Burning Question - Mastery or Bestiary?

In my last {Quest Log}, I mentioned that I was going to buy the Pathfinder Bestiary and I was about to take the plunge and place an order when something else came up and is vying for the cash that would be spent on the Bestiary.


I've read a couple of good things about the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide and these are coming from people (Greyhawk Grognard, NewbieDM) who don't even play Pathfinder, which goes to show how useful the book is.

However, what I'm more interested in, as someone who is planning to run Pathfinder, is definitely the crunch elements in it. This review from Stargazer's World certainly shows that it isn't really lacking in that department as well.

From what I gathered, it's a book that is choked with great advice from a plethora of the best GMing books out there together with useful mechanical tools for running the game. So, it's a good book to have for some casual reading (and what more appropriate time to be doing that when I'm in the middle of a gaming drought) and I'm sure I would get a great deal of use out of it when I'm running a session.

On the other hand, the Bestiary has monsters...more than 350 of 'em.

Although I haven't seen any reviews about this one but you don't really need any convincing, as a GM, to buy a monster book. Crunch-wise, a book like the Bestiary is as crunchy as a box of breakfast cereals made out of dead PCs for evil GMs. It's a book that you damn sure know what's going to be in there and you know how much you need it.

Then again, there is the promise of finding gorgeous artwork in a book that comes from Paizo.

Although at this point, I'm going to put the Bestiary into the backlog since I can still peruse the Bestiary SRD in the meantime but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on which book would you prefer?

If you had to pick one, would you prefer a book of GMing advice and tools or a monster book to pounce on your players?

Burning Question - What is Your Gaming Community Like?

In conjunction with this month's blog carnival on Community, I thought this would be an appropriate question to ask.

What is Your Gaming Community Like?

Here's some follow-up questions to guide your answers.

• Where is your gaming community located?
• How big would you say it is?
• What games are being played? Are there any games more predominant than others?
• Is it easy to find other players and GMs outside your gaming group?
• Are there any community activities being run like conventions or something to attract new players?
• How many game stores are there in your community? Do they run any RPG-related activities?
• Is there a LARPing community?
• How does the wider community look at the gaming community?

Hopefully we can also get some answers from those who are outside of the US, I'm really curious to know how is gaming like in other countries.

Burning Question - RPG Books: Precious Gems or Just Dead Trees?

I had just recently receive my hardcopy of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook a couple weeks ago after waiting over a month for it to arrive. Since I bought it though, I haven't even opened the wrapping around it. This is probably the most extreme case of how I treat my books but when I do get a new book, it is put into caring hands.

I don't put them on dusty surfaces, wash my hands before reading them, try not to crack the book too wide and I'm hesitant to even fold a page that I'm reading. One of my players share this trait of mine saying that books are too previous. To him, each book is also part of a collection that needs to be well taken care of.

Conversely, my brother doesn't give any respect to the dead trees. He cracks, rubs his boggers off the pages and does other things when reading the book that would make a book lover commit murder. To him, a book is just a book and doesn't deserve any kind of special treatment.

So I decided to ask this question to other gamers and see how do they treat their books.

RPG Books: Precious Gems or Just Dead Trees?

Here are some quotes of those who believe that they are gems.

precious gems, some of my books are kept in sealed plastic. I still have some books from the early 80's with little sign of wear - jonathanshade (via Twitter)

Precious gems. Honestly, I treat all of my books that way. I don't write or highlight, and do my best to keep them in pristine condition. If there's any damage, it was usually there when I bought the book. - karlindel (via ENWorld)

I treat them well. I don't write in them, I don't bend them, or toss them around. I treat all my stuff well it's just habit. I like nice things. - Crothian (via ENWorld)

Some were taught that books are not only gems but sacred.

I've been instilled since a young age to treat all books as sacrosanct, e.g. not write in them, fold pages, etc - asmor (via Twitter)

Heh, my mom's a librarian. She'd whack me with a shoe if she saw me writing in my books. I've always treated my books with a heavy dose of respect. - Hussar (via ENWorld)

There are gamers who believe in treating their books well but are not above writing on them.

All of my books are precious gems to me! I keep them all in the best shape I can. I only write my name in the books I know other players in the group have to keep them seperated. - DEP (via ENWorld)

Well, you can definitely tell which of my books have seen heavy use. I also don't mind making notes or applying errata right into the books.

