harpy
2012-07-05, 09:29 PM
In my local Pathfinder Society community I found that we were getting a healthy influx of players who were new to Pathfinder, or even new to roleplaying games in general. The knowledge gap between experienced players and new players would often be vast.
While everyone in our community has been very helpful to new players, a lot of play strategies and options would often take months for new players to become aware of them, or get them spelled out in a clear fashion.
Because of that I began writing essays to our local PFS email list to help people get jump started into the game, providing advice along with play aids that could help accelerate players into the finer nuances of PFS.
Another factor in this influx of new players is that a lot of our sessions have been low level, and so I also focused on primers that would help low level characters be able to have a broader range of tools at hand to be able to provide solutions to challenges in modules.
While I've mentioned some of these resources I created on the boards before, for some reason I never thought to just devote a thread to them with everything laid out in a single post. Since Paizocon is just about to start, perhaps some of these articles and essays would be of help to people now and in the future.
ARTICLES
Good & Cheap Equipment, Part 1 (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/good-cheap-core-equipment-everyone-should-have) and Part 2 (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/good-cheap-ii-what-awaits-in-the-adventurer-s-armory) I really enjoy having characters that can provide lateral solutions to problems. While having a lot of gold can buy a character lots of options, even low level characters can have a broad utility box of inexpensive widgets to solve problems. Both of these essays provide packages of inexpensive and lightweight items that expand play beyond waiting for initiative to begin.
Action Economy: Time Savers (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/action-economy-time-savers) This article examines a core but rather unstated layer of the system, the action economy, and how you can help make your character more efficient in that economy.
Linear Fighters & Quadratic Wizards (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/linear-fighters-vs-quadratic-wizards) For new players with dreams of replicating some fictional hero of theirs, the system can often throw at them results they were not expecting. This primer on some of the more fundamental power scales in the game can help them make more informed decisions on the kinds of characters they want to create and how they will perform in play.
Animal Companion Comparisons (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/animal-companion-comparisons) The druid, ranger and other pet classes are very popular with new players. It's natural to want to have a furry buddy at your side when adventuring. While some players jumped for whatever flavor of animal they liked, others kept asking me what was the best. I'd say, it depends... It ends up that laying out a numerical scale at least gives better information for players to pick an animal that suits their concept and performance in play.
A look at cheap Ioun Stones (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/a-look-at-ioun-stones) In the first handful of levels you end up crashing into the reality of how expensive magic items can be. This article highlights a slew of inexpensive Ioun Stones that anyone can get a use out of.
Don't Forget the Use Magic Device Skill (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/don-t-forget-the-use-magic-device-skill) The UMD skill is one of the more complicated subsystems in the game, at least conceptually, and so getting it highlighted and demonstrating that any character can make real practical use out of the skill can broaden the options of any character in the game.
Wands for Everyone! (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/wands-for-everyone) - In light of the UMD skill being useable by anyone, it makes sense to highlight one of the most inexpensive yet potent magic items in the game, wands. In PFS it's really good sportsmanship to buy your own Wand of Cure Light Wounds to take care of your own injuries, but anyone can push beyond that and become a much more adaptable character with a few utility wands.
Point Buy Arrays (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/point-buy-arrays) With this article I went through scores of iterations of point buy arrays, trying to figure out which distributions give the broadest value for the bonuses and penalties that one can get for your character. Rather than re-inventing the wheel each time a character is made, you can zero in on a set of arrays that provide the most economical set of bonuses depending on the amount of penalties you want for your character.
DOWNLOADS (found here) (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/downloads)
Organized Play Character Build Sheet This sheet is there to help you map out character concepts. I've been using sheets like this for years and have found it very useful to find figure out how different builds function over time, or whether something is mechanically possible. Not everyone wants or needs to map out their character in advance, but these sheets can be useful for those who either want that advanced planning, or simply like a quick way to level up when the time comes.
Mundane Mounts and Work Animals While plenty of players want pet classes, not everyone wants to follow that specific track in character development. Nonetheless people still want a pet. I decided to just make premade sheets of mundane mounts and work animals so that if a player just wanted to purchase a horse or dog, they could and then have all of the information on the animal ready to go immediately. I know I have sold some new players on the game by having these sheets already printed out an in a folder. I want to buy a dog! and I would present them with the dog sheet and the player was ecstatic at getting their dog like that.
Good, Cheap and Essential Item Checklist It can be a real drag having to go through all the equipment lists to buy the standard fare of items, or even the suggested ones in the articles above. To save time and make it easy to organize and reference, I just made checklists to make it easy to purchase a whole set of items at once that will prove indispensable on adventures.
Discount Adventuring Kits Just as with the checklists in the above download, there are also the Discount Adventuring Kits from the Pathfinder Field Guide. Getting these into a simple one sheet checklist really helps to speed up acquiring them and not having to re-write all of that information down again.
Arrow Packs I enjoy playing archers and there are a few other players that also really enjoy it. As you gain levels and can afford more exotic arrows it the recordkeeping on these items becomes rather elaborate, especially when you can reclaim them 50% of the time. Once you get up to mid-levels and are outputing several shots per round it really helps to have all of this information pre-organized for you.
The Handy Haversack Pack This is something that people with plenty of GM credit will find useful. Starting a new character at a higher level means needing to spend a lot of gold. While picking up all of those expensive items, it's worth getting a lightweight Handy Haversack filled with essentials for those just in case moments. The problem is all of that tedious calculating and writing down the same information you've written down again and again. This sheet lets you grab a pack and go without any fuss.
That's it for now, but I'll be doing further revisions to articles when needed and I'm really looking forward to the new Equipment Guide that will be out soon. I'm quite sure that will provide a wealth of really cool mundane equipment to add to the existing lists.
