Pathfinder 1E What happened to "Basic Pathfinder"?

[Mercurius]

Has anyone used it for a complete campaign? How simple is it compared to "advanced" Pathfinder?

 

[Jester David]

Has anyone used it for a complete campaign? How simple is it compared to "advanced" Pathfinder?

It only runs from levels 1 to 5 so likely not a complete campaign. Micro-campaigns at most.

It's fairly similar to regular Pathfinder. They omit some rules and options, such as attacks of opportunity and combat maneuvers IIRC. It really just ignores some rules and the related options rather than making any changes.
And much of the simplicity also comes from the presentation. So even though the rules are a little complex they're explained very clearly and the graphics and illustrations make it easy to understand. Download and check out the character sheets and adventure for examples.

But at its heart its an introductory product. The intent is that you pick-up the box and then move onto the full game after exhausting the options in the box. And Paizo has deliberately not released a follow-up product and excluded much of the Beginner Box from its PRD because they don't want other companies to do that either. They want people to move to the full game.

 

[darjr]

http://edowarsblog.wordpress.com/

that site has monsters and other classes for the PFBB.


wraithform at rpg.net posted the link.

 

[Gundark]

Yep; they developed and released the Pathfinder Beginner boxed set. And very nice it is, too!

And then dropped support for it?

I might have gotten into "basic Pathfinder"

 

[TwoSix]

And then dropped support for it?

I might have gotten into "basic Pathfinder"

It is a shame, it avoids 90% of the bloat of Pathfinder. I don't think their business plan supports 2 related lines at the same time, though.

 

[GreyLord]

And then dropped support for it?

I might have gotten into "basic Pathfinder"

Well, that depends on what you define as dropped support. They have released multiple modules for lower level play (Dragon's Demand being the most recent one), and what you have in the beginner box basically can keep you playing for a LOOOOOONG time. I mean, they haven't come out with anything new for the Core Rules recently either (longer then the Beginner box has been out) but most see that as a GOOD thing. Instead with get addendums such as the Advanced Players guide, Ultimate Campaign (which you can use a lot of stuff in that book with the B Box) and Mythic rules (not so compatible with the B Box).

I don't see it so much as dropping support, as supporting the pathfinder line as a whole with new adventures and such.

 

[Kinak]

It is a shame, it avoids 90% of the bloat of Pathfinder. I don't think their business plan supports 2 related lines at the same time, though.

You're right on that. Here's Lisa Stevens explaining why.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Jester David]

And then dropped support for it?

I might have gotten into "basic Pathfinder"

It's not so much Basic Pathfinder as an easier introduction for Pathfinder. Instead of "here, read this 576-page rulebook" it's "read this 64-Page Player Book". The idea being people play and get into the game via the Beginner Box and then graduate to the regular game.

It's for financial reasons mostly.

Making books is expensive. Art is a huge cost, with writing and editing also adding to the cost. But once a book has sold a few thousand copies the cost of art, words, and layout is eliminated and you just have to pay for production costs (printing, paper, shipping, storage, etc). So you make more money if you repeatedly sell the same product again and again and again. If you sell 10,000 copies each of Book X and Book Y you'll make less money than if you sold 15,000 copies of just Book X; despite selling a smaller total number of copies the average profit per copy increases.
So if you have two competing product lines, say Pathfinder and Pathfinder Basic you're more than halving each book's final profit because you're also doubling the related costs.

Competing products are fine so long as the audience is separate or it fills a very different niche. Money I spend buying a board game or card game from WotC or Paizo is money I wouldn't have spent on an RPG book anyway. Money I spend buying a PF Basic book would likely come from money I set aside for RPG books and mean one less regular PF book.
This works to a point, as the budget of your fans is limited, so eventually more products means fewer sales. But hopefully there will be people who buy something like the card game that would not buy the RPG increasing the total number of customers.

 

[GreyLord]

As I said, Paizo IS supporting the BB, as in how I stated they were. Sean Reynolds has a reply shortly after Lisa's in that same thread that explains how this works. They have come out with a LOT more low level stuff in the past little while...and all of that can be utilized with the BB overall if you follow the advice in that same thread.

The easiest way to summarize is...the BB IS pathfinder. As such they are the same product line. Something made for Pathfinder is also made for the BB...just you have to be aware of the level 5 limitation in regards to the level limits of a product, and be willing to modify some events or monsters if needed.

 

[darjr]

I think the equipment guide follows the beginner box format.