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so im not new to pathfinder at all really, my friends and i have been into the system for a few years but for the longest time we never played because none of us wanted to GM really.
well a few months ago i finally got over my nerves and pulled my pants and started GMing for our group, and i was happy to discover I LOVE GMing, i like doing the prepwork to get ready for a night of play and i love paizos pre made adventure paths cuz im not very creative in a wold building mannor.
after learning the ropes over the past few months i came to these forums and found out about PFS, i like the idea of games that are short so they dont span months and anyone with level appropriate characters can join in. i was even thinking of asking my local hobbie shop if i could start doing a PFS night.
My main issue is whenever i learn something new for an RPG i learn best by being shown how it works and if im not i dont feel very comfortable doing it (i only learned a month ago that encounter CR isnt the total CR of all the creatures in a fight but based on a table and the total XPprovided by the creatures(and man i felt like a noob after finding that out))
i was wondering if there was someone who would like to take the time and setup a talk on skype or link me to a summery guid or even in this forums thread on how GMing (and i know gms in PFS just run off what the book says more or less and im A ok with that) and charater creation for PFS should go, just so im sure i understand it right.
thanks for any help i get
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Most of what you are looking for is here in the guide to organized play. Feel free to ask any questions you may have after you read it.
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Honestly find the venture captain in yoru areas and ask him to DM for you. learn from a community. If you alert us your general location we could find your venture officers in your area very quickly
The guide to organized play has a whole ton of rules, and there is so much that it is hard to narrow it down.
You are also more than welcome to message me with any questions.
well to the best of my knowlesge the is no venture captain in my area (Hamilton ontario, Canada btw) nearest one is toronto. i kinda wanted to maybe make a home base for hamilton if i could
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These three guys below are in the Toronto area. I bet one will post on here with advice. Feel free to email them, they maybe near you.
Canada—Toronto Adam Mogyorodi (VC) mergy@ontariopathfinders.com
Canada—Toronto Jeff Mahood (VL) jeff@ontariopathfinders.com
Canada—Toronto Michael Iantorno (VL) michael@ontariopathfinders.com
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well to the best of my knowlesge the is no venture captain in my area (Hamilton ontario, Canada btw) nearest one is toronto. i kinda wanted to maybe make a home base for hamilton if i could
You don't need a venture captain or anything to sanction your games or anything. Anyone with a PFS number can run it. There are NO qualifcations what so ever (otherwise they wouldn't let me run :) )
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If it's any consolation, we here in Colorado have a central VC while games are run in places an hour away, which is what appears to be the same situation as you in Hamilton. So it is not unheard of for the leadership to be an hour away from you. They can still help. And I'm sure your VO's wouldn't mind coming down an hour's drive to spread the love of PFS. Heck, we have people driving an hour or more for game days here.
So no worries about distance. Just do what you can to get PFS started there. The Toronto leadership should still be a great resource to you.
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| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
so im not new to pathfinder at all really, my friends and i have been into the system for a few years but for the longest time we never played because none of us wanted to GM really.
well a few months ago i finally got over my nerves and pulled my pants and started GMing for our group, and i was happy to discover I LOVE GMing, i like doing the prepwork to get ready for a night of play and i love paizos pre made adventure paths cuz im not very creative in a wold building mannor.
after learning the ropes over the past few months i came to these forums and found out about PFS, i like the idea of games that are short so they dont span months and anyone with level appropriate characters can join in. i was even thinking of asking my local hobbie shop if i could start doing a PFS night.
My main issue is whenever i learn something new for an RPG i learn best by being shown how it works and if im not i dont feel very comfortable doing it (i only learned a month ago that encounter CR isnt the total CR of all the creatures in a fight but based on a table and the total XPprovided by the creatures(and man i felt like a noob after finding that out))
i was wondering if there was someone who would like to take the time and setup a talk on skype or link me to a summery guid or even in this forums thread on how GMing (and i know gms in PFS just run off what the book says more or less and im A ok with that) and charater creation for PFS should go, just so im sure i understand it right.
thanks for any help i get
Three month I was in the same situation as you are now. In Italy there weren't any pfs events unless we started to organize them.
I had never played as gm since before, but i wanted so much play PFS than i've started to study the guide to organized play, and with a well experienced master in an other group who helped me, we made our first event.It was one of the best Pathfinder experience I've ever had, and now that I got acquainted with PFS rules, every event is better than the last.
In short, my advise is: DO IT!Study the guide to organized play and organize as many events as possibile with your friends in your local shop. Don't worry, it's easier than you think!
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Hi and welcome to the GM pool
I think the biggest thing to do as a GM is to read and study, take the time in the beginning to read up on things you aren't familiar with .. Make cheat sheets for the scenarios of feats and spells if you want to.. and don't be afraid to tell the group
"I'm not sure, I'm going to rule it this way based on my interpretation.. but I will find out and clarify for everyone involved"
Then come to the boards and do a search .. or find someone to send a PM to asking a question or two -- I've helped several people in PMs as it's easier to have a complete conversation sometimes in PM.
Good luck and have fun, :)
PFCGB
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The other big thing: Don't worry if you get something wrong. Learn and move on.
You'll be running pre-made adventures, so you won't have to know anything about designing your own. And most of the published PFS adventures have a thread in the GM area where people post their comments/questions about the scenario, so you can learn a lot by reading both the adventure and those threads before GMing an adventure. People are sure to point out things you never would have thought to consider.
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Just wanted to say and welcome to the campaign. As for advice, like has been said the organized play guide is your friend. People on the boards are very helpful and your local VO will be of great help.
I just started started as an organizer back in October and it has been a blast. I have met many interesting new people. If you already have a firm grasp of the rules, I would say just jump into it. I did and I don't regret it at all.
Venture-Captain, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh
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I want to echo what everyone's said. You're gonna make mistakes. And that's okay. In the Knoxville area, we didn't have any public PFS games running, either, with my VC being located in Nashville, about three hours away. I traveled to the closest PFS game, played two sessions, and started running public games here. Now our community is strong and growing. And you'd be surprised who might come out of the woodwork if you start running public games. There are probably home PFS games going on in your area, and some of those folks might come out and get involved. Sometimes, it just takes one person to throw up a flyer and make a facebook post. A lot of people just PFS at conventions, and they might bring some valuable experience to the table.
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I have to share Nick's sentiments. In about a year and a half's time, I went from no PFS play in western South Dakota to about 60 players, half of which are consistent regular players for our events. I also have a half-dozen reliable GMs and several others who have chipped in for a game or two when needed.
Just start small, play in a public spot with a few friends and have pregens on hand for walk-ins.
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Note that some of the secondary success conditions may involve giving out the normal faction missions from those earlier scenarios....Oh, I just thought of a tip on something that caught me by surprise. The scenarios from before season 5 have faction missions. Those are no longer used. We use the secondary successes conditions from this instead.
http://paizo.com/products/btpy928k?