While you may get some variation on this, I am pretty sure that for a table to be legal, all characters must be built by the PFS rules or be a PFS pregen. It does not matter whether they are registered or not, or ever get registered, so long as everyone is using a legal build.
Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
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Yeah, for the table to be legal and those PFS players who want to get the credit for playing/Gming the scenario, all characters at the table must be pfs legal.
We have a home PFS game every week. So far I think I'm the only one that has gone to any conventions and played my characters elsewhere, but even so, the option is there for all our players. It might feel a bit restrictive to begin with, but it seems a lot of the restrictions are ones that we might have house ruled anyway. I'd suggest you at least give it a try. If you don't like it, there's nothing stopping you from playing the scenarios without applying credit to characters.
Director of Brand Strategy
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Ultimately, we want everyone participating in the campaign to be registered, but we can't force someone who doesn't want a Pathfinder Society Number to get one. It's in everyone's best interest for them to do so, though, especially if they're already making a legal character. If they never play another Society game, it doesn't hurt anything for them to be registered for the one game they are playing.
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The biggest problem I'm seeing in trying to run home games under PFS is that since we've been running for a couple of months new players won't have a character of the appropriate level to join my game (most won't have any PFS char at all). So once one of my players leaves this August, anyone replacing him will be 3 or 4 levels below the rest of us (having to start at 1st level) unless they play a pregen AND will only get credit as a 1st level char anyway. Or we run other lower level scenarios / modules to allow them to get up to our level, which means constantly rebooting to 1st level anytime someone else joins in, & we never get to higher levels (& have a bunch of low level startups) - this also breaks up the flow of char progression. Or we tell the new players they must be PFS legal but won't get any official PFS XP, just leveling when we do. Or we can just run what we want & ignore PFS. Am I correct that those are the only options?
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Unfortunately we've never had any organized PFS in the area, closest is 50 miles away, though I & others are working to change that. So even most seasoned players don't have PFS characters. And my 2 most recent players have never played ANY RPG's - D&D, PF, nothing. I don't want to be turning away brand new players just for the sake of gaining PFS XP. Guess I'll just run my weekly game as unsanctioned & save the PFS for cons.
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The biggest problem I'm seeing in trying to run home games under PFS is that since we've been running for a couple of months new players won't have a character of the appropriate level to join my game (most won't have any PFS char at all). So once one of my players leaves this August, anyone replacing him will be 3 or 4 levels below the rest of us (having to start at 1st level) unless they play a pregen AND will only get credit as a 1st level char anyway. Or we run other lower level scenarios / modules to allow them to get up to our level, which means constantly rebooting to 1st level anytime someone else joins in, & we never get to higher levels (& have a bunch of low level startups) - this also breaks up the flow of char progression. Or we tell the new players they must be PFS legal but won't get any official PFS XP, just leveling when we do. Or we can just run what we want & ignore PFS. Am I correct that those are the only options?
I think everyone encounters the same problem. This is what I did:
1) For levels 1-5, use tier 1-5 scenarios, which will allow everyone to play. Don't use tier 1-7/3-7, because you'll need them later.
2) Once the main group gets to level 6, all players need to be level 3
to play tier 3-7 (or tier 1-7) scenarios. At level 8, everyone needs to be level 5. I'm going to assume you have a steady player base at that point, so you plans for leveling people will be custom.
3) Players can play scenarios using a pregen and apply them to a PC at a later time. Not ideal, but it means you can mix in a few upper tier scenarios while the new PC levels.
4) Inevitably to catch up, the main group has to start new PCs. I find that using modules is the best way to quickly level, because you get XP faster (even if you have to miss a session). You can also use short scenarios (and have a double scenario night) to level PCs faster. This is what I do when my casual players can play and one of the main players is missing.
5) If 1-2 players are ahead of everyone, have them GM so that everyone can catch up and you get to play a little too. This is important because I think players don't appreciate the amount of work and prep that goes into sessions. It's also important because GMing is fun and makes you a better player. Ideally, I want all or most of my players to GM at least once, even if it's First Steps.
6) At any one time, I have 7-8 players. As it turns out, not everyone can make it every week so although the threat of a 7 player table has been there, ultimately I end up with 5-6 players (the same 4 players always show up, the other 3-4 sometimes).
If you're perpetually gaining/losing players, keep recruiting players or explore other venues (stores, websites, etc) to get players. If you're a good GM, hopefully your player base becomes more steady over time. Ask your steady players if they know anyone, I've recruited 2 people so far that have never played RPGs before and they like it.
Good luck, have fun.