A Pathfinder Roleplaying Game blog
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Hiatus
As I am the process of getting settled in my new home, Finding the Path is going on hiatus. I am not sure how long this will last, but it will be probably around a month at the least.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tools of the Trade Part 2
Sorry about the massive delay in posting. My vacation has turned into full blown moving after receiving a job offer up in South Dakota. But enough about my personal life, on to what you people come here for.
Terrain (continued)
So last time, I praised the Heroscape terrain. Now, as I said, Heroscape terrain works best for outdoor environments, so what to use for the great indoors? Well, there's a few options, all of them good. You could just use the Heroscape terrain, like I usually do.
Option 2 is Gaming Paper. Gaming paper is essentially a non-laminated non-erasable battlemat. It comes in rolls that are 12' by 30". And here's the big selling point. It's only 4 bucks a roll. Pretty good deal. Yes, it could be a bit of a pain that you can't erase it. But on the other hand, you can save any map you draw on it. Perhaps you may revisit that location.
Moving on, we have the traditional gaming mat. Easy to use, wet-erase, reusable, they have become a must-have for many DMs. Don't think there's much to say here. Be sure to shop around to find 1 for your needs and price range.
Finally, we have dungeon tiles and poster maps. Dungeon tiles are a pretty neat concept. A bunch of tiles you can put together to build your own dungeon. However, I find them to be more trouble than they are worth. They slide around and they are never punched out exactly right. Poster maps are great. They always have great art, and you never have to worry about the scale being off. However, the 3rd or 4rth time you use the same one, it kinda breaks immersion.
Dice
Ah, dice. They can be an addiction. I've even heard them referred to as gamer crack. The set of dice I've used for the past 3 years are Crystal Caste Dwarven Metal dice. They're pricey and I probably spent way to much on them, but I love them. Crystal Caste also has their unique Crystal Dice. Most of my players use Chessex dice. Gamescience has the technically best dice you will find anywhere ever. And Q-Workshop has the coolest looking dice I've ever seen.
Coming soon: the introduction to the Walmart inspired dungeon!
Terrain (continued)
So last time, I praised the Heroscape terrain. Now, as I said, Heroscape terrain works best for outdoor environments, so what to use for the great indoors? Well, there's a few options, all of them good. You could just use the Heroscape terrain, like I usually do.
Option 2 is Gaming Paper. Gaming paper is essentially a non-laminated non-erasable battlemat. It comes in rolls that are 12' by 30". And here's the big selling point. It's only 4 bucks a roll. Pretty good deal. Yes, it could be a bit of a pain that you can't erase it. But on the other hand, you can save any map you draw on it. Perhaps you may revisit that location.
Finally, we have dungeon tiles and poster maps. Dungeon tiles are a pretty neat concept. A bunch of tiles you can put together to build your own dungeon. However, I find them to be more trouble than they are worth. They slide around and they are never punched out exactly right. Poster maps are great. They always have great art, and you never have to worry about the scale being off. However, the 3rd or 4rth time you use the same one, it kinda breaks immersion.
Ah, dice. They can be an addiction. I've even heard them referred to as gamer crack. The set of dice I've used for the past 3 years are Crystal Caste Dwarven Metal dice. They're pricey and I probably spent way to much on them, but I love them. Crystal Caste also has their unique Crystal Dice. Most of my players use Chessex dice. Gamescience has the technically best dice you will find anywhere ever. And Q-Workshop has the coolest looking dice I've ever seen.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
On vacation
So no post this week. So go check out the blogs I'm following. Seriously. They actually have useful info and I don't yet.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tools of the Trade Part 1
Well, short on time this week, so here's one of those generic tools of the trade posts everyone seems to do.
DM Screen
I know plenty of DMs like to roll their dice in the open. I, however, usually don't. Not to hide rolls so much as to hide notes. I use the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen. Honestly, I don't reference what is printed on it much. Most of that info is already burned into my brain. However, I do usually have adventure notes printed out and paper clipped to it.
Terrain
Battlemats are great. Be they the do-it-yourself kind or the beautifully-done pre-illustrated ones, they make gaming with miniatures a breeze. However, I usually use Heroscape tiles for my terrain. I love the customization you can do with them. Yes, they are a hex grid instead of squares, but I honestly find that to be easier. No diagonals to worry about and circular spell areas fit better. I'll admit, the Heroscape tiles work best for large outdoor enviornments, but they can work for indoors to. When this was still fairly new I picked up the first master set for around $40, and an online search turns it up anywhere form $32 to $50 now, so it's a pretty good investment for some cheap 3d terrain. Not to mention the master sets come with several miniatures that you can use as long as you aren't overly concerned with scale (they're slightly larger than D&D minis). So here's some examples of what you can do with Heroscape terrain:
DM Screen
I know plenty of DMs like to roll their dice in the open. I, however, usually don't. Not to hide rolls so much as to hide notes. I use the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen. Honestly, I don't reference what is printed on it much. Most of that info is already burned into my brain. However, I do usually have adventure notes printed out and paper clipped to it.
