u/ThatOneCrazyWritter

Going straight to the point, I like magic, so I want to make a game all about it to play with my friends (no plans yet to make a wide release).

For around 12 years I've come up with a systems of 3 Fonts of Energy & 3 Methods of Use of such energies. While not original and pretty cliche, those are:

• Light Energy (Strongs Ideals manifested into Order, Dominance & Truth. The domain of Celestial beings. When too much, becomes Tyranny)
• Shadow Energy (Deep Desires manifested into Freedom, Fantasy & Impulse. The domain of Cthonic beings. When too much, becomes Chaos)
• Void Energy (Complete Openess manifested into Flow, Growth & Expansion. The domain of Fey beings. When too much, becomes Decay)
• Method of Determination (The use of the Body, Actions and the Self, often dealing with identity)
• Method of Zeal (The use of the Spirit, Words and the Group, often dealing with morality)
• Method of Intuition (The use of the Mind, Thoughts and the World, often dealing with creativity)

The Energies = a spectrum with Light & Shadow on opposite and Void on the middle

The Methods = a rock, paper, scissors type deal, where Determination overcomes Zeal, Zeal overcomes Intuition and Intuition overcomes Determination

When combining both, it makes a 3-axis graph in the shape of a d8 tha maps out a person's connection to magic, but I'll not use this more sciency stuff in my game, its more so becasue I like graphs myself.

My plan then is to pick these trios and map out a 3x3 Matrix of Magic, by combining an Energy with a Method to create a category of magic for each combo. Its very similar to something like the Alignment System from D&D, but I don't want to just call each one something like "Determined Light" or "Intuitive Shadow".

For example, since Light = Dominance & Determination = Action, Light + Determination = Evocation Magic or something like that, a type of magic focused on using raw power to resolve problems, be it pure healing, pure strength, pure resilience or overwhelming elemental usage.

Considering all this, what could be good names for types/schools of magic in this context?

Aside Player Core, GM Core, Monster Core plus any sequel to them, which are the most recommend books for a new GM to get?

I'm going to heavily prepare a Lord of the Rings style campaign (a generic "the Evil Lord of Darkness is back and the group must find and destroy the magic, corrupting actifact that is the source of his power"), in a very Epic Fantasy fashion.

Because of money, I'm going to use AoN but I still prefer to get a few important books since I find them better for reading.

So after the Core books, which books are also really good to have?

EDIT: A bit more context:

I'm making a homebrewed setting with four kingdoms:

1. The Empire of Highaven: A fairly generic medieval pulling slightly from Germanic cultures, that is the classic of "an once great kingdom of good and heroes that is on a sharp decline thanks to the forces of evil, the huibris of power nad the corruption of humans"
2. The Necropolis of Eschation: Basically a Heavy Metal album cover turned into a political power. Homeland of the BBEG, Levithan Mors, where everyone is either subjugated into servitude or turned into Undead and put into the Armies That Never Sleep.
3. The Legions of Gévaudan: Somewhat similiar to The Horde of World of Warcraft (but not the original from Warcraft), where its a group of warrior minded monstrous folk that once served as soldiers of Eschation before Levithan took charge. They now try to carve their places in the world without much conflict, but their warmongering past keeps haunting them & their leadership is often still seeking glory and conquest.
4. The Free Lands of Aetherfalls: Lastly there is the theocratic forcefully peaceful kingdom of Aetherfalls, a piece of land that isolated itself from the continent by becoming an island thanks to divine intervention. With their ties broken with Highaven, their only ally at the moment is Gévaudan, something they loathe in closequarters.

Aaking because there is a chance that I'm going to GM my first campaign to a group of me + 5 to 6 players.

EDIT:

Thanks a lot you all! Upon consideration, I think I'll be okay if it does end up being 6 players, but I won't go beyond that and with do less combats per session (roleplay is less of a problem since they are quite ordely about it).

TOMORROW I'm going to GM Pathfinder 2e for the first time, however I'm having trouble coming up with ideas! All I know is:

- 5-6 players (excluding me), with 1-2 being newer to RPGs.

- The setting is "Lord of the Rings meets Dark Souls", a near hopeless, decadent world with a very obvious evil faction (very Epic Fantasy with a dash of Dark Fantasy).

- It's a 1st level oneshot that will become the seed for a full 10-20 level campaign. In the future, I will introduce a very powerful artifact that corrupts and/or an important, defenseless NPC the party needs to protect if this becomes a full-on campaign

- I plan to have 3 Combats (the last one being extra hard), 2 Social Interactions moments (one more friendly, one more hostile) and 1 Exploration/Puzzle/Complex Trap to deal with.

- The MAIN enemies is an army of Undeads of all kind but mostly Zombies (lesser soldiers) and Skeletons (higher ranked).

- Uncertain on what loot to give.

- Four major factions: Highaven ("good guys" that goofed up and are now on decline), Eschation (BBEG's homeland and Land of the Undead), Gévaudan (basically "The Horde" from World of Warcraft) and Aetherfalls (Land of Elements and Peace on an age of strife).

- All player options are available, but I can veto them if I find it break too much immersion (I want to make something a bit less joky and more serious)

Considering this, what could be a good hook for all this?

This Sunday me and my group decided to FINALLY test Pathfinder 2e out. Since I have plans to start a full campaing in the near future, I voluntaried myself to GM this oneshot.

I'm only having trouble coming up with a short adventure for a 4-5 hours RPG session.

