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I would like some help choosing a scenario.
Long story short. I want to help GM in our area. My schedule does not often allow me to say I will definitely be there on game day. So I can’t often make the commitment of signing up to GM. So I talked it over with the local organizer this weekend. What we came up with is this.
I will prep a scenario (or maybe 2) and just leave them in the car. If I make it to game day and he doesn’t have enough GM’s for the number of people that show, up I can run it.
Yeah, I will only be able to run it once for credit, but that doesn’t bother me that much. I just want to help out more than I’ve been able to do so far. Besides after I’ve run it a few times I will have had the time to prep something new.
So I would like some suggestions on scenario(s) to pick.
I’m thinking 1-5 or 3-7. I don’t have as much experience running higher level tables.
Maybe season 2 or 3? I’ve heard there were problems with a lot of the season 0 and 1 stuff. The season 4 and 5 stuff has and is being run a lot so there might not be enough people, that have it open, from which to make an overflow table.
Not too horribly complex. After I prep it, it may sit in the trunk for 2 months before it actually gets run. I won’t necessarily have 6 hours before hand to re-prep it all over again because I can’t remember how all the weird stuff works.
Not too much of a killer scenario. I am guessing my overflow table will get a higher than usual portion of the new players. I don’t want to turn them off by curb-stomping their PC the first time they try the game.
So what do you think would make a good choice?
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Those 3 seem to have been run into the ground at our local. The last couple of times they were run, they had a hard time getting enough people willing to play to have a table.
But we have a lot of people that have started in the last year or so. That's why I thought a season 2 or 3 scenario seemed more likely to be open for a lot of the people. I'm sure all the old timers are likely to have already played it, but not all the new people.
That was my thinking anyway.
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Some of my faves from Tier 1-5 and seasons 2-3: The Quest for Perfection 1-3, The Frostfur Captives, Tide of Twilight (is technically a sequel to Tide of Morning, which I didn't find quite as good), The Frostfur Captives, Before the Dawn 1-2.
Same tier, seasons 0-1: Frozen Fingers of Midnight (outdated lore- and mechanic-wise, but still fun), Black Waters, Delirium's Tangle (this one has a sub-mechanic that can get very tedious, though).
Also, if people haven't played the Tier 1 module Murder's Mark, I recommend that as well. It's very entertaining and serves as a potential reason for characters to join the Society if some of the characters are fresh out character creation and some aren't.
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Im saying Among the living and Among the dead. I ran a double of these recently (ie 2 runnings of the living and then the dead) and enjoyed both.
The first one is a dungeon with a twist. The party are literally locked into an Oppara Operahouse and it kickstarts the whole Zyphus /Fel Bustrani storyline. Its a lot of fun and introduces Fel Bustrani a raving Zyphus Cleric who sadly dies (normally) at the end.
The second one Among the Dead is the sequel in which the society wants to crack some Zyphus heads and so sends you off to take down their cult hq.
Which is full of traps.
Again its a dungeon crawl of sorts with an ex cultist who sold them out tagging along for commentary. It features a very interesting template for some of it's monsters.
People kept saying 'That felt like Cube' (the ultimate trap movie).
There is a sidebox saying you can take out some of the traps but since the new seconday success for the prestige is trap specific I would not do this they are needed.
But two great scenarios!
If you just want one that you would easily be able to run for a large number of groups, consider a tier 1-7. If I were a vindictive person, I might consider it being the Dalsine Affair. Otherwise, Night March of Kalkamedes plays well across tiers (1-5).
Edit: Also, Murder on the Throaty Mermaid is one of my favorite scenarios. It has more adult themes, though, so it may or may not be appropriate for all tables.
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Thirded for Frozen Fingers. Short, easy to run, very easy to prep.
Anything from the Blakros Museum (Mists of Mwangi, Dalsine Affair, Voice in the Void, 2 others I think...) All very easy to prep and run.
Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment, by far one of my favorite scenarios. Once you have a map for it (fits entirely on gaming paper and on flip mats) you're golden. Can be easy to run, so very much fun, and easy on prepwork.
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Like Nathan, I would tend to recommend the whole Blakros Museum set, although he has one in his list that isn't a Blakros scenario.
0-05: Mists of Mwangi (1-5)
1-35: Voice in the Void (1-7)
2-11: The Penumbral Accords (1-5)
3-07: Echoes of the Overwatched (1-5)
4-09: The Blakros Matrimony (3-7)
5-? None yet announced, unless you consider 5-03: The Hellknight's Feast (5-9) to be related.
On another note:
3-01: The Frostfur Captives (1-5) can be fun.
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Hmm...
Got several responses for Frozen Fingers even though it is season 0. So I assume it must be pretty good.
I didn't think of related sets, but that is a good idea.
Among the Living and Among the Dead
The Blakros Museum set
Thanks folks I will look at least into the blurbs on these before narrowing down the list to the few that I'm willing to spoiler with more research.
I'm reviving this thread in order to threadjack it. I hope that's ok with the OP.
