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I don't know how helpful this is, but I played my first few Society games using pregens. Once I had the hang of things (for the most part, anyway), I built my first character.
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Was this an ideal first experience? No. But you seem to be taking this way too hard for a game.I am sorry you feel this way. Let me break it down for you bit by bit.
I can't believe I'm going to defend Sammy T's very curt post, but judging by how dedicated you are to being upset about this, I think he might have some insight for you. I want to outline something for you. Consider your ideal outcome:
- You show up and play your first game.
- You participate in everything, get a chronicle sheet, and head home.
- You show up to game 2 with your alchemist and play another time!
- The books are a good purchase that see more use!
OK? I understand, that's what you wanted. Here is how you seem to be portraying what actually happened:
- You show up and play your first game.
- You were screwed over for playing and had to leave early.
- People glared at you and said, "Don't come back."
- The books are wasted.
I understand that those things didn't actually happen, but that's the level of "I am super upset about this" that seems to be showing. By that I mean, it comes off almost like something terrible and mean happened. However, it's just a matter of perspective, and it doesn't have to be that bad. Look at this, this can also be your reality, and look how close it is to your ideal game:
- You show up and play your first game.
- You participate in everything, but die in the final fight, and head home.
- You show up to game 2 with a slightly improved alchemist and play another time!
- The books are a good purchase that see more use!
Right? It's almost literally the same thing, minus the chronicle sheet. That's important: you are welcome to try again, and can come right back at it with almost the same exact sheet. In fact, it can be the same sheet with a different name, although as you've learned in this topic there are some ways to make the sheet better.
The setback is so minor!
So I don't like that Sammy T is kinda harsh, but I think maybe there is a point there. This is not that big of a deal. Either roll with the punches and get that new character sheet and keep going, or head out to play more D&D 5th edition. Nobody will be upset if you choose that. They're different games. If you like that more, do what you like more. But being super upset about this thing you can easily recover from? I don't know. I'm not sure it's worth that.
I wish you good gaming, even if it's not with us. Find what makes you happy, and enjoy it!
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First: You bought not one, but two hardcover books for a system you weren't even sure you'd enjoy? And here I had to fight with myself for half a year to even purchase the CRB...
I left hurt and confused, because I could compare the session to another system's session. I understand everyone opinion, especially those use to the system. I am simply am not, which would mean increase chances of die next session. This seems like the only Game Master in the area, and he said next week would be part 2.
I feel like this is being overlooked far too generously. The big problem to me doesn't seem to be a character dying in his first scenario (though this might have something to do with it), but how it happened.
Besides all the "S#*& happens, build a tougher character next time, I died in my first PFS scenario as well, sometimes the dice are against you" that's going on here (and that is not wrong, even though I myself have yet to see a character die - we're playing pretty soft in my area) we simply should not overlook this fact:The game was advertised as "Pathfinder for Beginners".
No help was given for beginners.
The GM did not help in any way.
Now, we don't know anything about the GM in question - maybe he himself was a newbie, maybe he was quite busy at the moment, maybe jtaylor73003 didn't make it clear enough how much of a newbie he was - but really, the one problem going on here was a big difference in expectation from both sides.
You, jtaylor expected someone to hold your hand and guide you towards this system you were interested in. This is not unreasonable and in fact how most of my players were as well.
The GM seemed to expect something different - maybe because communication failed, maybe because he simply didn't have the time, maybe because he's lazy. We don't know and assuming anything does not help here.
This leaves open a big problem though - with all the help and all the tips, if you're going back in without talking to the GM beforehand you won't have much fun I'm afraid. Did you talk to him after the scenario? Writing him a (friendly and non-confrontational) email explaining what you expected could help far more than the whole discussion here. If he wasn't aware of how much of a newbie (and I mean this in the friendly way, not in the "Damn those Noobs!"-way) you were this should help. If he's a "Imma kill you all if you didn't memorize the CRB before your first game!" type of GM, cool, at least you know.
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Hey, even though I died a bunch, that doesn't mean it was awesome and I kept my mouth shut. After I died the first time, I was pissed. Nobody had been mean to me, but I was told before the game that I would be "playing up" with my 1st level character, and that "it will be fine." I didn't know what that meant, but essentially, it means my 1st level character was matched up with a bunch of 4th level characters, and they went through the much harder version of the module, and it kicked my butt. I was not happy when I learned what had happened, and told my GM. He assured me that he was not trying to kill my particular character, and went out of his way to say as much out loud during the next game.
