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Hello hello!
I intend to introduce a couple of friends to Pathfinder.
I don't want to run a full module because these tend to take a bit longer than only one evening and I'd like for their first adventure not to end with a "Right, so we're in the middle of the cave now but have to pack up - ah well, hope you had fun!", but with a full "Yeah, you did it!"
A PFS scenario should be ideal for this and I would love to get a few suggestions!
However, one important note:
I will not be running this as Organized Play. I want to show them what a Role Playing Game is and how it works without bogging it down with all the overhead of PFS. If they are hooked this might change, but this is a more general introduction to Pathfinder as a whole:
- I am free to change encounters and the scenario as a whole. If someone wants to suggest a scenario that would have to be adjusted in some way, I'm all for it! (Stuff like "Scenario XY is great, but too difficult for newbies" - no problem, I'll just make it easier!)
- It would be great if the characters don't necessarily have to be PFS agents. So while I adore The Overflown Archives, it is sadly not a great option hee.
- For the same reason The Confirmation and especially The Wounded Wisp are out. I might do The Confirmation, but I'd have to change quite a few things around I reckon.
- A scenario not relying on combat with animals is a bonus. I like The Segang Expedition, but my players would outright refuse to participate in a hunt.
- If it's a two-parter and both halves work on their own, great! This would leave a "I hope you had fun...we can play the second part next week, if you want?" open.
- I fully expect one or two players to grab a druid and a ranger. A scenario in the wilderness (or with a huge part of wilderness) would be great.
Thanks for the suggestions in advance! :)
(And does anybody know why the bullet pointed list does not show up?)
Venture-Agent, Georgia—Atlanta
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I would suggest the "Master of the Fallen Fortress" or "Crypt of the Everflame" modules. Well, MoFF does end up with some animal combat, but you can befriend most of the animals, if you work at it. Just not the crocodile at the end.
CotE does have some overland travel at the beginning.
Maybe consider running them through the first book of Kingmaker? That is chock full of wilderness travel.
If you run Modules or APs, if they ever wanted PFS credit, you could give it to them.
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I would suggest the "Master of the Fallen Fortress" or "Crypt of the Everflame" modules. Well, MoFF does end up with some animal combat, but you can befriend most of the animals, if you work at it. Just not the crocodile at the end.
(...)
Maybe consider running them through the first book of Kingmaker? That is chock full of wilderness travel.
How long do these modules take? I know for a that an AP book won't fit one evening and a "normal" 32-page module would also be very tight, wouldn't it?
If they are interested in starting a campaign Kingmaker is one of my preferred options anyways (together with RotRL), though I'll probably do Dragon's Demand first. Less frustrating if the group dissolves halfway through.
Night March of Kalkamedes, maybe? Lots of wilderness, and a fun hook to make it not a standard adventure. There’s at least one animal combat, but you could leave that out or give your Druid a chance to wild empathy.
Great idea! There is also a bit of pure roleplaying at the end with the captured gnome, right?
I should make it more clear: Fighting animals isn't a total no-go. They expressed discomfort with animals dying, not necessarily fighting them - wild animals can always run away once they took a bit of damage (which they realistically would probably do anyways) and for animal companions I can fudge the stabilization rolls. :)
I'd just like to avoid scenarios like The Segang Expedition which start out with "Right, there is this animal. We need to kill it."
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Master of the Fallen Fortress fits nicely into a 4-5 hours slot, so that could be what you are looking for. Crypt of the Everflame runs slightly longer, maybe 6 hours or a bit more depending on the general RPG experience of your players.
Crypt can be done in 6 hours? Then this is a serious contender because it's one of those "I've always wanted to run this!" modules...
I would recommend Tide of Twilight. There is a strong nature theme in it, and can easily stand on its own if you tweak the start.
I knew I should've grabbed all the season 3 scenarios when they were available through Humble Bundle (or am I confusing this with something else?)...will check it out, thanks!
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The module Risen from the Sands is also a good choice for an introduction to the game. The adventure states that it's written for four 3rd-level characters, but a couple of the encounters can be tough for that level. I've run it twice: once as a one-shot to see if a couple potential recruits were a good fit for our home group (with five 3rd-level PCs that I built), and once for PFS (a mix of 3rd-4th level, including a couple 4th-level pregens). For the latter, we easily completed the module in the usual PFS scenario time frame.
It's a Free RPG Day module, so doesn't make any assumptions about the PCs being Pathfinders. There's no wilderness component, unless you want to add an encounter on the way through the desert to the dungeon.
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I played Crypt about a month ago with several experienced players. We started around 6:30 and finished about midnight. A balanced party with reasonable equipment to deal with contingincies helped. (multiple weapon types, some holy water, and some alchemical splash weapons)
Experienced probably being the keyword here...teaching the game while not rushing the encounters might prolong the module considerably...
The module Risen from the Sands is also a good choice for an introduction to the game. The adventure states that it's written for four 3rd-level characters, but a couple of the encounters can be tough for that level.
Thank you, but I feel like most third level characters already present more options than your average "Completely new to RPGs" player could handle. I might give too little credit here, but I don't want to throw too much at once at them.
(I haven't decided yet if we're creating characters together or if I create them for them. If I do the latter level 3 might be an option.)