Gonzo

The Gonzo Book

When titling this book, we had to find an appropriate phrase, and 'gonzo' was the only one that gave us a perfect fit. This book looks at the Pathfinder system as being more malleable in terms of inspiration and tone; that is to say, designers and players can use this book to inject a heavy dose of other genres and aesthetics into what would normally be a traditional (somewhat Tolkien-inspired) fantasy game. That being said, these classes are a bit 'out there.'

Over the years we've all played or ran (or thought of playing/running) a quirky game that did not quite mesh with the established tropes and deviated from the standard source material. Maybe you played a spelljamming quasi-scifi magic punk game, a dying earth game, a lovecraftian mystery game, an anthropomorphic post apocalypse game, a solo hyborian inspired adventure, or something we have never heard of before. Ever ran ‘80s-ish 'heavy metal' inspired dungeon crawl where music is all-powerful while Blue Oyster Cult's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" plays in the background? How about a punky post-apocalypse rebellion game? While our games often start out as Lord of the Rings but end up more like Monty Python, why not embrace the comedic aspects? This book includes classes and sources of inspiration for your next Pathfinder game in an attempt to shock the traditional system.

The rule of thumb when using this book is player enjoyment and engagement. The classes and variant rules presented in this book should only be utilized with both GM and player buy-in. If not everyone is onboard with your tongue-in-cheek romp through famous works of fantasy literature, you (as a GM) might want to rethink your approach to the game and the allowed material.