adventure recipes to quickly outline an adventure based on your chosen theme. their motivations should all work toward your theme, but they might have different goals and act more as of what theyre fighting against in addition to the horror of rivals or enemies. encountering her to tell shes an orcjust to discern specific information about her. You can adjust the end of an adventure is a cliffhanger. Just keep in mind that things might change in play. As changes occur, revisit the end point youve imagined. In the last each day pretty quickly.example, youd likelytell them which of the You might need to have the group Subsist if they run outdeitys aspects is missing of food, and you might want to include some encounterswithout another Religion if theyre in a dangerous area. Check in anytime the PCs tell me what should happen here? If a PC really wants an an equal amount of accomplishment XP. It also helps to train your players to look things up in advance if they think theyll need them, so This can be more of a challenge when asking for PC theyre ready to go when their turns come around. A Recap the basics of the campaign you established victorious ending warrants celebration! IDEA FARM In this approach, one of your biggest jobs is asking Coming up with ideas for a campaign can sometimes feel questions or giving prompts. A recurring character interesting or promote them if the PCs like them more is especially strong if they appear in similar than expected. players Perception modifier, their saving throw modifiers (especially Will), and the skill modifiers of any skills they Does something already established in our story so far often use to Recall Knowledge.

stop them before they intrude into someone elses. Or, if you think it would be better, you can adapt encounters. It Adventure Design (page 40) includes tools for building can be memorable to end with a cliffhangera moment so your own adventures. Even if These frameworks offer guidelines for the number of youre building an enclosed dungeon, you dont want to sessions and types of encounters that work best. Well, all the enemies are 11Gamemastery Guide SETTING THE SCENE AD HOC BONUSES AND PENALTIES When an encounter begins, spend a moment to describe the location if you havent already. If an NPC is betraying the partyMETAGAMING in some way, lay groundwork early on so the players dont feel ambushed by the twist. If something about the extremists cause is justsuch as Savvy enemies have strong connections to the PCs. The simplest path is to just allow a clear escape route the PCs can takeperhaps with a few characters still falling along the way. You can pick Sometimes, though, the PCs must defend their own base an equivalent monster level for your terrain and factor thatfrom intruders. Demonstrate the ruthlessness of the enemy, especially the discrepancy between their care for their cause and their SubsystemsRoleplaying Encounters 2 battles of wits, 1 grand ball, ambivalence or hatred toward everything else. down and give more description when youre establishing Shift the passage of time to emphasize tension and something or progressing the story. Even in this style rare items). churches destroyed, subverted, or replaced? The guidance on discussing rules with your have fun but dont have to worry about whether youreplayers still applies between sessions. If the adversarys When the PCs make progress, show how resilient systems plan has been derailed, what might they do instead? paid to eliminate a problem. the water-breathing magic aiding PCs. If you do, you can bonus thats not defined in the rules, including when roll just one initiative check for all of them. For example,similar architecture to previous ones but feature ancient a player whose PC is Investigating carvings on the wallsstructures that set it apart. You can decide for yourself which alternativesolutions seem reasonable based on the context of the LARGE GROUPSadventure, consulting the Difficulty Classes section onpage 503 of the Core Rulebook to set appropriate DCs Large-group games bring together the creativity andfor challenges. tour of the defenses for a siege; 23 trapped enemy campsites Planar aDventure and secret spy redoubts Combat Encounters 4 low, 4 moderate, 1 severe. If the group is interested in moving CHEATING introductionon, theres nothing wrong with ending the campaign andstarting something different. Let players see thatparty, you can then add to their backstory later. Its usually best to mix core items, treasure linked to a PCs main abilities, with treasure REWARDS that has unusual, less broadly applicable powers. Belowyoull find specifics on how to run certain types of initiativeor deal with problems. Have they developed a countermeasureAs the game progresses, the power level of the PCs against a PCs spells or tactics?and their foes increases. points to a reasonable solution. Theyto their goals.The Long-Term Goals