Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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I will apologize if I am repeating advice previously given.
Read the scenario - twice. Once for flow and once for the specifics (checks, etc).
Review the stat blocks and refresh yourself on any unfamiliar feats and spells.
Check the GM forums for the specific scenario you are prepping as the PFS Develomemt Team as well as the scenario authors pipe in from time to time with clarifications.
Go to Pfsprep.com and check for a listing on the scenario you are prepping. This is a community run site that may have posted tools that can make your scenario run easier.
Have fun!!
Try to get a play of the scenario before you run. You may get some insight on how to run the scenario or some great GM tricks that you may find useful.
Find out if others in your area have run the scenario and see if they played it as well. If someone in your area has run the scenario but not played it, convincing them to sit at your table for your run may provide a resource if questions arise.
Have fun and do not be afraid to make mistakes!!
Hope this helps and good luck.
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The Pathfinder Society GM Discussion forum is most helpful. Simply search for the scenario you're looking to run and you'll find a whole host of suggestions, prep documents, and author commentary.
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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These are things I usually do when prepping. Bold ones are the most important, if you're in a hurry.
- Read the introduction/summary of the scenario. This gives you an idea of what "the point" of the scenario is.
- Read the entire scenario straight through just to get a basic idea of what you're going to be doing.
- Read the scenario thread. Get an idea of what problems previous groups had with this scenario, or ideas other people had to make it even better.
- Read the reviews. Reviews give you insight into stuff players disliked that a GM might not have written about because he wasn't bothered by it. A worthwhile perspective.
- Make a list of needed items: what minis, maps, handouts and chronicles do you need to run this scenario? Which ones do I already have? This is your packing list you use to make sure you've got everything when you're going to the game site.
- Print the scenario, read thoroughly, highlight stuff. Take care to highlight stuff that you need to tell or ask the players that's "hidden" in the text instead of in the read-aloud box text. If you're using a tablet to run, make comments in the PDF.
- Ask questions in the GM thread about stuff that doesn't make sense or that you worry about. Fellow GMs, scenario authors and campaign leadership are quite active in answering questions.
- Check PFSprep.com to see what stuff other people have already done that you can use.
- Prepare maps - obtain flipmats, or draw maps. I use flipover paper so that I can reuse the maps if I rerun the scenario. Preparing maps before the game has significant advantages. It saves time during the session. If the map is complicated, it's much better to draw it at home instead of with players distracting you with questions. I find it useful to refer extensively to the scenario when drawing because sometimes you need the explanation to understand what you're supposed to be drawing. And drawing the maps helps you to understand subtleties in some encounters.
- Figure out statblocks. Especially if you have to apply templates or use monster stats not printed in the adventure. Go through the statblocks and highlight any unusual or important powers the enemies might use. Read the tactics and be alert for anything that might be intended to make a lethal encounter more fair by limiting the enemy to some actions. Look up/print unusual spells and abilities. Research any weird rules that may be needed.
- Prepare handouts. Some scenarios have them built in. Some scenarios don't but should have them.
- As the date for running draws near, keep an eye on new reviews/GM thread posts..
- Read the scenario one more time.
- Take the time to really imagine the scenario and the mood you want to evoke in the players.
- Upload stuff you made to PFSprep :)
After you run the scenario, you can post your experiences on the GM threads; this is very useful for other people and many authors keep an eye on their babies to learn what people liked and didn't. Likewise, post reviews; those things have high impact.
Did I forget anything?
Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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There's also a whole thread devoted to scenario prepping techniques in the PFS GM forum.
It's fairly recent, too!
Hmm
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There is one item that I think is sort of touched on in the previous posts, but I would like to stress: look for the monster/NPC stat blocks. More recent scenarios have been publishing all the needed stat blocks in the back, but older scenarios will often just list a Bestiary or NPC Codex page reference. These stat blocks are available on the PFSRD and can be downloaded or printed in advance (just Google the monster or NPC name). I haven't purchased an NPC Codex yet and I have been caught out a couple of times where I forgot to print out the needed stat blocks and have had to run over to the store shelf to quickly copy the needed info for an encounter. If you have an NPC with a class you have never played, it is a good idea to read up on the class features in advance as well so that you can run the encounter properly.
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Venture-Agent, Georgia—Atlanta
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One other suggestion: I find it helps me to sort of mentally imagine how each combat might go down. If the specific location of the bad guys isn't already marked on the map for you, where are you going to put them? If the specific spells or other tactics that they might use aren't already written into the scenario, what might you have them do on the first round or two? If they have auras or other abilities that the PCs will likely trigger, how (and when) do they work? Under what circumstances would I give the bad guys a surprise round? What features of the map can make the encounter fun and/or boring? Are there important items and/or NPCs in the encounter and if so, what squares are you going to put them in and what are they going to do when the dice start falling? If there are special mechanics that will be relevant and the scenario doesn't already tell you how to treat them, how will you handle them?
Of course in actuality it will all unfold differently because of course the players will do their own (unpredictable) things, and thats a lot of the fun of GM-ing, but I find that it's helpful to me to think about these sorts of questions in advance to try to make the combat encounters challenging, dramatic, and fun.