That's a Lot of Tiny Boxes

+Rob Conley calls me up and says, "Hey Tim, you want to play Pathfinder?  I'll use the Kingmaker adventure path from a few years back."

I thought, I've got a lot of the books, but never played it.  Never player 3.5 for that matter.  "Sure.  But just so you know I own the Kingmaker series and know the first book fairly well."

"No problem."

The following night I grab my massive tome of the core rules and grab a character sheet from on-line.  I print the character sheet and scratch my head.  That's a lot of tiny boxes.  I commence character creation.  It said to roll 4d6.  Okay, I think.  A bit of a sissy way to roll, but I read the other methods, they seemed to be more, put in whatever score you want.  I roll.  I roll badly.  Even with 4d6 I managed to have the first character to have three scores of 8, a 7 and a 6.  My highest attribute was a 10.  Fricking dice hate me.

I put that little cherub of a now NPC to the side and reroll.  Okay, this time I am average an 11, 2 - 12s, 2 - 13s and a massive 14.  Cool, I can work with that.  Pick out a race.  Keeping it simple, human.  Picking a class, want something that I haven't played in a while.  I kept my stats in a row, so the picks were some sort of spellcasting.  I've played clerics a lot recently and just made a mage dude for 5th edition.  Druid.  Okay,  haven't played on of those in a while.

Then I get to the adjustments for race, class, and begin building my skills.  I got it.  It took my a long time, but I got it.  I'm still only partially done with my guy and I started him a day and a half ago.  I forget who, but some smart man said "have fun playing Mathfinder".  He is not wrong.

While I am interested in giving it a go.  And while I haven't played one minute of Pathfinder or 3.5, I can tell there is going to be a lot of rule checking.  Or a lot of, what does that do?, moments.  I love the Pathfinder books look and use them as reference material, but it also makes me appreciate the simplicity of rulesets. 

I believe most folks love the options in the 3.5 games and I used to also.  I loved to make unique quirky characters, but there comes a time when the process of making a character begins to outweigh the actual playing of the character.  I have my own level where that is reached and Pathfinder has already surpassed it.  Still, I want to play the game.  See how it goes.  And besides, I'll be with a few goofball friends, playing heroes (maybe), talking in funny voices and rolling dice in between distracting conversations about latest movies or books. 

If I am slinging dice and talking shit, it's all good.

Mini Mail Call

Lookie, lookie what came in the mail.  I got these three for a very good deal.  First off the Pathfinder decks.  I already have the Critical Hit deck and the Plot Twist Cards, Flashbacks so I needed to get these to complete the set.  While we don't play Pathfinder we use the two critical decks and used their chase card deck one.  That was fun.  Unexpected and fun. 

Fear itself is a GUMSHOE addition to Esoterrorists.  I am really enjoying reading through this and it has been inspiring me to try out a different genre and system.  So I have some reading to do for the holiday weekend. 

I guess tomorrow the Starter Set is out.  Amazon won't send mine out until the 15th.  If I happen upon in a store I'll probably buy it then.  If not, I'll wait.  Either way I am hoping I like it. 

Kingmaker Adventure Path Conclusion

When Pazio first announced their sandbox style AP I was excited and subscribed. I had already bought the Core Rules and Bestiary and liked them so why not take a chance on an AP. The one thing that is for sure, Pazio does not half ass their quality of the books they put out. All are sturdy and look fantastic. My comments are vague at times because I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone.

The first Kingmaker adventure out is The Stolen Land. It's very good. I was happy to have my excitement satisfied. My expectations were high and were met. The second, Rivers Run Red, is much like the first. It completes the bottom half of the map from the Stolen Lands. In this adventure they give you the basic rules to start building cities and eventually a kingdom. I like their streamline rules, they are easy to use as is and easy to tweak to your liking. These two, in my opinion, are more like adventure path 1a and 1b.

The Varnhold Vanishing, the third in the series, has the coolest boss. In this one the players using the same set up as in the first two, but this time to expand their kingdom. To find resources, make allies, exterminate enemies and to show those snotty little neighbors to the north you didn't inherit your kingdom, but forged it from sweat and blood. Varnhold did a good job of taking the AP to the next level.

Blood for Blood. You need to defend you kingdom from very big things that want to crush you like a bug. Exploration is needed. Again the wilderness hex map is used and off the players go to defeat horrible monsters. This is where the adventure path, for me, starts to break down. It continues to use the same format as it did in the previous adventures. I understand, but now the players have developed their land they are defending it from their enemies. Don't get me wrong it is still very good and interesting, but the format of the adventure seems to be holding onto the shirt tail of the party and keeping them from developing farther.

