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I recently picked up the Skull & Shackles base set and a couple Class Decks and hope to demo the game for some prospective players. I'd like to start scheduling Organized Play at one of our local gaming stores once enough players are familiar with the game and show continued interest in playing. However, I'm wondering who the player base commonly tends to be. Are these players coming from the PFS-RPG or are players mostly unique to the ACG?
I think we are a medium-sized market for PFS-RPG. We have a little more than a dozen regulars and a handful of others who occasionally attend events. We have one weekly PFS event, two monthly events, and additional Core events we just started offering every other week. It ranges between 1-3 tables at each event. There is currently no OP of the ACG at the stores in our area where we schedule PFS.
Some of the PFS players and I are still unclear as to how much OP of the ACG ties in with the RPG. 30 scenarios with 45+ hours is a lot of commitment beyond our other activities. Will playing the ACG benefit the players of the RPG or should I find players from a separate board game group who don't know anything about Pathfinder? If there are retirement arc type boons for completing each season of the ACG, I could probably convince current PFS players to join, but if the boons are one-time uses to boost a skill check, then I don't think that player base will have any interest.
Is there a recommendation of starting with Wrath of the Righteous or Skull & Shackles? Since I own the Skull & Shackles base set, I planned to use that for our players to learn. If we schedule public games at our local store, should start with Wrath instead? Does Paizo also provide the store with the Adventure Packs or only a copy of the base set?
Thanks!
RPG boons in the PACG OP seasons have been very rare. I think so far there has been one such boon in each season. I don't recall what they were, unfortunately.
I think the people who play PACG OP are those that enjoy PACG for its own sake. Some RPG players take to it, some don't.
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RPG boons in the PACG OP seasons have been very rare. I think so far there has been one such boon in each season. I don't recall what they were, unfortunately.
I think the people who play PACG OP are those that enjoy PACG for its own sake. Some RPG players take to it, some don't.
In the Season of the Righteous, the crossover boon allows one of that player's RPG character to buy potions of Water Breathing at 1/2 cost (375 gp, if my memory serves).
The sanctioned module "Plunder and Peril" has chronicle sheets that offer boons usable in the card game.
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IIRC, our groups have been a mix but are more people who like the card game than play RPG PFS.
In the Season of the Righteous, the crossover boon allows one of that player's RPG character to buy potions of Water Breathing at 1/2 cost (375 gp, if my memory serves).
That's the one for Season of the Shackles.
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There is some crossover between RPG and ACG but it's maybe 1 in 5 from my players.
Season of the Shackles is easier to learn but needs to have its rewards reworked to be in line with the newer tier system in the OP guidebook. Season of the Righteous has more group complications as well as slightly more advanced mechanics.
I've got less experience on this than anyone that has answer you so far, but the one time I played Organized Play, I actually think the non-RPG players were the odd ones out. There were 8 of us. 2 of us I'm 100% sure didn't play the RPG. and 5 of us I'm 99% sure did. The other one I didn't get as accurate a feel, but my impression was he didn't. So, the ratio was either 2 to 6 or 3 to 5. But either way, non-RPG players were the minority.
Now, that is a really, really small sample size, so people like Theryon, who play organized play on a regular basis, are much more likely to give you an accurate picture. All I want to say is, it is both kinds of people.
As for how to sell it to your RPG players, I think one of the selling points is time. If you are at one of your RPG events and your table has finished and there isn't time to run another, a game of PACG might be the perfect fit.
And I think the tier system really benefits you. Everyone doesn't have to play every one of those 30 scenarios.
Personally, I prefer to play most RPGs with a home group nowadays, so I don't generally play PFRPG at conventions.
But ACG is so convenient for convention schedules. Just hop over for a couple hours in between other events. 2 hours til lunch? That's a scenario or two, woo.
