Pathfinder Card Game!

[SpaceLord]

BGG Link

Paizo's official page

The best video overview and gameplay runthrough is definitely by Tox from Crits Happen: Find it here.

My short review:It's definitely not for everyone, but the game is innovative, and fun. One-off adventures can be fine, but playing the campaign makes the game come to life. 8 out of 8 tentacles. I've already played 12+ times, and just got my first set of characters past the first adventure in the "real" RotRL series. To me, this is the game of the year so far.

[SpaceLord]

I received my copy last Monday, and taught myself how to play Monday night, and then played a 3-player game Tuesday night. Last weekend was Tacticon in Denver, and some guys there and I played ten games total. Needless to say, I’ve had lots of fun so far.

Some initial thoughts about the game:

Having only 30 total turns, regardless of player count, is actually a really neat mechanic: Since there’s more players to boost the critical dice rolls of the players, the game timer is shortened. It actually works really well, despite my initial misgivings.

The character progression system is genius, and not as limiting as I’d thought. For example, Levitate might be a so-so spell to keep between adventures, but picking one up during an adventure can be a great advantage. I’m looking forward to getting card feats, and adding more stuff to my characters. I know my Sorceress would give anything to get a 16th card, which would be an attack spell.

I love having a RPG-like system without a need to keep track of life. The cyclical mechanic of the character decks is a good mechanic.

The characters are really different, and useful in their own way:

The fighter’s always-on d4 boost to everyone at his location is great. His ability to recharge weapons means he’s almost always ready for a fight.

The paladin is a damage-absorbing machine. I highly recommend Detect Evil for her.

The bard is the ultimate in versatility. His d4 bard-song ability is very good, but his ability to swap cards discarded is a game-saver.

I’m glad the sorceress and the wizard are really different. The sorceress, while having less than half as many spells as the wizard, can fire spell after spell, with no risk of losing them.

The wizard, on the other hand, should pretty much always have spells in hand. His lack of blessings is strange, but he’s still pretty dang powerful. Watching him clear a magic-heavy location by himself in 2 turns can be pretty cool. His biggest weakness would come when he fails a few times to recharge his spells, so he’ll need some sort of healing help.

The monk, on the other hand, has nearly half his deck full of blessings, and is a chi-focused can of whoop-ass. Finding good blessings to keep between games looks like the key for him.

My favorite so far, though, is the druid. Her d4-to-any-check ability is crazy good, and her ability to roll a d10 for *any* Strength or Dex check is great. Everyone laughs when she finds a treasure chest, “hulks out”, and rips it apart.

[Smoove_B]

Still waiting for my copy to arrive, though in all honesty, there's no rush. Plenty of stuff for me to try and play first.

I pre-ordered through Amazon and they're suggesting it will be here next Thursday. I know there are people on BGG being told 2 months, but my order status hasn't changed in 3 weeks. What was hilarious is that Amazon had the product as unreleased through the weekend and yet popular board gaming vendors were selling the game for $60+ on the Amazon storefront. It would appear as though Paizo delayed copies to Amazon knowing full well they would undercut most of the local and online board gaming vendors. If that's that case...kinda crappy of them, but apparently WotC does the same thing.

Regardless, the reviews seem positive and I'm hoping it's really an RPG simulated in card form.

[hepcat]

My copy is being held up by some preorders, so it may take a few more weeks to get mine. I've debated just cancelling it from my Coolstuff order and picking it up at my FLGS, but to be honest I'm in the same boat as Smoove....a LOT of games to play in the meantime. Hell, I'm just starting to scratch the surface of Robinson Crusoe, and I've still got Darkest Night and its expansion to play. Not to mention Andean Abyss and Duel of Ages II waiting in the wings for a return to the table.

[IceBear]

Yeah I broke down and ordered it from a nearby store as they had it for 25% off but I managed to resist the expansion (though I am regretting it after reading Spacelord's post) but given how our regular game nights are spent playing Edge of the Empire it doesn't make sense buying board/card games that I am not going to play

[Zarathud]

Pathfinder does everything right which I felt Thunderstone did wrong. I was hesitant, but the mechanics really work -- and there's even a mulligan so you don't get screwed on your first hand. It felt like a lite RPG with a nice loot system offset by the timer system. Using your deck as Hit points was a masterful idea. I do think it's a game where you'll want to get it all once you start a campaign.

