What does a "newbie" need to start playing again?

[furashgf]

To give some context, I'm fairly familiar w/ 2nd ed AD&D, ad vaguely familiar with D&D 3.5.

1. What do I need to own to play?
I have the orignal gigantic Pathfinder RPG Hardover. Anything else?

2. Is there a "quick start" or summary guide that provides summaries, suggestions, or explanations for new players?

[ShadowcatX]

You don't have to have anything to start playing. The rules are freely available here and here.

There's a beginner's box.

[Scott Carter]

A friend and some dice. As Shadowcat said, all the rules you need are free online and any DM can work you through setting info.

A lot of setting info is actually available at PathfinderWiki

[The Rot Grub]

How familiar are you with 3.5? There's a free conversion guide from paizo out there.

Besides that, I'd recommend the Beginner Box because it's designed to be learned easily. In relation to the Beginner Box, the Core Rulebook functions as an expansion book. I have a review/recommendation for it on my blog.

If you're a GM, check out the Bestiary for rules on monster abilities. (This is available online also.) Then the Crypt of the Everflame module next. It's a good intro into basic GMing.

If you want to optimize, there are free guides to certain classes out there in the blogosphere. Also, go to the "Advice" and "Rules Questions" sections of these message boards.

Have fun!

[Kolokotroni]

If you want a 'quick start guide' I strongly recommend the begginner box. Get a couple friends together, have someone be dm, and you ought to be playing in 20 minutes or less. Thats about as fast a start as I have ever heard from for a major rpg.

[thejeff]

But seriously, if you have the Core book you're good to go.

Everything else is optional. The optional rules are available online. If you want setting, there's plenty of that available. If you want adventures, the Adventure Paths are great and there's plenty of modules.

The Beginner's Box is probably good for a quick start, but if you've already got the Core Rules I'd just have your players throw together simple characters and start playing. Don't worry about optimization or understanding all the rules. Work it out as you go along and have fun.

[Fromper]

You really only need the Core Rulebook and Bestiary, but I like the Advanced Players Guide as the next most important book. But as Shadowcatx pointed out, those books are pretty much freely available online, so you don't even need to buy them if you don't really want.

I would recommend buying some of the stuff, though. I bought the Bestiary as a PDF so I wouldn't have to carry the whole thing, but this lets me print the pages with the monsters I'm using for a particular adventure. Being able to hold up the picture for the players helps a lot when encountering new monsters for the first time, and those pics aren't in the free online stuff. Plus, the printed page has all the monster info in one place, formatted the same way every time for ease of use.

[Whiskey Jack]

I'm with Fromper on this one... I just recently started really looking at the artwork and loving it... something the PRD doesn't give you. The Paizo art department deserves a massive round of applause not only for the illustrations, but the layout and formatting of the books.

[Hudax]

Kolokotroni wrote:

If you want a 'quick start guide' I strongly recommend the begginner box. Get a couple friends together, have someone be dm, and you ought to be playing in 20 minutes or less. Thats about as fast a start as I have ever heard from for a major rpg.

Is the speed due to pregen characters, or are the rules really that streamlined?

[Kolokotroni]

Hudax wrote:

Kolokotroni wrote:

If you want a 'quick start guide' I strongly recommend the begginner box. Get a couple friends together, have someone be dm, and you ought to be playing in 20 minutes or less. Thats about as fast a start as I have ever heard from for a major rpg.

Is the speed due to pregen characters, or are the rules really that streamlined?

Combination of both. The characters arent just pregenerated, they are also presented in a way that they can be quickly understood and played within the rules.