2020 is shaping up to be a bit of a Pathfinder 2e year, at least that is how it is looking as we career through the first 12th at breakneck pace. The game has proved to be a big hit with the family over Christmas, providing strong empirical evidence that it plays just fine for beginners, even with a character sheet that looks like an impossible tax return. A few sessions in and we are now looking at regular games together, especially when Erin moves back to Sheffield. Everyone is excited about levelling up and extending all their abilities. Nobody can deny the old school thrill of seeing your game character get the power uplift in time for the next adventure.
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| Our gaming table – yes I got a GM screen! |
Several things have come together all at the same time. Pathfinder itself was a knowing purchase of BIG D&D. I had considered getting the excellent and massively popular 5e, through the slipcase three book set, hovering over it back at Expo last May. It made all the more sense now that my daughter Erin has, Critter like, got into the game. On an impulse I got the big Pathfinder tome instead and Bestiary on PDF, backed up by the ‘character building’ Pathbuilder 2 Android app. The new Pathfinder carries off all the tropes with considered style, managing the core game rules in a svelte 40 pages out of 640. The rest are spells and character options and lists of cool things.
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| Our starter campaign map |
Wonderdraft is a really nice bit of mapping software, which temptingly runs under Linux as well as my Windows setup. I’ll be drawing up maps for this and for convention games. It is so nice to be able to express my old cartographic passions with something that helps me to make them look nice.
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Supplementing my campaign maps are the printable battlemats available throughout Drivethru. In particular, I’ve zeroed in on the Heroic Maps range, providing really eye catching locations for play. I’ve also picked up Neil’s guidance on making desktop tokens, which enables me to create reasonable representation of all the characters and monsters I will ever need, for a fraction of the cost and time sink that are painted miniatures.
In commute moments I’ve been considering why the game has been such a hit for me and my family team of players. Apart from the fact it is well crafted and effortlessly carries all the fun bling that comes with heroic level based high fantasy, I reflect that the combination of rich character abilities and boardgame like representation and action play, gives the player a familiar, focused, and very complete play experience. With Pathfnder’s new 3 action economy the players’ tokens have got lots to do, with flexible choices, all tying back to the details on the tax return. The tactical side really engages, with the physical movement of the pieces on the board, accentuating the dangers whilst bringing the myriad character choices into tactile play. Plot, roleplay chat, attractive battlemat, new tokens, play. Rinse, repeat.
In addition to the family adventures I’m hoping to get a sequence of online games going, possibly also set in Kallahn, my student fantasy world, re-envisioned in Wonderdraft. An early draft using Inkarnate has inspired me to do some more.
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| A ‘not quite right’ draft of the Kallahn map |
Of course Golarion, the Pathfinder game world, is lots of purchasable fun, with a ton of lore that I have snaffled for a song on Humble RPG Book Bundle. So, maybe, I’ll explore the game further over there. Which VTT? Ah well, that’s the topic of further investigation and another post…