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Boy am I in a posting mood today.

I went to a con last week and played 5 sessions of Pathfinder Society (PFS). PFS lets you level your character(s) across different scenarios. It's an MMO with pencil-and-paper!

I'm relatively new (second con). Saw my first character (not mine) death. The player was ok with it, as he had gold to pay for a res. I play a dwarf cleric who focuses on buffing and healing.

At one point we also had 2/5 PCs bleeding out on the floor. One player was none too pleased; I think he took 40 dmg from a critical hit. I was playing a pregen 7th level cleric and healed them up.

I even won a $40 book and bonus for my PC. All in all good times were had.

I'd also like to play a non-PFS campaign and try out things like crafting magic armor and such. Not to mention trying my hand at GMing.

So, have any Pathfinder stories? Questions?

Thanks!

 Zygomax wrote:
It's an MMO with pencil-and-paper!

 Zygomax wrote:
Questions?

How much more fun do you think you would have had if you had played all those games using a good gaming system instead of Pathfinder/3.x?

Ok, ok, it's not an MMO in the sense that D&D4e is. I was just referring to the "build/level your character across scenarios" aspect.

Granted PFS may not emphasize "role-playing" as much as a home campaign, but it's still there.

Not a fan I take it... that's fine.

 Zygomax wrote:
Ok, ok, it's not an MMO in the sense that D&D4e is.

4E isn't an MMO at all, so perhaps you are uncertain what an MMO is?

There's an opinion that 4E resembles a computer MMO in that every character action is represented by a separate power, which can be used a set number of times.

That's all I meant. It is merely an opinion.

It also strips away elements of "simulation", i.e. how far can a horse-drawn cart travel in 4 days. In many cases, traditional RPGs (i.e. Pathfinder) also skip over such things for simplicity.

I suspect if I played 4E I'd like it fine.

What is your preferred RPG system?

I'm not really sure what this thread is about but I'll add that.

Pathfinder is good.
3.5 is good.

I played ALOT of 3.5 in the day and i'm not sure i would even want to invest in pathfinder. Maybe that's the cheapskate in me though.

Right now I'm into D&D Basic (Moldvay) & looking earnestly at HARP (High Adventure Role Playing)

 Zygomax wrote:
There's an opinion that 4E resembles a computer MMO in that every character action is represented by a separate power, which can be used a set number of times.

That's all I meant. It is merely an opinion.

It also strips away elements of "simulation", i.e. how far can a horse-drawn cart travel in 4 days. In many cases, traditional RPGs (i.e. Pathfinder) also skip over such things for simplicity.

I suspect if I played 4E I'd like it fine.

What is your preferred RPG system?

Oh, he knew exactly what you meant about 4E I'm sure. There's been no lack of discussions on this forum about disgruntled D&D fans once 4E came out, etc.

As an aside, have you ever tried Savage Worlds or any other systems?

Ah, PFS... I really need to try to get that online session going again...

We should probably avoid jumping on any statements disparaging 4e in this thread. OTOH< we should probably also avoid disparaging 4e.

As an aside, have you ever tried Savage Worlds or any other systems?

I'd love to try it. I have a basic understanding of the rules. I like the Solomon Kane, Space 1889 settings, etc.

We should probably avoid jumping on any statements disparaging 4e in this thread. OTOH< we should probably also avoid disparaging 4e.

Yep, I got derailed on that.

Savage Worlds is good IF the group is interested in a relatively light-weight experience, but also wants map-driven combat. Learning to use the various combat options to set up combos is a big deal and can change things greatly. It intentionally leaves some things vague for the GM and players to work out themselves, which some groups don't like.

OP, for gaks and giggles you should try playing Basic D&D in one of its retroclone forms.

You can find the free rules for Labyrinth Lord here:

http://goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html

LL is basically a rehash on the 1981 rules by Tom Moldvay.

It makes for a really nice contrast. 3.5/Pathfinder is really about "playing the rules," i.e., searching through books for feats and items to come up with builds, and tactical combat using mats'n'minis. Basic D&D, like this LL retroclone, is more about coming up with daring and creative ideas on the fly and then resolving the outcomes with reference to the rules mostly as guidelines.

