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Hello!
I am a long time gamer who hasn't role played since the hey day of AD&D 2E, 30 years ago. However, I am now in a position, with a group of friends to start playing again.
Having done a lot of research into the current RPG scene and weighed up the options out there (including returning to my beloved AD&D 1E collection), I've taken the plunge and ordered the 2E Core Rule Book (CRB).
My group are experienced gamers, looking for an immersive gaming experience which I am hoping 2E will provide (along with my slightly rusty DM'ing skills!). My question is, other than the 2e CRB, what else do I need for my first few sessions? Is the Bestiary an essential purchase? What about those first few sessions? Is there a scenario in the CRB? Is there anything free online I can run? Or should I get one of the published scenario packs?
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Happy gaming.
Hello there!
You can get the Bestiary monsters online, places like this: Monsters
It's expensive to start an RPG, but I'd recommend the Bestiary eventually, either the book, or if you GM with a laptop the nice bookmarked pdf.
Adventures are how Paizo make their money. So they are something you can and should buy. There's an adventure path called Age of Ashes and an adventure called Fall of Plaguestone available at the moment. And you'll get lots of more specific advice for running them on the forums.
To start with though, you can and should try the free demo adventure: Torment and Legacy.
Good luck!
The bestiary comes highly recommended. Though you can find all monsters (including pictures!) online here:
https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx
There's no adventure in the CRB. It does come with a chapter about Golarion (the world of Pathfinder), but that's mostly general stuff and probably not enough to build upon.
You could get the Fall of Plaguestone module which is designed for 1st level characters (who probably gain a few levels during the course of the adventure. Haven't checked it out myself).
For a more deep dive kind of deal, check out Hellknight Hill, the first Adventure Path module for PF2. If you're not aware, Pathfinder is famous for its Adventure Paths, which are release monthly, each one spanning 6 issues and bringing the party into very high levels.
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The Bestiary is fairly essential for someone to have if you want things like pictures of all the monsters, IMO. You can make do with online resources (such as Archives of Nethys), but it's sometimes awkward.
Aside from that, the corebook alone should be fine in terms of rules, though if you want to play in the official setting, the Lost Omens World Guide is obviously also handy.
As for scenarios, there's none in the book. In terms of free stuff there's the demo, but that's only two fights long, not a full scenario. Anything else you'll need to come up with yourself or pay for.
The Bestiary isn't a necessary purchase if you are able or willing to use Archives of Nethys or some other online ressource.
There is a demo adventure "Torment and Legacy" available as a free download here. The PFS Scenarios and Quests are pretty cheap to get too, especially The Sandstone Secret is nice, unassuming, and rather short (~1hour game time for experienced players).
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There isn't a scenario in the crb.
The bestiary is nice imo. Buuutttt you can head over to the 2e archives of nethys and get everything you need monster wise.
(Npcs have to be built with character creation rules or reskinned bestiary creatures atm)
https://2e.aonprd.com
The easy actions tree site will also prove to be invaluable imo.
http://pf2.easytool.es/tree/
and
http://pf2.easytool.es
If you want to run a premade adventure
This is a good oneshot
https://paizo.com/products/btq01znc?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-102-The-Mos quito-Witch
However if you want something a bit longer running hellknight hill is a good starting point. Some people have complained that it is a bit mundane, but by the time the second volume of the path rolls around that changes (cult of cinders is a fun book imo)
Plaguestone, mechanically it works but I found the story beats irritating, which for me is worse than being vanilla.
I would also buy the gm screen and the combat tracker. The gm screen in particular is surprisingly well made, they focused on making it legible over stylistic and even included page reference numbers.
The combat tracker is a set of printed markable magnets and premarked whiteboard. It is a nice addition