"First Pathfinder outing" Topic

OK, so I'm starting Pathfinder. Been a DM for AD&D 2d for 25+ years, and never delved into any other FRPG rulesets.

I've been asking others for about two weeks, got the Core and some other books and reading up for about 10days.

Through Meetup.com found a group that plays locally on Tuesdays and RSVPed for yesterday. It was advertised as "5th level, make a PC, 10,500gp for all equip & magic, spend no more than 50% on any one item." "Game starts at 6PM, new players be there at 5PM to get help generating a PC, go over any questions, etc."

So I crafted together a human rogue at 5th level, and got there at 4:50.

So many showed up w/o RSVPing we had 10 players. GM changed it to 1st level and I took a pre-gen he had to make things go quicker, four others crafted their own PC, delaying the start of the game until 6:40. Introductions, adn laying out the "Reign of Winter" Path.

We had one encounter. ONE. With 24 ambushing goblins. It took us until after 9PM to finish that ONE encounter and the session was called. I rolled with it, and asked about next week. Yep, says the GM, "next week, roll up level 18 PC's."

So I guess Reign of Winter is given up? I guess I'll have to follow up with him via PM or email or whatever.

I'm new and even though with one encounter we are all not really, "invested," in the campaign path and all, there is no way I can just go forward with some 18th level off-the-cuff PC on my second game session!

I am too unfamiliar with how all the skills, feats, maneuvers, weapons, magic, etc. all interact and weave together to make an effective party member at that level of play.

Sounds like the DM is a flake, I would find a different group.

I agree with Sneakgun. While I like Pathfinder the combats can run slow. Especially with larger groups. I prefer to keep things around four or five characters. More than that it slows down.

Plus you have to give some thought to your combat encounters. Encounters with lots of critters take much longer to resolve. Mixed groups are much better.

I agfree with Evil Bob. Combats run better/faster with no more than 6 PCs.

I really do not think the guy is a flake at all, he was just fine at teaching for us new players (some of whom needed hand-holding with rule interactions.)

I think it would have been better to split into a, "newbee-only," teaching session, and a, "vet-player session," instead of trying to accomodate everyone that came. It was mainly the vets that held things up with their own PC creation instead of, "Hey, yer late, we started, sorry," or, "Not enough time for you to go from scratch, here's a pre-gen if you want to play."

I think it was the dearth of sudden non-RSVP players that changed the focus from what he planned (5th level) to trying to be inclusive of all and keeping it simple.

I'm sure he is fine doing a teaching or a vet session, but trying to contol 10 mixed players – I just think he needed more spine.

I'm willing to play again any time with him, but I'd limit my involvement to a set group.

The sudden switch to 18th level, though. Hard to wrap my mind around "Let's start this Path – no wait…"

Yea…
Too many pcs…
I find that Pathfinder works wonders at 3-5 pcs.

If you were closer, I'd invite you to my game!

I would look for another group that tell the GM right off that you nave never played before and are looking for a newbie group to learn.

Jumping from 1st to 18th is CRAZY! Being an experienced player, even I'd have issues trying to remember what my character can and cannot do that that level…

Stick with it. Its a really neat system.

I noticed you talked about the combat encounter and not the ROLEPLAY of the session, which in and of itself for me is a big red flag.

pathfinder is a detailed fight combat system. Great for swashbuckling style one on one duels, but terrible for mob-style melees. It handles adding "flavor" to fights as part of a cohesive story environment.

What it sounds like happened here was "you are walking in the woods when BAM… Roll for initiative" style GMing, which is better suited with a different product… 4th Edition D&D

Perversely 4.0 is GREAT at handling larger units, but an at-best mediocre system for anything BUT combat. (I'll get into THAT in a second)

I used 4.0 to do 50 kobolds and the 6 pc's (2nd and 3rd level) taking down a purple worm (that was ridiculously outside their capability to take alone) Fight went down a lot like a swarm of ants killing a spider. I think 15-20 dead kobolds, and the PC's hanging on by a thread… and one VERY dead purple worm.

Took about an hour and a half… two hours tops.

Same fight tried in a pathfinder game by a friend of mine took 3 sessions over the course of a weekend, perhaps 15-20 hours, and resulted in a slightly annoyed purple worm, a tribe of eaten kobolds, and the 3 surviving PC's fleeing to seek a cleric to raise their fallen.

on the flip side a 4.0 characters roleplay stats can fit on the back of a 3x5 index card… and a pathfinder characters needs a folder. This has the obvious effect on which system is more tailored to detailed ROLEPLAY interactions.

It all depends on what kind of game the gm runs. Sounds like this group could go for a more "loose" combat system that plays faster, with less nitty-gritty minutia…

On top of the rest of it the sudden jump to 18th level is what has me thinking he is a flake… or at least has a very short attention span. He's flailing about.
There's a guy here whose group I tried to play in for a while… but he was such a spastic rules-monkey… his interest continually hopping from one system to another… that we were lucky to get two games in before he started shoving some new rulebook at us.
It didn't help that he thought of himself as a 'game designer' and so considered everything we played as research for the RPG he was writing (I won't hold my breath for that one).

I've never played Pathfinder but our Saturday group has been playing 3.5 lately and I'm appalled by the pile of paper necessary to stat out my PC.
I know from experience that 4.0 is not for me but I definitely favor games that can get by with a single sheet… double-sided if the player wants to jot down notes.

Run into a million of those kinds spacemonkey… I've been guilty of the "game designer" thing too… Still hold out hope that I can eventually make a system…

..But I LONG ago stopped using my gaming buddies as unpaid involuntary alpha-testers. They and I are there to GAME, and that requires a cohesive finished-product rules set, and a focused GM.

(won't stop me from talking someones ear off before/after game or during smokey/food breaks)

That's it! I'm changing my TMP monicker to Space Monkey!

?

I like it better than 'Space Wizard'

BigNickR, the intro and first ten-fifteen minutes of roleplay with the setting, locating an injured guard that led to the hook of needing to go out into the woods and track down an official kidnapped by bandits, then… BOOM-AMBUSH.

Thing is, with so many players, everyone feeds off one anothers energy and sidelining. Again, I think more a GM control issue keeping the adventure moving forward thing.

When we located where the guard was, I was the only one that thought to stopping the party and finding out who was the same race the guard was and had the best "Diplomacy" skill to make that person the, "talker." Try and convince the guard to come out and show us where it happened so we would not get lost in the woods or whatnot…

I was trying to get us together with a plan on what we wanted to find out from him, instead of 10 PC's barging in and peppering the guy with questions from ten sources all at once (which despite my efforts ended up happening anyways…)

I never have much success trying to get our group to make plans either, and there are only five of us.
I believe a big part of that is that the players/GM seem to prefer games where there are no real consequences to just kicking in the door and charging in with swords/guns/blasters drawn. So why make plans?

The DM should've limited this to the number of players originally intended and tell the rest too bad.
Sounds like the DM may have failed his Man Up DC.

check and see if there is any Pathfinder Society Organized Play in your area – these are 4-5 hour single shot scenarios with set in Paizo's world of Golarion. This is a great way to get into the game and try to meet up with more like minded players. You can try the Paizo website for more info.