Pathinder Society or 5e Adventure League

>>54823257
AL has some issues.
PFS is nothing but issues.

5e also handles bad GMs and players better than PF does.

Would very strongly recommend AL unless you really fucking love playing PF with shitlords.

Haven't done AL yet, but PFS is frankly a shitshow. Either you play the standard version where practically every fucking splat released has something legal for play (good luck auditing those character sheets if you're GMing), or you play the "No Fun Allowed" core-only version. In either case, the scenarios are very much focused on the muderhoboing with little way to play strictly diplomatic characters, and the seasons have gone through so many changes that the timeline of events is a clusterfuck. Buying any magic items is draconian, and any cool character options (like races) are either outright banned or require you to attend a convention for a CHANCE of getting a boon that makes ONE character of that type legal for play. Not to mention all the old-guard veterans are some of the most obnoxious players, evident from the Paulo forums.

>>54823257
PFS can be fun if you're playing with fun people. There's three tables playing Saturday mornings locally, and I'll only sign up for tables with reasonable human beings and relatively low key autists. It's a fun enough time. If the only seats are with the mouth breathers , the anime portrait club, or the retards I'll find something else to do with my time.

Good question.

For PFS I found I didn't like it that much but that's because I don't like PF. As other anons said it depends on the players. I had one edgelord in PFS and the rest were ok. Ultimately after getting booted by PFS, AL and his girlfriend the That Guy actually mellowed out and became a decent player and started chilling out and becoming a better dude. So there's a happy story in there.

AL I think can really vary. You're more likely to get a junk DM due to saturation of people but it can be a good time. I've found locally with 3 LGS running it I found 2 store that RUN AL to the standards I like. They don't really appoint bad DMs, players talk about how to balance parties and are cool people, and for hardcovers there's always a session 0 to build proper and well audited characters. You gotta watch out for Powergaming and some people abusing the magic item rules to stack characters, but on the whole it's pretty alright

Honestly you're hopefully a functioning adult. If you go and play and a table gives you a bad feeling, don't play there. Fortunately there should be several tables and so a good amount of choice to get a proper group.

>>54823257

AL is way better than PFS, but not as much fun as punching yourself in the head as hard as you can.

They're both garbage. Why don't you get some actual friends?

Hmm well this sounds disappointing. I can stick with pbp and be disappointed easier! Thanks guys.

>>54823257
There is no reason to play either of them, at all.

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>>54825758
>pbp

>>54823257
PFS is still using the old RPGA model of running living campaigns. That is to say, it's mired in paperwork and rules. Every gold piece, item, and experience point you earn has to be documented on sheets signed by the DM. Adventures are strictly regulated, and many of them are built around long-term story arcs that you will see neither the beginning or the end of.

In contrast, AL is more like a casual pick-up game of D&D. DMs can basically run whatever they want and use whatever house rules they want. It might make for a bad experience if you have a really shitty DM, but even a mediocre DM will be able to tailor the adventure to fit the group to make for a better experience than anything you'll find at PFS.