But they're still precious to me in a way. So far I've never thrown away a single one even if they're in tatters. - Jhaelen (via ENWorld)

If a book is broken then fix it.

I will admit that I do write in my books, but that is because I treat them as working books; I treat them them very well otherwise (people are often impressed with how well the bindings of my older rpgs are holding up, but I am a Master of Marginalia. Must be the medievalist in me. - Wombat (via ENWorld)

I don't treat em special. If they start falling apart, Glue, staples, wire, drills and duct tape will be used to keep them in functional condition. - frankthedm (via ENWorld)

On the other end of the spectrum, books are just dead trees.

I freely write, highlight, and annotate them. I carry them around on occasion, and they get banged up. I don't really worry about them being damaged, until they start falling apart.

More or less, I treat them like I treated my college textbooks... except I open them more. - Obryn (via ENWorld)

And can have multipurposes...

dead trees. non water proof dead trees. My rpg books have been coloring books for my son lately. - kaeosdad (via Twitter)

I treat them like pooh-pooh.

Write notes in the margin, do math in the margins, highlight important parts, fold pages for place holds, put sticker tabs on all the chapter pages for easy access. I even used a book to coral a spilled drink from splashing over the table onto the floor/rug once or twice. I mean it's just a book, not a newborn. - Woas (via ENWorld)

I know I won't be lending him any of my books. But overall, I think it's important to strike a balance to how we see our books. It's good to take care of them to maintain their fine condition but it is meant to be used so don't be too cautious.

This guy gives a good idea.

I'm generally a bit anal when it comes to my RPG books. Most of my books are still in excellent condition. The two exceptions to this is the Magic Item Compendium, which has slightly frayed corners and my Shackled City Adventure Path hardcover which has started to wear along most of the edges of the hardcover. I think this damage has come as a result of them travelling in my backpack (the SCAP book has seen a lot of travel with me as I prep on the train to and from work). I have considered buying another SCAP hardcover to keep on my shelf since this first one has really started to get trashed but I haven't been able to justify the cost to myself just yet.

I never write in my RPG book, not even just putting my name on the inside of the front cover. I've used post-it-notes and post-it-flags in them before though. At the table I'm happy for players to use my books as I like to see them get used. However if they've just been eating something greasy or sticky I won't hesitate to ask them to wash their hands first. I do ask nicely though!

I am very, very reluctant to lend my books out to anyone due to a couple of bad experiences. When I lent my 2E AD&D core rulebooks to a friend back when I was a teenager they were returned with 2 of the spines cracked. On another occasion a few years later I lent a friend the Kingdom of Kalamar Campaign Setting. The spine of that book isn't quite right either now. As a result I almost never lend out my books. If I do I make sure the person borrowing them knows of my previous experiences with lending my books and that I would be very unhappy if I got books back in that condition again.

Overall though I don't mind if my books get damaged due to wear and tear from using them. I just try and take precautions so that they stay in excellent condition for as long as possible. - Olaf the Stout (via ENWorld)

Thanks to all who took the time to answer the question but let's get more answers.

What about you? How do you treat your books?

Burning Question - What Do You Look Forward to the Most in a New 4E Supplment?

Although splatbooks and supplements are not necessary to run a game but they have been one of the mainstay in the D&D product line, often expanding the horizon of players and DMs to further improve their game. Since the launch of 4E, these are the supplements that have released for DMs and players alike

Players

• Martial Power
• Arcane Power
• Divine Power
• Adventurer's Vault
• Forgotten Realms Player's Guide
• Eberron Player's Guide

DMs

• Draconomicon: Chromatic Dragons
• Open Grave
• Manual of the Planes
• Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide
• Eberron Campaign Guide

Each of the player supplements have offered new builds, powers, paragon paths, feats, equipments and the occasional new rules which is mainly mechanics and crunch.

On the other hand, DM supplements are usually packed with useful information that is mostly comprised of fluff, new monsters, ideas and advises for encounters, plot hooks and one or two new features with rules to be implemented into their game.

So this week's Burning Question is;

What Do You Look Forward to the Most in a New 4E Supplement?

Do you prefer new feats over powers? New builds over paragon paths? Or always watch out for any new rules options as a player first?

