Okay What the Hell

 

Look folks I know this isn’t a terribly reasonable post. But it’s my blog and I’ll rant if I want to! Bitch if I want to! Whine if I want to!

You would bitch too if you wrote a blooog too!

Yes I think I’m clever. 

So I recently found the “pocket” editions of Pathfinder 2e. I also discovered I adore the format. All the content of a book literally double the size, at about half the price?? Sign me up! I could kill a man with my Pathfinder 2e core book. It wouldn’t take much. I’ve long considered getting the first Bestiary and the GM’s Guide, but I’ve been spoiled by the indie movement, where it’s all in one tome. And that tome ain’t too big, even monster chunkers like Burning Wheel and Burning Empires. So three huge books for the cost of five or six indie games, at about the same quality of gameplay, and that’s me generous to Pathfinder?

Yeah no. No thanks.

But I’ll admit: I’ve been waxing nostalgic for my days of crunchy combat fantasy RPGs. And Pathfinder 2e fits that bill. So if that’s something I can invest in at a fraction of the cost and shelf space, consider me sold!

And this is where the rant begins: why the hell isn’t this the standard??? RPGs are expensive to get into. Not as much as video games, sure, but the big corporate folks turn these books into coffee table affairs, with full color art and gigantic-ass tomes that could be registered as lethal weapons. It was horrendously expensive for me as a high school and college student and it’s especially expensive now, what with a wife and three kids. 

And I know I know that this rant misses the point. WOTC and Paizo and FFG and my dead grandma want something that feels premium. They want something with sizzle and pop. I get it. And that’s nice and all… but can I just get a game that works, which stands the test of time? I will be passing Burning Wheel onto my kids if they want it. I ain’t passing that game on because it’s a pretty book that will make a great conversation piece. 

Burning Wheel is getting passed down because some of the most profound experiences of my life were made possible by it. For all its flaws it’s the game that sparked something in me I still struggle to understand and respect.

I don’t want something glitzy. 

I want something that works. And we all should, really.