I took advantage of a Humble Bundle deal earlier this year to score pretty much every Pathfinder book in PDF form. It's been decades since I played a traditional fantasy tabletop, but there was soooo much material included I couldn't resist. At the time I didn't have any real intention to play, but I'd heard some good things about Pathfinder's worldbuilding.
Since then I've been working my way through the material. I really like how customizable characters are. The last time I played D&D was back in the late first edition era, when classes like the Barbarian and Cavalier were revolutionary. The proliferation of classes in Pathfinder, with dozens of archetypes for each, was a pleasant surprise. As was the insane amount of Cool Stuff each class is capable of thanks to the combination of class features and feats.
Golarian, the default Pathfinder world, comes across as the natural evolution of old school gaming's "anything goes" approach. That includes features that are direct callbacks to some of the more bizarre locations from first edition D&D, like the infamous crashed starship of "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks". Oddly enough, it reminds me of the full bore insanity of Dave Hargrave's "Arduin" setting more than classic settings like Greyhawk. They were nutty, but not "phaser armed insectile slavers from deep space invading the seventh layer of Hell" crazy like "Arduin" was.
All that is just a wordy way of saying I like Pathfinder. The mechanics are reasonably similar to what I grew up with, so it hits my nostalgia button. At the same time it throws off the admittedly limited options of classic D&D with a plethora of options. And, most importantly, there's a thriving player base locally.
Which brings me to "Kingmaker".
I've said before how odd I find it that traditional fantasy RPGs haven't embraced a prop-heavy approach. Prop documents, artifacts, and ephemera are hugely popular in Mythos gaming, but strangely rare in tabletop fantasy. I want to take a crack at changing that, and I think the "Kingmaker" adventure path is a perfect candidate for it.
I'll go over the reasons why tomorrow.
I think your impression's correct: though there's a lot of terrain and miniature crafting out there, but not many fantasy RPG props (excluding LARPing, of course). I did make a holy symbol for a D&D cleric character once, though. I flashed it like a badge whenever I turned the undead. https://www.deviantart.com/cthuluau/art/Holy-Symbol-of-Saint-Cuthbert-680600631
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI played Pathfinder (1st edition) for 7 years so of course I love it.
The rules are a bit too numerous and too many character options if not always a good thing (compared to the first few years when they had less rule books) but Golarion is a truly a world to get your creative juice going.
I know that Order of the Amber Die has run some Adventure Paths from Pathfinder and invest a lot in props to create immersive experiences for the players: https://m.facebook.com/orderoftheamberdie/photos/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0
@David G. That's what I'm talking about. It's even more impressive that you bashed it together with stuff from the dollar store.
ReplyDelete@Andros Sweet fancy Moses, keep that stuff away from me. Heh. I've been able to master my miniatures addiction for a while know, and don't need to get re-infected. Sadly, my son has a bad case of the affliction.
I'll admit to not being a fan of Pathfinder. I can appreciate that others LOVE it sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThere is a sourcebook for the Cthulhu Mythos though. It was written by Sandy Petersen, who has worked with the Lovecraftian stuff for decades.
Pathfinder Rpg - Sandy Petersens Cthulhu Mythos
I have the DnD 5e sourcebook and it's phenomenal.
Great work the blog as always!