This so-called "old school" approach to D&D can be great fun but you have to keep in mind that the rules are just guidelines. In those games, you come up with what you want to do and if the rules don't explicitly cover it (which is most of the time) then the DM makes up something reasonable on the spot.

With games like Pathfinder, that's just not the done thing. The rules basically tell you what you can and cannot do. Do you want to charge across the room into the enemy? Well, that's called a Charge and it is handled in a specific, uniform way. Sometimes you can do it, sometimes you can't. 3.5/Pathfinder is very much like a skirmish wargame in that way.

That's not to say there is no room for player discretion in 3.5/Pathfinder. No one is going to come to your house and make you do what the books say (not sure if that's true of Pathfinder Society organized play ...). But what people need to realize is player discretion is NOT the emphasis of 3.5/Pathfinder; the emphasis is on published rules.

If you really want to try a completely different style, where player discretion is 90%+ of the experience, check out those Labyrinth Lord rules. Some other ones to look at are:

http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/
http://www.lotfp.com/RPG/
http://www.gratisgames.webspace.virginmedia.com/darkdungeons.html

Or for $5 you can check out Moldvay's own take:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/110274/D%26D-Basic-Set-Rulebook-%28Basic%29

Personally, I like both. But as I've gotten older and have less time to game, I tend to favor old school style D&D because it maximizes the amount of RPG fun that I can have in the minimum amount of time that I can commit. If I get a hankering to play something more structured, I tend to rely on war games or board games because these offer more systematic rules than 3.5/Pathfinder and (generally) take a smaller time investment. That said, I have no plans to get rid of my 3.5/Pathfinder books any time soon.

Manchu, I am hugging you right now. Awkward I know.

The other day I won the AD&D 1st edition Anniversary Player's Handbook in a raffle. I actually already owned a 1978 copy of the same, but winning the book set my brain churning. In a few days I've gone from an idea of running a one-shot retro AD&D game for my RPG crew, to grandiose ideas of a lengthy PBEM campaign.

In any case I didn't think the D&D/AD&D modules were available for download, but there they are, right on drivethruRPG, as you've pointed out. Google didn't turn those up with a quick search. That's why I'm hugging you. I'd like to read those modules to get immersed in the 1970s/80s flavor of them.

Also, I cracked open my 1e DMG last night and out fell an adventure I wrote in early high school. I was surprised to see I had actually finished it--it runs 3,000 handwritten words. It features an icy, mountainous region and a dungeon with mostly undead.

I DMed AD&D 1e/2e in early high school but it fizzled out due to lack of players.

Well I might run my RPG crew through the adventure I wrote. We are playing Deathwatch now, but they like fantasy too. My adventure's final encounter is a doozy though--it would take a miracle for everyone to come out intact.

I think the retro-feel, modern-ruleset idea is good too. Have you looked at Dungeon Crawl Classics? It looks interesting.

I hear exactly what you're saying about "playing the rules" versus a more free-form approach. The players and DM really need to be clicking to allow more freeform play, I think. But it's very rewarding. Reminds me of the high school days when I often ad-libbed an adventure.

Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Thanks for the pointers.

 Zygomax wrote:

In any case I didn't think the D&D/AD&D modules were available for download, but there they are, right on drivethruRPG, as you've pointed out. Google didn't turn those up with a quick search. That's why I'm hugging you. I'd like to read those modules to get immersed in the 1970s/80s flavor of them.

If it makes you feel better, they were just added maybe a week ago. WotC has a new PDF initiative (they stopped selling PDFs a few years ago due to piracy concerns, which probably caused more piracy by removing the legal PDF channel, so...) and is suppsoed to be adding new stuff regularly.

I'm running a Pathfinder game at the moment. I like it. It's like 3.5 but a bit more balanced (in that all player choices tend to lead to something interesting fairly easily.) It can still take a bit of prep to run, but Paizo have been pretty good about making content available to allow you to quickly put together NPCs and so on.

