So, I enjoy Pathfinder. I enjoyed 3.5. But I would also like an AD&D rules lite feeling version. Basically, you have the core classes, but without all of these special abilities. Warrior, priest, rogue, and mage. I was told paizo makes something called swords and sorcerers or something like that.
If there isn't, and no plans for such in the future, would Paizo be interested in allowing myself to submit an application to develop such a thing so Paizo can publish it?
You know what? I signed up for that last January, and never received any updates on it.
Have you looked at the Pathfinder Beginner Box? That has a stripped-down version of Pathfinder, although it only covers levels 1-5.
The problem with the beginner box is that
- It still has all the special abilities given to the core classes,
- It does nothing to alleviate the rules that it doesn't have in there.
- A brand new DM cannot use the beginner box to run a game, because it does not address everything that is in there, rules wise. The DM must have access to the Core rulebook, or already used to 3.5/3.75.
Have you looked at 13th Age at all? It should be hitting stores within the next two months or so. While not exactly what you say you're looking for, it's got some really cool ideas on how to make a story-rich but rules-light d20 RPG.
The problem with the beginner box is thatOr so I heard from a new DM, whose previous RPG experience was WOW. Besides. I want a game where the special class abilities are not there. You get your six attributes, your derived attributes, and your proficiencies and talents/feats/skills/spells and that's it
- It still has all the special abilities given to the core classes,
- It does nothing to alleviate the rules that it doesn't have in there.
- A brand new DM cannot use the beginner box to run a game, because it does not address everything that is in there, rules wise. The DM must have access to the Core rulebook, or already used to 3.5/3.75.
Just to clarify -- you want a rogue class that doesn't have sneak attack, just feats and skills?
I'm also having trouble parsing the sentence "It does nothing to alleviate the rules that it doesn't have in there."
I'm almost certain you don't need any other books in order to start a Beginner Box campaign, although I wouldn't be surprised if having some previous experience in 3.5E or Pathfinder would help an awful lot.
Try this. http://www.basicfantasy.org.
Nobody has done an actual Pathfinder light. However there are a lot (and I do mean a lot) of retroclones out there that should meet your needs. A number of them are free. Go to rpg.net and look for 'retroclone' or 'osr' in the dungeons and dragons forum.
At low levels you should be able to run a Pathfinder adventure with no problems. At higher levels (6+) the ACs start to scale out of control (comparitively speaking) so you will have to apply actual thought to the conversion process. In most cases you can just ignore the extra PF details and/or scale the plusses back down.
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A brand new DM cannot use the beginner box to run a game, because it does not address everything that is in there, rules wise. The DM must have access to the Core rulebook, or already used to 3.5/3.75.
I strongly disagree with this statement.
I strongly disagree with this statement.A brand new DM cannot use the beginner box to run a game, because it does not address everything that is in there, rules wise. The DM must have access to the Core rulebook, or already used to 3.5/3.75.
Such confidence! It's as though you have evidence to the contrary, or something.
A brand new DM cannot use the beginner box to run a game, because it does not address everything that is in there, rules wise. The DM must have access to the Core rulebook, or already used to 3.5/3.75. I strongly disagree with this statement.
Did Paizo hand the beginner box box to a group of five persons, whose collectiveppen and paper rpg experience equated to zero and never? Now I am not here to argue with you about it. But I have seen the evidence of the dm being confused as to what to do with the different stat blocks, for example, of the goblins in the module.
I played 13th age last March, and it was rather delightful, but sixty dollars for the projected book price? A little extreme. Especially with the economy continuing to freefall.
You know what? I signed up for that last January, and never received any updates on it.Go here: http://www.wizards.com/DnD/DnDNext.aspx
Click on "Start Playtesting Now"
Create an account or sign in
Select the "Download the Playtest Package" option
Read!
Playtest!
:)
Thanks, I shall check it out.
I believe what you have heard about is Swords and Wizardry, a retroclone of pre 1st edition rules. I personally think it is pretty cool myself, but its a really basic system. You can check out most of the rules on the Swords and Wizardy SRD site. =)
Many thanks, Widow.
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Did Paizo hand the beginner box box to a group of five persons, whose collectiveppen and paper rpg experience equated to zero and never?
As a matter of fact, we did. We hired a focus group company to find six teenagers who had never played tabletop RPGs before, put them in a room with a one-way mirror and the Beginner Box, told them to open it up, and left the room.
And they were playing the starting adventure within 15 minutes. And after two hours, when the administrators stopped the session, they wanted to keep playing.
Now I am not here to argue with you about it. But I have seen the evidence of the dm being confused as to what to do with the different stat blocks, for example, of the goblins in the module.
I can see that happening if they skipped the two introductory pages (which explain the GM's role, how to run encounters, and so on) and jumped right to the encounters (which are still pretty hand-holdy, but build off of things you're told on pages 2 and 3). The game requires reading; it's a bookish game. If you're used to playing video games (where you can just jump into the game and start mashing buttons to figure things out, instead of reading the manual first), I can see how just jumping in could lead to confusion. But the Beginner Box is set up to be very clear about what you should do when you start, that you learn concept A before it introduces concept B, which then means it can teach you concept C. So, yeah, your anecdote of "I've seen someone being confused by this" is valid, but not indicative of the norm.
I played 13th age last March, and it was rather delightful, but sixty dollars for the projected book price? A little extreme. Especially with the economy continuing to freefall.
Paizo doesn't have anything to do with 13th Age.
I wasn't saying Paizo was having anything to do with 13th Age
I'm currently working on a simpler d20 game based on pathfinder myself.
In addition to having cut the game down to only 10 levels (if you want to play beyond that, handle it like E10), I think there is great room for streamlining the game. There are many conditions and modifier types that show up only in regard to one or two Corebook spells. There's much room for improvement by kicking some of them out.
Another thing is option paralyzation, which is an issue with pretty much all d20 games I've seen, with possibly the exception of Star Wars Saga Edition. Speaking of which SWSE is a great example of how to do a much smaller d20 game.
But using PF as a starting point, many Feats aren't really that neccessary and a large number of spells have been dragged along from the old editions of D&D, that really are not neccessary to run a somewhat more generic fantasy game. I think you could easily cut half the spells and new players of the game wouln'd ever feel that the game is missing some spells one would expect from a fantasy RPG. Things like glitterdust, rope trick, helping hand, and sepia snake sigil. Do the same with feats and you have a significantly reduced game.
I'm taking a look at Swords and Wizardry, and D&D Next, and will look for things that might be influential, and then make my own game. Probably will not be d20 though.
Lol.