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Hello, everyone. Here's some background. I'm currently organizing an event at my FLGS which will run in January 25th for about 4 hours. I'll be running the first 4 quests of Season 1 of Year of the Open Road (PF2). The store and I are designing the posters and we plan to announce it during the last week of December of this year with word of mouth, physical posters and on facebook and instagram. One of the store owners is into RPGs; we are considering the possibility of training him in the new ruleset so he can GM if necessary, the problem with this idea is work doesn't give him have enough time to play, much less learn a new ruleset in 3 weeks, so this is a no-go for the first event.
I'm running it as an event mostly to teach people how to play Pathfinder 2e, with pregens, hence the quest format. I'm not expecting a lot of people; more than likely none at all.
So my question is, what things should I expect to happen for my first PFS event?
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Written for PFS 1 but i don't think the basics have changed that much
What happens at a game?
Let’s say the game starts at 7.
6:45-6:55 -- Arrivals. People start to trickle in. Folks eat, gossip, get settled in. If you’re new, I cannot overstress the importance of arriving early. Everyone, especially the DM, is going to be extremely busy once the game starts and if you have any questions before the game is the place to do it. For your first session you want at least 15 extra minutes to find the place and half an hour to check in and introduce yourself.
7:15 -- Geek sudoku! People finalize how many people they have for which table. The veterans will then decide who's playing what character, trying to balance out levels, tiers, and party composition. The DM desperately tries to sneak in one more reading of the scenario.
7:30 -- The Scenario Begins. People get going. There's a mission briefing to which savvy players pay attention and take notes. Try to be one of those players. Mission briefings will often have crucial clues that will help you later on. (Other players during this time may be finding dice and minis, or checking character sheets, phones, and chronicle sheets to make last minute purchases.) You will get a flurry of five or six mispronounced names without much clear idea whether Drendle Drang is a person you're talking to, a place you want to go, or a particularly nasty curse you want to avoid. Don’t worry! You'll have a chance to ask questions, gather information and make knowledge checks to get some idea of what you're in for.
7:40 onwards -- The Main Action. There will be ~ 4 encounters, usually some mooks for one fight, a trap or three, some sort of a skill or social challenge, some sort of strong monster that’s usually more likely to kill you than the boss, and then a solo or near solo boss fight. These will inevitably involve some back and forth between the GM and the players. “I'm over here; he's over there!” “What are you doing?” “How are you searching?” “How does that rule work?” The questions and comments will be short and sweet, so that everyone can keep the game moving.
Challenges. The encounters will likely test adventuring basics. Can you attack at both melee and ranged? Can you deal with swarms and other unusual creature types? Can you deal with damage reduction and incorporeal critters? Other challenges may involve social skills (charming people, misdirecting enemies or intimidating mooks), puzzle solving, or figuring out how to travel through difficult terrain.
10:30 -- Boss Fight. You finally found the big bad that has been causing you all the trouble! Hurry!
11:05 -- Chronicle Sheets. The DM hurriedly signs chronicle sheets and fills out the required boxes, then hands them to you to complete for your records.
Post Game. Grab stuff, get out the door, hang out in the parking lot for a bit to come back to reality and then head home.
I would absolutely try to get in some PFS games as a player before going in as the dm if it's at all possible. The online discord and play a game or two online if nothing else is possible. You really need to see PFS in action to see how it works, the guides are necessary but there's no substitute for seeing it in action.
Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku
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4 quests in 4 hours for new players is extremely optimistic.
The quests seem to wary a bit on length, and even though PFS scenarios can be a bit rushed at times and starved for time, I'd recommend setting aside enough time to ensure you can provide the players a fun and engaging experience - Considering that you'll need to teach them the rules and help them with the pregen, plus explain the basics of organized play, I'd recommend picking 1 quest and aiming to run that. We did the sandstone secret in about 2 hours, and we were all familiar with organized play to begin with (PFS1 veterans). Setting aside more time per quest allows for more rich roleplay and setting the stage and mood and feel of the game, plus background exposition/explain what pathfinders are, etc.
You could prepare another quest as a back up, in case you have time left on your hands, but unless you really rush it, it's unlikely that you can run all 4 in 4 hours. max 3, probably just 2 for the optimal experience.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku
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Also, ensure you have enough dice on hands, probably some sort of tray for rolling them, enough pregens for people to choose from and maybe a couple spares. People might ask for character sheets so those are handy too.
Print out small pieces of paper/flyers with relevant information, like where to find these forums, the organized play foundation& pathfinder society guide to play (http://www.organizedplayfoundation.org/encyclopedia/pfs2guide/), how to contact you and/or where you'll announce your future games (ask if your region already has a forum/discord/etc set up), maybe point people to the Archives of Nethys
Since everybody will (probably) be playing pregens, you can fill chronicle sheets beforehand (you can even fill them before printing them so that you can just hand them out after filling the organized play numbers)
Remember to print out organized play numbers, and either directions or prepare to help people register online. I recommend ensuring they do so on the spot as opposed to "later" (they might lose the paper slip etc).
