The Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box is scheduled for an October 26th release! Absolutely love this new box format and it’s contents! View a video of the box contents here.

Some products and features I’d like to see in the future now that we have the Beginner Box:

1. Have the entire Bestiary 1 & Bestiary 2 set of monsters available as a cardstock counters (just use existing art from Bestiary), with monsters which appear in bulk (orcs, goblins, etc.) as standalone sets so you can get lots of them. I guarantee you I and many others would buy this. Also, have a large range of character portraits (again, just use existing art, and print the cardboard counters in China). Woohoo!
2. Support running Pathfinder Society modules in ‘Basic/Beginner’ mode. This would do two things: 1) I know so many people who don’t care for extra rules like attacks of opportunity, combat maneuvers — how about just sanction running Pathfinder modules in this ‘Basic’ mode way, with the caveat that GM’s advertise this in their game announcements? And 2) It would allow GM’s to run Society modules for Levels 1-5 in ‘Beginner’ mode — so you can advertise ‘Newbie Friendly’ games which ALSO give you Pathfinder credit, yet don’t use rules like AoO, combat maneuvers, etc.I do know many of the ‘OSR’ crowd who currently won’t look at Pathfinder due to rules complexity might take a second look if in fact there was formal support for a ‘Basic’ mode as a longer-term, fully sanctioned form of play.
3. Lastly, I’d love to see the 60-odd page Player Handbook (or whatever you called it) as well as the 4 character sheet dossiers available for purchase in PDF and/or hardcopy format. This way a GM can buy the beginner box once, but run literally dozens of ‘introduce newbie players to the game’ sessions by just buying the incremental parts they need rather than having to buy another box set each time they run an intro game. What a great way to get GM’s to evangelize the system! I also think this is a whole new market — I know many teenage type players who are willing to play but not willing to read a 500 page manual. If a GM were running a Beginner Box game, the GM or players could buy Player Manuals for each player. After they mastered that part they could move on to other books.

Inspired by Ryan Macklin’s “Flash Game Design Friday” challenge, I created the following game called “Museum of the Mind’s Eye.” It uses two of Ryan’s mechanical ingredients:

• A single token that sometimes is and sometimes isn’t possessed by the player
• A countdown mechanic

I describe it as “Marvel Avengers” meets “Night at the Museum.” Here’s the game, totalling 483 words; feel free to download it and comment:

Museum of the Mind’s-Eye Game  (1 page, 483 words, a complete game by itself).

I also created an optional one page GM Adventure Tips accessory document which has some GM advice on running the game, and (more importantly) several pre-gen characters to use if you don’t want to create your own.

GM Adventure Tips (1 page)

Lastly, I added a one page GM Reference document. This is a simpler layout of the rules, plus it adds dice odds, which I find a handy feature to have at the table. In a sense, it is a one-page ‘GM Screen’.

GM Reference (1 page)

This game uses a generic ‘Haiku Story Game’ mechanic which is similar in spirit to Risus and Lady Blackbird. I hope to publish other material with this same light-weight story mechanic.

For your convenience, here’s all three documents bundled together:

Museum of the Mind’s-Eye Bundle (3 pages)

Enjoy. Let me know your thoughts.

The latest blog post from Cubicle 7 confirms an August 2011 release date for the One Ring. They also showcase some new artwork. One quote:

Chock full of incredible artwork by leading Tolkien artists, including John Howe, along with rich and detailed background information, The One Ring’s game engine focuses on the themes and character types that give Middle-earth its unique place in the annals of fantasy. There has never been a Lord of the Rings game that’s more evocative of Tolkien’s unique vision. The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild releases in August, 2011. The core release consists of two core books in a premium slipcover: Loremaster’s Guide for GMs andAdventurer’s Handbook for players. (source)

The game is looking good. I will be very interested to check out this game and its game mechanics.

Paizo impresses again. Whereas Wizards of the Coast has begun exiting the pre-painted plastics miniatures scene (they still have some, but have stopped producing much of their line) Paizo has now entered the fray. From the Paizo blog:

Paizo Publishing and WizKids Games announce a new partnership whereby WizKids Games will produce a special set of pre-painted plastic miniatures for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beginner Box, an introductory boxed set slated to release in October 2011.

“We’re excited to bring the Pathfinder property to life via 3-D pre-painted fantasy miniatures” said Lax Chandra, President of WizKids Games, “Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG has emerged as a leader in the RPG category and we are looking forward to working with their great brand.”

“WizKids essentially created the pre-painted plastic miniatures category, and they’ve only gotten better in the years since,” said Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens. “We are thrilled to work with WizKids to bring our iconic characters to tabletops all over the world.”

Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box pre-painted fantasy miniatures will be available at paizo.com and through WizKids distribution partners worldwide starting in the fourth quarter of 2011. (Source)

This is a great development. Busy gamers and GM’s don’t always have the time, patience or talent to assemble and paint metal miniatures, but pre-painted plastics can add flavor to any game table.