Hi all-
I'm a veteran RPG player who made the switch to pathfinder at the beginning of this year. I've ran and played games with origninal D&D, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 3.5, as well a lot of other gaming systems. However, I've never participated in any officially organized play, and from what I've heard over the years it never seemed to make much sense.
As far as I could gather, a bunch of people show up at different staging areas in different cities simultaneously, and a bunch of GMs run the same module using one agreed upon set of rules. They always used phrases to describe this like 'Living Greyhawk' which implied a dynamic level of interactivity that doesn't seem to be there. After all, nothing your character does can actually affect the world at large, because next weeks module is going to be written by someone who doesn't know your character exists, and since every set of players is running the same adventure they'd basically all just have to exist in parallel worlds.
However, I've realized that I let my initial assumptions put me off of even trying to learn more about it, and a lot of people seem to be really into it. So if anyone could clue me in on how it works with the Pathfinder society, and what the appeal is over running your own weekly game with friends, I'd very much appreciate it.
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Pathfinder Society OP is not a living campaign. It exists in the relatively static world of Golarion.
The best thing to do is go HERE and read The One Sheet and DOWNLOAD the Guide for Organized Play. It has a lot of great info on the society and how it works.
It may not be a "Living" Campaign, in that it isn't run by the RPGA or WotC, but Organized Play and Living are rather synonymous don't you think?
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It may not be a "Living" Campaign, in that it isn't run by the RPGA or WotC, but Organized Play and Living are rather synonymous don't you think?
To some extend, but the connotation in a Living campaign is that you directly affect play and future mods incorporate your actions. While there is a small bit of that within PFS, you do not really affect what is in the Inner Sea Guide or the socio-political landscape.
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To some extend, but the connotation in a Living campaign is that you directly affect play and future mods incorporate your actions. While there is a small bit of that within PFS, you do not really affect what is in the Inner Sea Guide or the socio-political landscape.
It may not be a "Living" Campaign, in that it isn't run by the RPGA or WotC, but Organized Play and Living are rather synonymous don't you think?
I didn't really get that at all from playing Living Greyhawk or coordinating/running Living Dragonstar.
The campaign world is still the cannon campaign world.
But yes, as you go through modules, the outcomes of some could affect others and especially affect the story arc for the next year.
It appears that Mark Moreland and Hyrum Savage are doing just that with the Factions, don't you think?
Director of Brand Strategy
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Hi edross, and welcome!
Organized Play is a way of having a world-spanning campaign of thousands of characters. It enables players to create a character and play that same PC virtually anywhere they go, from their local game store, to a regional convention, to GenCon or PaizoCon. Everyone who plays has different things they like to get out of org play over standard home campaigns, but for many it's their only game, and a way to meet new players in their area or keep in touch with old friends they may have gamed with decades ago.
As to the "living" nature of the campaign, we're working very hard to increase the amount of impact campaign participants have on the world, though the results take some time to become apparent due to production timelines. For example, if most PCs in the Andoran faction complete their mission in a specific scenario, and rescue a kidnapped ally, the campaign may assume that, for the purposes of continuity, that NPC was saved and have him appear in a prominent role in a later scenario. Conversely, if the members of the Cheliax faction fail to get a powerful artifact from a rival organization, it may show up as a weapon used against them down the line.
What I'd really suggest would be reading the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, a free pdf download available here, which will outline how our campaign works.
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Stuff
I think when compared to a home campaign like you are used to running/playing, organized play doesn't look very appealing. I certainly prefer to play in a campaign where my character is a pivotal part of the story. However, organized play is not intended to compete with home campaigns. Organized play is a way to break away from the folks that you normally game with so you can meet new people with new ideas. Trying to run an organized play campaign with the same people every week is going to get old for most of us. If my friends and I have personal schedules that line up and enough time to prep each week, then we're going to play a home campaign for sure. But many adults find that with the unpredictable demands of work and family, they can't make it to a game table on a regular basis. This is where organized play shines, because most of the scenarios are one-shots. Organized play draws off a huge pool of potential players. There are over 100 members in my area. If I suddenly have Tuesday night free and I feel like rolling the dice, all I have to do is post something and you can bet that there will be players available.
