need some help keeping my players interest with the story and their characters

[Bloatmage]

ok so our group has been having this problem for awhile we get going and every thing seems to be going good then they lose interest and their making a new character every 3 to 4 sessions i really need some help im getting tired of it as a gm and a player it really irritates me but i do it too tho some of our players like to say im going to go the other way and not do any thing or they spend all their time in town trying to make a shop or get into control of the town and then they start looping every one in with them and so any help would be nice

[Zauron13]

Deep breath... calm...
Now my required comedic comment is out of the way, let's see where I can try to help you (No guarantees, I'm new to PFS GMing).

So, the problem is a lack of continuity as players constantly just make new characters? And they don't seem to care about the actual mission but want to go way off the rails?

Well, some people just like playing new builds all the time, and playing at low level. I guess the best help there is to help them find the build they want to play for more than 4 sessions.

If they are really off the rails, try to, in-game, deter them from that course of action. Venture Captains, Aspis agents, guards, anything that can encourage them to actually do the mission.

If this doesn't work, you may have to say something along the line of, "Sorry guys, but if you want to get any PP, Gold, XP, etc, you'll have to actually following the mission and do what the Venture Captains told you to do."

If it helps, remind the players that the goal of PFS is shown in the 3 tenants, Explore! Report! Cooperate!

Hopefully, this long post helped.

[TwilightKnight]

If I understand, this sounds more like a player issue than an in-game issue. As I have a few times, players need to remember that THEY CHOSE TO PLAY. That is an important aspect of the gaming contract. They need to understand that the GM spends a lot of time and effort to prep a good game and by intentionally trying to derail the game they are disrespecting the GM's and his time investment.

They also need to understand that in the case of PFS, the GM cannot deviate from the scenario's script and do a lot of freelancing. So they need to either (1) play within the expectations/formatting of organized play, or (2) play in a home-style game instead where the GM has complete control.

As far as playing new characters all the time, if you are the sole GM and/or organizer, you have control over the schedule. Go through the scenario and set a schedule over the next few months just offering all the scenarios that are part of that season's meta-plot. That way each game builds off the previous ones and the players should be more involved in an ongoing, developing plot. Plus they will see that the schedule includes tier 3-7,5-9, maybe even 7-11 scenarios and they will need to level up with the same PC in order to play.

[Bloatmage]

thx guys that really helped me out ill try and put your advice to some good use and we are playing home-style game too which to me seems to make it harder for us seeing how everyone doesn't respect the rulings but any more suggestions would be great