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Trenloe
October 15th, 2012, 03:39
Pathfinder Society (PFS) "campaigns" are actually a series of one-shot games usually with a different GM and different set of players each time - it is Paizo's Organized Play campaign. More info here: https://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/

If (after reviewing some of the information on the PFS website) you are still interested in playing, keep an eye on the game announcement thread (it is a good idea to subscribe to it to receive email alerts - if you have setup email alerts in your profile). Also, to be prepared for your game:

Register for a PFS number on the Paizo website. https://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/
Download the free guide to organized play: https://paizo.com/products/btpy84k4 and read the first 2-3 chapters.
Create a new 1st level character using the guidelines in the guide. Be sure to read the guidelines as there are some things that are not allowed in PFS.
Decide on a PFS faction to play (details in the guide).
Sign up for a free slot in an upcoming game.


Or, you can run a PFS pregen for your first game and then apply any gains (experience, gold, etc.) from this first game to a new character you create later. But, if you are going to play a pregen for your first game, please carry out items 1 and 2 in the above list so you have a PFS player number and know something about the PFS games.

Trenloe
October 27th, 2012, 23:13
To play Pathfinder Society (PFS) organized play games on Fantasy Grounds you will need to ensure that your computer is ready to go. This consists of essentially 2 things:

Fantasy Grounds is installed and is updated to the latest release version.
Your computer is setup for the voice client required by the GM.


Fantasy Grounds
If you have not bought at least a lite license (i.e. you are running an unlicensed version of Fantasy Grounds) you will need to make sure that any game you sign up for is being ran by a GM with an Ultimate license - most GMs will indicate if they have an ultimate or full license. If they have a full, you *must* have at least a lite license to play.

Make sure that Fantasy Grounds is installed and updated to the latest release version ("live" mode, not test or dev). Download the installation file from the "Downloads" link at the top of this page.

Voice Client
PFS games are ran using a voice client - it is simply impossible to complete a PFS scenarios in a 4-5 hour slot without using voice to communicate. As a player you *must* be prepared to use voice chat as your communication method.

All GMs and players - please use a headset with built in mic! Please avoid using separate speakers and microphone - using these *will* result in feedback for your other gamers which will be very annoying and will slow the game down! Headsets with built-in microphones are available very cheaply, so please do yourself and your fellow gamers a favour and use one! Thanks very much.

Install the voice client specified by your GM. Most GMs will use the community TeamSpeak server (details here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17071) while some have their own server or preference for voice software. Ensure that you have checked what the GM will use and have the software installed and configured before your game.

Trenloe
September 12th, 2013, 21:13
As a PFS player you must keep accurate and up-to-date records of your characters - these are in the form of the character sheet/FG XML, PFS chronicle sheets and the new season 5 inventory tracking sheet (ITS). As you will be playing online, these need to be in electronic format. If you have paper chronicles you will need to scan these in, or take a good, legible digital photo (take on a flat surface with good lighting and no shadows) of your paperwork.

bluegoon
May 24th, 2014, 13:52
I bought the core rulebook, busy filling in my character sheet, looks awesome! I'm GMT +2 here.

DouglasSayers
October 3rd, 2018, 07:12
Hey, that is really great information.

Gamma098
December 21st, 2018, 04:47
Greetings,

have played society for about 5 months now, just purchased fantasy grounds. If I may start a discussion about that last moderator post:

As a PFS player you must keep accurate and up-to-date records of your characters - these are in the form of the character sheet/FG XML, PFS chronicle sheets and the new season 5 inventory tracking sheet (ITS). As you will be playing online, these need to be in electronic format. If you have paper chronicles you will need to scan these in, or take a good, legible digital photo (take on a flat surface with good lighting and no shadows) of your paperwork.

may we get a semi detailed explanation as to how we keep our records as a digital version? When I go to the local shoppe the gm fellows, wonderful people, hand out chronicle sheets and keep a records tab. I would not know how, where, what, to do with an electronic version, and even if I am supposed to keep track of the data and enter it into the paizo society site myself. Nor am I sure on how to even sign up as a GM in order to enter data. Thank you!

Blackfoot
December 21st, 2018, 05:15
Unfortunately, the PFS scene has died down quite a bit over the last year.. with the announcement of PF2 and final season of PFS for PF1.. I'm not sure where everyone is with all that.. plus Starfinder took a lot of wind out of our sails.
We have a pair of PFS games scheduled on the 1st.. I think there's 1 seat left if you'd like to join.. that's probably the best way to see how it all works.

In answer to your questions...
* May we get a semi detailed explanation as to how we keep our records as a digital version?
Yes.. you may.
Generally speaking.. players keep PDFs of all their chronicles and send the most recent one to the GM prior to the game. They also keep some sort of digital version of the Inventory Tracking Sheet. Tracking your character's advancement and all is up to the player... but the ITS shows all your purchases and tracks the money. Generally we have always given out complete chronicles including gold spent and purchase values.. so all that is tracked accurately.

* Nor am I sure on how to even sign up as a GM in order to enter data.
First off.. subscribe to the sticky thread for game announcements.. that will get you notifications when a game is announced (although .. as I said.. it's pretty rare these days)
Then follow the links in the post and do what the GM instructs you to do to sign up. Usually it'll be post to another thread on these forums and sign up on the game calendar. The forums will allow you to post your character file and chronicle sheet.

KevenSimmons
December 21st, 2018, 22:41
As Blackfoot mentioned - the chronicles are distributed to the players as PDF files - either directly in email, or posted as attachments to the FG Forum thread for the game session. If you are primarily an "in-person" player, and only playing online occasionally, it should be easy enough to print the PDF and manage it as hard-copy like all your other Chronicles. If your character is primarily played online, your could keep all the Chronicle PDFs organized in folders on your computer, or in a cloud storage account. While the PFS Guild Guide says that you have to bring all of your Chronicle sheets to every Roleplaying Guild event or session - you don't need to send the online GM a copy of *every chronicle*. Again as Blackfoot says, sending an electronic copy of the the most recent one is all that is requested. This could be an electronically issued PDF, or a scan of a hard-copy, or as Trenloe suggested, a clear digital photo is also acceptable.

As a player, you do not need to enter anything on the Paizo site (other than the initial registration of your character of course). The GM will report the results of the online session to Paizo

MarianneBritt
April 15th, 2021, 12:27
I feel appreciated for the helpful information. Keep it up men!