On the Pathfinder Starter Box

Both Paizo and Wizards of the Coast make it really easy and inexpensive to get started playing their respective RPGs.  When we were trying to decide which game we wanted to play, it quickly narrowed to DnD 4e or Pathfinder for this very reason, but then we were stumped... which one did we want to play?  What was included in the box?  How good is the stuff in the box?  Is it really all we need to play?  Luckily for us, our local game store (Guardian Games, if you happen to be in Portland, Oregon) had open boxes, and let us paw through them.  I know that's not an option everyone has, so I wanted to do some quick reviews.

So I'm going to look at the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box today, and sometime this weekend I'll do another post about  Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game: An Essential D&D Starter (4th Edition D&D).

The Pathfinder Beginner Box is really impressive.  It's regular price is 34.99 (You can buy it here, direct from Paizo), but you can usually find it cheaper on Amazon (linked above), so it's a little more expensive than the DnD box, but the contents, in my opinion, are completely worth it.

The (slightly abused) contents of my Beginner Box

 A quick run down of the contents:  4 pre-filled character sheets (Warrior, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard), and a few blank sheets.  A full color GM guide.  A full color player guide.  A two-sided plastic battle map (one side has a cavern for the starter adventure, the other side is blank).  A set of dice.  Paper monster cut outs with plastic stands.

The GM guide and player guide have all the information you need to play to level 5.  There's a truly impressive amount of information here, from a healthy variety of monsters (with the corresponding paper tokens), to a robust feat list, item list, even adventure seeds and tips on writing your own adventures.

Two things really jumped out at me from the moment we opened this box:  The first was that this set is really meant to get you excited about the game, and playing.  It's really a complete game unto itself.  If you run high lethality adventures (you know, the kind where you don't make it to level 6...), then you never have to buy anything other than this box.  Yet, it's all very accessible.  I'd played a grand total of one gaming session before opening this box (A game of Call of Cthulu which we completely derailed and killed a god, was awesome), and yet I felt right at home when we opened this up.  It doesn't present itself as anything more complicated or intimidating than monopoly.  It's appears to be just another game with all the normal accouterments.  I'm tempted to send a box to my mother, without telling her it has anything to do with DnD, and see what she does with it.

The other thing that really stands out, is that it is a quality product.  Everything is full color.  The books are solid construction and heavy paper.  The plastic mat is, well, a plastic mat... I expect it to live more or less forever.  The paper monsters and player tokens are full color, and printed on a heavy stock.  Barring being stepped on or drowning in soda, there's no reason to expect them not to survive regular use.

It all just adds up to a really solid opening salvo.

To be completely honest, I love this beginner box.  In fact, I love it so much that I was slightly disappointed to see that the box's clean designs and style aren't carried over into the GM guide and Player Guide.  I assume the box was done after the big books, so I have hope that future revisions of the books will be more similar to the box, because I think the box is hugely accessible, in a way that the books aren't (although, by the time you invest in the books, maybe they don't need to be.)

About the only thing I think could be added, maybe (I'm of two minds about this) is something along the lines of the "power cards" that come with the DnD Box.  (I'll do some more comparing of the two boxes later this week.)  On one hand, I can see the advantage of having simple reminders for new players.  My group is pretty mellow and helpful, so we helped each other remember what powers and feats we had, but simple reminders are nice.  As a GM, I've began writing down monsters abilities on 3x5 cards, so I have something simple to refer to when I need a quick reminder.  On the other hand, I can see how cards could cause players to get into the "video game" mindset, of "these are my options" and lock them out of the creative cheating, er, thinking, that makes pen and paper RPGs special and fun.

Have you used the Beginner Box?  Any thoughts?  Feel free to tell me in the comments, particularly if you disagree.  I'm so in love with this thing, I'd love to hear from people who hate it.

Paper monster tokens, on their plastic clips.  I was too lazy to count all the monster tokens, but there are a lot... 

The selection of monsters is really impressive.  

Pretty Character sheets.  I was a little sad when we printed out some of the official character sheets from Paizo, and they aren't the same.  I really like these.

Lego Lord of the Rings Set Review #1: Gandalf Arrives

If you're into Lego at all, you've been looking forward to the LotR sets.  If you're into Lego, and a huge fantasy geek (like moi), then you've REALLY been looking forward to these.

