First things first. The box itself is nice and deep and sturdy. Box alone blows away the D&D 4e Starter Set. Then you open the box, and the components put the nail in the coffin of the 4e Start Set. Paizo does it again.
64 page Hero's Handbook, 96 page GM's Guide, dice, over 80 full color pawns (stand-up cardboard cutouts with stands), 4 pregens, 4 blank character sheets and a large, markable battle map. It's a heavy, complete box.
The layout of the books looks like everything is set up to help out starting players. More importantly, you can level up to 5th level before needing to move on to the full game.
I'll need to spend some time with it before I can give a proper review, but color me impressed so far.
Now if someone from the OSR can put together something like this for the OSR brand.....mmmmmmm?
ReplyDeleteIt is a sweet looking set! Far more impressive than the 4e Essentials. And unlike Essentials, it's clear where to go from there. Amazon has it for $23.09!
ReplyDeleteCool review, I might even look into buying it to feed to collecting addiction. I have a PDF of the Bestiary.
ReplyDeleteI'm tempted to buy this myself, even though I have all the Pathfinder core stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the big black boxed set that got me started on D&D when I was in elementary school...
Now how did you get that? You are the second person who has gotten the box in and I pre-ordered too but I get it doesn't even drop till the 8th...what gives?
ReplyDelete@baronzemo-Now if we could just everybody to agree on what that is :)
Fifth level is not too far away from the 3e sweet spot that E6 explores, so with this boxed set and a free pdf you can have a complete game.
ReplyDeleteKelvin, this was EXACTLY my thought after seeing that unboxing video a few days ago.
ReplyDeleteADD Grognard, subscribers got them shipped last week, either same day or the day after they went to distributors. Mine is due to come in today.
ReplyDeleteif your preorder was from Amazon, they are notorious for being about 3 weeks late on new releases that need to ship from Diamond distributors. The street date for this product is actually today
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ReplyDeleteThat's some sweet lookin' gaming goodness right there, man! It makes me have those fuzzy feelings towards Pathfinder again. Maybe someday I will enter that realm again.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who's read my blog knows that I had a bad experience in the last year with a specific gaming group that was running Pathfinder. It wasn't the game that turned me off, it was the style of play the group was into. No harm done, just different strokes for different folks.
It's a bit depressing how Pathfinder is trumping D&D in presentation, functionality, etc., as I hate to see the venerable D&D name so diminished. But it's the poor handling over at Wizards of Hasbro that's doing D&D in. And Pathfinder is keeping the spirit of D&D alive, if not the name.
I'll try to do more then just leaf thru it tonight. It looks like a really good intro to RPGs and a great way to learn Pathfinder without dumbing down (like the 4e Starter Set)
ReplyDeleteI was impressed with the old 3.5E beginner's box from WotC, but this looks like it STILL blows that version away. The dice ALONE look like higher-quality dice, and with the standups? That's considerably more useful play than the 12-16 plastic miniatures that WotC included.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the quickie feedback, Tenkar...now I'm going to have to pick it up for sure.
It looks cool, but too light for my tastes. Although, maybe I can make an exception...
ReplyDelete