Before I start I’d like to remind everyone that these are my personal preferences as a consumer of third party Pathfinder products. Everyone is different and some will want different things so don’t take this as the end all be all of how third party products should work.
Now I have a LOT of third party Pathfinder products. I think I’m somewhere in the 200 separate pdf range. I know that the pathfinder PDF folder on my computer is up to 14 gigabytes. But I only have so much money so I can’t just buy everything and hope for the best. I have standards and goals when it comes to throwing down money on a product and that’s only the first step. I don’t normally use a product until I’ve read and vetted it so using and reviewing it has its own set of standards. So here is a list of the top things I look for in a 3pp Pathfinder product. This list includes things that I look for that determine whether or not I buy a product as well as things that make me enjoy a product way more.
#1: Detailed Reviews
A good review can be the difference between buying something or outright ignoring it and for various reasons. Sometimes the product description doesn’t tell me enough to get me to want something. Sometimes I don’t know how much I need a product until I see a review that makes a compelling argument. One reason why some reviewers stand out more than others is that they tell you the information you really need to decide whether or not you need the product by giving very thorough and detailed reviews. Because of this the review doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be positive, different strokes for different folks and all that, but reviews that describe what’s inside makes the whatever I’m looking to buy much less of a mystery.
This also includes general buzz and developer interaction. When fans start talking on forums and sharing their experiences using a product I get hyped. One of the main reasons to get a third party product is to increase fun in your campaigns and when a lot of people are having fun with it then you just assume or trust that it’s going to bring fun to your game. When publishers share details I have a deeper grasp of what I’m going to buy and more faith that the product is going to be balanced in some way.
#2: Promises of Change
When I pick up a book expect for things to change as opposed to give me more of the same. This means redundant classes are a turnoff, even if they are better designed than their Paizo counterpart, which is unfair but very true. A concept that can be easily replicated or approximated by existing paizo material isn’t that appealing. The only exception is if the Paizo equivalent is impaired in useablility in some way. With third party products I expect to bring something new to the table whether it be imaginative flavor or rules that account for things I couldn’t previously do.
#3: Promises to Stay the Same
This one sounds like a tall order after number 2, but I can’t have things be too different. What I mean by that is that I still want to play Pathfinder so drastic changes to the rules, huge swings in balance or normal departures in rules language can make a product difficult to use. Of course sometimes the goal of a product is to change rules or rebalance things, but the best examples I can think of that do such a thing still remain compatible with the rules as a whole without being disruptive, tend to stay in their own realm, and feel like a logical extension of the game rather than a huge shift. This is especially important within the realm of rules language.
#4 Makes Being a GM Easier
When it comes down to the bottom line I buy third party material because I’m either too lazy or less skilled to come up with my own rules to handle some things. Coming up with rules is hard work so I give someone else money for their rules so I don’t have to do that work. So my biggest pet peeve is whenever a third party product makes me have to do things and the best products are the ones where I don’t have to do anything at all or better yet make the things that I already have to do easier. GM oriented books like monster books, NPC books or shops and stuff are neat because it’s one less monster I have to design, one less NPC I have to stat up, or one less shop I have to roll for. This is why Spell-Like Abilities are the worst things in existence for me. Every monster that has one is another spell I have to look up because I don’t remember what all the spells in this game do. If it’s a book that’s geared more towards players, I expect to be able to just hand them book and not have to worry about the rest. If the rules are unintuitive everyone asks me questions and then I have to make rulings and it slows down the whole game.
#5 Ease of Use
For players this is more important. If I want to introduce something new to players they have to be able to read and understand it easily. This means that layout and subject presentation is important. I really need to be able to hand things to players and have to deal with minimal complications. There is somewhat of a bonus when a book has a print version or can easily be printed. Even better if it is on d20pfsrd.com. For this reason I tend to prefer big books rather than numerous small ones. A big book I can get and carry with the presentation being pooled into a single resource. It is also why I like concept compartmentalization, concepts, flavor and tone that aren’t too diverse. Having a book with all my horror options and a book with all my pirate options is better than a single book of pirate-horror because I sometimes need one and not the other and anding a book with all that mixed together means that I either have to exclude a book I’m putting in a player’s hands, which is off-putting or allow an excess amount of information at once which is overwhelming considering how option rich the game is already. How important this is isn’t that obvious until you come across a bad example. The format is ugly and is too art intensive to print yourself, the information is scattered and hard to figure out all the rules for the thing you want to do, abilities aren’t divided by bolding, enough spacing or any kind of break, there are a million feats with no feat table. Some .pdfs are a complete mess.
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Well, that’s it for today. Next time I’m going to talk about science fiction in Pathfinder, including my favorites and upcoming products that look promising. Plus a new review that is long overdue along with second thoughts about old reviews. .
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