Local toy stores have started putting the sets out of the shelves (our local lego store says they'll have them next week), so I'm going to be picking them all up (of course) and doing short reviews of them.  I'm doing the review thing a little different:  I'll review them as lego toys, and then as their use as DnD/Pathfinder/etc minis.

The first set I picked up was Gandalf Arrives.  It's the least expensive set (I picked it up for about 12 bucks), but it's quite a bit of bang for the buck.  

Boxed

The unboxing, with the reveal of the awesome new horse.

The set, built.  I love the mass of stuff overflowing the cart.

All the accessories laid out.

Okay, review time.  As a lego set, it's great.  Two minifigs, a new poseable horse, and a ton of random little accessories is all great.  The cart thing has been done before of course (I think I have at least 3, and I'm missing at least 1), but this cart has a unique build, with some great custom touches.  (I love how Gandalf sits off to the side of his bench, and how it all overflows.)  I think it would have been pretty easy to get away with making a generic cart that was good enough (in the movie the cart isn't particularly unique or exciting), but Lego did a nice job making it exciting and interesting, but still accurate.  I was worried that Gandalf wouldn't be able to sit on his cart without removing his cloak, but it seems more flexible than most, so he sits beautifully without removing it. 

As for using it as minis:  12 bucks for a horse, wizard, halfling, and cart, seems pretty awesome.  I'm also a big fan of backpacks (It makes me want to make one of those "treasure goblins" from Diablo 3 and run it through my pc's... any tips on making that work in a fun way?).  I have tons of barrels (they occasionally show up on the wall at Lego stores), but they're great flavor for dungeons, so the more the merrier I guess.  Another Asp is useful, it's basically another monster miniature, but can also be used as a weapon or staff topper.  I'm a big fan of books, and they're fairly rare (mostly just from the Harry Potter series, as far as I know) so I'm pretty happy to have another.  I'd love a few hundred of them so I can build a library dungeon set up.  I've yet to find a good use for carrots, and I'm no sure about the fireworks, but I'm sure they'll come in useful for flavor somewhere. 

This has nothing to do with DnD or LoTR, I just love my little comic book motorcycle cross over...

A quick preview of this week's bad guys:

Cloaker

Dark Creepers and Stalkers

The gang just entered the dungeon, ready to go

Reddit Dinner Party

We FINALLY were able to play again last Saturday!

As I previously noted, I was inspired by (read: completely stole from) this thread on Reddit, wherein people submitted descriptions of dinner party goers.

Let's back up just a little bit though, before we get to the chaos that was the dinner party.  A reminder of where we we're at (I should have reminded my players where we were at, after the long break... apparently they don't spend hours reviewing their notes before each play session like I do... ).  Our party had just ventured from the newbie starting zone of Sandpoint into the great metropolis of Withersea, a magocracy with a strange form of non-government.  Withersea is a coastal city, but it resides on a cliff 300 feet above sea level.  An island exists just off those cliffs.  On that island is a tower, so tall that it's spires vanish into the clouds.  Three bridges extend from the tower and across the gulf into the city, and become the city's three main thoroughfares.  Often, sometimes every day, sometimes every few days, a swarm of identical servants cross the bridges into the city, and buy ... things.  There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to their purchases, they just buy, paying in solid gold coins, and then vanish back into their tower.  The entire city of Withersea is built on this commerce.  The servants rarely speak, and they never divulge information of any sort about the tower, however, on occasion they have come bearing instructions about the governance of Withersea.  They never threaten or suggest any consequence for failing to abide by their instruction, but such is the power of their commerce, that their rules have always been followed.

Our heroes had barely set foot in the city before they were recruited (actually drafted) away to combat a rebelling Baron (The Paizo module "Tower of the Last Baron," a mission which they concluded successfully.

They've returned to town, and although their mission is a secret, they're the secret guests of honor at a dinner party, held by the Lords of Withersea.

So there were are, we're caught up.  My players are walking into a fancy dinner party, rather out of their element.

All of the guests, at our lovely dinner party.

Against the right wall you can see "Lord Reddit," the silent host of the party.  For some reason I decided he's a leprechaun.