Another value of organized play is to avoid the rules inbreeding that happens at many game tables. Although many people come to the boards to get answers to rules questions, the vast majority of casual gamers aren't as active online. Countless times I have had a new player come to the game table and tell me they are experienced with the 3.X rules system and halfway through the game I've corrected them several times on misconceptions they have. When you play with the same group of people you fall into the groupthink trap and often accept a rules interpretation that doesn't hold up at an organized play table. I was like this before I started playing Living Greyhawk. I learn a ton in my first year and now I have to look back and laugh at myself. I've played the game on and off for 25 years. Sitting at a GenCon table with players from all over the world can really open your eyes. You get to see some really interesting character builds in action, more than if you play with the same guys every week. You get to meet some really original role-players with some hilarious schticks. It is like meeting up with a bunch of total strangers but feeling like you have known them for a long time.
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Hi Ed! Organized Play is a closed system in a sense.
The key takeaways from Organized Play are:
- Everyone starts with the same base rules, 20 point attribute buy for character creation and 150 gp. As well as which material is legal for play and which material is not.
- The experience awarded per session is fixed. You earn 1 XP per module successfully completed and every 3 XP you earn, you gain a level.
- The gold awarded per session is fixed by level, which means the in game economy is roughly balanced as far as who can buy what. You don't have random 2nd level PCs running around with +2 magic weapons for example.
- Access to better magical items is tied to your characters performance such that the better you do what is asked of you, the more gold per item you can spend on magical gear.
- Character portability. You can play this character down the street, across town, in another state, or at any convention you visit that's running PFS events.
As suggested, give the Guide to Organized Play a read through. If you have questions or are looking for more specifics I'm happy to help.
(Ninja'ed by others, but who doesn't love information overload?)
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Hi edross,
Pathfinder Society Organised Play is a series of 5hr scenarios. It's been running for three years now, so there's already 80 or so scenarios to choose from, with more relased every month.
They're good to run as a filler when one of your regular players misses a session, and they're good to play regularly if you like to get out and meet new players in your area.
PFS is run at game stores and conventions worldwide. Your character gains a level for each three sessions played. It's modular nature (being sent on a series of missions) means you can join a table any time that suits you, and not worry too much about continuity if you miss a few sessions, or if different players join your table each time.
Scenarios can be played in any order you choose (as long as you're of the required character level), though there are some spiritual sequels, multi-part series, and themes or meta-plots running through some seasons.
Because of the world-wide nature of the campaign, in order to keep players relatively balanced with respect to each other, there are a few additional rules to be aware of in an Organised Play campaign, such as ability point-buy etc. These can be found in the Guide to Organised Play. The Additional Resources page lists equipment, feats, spells, etc approved for Organised Play characters from other sourcebooks.
Keep an eye on Paizo's Monday Blogs for reveals of what's coming down the pipe for Pathfinder Society Season 3!
The adventures are fun, the community gaming aspect is great, I hope you enjoy it as much as we have :-)
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Stephen (DarkWhite)
Pathfinder Society 4-Star GM
Venture-Captain, Australia
Edit: Ninja'd by everyone!
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Edross
I've been in your situation approx. 1 1/2 years ago. Old time gamer for 25 years who never tried. So let me explain what appeals to me.
1) Meeting new players and play styles. The whole PFS experience opened up a lot of new experiences - the majority positive.
2) Full day and night gaming again. Getting older and having a gaming group that has limited time this just didn't happen anymore. Suddenly I did my own CON for my 45th birthday and we played Friday evening to Sunday evening gaining nearly two levels - something that would have taken me 8 month with previous play speed.
3) The ability to talk about modules, experiences. Most players have done the same scenario but how they have done them can be very different. I GMed one scenario 7 times and still enjoyed the variations how it was tackled.
4) Learning from other GMs and GM styles. I probably enhanced my GM style more in the last 18 month as I did in the prior 18 years.
5) Community - this is a great community. Don't be fooled by bickering here on the boards.
6) Gaming while on the road. I'm was on business trip to the US twice and posted here to find someone to spend time on a weekend and joined a game with my own character.
7) conventions - going to a convention and meet likeminded players and play at a table. I had done a lot of organised board gaming (German and European Boardgame championships) but never dared to try out RPG at a convention.
8) Finding players. My own group didn't want to switch.
I can't say all of the above will apply to you - but maybe it gives you some ideas and maybe we might be welcoming you soon.