Enjoy!
While everyone in our community has been very helpful to new players, a lot of play strategies and options would often take months for new players to become aware of them, or get them spelled out in a clear fashion.
Because of that I began writing essays to our local PFS email list to help people get jump started into the game, providing advice along with play aids that could help accelerate players into the finer nuances of PFS.
Another factor in this influx of new players is that a lot of our sessions have been low level, and so I also focused on primers that would help low level characters be able to have a broader range of tools at hand to be able to provide solutions to challenges in modules.
While I've mentioned some of these resources I created on the boards before, for some reason I never thought to just devote a thread to them with everything laid out in a single post. Since Paizocon is just about to start, perhaps some of these articles and essays would be of help to people now and in the future.
ARTICLES
Good & Cheap Equipment, Part 1 (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/good-cheap-core-equipment-everyone-should-have) and Part 2 (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/good-cheap-ii-what-awaits-in-the-adventurer-s-armory) I really enjoy having characters that can provide lateral solutions to problems. While having a lot of gold can buy a character lots of options, even low level characters can have a broad utility box of inexpensive widgets to solve problems. Both of these essays provide packages of inexpensive and lightweight items that expand play beyond waiting for initiative to begin.
Action Economy: Time Savers (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/action-economy-time-savers) This article examines a core but rather unstated layer of the system, the action economy, and how you can help make your character more efficient in that economy.
Linear Fighters & Quadratic Wizards (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/linear-fighters-vs-quadratic-wizards) For new players with dreams of replicating some fictional hero of theirs, the system can often throw at them results they were not expecting. This primer on some of the more fundamental power scales in the game can help them make more informed decisions on the kinds of characters they want to create and how they will perform in play.
Animal Companion Comparisons (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/animal-companion-comparisons) The druid, ranger and other pet classes are very popular with new players. It's natural to want to have a furry buddy at your side when adventuring. While some players jumped for whatever flavor of animal they liked, others kept asking me what was the best. I'd say, it depends... It ends up that laying out a numerical scale at least gives better information for players to pick an animal that suits their concept and performance in play.
A look at cheap Ioun Stones (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/a-look-at-ioun-stones) In the first handful of levels you end up crashing into the reality of how expensive magic items can be. This article highlights a slew of inexpensive Ioun Stones that anyone can get a use out of.
Don't Forget the Use Magic Device Skill (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/don-t-forget-the-use-magic-device-skill) The UMD skill is one of the more complicated subsystems in the game, at least conceptually, and so getting it highlighted and demonstrating that any character can make real practical use out of the skill can broaden the options of any character in the game.
Wands for Everyone! (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/wands-for-everyone) - In light of the UMD skill being useable by anyone, it makes sense to highlight one of the most inexpensive yet potent magic items in the game, wands. In PFS it's really good sportsmanship to buy your own Wand of Cure Light Wounds to take care of your own injuries, but anyone can push beyond that and become a much more adaptable character with a few utility wands.
Point Buy Arrays (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/articles/point-buy-arrays) With this article I went through scores of iterations of point buy arrays, trying to figure out which distributions give the broadest value for the bonuses and penalties that one can get for your character. Rather than re-inventing the wheel each time a character is made, you can zero in on a set of arrays that provide the most economical set of bonuses depending on the amount of penalties you want for your character.
DOWNLOADS (found here) (http://www.geekindustrialcomplex.com/downloads)
Organized Play Character Build Sheet This sheet is there to help you map out character concepts. I've been using sheets like this for years and have found it very useful to find figure out how different builds function over time, or whether something is mechanically possible. Not everyone wants or needs to map out their character in advance, but these sheets can be useful for those who either want that advanced planning, or simply like a quick way to level up when the time comes.
Mundane Mounts and Work Animals While plenty of players want pet classes, not everyone wants to follow that specific track in character development. Nonetheless people still want a pet. I decided to just make premade sheets of mundane mounts and work animals so that if a player just wanted to purchase a horse or dog, they could and then have all of the information on the animal ready to go immediately. I know I have sold some new players on the game by having these sheets already printed out an in a folder. I want to buy a dog! and I would present them with the dog sheet and the player was ecstatic at getting their dog like that.
Good, Cheap and Essential Item Checklist It can be a real drag having to go through all the equipment lists to buy the standard fare of items, or even the suggested ones in the articles above. To save time and make it easy to organize and reference, I just made checklists to make it easy to purchase a whole set of items at once that will prove indispensable on adventures.
Discount Adventuring Kits Just as with the checklists in the above download, there are also the Discount Adventuring Kits from the Pathfinder Field Guide. Getting these into a simple one sheet checklist really helps to speed up acquiring them and not having to re-write all of that information down again.
Arrow Packs I enjoy playing archers and there are a few other players that also really enjoy it. As you gain levels and can afford more exotic arrows it the recordkeeping on these items becomes rather elaborate, especially when you can reclaim them 50% of the time. Once you get up to mid-levels and are outputing several shots per round it really helps to have all of this information pre-organized for you.
The Handy Haversack Pack This is something that people with plenty of GM credit will find useful. Starting a new character at a higher level means needing to spend a lot of gold. While picking up all of those expensive items, it's worth getting a lightweight Handy Haversack filled with essentials for those just in case moments. The problem is all of that tedious calculating and writing down the same information you've written down again and again. This sheet lets you grab a pack and go without any fuss.
That's it for now, but I'll be doing further revisions to articles when needed and I'm really looking forward to the new Equipment Guide that will be out soon. I'm quite sure that will provide a wealth of really cool mundane equipment to add to the existing lists.
Enjoy!