A couple of years later, he had TPK'd 5 different groups, and was "encouraged" to never GM again. You may indeed have a too-hard GM, and it may be that a year from now, he's ousted and you replace him. Who knows?
In any case, you should definitely talk to the GM. Nicely, of course. Explain that you were completely new, explain that it wasn't fun, and maybe even put things on him. I mean, say to him, "I don't know how to do this, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do to survive, so I'm hoping you will tell me or teach me."
That's perfectly fine. If you get into a bind and think your character is going to die again, it's reasonable to say to the GM, "I think I'm in trouble and I don't know how to get out of it. What should I be doing?"
If a player said all that to me, I'd instantly be like, "Have you explored these options? Try this thing or this other thing. Did you know this rule means you get to do this free action?" You know?
In Pathfinder, your character should never die as a "gotcha." For example, you should never die because you don't how to ready an action against a flyby attack (a creature flies past and gets a free attack but you cannot retaliate). If you are taking damage from repeated flyby attacks and you don't know what to do, the GM should not "win" by continuing and leaving you in the dark. The GM should immediately tell you, "A way to counter a flyby attack is to ready an action, so that you strike as the creature approaches." Then, if you still die anyway you at least died knowing the rules and using them to the best of your ability.
You should live or die because of choices. You should not die because you didn't understand the rule options in front of you. Or least, that should be rare. The GM shouldn't be withholding a rule that perfectly helps you, if you're asking about it.
So when you play, ask for options. Ask for rules. Say, "Is there any rule that helps me here?" You should get not only the GM but other players chiming in with options. In fact, it may be hard to shut them up once they get going.
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Outshyn did not say you did anything wrong. No need to resort to capslock. (EDIT: Oh, you referred to another post than I thought. Sorry. That's why quoting is such a great tool ;) )
But talking to your GM should really seem like a no-brainer. This will tell you pretty quickly whether he's someone you might want to play with again or not. If it turns out he's not willing to help you as much as you'd like to, or is more deadly than you'd like or something along those lines - great, now you now and you can do something better with your time. Play a video game, perhaps. Or go rock climbing. Or find another role playing game to play. Or a non-PFS-Pathfinder group willing to help you more. Or D&D Encounters.
Seems like a better use of your time (10 minutes to write a mail) than the alternative (another 5-hour-experience you possibly do not enjoy).
Venture-Captain, Ireland—Belfast
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Interesting read.
There are campaigns out there where the GM writes stories for the PCs to play in and he or she is no keener to lose their dramatis personnae than the players are. In this kind of campaign a happy ending is very much the order of the day and threats to the PCs' survival is about as real as threats to the lead character in the average TV action show.
Society play is not like that. The chance of character death is real and can happen due to bad choices or just plain bad luck. PFS is in general far from deadly though there are some encounters that more likely to kill than others.
There is a general desire to avoid killing new players' PCs because it leaves a bad taste in everyones' mouths just as it did in that of the OP. Hence our intro adventures, the recommended approach to new players' characters surviving and attempts to seat balanced tables.
This scenario combined with a mixed party of experienced players & beginners with no healer was a helluva baptism of fire. It was a bit of a perfect storm where a GM bound by the tactics and the terrain had little leeway to fudge things for the new player. I suspect the provoked AoOs were an ill fated attempt to help.
Thing is: I am not sure that the grievances listed here would be any less keenly felt if this had happened in session 3 or 4 where there would have been no presumption to 'softball'. The character would have been just as dead and the dollar value calculated would be greater still.
All that said PFS is great fun and the sense of satisfaction that you overcame the BBEG's best efforts to do you in only comes if we know that the threat was real.
W
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3. All my time and resources up to this point has been wasted.4. I left. I COULD OF INSTEAD BEEN WORKING EARNING $30/HR, AND INSTEAD OF PLAYING A GAME.
Sorry man, but El Oh El at these points of view.
"I died so the entire time was a waste!"
"omg playing a game instead of earning income!"
Yeah if that's really how you feel, this probably isn't for you at all. Good luck in your future gaming endevors.
@jtaylor73003:
I am not a participant in PFS, but an interested party. Sometimes the dice fall badly. Sometimes the odds are stacked against us. Sometimes the game is rigged unfairly.