Terrain
Battlemats are great. Be they the do-it-yourself kind or the beautifully-done pre-illustrated ones, they make gaming with miniatures a breeze. However, I usually use Heroscape tiles for my terrain. I love the customization you can do with them. Yes, they are a hex grid instead of squares, but I honestly find that to be easier. No diagonals to worry about and circular spell areas fit better. I'll admit, the Heroscape tiles work best for large outdoor enviornments, but they can work for indoors to. When this was still fairly new I picked up the first master set for around $40, and an online search turns it up anywhere form $32 to $50 now, so it's a pretty good investment for some cheap 3d terrain. Not to mention the master sets come with several miniatures that you can use as long as you aren't overly concerned with scale (they're slightly larger than D&D minis). So here's some examples of what you can do with Heroscape terrain:
This is one of the scenario maps with the original master set.
This is one of the maps buildable with the newest master set. Yes, those are Drow, this is a D&D themed set. By the way what you see there is every terrain piece in that set. If memory serves correctly, the only mini missing is the black dragon. Not a bad deal for $20.
Lord of the Rings, anyone?
Ok, a note on the next few pictures. These are made with who-knows-how-many different sets combined, and you'd have to spend stupid amounts of money to recreate them, but they are pretty awe-inspiring.
Well, I've got to run, so part 2 coming soon.
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All of these images were taken from various sources via a Google image search. To find out where they came from right-click and select properties. Those people own and have whatever applicable rights to the images.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
In the beginning...
...there was wargaming. From this came a ruleset called Chainmail, developed in part by a man by the name of Gary Gygax. Him and another man, Dave Arneson, worked together to create a new ruleset, one in which the players took control of individuals, rather than units of troops. This, in time, became known as the much beloved game, Dungeons & Dragons. From our beloved D&D eventually came another game. Not quite new, since it took the main concepts of the 3.5 edition of the game and refined them, but different enough for it to stand alone: thus the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game was born. This blog will mainly deal with that game.
My name is David Slade, and I have been playing the Pathfinder RPG for over a year now, since the final version was initially released. I have been playing D&D 3.5 edition since 2006. So, yes, compared to most of the D&D or Pathfinder bloggers out there, I am a relative newcomer to the hobby. However, I think I have knowledge to impart to the blogosphere that someone may find useful. So to start out, here's a little about myself.
I am from North Texas, and as I have already noted, do not have a lot of experience (relatively speaking) with tabletop rpgs. I served for nearly 3 years in the United States Air Force, which is where I first got into rpgs. I have served as the primary DM for my roleplaying group since August of 2007, and nearly every one of my players were introduced to the hobby by me (only 3 weren't, one of which is my wife.) I have thus far DMed or co-DMed 4 different campaigns, and am in the process of planning a new one, which will be the first in a homebrewed setting for my group.
Some things to look forward to on this blog:
*Ok, so it seems I can't do that according to the GSL.
My name is David Slade, and I have been playing the Pathfinder RPG for over a year now, since the final version was initially released. I have been playing D&D 3.5 edition since 2006. So, yes, compared to most of the D&D or Pathfinder bloggers out there, I am a relative newcomer to the hobby. However, I think I have knowledge to impart to the blogosphere that someone may find useful. So to start out, here's a little about myself.
I am from North Texas, and as I have already noted, do not have a lot of experience (relatively speaking) with tabletop rpgs. I served for nearly 3 years in the United States Air Force, which is where I first got into rpgs. I have served as the primary DM for my roleplaying group since August of 2007, and nearly every one of my players were introduced to the hobby by me (only 3 weren't, one of which is my wife.) I have thus far DMed or co-DMed 4 different campaigns, and am in the process of planning a new one, which will be the first in a homebrewed setting for my group.
Some things to look forward to on this blog:
- Details of my new homebrewed world
- Various NPC's and villains to steal for your own game
- At least a couple of new monsters
And hopefully a guide to converting monsters, and maybe even entire adventures from D&D 4E to Pathfinder (I have done so for my own games, but I need to look over WotC's policy so they don't shut me down)*
*Ok, so it seems I can't do that according to the GSL.
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