Adventures in Pathfinder 001

Recently, (beginning of January) I've started running a Pathfinder campaign with my three brothers. The setting is a culmination of ideals reaped from my brother and I almost 17 years ago. We didn't have a name for the world when we began but after we had drawn out a highly detailed map on a sheet of 24x44 hex grid I had found at my local gaming store. This was really the second time the two of us bitter rivals had ever done anything collaborative. This was the first time we bonded over anything! So when I looked back at what the two of us children had accomplished, one thing stuck in my head.

"It was a wonder that the two of us had not killed each other before we finished."

That thought had sealed it. This new creation spawned from my desire to create and my brothers joy in creating would be called "Wonderland!" Too bad that title had already been taken by an amazing story written by Lewis Carroll. Being the crafty teen, I thought about if I ever had someone else look at it of if, in some far off chance, I had the idea published; I would want people to see the title and think:

"Now that's odd, I wonder what's in it."

So Wünderland was born.

You can only imagine the shear chaos that two young teenagers could have crafted when deprived of sleep and fueled on caffeine and sugar. Well, that's all I can do as well. You see I've moved over ten times since that creation of this magical realm. The last time I saw my beloved map it was held together by tape and spit, folded in the corner of some book, tucked away in a random box hidden in some storage facility somewhere in California. Only the gods truly knows if that thing has survived all these years. However, all is not lost. I have a wonderful imagination and it's helped me to recreate some of the insanity. Before I give away too much of the chewy goodness allow me to digress to the table.

So, I gather my three younger brothers (8, 17, 29). For the sake of anonymity we'll call them Twiggy, Tweeky, & Tony (from youngest to oldest). Twiggy was thrilled to be at the table and doing something with his brothers, let alone create another character. Tweeky didn't have anything else to do at the moment. While Tony was thrilled just to have the opportunity to get to level 5. After seeing all us boys sitting around and gabbing about so much nothing, I asked if my daughters would like to join in. The baby -3, Princess -10, and Monkey -12 said sure, why not?

All of us set upon creating our merry band of adventurers.

• Orim the Silvertongue. A Human Transmuter Wizard prince, physically stronger and financially wealthier than the rest of the party members and chock full of spell goodness.
• Torval. An Elven miner who had been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. The Party's tank with a spiked chain as well as the oldest character in the bunch (helmed by the youngest player -Twiggy).
• Firbron. An Elven outcast and confident sniper. This rogue would later prove to be the highest damage dealer in the group.
• Caderayc. A half-Orc Red Dragon blooded Sorcerer who is the black sheep of the group. Not only is he the only evil character but he's also the lowest level and the youngest in the group.
• Fluffy. A most peculiar Gnomish Barbarian merchant. I know, but Monkey really wanted to be a merchant, and to be honest the ideal of a pint sized, frothing, mauve haired monster literally jumping into battle with a sword twice her size seems funny to me.
• Pinky. The Bastard half-Elven adopted sister of Orim Witch of Life. Not very combat savvy but she filled the faithful role of healer dutifully.

So we six and a half (the baby sat in my lap and played with my dice, markers, papers, tokens, and books) embarked on the greatest endeavor I would ever embark upon. I've never gamed with any one under the age 11 before.

For our first session Tweeky wasn't present (later on Tweeky and Twiggy would be interchangeable and rarely present at the same time). We started innocently enough. Everyone had not known each other but were brought together by disaster as a mine shaft had collapsed, trapping a number of the local miners as the PC's had passed thru for the night. So Orim, Pinky, Fluffy, Firbron & Torval run to the rescue and get swept into a wild dungeon crawl as they discover a next of humanoid fungus trying to procreate Alien "chest burster" style. After defeating countless mushroom pygmies and spiders the group came out champions only to discover an unruly earth elemental making a dilapidated manor it's home at the other end of the tunnel.

The second adventurer and the arrival of Caderayc involved exploring this two story manor and uncovering it's secrets. Behind one of the many locked doors the party found an unconscious half-Orc subdued by roots. The whole room was covered in moss, weeds and various plants. Low and behold the plants were all carnivorous and hungry. By the graces of the gods of the polyhedrons the party survived and Orim claimed ownership over the young bastard Orcs life.

So now we're on our fifth adventure and seven levels in (we fast tracked the game) and the meta plots to the world at large are beginning to take form. Only a few of the player are catching on -ok so it's just me and Tony who knows what's in store, but I'm fine with that. All from level one to level seven we've all had a ball. There were a few false starts, and a couple of rules faux pas but we're all better for it.

We've all had a chance to preview the wonderful work Paizo has done with the game and come up with some ideal of were we would like our characters to end up. With the exception of Torval and Caderayc, everyone has a pet on the table (I took the Leadership feat and added 5 loyal followers and a cohort to his entourage)

• Orim the Silvertongue. Now a dual-wielding Transmuter Wizard/Fighter on his way to be an Eldritch knight. Combining his masterful sword skills and well timed spells into an unstoppable force.
• Torval. The pinnacle spiked chain enthusiast able to drop any foe to their knees. (A fighter thru and thru)
• Firbron. Part Sniper Rogue and part Summoner able to create the best environment to roll the most dice on the table.
• Caderayc. A Red Dragon blooded Sorcerer/Monk on a path to manifest his Dragon half in the Dragon Disciple prestige class
• Fluffy. A Barbarian/Druid, ardent defender of all things living.
• Pinky. A Witch/Bard with aspirations on the Loremaster prestige class.

I can't wait to see what happens next.

Before I sign out I'd like to leave with a few comments about the Paizo's "Pathfinder" Fantasy Role-playing Game. I LOVE IT. It's surpassed all my hang-ups I had with previous renditions and even kept the excitement rolling well past third level. There are tons of options for character creation and with the Player Companion series and the Advanced Player's Guide those options just quadrupled. I've found all my material from the previous system is still useful (with some minor tweaking or rewriting). As a Game Master the mechanics are a lot simpler. Making a monster tougher is as easy as adding two to every die roll. Sweet! As a player I am constantly amazed with what my character can do with his next level.

Every class has an attack option. Spellcasters can now cast small 1d4 spells as often as they like -sure it doesn't do much but when you're out of more powerful spells that ranged-touch attack is helpful. A great trick when you play a class that most people think of as back of the line support.