Pathfinder 2e - First Session

Game Date: 9/29/2019

Earlier this year I played a couple of the playtests for Pathfinder 2nd Edition.  This was my first time playing the actual game.  There were eight of us in the group, mostly using pregens.  Because of the large group (a couple of whom were really great at hamming it up), there was a lot of time between turns and I really didn't end up doing much.  But we all had a great time and we learned a bit about the new edition.

The session started with a town meeting.  We were told that the town sage had been kidnapped by an Ogre, who was taking him to speak to Hannar, a former town citizen.  We accepted the plot hook and headed toward the Ogre's cave.  On the winding trail up the mountain, we fought the Ogre and his companions.

After the battle, the party Rogue was suffering from centipede poison, and we spent many turns trying to heal him.  We located the sage and untied him.  Investigating the area, we found a ritualistic circle of rocks, and played around until Hannar teleported in.  He ordered the sage to tell him the truth about his birth.

The sage revealed that Hannar was a real Son of a Witch (well, Hag), and Hannar threatened to destroy the town.  Our bard tried using diplomacy, and it was super effective!  The bard convinced Hannar to see the error of his ways.  It was a nice change of pace to avoid a boss combat this way.

It was a short session, so there wasn't much there to judge the game on.  However, I have read through the Player's Handbook.  I'll go over my thoughts in a future blog, but overall I think it has some great ideas.  Some of the rules are a bit too complicated for my tastes, and so far I prefer the simplicity of D&D 5e.

But it was nice getting to throw down some dice again; I don't get to play nearly enough these days.

My Fantasy D&D Group

I hear this question asked a lot: “What is your dream D&D group?  If you could play a campaign with any six people, who would you choose?”  Now, most people go over the list of known celebrities who play D&D, which includes such notables as Vin Diesel, Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, Joe Manganiello, Judy Dench (seriously), and so on.

Other people would pick genre-specific celebrities, as in, people who are only famous in D&D circles, and/or famous specifically for playing D&D.  For example, Matt Mercer, the DM of the Critical Role web series.  Or any of the current D&D designers, like Chris Perkins or Jeremy Crawford.  If it’s a “living or dead” type of question, then they might go with D&D’s original creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Still other people might pick celebrities who have nothing to do with D&D, but who have skills that would bring something to the table.  How cool would it be to have your favorite cartoon voice actor as the DM, so they could do different voices for each character?  Or how about one of history’s greatest military generals, known for their unconventional battle tactics?  And how scary would it be to play a horror themed game run by a great storyteller like Stephen King or Clive Barker?

But for myself?  My dream D&D game would be all my closest friends.  My best friend from college, who lives too far away now.  My best friend from high school, who is so busy with family now that he can’t commit to a regular game schedule.  My best friend from junior high, who thinks D&D is boring.  My best friend from elementary school, who always thought D&D was a tool of the devil.  My best online friends, who prefer video games to pencil-and-paper.  And of course my best DM friend, who lives close by and runs games regularly, but who unfortunately doesn’t tend to like the same RPGs that I do.

They all have their own lives, and I’m happy for them.  I wouldn’t want to change them for the world, or do anything that takes away from their own interests and pursuits.  But if, in a parallel world, I could put all these people in a D&D group together, that would be the perfect game.