PFS GM advice

[Feeroper]

Hey everyone,

I've been recently asked to GM PFS games once in a while at my flgs. It won't be until Feb 16th, so I thought I'd start looking for advice now.

I was hoping anyone could give me some general GM advice for PF (this will be my first attempt at GMing PF). Also, any advice you might have for running PFS games as opposed to just general GMing.

I'm comfortable running a table in a public play game (I DM 4E Encounters regularly) its more the system I need to adjust to, as I don't know any GMing tricks that might be system specific. I had never DMed 3.5 before, just played.

I'll be running shades of ice pt1, which I have played before, so that's a bonus.

Anyways, any advice at all is appreciated! Thanks!

P.S. I also posted this message at the EN World boards but no responses so I thought Id try here too.

[Thod]

Hi Feeroper

Welcome !! This isn't the first thread of this kind. Go to the Pathfinder Society Board - easiest is to click on the Pathfinder Society logo on the left. You will get a lot more PFS specific advice there as most PFS GMs tend to write more posts there and miss this area.

There are also the 'Painlord guides'. Look out for them or when you post there I'm sure someone will link them for you.

My advice:
For the very first time ensure you have one or two players on he table with whom you feel comfortable. It helps a lot in case you get a 'problem' player. New GMs are rare enough and we want to keep you.

Familiarise yourself with the faction system. Shades of Ice is season 2. You only have 5 factions. The new factions are mapped on old ones - so be aware that Grand Lodge gets Osirian, Shadow Lodge gets Cheliax, Scarni get Taldor, Silver Crusade gets Andoran and lantern Lodge is Quadira. I hope I got them all right. Get this asked every time and never find it in the rules.

Don't worry if you don't get everything 100% right the first time.

PFS has Venture Captains. Write a message to your VC and introduce yourself. They tend to be very helpful and they are the person to go to if something goes wrong.

There is probably a lot more - but this should be enough for now and bumps your question up.

[Malag]

Read the PFS Guide to Organized play v4.1 from first to last page.

A GM checklist link which I saw recently:

http://www.ontariopathfinders.com/documents/GM_Checklist.pdf

Hope it helps!

[Shaun Burton]

Most players are going to be coming in just to have fun. Don't be afraid to let your players know that you are new to the game and that this is your first time with the system.

Players who are more experienced with the game will usually be able to help you with areas of the rules where you are unsure, or simply can't remember how a mechanic works. There are very few players out there who are going to complain about a novice GM, and those that do usually find themselves without friends to game with.

Another piece of advice - if you can't remember a specific rule, and can't find it quickly in the rulebooks, make what seems to be a sensible and fair call and keep the game moving. You can go back to the rulebooks after the event and refresh your memory when you have got more time.

I find that having access to the online Pathfinder Reference Docs or (if you have an iPad or iPhone the Pathfinder PRD app) very useful. It can often help find rules fairly quickly.

Pathfinder PRD:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ or http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

Pathfinder PRD App:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/pfr/id365514623?mt=8 (there are additional data packages for books beyond the core)

Hope this helps !

[Feeroper]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll post this in the PFS boards (didn't realize there was a PFS specific board).