Think about the game you played up until the point where your imaginary character died. If you enjoyed that, and if you understand that what happened (your imaginary character's demise) was an outlier incident then perhaps you can reconcile yourself to the fact that you enjoyed the concept of your imaginary character, the game was compelling and enjoyable, and that you might be able to find yourself another game of Pathfinder equally as fun and enjoyable.
Regardless of what you might have been able to do with the time you spent in your first experience of PFS, and regardless of the end result (the untimely and possibly unfair demise of your imaginary character) do you see a future for yourself there?
Are you interested in playing more Pathfinder games, whether or not they are PFS? If yes, then move on from that first experience, and go on to bigger, better, and more fulfilling things.
Alchemists sound like a lot of fun. :)
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I wanted to only reply to small portion of Outshyn post. I don't know how to make that happen yet so I did what I could.
You click "reply" on the post you want to quote and delete everything you do not want to quote. It's like carving a duck out of a piece of wood: Take the wood and remove everything not looking like a duck. ;)
And I seem to be mixing up threads (4 a.m. in my time zone) - didn't you say something about talking to him beforehand and he told you to just register or something like that? I can't seem to find it again, so it might've been another thread...
Sorry man, but El Oh El at these points of view.
"I died so the entire time was a waste!"
"omg playing a game instead of earning income!"
Yeah if that's really how you feel, this probably isn't for you at all. Good luck in your future gaming endevors.
While I understand where you're coming from, try to remember how cheated you can feel when a film has a really disappointing ending. While you might've enjoyed the movie up to this point, the ending just makes it feel like a waste. Same here.
I can absolutly understand his feelings (to a certain degree). I'd be pissed too if I spent a day figuring out a new gaming system, play it, lose without the ability to do anything about it and getting told "Sorry, that's the game!"Or another example: You joined a "Magic The Gathering for Beginners" event to try out the game, can't play the cards you wanted to play because your grasp of the rules isn't firm and get wrecked by a You-die-in-round-3-300$-deck multiple times in a row. Would this be typical for Magic? Maybe, I haven't played Magic in a long while. Is it Beginner friendly? No. Would you feel like it has been a waste of time even though you "played" 3 hours? Probably.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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@Jtaylor73003 (Btw not an ideal user name, you can of course always choose another alias under your profile).
Apparently you had a pretty bad time at your first PFS/Patfhinder experience, an I am very sorry about that.
Here is how the PFS experience should work:
BEFORE YOU PLAY:
Find an event, the Paizo event locator , works, but is by no means the only source. A number of game stores don't advertise there.
Ideally find an event for new players, yes you actually tried to do that, but while I don't want to throw the GM under the bus for his running of the scenario.... the choice if scenario is a bit questionable.
There are quite a number of beginner friendly scenarios and quests (most if not all have been posted here already) however the scenario you have played has kind of a reputation for being deadly.
I would never have chosen it for beginners, but that is a personal opinion.
Ideally an event for beginners should include a short but sweet scenario, and enough time to show new players to ropes, fill out chronicle sheets etc. Checking if the character you have brought to the tables was legal is the GMs job, especially for new players.
I don't know why your GM did not do this, or why he was late, but sometimes life just throws a wrench in your plans, he might have had a bad day.
Ok back to prep, ideally you should be able to read the guide to organized play, but for a new player like you even that isn't a great idea. Ideally I would sit you at the table with a pregenerated character, with a couple of experienced players to show you the ropes.
After the first scenario or two there is still plenty of time to create your character.
And since you did beat those first scenarios, you get a chronicle sheet for all of them, that you can apply to your real character.
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Asking someone for help is the next good step, this board has plenty of places where you can find good advice on character creation and the forum members are usually very welcoming to new players.
Of course creating a character with an experienced player/GM with you really is the ideal way to do this.
I am currently preparing material for an upcoming convention, and I will be bringing all the pregenerated characters and plenty of character sheets if players want to create a quick character (the fact that you can pretty much remake the entire characters before level 2 really helps new players, since they can fix mistakes).
This is really basic stuff, most players should be able to explain at least the basics.
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If you need/want a beginner friendly experience, try to contact your local venture captain or venture lieutenant (without knowing your city, I really can't help you there, but the guide to organized play includes a list - alas it is not up to date), he or she will be able to recommend groups/conventions for people like you.
We usually try to be as inclusive as possible, since Pathfinder can be a bit intimidating for new players.
A convention is usually not a bad place to start.
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Plan to arrive at the location early, and ideally if you have a way to contact the GM (many groups like to plan player attendance days or weeks in advance, it helps) do so and explain your situation. The GM might be able to arrive early, or schedule an appointment for him (or someone else) to help you with character generation and explain questions.
