Pathfinder 1E Our 1st Pathfinder campaign, and we could use some help.

[Iapetus]

My group is starting out a Pathfinder campaign (our DM highly enthusiastic after his disappointing introduction to dnd DMing 4e) and I , having looked into it, suggested we try out pathfinder. We have planed to keep a serious long running campaign and the party of 4 has agreed to use Pathfinder. We're starting using a generic campaign at level 1 with the DM planning to alter it around level 5. In the mean time the party is going to try it's hardest to become a functional group with at least partially developed characters. The line of thought is that by level 5 we should be a solid reliable party, with a strong feeling of the world and each other. The main problem is, and often has been for us, how do we start?

I would like some suggestions on what quests we may want to start with or any other ideas with anything from how to get players to act in character more to how the party should meet up (and btw, meeting up in taverns never seems to work out for us).

I am willing and happy to hear any and all advice or ideas (any questions about the group to help get a sense of who's being worked with work too). Thanks!

 

[Epametheus]

Here's a simple suggestion - if you want to make the party coming together to be as smooth and simple as possible, then work out a back story where you already know each other. Maybe some of you are family members. Maybe some of you are long time rivals. Fine details will depend on what people are actually playing.

Paizo's adventure paths usually provide a set of sample traits that give explanations as to why you know people. An example would be the Carrion Crown adventure path, which initially brings the party together to attend a funeral and provides a set of traits that deal with how the PCs met the deceased Prof. Lorrimar.

 

[Kinak]

My first Pathfinder campaign, I started with the PCs already being employed as the protectors of a hamlet in Isger (which has no functional government). One PC had been raised there and the others were taken in despite their race (half-orcs).

We established that all in backstory, then started out while they were on patrol and discovered that two local children had been taken by gnoll slavers. It worked out incredibly well.

I just started running Rise of the Runelords. I asked each player why their character was in Sandpoint and why they'd defend it. In the course of figuring that out, two characters decided they knew each other and had strong connections to town, so that worked out well.

Then I just launched into the campaign. Despite the similar methods, I think this approach was a little weaker. Starting out with the explicit knowledge that they were guarding the town helped structure the relationships better.

So I'd strongly suggest starting with a hook and having the players build their characters to that. Having a little defined for everyone up front makes character creation a lot deeper and provides a framework for the group to use as it finds its bearings.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Dozen]

It's hard to come up with a perfectly fitting scenario when you have no info on the characters, but there is a trick I used once that made the perfect plot hook.
Have one of the characters(preferably a lawful one with no criminal record) arrested unjustly by authorities in a public setting! Why he is arrested is beside the point, though you can give it sufficient backround and even develop the setup into an adventure if you want. The commotion will draw other people(and, by extension, the other players) to the scene, and most people who have the real, old school adventurer in them will have a reason to interfere. Good characters will want to help, Lawful ones want justice, Neutrals are looking for friends they can trust, Chaotics are twitchy about imprisonment in general, and Evil guys and gals won't pass an opporturnity to squeeze some money out of the poor shmuck's hardships.(Note that I said most, not all; that's why the motives of the players matter a lot to the DM even at the start of a campaign, if he wants to provide a good experience, as other commenters said before.) This of course works only if all the players can take a hint and not trying to hide from the plot like beholders from longbowmen, but since you are a hardened group I assume this is not a frequent issue at your table anymore or the DM can subtly put you on rails if needed.

Some tweaks and twists of the above such as making sure the (leader of) the cops is unappealing to the players or bystanders frowning upon the unusual cruelty of their own caretakers can help. If all else fails, let's say... have a rich, benevolent patron from the area conveniently hire them to save the prisoner, and improve on your communication a bit.

 

[slobo777]

In terms of process - how you go about deciding your backgrounds - I recommend talking it out one small idea at a time. You'll fill the blank canvas in a more satisfying way if you get to bounce ideas off each other, than if one of you tries to present a completed background to the group.

Throw out some really small open-ended ideas "my character lived in a small town, and left his family to run with gangs in the nearby city streets" . . . and keep reacting, adding detail (names, times, places) until you have effectively freeform/improvised the PC backgrounds and how they met.

 

[Razjah]

The group should discuss the setting together. Make a world together, or at least make elements together. If you want to limit races to push certain features of the world.

As for the actual gameplay, I recommend the GM stick to E6 or maybe E8 for Pathfinder. E6 works very well for getting your feet wet. It keeps the game world simpler, and there are a lot more familiar monsters, creatures, and magic effects from literature to draw inspiration.

