A new Adventure (Path)

Saturday we held the first seating of a new game for the Jade Regent Adventure Path- that would be for the Pathfinder game system. Sigh- I knew when I bought all those Essentials books that theirs would be a short life, but I had hoped not that short! Oh well, 5th edition won’t be here for a while yet, so there is still hope. They are sitting on the shelf to my right, glaring at me accusingly. Well, some of them are sniffling and clutching their blankies, but you get the idea.

Saturday’s game, however, was a great excuse to increase the Pathfinder bookshelf by a few more needed items- specifically the Dragon Empires Gazetteer. Yes, it’s very cool- we’ll get to that in a bit. We also picked up the winter issue of Kobold Quarterly, a gaming magazine that is doing well for itself it would seem, judging by the new colour content- yaay Kobold! Keep up the good work! I love when the small companies are able to stay afloat long enough for their product to become the Next Big Thing.

We created a new table this year- due to schedule conflicts we lost one of our longtime favorite players last summer, and had been too busy over the holidays to audition new players until this year. Our gaming community has been steadily increasing the female- quotient in recent months, much to our delight, and we were able to introduce some new friends to our little home game- we now have three girls at our table! Saturday was soo much fun! Food, chit-chat, gaming, cheesecake- what more could you ask for? Goblins? Check!

Introducing a new player to the game was the name of the game this time around- and I think we did the job admirably! A Potluck lunch, followed by a short answer-and-question session, we then rolled straight into a getting-to-know-your-character scenario that was fun and interesting. Wizards, a rogue and a cleric, and a quick-witted GM who saved the day with a helpful Goblin Cleric, this table seemed to work well together- no one died, everyone got their spells off, and no one was left out of the action. I think that’s the most important part of any game- keeping everyone in the game play. Whether you win or lose, if you don’t know what’s happening, and your character isn’t active, you’re not having fun and you don’t want to ever see these people again! So we made sure to give everyone lots of activity, storytelling and time to ask their questions, and I think it actually was fun for everyone. . .

So- two of us tried out the new Kitsune character race, and decided it was kind of a mixed bag. Lots of fun to bust out as a Fox in the middle of a raid? Yes! And how nifty is that Bite attack? Nice! But I found the background a little difficult to work with- I generally play quiet, reserved and aloof Elves, and found it too hard to try to incorporate the “ mischief and trickery” aspect of the character during my first run. I do, however, fully expect her to be easier to role-play in future encounters.

I did think that a Kitsune Rogue was more effective (Thanks, J!) than the Kitsune Wizard- Rogue’s tend to be more Mischief-inclined, and have more opportunities for trickery (Slight-of-Hand and Back-Stabbing-Repartee come to mind here), although I have some ideas for a smart-mouthed wizard’s companion and a Rhyming-Spells themed wizard for future games. Ahem.

The Kitsune profile can be found in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer, along with the Nagaji, Samsarans and Tengus. Lots of beautiful illustrations, maps, Deities and a fully-loaded background for this new land set in the Pathfinder universe, it’s an ideal resource for your new home game. Or something to read as you wait for Game Day to start, Or if you’re sitting in the parking lot waiting for your kids to get out of school.

Or if you need a setting to show your favorite Dragon-lord who’s really the boss. . .