continuing the D&D editions out of 3.x; Pathfinder is a true heir to the aegis of D&D.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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The real old-schoolers do seem to gravitate towards Pathfinder in preference to D&D4e/Encounters, although many of us are returning after a 15-20 year hiatus.
Buying the hard-copy books can get expensive, especially if you get tempted by the additional character classes, etc., to be found in the Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, and Inner Seas World Guide. They also get pretty heavy to lug around at a convention :-) But the PDFs are lighter, and most of the information is available online as well.
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The real old-schoolers do seem to gravitate towards Pathfinder in preference to D&D4e/Encounters, although many of us are returning after a 15-20 year hiatus.
I dropped out of D&D shortly after 2E came out, although I continued to play RPGs. When I saw what they were doing with 3E, however, they hooked me back to a game I hadn't played in over a decade.
Buying the hard-copy books can get expensive, especially if you get tempted by the additional character classes, etc., to be found in the Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, and Inner Seas World Guide. They also get pretty heavy to lug around at a convention :-) But the PDFs are lighter, and most of the information is available online as well.
Paizo's policy with regards to electronic copies of the books is one of the things that keeps me a loyal customer, and that loyalty is part of what made me volunteer to become a VC. I like they way they treat their customers, and I believe that any company that respects their customers as much as Paizo clearly does deserves to succeed in the marketplace.
Indeed - welcome aboard. I too have been playing since the early 80's! I really do love the PFS,and even though I cannot get to conventions or organized play, the PbP's keep me involved.
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Yup, sounds just like me. I played BD&D and AD&D back in the early 1980s. I wanted to get back into RPGs and found that the local game shop runs a weekly PFS game. There were no rogues in the group, so I used the Merisiel pre-gen. Now I run the RPG club at the high school where I work and play in a campaign. I like most of the rule changes from AD&D to PF, but I have never played 4E.
Welcome aboard.
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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you guys are making me feel old. Yeah, I started playing in '76, in high school, started playing when Thieves where the new class (the 4th class).
sigh. Guess I'll go take my nap now... where's my walker?
Welcome back - it's as fun as it was back then...
While I first encountered RPGs in '76, it wasn't until a couple of years later that I was able to get into a regular gaming group. That was ten years after I left high school - I'm a wee bit older than you are.
But a couple of weekends ago, at a convention, I wasn't the oldest player at the table - there was a first-time RPG player who had at least 5 (and probably 10) years on me. He was a bit shaky on grasping the game mechanics, but he definitely got into role-playing his character. In fact the first thing he did was to put the arm on the other characters for a contribution to his temple to encourage him to consider healing them ...