 You can read my complete notes here (WARNING: my players should NOT read this)  Withersea party guests.  I took quite a few liberties with the characters that Reddit came up with, to fit my campaign settings and drop my plot hooks.

Okay, so two big failures in this, and one "failure" that probably really isn't a failure.  The first:  I didn't remind my players what a unique setting they were in.  I assumed they'd be asking specific questions about the city, and they didn't, so some plot hooks weren't picked up.  No big deal, they'll get them later, but it did make playing the scene less fun than I'd hoped.

The other was that I overestimated my abilities to have the NPCs interact with one another... I didn't want the PCs to wander around the room chatting with each NPC in turn, picking them clean, then moving on... I wanted a dynamic room where things happened outside of the PCs locus of control, and I just BARELY managed that... my real failing was just having too many NPCs, and losing track of who was who.  If I had to do it again, I'd probably drop 4 or 5 NPCs, and give each NPC a flag with their name on it.

And the non-failure, was that my characters were just a little lost and didn't really pull as much information out of the NPCs as I expected.  However, all of the PCs have crappy social skills (game state wise, not real life wise), so that actually maps out okay... they were a bunch of adventurer's stumbling around a fancy dinner party, just as they should have been.

So what did work:

I think the most interesting thing I did was to have social groups form at the party, with each group changing over time.  So my PCs were interacting with, at the most, 4 NPCs, not the whole room full.  This also meant there were conversations happening that they weren't a part of, so they had to pick which group to talk to and which groups they could afford missing.  This also helped me keep track of who was who, and what was going on.

I also had some NPCs with costs and benefits associated with hanging out with them... The best example was the NPC that my players fondly referred to as "Mr Stinky"  (Baron Kleiner, I think, in the Reddit thread).  An extremely wealthy man with a fondness for adventurer's and their tales, who was not fond of bathing, but loved alcohol.   Each time my players chose to join his group, he made everyone drink (which could cause you to pass out if you drank too much), but if you could get him to like you he'd award you with a random gift to assist you in your adventures.

He also traveled with the elven whores, which one of my players enjoyed a little too much, and left with, and was promptly robbed... gotta watch your back with those random hook ups...

I also had some scripted events... my players caught a pickpocket, and chose to let him go in exchange for some insider information about the Tower of the Magus.  I have a feeling that will come back to haunt/help them in the future.

If I had to do it again:

I'd drop a few of the NPCs.
I'd script out a major conversation topic/conflict for each little group for each "hour" of the party, so the NPCs were interacting with each other, and the PCs could jump in .  I overestimated my abilities to keep track of who was who and all the relationships, when I should have just said "At 9pm in Group 1:  Major Smith will start a loud argument with Lady Rose about nosy adventurer's sticking their nose in other's business."  Sandboxes are great, and all my notes about who hates who may come in useful in the future, but I could have made my life easier.

My players did get the major plot hook and did go stab some stuff, so I'll post about that next.

I'm not dead...

Had some non-DND weekends, but we're playing again Saturday!

Working on a really really long, complicated adventure for Saturday's (and on) Pathfinder game.  A whole module really.  It's crazy... I'll post it on the Blog sometime this weekend...

It's inspired by this thread on reddit, and is going to be awesome.

This past Friday I completely railroaded my players.  My brain just failed to enter creative mode and I couldn't come up with anything amusing, so I turned to Paizo modules for inspiration, and found "The Tower of the Last Baron" which happens to mesh pretty well with the world that I've thrown my players into, so they were forced, in game and out, to go solve this little political squabble.


So let's talk Lego:  For my amusement I decided to see how well I could reproduce the map from the module in Lego.  Here's the first floor map:

And here's a few pictures of my Lego map:

Throne Room

Bedroom, stairs to 2nd floor

Overview of first floor

Quick pictures of the 2nd floor (I tore out the interior walls and rebuilt them while everyone grabbed a soda.)

And here's the original map of the first floor for comparison:

Overall it worked out okay.  I squared off the tower walls, rather than have it octagonal.  The diagonal hallway I was able to recreate, but it was a very tight fit with the door, and trying to place the lego minifigs.  Overall, just working with actual walls rather than lines on paper that the minis can "step on" makes everything a little more complicated.  However, compared to other 3d options, like using Dungeon Forge tiles, I think I was able to reproduce it pretty closely.