section on page 22 gives dont necessarily need to be masterminds. Open to modest success. Did their fortunes rise or fall? All creatures should have a justification attack ranges. Information flow matters, too. But when do you allow them to try again? If you dont, bad feelings, grudges, and even sure you let some time pass between when you discover thatruined friendships could result. What drew their interest? Knowing their motivations gives you These recipes use six steps. Including the echoingjust trying to spot a creature hiding in a small area, or ring of a sword striking a shield, an errant ray of frostsomething else you could find with a simple Seek action freezing solid an apple in a bowl of fruit on the table, andrather than a long-term Search exploration activity, the like makes the game feel more alive.should default to a single action. Motivations should be more than one the way they fight it. Perhaps youre to create everya veteran Game Master whos looking for new ways tocustomize the game and tailor it to suit your interests element from scratch.and those of your players. This is part of the risk ofmounts, especially if they are PCs. that. is unlikely to kill all the characters, it might be best to roll with it, unless the fight is so frustrating that no one really Besting a rival bard in a battle of wits wants to continue it. The stone statue before you is seven feet mode, but that doesnt mean they should be glossed over. How does it interplay with activitiesto make that true. An extended campaign works well for a dedicated group that PLAYER GOALS might want to switch to a new campaign or a different game after a year or so. they be bribed or tricked? In most cases, the PCs enter territory thats far more Encounter Composition: The number of creatures per familiar to their foes than it is to them. For many games, you can save arc, dont diminish individual adventures by making most of this work for between later sessions, spreading out what happened in them inconsequential compared your preparations over the course of the game. Retraining, on the other26Gamemastery Basics 1hand, is dedicated study that might require a teachers rare magic, or the intervention of a deity. Just like with any recipe, youre meant Considering player motivations doesnt mean assuming to adjust the details to fit your groups preferences. While some players like to sit back and let the Game DECENTRALIZED Master control everything, most players want their STORYTELLING contributions to shape the campaigns story. story of their characters, or theres just a rules combination Ignoring other players opinions.

If a PC wants to establish a trade network, maybe a are capped at the PCs level). Campaign Structure (page 36) clarifies what makes a good campaign and describes how to determine its Knowing when to end a session takes practice. As the GM, you set the stage for the tableespecially not the players and their characters. that fit the story you want to tell, and to fill in nuances of the location beyond the elements covered in the Core Rulebook.SENSE MOTIVE COVERWhen someone tries to Sense the Motive of an NPC,youll need to figure out how to convey the information You determine whether a character has cover. Youre presenting story together, the details will fall into place. This can be especially satisfyingfor a one-shot or short campaign, or if your group wantsto play a specific adventure made for higher-level groups.The PCs should start at the same level. course, sometimes your solution might not make everyone deliriously happy. This is followed bymonsters that typify this theme. Their violent means of achieving it put them in BasicsCombat Encounters 3 low, 6 moderate, 3 severe. Who runs the world? Game Mastering involves many for Pathfinder. In general, these tools are room, can force the PCs to rethink their plans to handle the perfectly suited for boss encounters, for memorable foes, new situation. than raising up the pedestal holding the jewel the PCs and A noisy explosion can draw attention, allowing foes to their enemies are trying to recover. The Character Wealth table on page 511 of the CoreRulebook indicates how much currency and what common 39Gamemastery Guide ADVENTURE DESIGN When making your own adventure, you get to choose the themes, play style, and NPCs that most appeal to you and your group. find having the players do it themselves causes too much Was this circumstance caused by a bad decision on indecision (especially if they try to count out distances in advance), you can switch methods. the other scenes significantly different, or even if you set the encounters in different environments, the sessions wont Story Arcs (page 44): This section gives you guidance feel repetitive. However, if you intended this to be of nobles a centerpiece battle, that might feel anticlimactic. The premature end of an adventure or campaign30Gamemastery Basics 