PFS noob questions

[Prometeus]

Hi there guys,

I'm trying to start GM a PFS group on month or two, and I'm reading the guide and FAQ to ensure to run it good.

I'm trying to run a season for our group but have a question, in which order should we run the scenarios? Because it seams weird to me that

S06-01 is Tier 1-5
S06-02 is Tier 3-7

Was on the understanding that after running a the players gain 1 XP, so if the season 6 has 23 scenarios the players will be ending the season by 7th level, is that correct?

Also beside the pfs guide there is another guide or which books do you guys recommend me to read to expand the lore or to improve my game as GM???

Thx in advance

[Chess Pwn]

The scenarios aren't meant to be played in order. There's not really any story between the scenarios. You pick scenarios that are the correct tier for the characters.

[Nefreet]

Thanks for stepping up to GM!

You're off to a good start by reading the Guide. There are plenty of other documents and tools available to further help with your role as GM:

The Story So Far will help understand where the Campaign has been thus far.
Faction Journal Cards may help players decide which Faction best suits their needs.
Campaign Clarifications helps sort out ambiguous rules issues.
Additional Resources lists what character options are legal.
The GM Discussion Forum can help with running individual scenarios.
And the Pathfinder Society FAQ is invaluable for most answers to common issues of the past.

If you're looking for books about the in-game Pathfinder Society, I can think of three:

Pathfinder Society Field Guide
Pathfinder Society Primer
Seekers of Secrets, a Guide to the Pathfinder Society

So there's no shortage of information!

[LoPan666]

Thomas Hutchins wrote:

The scenarios aren't meant to be played in order. There's not really any story between the scenarios. You pick scenarios that are the correct tier for the characters.

While many scenarios are not connected, since Season 2 there have been story arcs that tie together most scenarios from a given year and there are often scenarios that build on previous ones (sometimes across more than one year). Here are a few threads that list scenarios that are connected by plotlines, locations, or characters.

Pathfinder Society Campaign Paths
Story arcs? Connections?
PFS scenario series
What are the great campaign arcs in PFS?

[Majuba]

If you want to run just Season 6, you can just string the low level scenarios together, then move up a tier and run those, onwards. Should be interesting.

[Prometeus]

Nefreet wrote:

Thanks for stepping up to GM!

You're off to a good start by reading the Guide. There are plenty of other documents and tools available to further help with your role as GM:

The Story So Far will help understand where the Campaign has been thus far.
Faction Journal Cards may help players decide which Faction best suits their needs.
Campaign Clarifications helps sort out ambiguous rules issues.
Additional Resources lists what character options are legal.
The GM Discussion Forum can help with running individual scenarios.
And the Pathfinder Society FAQ is invaluable for most answers to common issues of the past.

If you're looking for books about the in-game Pathfinder Society, I can think of three:

Pathfinder Society Field Guide
Pathfinder Society Primer
Seekers of Secrets, a Guide to the Pathfinder Society

So there's no shortage of information!

Wow those links are amazing, thanks a lot for the information, now I have a lot of homework specially with The Story so Far, I will read all those items and books and then choose a season to run it

Thanks a lot in advance Nefreet

[Prometeus]

Pete Winz wrote:

Thomas Hutchins wrote:

The scenarios aren't meant to be played in order. There's not really any story between the scenarios. You pick scenarios that are the correct tier for the characters.

While many scenarios are not connected, since Season 2 there have been story arcs that tie together most scenarios from a given year and there are often scenarios that build on previous ones (sometimes across more than one year). Here are a few threads that list scenarios that are connected by plotlines, locations, or characters.

Pathfinder Society Campaign Paths
Story arcs? Connections?
PFS scenario series
What are the great campaign arcs in PFS?

That posts are amazing, that was another thing i was looking for

We used to play campaigns like RotRl, CoT and WotR, one of the things I was worried is the change to a PFS style of game.

This help me a lot, specially the VanceMadrox campaigns

thanks a lot for all the comments and sugestions

[LoPan666]

I have had some good experiences with long-running campaigns in the past and they can be really good if you have a core group who can meet on a regular basis. One of the things that I think is great about PFS is that you don't have to rely on the same players always being able to make your game day and can run different scenarios with different groups. If you want to maintain continuity for a particular scenario path but not everyone is available on a given day, the players who are able to make it can start another set of characters and play something unrelated and then you can go back to the primary set of characters when everyone is available again. With 7 seasons already published, there is a LOT of material to play. I hope you enjoy your PFS experiences as much as I have.

[BretI]

Regardless of what story arc you choose, I think The Confirmation is a good first adventure. It introduces the Pathfinder Society and is balanced for 1st level characters with no extra equipment.

I have also found the PFS Prep site to have a wealth of information that helps me prepare to run the various scenarios.