But I'm still trying to get Terra Mystica on the table from Origins, so there's no hurry.

[baelthazar]

OMG OO is back!

I just posted on GamingTrend about this game, asking a few questions. Now I regret doing so, given I likely won't check back now.

Basically, I wanted to know - how is this game different than just a card-only version of Talisman, Relic, A Touch of Evil, or Runebound? I mean character progression, random draws, and resolving things through die rolls - sounds like it shares a lot with those mechanics. I would love to be told "you are wrong" because I'm very interested in the idea and buzz of this game.

Another thing, is this one fun for solo play? This one might be a hard sell for the wife, although my infrequent gaming and RPG group might like it. But with all the competition, like Cuba Libre, A Distant Plain, and Robinson Crusoe (which I managed to find at my FLGS, but chickened out at the $80 cost), I would want it to make sure it isn't just a mechanical numbers game solo.

Any thoughts?

[Zarathud]

Think of it as a card-driven RPG. I would print up a character sheet because you can level up to permanent bonuses in a campaign mode and carry over only a few new cards.

There is no board, so it's nothing like those other games. Instead, it uses different cards. The cards can be items/allies/bonuses that might be permanent use (as long as you don't take damage) or just a 1-time use. Or they could be traps, creatures or other challenges. So they're either beneficial boons or banes.

Each adventure is a series of locations where you're looking for the villain, but might find henchmen instead. You shuffle in certain combinations of cards (items, allies, events, creatures, etc.) randomly for each adventure based on a preset number of cards found at the locations in that adventure. For example, spells and allies are in the library, but might be behind a closed door (which you can't open, if you're hepcat) or trap. The forest has creatures, and so on.

You flip the timer cards and then announce the location where your character goes, draw a card and resolve the challenge based on a die roll using your character's stats. If you succeed, good stuff happens. If you fail, bad stuff happens. If you fight the villain too soon, they'll run to another location when you beat them.

[hentzau]

I'll chime in on the solo play question here, because Z did a good job of summarizing gameplay.

I did play a solo session of this with Harsk, the dwarven ranger. I got my butt COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY handed to me. I could not beat anything to save my soul, and burned through my deck (aka HP's) in record time. I had only closed out a single location (and that was with a lucky early pull of a henchman) before I was down.

And I loved it. Each character in the game is very unique in strengths and weaknesses. So I came to the quick conclusion that Harsk is NOT cut out for solo work, but it really a great support character (which was proven when we played the game 3 player this weekend and Harsk really shined.

I never play solo games. NEVER. Despite having many games that extremely solo-friendly. This game, though, makes me want to play solo. Try it out again with another character. Learn their strengths and weaknesses. I don't think I'll play through an entire adventure path solo, but I do think I'll follow along with the 3 player "campaign" I have going, and after we defeat a scenario, then try it with a solo character or two.

(One thing that Z did not mention in his description is that the number of locations varies depending on the number of characters you have. If you're running solo, you'll have 3 locations (in the first scenario, the Farmhouse, the Waterfront, and the Wooden Bridge). Two players, add in the Woods. Three players, add in the Academy.

Another thing that may throw some people off is that it is VERY luck-dependent. Because you build the locations out from the entire library of cards, you may get easy monsters, you may get hard, depending on the shuffle. You may get good barriers (like chests) or bad barriers (like locked doors). You make get good items, or you may get great items. Then the shuffle of each location can make it easy or hard on you. Get a lucky location shuffle, you find the henchmen early so you can close down the locations. You have luck in what character encounters what...you a combat monster, and keep encountering things requiring perception or diplomacy? You may have a rough go of it. And finally, you have the luck of the dice. Some days they're going to be on your side, some days they're just going to kick your ass.