Ensure you have notepaper and pens so that people don't need to scribble on the printed pregens (you'll want to reuse them).
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Agree with Tommi. 4 hours and 4 quests is barely doable for experienced players and GM. Plan for 2 quests. That way everyone can have fun learning the new game.
As GM, do be afriad to say "I am not sure. Let's look it up!" Because you will. I GMed 2e at GenCon and I did that several times.
Learn the basics, 3 actions, what does it mean to hit, what to do with a nat 20 and nat 1. The other stuff will come.
The pregens are designed to have all the information the player will need to run the character.
For future sessions, if you can get a 5 hour slot you will not feel like you are being pressed for time.
Have fun!
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(...) I would absolutely try to get in some PFS games as a player before going in as the dm if it's at all possible. The online discord and play a game or two online if nothing else is possible. You really need to see PFS in action to see how it works, the guides are necessary but there's no substitute for seeing it in action.
Okay, that's sound advice. I'll head over to the discord and get a game in.
Agree with Tommi. 4 hours and 4 quests is barely doable for experienced players and GM. Plan for 2 quests. That way everyone can have fun learning the new game.
(...)
Have fun!
That's one of the reasons I went for the quests, but since all of you are telling me it will take about two hours per quest, I'll change plans and inform the store. I can't get a five hour slot yet, perhaps later if the society games are a success?
Print out small pieces of paper/flyers with relevant information, like where to find these forums, the organized play foundation& pathfinder society guide to play (http://www.organizedplayfoundation.org/encyclopedia/pfs2guide/), how to contact you and/or where you'll announce your future games (ask if your region already has a forum/discord/etc set up), maybe point people to the Archives of Nethys
Thank you, all of your advice is pretty good. Especially the contact information bit. I'm also planning to laminate the Pregens so they'll wear and tear less.
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...most PF1ers I've met are reluctant to try PF2e as they say that it's "broken and OP" compared to PF1.
Well, that's a new one. The PF1 players in my area who haven't wanted to make the changeover think that it's too much like 5e and doesn't have all of the unique choices that make them like PF1.
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Venture-Captain, Illinois—Fairview Heights
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I'm the only GM for the event, if I were to have 15 people, how should I handle turning away people?
You may have to think on the fly should this be the case. The main idea is to avoid turning away interested players. If I was stuck in this situation of new players and two quest slots, I'd break up the interested players into two groups. The first group who don't mind using pregens, and the second who may be interested creating their own characters.
Run the first group through the quest in the first two hours using pregens while the second group makes characters (i'd have someone handy who can do character builds). Then, when they wrap up, run the second group through the quest. If the first group enjoyed it, they may now be interested in making characters as well.
I know it doesn't sound ideal, but you work with the resources you have to make sure everyone gets a shot at playing.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku
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We actually ran one of the quests, Grehunde's Gorget today. 5 players, one of them completely new. It took exactly 2 hours, although the start was a bit slow as we introduced the new player (no previous rpg experience- played one 1st ed game last week) to 2e. 2 hours seems like a pretty safe bet, and even if you finished a quest per 1,5 hours, you can easily spend the remaining time on society stuff/explaining character creation/etc.
I'm the only GM for the event, if I were to have 15 people, how should I handle turning away people?
I'd actually recommend that if at all possible, you'd try to get a friend, possibly even two to join up with you, or if the distance isn't impossible, ask for help from nearby VO's to act as back up GMs. In my opinion, an optimal situation would be one where you'd have 2 guaranteed friends (who hopefully are willing to try GMing 2e) participating - that way, you can run the game as long as even 1 new player shows up. You can easily seat up 3 or even 4 more players if necessary, and should you get 5+ new players, the backup GM can host another table.
If you don't know anyone who'd be willing to GM and the other VO's are too far away, you could also try asking your local game stores. Depending on your area, they probably know who the customers are who are interested in 2e, and could possibly help you connect with potential new GM's/players.
If you happen to have two many players, remember to give them the handouts with your info - even if they didn't fit the table tonight, maybe they'll do tomorrow!
Also, definitely laminate the pregens if necessary! I was going to write that too but it wasn't such a high priority, but it makes crossing those little boxes handy!
Venture-Captain, Missouri—Columbia
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My biggest concern is how many people will show up. Most of the RPGers I know play D&d 5e and most PF1ers I've met are reluctant to try PF2e as they say that it's "broken and OP" compared to PF1.
I would venture that those who said that haven't played PF2 at all.
Everything begins with one person who gets another who gets another and it builds from there. Doing a couple of quests would be beneficial as you wouldn't have to rush things. It would allow you as a GM to concentrate on a few things instead of a larger scenario which have more moving parts.
Don't be afraid to make a mistake. Most of us learn from them. It's one of the main ways people learn.
Good Luck!
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All right, then. I'm still a little over a month to go and the store owners and some volunteers are having a meeting in the first week of January to go over logistics and I have a person in my board game group who plays 1e and is willing to learn 2e and GM. I hope three weeks is enough prep time. If not, we'll have to schedule it for the first week of February.