The Beginner Box is great and I'd love to see an Expert Box that allowed for 6th to 10th level play. One of the things Paizo has stated is that they don't want to cannibalize sales of their main RPG.
I was wondering, however, if it would be possible for them to tweak the AP slightly (and yes, I know they are loathe to do that, but bear with me) to allow for the first three installments to work with the Beginner Box and a hypothetical Expert Box.
The first tweak would be to support the Beginner / Expert Box mechanically where needed for the first three books of an AP. I doubt there is much that would need to be added, right? After all, it isn't until after 10th level that lots of the complexity creeps into the game.
The second tweak would be to have the third book (which usually ends around 10th level) of an AP come to some sort of satisfying resolution, though obviously not THE resolution of the story.
This would give people that like the Beginner / Expert Box and want to keep their game a bit simpler use out of the APs -- and maybe even hook them into other supplements. Also, there's a good chance that players will want to continue with the second half of the AP. Provided the conversion is painless enough Paizo would then find people converting to their main product.
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I think you underestimate the changes this would make necessary:
- new requirement for the AP-story arc: there must be a possible conclusion at the end of the third instalment but also the incentive to keep the story going this goes for every AP from now on
- new requirement for the writers: make no excessive use of spells/creatures/abilities/rules not covered in the Beginners Box. Mind the tactics sections! Don't use sub systems that make use of non BB rules.
- Don't use class-level adversaries in the final part of the third installment. To challeneg the PCs they would probably need to be beyond the Expert Box level range.
Those sound like serious limitations for furture APs with very little actual gain.
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I think you underestimate the changes this would make necessary:
- new requirement for the AP-story arc: there must be a possible conclusion at the end of the third installment but also the incentive to keep the story going this goes for every AP from now on
- new requirement for the writers: make no excessive use of spells/creatures/abilities/rules not covered in the Beginners Box. Mind the tactics sections! Don't use sub systems that make use of non BB rules.
- Don't use class-level adversaries in the final part of the third installment. To challenge the PCs they would probably need to be beyond the Expert Box level range.Those sound like serious limitations for future APs with very little actual gain.
I agree with you, Feytharn, that the limitations that would be put upon the designers would kill the design and functions of the AP. The AP look to be designed to not only have a series of adventures, but also to take players into parts of Golarion that they may not have had much exposure to, and do it in an epic way.
Big Weather, How about this idea. Use the Beginner box rules at the start of Rise of the Runelords, expand with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box Transitions PDF (Free download), and transition any rules for the players as needed. The villains using any powers/abilities/etc. that are not covered by the rule set are using abilities that the characters have not been exposed to.
Granted, it makes the GM do a bit more prep for the AP, but it might be worth it.
Later