Booked a game, do I need to join the society?

[Bluefenix]

I've been playing PF2e for a while and I am going to the UK gaming expo for unrelated reasons.

I noticed there were some PF society games so I booked a couple as it sounded fun at the end of a day of browsing through merch stalls.

Then it dawned on me that I had never joined the Pathfinder Society, if that is even a thing.

Looking online I can't find any actual process to join or anything so the question is

Do I simply show up on the day with a smile and a character sheet or is there a more formal process to it?

Also... can I just bring a sheet from Pathbuilder or is there anything more official?

Thank you very much for helping this lvl 1 human on his quest :)

[Pirate Rob]

There's no formal requirement for the format of your character sheet.

Here is where you can join the society and get a player number.

Or you can just show up, and they'll give you a card with a number which I think has instructions for how to assign to an existing Paizo account. If you some how accidently end up with both it's a quick email to the Paizo Organized Play coordinator who can fix/merge it for you.

Here is the guide to Organized Play. Which includes all the rules for how to make a character and everything else. It's far too long to read through the whole thing before playing etc.

Here is the background section that tells you about Golarion (The World) and what the In Game Pathfinder Society is about as well as Community Standards and Expectations if you scroll down a tiny bit more.

I'd recommend at least skimming those sections.

IIRC Pathbuilder is pretty good at telling you what options are allowed for Pathfinder Society but it's not necessarily perfect. The Character Options page has all the details of what's allowed and what's not.

Do note that for character options from non-core books you do need to provide one of the following:

*A physical copy of the book you wish to use
*A name-watermarked PDF copy of the book
*Name-watermarked printouts of all relevant pages you wish to use from the PDF
*Access to the rules you wish to use in the form of either electronic access to the Pathfinder Reference Document (paizo.com/prd) or a photocopy of the relevant pages, along with proof of purchase, such as a receipt from a game store or a screenshot of your My Downloads page on paizo.com.

(The Core Sources currently are: the Pathfinder Player Core, Pathfinder GM Core, Pathfinder Monster Core, Pathfinder Core Rulebook, Pathfinder Bestiary, and Lost Omens World Guide)

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If you were so inclined I'm sure a paste or link of your Pathbuilder sheet, people would look over and make sure you did things correctly etc.

If things go really wrong on the day of, coordinators almost always have copies of the Paizo Iconics which you can use for PFS play, and then take the credit and use it to level up your own characters late.

[Pirate Rob]

All that said, showing up with a smile and a willingness to ask questions is likely all you need.

I'd recommend a writing implement and some dice too, and some more preparation could help you get more out of it, but not required. In my experience PFS in general is very welcoming towards new players, especially those with a good attitude.

Let us know if you have any more questions, and if you're up for it later, I'd love to hear how things went.

[Bluefenix]

Pirate Rob wrote:

All that said, showing up with a smile and a willingness to ask questions is likely all you need.

I'd recommend a writing implement and some dice too, and some more preparation could help you get more out of it, but not required. In my experience PFS in general is very welcoming towards new players, especially those with a good attitude.

Let us know if you have any more questions, and if you're up for it later, I'd love to hear how things went.

Thank you very much for your detailed response. I will read through what you send me and register beforehand, I don't know why I couldn't find the thing to get a player number on my own.

I'll let you know how it goes :)

Thanks again

[Bluefenix]

Bluefenix wrote:

Pirate Rob wrote:

All that said, showing up with a smile and a willingness to ask questions is likely all you need.

I'd recommend a writing implement and some dice too, and some more preparation could help you get more out of it, but not required. In my experience PFS in general is very welcoming towards new players, especially those with a good attitude.

Let us know if you have any more questions, and if you're up for it later, I'd love to hear how things went.

Thank you very much for your detailed response. I will read through what you send me and register beforehand, I don't know why I couldn't find the thing to get a player number on my own.

I'll let you know how it goes :)

Thanks again

Things went very well in the with the game, it was a very interesting experience.... gonna have a look for my local pathfinder group :)

[Pirate Rob]

Sweet!

Here you can find contact info for all the Regional Venture Captains. If you send them an email they can likely put you in contact with local PFS to where you are if you haven't already figured them out.