One of my teachers and I have been talking about starting a pathfinder club after school but my teacher can't help when it comes to it because he works with robotics. I was wandering if I could get advice on being a GM because my teacher couldn't. If he could he would be GM. Once I'm positive on being the GM I will start sending out messages to people. In advance thank you for helping.
First off, take a deep breath. You're in for quite a ride! Adventures to be had, riches to be gained and battles to be fought...
If you're completely new to Pathfinder and maybe even roleplaying in general, you might want to start with the Pathfinder Beginner Box. It's a wonderful product with exactly that in mind, which you are about to try.
Get it, read it, love it, and tell us how things are going! I wish you all the best for your club and lots and lots of hours of fun and excitement!
I'm not new to pathfinder but I am new to being a GM. I was thinking to ask the group for money contributions to buy proper supplies.
I'm not new to pathfinder but I am new to being a GM. I was thinking to ask the group for money contributions to buy proper supplies.
Thats certainly reasonable, will your players be new to the game? If so you might still want to try out the begginer box. It gives a great introduction to the game from both the player and the GM angle.
If not the begginer box might still be good, but I'd highly recommend you getting the game mastery guide and looking through it. It gives a ton of good advice for new gms looking for common pitfalls and challenges, and also how to accomplish certain things.
I agree with the suggestion of the Game Mastery Guide, it has a lot of good material for beginner GMs. If you can't afford the hardcover, the .pdf is only $10.00 (and contains a lot of stuff that is not in the GMG section of the Pathfinder Reference Document).
The only "problem" with the Beginner Box is that its rules are not in the PRD and, especially at the student level, you can't expect everyone to be able to access its rules -- ideally, you only need one Box for one entire group but everyone's got to get together to learn to play (which isn't a bad thing, but it's hard to do "homestudy"). I also recall Ashelia has posted here before and has been playing, I believe, the regular set of rules, so even though the standard rules have more complexity, she'd have to effectively stop and relearn a new set of rules. But she can figure out for herself what's best to use.
Ashelia,
Some general advice would be
- Start at 1st level. This might go without saying, but sometimes people want to jump ahead to high levels, but it's easier to go one step at a time.
- For now, stick with core only rules (if not the Beginner's Box) -- keep things simple for you and your friends in terms of rules you are using. The supplementary books are cool and add extra options but also add a lot of extra stuff to keep track of, which can get very overwhelming for a new GM. Don't change any rules (make "house rules") until you get used to the rules as written -- then if something you feel doesn't work, change them after you've gotten a sense for why you do or don't like something. Discuss any house rules with your players to make sure they are aware of them and are okay with them.
- Pick out a module or adventure path to run, so you don't have to make up the adventure entirely from scratch. (Or if you are using the beginner's box, that comes with its own adventures.) Sit down and read the module over and over again so you really get to know it. If there are parts that don't make sense to you or you feel could work better, feel free to alter them as you like -- but it provides a framework for an adventure to start with. I like Crypt of the Everflame for a 1st level adventure (although I don't know a lot of 1st level modules to be honest), as it has a good introduction to the gameworld and is well paced out.
- Encourage players to create characters together so they can figure out how their characters may know each other and how they each contribute to the party.
- Be easy on yourself and be ready and willing to make mistakes -- GMing only gets better with practice and learning from experience. Solicit player feedback.
- Have FUN and make sure everyone else is having fun. This last is the most important and everything else is optional.
Ok I have the pdf of the core rulebook and some pdfs like we be goblins but I will have to find the gm guide.
You might see if any of the game shops in your area have PFS play on a regular basis. Then you could volunteer to GM there occasionally after you play a few times. The PFS scenarios are relatively simpler for a GM because it is mostly already spelled out since everyone is supposed to run it the same.
If not, you could still run PFS scenarios for your group just to make things simpler for you.
Most of the important things can only be learned from experience, like being able to come up with things on the fly.
Ok I have the pdf of the core rulebook and some pdfs like we be goblins but I will have to find the gm guide.
OK, first off, unlike traditional D&D approach ( DungeonMaster's Guide for GM, Player's Handbook for Players), Pathfinder does "Core Rules for everyone" approach. There are books that can certainly help GMs, such as Gamemastery Guide, but they're supplemental accessories, not "can't do without".
Secondly, take a look at www.d20pfsrd.com - you'll likely find it to be easily navigable (and free) depository of PF rules and info.
Thirdly, if you want to recommend a comprehensive, compact rules manual for your players, try SORD ( http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/81817/Sord-Pf?term=SORD+ )- in my experience, it's more than worth those couple bucks.
I hope these help with keeping your operational costs low!
(Also, I am getting excellent mileage out of Paizo's various token boxes - at 15-30 bucks for boxes with hundreds of creature tokens, they're unbeatable value and good quality to boot.)
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Ok I have the pdf of the core rulebook and some pdfs like we be goblins but I will have to find the gm guide.
We Be Goblins is the perfect starting point. New players don't need to worry about rolling up characters, and for most of the adventure, the rules barely matter. You can have a two-hour long roleplaying session, and the roleplaying is pretty self-evident. You get your group started on the right foot, and then you can move on to other published adventures or writing your own adventures. Plus, We Be Goblins is Pathfinder Society sanctioned, so if you want to go that route (and I recommend you consider it) you're still on the right path.
Good luck!