I apologize if this is a common thread, I didn't see one like it being posted on the first couple of pages.
We're looking to try out Pathfinder Society so we can write about it on our website. I had a few questions I thought I'd ask. I'm sure we can find some official answers, but I'd like to hear from players what they're experiences have been.
-How much knowledge of Golarion is required? (or better yet, expected by players and GMs) We've played Pathfinder, but only in homebrew settings, and none of us have time to really get to know the setting intricately.
-What do the adventures tend to look like? More action-adventure, or heavier RP?
-What level of optimization is generally expected by players or balanced around in adventures? We want to make characters who are good at their jobs, but we don't want to play in a game of all summoners and druids.
-Is there a best way to find a game locally? I know I can find some games on the forum. Do most PFSers play that way?
-Should we just hop into any first level game? Or do we have a sort of official location for our characters? Is it better to start at the beginning of a "season"?
If anyone has any other tips to give us, that would be great.
We're from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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-How much knowledge of Golarion is required? (or better yet, expected by players and GMs) We've played Pathfinder, but only in homebrew settings, and none of us have time to really get to know the setting intricately.
Players: None, however the more the merrier. GM: None, however the more knowledge the GM has the better the world sounds, looks, smells and so on. A read through Inner Sea World Guide will give most of the answers you might need.
-What do the adventures tend to look like? More action-adventure, or heavier RP?
Both. Some are more action oriented, some are RP oriented and some are used to clean tables (Hardness 10 vs lv1 party and such). Usually the scenarios have more combat than RP.
-What level of optimization is generally expected by players or balanced around in adventures? We want to make characters who are good at their jobs, but we don't want to play in a game of all summoners and druids.
You should not do characters that are waste of space or dead weight. If the character can provide something meaningful to the party, it should be OK. This means that a skill monkey Rogue is a good choice (has skills for everyone) as is a 7 Int Big Stupid Fighter (with 22 Strength and a greatsword). A 20 int 7 cha 7 str melee fighter with social feats is something you shouldn't take to the table.
-Is there a best way to find a game locally? I know I can find some games on the forum. Do most PFSers play that way?
Depends on your location. I don't know about others but in Finland many games are found on local forums.
-Should we just hop into any first level game? Or do we have a sort of official location for our characters? Is it better to start at the beginning of a "season"?
Yes. No. No. You can start at any time with any scenario - even those that are for higher levels since you can add them to your character either to wait until it grows big enough or attach them to lv1 for X amount of cash. Check the guide for this.
If anyone has any other tips to give us, that would be great.
Torches hit swarms. Swimming helps in swimming. Pots are good for launching traps.
Edit: Found this; https://sites.google.com/site/grandrapidspfs/. Seems to be pretty dead, but could be read that there have been players. Apparently there is a place called "Excelsior Comics and Games" that has hosted at least one event last year.
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Welcome to PFS!
Knowledge of Golarion is helpful but by no means required. On the GM side, the adventure intros usually give enough world-building background to give a flavorful scenario, although how much of that gets through to the players certainly varies by GM. There are a host of great sources to add to that though, and I'd recommend the inner sea world guide and the pathfinder wiki to dip your toes in. On a player side, a few scenarios are made easier by knowing golarion lore or characters knowing local languages, but I can't think of a scenario that relies so heavily on setting knowledge that a whole group of new players would be lost.
Most of the scenarios tend towards action-heavy with light-to-moderate RP elements, and it's certainly a wide spectrum. There are some total dungeon crawls, and there are a handful that can be completed without initiative ever being rolled. If there's a particular type of gaming you're looking for, I'm sure this board could help you find some scenarios to look for.
In general, PFS doesn't need a huge amount of optimization. Skill versatility is important, and being competent at 3 things is generally better than being amazing at only one thing. There are a handful of scenarios like Bonekeep that are designed to be meatgrinders to test optimised characters, but the vast majority of scenarios are designed to be completed by a party of basic pregenerated characters, most of which aren't optimised by any means.
You can search for games on thus website, but I'd recommend either asking aroung at local gaming stores for PFS or googling about PFS in your area. Many regions have local sign-up sites. You can also find your local venture officer here and ask them.
There are a handful of intro scenarios that are designed with new players in mind. First Steps, The Confirmation, and the Wounded Wisp are the ones to look for. However, most level 1 games will give you a good starting experience.
