Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords and True 20

[daddystabz]

I saw on Paizo that they have 2 conversion documents you can download for free for the first 2 official adventures for Rise of the Runelords, their official adventure path. Do you all recommend this and what about all the other adventures in the path? I do not see any other conversions yet for the rest of them. Does True 20 Revised work well with Pathfinder? Are there any other conversions I would have to consider like converting Pathfinder classes, etc. or could I simply use True 20 Revised to create my own fantasy classes and stuff and then simply run them through this adventure path using these conversions?

[cthughua]

Hi, I worked on the conversion for RotRL, I had to stop working on it because of RL issues. For now the current conversion person is working on the Crimson Throne path. However, the first two should be enough to at least give you a feel for how to go about running the rest.

They are free, however they're not much use without the full documents which you'd need to purchase either hard copy or in PDF format. Otherwise they're just a collection of NPCs, Critters, and traps. Which of course you can mine for your own games. So in that respect, yes they're worth getting.

Personally, I find that True20 works very well for Pathfinder as it is definitely full of high-action pulp fantasy adventure. The Conviction rules put a lot of narrative power in the hands of the players and the Role system provides a high amount of character diversity. Remember that the revised edition is just the original game with the errata and the companion added in, but I'd consider most of the extra material from the companion to be optional. As such, I'd caution against going to crazy with role creation. Almost everything that you would like to create can be done with it. That's not to say that role creation doesn't have its place but without a very watchful eye it can get out of hand quickly. You needn't hold yourself to a "classes" mindset either. True20 gives you the ability to unleash your full creativity without pigeon-holing yourself to certain tropes.

[daddystabz]

Would anyone be willing to describe to me the default setting for Pathfinder? I am not familiar with the setting at all. I am considering it for my True 20 fantasy game if I can easily port the adventure paths and if they would be capable of leveling our party throughout their careers.

[ValhallaGH]

The default setting of pathfinder is similar to the Forgotten Realms when they were first introduced; a small but important corner of a larger world, with trappings of an older empire scattered about, independent cities and towns at least nominally under the control of a 'national' government, and monsters of various power scattered around and through the wilderness between bastions of civilization.
Also, a number of ancient powers lay around the land, occasionally rising to threaten all the land.

It's pretty well thought out, with enough vagueness to let you do whatever you want, and enough specificity that you don't have to make very much up if you don't want to.
It's not quite a "points of light" world, it's more like "blotches of light", but these lights of peace and civilization can be overwhelmed by the savage dangers lurking beyond their windows.

It has inter-human racial tensions to play with (if you want), a number of languages used throughout the land (there's a common, but there used to be other languages that were common; knowing those is still useful, especially for scholars and adventurers), ancient ruins holding objects of power, and the seven deadly sins, and seven corresponding virtues, play a major role in the setting.

Lots of neat stuff. If I didn't have Eberron for all my fantasy needs then I might actually play games in it. It's certainly neat.

[daddystabz]

Where can I read a lot about the setting? I just downloaded the beta from Paizo but have not had a chance to look at it as yet. I was under the impression that the beta download did not talk much about the setting.

Also, what kind of general conversions would be needed? I am wondering if I will need to convert feats or spells or anything like that from the beta download? I do see that some conversions have already been made for the RotRL and Crimson Throne adventure paths but I don't know if that is enough or not.

[ValhallaGH]

The setting information is in the adventure path chapters and the supplemental products (some free, some not).

It's actually independent of the Pathfinder RPG rules, since it was originally designed for 3.x. However, it is supposed to be fully converted over once Paizo finishes ironing out their Pathfinder RPG.

Other than the emphasis on the seven sins and their corresponding virtues, I haven't seen a lot about the setting that makes it particularly unique. It does a few things well, and makes knowing multiple languages useful, but isn't a great creative leap. You can come up with something just as good on your own, if you're willing to invest the time and effort. Or you can use a setting you've already got and have fun with that. Either or.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not knocking the setting. It's well put together and tries, with much success, to be consistent. It's also got a lot of unique critters that can be a lot of fun. It's just not irreplaceable.

[daddystabz]

So the conversion docs seem to be pretty simple conversions? I am just wondering how much conversion work I would have to do myself to convert magic items, armor, weapons, etc? I wonder if most of the items and stuff can be just plugged right into True 20?

[ValhallaGH]

Most of the items can be ignored, actually.

True 20 doesn't require the various number increases. A normal True 20 crossbow can drop most heroes, and will mess up many monsters. I've seen +9 damage take a big, heroic ogre villain to dying with a single swing.

Yeah, most of the magic items can be ignored.

Really, the only things that need any conversion are the spiffy things - flying carpets, boots of water walking, cloaks of the bat, etc. These things don't actually require much conversion since they have little or no similarity to existing True 20 mechanics.

If you want to be nice to your adepts then you can port over a number of scrolls, wands, and other items. They'll need very little change, simply changing damage dice into a damage bonus. Pretty simple stuff, really. You don't have to be so kind, but you can be.