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Following up on Hawk's post, which is about my region (though I think most of the ppl there were actually visitors), I would say that almost everyone in my area who plays ACG also plays the RPG, and in most cases were serious RPGers first. The people who don't play the RPG I can trace directly back to "They play because they know x person, who plays the RPG." This could largely be because I started the ACG OP in North Baltimore, and the RPG ppl were the ones I knew to invite.
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And as a follow-up to Hawkmoon and Eliandra's posts (and mine), I was one of those players/visitors for that day.
It really depends on the region. Where I an located, most of the players aren't RPGers in one format or another. But head a little north, it's a little more than half.
One thing I found (at a con) was that the PFSRPG players had heard about the game but never tried it. I was able to get a few to try it and enjoy it. It helped to be located at the front of the tables where PFS RPG was being played. And timewise, it's easier to fit two sessions in the same block as one RPG session.
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Yes, I have found that most RPG players are interested in at least trying the card game. They know Paizo puts out good stuff and that Golarion is an interesting world. And they've wanted to play through APs and not had the time/group. Sometimes they don't have the extra day to play cards, or aren't willing/able to invest the $20 in a class deck, but it's definitely a good starting point to gauge interest. Another selling point to DMs: When you run, you also play, and it requires no prep. "It's like being the banker in Monopoly," as my one player describes.
I have 100% never played the RPG. I tried playing D&D once. I played the Star Wars RPG for almost a year before our group fell apart (I was secretly a Jedi all along! *gasp*) but that's really the only RPG I've played.
I would not have heard about the card game if my best friend hadn't been playing the RPG, that's for sure.
I know I might* enjoy the game more if I knew the mythology behind it, but it's sort of like how I am with Marvel and DC and their TV shows/movies. If I don't get a reference, I'll look it up or ask someone to explain it and then I'll go "NEAT!" (like when they revealed the tesseract and I had no idea what it was and then I looked it up and went "cool!")
*I say might because this is totally my favourite board/card game ever and I already want to play it all the time.
I've played RPGs before (and recently have ran more than played, something I'm hoping to correct, I miss being a PC), but I've never played Pathfinder before starting PACG. Most of the rest of the group I played with was in a similar camp with never having played PFRPG before starting PACG -- we all knew each other from being in the same board game group (which due to player preferences had much more of a focus on cooperative games or team-based games instead of strictly competitive), and picked up the ACG as something that looked interesting and went from there. Since playing through Season of the Shackles (which is where I started, the one in my group that introduced the ACG to us also had Rise of the Runelords), we started branching off into PFRPG and now some of them are playing in PFS while others are playing in a home game (I'm running Reign of Winter atm).
So if you're looking for starting up PACG OP in your own area, don't discount any board game groups that may be around as well, even if they've never even heard of Pathfinder or Golarion before this :)
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A real mix of people play OP. On one hand, people who play the RPG are more likely to know about PFACG, so they are more likely to play.
But then there are plenty of people who like the card game on it's own. There would be more but they just don't know about it until someone comes in and starts running OP and offering to teach the game.
My region (Paizoland, essentially) is a region of heavy RPGers but also boardgamers. I actually never played RPGs until after I started playing the card game (even though I had plenty of friends who did.)
I have more RPGers that come play the actual OP scenarios, but there are a lot of casual/less casual boardgamers that play the demos.
I have 100% never played the RPG. I tried playing D&D once. I played the Star Wars RPG for almost a year before our group fell apart (I was secretly a Jedi all along! *gasp*) but that's really the only RPG I've played.
Hmm... Well then my numbers above were off. I'm not sure why, but I thought for sure you had played the RPG before. So, slant those numbers above more towards 50/50.
And this is totally my favorite board/card game ever too!
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You figured it out: Athnul doesn't use weapons so her hands are free for her phone.
You figured it out: Athnul doesn't use weapons so her hands are free for her phone.
In her original incarnation (3E gestalt character) Athnul became a deity of vengeance. So I'd watch it, buddy.
