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I am still very new to Pathfinder and PFS (I just completed my fifth scenario last night), but I have a pretty strong interest in being at least a part-time GM in the near future.
I currently own the Beginner Box and Core Rulebook. I'm going to start reading the whole book, not just the parts relevant to my character(s).
I've read the PFS GM 101 document, Guide to Organized Play, and such. I've also browsed through portions of the Pathfinder wiki (nations and deities in particular).
I have just a few points on which I'd like to solicit some advice:
1) How benefical do any of you find addtional books (i.e. APG, Inner Sea World Guide, Bestiaries)? Are any of them worth purchasing, especially if I can only afford the PDF?
2) I would plan on using the Flip Mat from my Beginner Box. Are there better options that are reasonably priced? If so, what do you like?
3) I also have a small selection of pawns from the Beginner Box. I'd like to supplement this with another set - would you recommend Rise of the Runelords? The Bestiary Box? Something else?
I need to be cost-conscious, so I limit my use of miniatures to my player characters. I may buy a few extras just to have for new players to borrow.
4) Are there any other considerations I should be accounting for?
I would really appreciate any suggestions that you would be willing to provide. Thanks!
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Start with low level PFS scenarios. Read through the scenario in detail, and look up everything in it that's even remotely mentioned. I think that's more important than reading the Core Rulebook cover to cover.
I don't know how your local group picks scenarios, but if you can start by GMing the (FREE!) First Steps series, that would be ideal.
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1) The Inner Sea World Guide is one of the best world books for any system I have seen. The layout is great and there is plenty of timelines, maps ect to really add to your understanding of the setting. That being said, it is not required. The Bestiaries Of any of the books you might own, are probably the most needed. APG, and the Ulitmates Are nice to have, but if your players are playing something from them they should be providing them.
2) I have some flip mats, the most used map I have used in games is a wet-erase map.
3) To be honest, I started out with a 5$ bucket 'o medieval warriors I bought at Toys R Us. I have slowly been acquiring minis since. The Bestiary Box of cardboard minis is not a bad buy for the amount you get and is a nice way to supplement your collection until you have what you want.
4) There are plenty of free pdfs to be had on this site and others that can help you. You have already mentioned the GM 101, and that is a good start. The best thing you can do to prepare for a group is to read the scenario and all of the faction missions and if anything does not make sense seek out advice on these boards, if it is an older scenario it is likely to have many of your concerns already addressed. Learn from other's mistakes.
Derek,
I'm only a three-star, but coordinate loads of games as a VC and get asked this a lot.
There are loads of great suggestions here:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pkzx?Starting-to-GM-for-Pathfinder-Society
If you want the tl;dr version, here's what I keep in my bag:
- Two blank Paizo flipmats ($15/ea)
- Two packs of Vis-a-vis wet erase markers ($5/ea)
- Two packs of Bic mechanical pencils ($3/ea)
- Pack of mini legal pads ($2/ea)
- Two cheap "dollar store" mini white erase boards ($1/ea) that I marked up like the GameMastery "Combat Pad" with a Sharpie.
- Fantasy Flight Tokens, Red ($3/ea)
- Fantasy Flight Tokens, Blue ($3/ea)
- Fantasy Flight Tokens, Gold ($3/ea)
- Fantasy Flight Tokens, Silver ($3/ea)
- Fantasy Flight Tokens, Green ($3/ea)
- Pathfinder Beginner Box minis ($12/ea)
- Boxes of Starburst candy ($1/ea)
- Bestiary Box pawns/minis ($25/ea)
- Core Rulebook ($35/ea)
- Bestiary ($30/ea)
- Bestiary 2 ($30/ea)
- Bestiary 3 ($30/ea)
- Advanced Player's Guide ($30/ea)
- PFS Field Guide ($15/ea)
- PFS Guide to Organized Play, printed and bound ($5/ea)
I used the tokens for everything: bad guys, statutes, dungeon dressings, height indicators for flying stuff..
Inner Sea is great, but I never use it. Likewise, I don't ever bust out the Ultimates unless a player has them, because no scenario I've GMed yet calls things out of it for NPCs or plots.. There's almost /always/ a statblock.
Hope that helps.
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I would continue playing PFS and learning more about the Pathfinder game, and GM low level tables occasionally. Get experience being a player, see what other GMs do, and try to learn from them.
I would focus on knowing the rules in the Core Rulebook. Leverage minis and maps from other GMs and don't bother buying a lot of stuff yourself.
Books like the Inner Sea World Guide are unnecessary for PFS and are things you look at when you're more experienced or interested in that sort of thing. Even the APG and Ultimate line you can do without. You need to work on the basics for now, which is Core Rulebook and owning a Bestiary 1.
And letting everyone know your experience level before the table starts.
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The advanced players guide is really what seperated pathfinder from 3.5. The archtype system offers an amazing amount of customization for you to specialize your character, and to play them the way you want from day one. I can't reccomend it enough.
2) I would plan on using the Flip Mat from my Beginner Box. Are there better options that are reasonably priced? If so, what do you like?
A decent battlemat (20-40 bucks) and crayola washable markers
3) I also have a small selection of pawns from the Beginner Box. I'd like to supplement this with another set - would you recommend Rise of the Runelords? The Bestiary Box? Something else?
Give me hand painted lead poisoning or give me death!
I need to be cost-conscious, so I limit my use of miniatures to my player characters. I may buy a few extras just to have for new players to borrow.
