I have never played a P&P game before. I recently started listening to Nerd Poker with Brian Posehn while playing various computer games. His wonderful DM has inspired me to try my hands at weaving my own story for my friends. I have convinced four of them to try with me, only one of which has ever played a P&P before (although we all have lots of KOTR experience, which seems to wear it's dice rolls on it's sleeve)
Went to my local gaming store this weekend to pick up some DnD stuffs, but after talking to a few people at the store, left with Pathfinder core rule book, Pathfinder Game Mastery Guide, and a set of dice.
I am really not looking to use a pre-written campaign, the whole allure of the game for me is telling MY story. But, I still have some new GM issues. In particular, encounters.
How frequent should the encounters be? How many enemies in each? How tough should the enemies be? I am a little worried about having to much for my party to handle in a "day" given that casters only have so many spells per day. (is encounter even the correct term, are spell casters able to do more than I am giving them credit for?)
I just bought the books on Sunday, and have not been able to read all of them. I have attempted to find this info in particular, but so far do not seem to be able to locate it.
Any and all tips for new to P&P, new to Pathfinder, new to GM, or encounter planning would be greatly appreciated.
Traditionally, a party should be able to handle four encounters a day - although this may be hard at low level and most parties can handle more at higher levels. Remember that unless the party are on a tight schedule or constantly being attacked by wandering creatures, your players will have a lot of control over when they stop and rest.
How many enemies in one encounter? Depends on the enemies. A CR 1 monster is a 'regular' opponent for a level 1 party. A CR 2 monster is a tougher opponent. Or you could have three or four goblins (Three CR 1/3 monsters should be about as tough as a single CR 1 monster). It's good to vary that sort of thing.
(I notice you don't mention buying a Bestiary. You might need to use the internet for creating encounters.)
Goblin
Spellcasters don't have many spells at level 1 but they have unlimited level 0 spells and often have other powers (like a sorcerer's bloodline ability) and can usually use a weapon as well (a light crossbow, for example).
Fantastic, Thank you for the quick reply! the entire group is getting very excited to start up! I gotta get my butt in gear to start the adventure! I do have to say, there is a lot to learn starting out. O.o
Hey Doc! Bravo for picking everything up and giving it a whirl! It's a great game. One thing to remember is that it might take some time to figure out what your party can handle based on who and what they are, thus never be afraid to pull a second wave of enemies out of your pocket if they wipe the floor with your goblins and thugs, and also don't be afraid to have a helpful NPC or group of town guards ride over the hill to a party that's outmatched (sometimes the best plot twists and side stories arise out of situations like this)! I still have to do this after years of storytelling, "Crap! They toasted that T-rex in 2 rounds, how about a surprise charge by a mated pair of triceratops!!"
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I find it is harder to screw up with more low CR encounters than it is with less high CR encounters. This is mostly because you can't predict when the players will make bad decisions that make them get hurt. It is a lot more fun to be on the run from goblins than getting TPK'd by a construct or swarm. Low CR encounters are easier to roll with when the players start losing, characters are supposed to be able to handle them and a turnaround or stalemate is much more likely.
Welcome to the wonderful hobby of running P&P RPGs. I've been doing it myself since the late 70s.
Step 1. Read this GUIDE. It will give you a far more enjoyable encounter in terms of challenges then the Core RB system. Remember that all encounters shouldn't be hard, some in fact should be dead easy, maybe the final one in your chapter should a be skin-of-your-teeth sort of affair. Quite a few of the encounters should be challenges, traps and the like rather than straight up throw down combat.
Step 2. Go download and read We Be Goblins as it gives you a fine idea of how a story should flow, CR of low level encounters, etc. You can even do a practice run through (on your own) on a few of the encounters just to get the hang of setting up a fight, seeing if anyone is surprised, etc.
Step 3. For building your own story, you might lean heavily on the d20 PF SRD site. Go HERE and you'll get an near endless supply of "people" to stock your city, rural, etc. encounters. Of course the bestiary is on there as well.
