Dungeons and Dragons and Separation Anxiety: Part 2
So what is Pathfinder? Is it a
barbarian flick that
came out a few years back? Well, yes. Let me be more specific. What is The
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game? Let me tell you all about it.
The path to Pathfinder all started way back when the magazines
Dungeon and
Dragon stopped getting published under
Paizo. They now have new, purely digital incarnations over at the
Wizards of the Coast site, but it is just not the same if you don't
have a physical copy. Paizo got some major dough from these publications
while they were still in print. At least they were given a major heads up
before the product was pulled out from under them. What they did the
following month was a magazine called
Pathfinder. What they do with this magazine is much like they did in
Dungeon, where each issue would include a new adventure that was the next
part of a series. After six issues you would have a full campaign and they
start a new one the next issue. There are also supplementary articles like
those found in either Dungeon or Dragon, covering topics like classes,
race, feats, skills, etc. For this magazine they made up a completely new
campaign setting. So for the void that the lack of Dungeon and Dragon has
left, there is Pathfinder to fill the gap. They also have something far
more clever up their sleeves as well.
The Pathfinder RPG is a
completely new handbook that is not a venture into 4th edition D&D but
instead back into the depths of 3rd edition. The OGL
(Open Gaming
License) is a little clause that Wizard put up with 3rd edition that
basically states "You can use all of these rules and stuff, just not our
most iconic and only from the first three books". It was a beautiful
little thing that let all kind of independent publishers create
supplemental material for your 3rd edition books and they could make money
off of it legitimately. The GSL
(Gaming System
License) on the other hand, is much more restrictive and could
potentially lead to some fines.
What does this all have to do with Separation Anxiety?
Many players out there love 3rd edition D&D. Love it. They see no
reason to change it into a table-top game that plays like a video game
only it is less convenient and more expensive. A video game can't
reproduce 3rd edition. Not yet anyway. The Pathfinder RPG satisfies the
need for those who can't bear to part away from 3rd edition. Pathfinder
supplies them new material with old rules that have only been tweaked,
balanced, and streamlined instead of completely thrown away for something
totally different. It is "aimed at dispelling confusion from the table
without sacrificing versatility". Their words, not mine.
The best part about all of this? It's completely free.
FREE.
Click the link above and go to their website. Download the 162-page
book. Look at Wayne Reynolds's beautiful art. It is a crime if you don't.
You might notice that it says "ALPHA" on the cover. That's because
Paizo considers this the first phase of testing for this new book. They're
releasing this material so that people can play it, go to their forums and
make suggestions on how to make it better. Anyone can do this. You can
help develop this game.
The Alpha phase has been going on since March 2007. They are actually
really close to going into the Beta phase of testing, which will go on for
a full year. The Beta will be a new book that's 408 pages long, and
includes tons of new material and lots of revisions to what has already
been featured. You know the best part of the Beta? It's free too. FREE!
When the Beta is finally released, you can buy a
softcover edition for twenty-five bucks, which I plan on doing. I
honestly think if it wasn't free, I wouldn't be so inclined to invest into
something like this. They've been too good to their fans to release all of
this stuff for free. We have to give something back to them. Think of it
like this; if you buy a softcover edition of this book, you've just bought
one of these hard working game developers dinner at a fancy restaurant.
How kind of you.
By the time August 2009 rolls around, they'll have a
final
version of Pathfinder out that comes in a hardcover book that's 560
pages that can cost you about fifty bucks. This is a fully functioning
game all within one massive book that is the culmination of two years of
testing with players that have already been playing it for eight years
before that. Pathfinder is what a decade of 3rd edition has been building
up to and it is free.
If you're really don't want to shell out the fifty bucks, I imagine
they'll have a softcover edition of the final version that will still only
cost twenty-five.
If you have any interest in 3rd edition D&D, you have to download this
book.
-Nick L.
