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When my friends and I game, it usually goes: everyone is here to have fun, so we do some crazy stuff, laugh a lot, make a lot of jokes, but take the game seriously and focus a lot on the story driven aspects.
Is PFS like that, somewhat? Or do people carry the high and mighty "my character build is superior to yours" attitude? We want to know what to expect. Can we make non-optimized characters, without catching crap from other people at our table? Or does everyone expect things like: hey, you play a magus, so you dumped STR and took dervish dance, right? RIGHT?
Because honestly, we can play either way. We are just curious to what all the fuss is about.
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Ok that's awesome. I ask because most of the gamers in my area are stuck up like that, but we are driving a couple of hours away to do this.
We have a con here every year in a community college and the gamers actually ran a guy out of a room because his character didn't have X feat. I was hoping PFS wouldn't be like that, and I am glad you say it is not.
:]
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Because PFS is so broad, it really depends. I would highly recommend PFS simply for the experience though. You will meet tons of different players and GM's each with their own playstyles. You can pick and choose which works for you. Personally I've learned a ton of techniques that have made home games a breeze.
As for un-optimized characters, it really depends. Roleplaying encounters are sparse but present depending upon the GM. The key is to create an effective characte at what you want him/her to do. At lower levels builds are not too important. However at high tier tables, especially season 4 scenarios, you really need a well built character.
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Unfortunately, I live in an area where tabletop gaming hardly exists, the closest place for PFS is two and a half hours away. none of the local shops want to support it because they think they won't make enough turnout.
One interesting thing the gaming stores around here have done is open up rather large snack/food sections, and they make the bulk of their money off that. Sure, they sell minis and dice and books and stuff, but they provide the tables and people will easily drop 3-5 dollars a night on snickers bars and mountain dew. I see it as a win-win situation - the gaming store makes a profit, and the gamers in the area have a place they can buy/special order from and game at.
I have ran into a couple divas, some misguided min-maxers, stubbornly confused newbies, and really great people. That was my first 2 sessions. It really depends, but it has been worth it to me... Sacramento, CA does PFS just fine!
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Unfortunately, I live in an area where tabletop gaming hardly exists, the closest place for PFS is two and a half hours away. none of the local shops want to support it because they think they won't make enough turnout.
I know people have set up PFS games at local libraries (most have free or low cost conference rooms) or the back room of resturaunts. One VC even set his first games in a high end grocery store and has it a couple saturday nights a month.
As for atmosphere, I've GMed 60+ games and played in more. I will say it's pretty easy going. AS for RP, it really does depend on the GM and circumstances. I get a lot in, but sometimes I hurry because one store has a strict close time.
Hope that helps,
Kerney
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Our local PFS group has recently grown from 4-7 regular players to over 30. We have people of all skill levels and ages, and despite the "optimization talk" that some of the veteran players like to have after the game, I have never heard anyone's character criticized for not being the right build or anything else. It's generally one of the friendliest and most accepting environments I've been in. Our organizer does a good job of ensuring that every table has a pretty even mix of veteran and new players so that everyone gets the opportunity to learn from their peers and advances at about the same level, though there is a special Tuesday night session that is geared more for advanced players. I'd definitely give your local PFS group a try, my experience has been entirely positive.
At Con of the North, I played in the "Race for the Runecarved Key" with a 5th level barbarian who had 9 AC (5 when raging). I don't know how he survived to 5th level (actually I do; he had 23 CON), but nobody complained about his build. Especially when he took 5 breath weapons to the face, failed all his reflex saves, and stayed conscious. So feel free to make an un-optimized character, as long as you play well with the others.
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Thanks for all the info guys! My wife and I are really considering doing it. I just wish there was one closer... How does one go about starting one up? I have over a decade of DM experience so if I had to, I could learn the PFS rules and run a game (As far as pathfinder itself goes, I have created six homebrew campaigns and run two pregen adventures, idk how different PFS is though). We have exactly one store that I could work on allowing it. It's the only gaming shop in our bi-city area.
At Con of the North, I played in the "Race for the Runecarved Key" with a 5th level barbarian who had 9 AC (5 when raging). I don't know how he survived to 5th level (actually I do; he had 23 CON), but nobody complained about his build. Especially when he took 5 breath weapons to the face, failed all his reflex saves, and stayed conscious. So feel free to make an un-optimized character, as long as you play well with the others.
Hey- I played in your group! I was the monk. Just thought I'd say "Hi."
