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I have been asked to run a demo game. Well, it was my idea to drum up interest in RPGs at the store I work at. I work at a comic book store and am the resident gamer. None of the other employees know very much about gaming and aren't very confident that we could become a place for RPG hobbyists to purchase their books, dice, miniatures, ect.
So, here I am with the future of gaming on my shoulders... or so it feels. It kind of sucks that its all on me, but its the lot I drew in convincing my manager to order Pathfinder books and insisting that I can sell them. I know I can! I just need to let gamers know we have them and will be able to get more of anything they need. I need to get people who haven't ever played Pathfinder to try it just once and see how awesome it is.
To be completely honest, 85% of the people who have come in (who are gamers) are not satisfied with the 4th edition option and have gone back to D&D 3.x. Somehow, they have completely missed Pathfinder.
SO...
I need advice on how to run a successful demo game for those customers who would sign up to participate. I will have about 3 to 3.5 hours to run a game on a Sunday evening. I intend to use pre-generated 1st level characters. I don't know how many players I will have; I haven't even posted a sign-up sheet yet. I should have enough space for about 5 or 6 players and myself. I will have to write the encounters and create a generic setting basic enough for first time players to learn from. I will be spending my own money to purchase d20s for all who show up as little bit of swag.
Any ideas?
Run a PFS module, either with or without making it an official PFS game. They're brief enough to be done in a night, but well written enough to be appealing. They're also usually designed around having a varying party, so any group of characters should be able to tackle one pretty easy.
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I would recommend Pathfinder Society. That gives you a guaranteed draw, depending on what PFS play is like in your local area.
Paizo has a bunch of modules and AP. Even if you don't want to run Pathfinder Society, I'd use a PF module like "We Be Goblins" as an intro and one of the adventure paths before I wrote my own campaign.
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My concern with Pathfinder Society is that I am trying to draw in those customers who are interested, but never tried Pathfinder. Pathfinder Society (in my experience) would draw in those who are familiar with the product. So making it official PFS might not work for what I would need it to; drawing experienced gamers rather than allowing new-comers (many of whom are curious regular customers) to sample a game.
Running a PFS adventure might be good, but there are certain concepts I want to get across at least once as examples. Combat, magic, traps, but most importantly role playing and creative interaction. Even more important that tactical strategy is role playing.
With this in mind do you guys have any more suggestions?
To those of you who posted: thank you for the advice and I will take this all into consideration.
PFS is rather beginner-friendly. And as I said, it doesn't have to be an official PFS game, but using the adventures intended for the official games is a good source of short, palatable, well-written adventures that usually cover the main bases of adventuring. Read over a few and find one that fits the things you're trying to teach.
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You might want to check out the PFS intro series they just released. Its meant to intro people to PFS, and though I've only played the first so far, it seems to be pretty basic stuff and a good intro to the game as well. (And they're free!)
I'll agree with this. the only thing on your list that the first of the 'first steps' #1 doesn't have is much magic outside what the PCs have. Also the fact that they have the level 1 prgenerated characters for PFS you can use, so that new players don't need to get bogged down is a plus
maybe use pregenerated level 3-5ish characters instead of level1 like someone suggested. Because they are gm crafted you can do things like add an extra interesting feat or ignore a prereq. Also by starting at 3-5ish, you start getting into some of the new things like rage powers and rogue talents. Don't go way overboard with giving extra stuff, but an extra thing or two is the sort of thing GM's do commonly anyways. Also by starting above level1 you have characters with options beyond "swing my sword again", "get one hit killed by that house-cat", etc. introduce the new caster stuff instead of the standard wizard/sorcerer/cleric with their options to pick from, they are cool new flavorful things. don't be afraid to let them know that wizard/cleric/sorc still exist and get some nifty options, but you wanted to use easier to understand classes with a little flavor of their own rather than have people disseminated that their low level wizard really can't be gandalf yet