Eridanis
Bard 7/Mod (ret) 10/Mgr 3
Rumors have circulated for a while about Paizo working on a new boxed set (a la the Red Box of the early 80's) to serve as an intro to the game. What would you include and exclude? What would be the format?
Here's my stab on what I'd do if I were tasked with this.
Physical Format: sturdy 9"x12" (or so) box containing the game booklets, a full set of standard polyhedral dice, a pad of 12 or so character sheets, and a sheet of punch-out tokens to use to represent characters.
Gaming Format: The player booklet would be, say 32 or 48 pages, briefly explaining RPGs and setting them up to run through the included pre-generated dungeon. Pre-gen characters would be included, and the booklet would also contain rules for creating & advancing your character through 3rd level.
The rules would be the same, but not all options would be available. Rather than explaining and listing feats, the player would have options spelled out at each level. (For example, creating a first-level fighter would involve choosing either Power Attack or Point Blank Shot. At second, you'd choose either Cleave or Precise Shot. Still call them feats, but by giving them few options, you lessen the learning curve while at the same time introducing he idea that this is a game about making choices and customizing your character.) Similarly, instead of allocating skill ranks, you simply get pluses to your skill checks. (If you play a rogue, you get +4 to your Perception roll at 1st level. At 2nd, it becomes +5. Etc...)
The only classes detailed would be bard, cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard. The Core Four plus the iconic Fifth Wheel would give every new player a broad archetype that appeals to them, plus introduces the idea that the game's not all about combat and min-maxing.
Spell lists are kept to about 8 to 12 spells per level. Bards only get 1st level spells in that level range, so that section will be very short!
The GM booklet would be 64 to 96 pages, detailing what it means to be a GM, hints on running the game, the full pre-generated adventure with tips on monster tactics, and stats for the monsters in the adventure as well as iconic monsters a new GM might want to include in a dungeon of his own design.
Online Support: Provide links to character sheets (maybe customized to each character class, like the old 1E sheets), printable token sheets (for the monsters detailed in the GM booklet), articles for first-time GMs and forum discussions geared towards first-time players & GMs.
Really, you don't want a "dumbed-down" version of the game, but there's a lot of room to only expose a new player to a few options rather than the whole firehose of options in the full game.
So, what would you do?
Here's my stab on what I'd do if I were tasked with this.
Physical Format: sturdy 9"x12" (or so) box containing the game booklets, a full set of standard polyhedral dice, a pad of 12 or so character sheets, and a sheet of punch-out tokens to use to represent characters.
Gaming Format: The player booklet would be, say 32 or 48 pages, briefly explaining RPGs and setting them up to run through the included pre-generated dungeon. Pre-gen characters would be included, and the booklet would also contain rules for creating & advancing your character through 3rd level.
The rules would be the same, but not all options would be available. Rather than explaining and listing feats, the player would have options spelled out at each level. (For example, creating a first-level fighter would involve choosing either Power Attack or Point Blank Shot. At second, you'd choose either Cleave or Precise Shot. Still call them feats, but by giving them few options, you lessen the learning curve while at the same time introducing he idea that this is a game about making choices and customizing your character.) Similarly, instead of allocating skill ranks, you simply get pluses to your skill checks. (If you play a rogue, you get +4 to your Perception roll at 1st level. At 2nd, it becomes +5. Etc...)
The only classes detailed would be bard, cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard. The Core Four plus the iconic Fifth Wheel would give every new player a broad archetype that appeals to them, plus introduces the idea that the game's not all about combat and min-maxing.
Spell lists are kept to about 8 to 12 spells per level. Bards only get 1st level spells in that level range, so that section will be very short!
The GM booklet would be 64 to 96 pages, detailing what it means to be a GM, hints on running the game, the full pre-generated adventure with tips on monster tactics, and stats for the monsters in the adventure as well as iconic monsters a new GM might want to include in a dungeon of his own design.
Online Support: Provide links to character sheets (maybe customized to each character class, like the old 1E sheets), printable token sheets (for the monsters detailed in the GM booklet), articles for first-time GMs and forum discussions geared towards first-time players & GMs.
Really, you don't want a "dumbed-down" version of the game, but there's a lot of room to only expose a new player to a few options rather than the whole firehose of options in the full game.
So, what would you do?
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