New GM, new core campaign

[Thordelion Copperpots]

Hi all,

I'm jumping into the GMing for the first time. We decided to run a core campaign, in part to help me get my sea legs as a GM.

The plan to kick off the game is to play:
In Service to the Lore
The SilverHex chronicles

This should land the party at lvl 3, and ready to get down with some fun adventures.

So, my questions are:

1. Any advice for a new GM?
2. Any scenario advice, or recommendations?
3. Any pitfalls I should look out for running Core?
4. For my own character, I think I can just collect GM credit for scenarios and roll up my character whenever I feel like it. Is that true?

[Rei]

Those adventures only give 1 XP each. The characters will be 1 XP short of level 2, not level 3.

[Thordelion Copperpots]

Rei wrote:

Those adventures only give 1 XP each. The characters will be 1 XP short of level 2, not level 3.

Any suggestions of what to run before Silverhex, then?

[Kess, Humble Servant of Abadar]

There are several great Evergreen scenarios. Both 6-10 (?) The Wounded Wisp and 5-08 The Confirmation are great for 1st level characters, and probably easier to follow the story rather than perhaps Silverhex.

Beyond that, there are so many great low-level adventures. Are you running with 4 or 6?

There have been several great story-arc paths that can be told.

If 4, I'd suggest The City of Strangers, The Devil You Know series and Before the Dawn series.

If 6, I'd stick with some newer scenarios, as season 4 on is balanced for 6 players, not 4. 6 players would ROLF-stomp some earlier season scenarios.

[Thordelion Copperpots]

Dave Baker wrote:

There are several great Evergreen scenarios. Both 6-10 (?) The Wounded Wisp and 5-08 The Confirmation are great for 1st level characters, and probably easier to follow the story rather than perhaps Silverhex.

Beyond that, there are so many great low-level adventures. Are you running with 4 or 6?

There have been several great story-arc paths that can be told.

If 4, I'd suggest The City of Strangers, The Devil You Know series and Before the Dawn series.

If 6, I'd stick with some newer scenarios, as season 4 on is balanced for 6 players, not 4. 6 players would ROLF-stomp some earlier season scenarios.

Thanks, Dave.

It's a party of 4. One player is relatively new, but overall a very smart group. Should I steer away from the current season, or just look towards lower subtiers if we play season 5-6 scenarios?

[Gwen Smith]

If you're going to run Silverhex, I'd recommend running it first. Silverhex can only be run with pregens, so you probably don't want to run it after your players build their characters.

[Kess, Humble Servant of Abadar]

As Dorothy said, you could play Silverhex, then both Wounded Wisp and Confirmation.

As for the current season, it really depends on what story you want to tell. The earlier seasons introduce a lot of characters and elements that may be missed by simply playing the latter seasons. Who the villains are, their motivations, etc, etc.

I cannot take credit for this story arc path, but it will take them through Eyes of the Ten (though if you're able to play it before you run it somehow, it would be best. Lots of major spoilers otherwise). Eyes is the retirement arc and these scenarios are handpicked to ensure you've played all the scenarios that add flavour and backstory to Eyes.

Level 1
Silverhex
5-08 The Confirmation
6-10 The Wounded Wisp
Level 2
0-01 Silent Tide
0-02 The Hydra’s Fang Incident
0-04 Frozen Fingers of Midnight
Level 3
0-05 Mists of Mwangi
0-03 Murder on the Silken Caravan
0-06 Black Waters
Level 4
0-07 Among the Living
1-35 Voice in the Void
1-33 Assault on the Kingdome of the Impossible
Level 5
0-14 The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch
1-45 Delirium’s Tangle
1-49 Among the Dead
Level 6
2-11 The Penumbral Accords
1-29 Devil We Know 1
1-30 Devil We Know 2
Level 7
1-41 Devil We Know 3
1-48 Devil We Know 4
3-08 Among The Gods
Level 8
0-2- Kin Xeros of Azlant
0-22 Fingerprints of the Fiend
1-40 Halls of Drunken Heroes
Level 9
1-36 Echoes of the Everwar 1
1-42 Echoes of the Everwar 2
1-44 Echoes of the Everwar 3
Level 10
1-53 Echoes of the Everwar 4
2-08 The Sarkorian Prophecy
2-10 Fury of the Fiends
Level 11
2-20 Wrath of the Accursed
5-17 Fate of the Fiends
2-18 The Forbidden Furnace of Forgotten Koor
Level 12
1-46 Eyes of the Ten 1
1-54 Eyes of the Ten 2
2-05 Eyes of the Ten 3
2-22 Eyes of the Ten 4

[Thordelion Copperpots]

Thanks a ton for that!

One thing that's confusing for me about Silverhex. How is it that you still run two more scenarios after it, and just get to level 2?

How does the pregen requirement work with my group, who are rolling their own characters?

[Starglim]

Thordelion Copperpots wrote:

One thing that's confusing for me about Silverhex. How is it that you still run two more scenarios after it, and just get to level 2?

edit: If your players complete all six quests, they gain a total of 1 XP. The rewards on each line of the chronicle are totals, not cumulative.

Thordelion Copperpots wrote:

How does the pregen requirement work with my group, who are rolling their own characters?

They must (for PFS credit) play Silverhex with pregenerated characters. They apply the chronicle for Silverhex to their own characters.

[DM Giants]

This post helped a lot. Thanks everyone. I will be starting my PFS Core GMing soon.