/threadjack
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Smart play beats smart build every time. These are open to the public so you great awesome peope and great jerks. I am sorry, but you never know who you are going to get. In my experience the awesome people will welcome you right away and open up. I highly suggest the people that welcome you and chat with you first are the people you should play with. The elitest power gamers usually want to be the only powerful person at the table. They will say since my character is more powerful than you I am always right.(stealing a build off the internet and claiming you are great for it proves nothing).
If you go in there looking for a good time and try to have one, you usually do.
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PFS, like most AP do not really require optimized characters. They require optimized PLAY however. Most of the powergamer types I have seen so far in my rather short time at PFS (but also at other organized play as well) I have found really tend to struggle in such settings. As for what to expect...REALLY hard to tell unless there is somebody local to where you are...then they maybe able to give you a better idea. It's not like a home game...but you can have a blast anyways.
In my experience:
* The people are pretty cool and accepting of people of different power and skill levels.
* The games tend to be very low on the roleplaying and characterization.
* The scenarios tend to be very railroaded until the dungeon shows up.
* Tactical play is heavily rewarded.
* The faction goals can involve some really annoying skills or activities.
* Overall it can be a lot of fun.
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At Con of the North, I played in the "Race for the Runecarved Key" with a 5th level barbarian who had 9 AC (5 when raging). I don't know how he survived to 5th level (actually I do; he had 23 CON), but nobody complained about his build. Especially when he took 5 breath weapons to the face, failed all his reflex saves, and stayed conscious. So feel free to make an un-optimized character, as long as you play well with the others.
Sounds like my barbarian, except I took invulnerable rager. Running around at level 11 with a DR 8/- (when raging) and being able to hit stuff crazy hard with his Dwarven Charisma* is awfully fun.
*Dwarven Charisma is the name of his weapon, a dorn-duergar. It's basically a shot put attached to a 10' length of chain. Thus, my Gromnoc with a charisma of 6 gets to bludgeon things to submission with his Dwarven Charisma.
Like with any other game, the main ingredient is the DM and the group. Since they're as variable as they are influential its hard to say what any pfs group will be like. I've had everything from almost freeform dinner theater to very persnickety dungeon crawls.
Most scenarios are very combat heavy and it usually requires a dm willing to add/make up things to bring out some real role playing moments. Even a lot of the history/lore that goes into the dungeon often doesn't get from one side of the screen to another.
The variety of power levels is increased and for good reason. In my home game, i don't build a whirling dervish of death to overshadow the other players. In a PFS game I don't know what the other people are bringing to the table: i don't know them, i don't know their builds, and i don't get to look at their characters. Its far easier to build up and then dial it back if I'm a higher level or we're cake walking the scenario.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Is PFS like that, somewhat? Or do people carry the high and mighty "my character build is superior to yours" attitude?
I'm not sure I've ever encountered this in person, actually. Sure, people like to talk about their characters or even show them off, but it's usually not in a see-who's-better sort of way, but more of a "I like to talk about myself, just like every other human being on the planet" kind of way. ;)
We want to know what to expect. Can we make non-optimized characters, without catching crap from other people at our table? Or does everyone expect things like: hey, you play a magus, so you dumped STR and took dervish dance, right? RIGHT?
This is hard to answer. Everyone seems to have a different definition of "non-optimized".
For instance, some folks seem to confuse "optimized" with "specialized" and refer to generalists as "non-optimized". (I've seen this from folks both in favor of and against "optimization".)
Other folks seem to think that "non-optimized" means "my wizard's INT isn't high enough to cast all his spells, because roleplay", and anyone doing differently is equivalent to the dervish magus you mentioned. (Apparently they think there's nothing in between...?)
Still others see "non-optimized" as putting a "primary" stat around 16-18 instead of 20 so that you can support some minor secondary schtick or represent an element of your concept, but still make sure you can contribute meaningfully to the team.
So will you do okay with "non-optimized" characters? The answers are "yes, no, and yes". ;)
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Thanks for all the info guys! My wife and I are really considering doing it. I just wish there was one closer... How does one go about starting one up? I have over a decade of DM experience so if I had to, I could learn the PFS rules and run a game (As far as pathfinder itself goes, I have created six homebrew campaigns and run two pregen adventures, idk how different PFS is though). We have exactly one store that I could work on allowing it. It's the only gaming shop in our bi-city area.
1) Try the game shop. If that doesn't work try some of the other suggestions I made for 'alternate location'. Go to the PFS board for other ideas.
2) Schedule a game, maybe make sure you have another couple of people to make sure the first couple games go off.
3) Just out of curiousity, where are you?