1isnt always a bad thing. The Victory Points subsystem is the most fundamental of these, but many Tools Throughout most of this book, you refers to the adventures also use the other subsystems found here,Game Master. Time pressure is often related to afair warning and a chance to retreat and try again another secondary objective in the encounter, though it could beday. Its important however, not to put unnecessary pressure on yourself to do so all the time. Perhaps each individual patrol of guards trivial- or low-threat encounter tactically engaging,around the castle is a trivial-threat encounter, but as they satisfying, and memorable. So what do you do if someone rollsbetter than everyone else on initiative, but all their foesbeat their Perception DC? Emphasize conflict with the PCs. Its natural to feel some anger in this situation, so make NPC Gallerythe problem. The money PCs can earn during downtime is minor shorter lulls in the action, such as when PCs return to a compared to what they can gain through adventures. Going up in level brings new,stronger abilities into the game, and likewise adventures VILLAIN GOALSbring in new monsters with commensurate capabilities.Higher-level adventures should present new challenges Just as PCs have goals, so do your villains. Consider what you want players to feel as they play. Thats left in your hands doesnt waste too much time on it. In this case, just summarize what happens between adventures and Pay attention to the amount of real-world time you spend skip using any downtime rules. It represents maybe a god? This Showing the immediate consequences of actions. Page 489 of the Core Rulebook explains how to structure, Narrative Collaboration (page 32) includes tools for start, and run a game session. Taken to an extreme, combining TIME PRESSUREencounters can quickly lead to fights that are unwinnable,so be careful. If youre not sure what your players enjoy, you play, youll keep adjusting to fit the events of the ask them in advance what theyd like to see in the game! Think about how previousand require you to make adjustments later on. the encounter. MONEY DURING LONG PERIODS OF DOWNTIME Retrain The PC sustains an injury in physical training. a session. Here, youll find advice fine to allow the skill. Delegation is one of your most powerfulplayers and a GM. The following list includes sample teachers. most of their attacks on the PCs, not their mounts. A competing show across town draws away customers.

Its your game. A You might not have a good answer for every question, well-constructed adventure conveys the stakes at the outset, but asking them can inspire useful solutions. Sometimes the evolving battlefield is more and as a spice to add throughout your campaign however of an unexpected plot twist that occurs in the middle of often works best for you and your players. A game where the stakes are extremely high all and you cant come up with anything more compelling, its the time cuts out the opportunity for low-key scenes, and also okay to say, Nothing happens, and move on. However, if your of money from downtime activities and find that costs campaign doesnt use downtime rules but a player really really add up. Do they bear scars from previous battles? Even if you plan to run a session to be a bit shorterpossibly just one big showdownto zero, give them a heads-up before the session starts. Think about their tastes, When youre starting out, straightforward encounters of biology, or wealth. If you still think the group can take it on as-is, creating such NPCs on pages 7273, and some examples you can use that estimation for determining XP, maybe in the NPC Gallery chapter. For rules up odd circumstances to use their pet skill, or that their decisions that are either/or (such as whether a creature justifications for using the skill take too long at the can Aid or Take Cover), a PC can usually determine table, just tell them youd like them to go back to using before they take the action whether doing so is viable; if it Perception for a while. You can alsosolicit help from your players by asking them to remind you NPCs, even allies, can shift allegiances. You might want to keep similar or This structure is meant for a brief, self-contained campaign. For example, perhaps the PCs foe gets distracted by something, an ally arrives to help the heroes, or the villain captures them instead of slaying them outright. What the players do with this insight is up to them, but you have more control and can take steps to avoid the TPK. If what you but its also important to remind the players of those stakes need to invent is significant in the storyline or world, theres throughout play. Then or stumble upon a dangerous location. If someone got accomplishment XP for for your game to use Automatic Bonus Progression snatching a dragons egg from a lair, someone collecting (page 196) to eliminate the need for core items.