What scenarios or bounties do you recommend in this situation?

[Bigdaddyjug]

So I’m going to be introducing a bunch of middle schoolers to TTRPGs and decided to do it with PFS since it’s the one I’m most familiar with. However, I only recently started playing 2E and don’t know anything about any of the adventures.

What scenarios and or bounties do you recommend I get to run for them?

[Quentin Coldwater]

I really like Port Peril Pub Crawl. There's a bit of free-form roleplaying, a Jack Sparrow-esque NPC, some variety if you're running the scenario multiple times, and the most iconic thing you can think of when you say "fun RPG event." The only downside is I think that the combat is a bit more abstract. It just doesn't have the same pizzazz as minis on a map. Just ham up the rowdy crowd, the possible ways in which the players can impress Stella Fane, and the bar fight in general and you'll have a blast.

[JohannVonUlm]

My personal favorites are:
Quest 1 - The Sandstone Secret. It hits all the bases introducing basic concepts like exploration mode, traps, and combat. It also has a good Pathfinder Society 101 handout.

Bounty 15 - Treasure off the Coast. It's got a well done, atypical skill challenge in the form of a hunt for sunken treasure.

Both target the hour to hour and a half play time. So are good introductions.

[NielsenE]

For full length secnarios:

I like Trailblazer's Bounty if the younger kids are into camping/scouts, there's some NPCs in that one that are basically inexperienced outdoors people and you need to help teach them, which often goes over well.

Seven Secrets of Dacilane Academy works well too with its school theme.

Foundation's Price/Fury's Toll are a more recent pair that I think would work fairly well if you think they'd like a bit of a mystery/more roleplay than an average scenario.

Enter the Pallid Peak for a more dungeon crawly one that still has a nice mix of elements.

Flooded Kings Court always gets strong reviews as well. The "play within a play" opening bit can be very helpful for breaking the ice into more role play.

[Bigdaddyjug]

Quentin Coldwater wrote:

I really like Port Peril Pub Crawl. There's a bit of free-form roleplaying, a Jack Sparrow-esque NPC, some variety if you're running the scenario multiple times, and the most iconic thing you can think of when you say "fun RPG event." The only downside is I think that the combat is a bit more abstract. It just doesn't have the same pizzazz as minis on a map. Just ham up the rowdy crowd, the possible ways in which the players can impress Stella Fane, and the bar fight in general and you'll have a blast.

Ohhhhh that does sound fun. I have a few players who will definitely get into the RP side. I have some others who will almost certainly be “roll” players. Got anything for level 1 with some fun but not too deadly combat?

[Bigdaddyjug]

NielsenE wrote:

Enter the Pallid Peak for a more dungeon crawly one that still has a nice mix of elements.

I played this one myself recently. Only thing that would worry me is that the final fight might be a bit…deadly for a table of new players.

[Bigdaddyjug]

NielsenE wrote:

For full length secnarios:

I like Trailblazer's Bounty if the younger kids are into camping/scouts, there's some NPCs in that one that are basically inexperienced outdoors people and you need to help teach them, which often goes over well.

Seven Secrets of Dacilane Academy works well too with its school theme.

Foundation's Price/Fury's Toll are a more recent pair that I think would work fairly well if you think they'd like a bit of a mystery/more roleplay than an average scenario.

Enter the Pallid Peak for a more dungeon crawly one that still has a nice mix of elements.

Flooded Kings Court always gets strong reviews as well. The "play within a play" opening bit can be very helpful for breaking the ice into more role play.

Are quests and bounties worth the same amount of experience? I know scenarios are 4 now. Are quests and bounties 1?

[sanwah68]

Yep, both quests and bounties are 1 xp

[Silbeg]

You might want to try the beginner box adventures. Limited rules, and a decent adventure!

[Jason S]

I'd maybe start with a quest or a bounty. I ran the following two and they were very good.
- Sandstone Secret
- Shadows and Scarecrow

I like them just because they are short, leave time to teach the game, and have enough roleplaying etc so that people can decide if playing the game is right for them.

[Bigdaddyjug]

Jason S wrote:

I'd maybe start with a quest or a bounty. I ran the following two and they were very good.

- Sandstone Secret
- Shadows and Scarecrow

I like them just because they are short, leave time to teach the game, and have enough roleplaying etc so that people can decide if playing the game is right for them.

This is what I’m going to do. I bought the first 6 bounties and I’ll probably buy the next 6 at some point. I’ll give every player a pregen in the class they want to play and have them play that until they hit level 2.

[Jason S]

Bigdaddyjug wrote:

This is what I’m going to do. I bought the first 6 bounties and I’ll probably buy the next 6 at some point. I’ll give every player a pregen in the class they want to play and have them play that until they hit level 2.

The one bad thing I'll say about quests and bounties (I've run 5 quests now and 2 bounties) is that the time per XP ratio isn't very good.

Typically they take 1.5-2 hours to complete. Everyone has a good time, but I can usually complete a scenario in 4-5 hours, which gives 4 XP compared to 1 XP.

The kids actually care about XP a LOT (too much), so when they find out, they generally don't want to waste time with quests and bounties.

But like I said, when a new player want to jump in for an introduction to the game, they are great. (Well, SOME of them are).

[Bigdaddyjug]

Jason S wrote:

Bigdaddyjug wrote:

This is what I’m going to do. I bought the first 6 bounties and I’ll probably buy the next 6 at some point. I’ll give every player a pregen in the class they want to play and have them play that until they hit level 2.

The one bad thing I'll say about quests and bounties (I've run 5 quests now and 2 bounties) is that the time per XP ratio isn't very good.

Typically they take 1.5-2 hours to complete. Everyone has a good time, but I can usually complete a scenario in 4-5 hours, which gives 4 XP compared to 1 XP.

The kids actually care about XP a LOT (too much), so when they find out, they generally don't want to waste time with quests and bounties.

But like I said, when a new player want to jump in for an introduction to the game, they are great. (Well, SOME of them are).

I agree with this, but I don't think I can keep my students for 4-5 hours after school. I can do a quest/bounty and get through it in an hour and 20 minutes.