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Tonight I will be introducing 6 new players to Pathfinder Society and Foundry! :D
Four of them are long time friends and veteran Pathfinder roleplayers, but are new to Organized Society rules and Foundry. Two of them are new acquaintances and are new to Pathfinder (and roleplaying in general).
I've got a Discord server set up. I've got Foundry set up. I've provided links to rules resources and tutorial videos (listed below) 24 hours in advance of what is likely going to be our "Session 0."
The following are Pinned in the Discord.
- Unofficial Introductory Video for Pathfinder Society:
https://youtu.be/pV2xt_fp7uQ?si=j-QvHBgXg2qrsoXk
(Ignore references to "schools" and "field commission agents" as those rules have been discontinued.)
- PAIZO - Official Website for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
https://paizo.com/
You will need a Paizo account in order to properly track your Organized Play progression.
- ARHIVE OF NETHYS - Official Pathfinder Rules Repository:
https://2e.aonprd.com/
All the rules for the game.
- Official Organized Play Website:
https://paizo.com/organizedplay
- LORESPIRE - Official Organized Play Rules Repository:
All the rules for Organized Society play.
Main Page: https://lorespire.paizo.com/tiki-index.php
Every Rule on One Page: https://lorespire.paizo.com/tiki-index.php?page=pfs2guide._.Full-Guide
Character Creation Guidelines: https://lorespire.paizo.com/tiki-index.php?page=pfs2guide._.Character-Creat ion#Character_Creation_Guidelines
- FOUNDRY - Interactive Tools for Roleplaying Online:
(If you are a player, you do NOT need to purchase or download it.)
Main Page: https://foundryvtt.com/
Controls Reference Page: https://foundryvtt.com/article/controls/
I'm a mite nervous that I might have overlooked something or might do something to turn them off of it all. So I'm here now, hoping upon hope that the hive mind has some good advice for me. Things to look for when setting up for the first time, ways to keep remote players from getting distracted and to stay focused during play, useful Foundry modules, life lessons you've learned for yourself along the way, that sort of thing.
I myself am a 30 year veteran of roleplaying and longtime Pathfinder enthusiast, am a 1 star Society GM, and have been using Foundry fairly regularly (mostly as a player) for over 3 years. It amazes me that I still get nervous about this.
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Of the six, one of the new players wasn't interested enough to show up (she fears participating in more than one campaign might be too confusing) and another missed the first half of the meet up and was continually distracted by a newborn baby thereafter (which totally would not have been an issue, had they muted the mic from the background TV and baby cries leaking through constantly).
Of the remaining four, I think they are far more impressed with my presentation demo of Foundry's capabilities than they are of Pathfinder Society.
I had battle music, animated fire and smoke, interactive doors with amazing sfx, automated abilities, amazing interactive spell efects, and numerous quality of life tools. They loved it, and will surely want to see more of it. One of the other GM regulars complained that I set the bar too high. "What have you done to my games?" he lamented. I'm going to have to spend a downtime day with him teach him some of my tricks I guess.
As for Organized Society play, I discussed the benefits of shorter sessions that don't require much travel, cooking, or other heavy investments—things none of us really have time for anymore. However, I think I may have spent too much time emphasizing the advantage of being free to take their characters to other tables, even though they feel our table is "all they will ever need."
It also didn't help that my internet connection is so poor I was not able to share my screen, forcing me to walk everyone through the various processes from blind memory and from constant verbal back and forth descriptions of where everyone was and what they were doing.
I suspect they're put off by the extra paperwork, character restrictions, and shallow adventure quests too. I did get them all signed up for Paizo accounts and Society IDs though, and they've registered their first characters and have started talks about what they each might want to play. I believe that they are likely humorist me and are doing this more to help me out than due to any real solid interest in Society.
I'm hoping they will continue to do so until we get a couple formal Socety scenarios under our belts. At least then, even if they decide it's not for them, we'll all know we gave it a chance.
Anyone got any advice on better selling the positive aspects of Society Play? Are there very many over traditional roleplay?
