Ambition, Purpose, and Introductions

Greetings, I am Intanius, though some of you may know me as @nius_v on Twitter.com; which is likely where you first heard of this project. The ambition of which is simple; play Pathfinder 1st edition, Rules as Written, which will henceforth be referred to as RAW. The purpose of playing Pathfinder 1st edition RAW, is threefold, first to see how far one can take Pathfinder without relying on third-party content, the second to see if we can manage to recreate some Classic DnD mechanics in a newer system, and third, to simply play the game as intended. 

You see, while I'd consider my experience in TTRPGs, to be rather long, having played them for going on eight years at this point, and while playing several systems; the fact of the matter is, I never really studied the rules of any system I played or ran extensively. I always relied on other people to remember the rules for me or read snippets here and there; making educated guesses to fill out gaps in my knowledge to aid play. While I had fun, I would argue that it was a "wrong" way to play; my experiences in Pathfinder or 4th edition, or really anything, while interesting; wouldn't be very useful to inform a discussion on any of the aforementioned systems. Despite many years of playing them, I never really understood them; and while I could elect to blame my ignorance on my peers, the reality is that I could've chosen to sit down and learn about anything I've played. I simply elected not to, I was lazy, and that is something I will strive to correct. 

Pathfinder 1st edition was the first system I ever played, and while I have many poor memories associated with it; I've come to realize that the system itself wasn't the problem. Rather, it was just the people I played with. Many of them, didn't know how to play either. We were just dicking around playing our own version, making mistakes. Having fun all the while, but never making full use of what the system had to offer, as such I on a level hope to master that game my younger self should've learned. 

Now with the sappy introduction out of the way, I should explain how this blog will work, and what content I will be using from Pathfinder 1st edition. The blog will be a mix of session reports and my general musings on Pathfinder's various mechanics as well as Dungeon Mastering. The session reports will come from a group of players made up of various Twitter mutuals of mine, as well as the friend who first introduced me to Pathfinder, who was always criticized as being a "Rules Lawyer", I hope to make use of his knowledge to aid me in this endeavor. Besides him, no one else in the group is familiar with Pathfinder. Now for the second point, I will be using content from Pathfinder 1st edition; I will be sticking to the Core Rulebook, The Dungeon Master's Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, and the Bestiaries 1-6. Over time other supplements may be added to flush out the game with necessary mechanics, such as the Kingmaker supplement, however, the reality is quite simple, Pathfinder has many add-ons. Far too many to really explore in a single campaign, and many of those supplements (likely) exist purely for a profit incentive. This is not a critique of Paizo, but rather an understanding that it is a business, and they needed to make money, that is fine, but I will not force myself to read an additional several thousand pages of rules when I could instead run a fun and interesting game. 

With that out of the way, I will just list a few concepts I will be borrowing from the #BROSR, a group of Twitter fellows attempting to create ADnD according to Gygax's vision. The first is 1:1 Timekeeping, the second: Is domain/Patron Play, and three are procedurally generated/open-world content. To quickly elaborate: 1:1 Timekeeping is the notion that each day that passes in the game is equivalent to one day outside of the game. This keeps things moving, keeps people invested, and gives the players time to pursue personal goals outside of the dungeon or "adventure" for lack of better terms. The second point refers to the idea that various NPC characters will be controlled by other people, friends, associates, or really anyone I can get my hands on. Lastly, procedurally generated content refers to the idea of using tables whenever possible to generate content for the players, to create a more dynamic and interesting world that forces the players to be an active force. In short, there will be no central "story" beyond what the players elect to do and pursue. 

If you have any comments or concerns feel free to harass me on Twitter, my @ is @nius_v, thank you for your time, and may you have an excellent day and run an excellent game.