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Non-banal questions
There is a fair amount of work to do up-front, both with making sure the character creation guidelines are being followed and taking care of the bureaucracy. After that is done, it runs quite smooth. You can set up games as public or private events. As long as you run them by the rules, you can invite whomever you want. You can host a 'public invitation' game at your home, or you can arrange to meet with select players at a store or community hall. In the last 30 days I have played in homes, stores, restaurants, an American Legion hall, a Masonic Lodge and a National Guard armory.
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Another veteran RPGer here with no organized play experience. I always thought OP was something strictly for conventions, so I apologize if my questions are banal.
1. Can I run a PFS event that is not a home game in a venue other than a store or convention? Lets say I had space at a community hall or something and I wanted to GM a one shot PFS society event, is that something that typically happens?
2. Can a GM set up an age restriction for an event? I would not be comfortable if my teenage child went to a PFS event with a bunch of adults that I didn't know and I would not be comfortable playing with a group of teenagers unless I was a teenager. How does OP play handle groups of mixed ages?
3. How much pre-game related bureaucracy does a typical PFS GM actually end up dealing with? Specifically I am asking about this:
"Look over each player’s character sheet and previous chronicle sheets, quickly checking totals, math, and so on."
So whats the reality of this? How often do players show up to events with bogus stuff that needs to be dealt with by the GM?
1) You can play wherever you can get the players to come.
2) If you wanted a certain age group to not be there I would post something when you made the public event. They may still show up and then you would have to decide how you wanted to deal with it. We try to be an inclusive group and I can say I've been surprised on some occasions by the sheer awesomeness of younger players. That aside, you could make the event private and invite who ever you wanted (Say, run it at your home and invite your friends)
3) Basically, that's up to you. I find in local situations there is little to no checking on sheets unless something seems fishy. In a convention setting there tends to be a bit more of this.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Another veteran RPGer here with no organized play experience. I always thought OP was something strictly for conventions, so I apologize if my questions are banal.
1. Can I run a PFS event that is not a home game in a venue other than a store or convention? Lets say I had space at a community hall or something and I wanted to GM a one shot PFS society event, is that something that typically happens?
Certainly. As long as you're following all the guidelines of the campaign, you can run a game anywhere from a convention, to a game store, to a school or church, your basement, or even online.
2. Can a GM set up an age restriction for an event? I would not be comfortable if my teenage child went to a PFS event with a bunch of adults that I didn't know and I would not be comfortable playing with a group of teenagers unless I was a teenager. How does OP play handle groups of mixed ages?
While we want to promote a campaign open to all gamers, each organizer may make his or her own seating arrangements. If you don't want to have teens playing with adults, that's your prerogative. This type of restriction works best if a game is being run somewhere with a built-in age limit, though, like a school, church youth group, or Boy Scout troop.
3. How much pre-game related bureaucracy does a typical PFS GM actually end up dealing with? Specifically I am asking about this:
"Look over each player’s character sheet and previous chronicle sheets, quickly checking totals, math, and so on."
So whats the reality of this? How often do players show up to events with bogus stuff that needs to be dealt with by the GM?
Ideally, every GM would do a brief audit of his players' documents before each game, simply looking for something that stands out. But in reality, the constraints of time often make this impossible. It's really up to an individual GM how closely he looks over past Chronicles and character sheets, but doing so does allow one to have an idea what sorts of things unfamiliar players may use during the course of the game. As long as all players know that an audit of their character is possible at any time, most will do their best to play by the rules.
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As far as I could gather, a bunch of people show up at different staging areas in different cities simultaneously, and a bunch of GMs run the same module using one agreed upon set of rules. They always used phrases to describe this like 'Living Greyhawk' which implied a dynamic level of interactivity that doesn't seem to be there. After all, nothing your character does can actually affect the world at large, because next weeks module is going to be written by someone who doesn't know your character exists, and since every set of players is running the same adventure they'd basically all just have to exist in parallel worlds.
There are a few misconceptions here that may be helpful to correct. Living Greyhawk was a particular campaign that has been over for a couple of years. It's analogous to "Edross' Friday Night Game." There are occasionally simultaneous games in organized play for major special events, but simultaneous play isn't an inherent part of organized play. Additionally, when fully functioning and at their best, organized play campaigns ARE affected by the actions of the characters involved. This can take place either as an aggregate of multiple sessions' results or the individual actions of individual characters that have filtered back through a feedback mechanism.
