Most of my questions are likely born out of ignorance not having played PFS at a convention or gaming store, but please bear with me.
Some context: A few of us in my home group are planning on flying out to PaizoCon this year. As such we're trying to get some experience with PFS, and not having a lot of opportunity to do so outside of our regular game night, we're tying to run Society stuff just with our group.
The questions: Should we play the scenarios in order, or can we bounce around a bit? After making it through a few scenarios the party TPKd. (the old 'lets stand in a small group and get rained down upon by an area effect') No one likes the idea of "grinding" through scenarios we've already played, especially when we don't get all that much time to do so.
Can we stick to sanctioned modules,or bounce back and forth between modules and scenarios and build our own camppaign that way?
I know the questions might seem silly, but none of us have any experience with organized play.
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You can bounce between any scenario and sanctioned module (as long as your characters are in the level range). Read the reviews, there are a few killer scenarios that are out there (especially at certain tiers). If you want a suggestion list of good scenarios, just ask! I'm sure this group of PFS junkies can list some of the best scenarios printed!
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Phineas
Welcome to PFS.
Doing PFS in. Home game is fine. Just stick to the PFS rules and this makes your character transferable and you don't start from scratch at PaizoCon.
You can mix and match scenarios and modules. You just have to ensure you are of he correct level. But this can easily be planned ahead.
You can also bound around scenarios. There are a few postings for good order of play to get a theme. For example there are several adventures in the Blackris museum spanning all seasons that can be done one after the other.
The only disadvantage of bouncing back and forth - some adventures contain meta-story and you figure out something earlier and later get hints what might happen in the future.
The only bit I don't understand is the TPK bit and the grinding through scenarios already played. If you get killed you can either spend a lot of money to get resurrected - you won't have that much at the start, get money together in the group to resurrect someone - tends to work for a single dead character but not a TPK - or have at least 16 PRestigePoints collected for resurrection (you need also some extra for restoration but if you have 16 PP you likely have the money for that).
If you TPK early then unfortunately you might have to start new. And you can't 'grind through' already played scenarios as you can only play them once - with the exemption of the level 1 modules and the first step series.
I hope this answers most of your questions as far as I understood them.
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Sure your question has already been answered, but no. You don't have to play the scenarios in order. You should play them in whatever order you want. There are benefits to playing through series of scenarios, however. For instance, there's a great boon at the end of the scenarios leading up to the Ruby Phoenix Tournament (The Quest for Perfection Parts 1, 2, and 3).
However, you aren't allowed to play the same scenarios twice , even on a new character, except for a very few exceptions (First Steps Parts 1, 2 and 3). There are a few modules you can replay, too, on different characters. If you choose to replay any that aren't among these, you will get no experience, no money and no prestige award for doing so.
The most important things to remember about Pathfinder Society is to follow the RAW (Rules As Written) and have fun doing so. RAW isn't absolutely firm, but there are many examples of what's a Really Bad Idea™ to be found here on the Messageboards. There are also a lot of examples of what's a good idea.
Within the Pathfinder Society / GM Discussion section of the Messageboards, the GM of your group can find some really good ideas on how to flesh out characters and encounters that worked well for other GMs. If you rotate GMs so that you all get a chance to play, whose turn it is to GM will want to look at the posts regarding the scenario that GM is running.
Also, players will want to watch the Pathfinder Society / General Discussion Messageboards because there's always clarifications of rules and questions and answer sessions regarding the interactions between rules.
If there's Pathfinder Society at an FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) in your area, you might also want to visit any game stores to play if you can. If you're worried about getting out of level line with your home players, you can just make a new character, but you'll have to remember that, as I mentioned above, if you play a scenario at home, you play again , but you can't gain credit at the game store for it if you do. The reverse is also true. If you play one at the store, you can't gain credit for it at home.
My biggest suggestion, aside from "Play, Play, Play!" is to become intimately familiar with the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play. It's a free download and has a wealth of information regarding how to handle different things, such as running or reporting scenarios and modules and, again, credit.
Awesome. Thanks for all the feedback guys!