The 5th installment, War of the River Kings, is where the format needed to be changed. Especially for this kind of adventure. It seemed forced at this point. I understand the need for continuity between product, but this one was trying to accomplish different goals than the first three, but they were still using the same blueprint. The storyline is great, situation feels organic and develops well, but I would have liked to have seen a different way to approach this adventure. Something that suited the situation better. The players are no longer in an exploration mode, but defenders of a kingdom and those are two very different beasts.

The final entry, The Sound of a Thousand Screams, is a great conclusion to the AP. Here they finally seem to break out of the format used in the precious products. They needed to and did. This adventure feels like the epic it should be. The players at this point are reaching their end game and this one lets them go out with a bang. No, I won't give you any details.

Overall, I loved the Kingmaker AP and definitely glad to have it on my gaming shelf. The problems I had with the middle adventures I plan to tweak, but still use their content. Everything they include is useful. I haven't even mentioned all the extras they tag on the end of their adventures. It's like getting a mini bestiary or magic items or culture addition. These are well worth the money. I've already spoken about the physical quality of the books and the content is even better.

The best compliment I can give this AP is I would suggest it to my friends and have. And now to all of you out there. If you've never subscribed or been through an adventure path scenario then I suggest you start with the Kingmaker series. It was a lot of fun to read. Now I just need to find the time to run it.

The Day of the Owlbear Started it All

Last week I had a glorious vacation and scored a ton of gaming stuff. To start off I got an email from Alex that I had a $15 voucher to Otherworld miniatures and I should contact Richard Scott (this is still left over goodness from the one page dungeon contest). I thought I'd just won the Rune Dice, but he said I had also won the voucher. So I ordered the very cool owlbear. Then I went to the post office and my third in the Kingmaker series was there, The Varhold Vanishing. A lich cyclops anyone? Great start to my vacation wouldn't you say?

Then I went to a game store I only get to visit once in a while and bought copies of Pathfinder's Monsters Revisited (This was the book my wife read while I shopped. She didn't know what a bugbear was and started reading more. That was the night I had her go through a few scenarios), I got the Gamemastery Treasure Chest and the box set of Tunnels and Trolls. The manager threw in a starter deck of the Batman Trading card game. Nice looking cards, they were free, but have no idea what to do with them.

Then when I thought I'd scored plenty I got a 40% coupon from Borders along with a $5 coupon off any item over $20. Well Borders has 4th edition D&D and that's pretty much it, but I'd been looking at the 2 DM Guide. Now hold on. Stop throwing things. It is really a pretty decent book. There are some stat blocks (which will make me put a book back on a shelf quicker that the plague) but, it focuses more on the different philosophies about build and adventure and building encounters. So far I've enjoyed it. That said I would have never bought it for the sticker price of $35. I got it for $16 something once all my coupons were totaled.

So as you can see I've been up to my eyeballs with new gaming stuff. Plus, Rob (Bat in the Attic) wanted to try out Runequest and last night we had an honest to goodness sit down around the table, roll real dice game with Dwayne who is in between moves. In his blog he goes into detail about what happened, but man that is one bloody game. Body parts were everywhere. It was a blast, but I doubt we will use that system again. Initially our enemies were supposed to be baboons and ducks. Really? Rob changed them into goblins and halflings.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my wife's blog. You made her day and it won't be the last you hear from her. We have standing plans to buy her, her own set of dice. Something preferably in an orange, yellow or pink. She is thinking of new gruesome recipes to use in game and I plan to use them somehow.

Pazio's Gamemaster Cards and Classic Treasures Revisited

This week I have vacation so to start it off I went to the FNGS. They sent me a coupon earlier in the week for 25% off of any one gaming item. I wasn't going to let it expire or even get dusty. I always search the used section first hoping to find a gem in there. If I played Rifts there would be plenty to pick through and a bunch of 3.5 adventure modules, but I wasn't interested in them even at 50% off. So I checked out the new section. Of course 4th edition D&D dominated and a nice selection of Pathfinder. Even though I am not a 3.5 player I've really like the Kingmaker Adventure Path and the quality of the Pathfinder books in general. (The 3rd in the Kingmaker path should be here this week and I am really looking forward to it.)

In Classic Treasures Revisited explores 10 'iconic' treasures; 1. Bag of Holding 2. Cube of Force 3. Deck of Many Things 4. Figurines of Wonderous Power 5. Helm of Brillance 6. Horn of Vahalla 7. Sphere of Annahilation 8. Staff of the Magi 9. Vorpal Sword 10. Well of Many Worlds.

I haven't had time to read too much so far, but it looks very good and the artwork through out is stunning.

The second part of my gaming day sent me to another FNGS and there I bought two decks of Pazio's Gamemastery. Ine was called Dragon's Trove and the other was a deck made for the Kingmaker adventure path so I had to buy that one. There are a 110 cards in the Dragon's Trove and 54 cards in the Kingmaker deck. Again, since I've been grooving with the Pathfinder books lately I thought I would see what these were all about. They are cool regulation sized cards with a picture of an item on the front a sentence or two description on the back with a space for a GM to put in his own details about the item. There is also a line to write an item code. I guess to help keep track of items.