The thing that really appeals to me is the permanence of what happens. End of the adventure, all of the survivors gather together and look through the loot they've picked up, in allies, items, weapons, armor and spells. They can freely trade them amongst each other, but you can only keep the number of cards that your character is allowed. Leads to some hard decisions as to what you want to hang onto. And then there's death. When your character dies, he DIES. Loses whatever progress he's been making. Loses that +1 greatsword he picked up in the last adventure. You start with a new character. So if you've nurtured a character through six scenarios, and you suddenly can't draw from your deck, that HURTS. You are allowed to stop a scenario at any time...if your wizard is down to 3 cards in his deck, you have no way of healing, and you don't think he can survive the next encounter, there's nothing stopping you from heading back to the tavern, splitting up the loot, and going back and try it again (with refreshed location decks...those monsters aren't just going to leave those locations unprotected!) You have decisions to make.

Yeah, I'm really liking this game. A lot.

[IceBear]

Man, now I'm regretting not ordering the expansion pack. Guess I'll hold out until there's a second story expansion pack too before I order.

[Smoove_B]

Hentzau -- did you end up printing off the character sheets from Paizo and keeping track of the information on them? I would be amazed if anyone actually wrote on the cards. I also find it hilarious that people have posted on BGG that they've already played like 50+ games and Amazon is suggesting a 1-2 month delivery estimate.

[hentzau]

Hentzau -- did you end up printing off the character sheets from Paizo and keeping track of the information on them? I would be amazed if anyone actually wrote on the cards. I also find it hilarious that people have posted on BGG that they've already played like 50+ games and Amazon is suggesting a 1-2 month delivery estimate.

I did, but I printed them incorrectly. I double sided them, but to have it come out correctly you need to print the first page single sided, then double side all of the other pages. It isn't really obvious until you actually print them out. And even before the sheets I was never planning on writing on the cards, I was thinking about using card sleeves and sharpies to mark up the cards. BTW, we haven't actually reached that point yet where we have to do that. The reward for the first scenario is that every character gets to draw another item from the box to add to their list of possible equipment. I'm not looking ahead at the scenarios, so I can be surprised with what option I can be given. I'm goofy that way.

[coopasonic]

There really needs to be an ignore thread function on this forum. Stop it you bastards!

[Chaz]

Between this and Crusoe, I have almost $200 is games I want, and about $0 that I can spend on games.

[hentzau]

Jooiiinnn uuuussss....

[SpaceLord]

I

Another thing that may throw some people off is that it is VERY luck-dependent. Because you build the locations out from the entire library of cards, you may get easy monsters, you may get hard, depending on the shuffle. You may get good barriers (like chests) or bad barriers (like locked doors). You make get good items, or you may get great items. Then the shuffle of each location can make it easy or hard on you. Get a lucky location shuffle, you find the henchmen early so you can close down the locations. You have luck in what character encounters what...you a combat monster, and keep encountering things requiring perception or diplomacy? You may have a rough go of it. And finally, you have the luck of the dice. Some days they're going to be on your side, some days they're just going to kick your ass.

If I may expound on hentzau’s statement: There’s a lot of luck with your encounters. But the game isn’t totally luck-dependent, like, for instance, Munchkin, which it superficially resembles.

Each location has a 10-card deck created at setup, and contains a mix of monsters, barriers, and “good stuff”: boons. Let’s say my intrepid wizard heads to the Academy, where he walks in the door and runs into a Bugbear. He manages to fend off the beastie, taking a bit of damage in the process. From the location card, I know now that there’s only one other monster in the location, so I now have a 8/9 shot of finding something good instead of a fight to the death. Of course, that one monster could be the villain himself, but that's life.

There’s ways to mitigate this luck as well:

Detect Magic and Detect Evil are both spells that examine the top card of the location deck, where Magic allows you to, for free, encounter a Boon at the top of the deck, and avoid it if it’s a monster or barrier. Detect Evil does the opposite. Both spells are really, really useful to mitigate the flip of a card. The spyglass card lets you look at the top two cards, and arrange them in the order you want. The ranger allows you to scout the top card of your location at the end of your turn, etc.

