Drunkards & Dragons
FOR SEVEN PEOPLE.
Thought some of our guys were going to be missing — hence, perfect time for a playtest one shot. Turns out, it’s a full boat! And they’re bringing friends!
WHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCK
(Source: teatime-brutality, via roll4damage)
Won’t be able to play it for another week — But the D&D Next Playtest is all printed out and ready to go.
I’ve been flipping through it, and I’m very curious how it’s going to go.
Spent most of the time focused on character creation. We’re very new to Pathfinder, so this took a considerable amount of time. We’re also spoiled by the D&D Insider Character Builder, so working with purely books, pencils, and our character sheets threw us for a bit of a loop. Went fine, though — and we had an hour left over to run a little prologue to the main campaign.
This was plenty of time to get through the “Trouble at Oleg’s” segment of “The Stolen Lands”. My internet hiccuped, and I wasn’t able to use my music cues, which was pretty heartbreaking — but other than that, it went fine. My narration and descriptions are always so much more vivid in my head, but when I’m in front of the table, it always comes out as more: “Uhm… And then you enter. Stuff happens, and oh yeah I forgot uhh—” But, hey, that’s the game.
I’m choosing to run combat without maps and minis, aside from the occasional MAJOR SET PIECE encounter. This is a change of pace, considering we typically play 4e. I really, really liked it. Sure, it requires the flexing of a mental muscle to keep track of where the action is happening, but I was happy to take it on in exchange for the roleplaying that took place during combat. Everyone got into it, and it never felt meticulous.
It was a good start. Can’t wait to get everyone at the table again and start exploring the Stolen Lands.
Tales of the Razor Coast
What the hell is that shark-man thing and how do I play it as a character.
Anonymous asked: What is the main difference between Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder?
I want to make note that I’m not trash talking D&D. People seem immediately bitter towards showing preference to either system — mostly because their fatigued with edition wars. I’m just throwing MY personal experience out there.
I’ve been playing 4e for about a year and a half, and exactly one session of Pathfinder (The Beginner’s Box) — and the big glaring difference is combat.
4e combat can be obnoxiously slow. It’s very concerned with tactical placement, and a wide assortment of powers with various crazy effects. My group’s normal D&D session is three hours — and last time we spent two and a half of them fighting a band of highway robbers who had zero impact on the actual story. It was never dangerous, it was never exciting, and I spent most of it playing on my iPhone.
Pathfinder, from the Beginner’s Box at least, feels quicker. HP ranges are much lower, so that they end faster, but are also deadly. A single good roll could dramatically put an encounter in one side’s favor, and we we felt the tension for the entire session. While playing, my group stopped three or four times to say, “Holy crap, this is so much breezier.”
I do hear that Pathfinder all but breaks past level ten — but, so does D&D, so…
Other people will also point out that Pathfinder characters are way more customizable than 4e ones. I enjoy GMing much more than playing however, and can’t really speak to that or have much interest.
So, yeah!
Super stoked to start running the “Kingmaker” Adventure Path for Pathfinder.
Anyone have any tips?
Don’t start prepping for the session at 8.
So, I picked up The Beginner’s Box out of rampant curiosity.
Fuck. I really, really like it.
Don’t tell D&D.