Similarly, if you are buying a DM supplement what are looking forward first? New fluff about the setting (even those for the generic setting) or new crunchy monsters? Advice and ideas over plot hooks? Or you rather like seeing new rules that you can use or bend to suit your game?

Personally, I prefer DM supplements than player supplements because I'm a fluff addict. I love to read more about my favorite settings and try to devise plot hooks out of them. While I don't mind the occasional advice and ideas, the thing that I look at last are the monsters and new rules.

As a player, the first thing that I'll probably want more is new builds. New rules would probably come second before powers and feats.

Share your comments whether as a player, a DM or both! What do you think makes or breaks the new supplement for you?

Burning Question - And We All Met in a Tavern...?

My group will be starting our first 4E campaign soon and campaign openers are still something that I haven't found my niche yet. Other than having each character write a little background about themselves, the second step is usually determining how the party get together which I have been wondering about this these past few days.

So for this week's Burning Question.

During your campaign opener, how do you get the party together?

Do you just handwaive it and say 'You all met in the tavern' and proceed with your first plot hook or do you have a session that plays out how the party gets together, giving them a more underlying purpose other than just happening to share a few rounds of drinks together.

For me, as a DM, I would try to go for the latter (which is what I'm trying to do when the campaign starts) because I want the characters and players to have a real reason to be together. While the 'everyone met in the tavern' is a simple way, I feel that it is a little cheap since the players worked a little on their background.

So what do you do? How would you introduce your party members to each other and bring them together?

I would like to hear your thoughts or stories about your most memorable campaign opener.

Burning Question - Your Eberron Campaign Idea?

The 4E Eberron Campaign Guide is released today and no doubt Eberron DMs who have been able to get their hands on it are planning their next campaign.

One major shining point of the setting is that can accommodate different types of campaigns from high action, pulp adventures to dark political intrigued campaigns or a mixture of both.

So for this week's question,

What is your next campaign idea for Eberron in 4E?

While I won't be able to get my hands on the Eberron Campaign Guide anytime soon but the setting does not seem to be greatly affected by the transition to 4E, unlike the Forgotten Realms. So most of my 3.x campaign ideas still remain intact.

For me, I much prefer the political aspect between the Five Nations and would like to try running a campaign where the PCs are hired as freelancers by the Breland King's Citadel, acting as black ops agents to do the dirty work of the Crown or counter-espionage against rival nations.

Would like to hear what are you planning for your Eberron campaign.

Burning Question - Walking Off the Beaten Path

Today's question is taken from this week's 'Ask a Pro' column from the Paizo blog and I think it is one question that many DMs would have face once when running a published adventure/campaign.

You are running an Adventure Path, and one of your players is ignoring the obvious hook. Do you gently nudge him in the planned direction, or do you go with the flow and see where this digression might take you?

As the DM, I usually try to make my plot hooks as interesting as possible for the characters to go my way. But in the event of a derailment, I eventually try to tied their current course of action back into the main plot, skipping or replacing missed encounters if I have to.

Another method which is a last resort and I'll only use it when I'm really stumped for ideas of steering things back into the right direction or when things are getting out of hand, is directly telling them what the plot hook is. Normally my players would take a hint but this could not be fulfilling if the characters seem to be enjoying what they are doing now than being forced to go on the tracks.

What would you do?

Burning Question - Are You Still an Insider?

On July 2, Wizards have raised the subscription rate of the D&D Insider by a couple of dollars on average partly because of the exclusive content and early previews of completed sections from future products a year ahead.

So for this week's Burning Question.

Are you still planning to be an Insider with the new subscription rate?

While a couple of dollars probably isn't much but some have considered that the exclusive content doesn't justify the price increase.

If you are not a subscriber, are you planning to subscribe for the exclusive content despite the increased price?

Burning Question - Questions from the Questing GM

Last sunday, this blog just reached its first year and it has been quite a bumpy ride along the way. This blog first started simply as a simple place to drop rants and ramblings about gaming as an Asian gamer but after joining the RPG Bloggers Network, I've added features to try and find my own voice from the distinguished numbers of bloggers that have far better content than mine.

Since then, I've managed to fill up my weekly schedule and have been trying to meet them consistently so that you, my readers, have always something to look for from the Questing GM.

