My friendo needs a good system to pop his GM cherry

that's heresy

Whut?
Every phone in the past 5 years can open pdfs.
I'm looking at that pdf on my phone.
Like, right now.

I love you grumpy GURPS frog. Also GURPS lite is free and not only a good introduction to RPGs, but to GURPS in general. Lite finds a nice sweet spot between rules lite and heavy where its not too lite where things feel insubstantial, but not to heavy to be overwhelming to a new GM.

He said he couldn't open PDF's when I linked him to the MEGA of all the Pathfinder rule books. I don't know what kind of phone he has, he may have been lying.

...

Tell him to get a dirt cheap laptop, you can probably find one for 50-20 bucks, its a helpful GMs tool not only for reading rulebooks, but for keeping GM notes, planning and using roll20 if need be.

Why would you ever willingly inflict Pathfinder on someone?

Why are you linking him pathfinder books

I never GM'd Pathfinder and it seemed pretty simple when I played it. I've only played it once or twice.

My sweet summer child. Pathfinder is the furthest thing possible from simple, rules-light, easy, or good. It fights the GM and players every step of the way.

Give him GURPS Lite, or Savage Worlds Test Drive, or Fate Accelerated. Not Pathfinder.

Warrior Rogue and Mage

>it seemed pretty simple
I shudder to think of what other systems you've played that made pathfinder seem simple

If you're going to play a system as complex as Pathfinder at least play a mechanically sound one such as GURPS.

PF isn't good for you. Just stay away from it.

FATAL.

> His friend doesn't use a public library terminal to download PDF's and browse Veeky Forums

HA! Look at this weirdo everybody!

Pathfinder isnt good for experienced gms, nonetheless new ones.

Call of cthulhu has quick-start rules that are easy and a scenario that's amazing. Have him look it over for a few days then use it

Pathfinder player here.

That's a terrible idea. No one should try to GM Pathfinder without having enough understanding of the system to patch stupid rules on the fly.

Huh, I started DMing recently with pathfinder. I thought it was pretty simple. Are other systems really that easy to learn?

Pathfiner is a solid 8 or at most 7.5 on 1-10 logaritmic scale of complexity in RPGs.
Not that every DND edtion is far from that level.

I like 5th edition D&D but I might be the only one.

You exaggerate. Pathfinder has a number of introductory adventures that ease people into the game, and while it is rather complex, it provides a lot of neccesary structure that makes it a fine choice for new players. There'a better choices, like 5e, but there's no real reason to try and steer them away from Pathfinder if it looks to be their taste.

Pathfinder only really breaks down when a person tries to ruin it. If the group is trying to have fun, it's childs play to have fun with it. While it may not suit your taste, you hardly are representative of the larger majority, and in fact are likely very much the opposite.

And please, none of your system war nonsense. If you honestly want to just list your grievances about how a game even small children can play is too difficult when it served as an exemplaray example of an introduction game for countless roleplayers, consider myself cowed by your dedication to your endless hope of eradicating the game.

I know when a man can not be reasoned with, and it's when he dismisses cold reality and replaces it with a conjuration constructed from selected facts while dismissing inconvinient truths. You may want to try and return that statement to me, but I'll continue to watch people enter this hobby through a path you seem to think should be closed to them.

Isn't it somewhat amusing, that even if you had the power to denounce it and to obscure all signs of the path, people would still find their way to it?

I'm saving this pasta. This is spicy pasta.

Tell him to grab MuPDF. It's a decent PDF reader. Also, I've had luck using Risus to get people into GMing because they don't have to worry about the rules (or even a coherent plot) too much.

I like it and I don't see why it gets so much hate outside of autists beibg contrarian.

A few loud trolls is really all they are. We really need to stop pretending they are anything but.

The fuck, are you retarded?
Don't reinvent the wheel.
Just play the same system you've been playing.

GMing the first time will be hard enough without trying a new ruleset.

It's a shit system.

But it's not the worst thing that's ever happened to gaming.

True, it's only the second worst, 3.pf is definitely #1.

Here's your (you). Now go away, adults are talking.

I hear Call of Cthulhu is the system to run for first time GMs, but probably only if they have a good grasp for the progression of a threat to instill horror.

We decided to play Barbarians of Lemura. Thanks everyone.

Pathfinder SRD is free and available online. No reason to ever use the books.

D and D 5e is way better beginner material

>I never GM'd Pathfinder and it seemed pretty simple when I played it.
You fucked up, OP. You FUUUUCKED UP.

More importantly, why would you ever allow someone to inflict /pfg/ upon themselves.

You are welcome OP.

Since you found what you looked for, I will ask here now, too: how is Warhammer RP Fantasy 2nd edition? It does not seem very difficult at a first glance.

BoL is great, and I understand going for the really barebones v. 1.0, but the armor in it is just broken. Consider using the armor from the newest, Mythic, edition. Also, the way the weapons are done, with all d6s, is cooler, so you might want to consider using them to.

If you open up Pathfinder and allow them to use every supplement via the srd then you have just unleashed the most complex and rules heavy RPG system of all time on your players.

Pathfinder ranges from rules heavy to rules-you-may-as-well-get-a-law-degree-instead-of-learning-this-system

Other BoL editions, in case you're interested...

>Barbarians of Lemuria,Mythic Edition (current edition) -- mediafire.com/folder/7llc83r2xf8bg/Barbarians_of_Lemuria_-_Mythic_Edition

>Barbarians of Lemuria, Legendary Edition (earlier edition, shorter but not as refined) --mediafire.com/download/p5w885sa9a869ma/Barbarians Of Lemuria - Legendary Edition.pdf

>Barbarians of Lemuria, House Rules / Patches for Legendary Edition (if you want minimalism of Legendary, but with the rules tightened up) -- mega.co.nz/#F!CtQR2bST!y_awB-GHCiL3CdK4iLCV7A

Armor can get at least a bit out of hand even in Mythic (which tones it down from Legendary, which in turn had toned it down from the version in ), so you might want to consider doing something like in the pic here, if only to keep combat from dragging on when somebody is all armored up.

>Pathfiner is a solid 8 or at most 7.5 on 1-10 logaritmic scale of complexity in RPGs.
What are the games that are a hundred times more complex (or more) than Pathfinder? Because Pathfinder is definitely towards the heavy end.

>Not that every DND edtion is far from that level.
Moldvay/Cook Basic is a grand total of 128 pages, including monsters, treasure, and everything. There are 7 classes, no separate races, no feats, no skills other than those belonging to thieves (open locks, hide in shadows and so forth), only 3 types of armor, only 12 magic-user spells at each level (and 6-8 cleric spells), and so on. It's very much lighter than Pathfinder. I don't know how to rate things on a 10-scale, much less a log scale, but Moldvay Basic is rules light while Pathfinder is rules heavy.

I've not played it, but I think it looks okay. But while I realize it's significantly lighter than, say, 3.5, it's still a far cry from actually being rules-light. It's a good deal more involved that B/X Basic D&D, or something like Barbarians of Lemuria, which the OP's friend seems to have decided to go with. So while I wouldn't think 5e would be a bad game to start with, I'm not sure it would be a great one either. More like middling, I'd guess.