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Paizo's Pathfinder?; Anyone used it?
Tweet Topic Started: Jun 11 2008, 09:17 PM (290 Views)
kismetrose Jun 11 2008, 09:17 PM Post #1
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The other week when we visited our local gaming store (on a cool enough day, since it's one of the mom'n'pop places that doesn't have air conditioning), I bumped into some of the books for Paizo's Pathfinder series. I was very impressed by how colorful, glossy, and well laid out they were. Each one I picked up was a beauty. I'd heard about the line but only in bits and pieces; I've fallen quite out of the loop.

So has anyone run it or played in it? Or even if you've just read it long enough to form an opinion, tell me what you think. Because it actually looked interesting enough to think about buying, and that surprised me.
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-raz- Jun 12 2008, 07:32 AM Post #2
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I've run the first book of the first campaign of Pathfinder, and own the first 5 parts of that campaign already with an order for the sixth to come in to my near-local game store.

In a word? Amazing.

I first picked up the initial release booklet to glance through and see how the Paizo group was handling the loss of Dungeon and Dragons magazines and if anything, the quality had only gone up. With a single setting to develop they had free-reign on dozens of interesting monsters and new takes on all the races and classes. There's huge piles of flavor piled in between simple and balanced game mechanics and it's all released bit by bit so your never overwhelmed by all the new material.

I had great success running the first book and would love to take the whole thing into a longer campaign if only I had the time outside the current toying around with 4th edition. The game balances out with required and optional content, has a healthy dose of content but more of a focus on roleplaying than anything else [a whole chapter of the first book is dedicated to teaching you about the town the party starts in, and about all the local folks you'd normally never bother to look for in most games].

All in all, grab the first book at least and read it at your leisure.

That said, I have not had the chance to read through the Alpha rules of the Pathfinder RPG [a re-working of the SRD which Paizo has used up until now for it's Pathfinder works]. All in all, it looks somewhat like an attempt to rebuild several base classes, and take several steps away from Wizards of the Coast and fourth edition.

In closing, you can check out this and this for a free download peek into the world [handout booklets you give to your players the week before you run either of the two adventure paths] and browse through the backlog of the blog and sink your teeth into all the juicy juicy art.

I have a friend who says he's tempted to convert the first adventure path into a 4th ed campaign that he'll DM and I can play in. He knows how to make me happy in my pants, yet tease me so badly at the same time. Haha.
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Fixxxer Jun 12 2008, 12:18 PM Post #3
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There is at least one Pathfinder PbP game running on the D&D Archive forums right now. It started up very recently, so if you're curious about how the flavor is, you could get in on the ground floor.
In my mind, it is that simple. But then, I'm simple minded. -Didge-
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kismetrose Jun 12 2008, 02:28 PM Post #4
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Thanks for the link. But could you tell me, here, what you think of it and why? Have you looked at all the books for it? I know they have more than one adventure path. Is it something you're keeping current with?
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-raz- Jun 12 2008, 06:48 PM Post #5
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Thanks for the link. But could you tell me, here, what you think of it and why? Have you looked at all the books for it? I know they have more than one adventure path. Is it something you're keeping current with?


That was why I had several paragraphs and linked to the players guides for the first two [and so far only released] Pathfinder campaigns. A third is in development and you can pre-order on the site but they won't be released until after the current path is finished [currently they are up to part 3 of 6].

As far as flavor goes, I'm going to recount a section from the introduction of the first book. It's about the flavor of a very common and classic monster, and how they managed to change it a tad in order to make it more interesting [my players loved it].

TEN FUN FACTS ABOUT GOBLINS

1. Horse Hate. Goblins excel at riding animals, but they don't quite get horses. In fact, their hatred of all things horse is matched only by their fear of horses, who tend to step on goblins that get too close.

2. Dog Hate. Although goblins raise horrible rat faced creatures called (creatively enough) goblin dogs to use as mounts (and ride wolves or worgs if they can get them - goblins are quick to explain that wolves are NOT dogs), their hatred of plain old dogs nearly matches their hatred of horses. The feeling is mutual. If your dog's barking at the woodpile for no reason, chances are he smells a frightened goblin hiding in there somewhere.