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I'm probably not as knowledgeable about Grand Rapids as I should be, but I know a lot of western Michigan games are posted to the Michigan PFS forum here: http://www.michiganpfs.org/forum/9-western-michigan
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1) Knowledge of Golarion is not required. At the start of all scenarios is usually a section of knowledge checks players can do to learn a little a bit of information in the area that is relevant to the mission. MY group started last year with no knowledge of the game or the setting and they and they quickly picked up information along the way and learn a little bit more each time. For GMs each scenario provides a bit more in dept information about the background of the places or NPCs.
2) Scenarios are designed to last roughly 4 hours (some do last longer and some can be much shorter). They usually include a mix of combats, roleplay, and skill based encounters. Most of the scenario will be devoted to combat, but not always. But generally expect 3 to 5 combat encounters in a scenario. With all the different writers they have for PFS, the non-combat aspects of a scenario can be quick unique and interesting and rather fun for the group (though there are a few that are problematic to run).
3) PFS does not require overpowered characters. Characters that are solid in a role and able to handle a 2nd role effectively is a good place to be. Players that make characters too strong, like a party of summoners or druids, might find themselves bored, ruin the game for others around them including the GM, or run into issues when trying to handle non-combat encounters.
4) To find a game, look under Events at the PFS section of the website, try the The Warhorn, ask local game shops about PFS, can always email a local Venture Officer
5) If your joining another group, might not have much choice of where to start. But if starting a group, can start with a handful of scenarios, like Service into Lore or The Silverhex Chronicles (both are free PFS events), The Confirmation, or the Wounded Wisp (the last two were designed for new players.) Where to go after that, can start with the beginning of a season and go from there, or look around for what people suggest for new players, or even look up low level scenarios with high star ratings. I personally found that my players enjoy scenarios that can be tied together to form a larger starter line.
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Most of these have been answered well already, but I throw out my 2c.
As for knowledge, I came in with no knowledge of Golarion at all (though a good bit of DnD background). The more you have the better, I guess. For GMs I'd personally say a decent handle on the mechanics and some basic understanding of at least the Pathfinder Organization is good, world knowledge is a plus, but not strictly necessary (and some is usually included in the scenario for you)
Adventures - while some are more RP based, I'd say there tends to be more combat with times for RP. The mix definitely changes by scenario/module.
Personal expectation on optimization is that you can do something in combat and can do something out of combat well. By no means do you need to the ultimate pounce druid, but I also would prefer not to see a 9 INT wizard. (I've personally had to tone down my optimization for the local lodge, or at least hold back a bit, to not steal the spotlight too much)
Finding games - Contacting your local Venture officer (found here) is a good place to start (sorry there are a few nearish Grand Rapids, so I'm not sure exactly who would be best for you, but I'm sure they can point you in the right direction), locally we use Facebook for most things. The Grand Lodge tab of the forums, and Warhorn can also be good places to look. Personally, I almost exclusively play locally (some home games, mostly in our local FLGS, though I have played a little online as well, and I know some people who enjoy Play-by-Post (PbP)
I'd suggest jumping right in, though if you find one of the games for Tier (i.e. level) 1-2, that is a great place to start. No need to wait for a season to start. You'll quickly find out all Pathfinders are time travelers anyway.
Having read the Guide to Organized Play ahead of time will definitely help (and it's a free download), play characters you like the way you like, and have fun. This guide is also pretty useful, IMO
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Welcome Geekspeaker!
There is actually a good sized PFS community growing up in Grand Rapids these days, but we west michigan folks are not good about always getting our game days posted onto the Paizo site.
I would recommend you check out a couple places for info on current west michigan PFS events. The first is http://michiganpfs.org/forum/recent which is where we post our regular game days and track sign-ups.
The PFS sessions at Excelsior Games in Greenville are probably going to be your best bet. They have multiple tables of PFS every other weekend. They have a Facebook page that can let you see what that community is up to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/317049681703093/
The Excelsior group has a lot of players who are fairly new to PFS and its a great environment for learning the ropes.
Feel free to contact me directly if you'd like more specific info about contact people, or any other questions that may be on your mind.
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Thanks for responding, everybody. We really appreciate being welcomed by the community like that.
Hi, I'm the VL for your area and can certainly help you out with anything you need. We post most our games at michganpfs.org. You've caught us at an interesting time as I'm formulating a big push to up our player base in GR. Starting May 9th I'll be running games every other Saturday at Out of the Box in Kentwood. Other wise we run everyother Sunday on that same weekend in Greenville, MI at Exceslior Games and Comics. How many players are you looking at? I can also set up a game at a time which may work better for you. You can message me on here or at slafayette00@gmail.com.