Here's the basic schedule that I'm working with at the moment and for the benefit of my readers who don't know what I'm doing:

• Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: Word of Wizards (reports of any news posted on the Wizards' site)


• Tuesdays: Burning Question (a weekly question for readers to answer and share their opinions)


• Thursday: {Quest Log} (a weekly slot for me to share my ramblings or experiences related with gaming and other miscellaneous content that does not fit in other features)


• Saturday: Word of Wizards Weekly Roundup (weekly compilation of all Word of Wizards posted that week)


• Sunday: Questing's Readings (a link list of all the blog posts from the RPG Bloggers Network that I find interesting or recommend from that week)

While it can be stressful at times to try and make things interesting, I've always told myself that what I do is for the fun and my passion for RPGs and my readers. I hope you feel the same way too.

After a year, I need your help. I would like to hear some feedback on the features that you like or don't like from the Questing GM. Is there anything that I need to improve on or maybe there's something that I should remove entirely?

I would also want your thoughts on some plans that I'm thinking of implementing in the future.

• Would you prefer me to turn Word of Wizards into a weekly feature or stick to my current schedule. It's not hard either way for me but I wonder if you find daily coverage on Wizards' news redundant to you?


• Do you like the name Word of Wizards or prefer something else? I initially gave it that name as a deliberate play of WoW but I've received complaints that it is very misguiding and confusing, especially when I update it on my Twitter.


• Any there any content that you would like to see me produce for the Questing GM? Encounters? Random plot hooks? Articles?


• What, in your opinion, were the best content you've read on the Questing GM?


• What do you think of the current schedule?

Any other general thoughts and comments of what you really think about the Questing GM, whether positive or negative and any changes that you might suggest to make your experience with the Questing GM better are also welcomed.

Thanks to all your support for the past year.

Burning Question - Do You Roll for NPCs in Combat?

An interesting question from Paizo's blog that pops up occasionally in my games but this happens a lot in war-based campaigns.

You have a scene where a large orc tribe is attacking a village. You have all of the orcs and various NPCs represented on the map. Do you roll for each and every orc and NPC, or do you, in the interest of saving time, just decide how many of each side dies each round?

For me if this battle is improvised, I would randomly pick off NPCs by probably rolling a d4 to see who get's removed. However, if planned, I would either pre-determine the order of which NPCs gets picked off in rounds or pre-roll a long list of numbers to give it an illusion of real-time combat happening before the PCs.

I'm very interested to know how you deal with this kind of situation.

Burning Question - Perception Checks

Today's question is another one from Paizo's 'Ask the Pro' column.

When you call for your players to roll Perception checks, do you pull those who succeed aside, or do you simply look at them and say, "You see/hear...?"

(You can find the answers from some of Paizo's staff here).

My approach to this is I usually ask the player whether he wants me to reveal the information that he just saw/heard to his fellow characters. So it mostly depends on that character.

It is quite a waste of time to pull aside a player to tell them that he saw an ambush waiting for them when telling the party right away would be more effective. However, when the rogue is searching or sees a treasure that the rest of the party's missed then it becomes another story.

So what would you do?

Burning Question - What will You Do After a TPK?

I don't know if you've been following the Paizo Blog with its current series of 'Ask a Pro' questions which I thought is a good time to kickstart another regular feature for this blog to get some more activity going on for my readers.

I'm calling it Burning Question where every week I post up a question (and maybe add a poll with it) and everyone is free to comment or provide their own answers to the question. To start this off, I'm just going to re-ask the questions that were posted on the Paizo blog, just to see what you will answer.

So the question is,

You have been playing a campaign for many months, and your group suffers a TPK. Do you fudge the rolls, contrive a reason for them to be brought back, have them create new characters and pick up where the others left off, or just scrap the campaign?

For me, I'm inclined towards letting the TPK stand because when you are fudging for the sake of the players, they will smell an insincere second chance which they won't really appreciate and it can hurt the mood for the rest of the campaign. Although suffering a TPK mid-plot is a recipe for wrapping up the campaign for good, I think I want to maintain that level of suspense where PCs CAN and WILL die if they are just having a bad day.

That being said, I do tend to pull the punches if I'm seeing that my players are not having fun getting beat up so badly either because of bad dice rolls or it would have been an uncool death.

If you want to hear what the staff at Paizo have answered, you can read it here.

So what will you do after a TPK?