Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Physical Copy

[s.j. bagley]

i just got my copy, yesterday, and i'm pretty happy with it.
i haven't had time to finish reading it all the way through, but i've liked what i've read so far.
my only small gripe would be that the artwork is really inconsistent in style, with some illustrations looking ludicrously akin to some sort of 'dragon ball'-esque manga with others looking more similar to wayne reynolds' art.
all in all, though, it's a very small gripe and not anything that really diminishes the quality for me.

 

[freyar]

This is a book? I'm sorry, but it looks and feels to me like a sturdy magazine. A couple of my gaming group were over and took a look at it and the consensus is this is a book only if you really stretch that definition. Put some ads in it and you can easily call it a magazine. In fact I get several magazines that are much thicker.

The price is crazy for what you're getting. As a former Dragon/Dungeon subscriber, I continued my subscriptions through good and bad times because of the value I received. Even at their low points, the mags were worth the money. Dungeon was always worth it, Dragon ebbed and flowed. $19.99 for this? I'm sorry, but if I saw this in a store I'd laugh at the crazy guys who thought they could charge that. My 3.0 splat books cost that. If I'm spending 20 bucks on a module (which is essentially what I consider Pathfinder), then I expect a pretty substantial book to come with that price tag. This strikes me as smaller than most Dungeon/Dragons. I didn't do a page count, but that's my impression.

Wow, I can't believe I'm about to defend a company for it's prices...

To compare this to one of the 3.0 splats, like Defenders of the Faith (I take that's what you mean), Pathfinder is 95-96 pages (not counting covers, judging by my PDF 'cause I'm waiting for my print copy), the same as the 3.0 splats. It's the same quality book or maybe even sturdier (at least if it's like the Dragon Monster Ecologies, which it's supposed to be). And it's the same price. I don't know about page counts, but I'd guess it's comparable to the recent WotC super-adventures by page count.

But value, well, I won't argue that, since it's a personal decision. I'm personally getting the first AP and then evaluating it. Sadly, shelf space will probably be a major factor.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Got mine too!

The good: Fantastic entry level adventure. Well described encounters that provide enough clarity for the reader to actually envision running them. Great narrative DM hints for progressing from one encounter to another, including what probably is necessary to include, and what isn't. Good variety of encounters. Good opportunities for NPC interactions. Plenty of support fluff on the town, and region. Nice professional layout and production quality, with a generous number of original art pieces. New level relevant monsters! Much praise for including the .pdf file...


The bad: s.j bagley's "'dragon ball'-esque manga" description of some of the art is spot on. That may be a good thing for some - for me, I don't need elves with foot long ears. Many proper nouns for NPC's, places etc... seem really derivative and uninspired. There is a semi-pseudo asian flavor for some of the setting material that may contribute to that naming criticism. Overall, the setting material comes off rather vanilla. The setting could be described as a frame for the adventure rather than artwork that stands on its own to be admired. Descriptions of upcoming adventures didn't really grab me.

Solid adventure. 4 of 5 stars from BFG.

 

[Erik Mona]

We were a bit pressed for time on the first volume of Pathfinder, and the artist who bailed us out when another one canceled is most likely the one you guys think looks like Dragon Ball Z. Look for more consistent (and less Dragon Ball Z) art styles in #2 and beyond.

--Erik

 

[Agamon]

We were a bit pressed for time on the first volume of Pathfinder, and the artist who bailed us out when another one canceled is most likely the one you guys think looks like Dragon Ball Z. Look for more consistent (and less Dragon Ball Z) art styles in #2 and beyond.

Hey, as long as the NPCs don't stand and glare and trade insults for 3/4 of the adventure, it's all good!

 

[Zaister]

My physical copy arrived today in Germany. Looks very very good! I was afraid the package might got held up in customs, because it contained both PF #1, the Player's Guide and module D2, for a total of $46.97, which is more than the threshold of 22 €, over which customs fees of about 20% must be paid. However, even though it was processed by customs, fortunately I didn't have to pay anything.

What I find strange is that the customs declaration reads "1 books ($12.99), 3 toys ($33.98)". I wonder why the module is a book while Pathfinder and the Player's Guide are "toys". Hm...

 

[James Jacobs]

The "toys" bit was an error; in the future, they'll all be declared as books.

 

[Zaister]

The "toys" bit was an error; in the future, they'll all be declared as books.

Thanks, James!

 

[Ghendar]

It is a very pretty magazine and I'm glad I have something tangible that I can hold in my hands.

However, the elf picture on page 19 makes me want to vomit and epitomizes everything I despise about modern RPG artwork. In fact, most of the artwork up to Pathfinder's Journal leaves me cold. The Journal and Bestiary artwork is more my taste.

 

[Treebore]

The artwork was fine by me. I don't want "one look" or "one style", the real world has a wide range of looks and style, so I feel that art that conveys a similiar range actually enhances things. Tkae the elf chick for example, other than the foot long ears I know a girl who looks a LOT like that. A LOT!

So I would find a lot of the same look and styles rather boring and bland. As for the naming conventions, well, same can be said for the real world. Same goes for being "Vanilla".

So to me it smacks of a "real world" rather than a totally contrived world.