WHAT TO BRING:
Bring yourself, enough time, ideally a pen or two, something to write notes and your dice. That is everything you really need to start with PFS.
Since you wanted to play an alchemist, you also need the advanced players guide, and it is always nice to have your own Core Rulebook at the table.
Most GMs will have pregenerated charactes available, but you can always just download them on this site and print them yourself.
If you already started your character creation, bring along what you have and ask the other players to help you (nicely) in 99% of cases they should be able to help you.
WHAT TO DO AT THE LOCATION:
Ideally you should already have contacted the GM, or pre-registered yourself for the event, but walk ins aren't that unusual in quite a number of locations.
The first step is to approach the GM (remember he is investing quite a lot of time into this) introduce yourself and ask if he has a spot left for a new player.
Ideally he should be able to say yes, but in some cases watching a scenario (and creating a character) can work too - of course getting to play "something" is of course better.
Apparently the GMs at the D&D 5 event did a lot of things right, and without knowing the details of your experience, a similar level of attention for the new players should be the target for most organizers.
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Now what?:
Obviously your first experience was far from perfect, but after reading your posts here, it seems like a terrible waste to lose such an engaged player.
So here are my suggestions:
- Look for another game, I don't advise against going back to the old one, but let's just say that not giving players proper after care, after their character has died, doesn't really inspire me to suggest it.
Your local Venture Officer, should be able to recommend games in your area, and you always try your luck at conventions.
- Try different GMs, they tend to differ quite a bit, some will be more mechanically focused, others will really get into role playing their characters, some really twist and turn to keep their players alive ... and others delight in the bloodshed. Personally I prefer a bit of a middle ground, occasionally players die, it happened to my own character not that long ago.
Sometimes players die, usually from a combination of stupidity (Oh I have been guilty of that one) and sometimes the dice just hate you. I think it is part of the appeal, but there will always be those deaths that seem just random.
When it comes to new players, yeah, even I am a but (lot) more forgiving than usual, there are usually ways to keep the players alive, even after a stupid decision or a string of unlucky rolls.
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The most important piece of advice I can give you is this:
Keep asking others for help, and don't let the bad experiences ruin it for you, there are a lot of good people in this hobby.
In the decades I have been playing this hobby, I have experienced terrible GMs, ghastly players and worse, but for every bad experience, I have met plenty of inspiring GMs and awesome players.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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I stated that he had me register for this website during the Session. Shortly after the Session, I made this thread. I did so because everything was fresh and could do my past to give details to any questions that might arise. I haven't finish exploring the cite, so still learning things.I wanted to only reply to small portion of Outshyn post. I don't know how to make that happen yet so I did what I could.
You click "reply" on the post you want to quote and delete everything you do not want to quote. It's like carving a duck out of a piece of wood: Take the wood and remove everything not looking like a duck. ;)
And I seem to be mixing up threads (4 a.m. in my time zone) - didn't you say something about talking to him beforehand and he told you to just register or something like that? I can't seem to find it again, so it might've been another thread...
Your GM might actually have been new. Once a GM creates an event, he can print out 10 business card sized PFS numbers. That number alone could would have been enough to report the evening and allow you to play indefinitely.
Ideally you should go to this site and use that number to create an account, so you can be part of the community and benefit from a couple of other advantages.
Forcing players to do this at their first event, is unnecessary, but I feat, that the option to print those numbers is badly advertised.
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This game turned unfun at the end when my character was slaughtered.
[Emphasis mine]
My previous post was essentially saying - if it was FUN up until that point, and you think you could have more of the same FUN again, then do so and enjoy it! :)|
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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3. All my time and resources up to this point has been wasted.4. I left. I COULD OF INSTEAD BEEN WORKING EARNING $30/HR, AND INSTEAD OF PLAYING A GAME.
Sorry man, but El Oh El at these points of view.
"I died so the entire time was a waste!"
"omg playing a game instead of earning income!"
Yeah if that's really how you feel, this probably isn't for you at all. Good luck in your future gaming endevors.
I think, that it really doesn't matter all that much, what happened, rather than how it happened.
From his point of view, he prepared as well as he could (even bought the books first) he created a character according to the rules (the brew potion thing is a bit buried in the rules, so who can blame him) only to be confronted with a GM that arrived to late to properly deal with a new player.
