Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (Review)

[Guest]

Some of my fellow nerds from the GG Pathfinder Society have ventured out into the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. The "card game" aspect is a misleading title, as it is functioncally closer to a board game. Game is cooperative, somewhat alike to Arkham Horror, in that the players are up against the game, attempting to defeat a particular "scenario" while traveling between locations. Each player has control of single character, who is pre-defined in general terms (you can't make your characters), but has certain deck-building options where you have options in your spells, equipment and other options. Game is much less complicated than the Pathfinder RPG, but still remains complex enough as to remain a game for nerds.

For Casual Play, you need a "Base Set" (they have 4 base sets, any will do) which retails for $60. This includes everything needed to play for a group of players. Although I haven't tried, the game is supposed to be able to play by yourself. 

For Organized play, there is an Organized play option from the Pathfinder web site (Paizo is the company). For Organized play, each player requires a "class deck" which retail for $20 each, and the group requires a "Base set" which retails for $60. Additionally, there are "Scenario" downloads for sale on the Pathfinder site. So one player requires being the "Coordinator" and has to buy more stuff, but for recruiting players, that single $20 class deck includes everything required for the player. Amazon has the class decks for often varied prices, from $11 to $25, depending on the class. There are also two "class decks" for Goblins, which I'm told feature a more "stab your buddies in the back" style of play. 

I've played twice. Each game took about 2 hours. We had 4 players, and I learned as I played. We lost the first game, and then replayed it (this is allowed) to win the second time. It was very fun, and it did feel like the RPG feel was somewhat captured, despite the reduced complication of the game. I recommend the game to any that enjoy RPGs or Arkham Horror style games (setting is not horror based, though). 

Additionally, as a fan of the Pathfinder RPG, I like that each card features illustrations, often of things that presently lack illustation from other Pathfinder sources. Great for modeling PFS characters.