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So a while ago my friends went to Toronto and got to play in the Pathfinder Society. They came back and wanted to start up a chapter here in Saskatoon. I posted a few months ago and people were kind enough to explain that a VO is not necessary at all.
My question now is how would I go about starting up games? I mean is there anything I have to do with Paizo other than creating an event and reporting it? Or do I just decide to do it and get everyone to create characters for the Society?
Does it have to be coordinated at all with local gaming stores or would that just be for advertising?
Is it only the sanctioned adventure paths that can be played with the Society games? I was really hoping to play all of the adventure paths.
Any tips or things I should keep in mind?
Venture-Captain, Germany—Hamburg
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I agree that some kind of advertising your games to local players is always a good idea for expanding the number of players.
Also, if you get a lot of response and manage to organize regular events, you might want to get in touch with a VO close to you and discuss if he thinks it might be worth promoting you to VL or VC of your city. The VOs can get in touch with Mike Brock quite quickly and help getting the necessary steps done if you want to become a VO.
Other than that, all you have to do is create your event on the paizo site and you can get your sessions going.
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Sometimes the best advertising is to be seen playing Pathfinder. If you have a large enough group (at least 4 people) there's nothing stopping you from creating an event and starting to play for credit right now. If you do generate interest, you need to make sure you have another person willing/able to GM so that you can split into multiple tables if needed.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Hamburg
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If you're completely new to PFS, then maybe First Steps part 1 could be a good choice. Also, it's available as a free download and can be replayed with as many level 1 characters as you like.
Unfortunately, parts 2 and 3 have been retired from sanctioned play.
Next, take a look at some of the tier 1-5 scenarios. You can either get a little idea of the scenario's mood by reading the descriptive text in its paizo store entry, or you could just, as Netopalis is already suggesting, post the kind of scenario you'd like to play, and you'll get some advice which scenarios to choose.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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Mists of Mwangi, Voice in the Void, Penumbral Accords, and Echoes of the Overwatched all involve the Blakros Museum in some respect, so are a loose series. Blackros Matrimony (and Hellknight's Feast from what I understand) are slightly higher level scenarios that deal with the Blakros Family.
You can also play through the Hao Jin Tapestry arc, which consists of (in rough chronological/play order which takes some doing if you want to play them all with the same character because they jump around in tiers quite a bit) The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment, The Icebound Outpost, Wonders in the Weave Parts I & II, The Rats of Round Mountain Parts I & II, Storming the Diamond Gate, Portal of the Sacred Rune, Fabric of Reality.
There is a minor plot arc through Among the Living, Among the Dead, and Among the Gods.
The main Season 4 plot runs through the 7-11 scenarios from that year (and is kicked off in Portal of the Sacred Rune): The Cultist's Kiss, The Feast of Sigils, The Refuge of Time, Words of the Ancients, and The Waking Rune.
Tide of Morning and Tide of Twilight are a short plot arc, as do Fingerprints of the Fiend and Fury of the Fiend.
In general anything labeled with Parts is going to be connected.
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Another question I have.
The rules state that you can only accept a chronicle sheet once as a GM and once as a player. Except if you have stars as a GM which allow you to get credit for a scenario 1 extra time for each star you have, correct?
So hypothetically, if someone were to complete all of the current sanctioned content, as a GM and a player, and was a 5 star GM, they could have 5 more chronicle sheets from 5 chosen scenarios?
What if someone had completed everything as a GM and player, and played 5 extra scenarios they were allowed as a 5th level GM, and their character happen to die. Would they be unable to actually level a new character and receive more chronicle sheets until new scenarios were created?
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well if you played every advenutre you would need several characters
There is no way you could play them all with one,
If you did play and DM everything you would need to wait untilt the 4 new ones came each monthto each more chronicles.
Keeo in mind this is not an easy task.
Also some level 1 only chronicles can be earned over and over. So if you could have tons of level 2 chracters fro replaying/gming
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Okay, for most scenarios, modules and AP segments, you can only gain 2 chronicles. One for playing, one for GMing.
You alkso get the option, if I am parsing the ruling correctly, to gain an additional chronicle, for either playing or GMing, for a scenario, module or AP segment, for each GM star you have, however, you can only gain this additioonal choronicle once per scenario/module/AP, so a 5 Star GM could have 5 additional chronicles but they would have to be for 5 different adventures.
And, yes, if you somehow managed to both play and GM, and gain your bonus GM chronicles, for every scenario, module, and AP segment out there, you would be stuck with only the evergreen adventures as things you could get credit for running or playing, until the new scenarios published every month, new AP book published each month, or new module, published every 3 months, comes out. (Side question: When would this mythical GM eat, sleep or shower? That's a lot of playing and GMing, there.)
Side note: Evergreen adventures:
Scenarios (1 XP, 2 PP possible):
3-I1: First Steps, Part 1: In Service to Lore (on track to retirement)
5-08: The Confirmation (published later this month)
Free RPG Day modules (1 XP, 1 PP):
Master of the Fallen Fortress
We Be Goblins!
Fuyll modules (3 XP, 4 PP):
Crypt of the Everflame
Murder's Mask
The Godsmouth Heresy
Book 1 of Reign of Winter, I think?
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Another question. When you earn a chronicle sheet, can you buy those items on any character? You earn the sheet on character A and buy the item with Characer B?