The event was advertised for new players, but the scenario was not a great choice, the character was killed in a way that made the OP feel quite unwelcome at that particular table, and apparently the GM didn't manage, to explain why to the player.
A simple, "sorry I had to follow the adventure as written, and sometimes the dice just hate players, but I hope you had fun" would have helped.
The argument " I could have been working" or doing something constructive with my time, isn't new and while I usually reserve it for things that legitimately waste my time, in this case the OP felt like his time was wasted.
Putting a dollar value next to it doesn't help, but he came to the legitimate conclusion, that using this time to work, get paid and use that money to have fun, would have been a better use of his time.
It is not a great argument, but he just didn't enjoy his time, and frankly my first time PFS event was way better, I am not sure if I would every have tried it again after the bad experience the OP had.
Of course he came here, that is a great step.
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Well, jtaylor is likely experiencing "peak-end" phenomenon. There is a basic truth about human psychology that we tend to remember two things about an experience: that event at its most intense and the feeling at the end. This is why things that are physically painful can be remembered fondly if at the end there is a feeling of euphoria. This is also why things that are mildly pleasurable for their entire duration don't make such a lasting impression.
As for it being "just a game" I tend to agree that the social element changes that dynamic to a degree. Personally, I have no interest in Pathfinder as "just a game". If I play a computer RPG I can control the whole party! They sometimes die but can come back. Very different feel than many tabletop RPGs can have.
Even so, I agree that perspective is also important. As you reflect on your experience, I too encourage you to consider which experiences will bring you the most value to your life, whether or not it can be measured in dollars. Maybe PFS just isn't a good fit for you. Maybe the local PFS folks aren't a good fit.
I have often weighed my own time as you do yours. Currently my employer does not allow overtime (My job is one that is traditionally paid a salary, not wages). But I get where you're coming from. My advice woukd be to give yourself the time you need to look back with less emotion and more perspective.
I do hope you find something to scratch the " itch" as it were!
Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver
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Jtaylor, maybe you should try joining or getting together a non-PFS Pathfinder game. This way you can play at a more comfortable pace and learn things as you go. Even doing this along with some PFS games here and there will help you learn quite a lot about various rules and how the system works.
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3. All my time and resources up to this point has been wasted.
4. I left. I COULD OF INSTEAD BEEN WORKING EARNING $30/HR, AND INSTEAD OF PLAYING A GAME.
I think that means that there's a fundamental incompatibility here. I think a game run by various random GM's with various levels of quality cannot consistently meet the standards and expectations that you have expressed. For example if I were the GM of your next game and I heard that you were going to say it was a waste of time and you "should have been working instead" if the game turned out to be brutal or deadly, I would have to say as kindly as possible, "I can't guarantee the kind of game you want, so you should probably go do your jobs and earn your money instead." I would be inclined to say that even if the module seemed easy, since the randomness of the dice can sometimes throw things off!
A storytelling game can focus on the characters and often ensure the characters survive to see the next session, but this is a different kind of game. It is more like gambling where you are leaving your character's fate to your skill and the roll of the dice. In such a game your characters may die, and if that's going to be as upsetting as it seems then I don't think it's a good match. I think this is a good moment to get out and head to a different kind of game. Or at the very least tell the GMs you feel this way so that they can then back out of running for you, if they feel they cannot live up to that expectation (which I certainly could not).
Well it can't be too common if thousands of people keep turning up to PFS. Either that or they are masochists. Or okay with their imaginary character dying all the time.
Well it can't be too common if thousands of people keep turning up to PFS. Either that or they are masochists. Or okay with their imaginary character dying all the time.
I'll go with the bolded part, though maybe not all the time. :)
I was playing with a friend last week and when his character died, he just added the number 2 after the name on the character sheet and announced, "Gentlemen, let me introduce Reginald the 2nd. He will be joining you for the next game, and will be hellbent on revenge for Reginald the 1st. Thank you."
He did that while smiling and not being upset. I think that's a good quality to have if you're going to play PFS, especially if you are playing with a killer GM similar to the one OP has to deal with.
Anyway, I've posted too much to this topic. It's time to go do other things. Enjoy the conversation, everyone. Have fun gaming.
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I was playing with a friend last week and when his character died, he just added the number 2 after the name on the character sheet and announced, "Gentlemen, let me introduce Reginald the 2nd. He will be joining you for the next game, and will be hellbent on revenge for Reginald the 1st. Thank you."
