All I can say is WOW! I got the chance to run seven sessions of the Playtest’s PFS scenario, Raiders of Shrieking Peak at Gen Con 2018. I was impressed with what I saw as were the players at every session. I really think Paizo’s development team has created a pretty good successor to Pathfinder’s 1st Edition. This is not to say it does not have bugs. One of the purposes of the Playtest is to work out those bugs, test out the system itself, and to help the team fine tune the system with our feedback so they can create a royally awesome Pathfinder 2nd Edition.
In order to make that a reality, that’s where we players and GMs come in at. Paizo has released all of the Playtest materials for digital download for free! That’s right, you can go to Paizo.com and download it all. That’s the Playtest Rulebook, a multiple part module Doomsday Dawn, and the maps for the module. Keep in mind the Rulebook is not the full edition and that the module is designed to test out the system in various areas and is not a complete adventure module. You can also find and download character sheets, three Playtest PFS scenarios, and tracking surveys.
Also, the team is releasing errata based on the feedback generated through testing during the Playtest itself. They have already released two errata, so keep in mind this is an evolving rules system which is changing weekly. The errata is listed as Rulebook Updates on the same page I linked earlier. The schedule they are working under is also on this page. There’s even the Playtest Bestiary for you to download!
In case you like Hero lab, they have something for you as well. If you go to Hero Lab Online and make an account you can use the demo version for free which will allow you make Level 1 characters only. Unlike the regular Hero Lab, you can download these and print them out. Enjoy it while it lasts. I’ve made two characters testing it out and it’s interesting.
Finally, Roll20 is in on the action as well. I’ve been playing with it a bit on the Dev Server for the new Pathfinder Charactermancer (which is working pretty well so far), and Roll20 has been kind enough to allow us to create Playtest tables and get the Doomsday Dawn digital maps free and already set up for dynamic lighting. You can read all about it here at Pathfinder Playtest Arrives on Roll20. The best part? You don’t have to be a paying subscriber to download them! So if you want to run some Playtest, there you go.
We will start seeing Playtest games at the Absalom Lodge and Valhalla’s Gate events soon. I am planning on running a session as a back up to the second session at the September 29th Absalom Lodge event in Quincy and as a back up to either session at the October 2018 Valhalla’s Gate event. Anyone can play and anyone can run them. So start thinking about what you want to run at one of them and make up a character!
The League of Aroden 