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Hey everyone,
I'm starting up a recurring PFS game day at my FLGS, and I had a few questions. There isn't any other PFS going on in my city at the moment as far as I am aware. I'm a fairly experienced GM in general but fairly new to PFS specifically.
First, if I have someone walk in partway through a scenario and express interest and I have room in the party, is it legal to allow them to join in with a pregen and play? If so, could they get a chronicle sheet? I'd hate to just turn new people away, especially if we haven't gotten very far into the scenario but I can't seem to find anything in the rules to cover this situation.
Second, does anybody have any suggestions on the best way to coordinate with other nearby groups in terms of scenario selection? I'd prefer to minimize overlap so if people from neighboring cities show up it is less likely to be a scenario they've played already.
I can't seem to remember my other questions at the moment, when they come back to me I'll post those too. I've been really enjoying PFS and I'd like to get things built up nicely here so I don't have to drive so far to play.
Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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Hey everyone,
I'm starting up a recurring PFS game day at my FLGS, and I had a few questions. There isn't any other PFS going on in my city at the moment as far as I am aware. I'm a fairly experienced GM in general but fairly new to PFS specifically.
Welcome to the club. Hope your stay is a long one. (-:
First, if I have someone walk in partway through a scenario and express interest and I have room in the party, is it legal to allow them to join in with a pregen and play? If so, could they get a chronicle sheet? I'd hate to just turn new people away, especially if we haven't gotten very far into the scenario but I can't seem to find anything in the rules to cover this situation.
Yes. And yes.
It's your call on when "late" is "too late." I do suggest making "too late" an actual rule in the future, or you will have other problems that you don't want to deal with. But, in this case, go ahead and seat them.
Technically, you should deduct an amount of gold equal to whatever encounters they missed (so if they missed Encounter A which awards 120gp per player, they would have 120gp deducted from their sheet). Also, technically, "too late" is probably around the end of the 2nd encounter, regardless of what you'd like to do. A player has to participate in 3 of 4 encounters in order to get an experience point. I suppose they could participate in the final encounter, only, get just the gp for the that encounter, and get no xp. But if you are in that position, I'd just invite them as an observer and have them roll bad guy dice.
Second, does anybody have any suggestions on the best way to coordinate with other nearby groups in terms of scenario selection? I'd prefer to minimize overlap so if people from neighboring cities show up it is less likely to be a scenario they've played already.
Find out who your local Venture Captain is and work through them. If there isn't one, see if the other stores would be willing to set up a central group (Meetup, Facebook, new website, whatever) that you can all use for a local calendar and announcements. That will go a LONG way toward creating a community that you can all grow with.
I can't seem to remember my other questions at the moment, when they come back to me I'll post those too. I've been really enjoying PFS and I'd like to get things built up nicely here so I don't have to drive so far to play.
When you remember them just ask. Also, go to this link to learn some tricks: Painlord on Local Coordination. It's an old thread, but still has a lot of great info in it.
Enjoy.
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Welcome !!
Good advice from Drogon. There is only one part I would be careful with - let him roll dice for the bad guys.
I wouldn't do that with a stranger whom I don't know.
Don't get this wrong.
I had some of the best experiences when I had a fellow GM take over some of the bad guys. It added a bit of extra as he played an arrogant Taldan noble fantastically and it added so much.
At the same time I got bad experiences when I had players take over the bad guys (this is pre-PFS). Once I had an inexperienced player and he sulked when the other players killed 'his monster'. Well - that is the whole idea.
Another time I had one player go 'astray'. To allow the other three players to roll some dice I allowed each to take over an orc. We talk here an encounter of a 8th level paladin against 2 ordinary standard 1st level orcs. Thanks to very unlikely dice rolling (2 crits in round 1 with great axes with the orcs, the player responded rolling 3 and 4) resulted in the other players really gloating when they actually managed one or two rounds later to take down the paladin.
Technically it isn't PvP - after all - it was the 'monsters' who did this. But let me say that the player of the paladin didn't feel that way. I haven't allowed players roll dice for monsters at my table since.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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Encourage the level 6 guy to build and play a new character.
Or, give the level 1 guy a level 4 pre-gen and let him play with the big kids for a while.
I prefer the first option, and players will eventually appreciate having the flexibility to join any games you offer and not have to worry about what level they have. Meaning, having a PC at each tier is a good idea (1st level, 3rd level, 5th level, and 7th level). That will allow them into any scenario you schedule, provided they haven't played it.
Much of this is covered in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Make sure you are familiar with it.
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One other question- how do you handle things when you end up having a really severe level spread? Like in a tier 1-7 scenario, where you end up with a level 1 and a 6 in the same party? It seems like either the 6 is going to be really bored or the level 1 is going to be dead.
While I agree with Drogon that it is often best to strongly encourage new characters or pregens, I'd urge you to look at more than just the levels when deciding. Some characters play up or down better than others and the party mix also matters a lot. For example, yesterday the 2nd level barbarian with a reach weapon did just fine in a 4-5 adventure with some other martizlly oriented characters. A 2nd level wizard would probably have not contributed at all and would have been in grave danger. Putting in a 2nd level ftr as the only meat shield with a group of higher level casters would be asking for a disaster.
In fact, sometimes the party fit for an adventure is SO bad (even if all characters are in sub tier) that somebody playing a pregen is an option to be at least considered.