A player local to me had a character named Primus. When Primus met his horrible, yet inevitable end, the player started anew with the exact same build. The new character's name was Secundus; he was the younger brother of Primus. Last I heard, that player was happily playing Tertius, the third brother in that family.
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If a game not going very well is going to cause you this amount of angst about the money you could have made instead, how all your time was wasted, etc. etc. then you're probably not the sort who should be pursuing public gaming.You have a point that public gaming may not be for me, then again in contrast my experience with Dungeons and Dragons 5th Encounters might say otherwise. I like to point out that this isn't about whether public gaming is for me, but whether Pathfinder or Pathfinder Society is for me. Yes I value my personal time, and yes I gave an objective view of that value because one of the criticism of my strong reaction to my fictional character dying. I like focus on whether Pathfinder/Pathfinder Society is a fit for me. I like to focus on if my negative experience was fluke or common occurance.
Except on an incredibly local basis, its going to be almost the same game with the exact same types of people.
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Hmmm, I guess I don't understand all the issues with JT's complaints. Generally I don't like complainers, but here's what I see.
He's outlined that he was a beginner going to a session supposedly for beginners where he received no help and found that his character was useless due to the no-friendly fire rules of PFS and splash rules for alchemist that he was not aware of cause he was new and had no help before the session commenced. I'm confounded as to how someone should be expected to have fun in these circumstances. Pathfinder is a complex game and if someone is going to title a session with the word "BEGINNER" anywhere in it they should dang well be expecting to help players along as should any experienced players at the table. Helping players along DOESN'T include repeated advice to have your character do nothing over multiple combats. These are the type of things that are inevitably going to bring about ill will and distrust even if your character lives.
I don't think there's anything wrong with displaying disappointment with the results or trying to put a value to what you feel you lost. I don't evaluate my time the way JT does, but I sure do understand the sentiment and don't find it unreasonable.
JT, as mentioned by others, this is a horrible scenario for 1st level PCs. Generally any scenario with negative channeling (which was fairly new when this scenario came out) can end very badly. Someone recommended another scenario with this element in it where my 1st level ninja spent almost the entire last fight unconscious and only survived because the 2 clerics at the table were kind enough to positive channel every round. Ended up being 1 hp from death IIRC.
So a lot of your experience I'd chalk up to just a bad environment. Think your expectations were setup poorly by the organizer and the follow through of those at the table did not help. Based on my experiences in PFS and the many people who post of the board that play PFS I'd say your experience is more of an outlier than the norm. Obviously things vary from location to location, but I'd hope you can find an environment conducive to having fun based on what you seem to be looking for. I wouldn't give up just yet.
Sebastian's post outlines a good method for moving forward. A lot of people involved in PFS want it to succeed and thus want the players to succeed which means have fun. Using what he has outlined should give you your best shot at getting assimilated. :) Here's hoping your 2nd experience will be better than your first.
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You don't want to go here JT. The run as written law of PFS is actually more there to protect players from GM's with high system mastery who will use it optimally to murderize PC's. It's to create a playing field where the vast majority of players will usually succeed.
Not having the holy symbol is either an oversight or left out to decrease word count, cause it's assumed any cleric is going to have a holy symbol. Personally, if a player forgot to get one for his cleric and we got into combat and he needed it, it'd be something I'd hand wave and allow him to ret-con buying if I were the GM.
Also, comparisons to real world are not going to be your friend in general with discussion of a fantasy RPG. The goal is to have fun. If we're going to treat it like everything has to be up to code that is going to be much harder to accomplish.
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I think its fair to say nearly every player and GM alike here agrees that having your character die isn't an enjoyable experience (self sacrifice aside of course). With that said I think its ridiculous to get into a mindset that there MUST be something wrong with the system, the GM or the scenario because "PFS scenarios are designed to kill players". I have GM'd scenarios where I was sure that some PC would die and at the end of the night, the group amazed me with their creative thinking and survived with grand experiences and memories of the events.
All in all, why play the scenario at all if you are so unwilling to accept character death as a possibility? Why not just print out a copy of the chronicle sheet, fill it out yourself and stuff it in a binder and pretend you played the scenario. Risk vs. Reward.
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In 58 tables of credit as GM, I've only managed to outright kill two characters. (Lots have been below zero.). I'm far from the best tactician, and I'm probably a softie. And, yet, still, if I got to a table and discovered the OP was one of the players, I'd recommend he not play with me. If for no other reason, I worry about the repercussions that would fall on me if something weren't to go right.
