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I'm sure others will be along shortly with advice and links to useful guidance. To begin with, the Guide to PFS Organised Play should introduce the campaign.
1. Just so. PFS play includes both PFS scenarios and general Pathfinder modules and adventure paths, not directly part of the organised play campaign, that are sanctioned for PFS credit.
2. You'll report games to Paizo through this website.
3. You'll register your characters by adding a PFS number on your Paizo.com account and can fill in as much or little detail about them as you choose, unless there's a particular reason to record their stats online (such as online play). As each event organiser (that would be you) reports games, they appear in your Paizo.com account as sessions played.
Physically, you maintain a character sheet as you choose, a series of Chronicles (adventure records in other campaigns) for each scenario or module and an Inventory Tracking Sheet.
Each of your players do the same.
The Guide should refer you to Additional Resources and the Season 0-4 Secondary Success Conditions Document as they become relevant to what you're doing.
You can run scenarios from any season (apart from a few that have been retired) and any sanctioned module, provided your players have characters in the campaign of the appropriate level range. Reading the scenarios and the GM Discussion forum might give you some ideas how certain scenarios fit together in the ongoing narrative, but it's not mandatory to run them in any particular order.
You can run a home game or similarly private event with just the people you invite.
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**Most of this is already in Starglim's post, but I didn't feel like editing. :P **
There are no such things as "official" GMs. Anyone with a PFS number can run a game for credit. You get your PFS number from that link on the splash page that says "Join the Pathfinder Society and create your character now!"
1) You have the obligation to run Pathfinder Society scenarios, sanctioned modules, and the sanctioned portions of Pathfinder Adventure Paths "as written" and with appropriate level characters. That means the only adjustments you are allowed to make are when the scenario specifies adjustments for parties of 4 characters, and that you must make those adjustments for parties of 4 characters. It also means that a 6th level character can never play in a scenario designed for levels 1-5, nor a level 1 or 2 play in a scenario designed for levels 3-7. All of the rules/restrictions can be found in the Guide to Organized Play, which you and your players are expected to have read.
2) You create events, and report sessions from those events HERE. Reporting helps Paizo track who is playing which scenarios, and also allows for a backup record if the players lose their chronicle sheets. Chronicle sheets are the absolute record, and as long as you and your players have them, you don't ever have to report. But it's nice to have that record.
3) You already have a Paizo account (or you wouldn't have been able to post here). You just have to "officially" join the organized play campaign and get your Pathfinder Society number. I covered that above, so just click that link and you should be good to go.
Any scenario that isn't specifically marked as retired (just a few Season 0 scenarios, as well as First Steps parts 2 and three, have actually been retired) from any Season can be run/played for credit. My advice is to start with the ones that have the best reviews.
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I realize that BC is awfully large, but if you are near Vancouver, you should check these guys out:
http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Lower-Mainland-PFS.
They will be able to work with you in person to get you started.
Also, I found this page:
http://bcpfs.ca/events/locations.
They have games listed for Victoria and Prince George in addition to Vancouver.
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I also wouldn't mind some suggestions about the Pathfinder Tales book series - I'd like my players to get a little background about Absalom, and I think fiction might be a good route. Can you folks point me to some of the most well-written of the bunch? Were any of them produced as audiobooks?
Cheers!
Sad to report that the fiction may not be the best to get a good feel for the campaign setting.
Your best option is to search Pazio for the Pathfinder books in the Campaign Setting line. These are designed specifically to flesh out the world and bring it to life.
Some of my suggestions for you:
Pathfinder Society Primer or Pathfinder Society Field Guide - All about the Pathfinder Society
Inner Sea World Guide - THE book on Golarion. This has sections for every major country, nation, city, race, etc... in the world PFS is in.
Inner Sea Primer - smaller version of the above
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That said...
most of the book takes place in Ustalav, so not really the center of the world. I also found it confusing in places, but I fully expect this to come from my ability to read English (I have no problem navigating forums, reading articles, watching TV in English - but I keep getting confused by novels, god knows why).
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Figuring out where to report scenarios always seems like a bit of a mystery. The link mentioned might work, but the steps you want to take to get there without a link:
- Click the Pathfinder Society logo on the top-left.
- Click My Pathfinder Society in the grey bar up the top (which only appears here, not on every grey bar on the site)
- Sign in
- Click the GM/Event Coordinator tab
- If you haven't yet created an event, click Create Your Event and follow the prompts.
- Once it's set up, you'll see your event and event number. On the far right of it, the final link you want is Report.
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Thanks everyone!
I also wouldn't mind some suggestions about the Pathfinder Tales book series - I'd like my players to get a little background about Absalom, and I think fiction might be a good route. Can you folks point me to some of the most well-written of the bunch? Were any of them produced as audiobooks?
Cheers!
I love the Tales! They're all fantastic, save for maybe one, but the best is Pirate's Honor. I am in no way biased about that at all. :P Blood of the City and Stalking the Beast are also top notch, but any that catch your interest are probably going to be good for you!