Step 4. Ask questions, loads of questions.
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You should check out this link (though the info is also in the "Gamemastering" chapter of your Core Rulebook). It gives you very solid guidelines on encounter building.
I understand and applaud your desire to make your own campaign.
However, when first getting your dice bloody so to speak you might want to try a few prepared scenarios first just to give you a better idea how the game works.
See if someone in the area does PFS and join a couple of low level scenarios like We Be Goblins, We Be Goblins Too, and Masters of the Fallen Fortress are excellent learning tools.
If no one does PFS in your area, I would still suggest giving a spin to a prepared scenario or two.
Some of the guides people have suggested above are also excellent tools.
I agree. I understand you want to "do your own thing" but you need some experience first. Run a module. Raging Swan Press does some excellent starters.
oh wow! I come back from lunch and BAM, so many replies. Thank you all. Looks like I have even more reading to do hahah.
I was considering taking the encounters from pre-made scenario(s) and altering them slightly to fit my narrative, but I'm not sure how viable that would be.
My local gaming shop does run a couple RPG nights, next one is this Wednesday. I was going to see if the GM there wouldn't mind me picking his brain / watch over his shoulder while he works.
Again, thank you all. This is a much needed push in the right direction.
... I was considering taking the encounters from pre-made scenario(s) and altering them slightly to fit my narrative, but I'm not sure how viable that would be...
That is actually almost all that I do anymore. I just don't have the time to make everything from scratch.
On Wednesday, I'd suggest you join in not just watch. Well, unless they are only doing a high tier scenario. Joining in something at 9th level won't help you as much when you are first starting off.
Might ask if he is willing to do some of the intro scenarios for just your group though. Most GM's that I know would be willing. I could if you happen to be in Southern Ohio.
oh wow! I come back from lunch and BAM, so many replies. Thank you all. Looks like I have even more reading to do hahah.
I was considering taking the encounters from pre-made scenario(s) and altering them slightly to fit my narrative, but I'm not sure how viable that would be.
First off, welcome to the hobby. I hope you have lots of fun with your friends, rolling dice, laughing and telling an awesome story.
As for advice. I would strongly recommend reading through published adventures for encounter ideas. You dont have to use their story, but you can pick any adventure that is roughly close to your story's theme. So for instance, if you decide you want to run a pirate adventure, pick up skull and shackles. Read through it. Get ideas, note down encounters that look like fun. Then weave those into your own story.
Next, I strongly recommend as new gm you read through the gamemastery guide. It has a lot of invaluable advice in there, espcially around building campaigns.
If you and your whole group is mostly unfamiliar with pen and paper roleplaying games i'd also recommend considering picking up the begginer box. Even if you dont use the adventure in there, its very good at giving an intro to the game, and walking everyone including the players through the whole idea and process of playing pathfinder. You could play a couple sessions with that and then move on to your own adventure using the core rules. Not that you cant just jump into the full rules. You can, many of us did, but the begginer box will make the transitiojn easier.
I never GMed, and only started playing Pathfinder some months ago, but I know a couple of things you could draw inspiration from!
There's a couple of threads here that lists ideas for random events that could occur in a city or at the campfire where the players are resting.
Also there's The Daily Bestiary.
As the name implies, each day 3 or 4 adventure ideas are given for a single monster. It's been going on for years and has a lot of monsters covered, a lot of interesting ideas and has direct links to the PRD in every entry, for easy consultation.
If you are all green to the game, I'd really recommend the Pathfinder Beginner's Box. It strips down the choices considerably, has a very straight forward starting adventure, but gets you and the entire group familiar with the core concepts and mechanics. You can then transition to the core rulebook (there's even a guide included to help you with that).
A lot of the concepts will be familiar, as I'm pretty sure KOTR used d20 rules (which is the basis for pathfinder as well), but the character/monster dynamics are quite a bit different.