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Hello i'm fairly new to pathfinder i consider myself my only pathfinder experience is book 2-(i think were on 5 or 6 now) as a player.
Another groups wants me who never ever played pathfinder but all have more DND 3.0-3.5 then me wants me to dm Rise of the runelords.
The problem is how do i streamline certain events and such things
I did Chapter 1 part 1 bescause that is mostly just combat but i need more help to understand rules and books besides that i should bring to help understand better and not spend half a session flippiung through pages like
"Where can i buy a potion of cure light wounds"
"What does X NPC want to talk to me about they said to meet me at X"
"What does each store have in stock"
I just a total noob and i need some major help
Also what races should i allow?
In class types or arch types i should disallow?
How do i keep track of days and weather and stuff like that.
I have many questions and need answers
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A group of players, who each have experience at D&D3/3.5, want someone with less experience to run a whole Adventure Path? As their first taste of GMing?
Ouch.
I think a discussion is in order with the others as to what exactly is preventing any of them taking on the job?
Not that I have anything against helping new GMs find their feet, but there are much better ways to do so, via short, one-shot adventures, where any teething problems can be discovered and conquered, without repercussions on a long-running campaign.
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Everybody begins GMing somewhere, and you cannot possibly remember every rule to start (I certainly don't, and I've been doing this for years). Don't be overwhelmed by an Adventure Path campaign—it's definitely a lot of work, but take it in baby steps.
Read through the first part of Chapter One. Take notes of things you don't know (rules, magic items, abilties), major plot points, and how to work in the player characters better.
Keep it simple—just allow the race and class options in the Core Rulebook to start, otherwise you will be overwhelmed and that's a terrible way to start your game mastering journey. The free Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition Player's Guide will help both you and your players focus on the essentials for the campaign.
Keeping track of days is straightforward—just use a calendar. Golarion's calendar equates to our own, just the month names and years are different.
As for weather... Cheat. Rise of the Runelords was originally released in 2007 (equating to 4907 in Golarion years), and Sandpoint is based off of Creative Director James Jacobs' home town of Point Arena, California. Wunderground has an amazing historical database of weather—check out the weather for September 2007 and use it for your game.
You're going to make mistakes when you're learning to play or GM—it's okay. This game is about having fun, and if you're doing that, then everything else is good. Just look up the rules after the games and remember for next time. Soon it will be second nature.
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Spoiler here
Well before we left one of the players wanted to talk to foxglove who we just saved i turned to the page on the rusty dragon and saw no information on him just an encounter there.
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Also what books should i bring since i the only one in the group that owns pathfinder books. for myself and them.
At the very least, bring the CRB. Do you or the players have access to an iPad or other similar tablet? With internet connection, you have access to all of the hard cover rules material via the Paizo PRD.
You're going to need to have the adventure path, obviously. For those creatures that don't have the full stat block printed in the book, use Word to print out those stat blocks to keep in a binder. Then you don't have to worry about the bestiaries.
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I'll second what Lilith said; that no matter how long you've been playing or GMing, you will never memorise all the rules, and will make mistakes, or simply not know where to find the information you need, especially if the players make an unexpected choice.
It happens to me, after 35 years, and it's not grounds for getting upset or blaming yourself. Nor is it a sign you don't have the 'right stuff' to GM.
Be honest with yourself and your players, as to what rules you are unclear on, and enlist their help, to look things up and agree on an interpretation that is fair to all sides (remember, any overly-generous reading of a rule applies equally to the PCs' enemies...).
A good player will help and support their GM.
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Step 1. Take a deep breath. Its ok to be confused, or not have a handle on things. You are new to this and dming is a big job.
Next, know that you are not alone.
ESPCECIALLY with rise of the runelords. Seriously you are not alone. You have the 1000 gm army backing you up. That is the beauty of pathfinder adventure paths. In particular rise of the runelords now has 6 years of gms running it, loving it, working on it, and sharing what they have done.
Thats all Right here Its a forum dedicated to just that adventure path. Each AP has such a sub forum, but RotRL is by far the most supported.
Next. Sandpoint. Its an important place. You will need to familiarize yourself for it and have a reference. And you dont want to have to flip through the book constantly to do it while you are playing.
No problem though, the 1000 gm army has you covered. In this thread there are all sorts of helpful resources, like an illustrated npc and location guide.