3. Goblins Raid Junkyards. Garbage pits, gutters, sewers...anywhere there's garbage, you can bet goblins are nearby. Goblins are weirdly adept at crafting weapons and armor from refuse, and are fond of killing people with what they throw away.

4. Goblins Love to Sing. Unfortunately, as catchy as their lyrics can be, goblin songs tend to be a bit too creepy and disturbing to catch on in polite society.

5. They're Sneaky. An excited or angry goblin is a noisy chattering, toothy menace, but even then, he can drop into an unsettling silence in a heartbeat. This, matched with their diminutive size, makes them unnervingly adept at hiding in places you'd never expect: stacks of firewood, rain barrels, under logs, under chicken coops, in ovens...

6. They're A Little Crazy. The fact that goblins think of things like ovens as good hiding places reveals much about their inability to think plans through to the most likely outcome. That, and they tend to be easily distracted, particularly shiny things and animals smaller than them that might make good eating.

7. They're Voracious. Given enough supplies, a goblin generally takes nearly a dozen meals a day. Most goblin tribes don't have enough supplies to accommodate such ravenous appetites, which is why the little menaces are so prone to going on raids.

8. They Like Fire. Burning things is one of the great goblin pastimes, although they're generally pretty careful about lighting fires in their own lairs, especially since goblins tend to live in tangled thistle patches and sleep in beds of dried leaves and grass. But give a goblin a torch and someone else's home and you've got trouble.

9. They Get Stuck Easily. Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads. They live in cramped warrens. Sometimes to cramped.

10. Goblins Believe Writing Steals Your Soul. The walls of goblin lairs and the ruins of towns goblins have raided are littered with pictures of their exploits. They never use writing though. That's not lucky. Writing steals the words out of your head. You can't get them back.



The basic premise is carried throughout the entirety of the initial adventures, goblin weapons are called dogslicers, the adventure contains a song the goblins sing as they attempt to pillage a town, every encounter with them details little touches you can add to play up the flavor, such as picking up things from tables for thrown weapons and stuffing their pockets instead.

Now, the only other way I can describe the flavor is to say that it's very frontier based. The initial adventures all take place far from the hubs of civilization with small towns bordering on elven kingdoms and surrounded by monsters. They play up the touch of high fantasy and are certainly not afraid to throw in touches of dark fantasy here and there [the second book contains for the most part a horror/mystery adventure, whilst the first has optional encounters for those that want to be able to show the goblins are sadistic alongside maniacal].

All I can say is, download those two books I linked [look for the underlined words near the end of my spiel through the first post] and flick through them. The flavor of the world is the same in both, but for two completely different area's. Plus, they have maps on the back pages.
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kismetrose Jun 12 2008, 06:59 PM Post #6
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That was why I had several paragraphs and linked to the players guides for the first two [and so far only released] Pathfinder campaigns.

Actually, you made your points pretty clear, raz, and your second post is a very fun read. I really like those details! I have to show them to Valefor. And I'll be DLing from those links.

It was Fixxxer's post to which I was responding earlier. He gave a link but didn't tell me what he thinks, and I'm very interested to know what he thinks of Pathfinder.
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Fixxxer Jun 13 2008, 05:21 PM Post #7
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kismetrose
Jun 12 2008, 04:28 PM
Thanks for the link.  But could you tell me, here, what you think of it and why?  Have you looked at all the books for it?  I know they have more than one adventure path.  Is it something you're keeping current with?

I haven't looked at all the books for it. I read the free Alpha downloads, but haven't had the opportunity to play them myself. From what I could tell, it seems like a system that gives more power to the PCs, but balances that power better on the whole. As I said, though, I haven't gotten to play it myself yet.

Edit: Incidentally, here's a more direct link to the PbP I mentioned, in case anyone's interested. CLICKY
In my mind, it is that simple. But then, I'm simple minded. -Didge-
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