Of GMs and Players - PFS newbie questions

[Mordaith]

Hello again gang.

I've been over the Guide to Organized Play and I think I understand how this works. I'm really just looking for verification.

Me and my local gaming community are running PFS games.

I run some folks on a few low level sessions. They all log their stuff for the Chronicle, and I get a GM credit for the Chronicle as well.

Next month rolls around, one of my previous players is running some games, and one of the sessions is one I already ran as a GM. If the current GM is ok with it, and I'm not a big jerkface fun spoiler, I am allowed to play. At the end of this game the GM (even though he got a player Chronicle for it) gets a GM credit. And I receive the regular Chronicle sheet.

After this point, neither myself, or the other PFS member can earn gold or xp or any other perks from replaying the adventure. But, we could replay it again, if we were allowed (like to round out a table or something)

Am I understanding this right? Thanks a lot. Expect more questions and clarifications as I grow closer to getting a game going.

-Josh

[Jiggy]

With the additional caveat that your player credit and GM credit have to go on different PCs, yes, it sounds like you've got it.

[Mordaith]

Jiggy wrote:

With the additional caveat that your player credit and GM credit have to go on different PCs, yes, it sounds like you've got it.

Ah! Excellent. Just the kind of clarification I was looking for. Thank you very much Jiggy.

[Mordaith]

I suppose my final question is - if I have GM'd a game, and got Credit for it. Am I able to play the character that I applied the credit to, as if that character had been through the session?

Make references to things that happened, meeting certain NPC's, and so on?

[Jiggy]

I don't see why not. I'm not aware of anyone who fact-checks people's in-character claims.

[Eric Clingenpeel]

Yeah. They're considered to have played it, otherwise, how'd they get the gear/boons from it? ;)

[Black Powder Chocobo]

No reason to say you couldn't. That's more of an RP formality than anything else.

The one interesting thing about that is when you run a game, you can choose to apply any boons you feel like (marking the ones you want to receive within the limits of the chronicle sheet) and some of those may offer RP references for you as well.

[Mike Lindner]

Mordaith wrote:

I suppose my final question is - if I have GM'd a game, and got Credit for it. Am I able to play the character that I applied the credit to, as if that character had been through the session?

Make references to things that happened, meeting certain NPC's, and so on?

You sure can. I have a character I recently created from GM credit and used one of the scenarios, Penumbral Accords, as a key part of his backstory. In my case though he didn't do the mission, but rather the Pathfinders were instrumental in his escaping from captivity and joining the society.

[pauljathome]

A few very minor additions:

1) There are a few specific scenarios that can be played or run more than once. We Be Goblins and First Steps being the most common.
2) While NOT required it is generally preferable to playing a scenario before running it rather than doing it the other way around. Both more fun AND you'll do a better job of GMing the scenario that way.
3) You are free to run scenarios as often as you like. Only one run (not necessarily the first run) gives you a chronicle sheet but all the runs contribute to your GM stars

[Mordaith]

Fantastic. A wealth of information here. I've already set my date for my first society game that I will be running. I am sure in a weeks time I'll pester the heck out of all of you - after banging my head on my monitor unable to locate the answers on my own.

That said -

Am I allowed to run sessions from previous seasons? I want to arm people I play with a wide range of experiences and to really know as much of the pathfinder story as possible.

Thanks a bunch for all the help guys. It's great to see such a helpful group.

[Mike Lindner]

Mordaith wrote:

Fantastic. A wealth of information here. I've already set my date for my first society game that I will be running. I am sure in a weeks time I'll pester the heck out of all of you - after banging my head on my monitor unable to locate the answers on my own.

Ask away, we're here to help.

Mordaith wrote:

Am I allowed to run sessions from previous seasons?

Absolutely. The only place this gets particularly wonky is with scenarios that are heavy into the shadow lodge plot. In case you're not aware, the shadow lodge was once an element of the society that was being actively hunted down and destroyed. Then a plot shift occurred where the Decemvirate made peace with their leader Grandmaster Torch. Personally I just avoid these scenarios with newer players as there are still lots of great scenarios to run.

[Thamius]

The Season 0 - 2 scenarios only have missions for the five original factions (Andoran, Cheliax, Osirion, Qadira, and Taldor), the five extra factions were introduced in Season 3. If you do run some of the older scenarios, make sure you check the Guide to see which faction mission you hand to people who happen to be playing one of the newer factions. For example, Silver Crusade = Andoran, etc. They don't get to choose!

