I'm a new fan of your company's products and am interested in starting a PathFinder Society home game. I know that the "seasons" run August through June, but if I wanted to start a home game in this season yet, which scenario would I start with, and what level characters would be created for the game?
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I'm a new fan of your company's products and am interested in starting a PathFinder Society home game. I know that the "seasons" run August through June, but if I wanted to start a home game in this season yet, which scenario would I start with, and what level characters would be created for the game?
Hi, DJ, and welcome to the boards; Lilith will be by any time now to offer you cookies. (Try the oatmeal scotchies; they're to die for.)
You can certainly start a PFS home campaign any time you please. You can use any of the modules (currently 14 of them) in any order you please. (Having said that, my opinion is that Scenario 1 - Silent Tide - is a good starting adventure, as are Scenarios 4, 6, 9, and 13.)
If your players want to participate in PFS at gaming conventions, or if you want your home campaign to contribute to the "end of the season faction rankings", then your players should get themselves PFS membership numbers, and you should use the website to report total prestige points earned by each faction during the scenarios.
On the other hand, the adventures are high-enough quality that you could string them together to make a perfectly reasonable episodic campaign, outside the strictures of PFS guidelines.
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And, to answer the question the others forgot to, all characters that are able to play at convention play as well as home play, start at 1st level.
Best advice, since there are character building rules to follow, is to go to the pathfinder products part of the website and get the free Pathfinder Society Guide to Organized Play PDF.
Thanks much, all. It's good to see a supportive community. I have a couple of interested players; what do you think is a good number of players? Do most of the scenarios hanlde 4-6 w/out issue?
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Thanks much, all. It's good to see a supportive community. I have a couple of interested players; what do you think is a good number of players? Do most of the scenarios hanlde 4-6 w/out issue?
The more players you get the better. Some of the scenarios can be quite nasty and having more characters that their resources won't be spread quite as thin.
Trust me, the first scenario I played in featured my character (a gnome illusionist), a cleric, a druid and a wizard. We barely made it through alive.
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Thanks much, all. It's good to see a supportive community. I have a couple of interested players; what do you think is a good number of players? Do most of the scenarios hanlde 4-6 w/out issue?
Yeah, if you're playing the games officially, meaning reporting them and following all the rules outlined in the GtPFSOP, then 6 is better than 4. The party will be more likely to survive the tougher scenarios and their character wealth/experience won't be affected by having a larger party because it's all been simplified.
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Thanks much, all. It's good to see a supportive community. I have a couple of interested players; what do you think is a good number of players? Do most of the scenarios hanlde 4-6 w/out issue?Yeah, if you're playing the games officially, meaning reporting them and following all the rules outlined in the GtPFSOP, then 6 is better than 4. The party will be more likely to survive the tougher scenarios and their character wealth/experience won't be affected by having a larger party because it's all been simplified.
I recommend that you have no less than 5 players due to combat opponent #s and GP scarceity so the gruop wil get as much GP as possible to buy items with.
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I recommend that you have no less than 5 players due to combat opponent #s and GP scarceity so the gruop wil get as much GP as possible to buy items with.Thanks much, all. It's good to see a supportive community. I have a couple of interested players; what do you think is a good number of players? Do most of the scenarios hanlde 4-6 w/out issue?Yeah, if you're playing the games officially, meaning reporting them and following all the rules outlined in the GtPFSOP, then 6 is better than 4. The party will be more likely to survive the tougher scenarios and their character wealth/experience won't be affected by having a larger party because it's all been simplified.
I've seen a duo of good rollers go through Mysts (#5) without dieing. they did go through 8 potions of CLW though
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I run my home group through Pathfinder Society scenarios as play-tests before running them at conventions. Usually, my homegroup consists of four players, and I find this a comfortable size for table management - everyone's turn comes around quicker, decisions are discussed and resolved quicker, no-one feels shut out of discussions as may occur in larger groups with vocal vs shy or new players etc.
Also, a home group has a few advantages over a convention table of random players in that:
a) your home group isn't constrained by the four-hour limit;
b) your home group probably discussed their character options together during character creation, so you probably won't be facing a table consisting of three fighters and a rogue with no cleric for example; and
c) your home group are probably familiar with each others play-style, better co-ordinate their plans, and play well together.
A table of four players will likely face a more challenging time than a table of six, but I wouldn't be too concerned. I've run my home group, and many convention tables of four players through most scenarios, and sometimes things get nasty, but I've only killed two characters through all these scenarios.
However, the nature of Pathfinder Society scenarios is that they can be played in any order with any random mix of players available on the day. Therefore, having a larger pool of players to draw from can be a good move. Players don't feel they have to attend every session, or they're letting the team down, like they might in an ongoing adventure path. So if you have six friends who enjoy Pathfinder Society, but only four can turn up this weekend, no problem. And if someone from out of town wants to drop in for just one session, then it's not going to disrupt the group harmony either. That's pretty much what the Society is all about, grab who-ever is available at the time to get a job done.
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Might I also suggest, once you're run a few Pathfinder Society scenarios for your home group, that you volunteer to run a few sessions at your local game store, library, even a convention? Once you're run these once, it's rather easy to run them a second or third time for others and share the Pathfinder love! This might also be a good way of meeting new players if you've only got a couple of players to start with. You can also use the Find Events feature to announce/advertise your event, or find other events in your local area.
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Thanks much, all. It's good to see a supportive community. I have a couple of interested players; what do you think is a good number of players? Do most of the scenarios hanlde 4-6 w/out issue?
If you only have 4 players, they need to know how to get the most out of their characters. If your group is 4 players who are not on top of their characters' capabilities, I have read that things may get dicey in some of the modules, so if they're somewhat green players, I recommend more than 4 players.
I am starting something similar, and we're starting with 6. Several players have a lot of experience, but others may not get the most out of their characters until they have a few adventures under their belts (and they will learn from the other players).