Finding my Path in Fresno, Crazy Squirrels, Etc

After more than a year of not dropping dice around a table, I found a good group up here in Fresburg.

It's not my beloved Miresseia, and I'm not GMing. However, it's something I have long needed to do, and that's being just another player.

Our FLGS here, the one-and-only Crazy Squirrel Game Store, has become the nexus for a cell of Paizo Publishing's Pathfinder Society (PFS). PFS is organized play in the mold of the old RPGA -- adventures in a shared world with stringent rules about character creation, equipment and advancement to provide a uniform experience for players. Pathfinder Society uses the Pathfinder RPG rules -- think rationalized, streamlined D&D 3.5 with a lot more character creation options.

A quick example of the differences in terms of one class: the Wizard. In 3.5 wizards could have a familiar, with options as to which beastie you can have serving you. In PFRPG, "just a familiar" class feature is now called "Arcane Bond." A PFRPG wizard can have either a familiar OR a Bonded Object like an amulet, ring or staff that allows the casting of an additional known (not necessarily prepared) spell each day. Of course, you suffer penalties if your bonded object is not with you . . .

Every Sunday, about 20 of us gather in the CSGS game room, snag a couple tables and start playing our way through the shortish scenarios (3-4 hrs). Our GMs are awesome: Jack, Josh and James know their onions and are good at helping new players. I currently play Graylith, a generalist wizard with an risk-taking streak a mile wide, cat-like curiosity and who describes magical stuff in a techno-babble that would make a ST:TNG writer blush.

TL: DR -- I'm having fun.