Hey Paizo people,
in the past few years of so I’ve been having quite a success in running PbP games on these boards, with my greatest success being the completion of the Price of Immortality campaign arc, featuring three distinct modules (Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the Living God, and City of Golden Death). You can check my profile if you want to take a look at my previous efforts as a PbP GM, as links to all my previous and current games are provided.
Now, I’ve always wanted to give Pathfinder Society a try. I live in Italy, and here PFS is not as established as it is in the United States: opportunities to participate in one PFS event are very rare, and even then there’s no continuity in the experience. Combining this will on my part with the fact that I really enjoy playing PbP games, I came to the conclusion that I should have tried to join a few PFS games being run here on the Paizo Boards—and that I did. I enjoyed the experience, but there was something in the way PFS games were run that just didn’t seem to fit my tastes. That led me to another idea: running my own PFS game on the Paizo Boards as a GM. And this is precisely what this interest check aims for.
What I need: A group of 4 dedicated players willing to join me in this venture. In more detail, I’m looking for players who are able to post twice/day during the week, and once/day in the weekend. In addition, I need players who are willing to indulge my roleplaying approach to PFS Scenarios (for more details, see below). Finally, I need players who are willing to commit to a long-lasting PFS game with several scenarios being run one after the other.
What I offer: I plan to start small, and I’ve set on the idea of running as much Season 1 PFS Scenarios as possible in order to create a cohesive and immersive PFS Core Campaign where the party members never change. This means that I’d like to play different scenarios with the same group of players using the same characters.
Why Season 1?: For three distinct reasons. (1) I own all of Season 1 PFS Scenarios. (2) Being older scenarios, the chances that a player has already played a scenario from that Season using the Core Campaign rules are considerably less. (3) Season 1’s Scenarios use a small sub-set of rules, making my life much easier.
Why Core?: Because this is my first attempt at PFS Society GMing, and I’d like to keep things as simple as possible for me to manage. Also, because I believe there are more chances that someone has not played a Season 1 Scenario in Core Campaign rather than in Standard.
How do I plan to accomplish my goal: My goal is to bring an immersive PFS Core Campaign to life. In order to reach my goal, I’ll try to create story hooks to link each Scenario with the others: the general idea is that you will follow your character from the first steps of his PFS career through his confirmation and then establishment as a famed PFS field agent. On the top of that, you will follow you character progression as he travels to different locations in The Inner Sea region and adventures along with his established party with which he has shared past adventures. In order to assure you can enjoy this experience, I’m going to try and add some roleplaying and story hooks between the scenarios, so that the different adventure do not seem too unconnected with each other.
My roleplaying approach to the Core PFS Campaign: I want to be honest. There’s one thing in particular that I don’t like at all about PFS PbP games: they almost always end up being a rollplay series of posts with scarce or no roleplaying at all. This I don’t like. I want to change things and create a campaign where players are encouraged to roleplay: interact with each other, write roleplaying posts without any dice rolls for the mere sake of doing it, discover the story behind the different scenarios, and get a distinct idea of the overarching story behind the different scenarios. In order to reach this goal, first of all I need players willing to commit to such a game. In PFS, this is not required; but in my game, it will be. I don’t need players willing to post only in combat situations, because I want to create something that is much more fan than rolling (virtual) dice on a (virtual) table. Of course, combat will be important, but roleplaying will be just as much. If you don’t share this approach and you see this campaign just as an opportunity to gain PFS credit without any roleplaying fun to it, please do not apply.
How do I plan to use factions: Although Season 1 uses older factions and factions’ mission no longer award any type of reward to the character, I like the idea of staying true to the scenario and keep the factions as they are. This means that you will be asked to join one of the factions featured in Season 1 and roleplay accordingly. You will receive your faction missions, and I expect you to try and fulfill them at your character’s best although he/she won’t gain any reward from it.
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As I said above, I’m not that experienced with Pathfinder Society, so please forgive me for any errors or naiveties this post contains. I’m open to any suggestion to improve my starting idea, and willing to listen to any tip if I made any mistake.
Now, this is just an interest check. From what I’ve seen, there are considerably less players on the boards these days if compared to the past, so I’m aware that my idea might never see actual realization if I don’t have enough player interest for it. Let’s just say that I’m trying to test the water here.
Interested.
Interested fellow italian speaker here. Relatively new to pathfinder and play-by-post, but with a few years of DnD (2e/3.5e) experience under my belt.
Interested
Yes, this campaign will grant PFS credit.
Dotting. Never played PFS before but would like to try.
You will find plenty of interest. I'm interested myself.
Yes, this campaign will grant PFS credit.
Cool! I'd prefer to use Beronûsh.
Only because he's all ready to go.But I can just as easily make a new character too.
Totally interested, chalk me down as committed. I am amped about your approach, looks just like the way I like to game!
I've always wanted to get into PFS. Color me interested.
Nine players interested so far. If we manage to hit at least twelve interested players, I'll open an actual recruitment thread.
Interested! I've been lookinh forward for an excuse to roll up Jakwin Howell. Since you're wanting so many interests, how are you making the choice on who will actually get to play?
Interested! I've been lookinh forward for an excuse to roll up Jakwin Howell. Since you're wanting so many interests, how are you making the choice on who will actually get to play?
Based on the quality of characters as for a normal PbP campaign. This is because I'm looking for players who are willing to roleplay more than what the scenario scrictly requires.
Very cool. I'll have to go look up the old factions. :)
GM Giuseppe, you might consider posting a complete list of your proposed scenarios, if there are any beyond those that are listed above, and what level of CORE character you are looking for to start. There are a couple of 1st season games that get some play on the boards. Posting such a list might narrow your field a bit and give you the opportunity to make module adjustments now.
Also remember that while there is a certain amount of leeway in how you present things you have to run the modules as written (as set forth by the current version of the Guild Guide), so that they are legal. The current guide offers suggestions on translating older scenarios to modern play (on page 10). Players will still have to have modern versions of the old factions on their sheets, as the old ones are no longer legal to play.
I'm not a fan of murder hoboing roll-play myself. I figure I can get enough of that on bad game console RPGs from the '90s. You are going to find that some folks will have trouble adapting to the style you are pushing for, even if they are interested in trying. It's just not central to their current game experience. There are some games where my characters all, but grapple their fellow adventurers to interact with them in some non-tactical manner, and they still don't get a reply. Good luck, and color me interested if you can get it to fly.
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@TOZ: Many thanks! Did I really make that good of an impression in one scenario?
@GM Giuseppe: As Great Green God said, we'll probably need to use modern factions, but that shouldn't be a big problem.
I always love to roleplay, and PbP offers an even better way to do it, without time constraints and with more opportunity to listen and respond. I am sure I could live up to your ideals here.
Also, are you very much attached to 4 players? It seems as if plenty of people are interested, and the more, the merrier (usually), the less people who have to sit out. However, season 1 is relatively easy, at least compared to other seasons, so I can understand how too many players can stomp scenarios. Obviously, this is your decision, and I'm fine with whatever ruling you set. I'm just inquiring.
Interested. I just recently started playing PFS games and would be cool to be able to go back and play the old modules. Especially with the same players/GM for each of them. Would be easier to build party roleplaying.
Thank you everyone for your interest and feedback. For those like Great Green God and Saving Cap'n Crunch who pointed me to some crucial issues, first of all thank you; second, please check the Recruitment Thread I'm going to open soon. I hope I managed to solve some of those problems.
For everyone: I'm going to be opening the Recruitment Thread for this campaign as soon as possibile (likely in a few hours).
Just so no one misses their chance, here's the link to the actual recruitment thread. :)