Pathfinder Shows Off the GM’s Guide Remastered
Pathfinder’s Remaster Project is hard at work. Take a closer look at the changes to the GM Core. Check out the GM’s Guide, Remastered.
Pathfinder’s GM’s Guide is one of the best game master tomes you’ll find. Aside from being uniquely suited to Pathfinder, it’s got some great advice on building campaigns and running games at all tiers. But, the new Pathfinder GM Core, aka the Pathfinder GM’s Guide remastered, is going to have some fresh, new paint as part of the Pathfinder Remaster Project.
If you haven’t been following, the Pathfinder 2E Remaster Project is all about overhauling Pathfinder. Not only will it update the rules of the game, it’ll also help take it further away from the OGL. This is a great move for the system, considering the OGL debacle earlier this year.
But what’s in the newly remastered GM’s Guide? Well, Paizo showcased some of their philosophy and changes in a blog post this week.
Pathfinder GM’s Guide Remastered – A Preview
To start with, Paizo reaffirms that customization is going to be the heart of Pathfinder. Including customizing your campaign. The Remastered GM’s Guide will have a ton of options to help you figure out what kind of game you want to run and to do exactly that.
The format of the book isn’t too different, from what you might expect. It starts with the Introduction that talks about what it means to be a GM. And in the Running the Game Chapter, we get a look at some of the familiar tools to any GM: running encounters, exploration, downtime, rewards. As well as some exciting sidebars on safety tools and “Collaboration During Play.”
And while there are many other chapters to dive into, the one that really caught our eye was the Subsystems Chapter:
When your game goes into uncharted territory or you want to emphasize an element of gameplay that usually gets overlooked or condensed into a single check, you can use a subsystem. As the name implies, subsystems are extensions of the main rules system that allow you to explore a particular topic or style of play at your table.
Part of Pathfinder’s robust game engine lies in its ability to explore elements of gameplay that are not always in the forefront. The Subsystems chapter gives Game Masters a diverse set of tools to tackle any in-game challenge and to track progress on tasks using Victory Points. Where some systems may leave you in the lurch wondering “what should my players roll for this?”, Pathfinder’s subsystems provide support for Game Masters and players alike. Subsystems covered in this chapter include Influence, Research, Infiltration, Dueling, and more.
Rules for dueling. Rules for covering pretty much any option you could think of. So that it’s not just rolling skills, but playing with the game and making it what you want.
What will you hope for in the Pathfinder GM’s Guide Remastered?