That can help you answer such questiosn as 'Where can I buy x' or 'what do x npc want to talk about'. Print that, take notes on it, or put sticky notes. Make it your go to document for sandpoint.
As for what they have in stock, generally anything inexpensive (less then a few hundred gold) just have it in stock. The anything more expensive needs to be 'special ordered' is my usual go to, so I have time to consider the implications of specific items.
Also what races should i allow?
This is mostly a matter of style. Other then the drow noble, nothing it outright game breaking from the advanced race guide, though some are better then others. If you are ok with a crazy menagerie of creatures for a party, allow any. If you want to stick to the core races, go ahead and stick to the core races. Again besides drow noble, this is mostly a matter of preference.
In class types or arch types i should disallow?
Because you are new, dont allow the summoner from the advanced players guide. That requires some very specific knowledge to manage, and is often misunderstood, or misplayed in addition to it being shockingly easy to optimize compared to other classes. The rest, again its a matter of play style. I allow all paizo classes, with a large supply of 3rd party products (classes made by companize other then paizo for pathfinder). If it helps my players generate a concept, I generally allow it. For you being a new gm, I'd say only use the core rules and the advanced players guide, excluding the summoner. If someone really wants let them play the magus from ultimate magic, but thats it. Archetypes generally arent a big issue, so I would allow any from the books mentioned if I were you.
How do i keep track of days and weather and stuff like that.
Do you want to? In general its an ok day in my game unless the plot needs it not to be. If you want to do weather, I'd make myself a random table for each season. You can use any old calandar to keep track of days, or you can create a custom one using pathfinders actual months. THe Pathfinder wiki can help you out there. Just grab a normal calendar, and change the days and months to the ones listed there and use that to keep track.
Edit: Go figure, someone already thought of this golarion calendar
well foxglove thanked the heros after the goblin attack and said he may have a reward for them and he staying at the rusty dragon. but on the rusty dragon page in 389 and in chapter 1 i don't see the conversation
and no non of us have computers we banned them after what happened with our old group.
So one thing to note, paizo's adventure paths are not noob friendly. They will not spell everything out for you. They will give you some 'box text' where they tell you exactly what to say. But for the most part, they give you background information, and YOU have to decide what to do with it. They wont tell you what foxglove will say, they will just tell who foxglove is, and leave it up to you to decide what he says.
Also this conversation should really happen in the Adventure path sub forums. No risk of spoilers there, because they are an expectation, mostly of gms discussing the Advneture paths. If you have specific questions about foxglove, or events in the AP ask them there.
"Where can i buy a potion of cure light wounds"
"What does X NPC want to talk to me about they said to meet me at X"
"What does each store have in stock"I just a total noob and i need some major help
Also what races should i allow?
In class types or arch types i should disallow?
How do i keep track of days and weather and stuff like that.I have many questions and need answers
A lot of good GMs keep notes - I've been known to carry around a small notebook or note pad for keeping notes on things though now I use my iPad more often for that. You don't need to be super detailed on everything, but if some idea comes to mind, having it noted down will help you remember it and use it when it becomes relevant.
For example: you could go through the information detailing Sandpoint and list all of the businesses there. That may help you understand what sorts of goods are readily available in Sandpoint and it may give you an idea where certain things could best be bought. For the most part, knowing exactly where the PCs can find a potion of cure light wounds is unnecessary - as long as Sandpoint has the capacity for it, it's easy enough to tell players "After a few minutes of shopping about, you find what you are looking for. Mark off the gold and add the item to your gear." But for some items, it can be more fun to personalize the shopping process because it gives you a chance to have the PCs get to know the people of Sandpoint.
As far as how NPCs react and what they say - that's for you to make up. The AP includes background info, some info on motivations, and maybe even some info on personalities. But it can't predict exactly what players will want to talk about or why PCs will seek out or encounter these people so it can't give you a pre-scripted conversation other than a few statements or introductions. This is where every GM becomes something of a writer - in this case script writer - as well as actor. It doesn't have to be as good as Olivier or O'Toole, it doesn't have to be as clever with wordplay as Shakespeare, it doesn't even really have to be in the first person if that's not your style of play. But you want to give the players that these aren't just tokens on a board - that they're characters and each is a bit different. That's another reason for keeping good notes.