These cards are beatifully done and that's the problem. I don't want to write on them. No way. I understand the concept of these cards, but they shouldn't have made them so nice then I wouldn't feel guilty for writing on them. I would like to see a PDF of these cards to use for internet based games. Then I could write details on the back without worry and reuse them for a different purpose later. When I am playing on FG2 with my group these cards would be a nice addition.

Tomorrow we start exploring the 3rd circle of mages. I have a feeling our luck with these things is going to run out soon. That's why you keep the meat shield in front of you and always know where the closest exit is.

Pathfinder's Kingmaker Adventure Path

I've never subscribed or bought an adventure path from Pazio before, but when I read about their new Kingmaker Adventure Path it didn't take me too long to subscribe. My campaigns have always been sandbox style and I am always interested to see what others do and this is one of the few times where a company produced modules in a sandbox style. And before I go any farther I just want to add, though this is written for the Pathifinder rule set I converted most of the first book to Swords & Wizardry with OSRIC influences within a few hours.

The benefit of subscribing from Pazio was not only did I get the books at a discount I also received the PDFs for free. So if you are planning the purchase this series (and you should) I would defiantly go that route. The books are top notch quality. I like the perfect bound so I can find them easily on my already crowded gaming shelf. The entire book is in color and the artwork is great. The only personal think I didn't like was the anime influenced pictures. Not a big fan. But like I said that's just my personal preference. The layout of the book is simple and everything is easy to read. The one problem I did have with the layout is the main map is on page 14 so while I was reading through the book I was always going back to hunt for it. I would have liked to have seen it on the inside of one of the covers or a centerfold.

More on the map. It is a hex grid map which all respecting sandbox maps should. Each hex is equal to 12 miles (sound familiar Rob?) and locations of interest are denoted by various symbols. The map is okay. It doesn't have a lot of personality to it. It looks nice, but bland at the same time, like someone made a beautiful looking dinner, but didn't season the food properly. When I got book 2 in the series then I found out why the map was so empty. The second book fills in the southern section of the map.

I waited until I got first and second part of the adventure path to see what direction they were going in. The first part is called Stolen Land by Tim Hitchcock. It sets of the area where the players will start their adventuring career. First level newbs standing outside of Oleg's Trading Post having no idea what they are about to get themselves into. Basically the adventure breaks down into the main plot and side quests. The plots are well developed and the side quests are fun and useful. Not only can these side quests score the players a bit of money, but they may also find an ally or resource that will come in handy later. I won't go into much detail here about the adventure itself, but I think the first book succeeds in setting up the players to possibly become rulers of their own land. But I wasn't sure how that was going to work until...

...I read through the second part in the adventure path, Rivers Run Red by Rob McCreary. The second book introduced the kingdom builder mechanic. Your kingdom gets its own character sheet! I love that. It breaks down what influences the players' kingdom positively and negatively. This is worth the price of admission alone. Also inside is a city builder grid, but ignore that. It's not good. I think it was meant to be a visual tool, but its way too simplified for my tastes.

The second book is set up like the first. There is the main plot and side quests. All very interesting. I think they are more creative in the second book and have a lot of leeway for a GM to play with. The addition to the second book is the problems the players are going to have to deal with when they are developing their kingdom. And this is where brute force is not always the answer or in some cases the worst answer. These encounters are interesting and depending on the patience of your players can be downright annoying, but who said running a kingdom would be easy.

In both books there are mini bestiaries in the back. Some of the monsters are in the adventure some are not. Either way it's nice to have a few new strange critters in a GMs arsenal. Also, both books have a short piece of fiction. Calm down. Stop your hissing. They aren't bad at all. I found them fun to read. But if you don't like reading it you don't have to. It's not like its WoD fiction.

As a GM I definitely run this adventure path for my group. With the kingdom builder element it adds an elements that probably is not seen in most games and I think a fantastic addition. I look forward to the next four books and glad I took a chance on this adventure path.

Hi. My Name is Tim and I am an Addict.

The new Pathfinder Core Rulebook is big enough to kill a goblin in one swat. If that's not enough reason to buy this beast then how about the incredibly detailed artwork generously distributed throughout its 575 pages. I stand corrected. This book could kill a bugbear with one crushing blow.

I debated on buying Pathfinder. I never played 3.5 D&D. I recently downloaded the free PDF for Swords & Wizardry, building adventures for Castle & Crusades, researching OSRIC, watching the dust gather on my 4th ed. D&D books, reading Pendragon, and playing 4th ed. GURPS. So why do I need another system? I don't know. It's not like a play every night. The bad part is I am thinking of buying HackMaster Basic.