On that subject, Season 1-2 scenarios had two assignments per faction mission, and in order to earn full prestige points the characters still have to complete both assignments. In other words, they don't get the one almost-freebie PP for completing the overall mission (sometimes they can fail, happened to a group I GM'd on Saturday) and then one additional PP for completing one of the two faction missions.

[Fromper]

It's also worth noting that season 0 scenarios were originally written to be used with D&D version 3.5, before Pathfinder became a separate game. Apparently, there's some minor translations necessary to make all the stats and everything line up properly if you're going to run those. I've avoided those for that reason.

Your best bet if you're starting a new group is definitely to start with the FREE First Steps adventures from season 3. There are three of them, and they introduce you to all the faction leaders of the PFS factions, as well as having three different types of adventures (city, dungeon, and wilderness). And because there are three of them, it's just enough adventures to get everyone to level 2 by the time you're done.

[Mike Lindner]

Fromper wrote:

It's also worth noting that season 0 scenarios were originally written to be used with D&D version 3.5, before Pathfinder became a separate game. Apparently, there's some minor translations necessary to make all the stats and everything line up properly if you're going to run those. I've avoided those for that reason.

Except for 0-05: Mists of Mwangi which was updated to Pathfinder and is an awesome scenario.

[kinevon]

Mike Lindner wrote:

Fromper wrote:

It's also worth noting that season 0 scenarios were originally written to be used with D&D version 3.5, before Pathfinder became a separate game. Apparently, there's some minor translations necessary to make all the stats and everything line up properly if you're going to run those. I've avoided those for that reason.

Except for 0-05: Mists of Mwangi which was updated to Pathfinder and is an awesome scenario.

A couple of notes:

There are 9 scenarios from Season 0 that have been retired, and cannot be played or GMed for credit. They can be purchased, for play as fun only, but will undoubtedly never get rewritten in PFRPG format.

The rules for translation are actually fairly simple:
NPCs just need to have their CMB/CMDs calculated out. Otherwise, they pretty much remain run as written by 3.5 rules. Cantrips/Orisons are one-use, no channel energy for clerics, etc.

3.5 Monsters can be replaced, carefully, by the same PFRPG monster, if they have the same CR. Carefully means to keep your eyes open, since CR X can cover a wider ground than might be expected.
If the CR is different, or there is no PFRPG version of the creature, you use it as written, just adding in the CMB/CMD numbers as needed.

Overall, because of this, you will probably find that Season 0 scenarios might be a bit on the soft side, since they were originally written for 3.5 PCs, rather than PFRPG PCs. I know at least one home game GM who considered the PFRPG versions of the core classes to be LA+1 classes.

I am probably going to be seeing how much of a cakewalk the PFRPG version of the Cleric makes out of PSS #0-01 Silent Tide this Saturday. Still a fun story, but that area effect channel makes mincemeat of those low CR undead.

Spoiler:

Skeletons have 4 hp, +2 Will, no Channel Resistance.
Odds are that a first level Cleric will channel enough to kill a skeleton 50% of the time (1d6), and that the skeleton will save to survive only 50% of the time (Cha 14, DC 12), so in any batch of multiple skeletons, it is likely that 1 in 4 dies from a single channel.
Zombies are a bit more durable, with 12 hp and a +3 Will save. Still, they are likely to be nicely softened up by even a single channel.
That ignores the various feats, traits and domains available that can improve channeling in one way or another, more channels, higher DCs, even higher damage.
Hit a third level cleric, with a 2d6 channel, in that 1-2 tier, and even the zombies won't last long.
And even 1st level Kyra does 1d6+1 for her 5 channels, along with negating channel resistance. Fourth level Kyra does 2d6+4.
Oh, well, I was fairly sure that the real challenge for this scenario wouldn't be the masses of undead, anyhow.

[Caderyn]

Actually I ran silent tide for a party with 2 clerics, as the first PFS game I gmed, it was quite amusing

Silent Tide stuff:

They almost lost all the NPC's in the first encounter, as none of them had ranks in swim and no one had a positive swim check in armor, so they had to hastily defeat the first encounter and then ditch their armor and dive in to rescue the NPC's, I provided them with a key to speed up the release section and they only barely made it.

Almost all of the undead encounters were trivial with a pair of clerics channelling, although if the cathedral encounter undead would have ranged attacks it would be alot more interesting.