I would limit what races, classes, and archetypes that are available to the material you actually own. The thing you need to make sure is that your players tell you what they are going to be playing before the game starts. Concentrate on learning the races and classes your players want to play instead of trying to learn everything. If you have physical access to the material it is a lot easier to kick back and read it than if you are reading it on a computer.
If no one is playing a druid, but one of your players wants to play a witch you can skip over understanding how a druid works and concentrate on the witch. The same is true for races and archetypes. Just make sure to look over the adventure path and see what classes the NPC’s are so you can also understand them.
Understanding the basic rules of the game is often more important than understanding how every class works. Make sure you understand how combat works especially combat maneuvers. Also be familiar with the skills and what they can and cannot do. To start out you need to understand what all characters can do, and then what your players can do. After that you should know what the NPC’s in the adventure can do. Everything else is not important. If a monk never comes up in the game who cares what they can do.
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I would limit what races, classes, and archetypes that are available to the material you actually own. The thing you need to make sure is that your players tell you what they are going to be playing before the game starts. Concentrate on learning the races and classes your players want to play instead of trying to learn everything. If you have physical access to the material it is a lot easier to kick back and read it than if you are reading it on a computer.
If no one is playing a druid, but one of your players wants to play a witch you can skip over understanding how a druid works and concentrate on the witch. The same is true for races and archetypes. Just make sure to look over the adventure path and see what classes the NPC’s are so you can also understand them.
Understanding the basic rules of the game is often more important than understanding how every class works. Make sure you understand how combat works especially combat maneuvers. Also be familiar with the skills and what they can and cannot do. To start out you need to understand what all characters can do, and then what your players can do. After that you should know what the NPC’s in the adventure can do. Everything else is not important. If a monk never comes up in the game who cares what they can do.
I agree, I have been DMing Reign of Winter for almost a year now (it's coming to a year in a few months here), and limiting the number of races available is a good idea. That allows for people to know what they can play, and it keeps any surprises from occurring from some obscure race, especially the new Bestiaries that Paizo comes out with. As for the archetypes, you can get away with leaving much to the players, but just keep in mind that there are combinations of archetypes with multiclass or gestalt that could really cause problems for the game.
As for the classes, the Magus for my group seems to have issues because there are some areas where it is obscure, I haven't banned it, but I have yet to have anyone take up the class.
I would also recommend, for skills, using Perception less often. Perception is the God Skill in Pathfinder, it substitutes for Spot, and Hear. I was told this before, and it is an easy thing to overlook, if it is inconsequential to the game, don't make them roll for it. If it is, I go hunting, and they're a Ranger, simply have them make a Survival to see how well they did, not to do the tracking and everything about tracking. My father did that, it gets far too tedious.
My father is currently running Rise of the Runelords for us, and him and I switch on and off every weekend. I can say that it is really fun, but keeping it consistent is a good things to do, as with any campaign.
Here is something that I learned, and my players really seem to enjoy it: Make Your Own Stuff! Regardless of what it is, it is nice to have a smell of something else other than the theme of the campaign at hand. Currently, my players in my Reign of Winter game, are looking for a Demon Lord Avatar and kill him because the centaurs are having issues with him. So, they got to attack a city, but that was at night on an island in the middle of a lake. Around the river were patrols, so, when they decided to camp in the Town Hall, they got attacked by many Taiga Giants because they didn't find a better area to hide.
I have been told by my players that they enjoy the stuff I make up, more than they love the actual adventure! And most of it is just improvisation! So, if you have an idea that you think will be cool, don't be afraid to show it off to the players. I had the idea a while back of ice cubes that can turn into a very small extradimentional space, and they worked like garbage bags. The way to destroy the garbage, was simply to melt it. So, my players took them, and a few gremlins melted some food they had stored inside of them. While they blamed it on the Fighter, it makes the game fun and lots of role playing begins to happen!
Hope this helped! See ya!
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well foxglove thanked the heros after the goblin attack and said he may have a reward for them and he staying at the rusty dragon. but on the rusty dragon page in 389 and in chapter 1 i don't see the conversation
As others have said, go check out that specific forum. But...
Foxglove is certifiably insane at this point, so strange behavior probably won't be noticed by the PCs. Just wing it.