Hey! You got your Pathfinder in my D&D!

My face to face game group had a session this weekend and it was good.  We had a really fun time as we wrapped up the Cairn of the Winter King storyline.  They’ve just returned to Fallcrest and the sandbox I’ve created there is in full effect. As we discussed the choices moving forward and started putting things away, one of my players asked me what I thought of Pathfinder.  She’s a new player, both to D&D and to 4E. I gave her the backstory on 3.0 to 3.5 to Pathfinder and how it related to D&D and 4E. She then went on to explain that she has a friend she recently found out plays Pathfinder and that she sat in on the group during one of their sessions.

What came next both confused and excited me. She said that she and her friend discussed it with the Pathfinder DM and that they were thinking it would be cool to “link” the storylines of the two campaigns, ultimately, perhaps culminating in a mega game night with both groups at the table together.  My first instinct as a DM was, “Wow, there’s a lot of conflicting mechanics and things to be considered. What’s the level of their group? Are they in a unique setting like Dark Sun that would present further challenges, etc?”.  My second instinct as a DM was, “HOLY HELL YES let’s find a way to do this!”.

So after a bit of thought, I imagined a scenario where the Pathfinder DM and myself get together and plot out some storylines that can mingle. Where his group of heroes can come into contact with my plotline and vice versa. I want to have them meet and ideally be involved in the same situation, albeit from two different angles. Perhaps some villain is dabbling in two different areas and they meet as they both hunt him down. This would make for a fun final battle together.

Then I start thinking about the logistics of running the game. The easy answer is to run Dual DMs. But then what? Do we stat out the entire encounter in both PF and 4E rules? Does one group “exist” in a PF ruleset to have their actions abjudicated by the PF DM and vice versa? Would this even work?  And if it does, would it be fun? Or just a confusing mess?

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not expert on PF. In fact, I’ve never played it, only watched it played a few times. I’m loosely familiar with 3.5, having played it a bit but never ran it. So if there are any experienced PF or 3.5 readers out there with ideas, fears, trepidations, etc, I’d love to hear them.  Eventually, this may never even happen, but it’s still an interesting thought experiment.  I actually hope it does happen. While it may be a lot of work for something that may bomb in practice, I think the concept is cool enough to warrant some extra time, thought and planning. What say you?