That said, there can be a bit of a disconnect from the perspective of an individual character if the feedback that gets into the system is different than that character individually experienced events. It does result in a bit of parallel worlds mentality. For example, your PC may have saved Princess Golden, but the majority of times a that module was ran, the princess remained in the clutches of the evil Baron Foo. As a result, your character now finds himself dealing with a module where he is once again attempting to rescue Princess Golden, or where Baron Foo now has bargained himself into a position of increased power.
The degree to which Pathfinder Society itself incorporates this sort of feedback may be another story best left to others to describe. It can be a disconnect when you're on the minority side of things, but when well designed and implemented, events take place in a way that limits these sorts of disconnects.
However, I've realized that I let my initial assumptions put me off of even trying to learn more about it, and a lot of people seem to be really into it. So if anyone could clue me in on how it works with the Pathfinder society, and what the appeal is over running your own weekly game with friends, I'd very much appreciate it.
As others have said, it isn't a substitute for your own weekly game. The appeal of organized play has to do with the portability of your character to games run by other GMs, the benefit of this sort of game in fitting into adult lifestyles, and the participation in a larger community.
You and your friends can experience the play style of different GMs and different players. You can take your character to conventions, gamedays, or games offered by private parties. If you've played as long as you've have, you've seen those situations where a player is nostalgic about the character he played in another campaign or wished to bring the character into your game...only to kind that he was wielding the Sword of Kaz, had an Orb of Dragonkind in his backback, and had a background that was inconsistent with your campaign. This sort of game provides a solution to that.
Modules tend to be episodic. You can play for 4-5 hours, achieve something, and go home until you find the time to play again. You can have a feast of playing for 12 hours a day for 3 days at a convention with the same character. You fit it into your schedule. The episodic nature is both a blessing and a curse. You might play modules out of order. You may not have the background for a given module to know what's going on. The motivations for why your character is in a given module may be a bit obscure at times. To my thinking, organized play adventures can be a missing the depth of a home campaign. The fact that they fit into an adult lifestyle is often the upside that compensates for this.
Being part of a larger community is a major draw for some. Instead of a group of 4-8 people, you might play games with several hundred people over the length of a campaign. You see regular attendees over the course of years. You form friendships outside of your insular group. You work toward common goals with those people within the campaign through your character and your participation as a whole. Pathfinder Society has been going for three years. Living Greyhawk went for about eight. Some players played throughout those eight years and formed enduring bonds with others who did the same and with others who joined along the way. The major events in Living Greyhawk at the end of Year 5, in some areas, included play by several hundred players simultaneously to bring a culmination to thousands of hours of play.
It isn't for everyone and it isn't the only diet of play that I would want to live on. But, it has the potential to be much more in some regards than home play, despite its shortcomings. The potential is vast.
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Where would I find a place for a group to meet? If I did run an event it would have to be after work hours, so something like a library would be out since it would be closed or not open late enough. It seems like renting a community hall would cost several hundred dollars so I don't think that's feasible.
So what kinds of places do these events typically take place at excluding a convention or a game store?
Coffee Shops, College Public Areas, etc.
You can also run these at home.
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So what kinds of places do these events typically take place at excluding a convention or a game store?
Some book stores are open late and have a coffee area that could be used. A local university is a great location. Not only do they typically have a student union or recreation area that is open very late, but you can recruit from the student body.
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I am very leery of inviting total strangers met via the internet into my home. I always insist in all the players meeting at a neutral location until a sufficient level of familiarity and trust is achieved. Until that happens, TwilightKnight made a great suggestion by bringing up universities and colleges. These institutions are often open late and have a lot of open tables to use. Some may have restrictions on non-students using the facilities but I bet you can find one that is agreeable. Remember, it is always easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Currently most of the game events in my area are at stores, but not all of them. There's a local bar & grill restaurant that has a back room suitable for 25 people. They don't mind us using the room because no one can see us getting our geek-on, and we spend money on dinner and drinks. We play on weeknights when the room would otherwise not be in use. It works out great for all involved. I know a group down in Toledo that plays at an IHOP with the same situation.
I got invited to run games for a group that includes a couple members of the Michigan National Guard. They have privileges at their local armory. Again, as long as we're being responsible and cleaning up after ourselves, there's not a problem with us using the place. One time we got locked out so we went down the road to an American Legion hall. The post commander was very cool and as long as we bought some $1.50 Bud Lights we were welcome to use their tables. Drinking Bud Light was the hardest part of the night.