Just as important, I think, is the decisions you make after you see your location’s card. Each character starts with 15 life points. The spell-casters tend to start the game with 5 or 6 cards, and the fighters have 4. So, at best, each character has 11 “reserve” life points. Every card a player discards is like the footsteps of doom, and you die a little bit more. It’s very tight. You draw/discard to your hand limit at the end of your turn, so, if you use a precious blessing on a teammate, and there’s 3 more party members before your next turn, you’re hampered for a long time, including your own turn. Spells, unlike weapons, cannot be kept in hand. Most of them have a chance to be discarded instead of going back into your deck. You might find a healing potion to shuffle cards back into your deck, but you might roll a 1.

[Chaz]

Jooiiinnn uuuussss....

I welcome donations to the Chaz Game Fund/Collection. PM me for details.

[SpaceLord]

There really needs to be an ignore thread function on this forum. Stop it you bastards!

Coop, you wanted a RPG for a 7-year old? Although this isn't a RPG by the classic definition, it'd probably be fun:

You don't need to prepare an adventure.
It's a *great* solo game. I recommend playing with 3 characters solo, it's not too difficult.
You can cooperate. And level up together.

[coopasonic]

[Boudreaux]

Man, I'm considering selling off my two D&D adventure games (Ashardalon/Drizzt) to help pay for this. I'm hearing nothing but great things about it. Why am I thinking about Pathfinder to play with my kids when we've barely scratched the surface of Descent 2ed? I am clearly messed up.

[SpaceLord]

Hey, worst-case-scenario, you could learn in 2 1/2 months when I come down to BGG con...

[SpaceLord]

Hell, I'm just starting to scratch the surface of Robinson Crusoe, and I've still got Darkest Night and its expansion to play. Not to mention Andean Abyss and Duel of Ages II waiting in the wings for a return to the table.

And Pax!
And how many times have you played Through the Ages?
Personally, I'm done buying games until Essen, when the Suburbia expansion comes out.

[Chaz]

Man, I'm considering selling off my two D&D adventure games (Ashardalon/Drizzt) to help pay for this. I'm hearing nothing but great things about it. Why am I thinking about Pathfinder to play with my kids when we've barely scratched the surface of Descent 2ed? I am clearly messed up.

I just contacted my FLGS to see about trading in a handful of games to hopefully fund either Pathfinder or Robinson Crusoe. Or both!

[Zarathud]

This is why you game with friends rather than solo. Hepcat and seppe buy 1/2 of what I'd like to buy, and most of the other games I'd like to play.

[Chaz]

Nobody lives near me in the boonies. And the guys I game with when I get to have young kids, so their budgets are even less new-game-friendly than mine.

[hentzau]

Came across this scenario on BGG...sounds like a fun variant scenario! I'm going to give it a try tonight!

Uninvited Guests Adventure (working title)

Scenario #1: Zombies?

Players Locations #Allies to defeat to win
1 Town Square
1 The Rusty Dragon
1 General Store 8
2 Glassworks 10
3 Academy 12
4 Waterfront 14
5 Sandpoint Cathedral 16
6 Village House 18

As night falls the people of Sandpoint begin to transform. With no warning people’s eyes glaze over and they begin attacking, each assaulted citizen turning into a mindless zombie. Or are they? Father Zantus disagrees with the zombie hypothesis and believes the citizens of Sandpoint are under a spell. As you watch the Good Father’s eyes glaze over and he moves to attack. Defeat the brainwashed citizens of Sandpoint without hurting them, and return normalcy to the town.

Villain: None
Henchmen: Mayor Kendra Deverin, Father Zantus, Sheriff Hemlock, Ameiko Kaijitsu, Shalelu Andosana, Isoari Ganethus, Ven Vinder, Aldern Foxglove

During this Scenario

1. Replace all monster cards with Ally cards

2. When encountering an Ally use the higher check value as the combat value for that Ally. Allies require a combat check to defeat, using their highest Check to Acquire value as their Check to Defeat value.

