New to Pathfinder Society, Brand new to GMing... Am I crazy?


GM Discussion


Howdy all,

I've only just started playing PFS (I started back in June). It was first RPG playing for me since some time in 1996. Needless to say, I have been thoroughly enjoying myself.

My problem is, I am a grad student with a kid at home...my time can be quite limited, and while online play is great, I can only make it one or two in-person scenarios a month. My solution to this? Start GMing. I am lucky enough to have found a few other gamers in my department, though they have never role played before (they stick mostly to Fantasy Flight stuff). In reaching out, they definitely seem interested, and it looks like I could have a steady, twice monthly table of 5 or 6.

I have been trying to learn the rules quickly as I have brought my first PFS character up to level 5, but I feel like I might be biting off more than I can chew. However, this seems to be the only way to play in person with more consistency. Are these just jitters, or did I make a mistake?

I've downloaded a bunch of scenarios, I've got the CRB, APG, Bestiary, and Gamemastery Guide (just got it today) ready to go. *fingers crossed*

How worried should I be?

Grand Lodge 4/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento

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meh, make it a "teaching game." They are going to be learning the rules as they go too. make sure you give yourself more than the average amount of time to deal with people learning the system, and start with some of the intro scenarios at first and it should be fine.

It can't be harder than my first time GMing. I owned the Monster Manual, a set of yahtse dice, and a vague recollection of a few games I had played when I was 8 years old, and had to make up my own scenarios. In a moving car. If we can have fun with that, you have nothing to worry about.

Grand Lodge 4/5

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Also look at the crib notes for the first session you plan on running under this same GM forum. You can also search for "easy" sessions.


Thanks! Those are both useful tips. I'll likely be running "In Service to Lore" first, and maybe "Silent Tide" after that.

2/5 *

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Shatner's Comma wrote:
Thanks! Those are both useful tips. I'll likely be running "In Service to Lore" first, and maybe "Silent Tide" after that.

Sounds like a good start and I think you'll be fine. In a way your situation is ideal since you'll all be learning together (and you have the most experience).

All GMs make mistakes, even experienced GMs. As long as you're open to learning and correcting your mistakes, it's all good.

You might want to check out Painlord's threads on how to be a better GM, how to be a better player, etc, I think they're helpful.

5/5

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Take time to prep, the more you prep the easier a game session will go.

For instance let's say the scenario has some water in it, read swim skill, drowning and fighting under water.

Let's say its under ground figure out what the darkness rules are. How low light and darkness work as well as being blinded.

For Npc's look up feats and spells before hand.

Main thing have fun let others have fun. If an easy question comes up like how does grease work look it up. If it is a hard thing to figure out, bullrushing someone that is standing on banana peels and marbles. Throw out a quick penalaty and move on.

Good luck.


Thanks again! These are great tips. Jason, I'll definitely check out Painlord's threads.

Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo) 5/55/5

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If your crazy, then I'm right there with you.

I've got 4 kids, full time school, and a wife also in school who's schedule is almost exactly opposite of mine.

I just last week started to GM PFS games as well, and its been a great experience.

As stated above, the best piece of advise is to know that everyone makes mistakes. All you can do is grow and learn with your players.

Good luck to you, both of us in fact. haha

5/5

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I think all GMs are a smidgebit crazy to be honest, but welcome to the club.

A couple of tips I use to help with my prep time

A: cheatsheets of things such as feats, special abilities etc can be a lifesaver -- if you're up late with the baby just start on the word doc

B: the shared drive... click this link here, yeah this big one that is all funny colored ... this will be a huge timesaver in helping with prep as others across the world have contributed to this. The main rule is to borrow i.e. make a copy of the information you want don't take the original doc out of the shared drive.

Grand Lodge

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It's also much easier to start GMing if you have a stable base of characters so you can learn their classes as they develop. Then you learn what they can do gradually, and know what their common tactics are.
GMing at a convention can sometimes be a bit crazy, with players bringing obscure class features and spell options. It slows things down if those players don't have their resources ready.
Just keep playing, and don't be afraid to rely on your players for rules advice, or, if there is a disagreement, make a ruling based on your gut, and make a note to look up the rules after the scenario.
Good luck!

Grand Lodge 5/5 ****

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Welcome Shatner's comma and Trent Varva

New GMs are always needed. And in my opinion PFS scenarios are among the best way to start GMing. They are short (should be finished in 4-5 hours play), tend to have a limited amount of encounters and are rather linear. This means you have (less often) to jump back and forth.

In addition PFS scenarios give the group a reason to adventure. Nothing worse as describing a scene and the group doesn't take the bait in the tavern and decides not to go to the cave with the treasure that you prepared but rather walk into the opposite direction.

In addition as pointed out above - there is lots of help you can get - either written down - search the GM area for your adventure and problems encountered by others - or thanks to shared prep - or ask a question.

Some might see it as heresy if PFS is how you learn - but I feel it is rather a good choice to start. From here onwards it is preparation and experience that make you better. But you could have chosen a worse path to get there.

Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo) 5/55/5

Thanks Thod!

I have personally found the PFS scenarios to be fantastic tools to hone my GM skills. I started DMing a 3.5 game about 8 months ago and have been struggling with the learning curve, especially balancing the encounters and providing interesting obstacles that aren't always a straight hack'n'slash.

PFS lets me see how the pro's do it, and gives me plenty of experience on rule adjudication and even improvisation. As "linear" as the PFS scenarios may be, there is still a lot of things that can happen that aren't written down on the pages. Either way I'm glad to have the opportunity to GM such quality material with some really awesome players at my tables.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Absolutely not.


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Thanks again for all the advice! I know everyone starts somewhere, an it's comforting to have that reinforced. I know the folks I'll be playing with, so I am planning to be as upfront with them as I can.

First get together will be in a little over a week from now. I'll let you know how it goes. I really appreciate the encouragement.

4/5 *

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Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

Welcome to PFS, and to stepping behind the curtain. I understand what you mean about time being a premium and Real Life Coming First [tm], which is part of why a good many of us are involved in PFS — it's episodic in nature, which is terrific for busy schedules.

The best advice I ever got about GMing, and what I've tried to use and to share, is this:


  • Have fun;
  • Be adaptive; and
  • The show must go on. (Which is to say, remember that no one playing will know if you colossally screwed up the story...or will likely care, if they had a good time at the table. Make a decision and move forward. Own up to it later, but during the game keep the focus on the game.)

4/5

Shatner's Comma wrote:

Thanks again for all the advice! I know everyone starts somewhere, an it's comforting to have that reinforced. I know the folks I'll be playing with, so I am planning to be as upfront with them as I can.

First get together will be in a little over a week from now. I'll let you know how it goes. I really appreciate the encouragement.

I'll hop on the bandwagon of 'only a little crazy', since I'm in pretty much the same boat. Joined PFS about a week ago, no local group, so I'm starting one.

Reading your thread saved me from posting my own panicky newbie thread. :-D

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