GenCon - Two New Pathfinder players - My Parents


Pathfinder Society

Liberty's Edge

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Hi all,

At Gencon, my wife and I and have always done well with organized play events. This year the only events my wife "required" while scheduling was the society special event and she was pretty happy that we signed up for all three specials.

This year we wanted to do a family vacation with my parents and we were planning on not going to Gencon at all this year. I suggested Las Vegas to my mom - we've never been out there - but my mom said "What about that convention you two go to..." So, we're going to Gencon because my mom things Gencon sounds cool.

My parents are casual board gamers, coming to my "at home" convention every year and played their first table top RPG in June(Crypt of the Everflame, with PFS pregens)They did awesome- total "proud child" moment. I think having three gaming kids gave them good exposure to the genre.

My parents are signed up for the specials with my wife and I, we're planning to all play low-level pregens to keep it simple for my parents, plus my wife and I only play society games at Gencon.

If I show up to a special, with "new" players like that, how will it be received by the table? I didn't second guess it when I signed up, but we won't be able to play "The Confirmation" or any other events before we dive into the specials. I know they can handle it and every society table I have been at would welcome new players.

Should I be concerned about the table reaction to bringing "newbies"? Any thoughts or recommendations?

Silver Crusade 4/5

That's totally cool. I remember as a kid "making" my mom play D&D with me. She always played along, but hated it I later found out...she just didn't get it. My Grandma on the other hand was a role-playing master.

My limited experience says it will be fine, my noob experience was at GENCON and everyone was great. Plus since you and your wife are vets it's not like they will be flying completely blind.

For Paths We Choose you'll be using the lvl 4 PreCons, make sure you all pick a faction (not Silver Crusade or Grand Lodge) that will have an interesting storyline for that special.

5/5 5/55/55/5

It will vary by the dm, but for a low level adventure they should be used to it. If you're running a pregen into a 7-11 expect a few groans and comments about sending them into combat with BBQ sauce.

Horizon Hunters 4/5 5/5 *** Venture-Lieutenant, Indiana—Indianapolis

Cyrus:

What day will you be coming into town? On Wednesday, the 13th, at 8 a.m., there will be a session of "The Confirmation" at Scotty's Brewhouse in downtown Indy - a whole day of free Pathfinder Society gaming.

:)

Grand Lodge 5/5

Chaosorbit wrote:

That's totally cool. I remember as a kid "making" my mom play D&D with me. She always played along, but hated it I later found out...she just didn't get it. My Grandma on the other hand was a role-playing master.

My limited experience says it will be fine, my noob experience was at GENCON and everyone was great. Plus since you and your wife are vets it's not like they will be flying completely blind.

For Paths We Choose you'll be using the lvl 4 PreCons, make sure you all pick a faction (not Silver Crusade or Grand Lodge) that will have an interesting storyline for that special.

Pregens are all considered to be members of the Grand Lodge (unfortunately). The credit when applied to a character goes to that characters Faction, but for the purposes of the actual game you'd be playing as a GL member

Shadow Lodge 4/5 *** Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant

1 person marked this as a favorite.

As one of the GMs running 1-4 for the 1-11 special, I welcome new players to my table. Its one of the reasons I sign up for the low tables. I love introducing new players to PFS and sharing my love for the game.

I honestly would urge you to think about playing something other than the Saturday night special. Bonekeep 3, I think, would be a bad experience for new players since its pretty much written to kill characters in bad ways (at least the first two have and I don't see Jason changing that).

Grand Lodge 2/5

Mark Stratton wrote:

Cyrus:

What day will you be coming into town? On Wednesday, the 13th, at 8 a.m., there will be a session of "The Confirmation" at Scotty's Brewhouse in downtown Indy - a whole day of free Pathfinder Society gaming.

:)

Next year I'm totally going to do this (well, maybe not for the 8am sessions) but I didn't see the signups early enough to do anything about it. I'm local so it's just a short drive downtown.

As to the original question, I doubt the GM will have any problem at all with it. Like others have said, it really does just depend on the GM, but they're probably used to new players in low tier games, too.

Silver Crusade 1/5 *

If you've got yourself, your wife, and both parents, why not run a session of The Confirmation at home before GenCon. It's still two weeks away, after all. Then everybody can feel out what they may or may not like, and maybe even build their own characters. You might even be able to put together a party of four that works really well together for the special.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Bigdaddyjug wrote:
If you've got yourself, your wife, and both parents, why not run a session of The Confirmation at home before GenCon. It's still two weeks away, after all. Then everybody can feel out what they may or may not like, and maybe even build their own characters. You might even be able to put together a party of four that works really well together for the special.

I'm with Big Daddy Jug on this one. And if you don't like to GM, hopefully you can find somebody in the area and then you can all play together.

Liberty's Edge

Eric Clingenpeel wrote:

As one of the GMs running 1-4 for the 1-11 special, I welcome new players to my table. Its one of the reasons I sign up for the low tables. I love introducing new players to PFS and sharing my love for the game.

I honestly would urge you to think about playing something other than the Saturday night special. Bonekeep 3, I think, would be a bad experience for new players since its pretty much written to kill characters in bad ways (at least the first two have and I don't see Jason changing that).

Thanks! Exactly what I would hope to hear.

I have a feeling that Saturday they may spend doing some local stuff, so that works out.

Although, I could see it kind of being epic to have their characters die the last time they are played. (My first D&D character was killed in by a magic missile after only an hour of life. I am still here!) Good advice, I will throw it out there!

Liberty's Edge

Chaosorbit wrote:

That's totally cool. I remember as a kid "making" my mom play D&D with me. She always played along, but hated it I later found out...she just didn't get it. My Grandma on the other hand was a role-playing master.

My limited experience says it will be fine, my noob experience was at GENCON and everyone was great. Plus since you and your wife are vets it's not like they will be flying completely blind.

For Paths We Choose you'll be using the lvl 4 PreCons, make sure you all pick a faction (not Silver Crusade or Grand Lodge) that will have an interesting storyline for that special.

Thanks for the lvl 4 reminder! In my head I was thinking that was Friday's Game.

Liberty's Edge

Mark Stratton wrote:

Cyrus:

What day will you be coming into town? On Wednesday, the 13th, at 8 a.m., there will be a session of "The Confirmation" at Scotty's Brewhouse in downtown Indy - a whole day of free Pathfinder Society gaming.

:)

That IS tempting, but I think we're planning on hitting the Zoo that day. Maybe I can run "The Confirmation" before we head out.

We'll see!

Liberty's Edge

Mark Stratton wrote:

Cyrus:

What day will you be coming into town? On Wednesday, the 13th, at 8 a.m., there will be a session of "The Confirmation" at Scotty's Brewhouse in downtown Indy - a whole day of free Pathfinder Society gaming.

:)

That IS tempting, but I think we're planning on hitting the Zoo that day. Maybe I can run "The Confirmation" before we head out.

We'll see! Is it just a "show up and find a table"? thing?

Horizon Hunters 4/5 5/5 *** Venture-Lieutenant, Indiana—Indianapolis

Actually, there is a thread that contains the link to sign up for games on the Warhorn. All the afternoon and evening spaces are filled. I just have a few open seats in the 8 am slot.

Liberty's Edge

Mark Stratton wrote:
Actually, there is a thread that contains the link to sign up for games on the Warhorn. All the afternoon and evening spaces are filled. I just have a few open seats in the 8 am slot.

Very cool. Thanks! I will keep this in mind for next time.

I might run "The Confirmation" before Thursday, depending on time.

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