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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreyLord" data-source="post: 8172123" data-attributes="member: 4348">We played through this as a group over the recent Holidays and more.  Gave it a fair shot I think with our over enthusiastic Pathfinder fan in the group.  That individual was so eager to try to convert us they even gave EACH OF US OUR OWN COPY OF THIS BOX.For reference...I said the Original Pathfinder Beginner Box (and I'm not a Pathfinder Fan to top this off) was the best Beginning Players set made (topping the 3e and 3.5 Basic sets, the 4e sets, etc).  It was absolutely outstanding.  I cannot say the same about the 2e BB.Sure, it has a lot of junk (emphasis on the junk part in some ways) but a LOT of that junk is not all that useful beyond the box.  The original BB had a map as well as a blank grid sheet, you could use that grid sheet endlessly.  The 2e box has a map...and beyond that map nothing else.  You can't use it for varied play without crafting it to that map.The Dungeon included is not so great.  The first encounter for the party does not glide you into combat so you can figure out how it works...we had a PC die within the first few rounds and it just went downhill from there.  If one's idea of a beginner's box first encounter is to have it be challenging enough that your party could die or that players get their characters killed right off the bat...well...Sure...now they realize the game is deadly...but they also get a bad taste in their mouth for the game mechanics.  If this is what the company thinks a beginning introductory encounter should be...what do they feel a normal encounter should be?Next, it offers 3 races and four classes...which out of the box is not bad.  The First one offered four classes and ONE THAT YOU COULD DOWNLOAD so you could have up to five beginner classes.  In addition, they all went up to level 5...the 2e box only goes up to level 3 (technically only 2 of which you could play).The only extended usage of the book I can see is if you want to use the pawns.  They are decent.  As for the rest of the box...I rate it slightly higher than the 5e D&D Starter set.  At least you can make your own characters.HOWEVER...it ranks lower than the 3e, 3.5, and 4e sets (all of them), and I'd even rate the 5e Essentials Kit FAR better for whoever wants to play the game today.  In the 5e Essentials Kit you get 4 races (with 9 subraces), 5 Classes, and can get up to Level 6 AND it's cheaper already than the PF 2e BB.  In addition, the adventure in the Essentials Kit is also a better module/adventure.  It gets better if you include the Essentials Kit AND the 5e Starter Set (and getting both together still cheaper than the PF 2e BB at the places I get the RPGs).  We ended up playing through the 2e BB module in whole finally, and then some other adventures from the DM (Plaguestone and then another of the DM's making or where ever they came from it) and so I think we gave the BB a fair shake (and more, we ended up using the PDF's from the GM to increase the character levels...but the GM owns the rulebooks and such...not I) and even PF2e a fair shake (all for the sake of that GM...who as I said is sort of a PF fanatic I think).  In regards to the 2e BB...it's better than the 5e Starter  (though the adventure in the Starter Set is better) set as a standalone, but that's not saying much.  Overall, it's not that great  in my opinion.</blockquote>

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