3. Place defeated allies in a separate Subdued Ally Pile. Do not banish them or place them in your hand

4. Pulling your punches:
- Subtract 1 from each die you roll when fighting an ally.
- Do not use any skill bonuses when fighting an ally. You may play cards to get extra dice, but ignore anything that adds a bonus
- Use all other weapon/spell/blessing/bonus cards as normal

5. Herding the townsfolk: When you close a location search the location deck and randomly distribute any remaining allies to the other locations and shuffle them into the deck.

6. Named Allies: Defeated named allies return to the box, and do not go to the subdued ally pile. When you defeat a named ally you may immediately attempt to close that location.

If a character draws a named ally in their hand (it is part of their deck) they immediately encounter that named ally. If they defeat the named ally they may attempt to close their current location deck and the ally is set beside their discard pile (you get them back after the scenario). If the named ally is undefeated or evaded they are shuffled back into the character’s deck.

Victory: Subdue X allies or close all locations to break the spell and save the people of Sandpoint. (X=value in the location table)

Reward: Each character selects one random character from the subdued ally pile.

Think I'm going to give this one a whirl tonight solo.

Original link.

[coopasonic]

This is why you game with friends rather than solo. Hepcat and seppe buy 1/2 of what I'd like to buy, and most of the other games I'd like to play.

The only guy I game with doesn't even have a damn job! I need all of chicago to move to Dallas... though really you seem to play deeper games than I do, no ideas where you find the time.

Hey, worst-case-scenario, you could learn in 2 1/2 months when I come down to BGG con...

...and after meeting you I am $100+ into Android: Netrunner. Hanabi was really cheap at least.

[Isgrimnur]

The only guy I game with doesn't even have a damn job!

I'm working on that. And my right to represent as it pertains to your employer expires on Friday.

[malichai11]

We actually have our own world that we were building the game for, but when Mike had his prototype ready, we basically realized we had made a perfect game for Pathfinder, so we approached them and then a year later, boom, there it was.

Our own intellectual property version of the game (a modern day, urban fantasy horror setting) should come out next year, and I hope y'all buy it too. It'll be distinctly different, mechanically, than Pathfinder, while still having the base of being a cooperative game where your actions from week to week matter and your characters grow in power.

[coopasonic]

That's awesome and now I *have* to buy it, right?

[malichai11]

That's awesome and now I *have* to buy it, right?

You gotta do it. It's supporting an OO brethren, man. I don't think you have a choice.

[hentzau]

So basically we can ask questions here and get answers straight from the horse's mouth?

[malichai11]

So basically we can ask questions here and get answers straight from the horse's mouth?

I'd be happy to answer questions, but I'm not really the most qualified person. I just provided the basic idea (which wasn't really revolutionary, we just happened to beat everyone to market) and paid for the development. The true genius was Mike Selinker, who took my basic idea and made a truly amazing game out of it. I highly recommend Boardgamegeek, I know that Mike watches there for rules questions.

[coopasonic]

Watched a couple videos last night including the preview on watch it played with the designer. Ordered. Bastards.

[hentzau]

[malichai11]

Watched a couple videos last night including the preview on watch it played with the designer. Ordered. Bastards.

Thank you so much! Your patronage is appreciated.

[Buatha]

It's on my Buy List, but I need to get over the $100 hump for free shipping at CoolStuffInc. I hate paying for shipping that amounts to the Character Add-On pack.

[coopasonic]

It's on my Buy List, but I need to get over the $100 hump for free shipping at CoolStuffInc. I hate paying for shipping that amounts to the Character Add-On pack.

Yeah, my wish list is completely wiped out now. I had to add some YuGiOh cards my son has been begging for to go free. I may actually have to go to my FLGS for the netrunner expansions now.

[$iljanus]

After reading various references to this game in the "what boardgame did you play..." thread I just had to start reading reviews and video replays on this game. The fact that it's touted as a great solo game was the last nail in the coffin and now I'm ordering it. Well I hope it's a good gateway for my 6 yr old to get further into daddy's gaming world. That's my justification for buying this of course.

[Buatha]

The best gateway game for us has been Castle Panic. A very good, cooperative game to teach some simple strategy.

Actually, I bought the expansion for it to pad out my order with Netrunner from CoolStuff