Pathfinder 1E Which Pathfinder Resources are "Must Haves?"

[tylermalan]

Nice, thanks. I just concluded an adventure in Ustalav, and now wish I had Rule of Fear... We're playing Carrion Crown right now, too.

So, what are the Pathfinder Society books? Are they only used for organized Pathfinder play or something?

 

[Steel_Wind]

Nice, thanks. I just concluded an adventure in Ustalav, and now wish I had Rule of Fear... We're playing Carrion Crown right now, too.

So, what are the Pathfinder Society books? Are they only used for organized Pathfinder play or something?

A PFS Scenario is an adventure module. They are short and take about 4-5 hours to run, each. They are available from the webstore on Paizo.com for $3.99 each.

 

[thundershot]

Assuming it does for me what it advertises, the Advanced Race Guide will go into the "must haves"... at least for me. I don't like using the standard HHHHEDG races. The Bestiary 3 will also go in there...

 

[tylermalan]

A PFS Scenario is an adventure module. They are short and take about 4-5 hours to run, each. They are available from the webstore on Paizo.com for $3.99 each.

Is there such a thing as a "regular" adventure module? Or do all the Pathfinder modules also have the Pathfinder Society label?

 

[serioustiger]

For me, the essentials are the Core Rules, APG and the Bestiary. I got by for a while without the latter - having been a 3.5 GM for a long time and having the Monster Manual, supplemented by the SRD. However, having the Bestiary itself proved really useful in-game.

I own UM which in my view is excellent, but not essential. I haven't picked up UC (on principle - Guns...uuugh! - I'm a dinosaur that way) but I suppose I would if any of my players got serious about playing a Monk. I also love the Inner Sea Guide which you already have, and I love that too.

I would echo others' comments about the GMG - not essential but by a distance the best GM guide I've ever seen - the towns and NPC sections in particular, but tons of other great ideas as well.

The Pathfinder SRD can get you through a lot of "one off" occurences of mobs, rules etc.

If you already have the Core Rules, APG and Bestiary, I would encourage you to look at Hero Lab - for me this is the next "essential" as it so totally streamlines the PC creation/development process. I can't begin to estimate the amount of time this has saved me, not to mention the number of errors I would probably have made in trying to remember every single variable. I can see it would tend to restrict which rule sets you use - if you are into a lot of third-party content for example - but I'm not, and all the core stuff is there (including for example AP-specific content). Hero Lab costs money - with datasets for my books I've probably spent the same as two rulebooks - but to me that's still good value.

I also really like Combat Manager - in addition to auto-managing many aspects of combat (for example easy management of initiative fluctuations) it has good databases of rules, spells, monsters etc which can really save you time. It can be a little bit flaky in terms of rendering screens and the occasional crash (on my netbook) but nothing really to worry about. And it's donation-ware.

In play, I run Hero Lab, Combat Manager and Evernote (for general campaign logging, keeping track of magic items as-yet-unidentified, etc). My players tend to hog the Core, APG and UM books (and when they get their hands on it, the Bestiary). Inner Sea guide and GMG are much more situational.

Hope that helps
~ST.

 

[Shemeska]

Is there such a thing as a "regular" adventure module? Or so all the Pathfinder modules also have the Pathfinder Society label?

Two different things. The PF Society modules are short, one session modules. There are also the Adventure Paths, and there's also a line of traditional modules as well (The Harrowing is rather awesome IMO).

 

[Steel_Wind]

Is there such a thing as a "regular" adventure module? Or so all the Pathfinder modules also have the Pathfinder Society label?

Sure there are.

The three adventure product lines are:

• Pathfinder Adventure Path
• Pathfinder Modules
• Pathfinder Society Scenarios.

Pathfinder Adventure Path: These are Paizo's flagship 6 volume, campaign spanning book series. They typically will enable a GM to run an entire campaign from 1st to 14th level, in about one year, playing weekly. Most of the AP line also have a significant amount of detail on the areas in which each volume is set.

Pathfinder Modules: These regular stand-alone adventure modules have been out for a long time and pre-date Pathfinder RPG, too. Currently, most of those products released since Mark Moreland became the developer on that line have been set up so that they can *also* be used for Pathfinder Society play, but they are not sold that way.

The module I noted above initially, The Godsmouth Heresy, is a regular stand-alone 1st level module set in Kaer Maga. It also has a variant rule sheet which allows it to be used in Pathfinder Society Play, but it is intended primarily to be run as part of a normal home game and not PFS.

Pathfinder Society Scenarios: Lastly, the Pathfinder Society Scenarios are electronic .pdf only products designed to be played during Pathfinder Society Organized Play sessions. There is nothing which prevents them from being run as part of some other campaign, in whole or in part, and there are quite a few home campaigns that also just run the Scenarios as the base for the entire campaign. There are a LOT of very decent PFS Scenarios, written by the best authors/designers with most having at least one map with cartography drawn by the best in the business.

Most (though not all) of the PFS scenarios are pretty damned good and you can make the necessary changes to each to integrate them into an ongoing campaign with ease.

 

[tylermalan]

Two different things. The PF Society modules are short, one session modules. There are also the Adventure Paths, and there's also a line of traditional modules as well (The Harrowing is rather awesome IMO).

By "traditional module," I assume you mean more than just a one-shot?

Also, what is the Harrowing? Module?

 

[IronWolf]

By "traditional module," I assume you mean more than just a one-shot?

Steel Wind covered this just above.

Also, what is the Harrowing? Module?

The Harrowing

 

[Steel_Wind]

By "traditional module," I assume you mean more than just a one-shot?

Also, what is the Harrowing? Module?

I'll be reviewing The Harrowing in the coming week here on ENWorld. Watch for it on the front page.

I will also cover The Harrowing, including a full interview with the author, Crystal Frasier, in more depth on Episode #016 of the podcast, to be released in the next 2 to 2.5 weeks. When Episode 016 is up, I typically put a post about its availabilty on this sub-forum.