It takes some effort, but if you look around and talk to the right people there are a lot of places you can game that doesn't involve cleaning your house ;)
(And in the case of meeting total strangers somewhere, it is always good to have witnesses around so you don't end up involuntarily donating your kidneys. I hate it when that happens!)
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What about those "Elks club" lodges I see around? Do those things have areas you can rent cheaply?
Lodges like the Elks, Moose, Legion, etc. usually require that you are a member to use their facility. Besides, if you as the organizer needs to pay to provide a place to play, that may get old very soon.
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Lodges like the Elks, Moose, Legion, etc. usually require that you are a member to use their facility. Besides, if you as the organizer needs to pay to provide a place to play, that may get old very soon.
What about those "Elks club" lodges I see around? Do those things have areas you can rent cheaply?
Agreed. Our club has stayed away from game stores that required us to pay for the space. Pay to play is rarely ideal outside a con environment.
I would agree that a coffee house seems odd but I've seen it work there.
Basically find someplace with a table that's willing to let you sit around it.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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It seems a coffee shop would be a weird place to have a 5 hour RPG session with all the other patrons coming in and out, the atmosphere would seem to be just terrible. I would also imagine 5 people with various RPG books, maps, dice, minis, would also take up a heck of a lot room. Have you guys actually run a scenario in a Starbucks? That seems really odd to me.
I know that the NYC group meets once a week and runs two to three tables in the seating area of a bodega. The business loves the dozen or more gamers who come in every Wednesday night and buy food at an otherwise relatively dead time, and they're open 24 hours a day, so games that run long aren't kicked out by employees wanting to go home.
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There's a local bar & grill restaurant that has a back room suitable for 25 people. They don't mind us using the room because no one can see us getting our geek-on, and we spend money on dinner and drinks.This sounds ideal to me. How did you approach the management about using the room?
Admittedly it was arranged through an employee of the restaurant, but the management welcomed the proposition of having 12-15 more patrons using the room that otherwise wasn't bringing in any extra income anyways. Kind of a "Priceline Negotiator" situation. If you find a place with such a room, try to make that pitch.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Indiana—Northwestern Indiana
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Hobby shops, book stores and comic book stores can be good locations as well. Some may already have play areas and may like the thought of potential customers. (I tend to put in a few plugs for Lightspeed Hobbies when I GM there.)
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This sounds ideal to me. How did you approach the management about using the room?
You put on your marketing hat and approach management by explaining to them why THEY want to do it rather than why YOU want to do it. Text frame:
"Hi Ms. Manager. I've noticed you have that banquet room but it is rarely used. I have some business for you. I have a group of 10-15 people who are looking for a place to play games for 5 hours or so once a week from 6-11pm on a night when you aren't normally busy, maybe Monday or Tuesday if that works for you. I can't guarantee that everyone will order dinner, but many will and everyone will need something to drink if nothing else. Would you be interesting in having an extra 10-15 customers every week on a night that is otherwise not busy?"
Then, be good customers. No outside food/drink. Leave a big tip. If you move tables then put them back after. Make sure you and management know when you're there next. Maybe call in a reminder the day before for the first few weeks.
Note that some places want to move their own furniture. I'm sure there are posters here who are in the restaurant industry to correct me and add to the detail, but unless they cater to a sports crowd, Mondays are usually slow. Managers like a regular customer who comes on an otherwise slow night. :)
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This sounds ideal to me. How did you approach the management about using the room?You put on your marketing hat and approach management by explaining to them why THEY want to do it rather than why YOU want to do it. Text frame:
"Hi Ms. Manager. I've noticed you have that banquet room but it is rarely used. I have some business for you. I have a group of 10-15 people who are looking for a place to play games for 5 hours or so once a week from 6-11pm on a night when you aren't normally busy, maybe Monday or Tuesday if that works for you. I can't guarantee that everyone will order dinner, but many will and everyone will need something to drink if nothing else. Would you be interesting in having an extra 10-15 customers every week on a night that is otherwise not busy?"
Then, be good customers. No outside food/drink. Leave a big tip. If you move tables then put them back after. Make sure you and management know when you're there next. Maybe call in a reminder the day before for the first few weeks.