Wait for the reaper bones to be sold or come out.
4) Are there any other considerations I should be accounting for?
I would really appreciate any suggestions that you would be willing to provide. Thanks!
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I always advise against GMing TOO early, I usually recommend to the locals who ask that you get at least one character to around 5th level even if you have a lot of Pathfinder experience just to get used to how PFS is different from Core. (Or how Pathfinder is different from 3.5). With that said, in MY area its possible because we have a large judge pool, in yours, well, it may not be because they need you.
With that said, I actually disagree a little bit with the advice people here are giving that you should ignore APG, Ultimate Magic, etc. What I would recommend is to build a bunch of different characters looking at archetypes, different feats, etc. I am not suggesting make these characters for PFS play, but build them and try to build them legally so you have a better idea how classes you've never looked at work. I am especially not suggesting using them from PFS play because I am going to suggest using the prd to build these characters. It's how I learned the most - checking out different archetypes for that fighter or this gunslinger etc.
The reason I suggest this is that it can be a big help when you know how some of the most common classes and archetypes people play work. Sometimes that guy who did something ridiculous is interpreting the rules wrong and sometimes he's got it exactly right, and it helps you to make a faster ruling the larger knowledge base you have.
Everyone else has given excellent advice on what other things you need so I won't address that :)
Edited to add: Also, make sure you know the Guide to Organized Play well and use it as a reference if you ever have questions at the table...
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Thanks everyone! I appreciate your input.
Katie, I agree that GMing too early could be a problem. I haven't done any roleplaying before this for over 10 years. I did GM an adventure once back then, but it went badly (mostly due to my poorly prepared homebrew setting). I really don't want to ruin what is getting to be a pretty good thing.
We do have a shortage of GM's to a degree. Last night we ran two tables of 6 and could have had more if other people's schedules didn't conflict.
One of our GM's is also interested in starting tables at another location closer to some of his friends, so we'll see.
Robert, your detailed list was greatly appreciated. I'll follow the link to the other thread when I've got meore time to sit down and read. I was a bit torn on using tokens, but I acutally ordered some because they're so versatile and cheap. Thanks again!
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There are some things that we all keep in our respective bags, for sure - here's my list:
[traveling]
core rulebook
4 colored markers
basic flip map
tablet (for small shows/events) or printed scenarios for large shows
printed copies or shorthand notes for bestiary 1/2/3 entries
Pathfinder Society Field Guide
[at home]
core rulebook
bestiary 1/2/3 as needed
printed copy of the adventure if an AP/module, otherwise my tablet
binder with my flip maps (without Thornkeep, I keep 4 in my sleeves)
Pathfinder Society Field Guide
I tend to bring a selection of minis regardless of traveling status. I've picked them up off of craigslist and local college trade boards - I live in a college area, so I see these posts every so often.
If you're deadset on using minis, I would recommend one of the following:
pick up random lots from craigslist/ eBay
-OR-
pick up the Reaper "Bones" line; very cheap but their models are phenomenal
You may be able to speak with your local gamestore - if you are making a fairly bulk purchase of minis, some store owners will cut you a discount for prepaying for non-stock items (we do at my store). Also, don't be shy about using Skittles/ Twizzlers/ Starburst for creatures.
Most importantly...
have fun!
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I can only speak for myself but I bought 2 boxes of the Bestiary Box and have never looked back. Im not personally one for actual minis prepainted or otherwise as they take up too much space. The Pawns are easier for me to store and sort and the variety is just that much better.
As one of the more experienced locals keep telling me. its not up to the GM to learn everything. We can try , but unless you are some perfectionist its not going to happen. A Player has to know exactly what they are playing/ doing. They need to know what their laughter spell does and what the save DC is... they need to know what the radius of an exploding bomb is. If you use it, you need to know what it does.
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It sounds like you just want the bare minimum, or you're on a budget - which is fair.
You want the
- core rulebook,
- the bestiary (possibly bestiary 2 or 3 if your scenario doesn't list a stat block)
- some form of tokens or minis,
- dice,
- a blank flipmat (Beginner Box one is great), and
- the scenario itself (and chronicle sheets, and faction missions).
The PF field guide is in the core assumption, but I can't remember a single time when any tables I've been at have had to pull it out.
PDFs are fine if you have a tablet or a phone that can stay powered.
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PFS Field Guide got pulled out in our group just last Saturday. Checking on some faction titles, and two of our PCs were Lore Wardens.
And we were going to a wedding, and wanted to have some aristocratic-sounding titles to help make a good impression.
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I found the Inner Sea World Guide and the other regional books were useful only after I had played PFS for over a year. Those sources give lots of great information about the different nations, organizations, and races that come up in PFS play, which can then be used by GMs, or an experienced player in a group of newer players, to help set the tone of the adventure.
An example from last week, I was running a scenario based in Almas and explained to my players that this is the capital of Andoran. Almost instantly my players started to role play their characters a little more, like the Andoran faction PC started to act patriotic or the Taldoran faction PCs treated NPCs in a guff manner. These are small things in the overall scheme of things, but this little bit of role play can make a good session become great in the eyes of the players.
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Its possible to have Pathfinder Society players who know nothing at all about Golarion. In fact Ive seen it far too often. I wont lie.. Im all about the story, thats why I love to GM. I thus recommend the Inner Sea World Guide.. if not just for the background but for the multitude of character concepts it provides