I, too, would like to get into running PFS, but I've really only ever played one scenario and I don't fully understand all of the rules and etiquette of the program. I was hoping someone could give me some guidance on choosing scenarios...
- Does it matter what season a scenario is from? Can I pick any scenario from any season and everyone gets credit?
- Can someone help me understand tiers better? So, a 1-3 scenario means any PC, level 1 to 3, can join in, right? A level 4 PC can't play? Similarly, a 2nd level PC can't play in a tier 3-5 scenario?
- How important is metaplot to choosing scenarios? For my own personal OCD, I'm afraid it's going to bug me to not run a season straight through, but it appears to me that it's not even intended to be done that way. So does the metaplot of a season even matter?
That's all I've got for now, but I'm sure there's lots of advice I don't know to ask for. Feel free to kick in your 2, or even THREE, cents on the subject. Thanks!
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@ Wildebob
Who wrote:
Can someone help me understand tiers better? So, a 1-3 scenario means any PC, level 1 to 3, can join in, right? A level 4 PC can't play? Similarly, a 2nd level PC can't play in a tier 3-5 scenario?
Say you had Storming the Diamond Gate (3-7)
The first level of play (3-4) is based on playing with 4-6 players at level three and four.
Tier 6-7 (same game)
4-6 players at levels 6 and seven.
This is a rule of thumb, please read the new Society guide for RAW because playing out of tier or applying a high level pregen's rewards to a first level chronicle sheet credit is super important to get right as a GM.
Earlier seasons have different awards, modules have different awards. Some modules like the Crypt of Everflame you can play at level two I think? or We be Goblins let's you play with a goblin pregen but only boons given to some lucky players let's you play Goblins.
Please read the additional resources area of Pathfinder Society for a lot more details about what is legal.
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I'm reviving this thread in order to threadjack it. I hope that's ok with the OP.
I, too, would like to get into running PFS, but I've really only ever played one scenario and I don't fully understand all of the rules and etiquette of the program. I was hoping someone could give me some guidance on choosing scenarios...
- Does it matter what season a scenario is from? Can I pick any scenario from any season and everyone gets credit?
- Can someone help me understand tiers better? So, a 1-3 scenario means any PC, level 1 to 3, can join in, right? A level 4 PC can't play? Similarly, a 2nd level PC can't play in a tier 3-5 scenario?
- How important is metaplot to choosing scenarios? For my own personal OCD, I'm afraid it's going to bug me to not run a season straight through, but it appears to me that it's not even intended to be done that way. So does the metaplot of a season even matter?
That's all I've got for now, but I'm sure there's lots of advice I don't know to ask for. Feel free to kick in your 2, or even THREE, cents on the subject. Thanks!
First off, if you're unsure as to how PFS works, I'd strongly suggest playing at least a few more games before getting into GMing. It'll get you more of a feel for all the weird PFS specific stuff, like PP and whatnot.
The season a scenario is from is irrelevant in regards to everything except the metaplot of said season, except Season 0 was originally written for 3.5 rules and therefore has a lot of odd stuff in it. Mostly, it's a matter of converting a few skills and calculating CMB/CMD. Everyone gets credit as usual: 1 XP for a scenario, 1 PP for completing the main objective of the scenario, 1 PP for completing the secondary objective, which is listed in a separate document here. There are a few scenarios that have been retired and can no longer be played for credit: these are, with the exception of First Steps 2 and 3, all Season 0 scenarios that were found unsuitable for the campaign for various reasons.
That's exactly how tiers work, except the tiers you listed wouldn't exist. Most scenarios have an overall tier, such as Tier 1-5, which is listed in their product description: each tier contains two subtiers, 1-2 and 4-5. A character can play in either tier if the APL of the party allows it. Some older scenarios have three tiers - Tier 1-7 has tiers 1-2, 3-4, and 6-7 - and in those characters from the highest tier can't play in the lowest tier, and vice versa.
The metaplots don't matter per se, but they do add a sense of continuity and backstory to the world of PFS, which can be nebulous at best. A better idea than running entire seasons in a row might be to run sets of scenarios that form smaller story arcs. A lot of these are written into clear series (f.ex. Shades of Ice, The Devil We Know, Glories of the Past, Quest for Perfection) but some are in less clear sets, like the Blakros scenarios. Looking through the boards a bit will find you a few of those unnamed series rather easily.
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One thing to keep in mind is that in the earlier seasons now, displaced character levels (ie high level and low levels) in the same party, can push a party into the Higher tier (even if just). This could be deadly for some level 1 characters as they encounter some monsters designed for levels 4-5. It wont happen very often but with 6 player tables it can happen.
The guide to organised play is something you must read on this topic.
The reason I like the Among the series is that there is some contiunity there. Zyphus is a deity which can be identified as a Villain (he wants his followers and other people to die in manufactured accidents)
There is no deception here on the part of his followers. They want death and destruction. So the party knows exactly what it needs to do.