I've been working on my own system, and thus eventually will try once again to get playtesters, so I'm curious if offering to run an AP in my homebrew system and/or my homebrew setting would have any appeal?
Why or why not?
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I think the point of an AP is, broadly, to play the story within it, and the ones that Paizo makes are bound to Golarion - that's a selling feature for me. I wouldn't want to play one ported into a homebrew setting, because the fun for me is in knowing who Jatembe is, or being able to say that my character is from Molthune and have that mean something.
A non-PF system certainly holds an appeal if the pitch is different enough. Something cinematic and light, focused on the drama and skipping all the meaningless fights that only exist to give XP? Sign me up. A fantasy heartbreaker meant to do crunchy tactical combat even better than the game it's already written for? Not so much.
I think the point of an AP is, broadly, to play the story within it, and the ones that Paizo makes are bound to Golarion - that's a selling feature for me. I wouldn't want to play one ported into a homebrew setting, because the fun for me is in knowing who Jatembe is, or being able to say that my character is from Molthune and have that mean something.
Noted, thank you.
A non-PF system certainly holds an appeal if the pitch is different enough. Something cinematic and light, focused on the drama and skipping all the meaningless fights that only exist to give XP? Sign me up. A fantasy heartbreaker meant to do crunchy tactical combat even better than the game it's already written for? Not so much.
My system is in between. I like certain kinds of mechanics as descriptive and communicative tools, but not shackles. Been kind of hard to find people that can work with mechanics in that way though. Sometimes I feel like people see a bunch of mechanics and just feel compelled to math all the fun out of it.
Still, I'd like to think my system is a tad less crunchy than pf1, not by a lot.
If you're willing to do the work of forklifting the story into a different setting/system, and you're willing to convert/rewrite the parts of the story that don't work for that new setting/system, then by all means.
The key is that it just has to make sense for the new setting/system.
It's a lot of work to do that kind of conversion for an entire AP, and some APs will definitely work better than others in a different setting.
I'm confident in my ability to convert both setting and mechanics.
Yeah, it’s entirely a function of the destination, not the source, I think.
If the system you’re translating to can deal with the theme/events well, it really makes no difference - I think it can even be an improvement.
Try to run a meat grinder in a cinematic, toon-like game though (or similar incongruity) and you’ll hit problems, imo.
The biggest thing I am looking at with my question is attracting players. I want more playtesting in my system, and thus I am trying to determine if I can attract players by offering to run an AP in my system. Would that attract players that otherwise would not come to my game?
I am not particularly a fan of paizo's setting and don't know it deeply, hence why asking about altering the setting. To use my first reponse's example, I have no idea who Jatembe is and no idea what would make my version of the character feel contradictory to the expectations about them.
We don't know what will attract your players, you know them better than we do.
You misunderstand. I don't have any players. I need players. Thus I must attract players to become my players.
The biggest thing I am looking at with my question is attracting players. I want more playtesting in my system, and thus I am trying to determine if I can attract players by offering to run an AP in my system. Would that attract players that otherwise would not come to my game?
I am not particularly a fan of paizo's setting and don't know it deeply, hence why asking about altering the setting. To use my first reponse's example, I have no idea who Jatembe is and no idea what would make my version of the character feel contradictory to the expectations about them.
Gotcha. For me, it would be preferable to playtest a system running a professionally written Adventure than something the designer had homebrewed.
I would want to see how it dealt with a wide range of “standard” rpg situations rather than just showcasing things the designer thought would fit well.
If you were trying to sell me on a game, I think I’d prefer a system-specific adventure though.
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My 2 cents:
Why run an Adventure Path if you don't like the world or the system?
If I were considering a game, that pitch would give me pause. I'd wonder why a GM had enough creativity and time to create an entirely new RPG system from scratch, read and thoroughly understand an AP in another system, port it over to their system... but didn't have enough creativity and time to just create a campaign tailored to their world and system.
It's a little like saying: "I want to make a Marvel movie, but I don't really like Marvel or know the stories or lore and also the tools of conventional film-making aren't interesting to me so I'm going to use a story-telling mode I created myself, but port a Marvel movie over to it."
It just seems needlessly complicated and focused on what the GM *doesn't* like instead of focusing on what the new system/setting offers. I am more likely to be excited about things people are excited about instead of their alternatives to things they don't like.
*shrug*
That's just my opinion.
It is possible to find players and rules and setting and customize it all.
The Muses work in mysterious ways, after all.
Just be aware that if the rule set deviates too much from a more mainstream one you'll be doing a lot of work every time your players find the optimal solution to your system math.
And I was part of a noble effort to mix Kingmaker, Mythic, and mass warfare rules. It went about as well as mixing oil, water and salt.
Was also part of a 'living' campaign using a decades-old system using a modified setting. When I left that, we were spending more time on rules and rulings than playing.
Up to you, just be prepared for the work, and be sure your players have all the rules you are using. Otherwise, the appearance of favoritism will drive folks away.
My 2 cents:
Why run an Adventure Path if you don't like the world or the system?
For two reasons,
1) Paizo are good storytellers. That's their main strength. And thus I like their stories. A good AP is still good in a different setting nearly all the time.
2) Because pitching a new world and a new system and a homebrew campaign from an unknown is a hard sell.
The hope is that by offering to run an AP may fix one of those three and get someone to decide to try the game because they'll at least be looking forward to the AP and maybe that's enough to put up with the other custom stuff.
Of course, this thread is about finding out whether that hope is a pipe dream.
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Yes.
I have played APs adapted to homebrew settings, and it was fun. I like Golarion, but the draw to an AP to me is not Golarion, it's that someone had done the work of the overall plotting and characters for me, so I can focus on the nitty gritty of running and/or adapting things that suit my players. I usually want to play an AP as a player likewise because most of the plots are pretty good, and I'd consider playing in another system presuming I either knew it or the GM was willing to teach me.
Since you're wanting to playtest your system, it makes sense to use a prewritten adventure so you can focus on your system tweaking and not on story writing.
I also think that adapting it to other systems should be fine, though it may be a lot of work. You've said you're willing to do that work so that is hopefully not an issue. This said, I might recommend trying to convert a shorter module first and see how that goes before taking a stab at an adventure path.
Will it draw players you don't currently have? I don't know, it entirely depends on where you're recruiting from. In some areas Pathfinder is all the rage and in others no one has heard of it. Online, someone will have. Honestly, were I you, I wouldn't focus on this: as a GM, I have found that what earns my players' enthusiasm is my own enthusiasm. So if you're excited about the idea of converting an AP, sell that when you're recruiting. If you don't really care about APs but just think it would make other people happy, you risk getting bored with your own game, and that will inevitably lead to the players getting bored.