No, a character can only buy an item if it is on one of his personal chronicle sheets, or if he has enough Fame to raise his GP limit higher than the cost of the item, or if it is on the always available list.
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Another question. When you earn a chronicle sheet, can you buy those items on any character? You earn the sheet on character A and buy the item with Characer B?
Short answer: Only character A.
Slightly longer answer: Remember that you can buy any item that you have the fame score to get. There are 4 ways to make something a legal purchase in PFS.
1) its on the always available list (weapons, armor, +1 weapons, +1 armor, legal special materials, +1 weapons and armor made out of special materials, 1st level scrolls, 1st level potions,) Anyone with enough cash can buy those
2) And most importantly, you have enough fame for it. When your fame score is high enough you can buy almost any legal item that price or lower. Unless you tank your missions hard or save up your entire piggy bank for one item your gold should run out before your fame cap.
3) Its an item on the chronicle sheet. Because of 2 this only usually matters when the item is unique (like a talking sword) or unusual (partially charged wands, wands scrolls and potions with a higher caster level than usual etc)
4) You can spend 1pp for an item up to 150 or 2 pp for an item up to 750 gp. (like the wand of Cure light wounds/infernal healing that everyone should have access to)
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When you earn chronicle sheets can you only purchase the items between scenarios? I know you have to wait for the chronicle sheet you are earning while playing the scenario that you are on, but with older ones you have already collected can you buy those items whenever?
I believe you have access to those items at any time that you can purchase items generally (in a settlement of 5000 or more inhabitants, or otherwise if your GM allows it).
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Another question (a lot. we are starting tomorrow), we are doing the Intro I and after completing each request it says the PCs earn X amount of gold for completing this. Do they just get that gold or does that all count towards the amount gained at the end when they get the chronicle sheet?
Each amount is part of the total that they earn on the final chronicle sheet. Their characters have no other way to receive gold than on a chronicle. It's spelled out in case they fail any encounter, the GM can remove the proper amount from the total.
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For the GM rewards, The GMs get the chronicle sheet as well. The guide says:
"The GM may select any special boons bestowed by a
Chronicle sheet, such as free magical treasure, regional
boons, or future bonus die rolls."
So does the mean the GM has access to all of them whether or not the Party found them all? And it says free magical treasure, does that mean they pick something for free?
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The GM receives everything that the character to whom they apply credit could have received with full success, at the subtier of that character.
If the GM credit character is in the lower subtier or between subtiers, it only gets access to lower-subtier items. If a boon is faction-specific the GM character must be of that faction to get it, and so on.
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MORE QUESTIONS IF SOMEONE COULD ANSWER THEM FOR ME PLEASE THANKS
Sorry. Just finished busy day of society play and a few questions came up.
So the mundane items, weapons on enemies, random gear on them, how are they handled? Are players allowed to sell them for money at the end or is that also brought into the ending gold they get?
I remember in the Intro game in the third seasons it mentions the PCs can grab anything out of the warehouse and it mentions a bunch of loaded dice and masterwork thieves tools as well. IF they chose to keep some of it does it come off of the gold they get at the end?
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You loose anything you find at the end of a scenario. You can use it to your hearts content in the game, and then it mysteriously goes away. You cannot sell the loot, that is already approximated in the gold you receive on the chronicle.
So, if they kept stuff they found, they would have to purchase it off the chronicle sheet. Sometimes items you find don't show up in chronicles, and in that case you need enough fame to purchase the item.
Yes
Unless it is a Boon you immediately get from playing the scenario on your chronicle sheet, you basically turn every single thing you pick up over to the society for documentation/decontamination/identification...etc. Even the mundane items
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So even if the loot is in the Always Available section of the guide it is lost at the end regardless?
Yes. Everything they get from the scenario is not kept by the players from scenario to scenario.
This is to prevent fighting over loot, essentially. The money you get on the chronicle is symbolic of "selling" the items that you found during the adventure. That way, everyone gets the same amount of gold and there's no fighting about who gets what item.
You also can use any consumable you want during the scenario and it won't affect what's on the chronicle sheet. If you used all of that Wand with 8 charges on it, it's still on the chronicle sheet. So, in a sense, it's actually encouraged that you use consumables obtained during the scenarios. Of course, this doesn't apply to consumables that the player has purchased.
Same with builds that sunder weapon or armor. Even if it's sundered, you found it, and it's still on the chronicle sheet for you to purchase later if you wish.
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So even if the loot is in the Always Available section of the guide it is lost at the end regardless?
Yes, this is for a very important reason.
PFS is first and foremost, a friendly and social gathering of like minded people to enjoy a game they love.
When you kill that boss, they only have 1 +2 Flaming Greataxe.
This can cause some interpersonal conflict if the party has 2-3 greataxe wielding fighters who know this could be their only chance of getting that axe for free.
Or a boss had a metamagic quickened rod and had 2-3 wizards.
The reason you do not keep loot is to keep adversarial attitudes or tendencies out of the campaign as much as possible.
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Any item found in a scenario disappear at the end of each scenario. Any item you purchase with gold is the gear you have at each scenario.
For example, during an adventure, you find a Weapon of Awesome +2. At the end of the scenario, you return the Weapon of Awesome +2. It is listed in your chronicle sheet. This means that later on in a different scenario, if you have enough gold, you can buy a Weapon of Awesome +2 for yourself that you can keep between scenarios.