Pathfinder Society Academy (PSA) Questions

[Hmm]

So, as far as I understand PSA, the mission statement is to teach young gamers lessons on how to play Pathfinder while having a good time.

I know that the Beginner's Box Bash Demos are supposed to be part of that, but as I read through them I am feeling somewhat disappointed. With the exception of the somewhat lively Tome*, the first series appears to be roleplay lite, and I'm uncertain what lessons I am supposed to be teaching here. I am looking for story hooks... Young children, just like adults, love to be hooked in to the story of an adventure. In these, the adventure hooks are: "Go to these places and retrieve the McGuffins!" (Phantom Phenomena had a similar premise, but had the advantage of a crazy mad scientist as the quest giver, and of rich & evocative settings.)

So, far... I'm not finding a good overarching RP / Story Hook to engage players (especially young players) and I don't know if there are specific lessons I'm supposed to be imparting here. As a storytelling GM, I can probably graft personalities on to the various NPCs to make them more memorable, but I'm looking for tips. What can I do to breathe life into the Beginners Box Bash Demos?

If you've GMed them before in PSA, what did you find most effective?

___

* I do like Tome, but then I'm partial to Mimics and book-related adventures.

[FLite]

Is PSA live? Or is this just a gencon thing?

[LackofFocus]

PSA is right now being cleaned/finished up by PFS Developers.

@HMM No those 2 starter BBB quest don't have a common thread, I am hoping during development they do something to unite them each to a cohesive story.

The First series is more teaching the system you roll and you hit type adventures. with the introduction of some roleplaying.

The second series is an interesting mix of adventures. With Tomes sing Be Our Guest from beauty and the beast before the BBEG Strikes.

@ Jared once it is done with development it will be live right now it is just a GenCon thing.

[Alanya]

It's also being run at PaizoCon, and I'm guessing leadership will use the feedback from that to work on any fine tuning that is needed.

Lucas, now I so need to get you to sing that for me next time I see you! :)

[LackofFocus]

Well, Lisa you will need to watch me run PSA to do it. :D

[BretI]

I just got the materials dropped to my account. I'm still trying to get the overall picture.

First, some really basic questions:

Are the Beginner Box pre-generated characters the ones used in the first few lessons? Everything seems to indicate that, but I want to be sure. I think they are expected to switch to the normal Pathfinder Society pre-generated characters as part of Transitions.

As I understand it, this is only run at conventions so far.

Are any dice provided?

The event description for PaizoCon 2017 says:
Experience Required None
Materials Required Dice, Pencil, Mini/Token

Since the first lesson includes describing all the dice, seems rather strange to expect people to know what dice to bring.

Do people find they have to spend time explaining the changes in the character sheets between Beginners Box and the normal pre-gen characters?

[Hmm]

Looking at the PSA information, it looks like dice should be provided:

PSA Beginner wrote:

If you are playing with older players, distribute a full set of dice to each player.

I am also wondering about Table Tents. They're recommended for PSA. Will we have pregens for the Beginner's Box provided, just like other pregens?

Hmm

[Hmm]

Speaking of Pregens from the Beginners Box, the Advanced PSA document mentions that we'd need the four pregens that came in the box PLUS Amiri from the Appendix. What Appendix? Where is this Beginner Box Amiri?

EDITED:

Never Mind. She's in the Appendix of Advanced PSA not the Appendix of Beginner's Box.

_____

We need to get the PSA stuff more consolidated. All the quests are separate documents, and then there are the lesson plans, which are separate documents on top of that, plus pregens that are not the usual ones....

This is too scattered. We really, really need to have each PSA session consolidated into it's own document.

Are we allowed to put up PFS Prep for PSA?

[Chris Mortika]

This might be a place to suggest this: when teaching very new or very young players:

1) use poker chips to indicate hit points

2) Make the d20, the "action die" a different color.

[BretI]

Thanks!

I will see how many counter beads I have. I may have enough of those. Since those are already a part of my supplies, they would work better for me than poker chips.

Swapping around the dice so the d20 is a different color sounds like a good idea as well.

[Silbeg]

Chris Mortika wrote:

2) Make the d20, the "action die" a different color.

Or, maybe better yet, get the big Paizo Purple D20 for then to use! (Or any of the big d20s_

[GinoA]

When my daughter did Beginner at GenCon last year, she used a large set for the initial this-is-a-d20 segment then left them on the table to point to. I think she used them as her GM dice as well.

On table tents, I printed some last year but I'm not sure whether I downloaded them or made them up myself. If I find them, I'll post.

Edit: Alex *is* PSA for Origins this year. Feel free to stop by and say Hi while she's running. I'll be doing all her tents/handouts/... over the next week or so. I'll share any useful files here.

[Hmm]

We need a PSA section on PFS Prep!

Yes,, let's start getting files together. I am doing a ton of printing on this Saturday.

GINO, do I need to print off Beginner Box pregens?

Hmm

[LackofFocus]

Pfs prep for PSA would be appreciated, I can add all my notes and prep work.

[Pirate Rob]

Ta daa!

[Hmm]

Pirate Rob wrote:

Ta daa!

I'll kiss your bandana'd head at PaizoCon!

Thank you!

Hmm

[LackofFocus]

Thank you Sir I will put up what have tonight or tomorrow.

[BretI]

I have put up my notes for PSA on the PFS Prep site.

Hopefully it will help others prepare.

All my materials are Google Docs, so they will likely get updated as I run through things.

[LackofFocus]

BretI wrote:

I have put up my notes for PSA on the PFS Prep site.

Hopefully it will help others prepare.

All my materials are Google Docs, so they will likely get updated as I run through things.

Great Job, better then what I had.

[BretI]

Lucas Servideo wrote:

Great Job, better then what I had.

It helped a lot seeing what you had. Standing on the shoulders of giants, as it were.

Glad you liked it!