One last note, next time a module map has a bathroom on it, if I bother to build it, I'm going to put something in it.

And sometimes they do something completely unexpected... okay, not sometimes, they ALWAYS do something unexpected...

So we went on quite the little adventure last night, and tried out the modular (but not yet modular enough) dungeon.

You can read my DM notes here:  Good Goblins Notes

There aren't any monster stats, because I made them in Combat Manager, and they were pretty tweaked to suite our rather over-equipped party.  Which would be my other note:  I tend to be overindulgent in the loot.  I blame WoW.

So I stole Sandpoint from the Pathfinder universe, and moved it into mine, because we started out there (via the newbie box).  Ameiko (from Pathfinder), the owner of the local Inn and fellow adventurer had gone missing.  My players decide to go rescue her.  So the gang wandered Sandpoint looking for clues, which suggested that Ameiko had gone south to investigate rumors that local farms were being raided by goblins.

So they jumped on their horses and ran south, to discover a kind pair of young goblins working on a farm that they'd bought fair and square from some lying and duplicitous humans.  surprisingly (to me anyway) they didn't automatically cut the goblins down, but actually talked nice to them, and managed to avoid any bloodshed (and in fact got a goblin escort into the goblin lands for the price of a shiny dagger.)

The gang fighting some random thugs  in the forest

The gang approaches a completely normal, functional farm

They also checked on another farm, and tried to make nice with an Ogre that had taken up residence there, but he was having none of it.  Despite our fighter going blind for half the fight (yay critical hit deck), they still managed to survive the day.  And kill the ogre.

Die Ogre Die!

 On the way to the goblin fortress they ran into a goblin watch, which was basically a wizard.  They also negotiated with him successfully, but he still made them fight his pet Fire Elemental.

Sad fire elemental can't cross the stream.

Finally they reached the goblin fortress.  The wizard had graciously given up the password, but the guards inside still recognized human voices, and wouldn't let them in.  Instead of trying to sound like goblins (which is what I'd anticipated) they managed to convince the guards they were goblins from the far away tribe of "Farmountain.)  A ruse they managed to keep up even AFTER the goblins had opened the door and seen the party... dumb goblins (and lucky dice.)

Modular dungeon!  I actually set each piece on the table as the group "discovered" it, which was easier and cooler than I expected it to be.  They're held together with lego technic pins.

The modular dungeon design worked really well.  My next step is to make more "hallway" pieces.  I think if I do it right I can make almost any size hallway or room with pretty minimal effort.  (slightly more than drawing, but about the same as tiles.  I think.)

The gang meets the Goblin King!  

 The team found Ameiko hanging out the goblin king (King Fatmouth the Goblin Slayer, taking credit for the gang's actions during the starter box adventure), planning a sting to find out who is really causing the tension between Sandpoint and the goblin kingdom.  Our thief was (finally) able to sneak up and hear the conversation, which allowed our group to, again, diplomacy and bluff their way through, avoiding any combat.

The gang escorts a "caravan (aka the king's carriage ambush toy)  through the forest.

 Our rogue did her best to make sure that the carriage arrived at its destination empty of valuables, but only slightly avoided getting caught by the NPC guards, then got distracted by a "goblin" attack.  The gang beat the halflings-in-bad-goblin-costumes into the ground, and managed to get the caravan to the next (yet-to-be-named, bad DM!) city safely.

Some notes:  The players really liked having more role-play options.  Being able to talk your way through or completely avoid encounters was definitely appreciated.  

A few high HP bad guys are way more fun than a bunch of low hps ones.  I had more fun playing them, and the players got to roll more dice (instead of waiting for me to roll them), so that's definitely the way to go, at least until the pcs level up a bit and have a quicker ways to deal with hordes of minions.

Two bards in a party is a pretty sick.

Rogues like stealing stuff.  Who knew?  

The highlight of the night?  Finding random pickles on a random farm.  DnD can be wierd...

If you DM or play and read through my adventure notes, and have any suggestions for improvement, leave me a comment, I'm new to this, so would love some feedback!