Pathfinder 1E Gama trade show - Pathfinder Basic

[pawsplay]

However, it'd be nice if the "gateway" product added something of its own, so that you're not paying $35 for a product that has outlived its usefulness when you start playing the "real" version of the game.

Art! Dice! Maps! Counters! Two low-level modules! A micro-gazeteer of Golarion! Low-level encounter tables! Lightweight GM screen with new art!

Really, though, I imagine the "Introduction to Role-Playing Games" section would be read by advanced players only for amusement/nostalgia/as a cure to insomnia. As one player masters the game and buys the full version, the intro set is then bequeathed to a new recruit, or at least loaned out. For instance, I was unusual among my peers in starting with the Red Box set, most of my friends had dog-eared copies of Moldvay Basic, inherited from older brothers, or purchased from older kids in the neighborhood.

 

[kitsune9]

Well it is a smart move to have this finally hitting the selves just in time for Christmas sales. Now with the "gateway" product to get people interested it will be easier to covert those who actual play this "basic edition". Now if they can get this into mass market store like WalMart and Target with a good price point, the landscape of table top RPG could be changing even further in their favor.

I agree. If they can get into Wal-Mart, Target, or Toys R Us, it will work in their favor.

 

[darjr]

Wouldn't that be something if there was an 'expert' set for levels 6-14?

 

[S'mon]

I'll be honest in saying that a company focused on selling adventure paths that take you to levels well beyond 5th may have a difficult time selling me on that.

OTOH, full rules for 1st to 5th play would give a fairly comprehensive experience. Coupled with proper presentation, that might be enough.

Making Pathfinder Basic into an E6-type product might be an interesting way to go, but also a fairly radical one.

It would be great if they included a short paragraph on E5 type rules - "Every 5,000 XP you can gain a new feat, and if desired you may swap out a trained skill for a different skill" - but that's hardly necessary. Personally it doesn't bother me at all that Paizo will want most people to upgrade eventually to the Core Rulebook, and that it repeats rules in the Core Rulebook, as long as the Basic Set provides a complete play experience in itself and is useable by more casual gamers as more of a pick-up game.

Some shorter level 1-5 adventure paths/mini-campaigns fully compatible with the Basic Set would be great; something like Necromancer's 'Lost City of Barakus' with Paizo-quality presentation would be heavenly. 15 level, 50-session APs are much too much for me to run at the Meetup these days (at the rate I GM I'd be looking at 3-4 years to complete, and nearly all my players would have moved on!). 5 level, 16 session campaigns are vastly more practical and I suspect I'm not alone there among older gamers.

 

[Argyle King]

This looks really nice. I may be tempted to dig out my old 3.5 books depending on what is contained in this box. Maybe I'll even be nudged into picking up PF.


As of right now, what is the vague idea of what will be in the box?

 

[Azgulor]

I think this will make a nice Christmas present for my kids.

Personally, I'm thankful that it's not a Pathfinder-lite version. Since my kids are already playing Pathfinder, having a different rules set would only confuse them, especially the younger one.

This should, however, be the perfect gateway device to enable the oldest to try his hand at GM-ing without having to digest the core rulebook.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this.

 

[Erik Mona]

Now, I get that the purpose of any given "gateway" product is to draw in people who might like the game but are intimidated or otherwise put off by how complex it looks, and so it's primary purpose is to make the game appear simpler to learn so that they'll take the plunge and begin playing the full game. However, it'd be nice if the "gateway" product added something of its own, so that you're not paying $35 for a product that has outlived its usefulness when you start playing the "real" version of the game.

Thanks for the summary. I think I understand the term now.

Our goal is to create a game that provides a good amount of "basic" play (certainly at least $35 worth) that works and is fun whether or not you want to "graduate" to the full game.

At that point, yes, you won't need the first 5 levels again and you'll probably want to switch over to the "real" game. So the rulebooks are probably not going to be super useful to you.

But you'll still have:
• The dice
• The Flip-Mat
• More character and monster pawns than you guys will believe

All of that stuff will be useable with the "main" Pathfinder game, so I don't think people are going to feel ripped off, even if they play through to 5th level once, set aside the books, and switch over full-bore to the Core Rulebook.

At least that's the plan, anyway!

--Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing

 

[darjr]

With the PDF of the core only being $10 helps as well. In that scenario I imagine the box set books would still be useful at the table.

 

[nnms]

• The Flip-Mat
• More character and monster pawns than you guys will believe

I'm going to wait and see what the monster pawns are like. Paizo has some of the best art I've ever seen in hobby gaming products and if the monster and character pawns are of a high quality, I'll probably grab this just for those.

At first I was completely sold on miniatures as the way to go, but then I remembered the wargamer's trick of putting plexiglass down on top of dungeon tiles/Flip-Mats and suddenly tokens become so much more useful.

For me this just went from "I was hoping for a differnt "basic" version of the rules" to watching with interest.

 

[IronWolf]

To put it another way, if Pathfinder Basic gives you pretty much everything that the Pathfinder Core Rules does, save that PF Basic is limited to level 5...then when you make the jump over to the PF Core Rules, which cover not just levels 1-5 but also levels 6-20, then there's no use for PF Basic anymore.

In other words, you can pay $35 and get levels 1-5, and then $50 to get levels 1-20...or you can skip the first part and just pay the $50 to get levels 1-20.

Now, I get that the purpose of any given "gateway" product is to draw in people who might like the game but are intimidated or otherwise put off by how complex it looks, and so it's primary purpose is to make the game appear simpler to learn so that they'll take the plunge and begin playing the full game. However, it'd be nice if the "gateway" product added something of its own, so that you're not paying $35 for a product that has outlived its usefulness when you start playing the "real" version of the game.

I certainly see where you are coming from, but even with that said I think a gateway product is needed. Buying just the core rulebook leaves you short of monsters without going online to look some up. And for that to happen the player, possibly quite new to RPGs in general, can quite quickly find themselves thinking the game too complex.

I think distinguishing between the player new to the game and trying to get their feet wet and those of us members of a discussion forum regarding RPGs are a pretty different set of people and will have varying comfort levels. To us, an intro set to any system has less appeal than simply buying the core rulebooks. We've played RPGs, we can get rolling even with an unfamiliar set of rules with less difficultly. But those new to RPGs or Pathfinder might find an intro set a great way to get started without being overwhelmed.

Once these new players move on to the larger core rulebooks, the intro set can still be loaned or given to other new players to the group to help them get started. Maybe a new person joins this group in 6 months, give them the intro set to learn character generation and the basic instead of overwhelming them with information.

I know I look forward to this, not so much for me to actually use - but to give out as gifts. I know IronPup would love this even though he is already playing a Pathfinder with me. I can think of some other cousins and such that might find enjoyment as well.