That IS quite a coincidence. We have 2-3 people at GeekSpeaker that are wanting to try PFS . Our schedules are crazy, so we can't always commit to a set game date, but we'd LOVE to have to some new people to play with! If you're looking to increase your playerbase in GR, I know some other gamers who might be interested.
Welcome Geekspeaker!
There is actually a good sized PFS community growing up in Grand Rapids these days, but we west michigan folks are not good about always getting our game days posted onto the Paizo site.
I would recommend you check out a couple places for info on current west michigan PFS events. The first is http://michiganpfs.org/forum/recent which is where we post our regular game days and track sign-ups.
The PFS sessions at Excelsior Games in Greenville are probably going to be your best bet. They have multiple tables of PFS every other weekend. They have a Facebook page that can let you see what that community is up to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/317049681703093/
The Excelsior group has a lot of players who are fairly new to PFS and its a great environment for learning the ropes.
Feel free to contact me directly if you'd like more specific info about contact people, or any other questions that may be on your mind.
Thanks for the link! I'll check that out and share that with the other guys at GS.
Thanks again, everyone!
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-How much knowledge of Golarion is required? (or better yet, expected by players and GMs) We've played Pathfinder, but only in homebrew settings, and none of us have time to really get to know the setting intricately.
"Golarawhere?"
"That planet your standing on"
"Oh"
Is a conversation I've had at least three times.
One of my players has their own cosmology and "he's not from around here..." as opposed to knowing golarion.
-What do the adventures tend to look like? More action-adventure, or heavier RP?
Most are action adventure, though there is the occasional rp heavy one.
-What level of optimization is generally expected by players or balanced around in adventures? We want to make characters who are good at their jobs, but we don't want to play in a game of all summoners and druids.
High strength fighter with big two handed weapon is kinda the baseline assumption for most games.
-Is there a best way to find a game locally? I know I can find some games on the forum. Do most PFSers play that way?
I really don't like the way PFS is decentrilized. You need to know where the nearest venture critters are and they know where the flat rolling surfaces are.
Theres the paizo game finder, but you can't really tell it that you have games in a location sometimes and constantly reporting to it every week is a pain that people forget to keep up with. Most pfs groups are run as their own semi autonomous group. Ours is small enough to be run by a few quick emails back and forth, some use their own facebook page or meetup group.
your best bet to find a game is to put a post here saying "looking for a game near...." and hoping someone shows up to point you in the right direction. Or google "PFS Near...." and a few cities in your area.
-Should we just hop into any first level game? Or do we have a sort of official location for our characters? Is it better to start at the beginning of a "season"?
No, the low levels are generally untied to the season. Ideally you'd want to do first steps I and or confirmation. They give a good overview of the society
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We have 2-3 people at GeekSpeaker that are wanting to try PFS . Our schedules are crazy, so we can't always commit to a set game date, but we'd LOVE to have to some new people to play with! If you're looking to increase your playerbase in GR, I know some other gamers who might be interested.
One thing I love about PFS is the flexibility. Since all the scenarios are episodic, you can drop in and out of games as your schedule demands, and it doesn't destroy continuity. We have players that play 3-4 times a week and players that play once every few months. We have students who show up only on school breaks or over the summer.
Come when you can; we'll miss you when you can't, and we'll be here when you come back. It's all good.
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What Dorothy said is exactly right. For people with a busy schedule it is hard to set time aside for a weekly or even monthly game. PFS is perfect in this case as it gives the players the flexibility to play when they have the time rather than trying to schedule the rest of their life around the game.
Leave it to Jim to remember to post the link to our FB group and me to forget. Excelsior has a great group of players and the store is amazing at making everyone feel welcome.
Absolutely. We love new people.
We're also reliably running 3-5 tables per session these days, so there's usually a pretty good variety to choose from. It's a very good idea to register in advance (on either michiganpfs or facebook), expecially if you have a table preference. We only rarely turn people away for lack of space, but it can happen.
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What Dorothy said is exactly right. For people with a busy schedule it is hard to set time aside for a weekly or even monthly game. PFS is perfect in this case as it gives the players the flexibility to play when they have the time rather than trying to schedule the rest of their life around the game.
Leave it to Jim to remember to post the link to our FB group and me to forget. Excelsior has a great group of players and the store is amazing at making everyone feel welcome.
Just to let you know, so long as I have due warning, I'm generally available to GM any games in a Greenville-Wyoming-Big Rapids triangle.