Need Quick GMing advice

[Trueshots]

I am going to attempt to play pathfinders with my kids, I bought the beginners box and was looking for 1 other adventure. My question, I don't understand the difference between: module, campaign, etc. If I'm just looking for 1 quest, where should I search that out at? This attempt at GMing will probably be a failure, but what the heck, the kids don't know the rules anyway(that makes 2 of us) LOL!

[Elven_Blades]

Campaigns are the long ones. Depending on group they can take 6 months to 3 years to complete. Yes, I said 3 years, it's happened to me before.

Modules are substantially shorter. Most can be done in one day, or probably 2, if your playing with your kids and they are beginners. Some of them are set up to be a story arc, usually over 3 modules, but each tends to be a stand alone adventure. The strings are there to tie them together, if you so desire.

If your looking for the quick ones, I would suggest something that says " for level x characters" with "x" being something low level. If you have the beginner box already, I would pick something that starts at whatever level the beginner box ends at.

If you see something that says "for characters level x-y" (level 3-5) for example, that's probably something longer, and something you might want to steer clear of for your first few adventures. Also, upon some further thought. The multi-level campaigns are usually the ones that string together. They would be more begginer friendly than a full campaign, but may still be daunting for a new player.

Also, what age are your kids, that might help us with further recommendations.

[Preston Hudson]

Trueshots, what I would advise on this would be to grab the Kids Track information located in the Pathfinder Society products section under free products. This is set up for kids using the Beginner's box content only and might be a great way to present the game to your kids (not sure how old they are so you will have to look at the material).

Modules and Campaigns are usually longer term adventures that can span anywhere from a small level range (modules) to start level of 1 and end at 16 or higher (campaign). If anyone else who responds has a better definition, I look forward to seeing it posted. I hope this helps with the introduction of the game to your kids.

[GM Hands of Fate]

A module is essentially a one shot story. They normally take 2–3 5 hour sessions to complete. A campaign is like a series of books. It is a collection of stories that revolve around a story arc.

What you may consider doing, is picking up one of the Pathfinder Society scenarios. They are meant to be played in 4-5 hours, are a single quest type thing. Forget about the factions, unless you want to add in a slightly higher level of complexity.

The other way to go is to make it up yourself. I don't know what is in the basic box, so I don't know if they have some monsters stated up. Pick a monster...say, an Orc. Decide what the Orc wants. I'm going to go a bit silly here, because I don't know how old your kids are. Say the orc wants dessert for a dinner he is making, and has stolen a freshly baked pie from a small village, and taken it back to the cave in the hills where he lives. Then decide on a reward.

So there you have a very basic quest. Get Mother Hubbard's pie back from the Orc, and she will share it with you. Perhaps, it is a magical pie that makes those who eat it resistant to poison...or something...

Now...add in some complexity. The Orc has a rust monster pet tied up outside the cave, that chirps a warning when the heroes approach, and the heroes need to get through the rust monster to get to the Orc.

Maybe try one of the low level Pathfinder Society scenarios. There are three Level one ones that are free. They are good introductions to things.

Just remember, if your kids are young, keep it simple. If they enjoy it, you can always make the next adventure a little more complex.

[Adamantine Dragon]

Trueshot,

"Module" typically means a published adventure of short duration, usually involving several short battles and one or two longer duration more difficult battles, one of which is usually the "boss battle" which is the final battle of the module. Battles are also called "encounters".

"Campaign" usually means there is a very long term plot-based adventure which takes the adventuring party through multiple levels, meaning the characters are expected to level up and increase their power significantly. "Campaign" is a neutral term that could mean the GM has created all the content themselves, or is one that is associated with published content.

An "Adventure Path" is a specific published campaign.

Hope this helps.

[Trueshots]

Great advice guys! Everyone on these forums are so helpful, can't get over that! My kids are 6 and 12. Then My wife will play and hopefully I can get my 17 yr old to play to. Ill look into the "Kids Track" info. I downloaded, Game Mastery Module D0: Hollow's Last Hope (OGL), This looked like a beginner one. But If there's something even more kid friendly, I'm all for that! The idea about PFS stuff is good, I've played in 5-6 PFS games so I could do one I already know, might be easier on me. My trouble is my kids love video games, We've played DDO, Lotro, and Guild Wars 2, along with a bunch of others for 6+ years. Its going to be hard to keep their attention after that, but I'm really wanting the whole family to enjoy this!

[Elven_Blades]

Thing about games like those MMORPGs, is I always used them to hold me over till next Pen and Paper game session.
I like D&D and Pathfinder because they have far few restriction in regards to what a player is capable of doing. Even the mighty World of Warcraft still doesn't have a good mechanic for in flight combat (disclaimer: I haven't played MoP expac.). Plus, in MMORPGs, you are stuck with one class, but you can freely multi class in the pen and paper world.

In short, your enjoyment is limited to your imaginative capacity, not by the game's programming. I still, and probably always will, enjoy pen and paper better.

[GM Hands of Fate]

I believe Hollows Last Hope was written with 3.5 rules. I could be wrong. Even so, it is a good module. If you can get the 17 year old in, you may be better prepared for some of the more social encounters.

We game with one of our player's 13 year old son. He has been playing with us for 3 years or so, and we have really seen a change in how he thinks about things...from what Feat to take, to strategy, to wanting to read fantasy novels because they interest him. Very similar to my growth.

[Troubleshooter]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Hollow's Last Hope is 3.5 ruleset; I was prepping Crown of the Kobold King, the next adventure from the D-series, and it was 3.5.

IIRC, the first big difference between running a 3.5 module and a Pathfinder module is that when you convert classed NPCs to Pathfinder, they drop a CR. A 7th-level NPC Fighter in 3.5 is CR 7, but in Pathfinder they'd be CR 6.

Thankfully, Pathfinder rereleased a lot of 3.5 monsters. They might not have Dracoliches, Yuan-Ti and Beholders, but you can find fine substitutions like Raveners, Serpentfolk and Glaring Tyrants.

There may be times where instead of tweaking a monster yourself, you can find a Pathfinder system creature already converted in one of the Bestiaries. I felt so silly when I hand-made a Pathfinder Grick, only to find it sitting in Bestiary 2. Though I was proud that I got so close to the official stats.

[Githzilla]

One thing you need to expect when playing with kids...they will come up with interesting ideas all on their own as you play. Just go with the flow and try to create a fun story. You will probably be very pleasantly surprised at what kids can imagine.

Enjoy!