The basis of E6 (or any cap) is that the characters stop leveling at level 6, and from every 5000 experience afterwards gains the character a feat. There are a lot less spells and effects to learn, and the monsters tend to simpler for the GM.

Now here is an important question: why are you waiting so long to have fun? The GM wants to run a level 5 adventure. Fine, run a game at level 5. Don't start at level 1, grind for a bit, then finally go play the game the GM wants to run. It shouldn't be that hard to come up with a reason why the party works together and come up with some basic tactical plans to make it look like they have adventured together for a while.

 

[Jester David]

Have the GM start everyone doing something similar, such being a part of a caravan, working for the town watch, or even waiting in a castle to meet with the king. Everyone knows how the game will start, but can think of their own reasons and motives for being there.

The caravan is the easiest. Some PCs might be guards, others might be passengers, and others might be traders. They might know each other or they might not.

You can also try linking backgrounds, like in the Dresden Files RPG. Everyone writes a small one or two sentence prior adventure and ties it to another person at the table (say the person at their left). Everyone has a cameo or guest appearance in another's past, so the group as a whole knows each other.

 

[pauljathome]

I'd suggest starting with one of the Paizo Adventure Paths. Pick an adventure path that takes your fancy. All of them have hooks to bring in characters.

If that doesn't take your fancy, I highly recommend the Paizo book Players Guide to Varisia. http://paizo.com/products/btpy8rcf?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Varisia-Birthplace-of-Legends

That just drips with flavour. Have everybody decide on a character and then decide how they could logically have gotten together and what they might do

 

[Haladir]

When I start up a new campaign, I always try to get together for a couple of non-gaming sessions with the players to talk about the kind of game we all want to play. I usually have something in mind, and let them know about the kind of game I'm thinking of running. I'll let them know whether the campaign will be heavily scripted or more of an open sandbox, where they define what they're going to do. I'll tell them whether it's a "heroes only" campaign, or if morally ambiguous (or evil) characters are OK. I'll let them know whether I'm planning it to be primarily wilderness, urban, seafaring, underground, etc. Also, whether I'm planning it to be action-heavy with a lot of fights, investigation-heavy with a lot of mysteries to solve, or intrigue-heavy with an emphasis on in-character role-playing. And I take their feedback: If I'm really itching to run a scripted, low-magic, courtly intrigue game, and the players all want a high-magic, fighting-heavy sandbox, then everyone's going to be disappointed.

After we've agreed on the kind of game we want to play, I usually take a couple of weeks before we start to put together a players guide to the area, that outlines a lot of this stuff in a document. I'll include any home rules that I plan to use (e.g. there are a bunch of non-historical weapons in the rules set that I absolute detest-- these don't exist in my campaign world, and it says so in the players guide). I try to get this out to everyone a week or so before we meet for the character-generation session. We then meet for "Session 0" that's primarily character creation and discussion of backstories. Here's where I describe where I plan to start the first adventure, and the players all figure out how they're there.

One option I liked from "Rise of the Runelords" is that the only part of the PC backstory that's required is that everyone has to be in the town of Sandpoint for the annual Swallowtail Festival. The events of the module will cause heroic PCs to step forward and do what needs to be done, and thus band together. I've used this since: the PCs are all in a particular place together when something happens, and the bold adventurer types end up working together. Other times, I've just said, "You're all going to be [Insert Something Here, e.g. "Caravan guards"]. Please figure out in your backstories why you're there."

 

[Emirikol]

I love this topic already

I think you've got a good idea in formulating a group up a few levels and then working towards a fuller campaign.

Over the past 30 years, I've started (and ended) a lot of groups and campaigns. My current two, I started just like you guys are doing. I put up my advertisements, get together, weed out the idiots and unreliables, and then create a FULL campaign afterwards.

My words of advice:
* ALWAYS keep an advertisement up for new players. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS. You never know when you want to call up a player from your reserves b/c someone can't make it anymore. Also, I let my players know, that its no hard feelings if it doesn't work out...yes, they can be replaced

* ALWAYS have a discussion group online. It's a good place for repository of files (house rules), and common communications for the group. ONLY keep current players on your discussion group. I recommend YAHOOGROUPS.com, but some people use Google groups or Obsidian portal.


* Encourage your fellow players NOT to create game-breaking characters (nuff said). The GMs job is hard enough without having to worry about somebody who is obsessed with damage per second.


Lay down some house expectations:
show up 90% of the time
create an interesting (not game breaking) character
bring food and drink once in a while
don't be an idiot
no politics, no religion, no personal problems

jh


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