I'm planning another game in it soon. I'm also running a 4th edition Darksun game (15 levels of it, so far) and I'm finding that a breeze to run from my end but I will be making some changes to make the combat a bit less clunky and to encourage player creativity. Manchu has articulated what I think about that fairly well. It's tricky to "undo" though. I feel like our early games of D'n'D, before we "knew" the rules and how to make effective characters were in some ways more exciting for it, and that players would often just ask to do something, and I'd improvise it, because we were all too lazy to look up the rules. As time went on we learned them, and I've noticed that our play has become more strictured and metagame orientated along with that.

DaBoss, you should invite your group to a one off session of D&D Basic. Let me know, and I'll point you to some resources on the matter.

Zygomax, I have definitely heard of DCC RPG. I really like it and find it to be a good mid-point between 3.X and Rules Cyclopedia. I would highly recommend it.

I love Pathfinder, but as Manchu pointed out, it is a bit of a miniatures oriented rule set.

I prefer miniatures game to RPGs slightly, but I do love RPGs, too. Pathfinder is a bit of both which is awesome for our group. We are also numbers/rules oriented more than LARP/Freeplay oriented which is another reason we really like it.

If you want to really try something different, and don't mind crappy rules, try RIFTS. I loved that game as a kid and played it all the time. The mechanics are awful, but the setting is brilliant and if you and your group don't mind house-ruling stuff on the fly, it is super fun.

 Reecius wrote:

If you want to really try something different, and don't mind crappy rules, try RIFTS. I loved that game as a kid and played it all the time. The mechanics are awful, but the setting is brilliant and if you and your group don't mind house-ruling stuff on the fly, it is super fun.

Echoing a love for Palladium settings while a hatred for the crappy rules of Palladium games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness was probably my favorite RPG for many, many years. All sorts of mutant animals with often dangerous psionics and animals powers, coupled with the pulp of ninja weapons, time machines, dimensional travel, orbital cannons and good old fashioned parking meter clubs. Good times!

 Reecius wrote:
I love Pathfinder, but as Manchu pointed out, it is a bit of a miniatures oriented rule set.

I prefer miniatures game to RPGs slightly, but I do love RPGs, too. Pathfinder is a bit of both which is awesome for our group. We are also numbers/rules oriented more than LARP/Freeplay oriented which is another reason we really like it.

If you want to really try something different, and don't mind crappy rules, try RIFTS. I loved that game as a kid and played it all the time. The mechanics are awful, but the setting is brilliant and if you and your group don't mind house-ruling stuff on the fly, it is super fun.

Yep I like the miniatures/RPG crossover of Pathfinder. I've been scoping Reaper (etc.) for cool minis.

I'd love to try RIFTS. I skimmed the rulebook back in high school. Five minutes in, I was like, "These are crappy rules--but it's totally awesome!"

 Zygomax wrote:

 Reecius wrote:
I love Pathfinder, but as Manchu pointed out, it is a bit of a miniatures oriented rule set.

I prefer miniatures game to RPGs slightly, but I do love RPGs, too. Pathfinder is a bit of both which is awesome for our group. We are also numbers/rules oriented more than LARP/Freeplay oriented which is another reason we really like it.

If you want to really try something different, and don't mind crappy rules, try RIFTS. I loved that game as a kid and played it all the time. The mechanics are awful, but the setting is brilliant and if you and your group don't mind house-ruling stuff on the fly, it is super fun.

Yep I like the miniatures/RPG crossover of Pathfinder. I've been scoping Reaper (etc.) for cool minis.

I'd love to try RIFTS. I skimmed the rulebook back in high school. Five minutes in, I was like, "These are crappy rules--but it's totally awesome!"

Rifts great setting, han down one of the worse game system every. That way you need a point based system to convert to, I like BESM (good simple system), but GURPS and HERO work too (just a lot more book keeping).

The other problem with Rifts is that you need to add a room to your house to be able to store all the splat books.

