Pathfinder Society vs jst any ol Pathfinder games

[GunnarGreybeard]

I've been reading up on Pathfinder a lot lately and and working my way into the system. My intent is to GM a campaign on a regular basis but noticed many players are into the Pathfinder Society games which is cool BUT, since I am planning my own custom campaign and modules etc that means that they cannot use Pathfinder Society characters or at least those characters would not benefit from playing in my campaign.

Is there generally a good amount of interest in custom campaigns for Pathfinder or do most seem to prefer sticking with the Pathfinder Society games only? I don't want to spend the next few months building a campaign in FG and then when I start recruiting have everyone telling me to skip that idea, just run Pathfinder Society modules.

[Malkavian_Andi]

From what I've seen, there's still lots of interested in regular campaigns. I myself play in two campaigns here on FG and I have seen people who were interested but had to be told there's already enough players. So I assume there would always be enough players for a regular campaign.
Since you say it's a custom campaign, you should of course give a good description of what the players are to expect. Then people know if they might like where the campaign is going.

[Willot]

The Pathfinder Society games are essentially the same character playing through many short different adventures that usually don't form an on going story.

Where a Pathfinder Campaign is one character playing through games that form one on going story arc.

As Pathfinder Society Games are often one shot affairs there are usually more people looking for new games. This makes the pathfinder society games seem more popular.

People playing campaign games aren't seen as they only have to usually find one game and are in it for a number of weeks if not months and arent seen again until that campaign ends.

[GunnarGreybeard]

From what I've seen, there's still lots of interested in regular campaigns. I myself play in two campaigns here on FG and I have seen people who were interested but had to be told there's already enough players. So I assume there would always be enough players for a regular campaign.

I've seen messages like that posted as well. Once I get more information I'll probably start a thread with details and see how recruiting goes.

[GunnarGreybeard]

As Pathfinder Society Games are often one shot affairs there are usually more people looking for new games. This makes the pathfinder society games seem more popular.

Yeah, seems like a steady stream of interest for those.

[JohnD]

If you schedule your ongoing campaign at a day/time that "works", I'm sure you'll have no trouble attracting a large enough group; especially with an Ultimate license.

Whether or not the people you attract will stick long term, well... I would expect to churn through a few before you get a solid roster established. Some people disappear into the internet ether without a word no matter how good a DM you are.

[Trenloe]

I think there's still plenty of interest in ongoing Pathfinder campaigns - I play in 2 every week, but you won't hear about that on the forums as we have our players and we arrange sessions outside of here.

Advertise your campaign to see if there is interest - be clear what the campaign is about, especially if you're going to use the E6/7/8 system; mentions what RP/Combat mix there will be and what you expect from the players. It might not be everyone's cup-of-tea and you may take a little while to get a core of interested players but at least it will help to reduce the occurrences of drop-outs after one or two games if the players know up front what to expect.

To answer your comments about Pathfinder Society (PFS) - it is very popular for a number of reasons mostly because each sessions is a one-off scenario that players and the GM only need to commit to for that one session. There are ongoing story-arcs ad multi-part scenarios, but these are designed so that they don't need the same players or GM each time. This allows players and GMs to play who can't commit to a regular time slot for an ongoing campaign, and it doesn't matter if you can't play for a few weeks you just pick up the next scenario you can play.

If I was given the choice over playing PFS every week or a regular campaign I'd say a regular campaign - all of the issues of player and GM availability not withstanding. However, PFS is so easy to drop in and out of, without any commitment (other than turning up to a game you signed up for, which some people can't even do).

PFS has it's fair share of players coming and going as well - for any number of reasons: some people don't like the style of the short, one-off scenarios that usually have more of a combat focus than role-playing; others don't like the extra PFS rules and admin, others try it to see what role-playing is like and decide its not for them, other don't like playing with a different set of players and GM each time, others can't find enough sessions to their liking, real life takes over, etc...

I'd say go for your custom campaign - it may take a while to get a good group of players together but the time and effort is worth it.

[JohnD]

More free advice for what it's worth; when you establish your group, make it a habit to require email addresses from everyone and communicate that way in addition to posting here and/or in the campaign page.

This keeps everyone informed and it keeps your game in the forefront of their minds between games.

I send out email when I've scheduled a game in the calendar, a reminder of the game 24-48 hours ahead of time, occasionally a "server is up" email and a post game email. If this sounds like a lot, it really isn't... and it really keeps everything and everyone together.

[Trueshots]

yea campaigns are great, I wouldn't mind playing in another also! especially if you allow 3rd party material for classes and races

[JohnD]

If you get your PF Harn game going, and it's schedule works, I'd love to play.