Note that some places want to move their own furniture. I'm sure there are posters here who are in the restaurant industry to correct me and add to the detail, but unless they cater to a sports crowd, Mondays are usually slow. Managers like a regular customer who comes on an otherwise slow night. :)
I wouldn't have 10-15 people regularly showing up once a week. Is that what most PFS groups are? 10 or 15 people that regularly show up at a specified place once a week all willing to chip in for dinner, drinks, and leaving a "big tip"? If that's the case I think Paizo needs to get into the restaurant business and quick.
I think for me it would be more of an ad-hoc thing. I would post a game on the PFS site and if I got 4 players to join I would look for a room somewhere that we can all get together. That's probably the best I could do.
It seems like the PFS (and organized play in general) is more geared toward either large cities or college...
None of our groups started with 12-15 players. Three years ago I started with six friends in a basement. But if you don't have six friends and a basement then you either need to get comfortable with the idea of strangers around your kids or start looking at alternative locations in your community. It is going to take effort, but someone has to do the ground work. If you can get some guys together and have a good time, chances are they have some friends and family who they will want to bring in. When things start to grow and you know you were the guy who made it possible, there's a big emotional payoff. No one is saying you need to live in a city or drop a lot of money to play this game. Certainly they make it easier, but if you their absence is not a dealbreaker. You do need to make a commitment in order to get things going though.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Pathfinder Online Collective yet.
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I wouldn't have 10-15 people regularly showing up once a week. Is that what most PFS groups are? 10 or 15 people that regularly show up at a specified place once a week all willing to chip in for dinner, drinks, and leaving a "big tip"? If that's the case I think Paizo needs to get into the restaurant business and quick.
I think for me it would be more of an ad-hoc thing. I would post a game on the PFS site and if I got 4 players to join I would look for a room somewhere that we can all get together. That's probably the best I could do.
It seems like the PFS (and organized play in general) is more geared toward either large cities or college...
Sorry you didn't find my post helpful. Best of luck to you.
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I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Pathfinder Online Collective yet.
In that spirit, you can also check out the Pathfinder Online Collective which is a google group mailing list which people use to play online.
Just in case it was also overlooked, did you try the Find Events in Your Area?
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As I mentioned above I never looked into the organized play thing before because I always felt it was a game convention or "back of the game store" thing and from the conversation here I still believe that. Otherwise, it looks to me, like you need to either live in an urban area or near (or on) a college campus to truly take advantage of the PFS (or any OP system). I'm not interested in online play either, just not my thing.
I'm curious, this is about the 3rd time you've made reference to in-store play in some kind of semi-disparaging way. Am I failing my Linguistics?
In-store play is probably the primary venue for this format outside of convention play, and is a great way to meet new strangers in a safe environment. Sorry if I'm misreading you, but it seems like you are very much against this option without saying why.
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I agree with Doug that the people who find PFS most useful for home games are those who cannot consistently predict who will show up at a given session.
Because they are stand-alone, run in 4-5 hours, and can be run with as few as 3 players and a GM, they work very well for a group of friends who have other commitments.
And those individuals can then transport their characters to a con, or store, or whatever, if they wish.
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Yup, you're failing your linguistics :). Nothing disparaging about it. Just not what I'm interested in. If I didn't already have a regular group I might look into it further in lieu of not playing at all.
See what happens when you try and take 10 on Linguistics? =)
I know that's my point. These are the venues I always thought OP was made for and work best in, just wanted to confirm it. There is nothing wrong with this.
Nope, nothing wrong at all. As Howie23 said though the format lends itself nicely to an 'adult lifestyle.' This means you can make the format 'work for you' for broad values of 'work for you.'
Lots of people also use PFS mods as middle filler or in a pinch situations outside of Organized Play as well, so nothing wrong with that either.
Thanks everyone who responded, it really cleared some things up. If anyone else has input on the merits of organized play, of course feel free to keep it coming. 4 out of 5 of the times that I roleplay, it is as the GM, and I generally get the most pleasure out of running a game- so if anyone has specific experience of what it is like running Pathfinder Society Games, I'd be doubly interested.
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Thanks everyone who responded, it really cleared some things up. If anyone else has input on the merits of organized play, of course feel free to keep it coming. 4 out of 5 of the times that I roleplay, it is as the GM, and I generally get the most pleasure out of running a game- so if anyone has specific experience of what it is like running Pathfinder Society Games, I'd be doubly interested.
