I'd like to make some recommendations for next year's Free RPG Day 2015.
Free RPG Day is an event that RPG Companies like Paizo give free product to showcase their games in the spirit of growing the hobby. It's meant to attract new players who may have never played in an RPG before or those who may not have tried a particular system and hopefully gets them to keep playing.
It's also a big event for those of us who already are involved in RPG's and many fans of Paizo are looking to play the latest offering from our favorite publisher.
My recommendations to support both groups are as follows:
1. The level of the adventure(s) should be between levels 3-5. At these levels many of the PC classes get signature abilities that otherwise would be unavailable as a 1st level beginner adventurer. It allows classes to strut their stuff for new players without overwhelming them.
2. The adventure - should be a series of 3 or 4 1-hour quests similar to the PFS Quests in Goblin Attack, the Beginners Box Bash, and the quests used for the PFS Open Call. This is mainly to allow for walk-in's and passerby's who may not have a full 3-4 hours to play an RPG at that time, but may otherwise be interested.
3. They should be rewarded with a gaming 'hook' to get them to come back and play again. For Paizo it would be a minor chronicle sheet that is usable in Pathfinder Society Organized Play (as Paizo's main marketing engine). If a new player were to play all of the quests offered in the Free RPG Day module then they could get a more substantial boon similar to the boon offered during the Beginner Box Bash. If the player is a current PFS member then they would be offered a boon similar to normal chronicle sheet offering 1XP, 1 or 2PP, and level appropriate GP.
These are my recommendations if anyone else has others please feel free to chime in.
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My single biggest recommendation is to make sure that ALL of the supplied pregens can significantly contribute to the success of the mission.
My second recommendation is to make sure that a team consisting of just the pregens played by new players has at least a fighting chance of succeeding within 4 hours.
Making the scenario PFS sanctioned is a VERY good idea as it will greatly increase the number of tables being run. But it is NOT necessary to have a full 3 level range. And making the PFS fit perfect is NOT as important as making a good Free RPG day module.
To take this years module as an example, I think that
1) Jirelle should either have been built very differently, a different pregen supplied, or at the least an agile rapier should have been found very early on.
2) given level 3 pregens the 2 main fights should have been significantly reduced in difficulty.
3) assuming the difficulty WAS reduced this should then be sanctioned for PFS play as a 1-3 scenario. Or maybe 2-3. There is no way to make it playable with L3 pregens and level 4 lovingly crafted PCs. Don't even try.