A few things I do know:

• The premisse of this world in very vague terms is "Lords of the Rings + Dark Souls", so a more Epic Fantasy with a tinge of Dark Fantasy
• Everyone is new to PF2e, but 2 player are also new to the group and don't have as much experience with TTRPGs
• I will not use Starfinder 2e stuff, only Pathfinder 2e books
• I don't have any books brought, so I will rely on Archive of Nethys + Pathbuilder to read the rules and make characters
• There will be 5 to 6 players on Sunday + me as the GM

Was re-reading some old news about when the big boat Ever Given was stuck on the Suez Canal for like a week, and that gave me an idea to introduce it in an adventure.

Like, maybe the group family or friends are part of the boat's crew; there are raiders, pirates, terrorists, cultists or whatever wanting the cargo inside; depending on the situation, they need to make an agreement with a neighboring government to get some aid in the task; Etc.

It can be less serious stuff, like that news story of a crack head who gave himself to the police because he killed his imaginary friend and such stuff

I have a lot of trouble roleplaying, which has become a problem recently when playing in a Strixhaven campaign.

I really like RPGs, but I won't be lying when I say crunchy combat is my favorite part (maybe even the only I truly LOVE to play), but I still enjoy some light roleplaying both as a DM and as a player.

What are some tips to become better at it? I DON'T WANNA BE AN ACTOR, I just want to better connect with my characters and the stories they are a part of. But my damn autism keeps getting in the way, it seems...

Start playing it and finally concluded the events at >!Captain Dapplewings's Manor!<, reaching 3rd level.

Overall, I'm not enjoying the adventure that much, with my main sticking point being a lack of character death, since even if you die you can be revived.

Sure, the risk of death isn't meant to be the main attraction. Stuff like the school year, the exams, the connection with other characters, all this Harry Potter stuff is why you play Strixhaven... So maybe I just don't think this is what I want when playing D&D, specially when they still make me go to dungeons-like complexes like it's normal D&D but even those feel unbalanced since maybe they thought "since the players can be revived at any moment, let's make the dungeons extra BS!" >!Like, why the hells does can a enemy in the Dapplewings' Manor make 4 Ranged Attacks against a 2nd level party!?!< To the point that everyone, even the DM is called stuff badly designed.

Is this just an "us" thing and you loved your time at Strixhaven, or is there truly a problem with this adventure?

Making a fight of One CR 15 Construct with a Divine theme + Four CR 3 Elite Guards VS. Four 9th Level Players. The BBEG is a golem made of pure Radiant & Cosmic energy created to stop a demonic invasion onto the planet that has gone on for centuries. The golem, called The Altivo, decided that the best way to go about it is just to destroy the planet.

About him, he is basically a mix of Paladin + Wizard in his abilities, with a love for "Perfecting lesser beings", aka lobotomizing mortals and turning them into mechanical slaves.

He first tries to convince opponents that he is in the right and that other should submit their wills to him. If that doesn't work, the tries to forcibly convert them, be it true magic or steel. The is also accompanied by his "Perfected soldiers", a group of Four CR 3 cyborged humanoid lobotomites.

Considering this, which spells make more sense for him to have? Asking because I have very little experience using spellcasters, both as a player and as a DM since I prefer melee martial characters. Only need help the spells, the rest of the stat block I have some ideas flowing.

Asking as someone with 12 years since start playing RPGs, 5 years of playing it more seriously (no home made systems or playing on WhatsApp) and 4 years of experience with D&D and its descendants, but still a Pathfinder beginner.

I plan to start my first campaign very soon, trying to go from 5th to around 11th level. Why not start at 1st? Initially this campaign would use D&D 5.5e and we would start at 11th level, but I decided I want to distance myself from D&D for a while. Since converting the idea to PF2e, I still wanted to player at a higher level, but not so much since it our First time playing the system

EDIT: thinking about and talking to my friends, we decided to start at 1st level really. Maybe try to reach high levels in the future, but as of now I'm not sure this will be possible, thanks to my university starting to become heavy on my shoulders.

While different, most of the folks have a similar history in most Fantasy games:

- Elves had a great magical empire of old until the lost it all, hid themselves or began a civil war amongst themselves.

- Dwarves had great riches under montains and rocks until they dug too deep.

- Halflings either were very peaceful until a recent story of wonderlust and discovery OR they had a glorious, adventurous past but now a subdued, idyllic present.

- Orcs are malformed being of war, brutality and conquest, know either accepting such fate or trying to change the now.

- Goblin are being of treachery, chaos, lies and tricks, sometimes enslaved and sometimes the slavers.

This is a big generalization, but also the Stock, Pre-Baked recipe to include each of these ancestries into your game, the pre conceived notions most players have when you say "what you know about ____ ?"

Considering these assumptions, what would be artistic styles throughout the ages? I often have heard "Elves = Art Nouveau", "Dwarves = Art Deco", "Orcs = Metal Heads", but would this be true all through their history? Maybe if the Elves were a great empore that fell from grace, their artistic history nowadays would involve more tragedies and less saturation? If Orcs have a Metal aesthetic, would Orc counter culture have more gentle shapes and colors? Is there a difference a different between the Dwarven art of a Merchant, Aristocrat and a Craftsman? DOES GOBLINS LISTEN TO SKA AND LIKE EXTREME SPORTS?!

I am curious to know how do you treat such aesthetics in your games, considering the cultural background you gave to them in your homegames.

Can include 3rd Party if you believe no official book is up to stuff.

I'm trying to make a boss fight but I'm having trouble making its stat block (at max I know its a CR 13 Mythic Monster), so I want to study the best of the best for inspiration.