Generally, there is a bit more paperwork to deal with, as you have Chronicles to fill out, and you report the sessions online afterwards.
There should not be any houserules, though there are some variances from the Core Rules in the Org Play Guide (ex no item crafting).
And you have to be more prepared for anybody to be at your table, depending on where you are running. If you are at a store, club, or convention, you cannot expect your set group to play, and tailor the adventure for them.
Even if you are just looking to run a home game for your friends, I highly recommend using the Event Finder to see if there is a store game or convention near you, making a character by the OPG rules, and going out for a session to see if it is for you.
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Besides convention and store play, PFS is still very popular among home groups. As mentioned previously, it's good to run a PFS scenario when say one of your regular players can't attend your ongoing Adventure Path campaign one weekend, the rest of you can still meet and keep playing Pathfinder in a fun way.
Another use for PFS scenarios is to introduce new players, work colleagues, partners, children, etc - those who might not have the same commitment to a regular ongoing Adventure Path, or you don't want to risk the disruption that introducing an unfamiliar player might have on your ongoing campaign, or maybe you don't really have room for one more regular player at your table. PFS scnearios are great for these situations, a more casual approach to gaming, and great one-shots for introducing newcomers to the hobby.
If you do decide to run a few PFS sesssions, even as a side-trek to your Crimson Throne campaign, don't forget to issue chronicle sheets to your players and report their sessions, because you never know, once you have a few scenarios under your belt, it might take off.
Even if you don't intend to attend conventions or game-stores yourself, one or two of your players might, and having the campaign documentation issued properly allows them to play those same characters at other events.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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Besides convention and store play, PFS is still very popular among home groups. As mentioned previously, it's good to run a PFS scenario when say one of your regular players can't attend your ongoing Adventure Path campaign one weekend, the rest of you can still meet and keep playing Pathfinder in a fun way.
Another use for PFS scenarios is to introduce new players, work colleagues, partners, children, etc - those who might not have the same commitment to a regular ongoing Adventure Path, or you don't want to risk the disruption that introducing an unfamiliar player might have on your ongoing campaign, or maybe you don't really have room for one more regular player at your table. PFS scnearios are great for these situations, a more casual approach to gaming, and great one-shots for introducing newcomers to the hobby.
If you do decide to run a few PFS sesssions, even as a side-trek to your Crimson Throne campaign, don't forget to issue chronicle sheets to your players and report their sessions, because you never know, once you have a few scenarios under your belt, it might take off.
Even if you don't intend to attend conventions or game-stores yourself, one or two of your players might, and having the campaign documentation issued properly allows them to play those same characters at other events.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
Ummm. Gotta do a small disagreement, here. Chronicles are great. Chronicles are fun (well, sort of). But a PC with Chronicles is only legal for PFS play if that character ONLY has XP, PA and GP from Chronicles, not from other events.
So, if you use a PFS scenario as a side-path during a CotCT campaign, with the regular PCs from the CotCT campaign, those PCs would not be legal for PFS play.
On the other hand, if you use the PFS scenario as a one-shot, outside of the CotCT campaign, for new PCs built according to PFSOP rules, and only ever use those PCs in PFS scenarios (and PFS-authorized modules), then they would be legal for use at other PFS events.
On another note:
Organized play has several benefits not previously mentioned, primary among them is that it is a great way to reduce stress on your primary GM.
Because of OP standardization, it is very easy to have someone else step up to run, and it is also good as a way to let someone new to GMing get their feet wet, so to speak.
PFSOP has some campaign-specific rules, that make the rotating GM position work better than in most other OP campaigns, as it allows the GM to actually have a PC of the appropriate level to be able to step down and join in with his normal players, and minimizes the downsides to the player who is stepping up to GM, as well.
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Callarek, you're absolutely right. "Side-trek" was perhaps the wrong word to use. You'd need to play a separate PFS character than the one you're playing in your Crimson Throne campaign.
My point was more, if you're going to GM these scenarios, even if you don't intend to play at a convention or game-store yourself, your players might - so if possible, give the Guide to Organised Play a read, run the scenario PFS legal, and issue your players Chronicle sheets, so they might have the opportunity to play their character at other events if they choose to.
Keep your options open :-)
Cheers,
DarkWhite