I absolutely love Pathfinder/ 3.5, it's where I started with RPGs, (3.5) in 2005, but there have been two campaigns where we played ADnD and then another I played in with 2e rules. Simply put, I've enjoyed all of the rules sets, but pathfinder is my favorite. Golarion is a great setting and if your players aren't rules lawyers or know-it-alls, you should be fine.

I haven't played PFS, but I have recently had my introduction into the Pathfinder ruleset with a group of friends. We're doing the Rise of the Runelords adventure path.

I'm playing a Fighter with the Archer archetype. We have to play online since we're kinda scattered across the country, so we're going a bit slow. 2 sessions in, and we're about halfway throught he first book (I'm guessing).

I like it a lot. I never played 4E D&D, but from all I heard, I'm glad. This really is an improvement on 3.5 and good progression in my eyes.

Been playing Pathfinder for a little over 2 years. Managed to find some fellow nerds to play with, so now I'm GMing a game here in Afghanistan.

 djones520 wrote:
I haven't played PFS, but I have recently had my introduction into the Pathfinder ruleset with a group of friends. We're doing the Rise of the Runelords adventure path.

I'm playing a Fighter with the Archer archetype. We have to play online since we're kinda scattered across the country, so we're going a bit slow. 2 sessions in, and we're about halfway throught he first book (I'm guessing).

I like it a lot. I never played 4E D&D, but from all I heard, I'm glad. This really is an improvement on 3.5 and good progression in my eyes.

Pathfinder Society is awesome. I used to be a regular at my flgs (until I moved), and I had a blast, it was a quick introduction into pathfinder without having to drop money on all the splatbooks. Though I now own most of them lol . The great thing about PFS is that you can take your character from your PFS games, bring them to my store, and play without issue (as long as you've not played in that adventure before).

Are you playing through Rise of the Runelords, or the Anniversary Edition? Also what was the last thing you completed with the first adventure? I can tell you exactly how far you are through the book

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/25239.html



coming up next : blunt knives !

Not my cup of tea at all, for me this goes against the whole RPG ethos.

 reds8n wrote:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/25239.html



coming up next : blunt knives !

Not my cup of tea at all, for me this goes against the whole RPG ethos.

I saw this book! Or an earlier version of it, it didn't seem to catch my intrigue... I like the story and the getting through the challenges, I don't like having to fight against another player... I had to do it in one game... The player was bitter for awhile... :-\

 Alfndrate wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
I haven't played PFS, but I have recently had my introduction into the Pathfinder ruleset with a group of friends. We're doing the Rise of the Runelords adventure path.

I'm playing a Fighter with the Archer archetype. We have to play online since we're kinda scattered across the country, so we're going a bit slow. 2 sessions in, and we're about halfway throught he first book (I'm guessing).

I like it a lot. I never played 4E D&D, but from all I heard, I'm glad. This really is an improvement on 3.5 and good progression in my eyes.

Pathfinder Society is awesome. I used to be a regular at my flgs (until I moved), and I had a blast, it was a quick introduction into pathfinder without having to drop money on all the splatbooks. Though I now own most of them lol . The great thing about PFS is that you can take your character from your PFS games, bring them to my store, and play without issue (as long as you've not played in that adventure before).

Are you playing through Rise of the Runelords, or the Anniversary Edition? Also what was the last thing you completed with the first adventure? I can tell you exactly how far you are through the book

The anniversary edition. The last thing we completed in session was We also do a lot of forum RP to quicken things along, since it's 3-4 weeks between sessions.

You're exactly where my party stopped, and will be picking up this Sunday.

Some more filler for my spoiler



What experience track are you running them on? I'm assuming fast since you guys are playing very infrequently.

I'm actually a player, so I'll avoid your spoiler for now. I believe we're doing the fast. 3300xp for lvl 3. We started at lvl 2. Our next session is sunday as well, and we'll be starting that at lvl 3.

I'm the "party leader", and I think our path is to head towards Thistletop. Afterwards we'll come back and fully explore the tunnels.