Starting a new PF campaign at my college, but with minimal physical equipment.

[AnonymousPepper]

So I went off to college and decided to start a Pathfinder game because I frankly miss D&D and thought it'd be neat. Problem is, I don't have any physical resources. I had to order a 6-pack of 7-piece sets myself just to be sure everyone had dice, for goodness' sakes. I'm working with what I can, I can print off character sheets and relevant PDF pages, but I'm likely to have to run theater of the mind.

Also, there's likely to be several new players at the table - not sure, haven't started recruiting yet, but it's very likely. I'm expecting anywhere between 3 and 5 players. I'm here for the next fifteen months, running weekly likely, so I expect to reach mid levels at least.

I think I would want to stick to an adventure path for this one, both to cater to the newer players and to save me prep time since I am a full time student and all. But I need recommendations.

What AP would be best for my given constraints? Newer players, works well in theater of the mind, well-designed, has provisions to go into high levels?

I'd like a couple of recs in case any of my players turn out to be vets and have played one or two paths before.

[Palanan]

Your college probably has a print shop, so it might be worth seeking that out and comparing prices with your local copy store. I print out B&W battlemaps that I've found online and modified for my encounters, and that helps with combat and establishing the environment.

As for APs, they're all designed to reach high levels, and for a new group I'd say you can't go wrong with Rise of the Runelords. It's a little silly with the goblins to start with, but once the AP gets going it's a ton of fun. Some sections are very dungeon-crawly, so there's that classic D&D feel to it.

[exelsisxax]

I think palanan has the right of it with Rise of the Runelords. It's rather straightforward and easy.

Is there a reason you are set on a published AP? They're theoretically simpler to run, unless your players get slightly off the rails and 3 sessions later you realize that the rest of the AP is worthless nonsense now. If you have brand-new players I would actually suggest you do a one-shot or other very short campaign, even one you come up with, as a better introduction to the game.

Really all you need are dice, writing implements, and character sheets. Any other physical item is on your end and optional because the entire game ruleset is available online at 3(or 2 if the SRD got pulled again) places.

[Algeh]

You don't have to do theatre of the mind just because you don't have much in the way of stuff. When I was in college and pretty broke, I went to the dollar store and got several "playsets" of assorted plastic figurines and farm animals. Sure, they didn't have anything to do with the campaign I was running, but remembering that so-and-so's character was the blue cowboy, so-and-so's character was the green army man, and the plasstic cow attacking them was actually a minotaur was still easier than resolving arguments about where everybody was in the room.

For times when we didn't need a battlemat (when we needed a battlemat I'd printed out a bunch of paper hexmaps and just drew on them as needed, but my college at the time did not charge for printing), I'd draw a sketch of the space on a whiteboard. My college let student groups book various campus spaces for free, and they had some pretty nice "boardrooms" set up with a big oval table and a whiteboard that no one else was ever using on Friday nights (I think they were mostly used for various faculty meetings and such during the work week). You might see if you can use a similar space since they're often available evenings and weekends and pretty ideal for gaming with 6-8 people.

[Geddy2112]

In the digital age, you can get by with just tablets and computers, including using excel or dice rolling web portals/apps/etc. If you have a tablet you can draw on that works for maps, or if your tech savvy make them on your own beforehand. I like a whiteboard and dice and just a good dry erase mat to make for combat mats.

[AnonymousPepper]

For one, my level of broke cannot be overstated. Those dice just about broke the bank - but if you're playing in person, I feel like not having physical dice is some level of sacrilege.

For another, I have experience running theater-of-the-mind from Shadowrun, where the distances are just too great in many cases to be run on tabletop, so it's a good fit.

If the group rolls off the rails, I'm an experienced enough GM to improvise from that, though. I'm not a new GM by any stretch. Groups leaving the story in the dust is a feature, not a bug. :smallamused:

That said, I wanted to run an AP entirely because if they stay on the story, it's a lot less prep time for a time-starved college student.

Runelords it is, unless someone's got another idea.

[Elkad]

If you want a board.

Pull a whiteboard off a wall.
You can just measure distances instead of a grid.

Or go to the local newspaper and ask for a couple roll-ends. They usually will just give them away, and that's hundreds of feet of clean newsprint to draw on. Don't go to the front door, find the dock where the guys in work dungarees with ink on their hands are standing around smoking.

Use pieces from anything for tokens. Dollar store bag of dinosaurs, monopoly parts, coins, whatever.

[Jack_Simth]

If you want a board.

Pull a whiteboard off a wall.
You can just measure distances instead of a grid.
Could also put a grid on it via a yardstick and a dry-erase marker.

[BassoonHero]

Does your college have an RPG club? They might have some resources available.

[AnonymousPepper]

Does your college have an RPG club? They might have some resources available.

Nah. Very small tech school.

[aimlessPolymath]

With the power of bad clipart, I can show you how to print your own tokens.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zRmDovz2DBDY6jUzp3GjRmip5YXth4PXhU8XJtB5DHo/edit?usp=sharing