The Flaxseed Pathfinder Lodge: Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Game Master Redelia

If I may ask this here:

I've been seeing things about "panoplies" in relation to Occultists (the Panoply Savant Archetype, for example), but they all talk about panoplies as though they're some kind of independent option. They certainly assume the reader already knows what they are. Where can I find the rules for "panoplies?"

Psychic Anthology, page 27 I believe.

Ah, yes! Thank you!

Bear in mind the warrior and mage ones are not PFS legal.

Unless you just want the versatility, it's almost always better to buy the bow or crossbow with the bonus than buy the ammo.

I'm facing a similar problem with one of my builds. He's a thrower so I'm trying to figure out some way to give him 3 or 4 rounds of javelins and darts(for each hand) without buying 6 or 8 times the number of magic weapons an archer with a magic bow would have to buy to get the same effect.

There are actually quite a few options for thrown weapon builds. For my thrown weapon fighter, I'm going with the Ricochet Toss feat from the Weapon Master Handbook, which makes thrown weapons bounce back to you after you throw them. But there's also the returning quality, the blinkback belt, and a couple of other things. My thread linked above is just one discussion on these things, but there are a few out there if you search the forums.

Unless you just want the versatility, it's almost always better to buy the bow or crossbow with the bonus than buy the ammo.

I want the versatility. I don't need seeking all the time and I'd rather spend the enchantment money on a more useable bonus. It may be worth it to eventually drop the $8.3k on some arrows to have them when I want them than to make my next bow enhancement that much more expensive just to have seeking always on. Peribras is absurdly wealthy in raw pocket change right now as he's bought almost no magic items since level 3 or so.

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I've seen the blinkback belt before and I suspect it's going to be my best choice. It's my favorite character and he's 3rd level so I can't rebuild him and I've already committed him to 2 weapon fighting.

Actually, he's a shield combat style ranger/thrower who's got a level of fighter thrown in to get Point Blank and Precise shot who is using the Guide Archetype and will take the Skirmisher Archetype when the time comes. I probably got a little carried away with him.

I'm enjoying the build, honestly. If he's the low character in a group, he can stay in back and harass people by throwing things at them and if he's the high character, he can serve as a decent front line fighter and because of the wonders of the Quick Draw feat and a Quick Draw shield, he can switch from one role to the other as needed.

I just foresee that my lack of focus is going to get me in trouble in the future. But I think the blinkback belt is going to be my best bet.

Here is the build skeleton for my TWF/Thrown weapons Fighter.

He's got nice options in both melee and ranged and uses advanced weapon training to apply a lot of his bonuses to both melee and ranged.

See profile to see what he currently looks like at level 1.

So... I've been putting together a New GM Kit for PBP GMs. Do you folks want to look it over, and tell me if the contents are something that you might find helpful?

Feedback appreciated!

Hmm

So... I've been putting together a New GM Kit for PBP GMs. Do you folks want to look it over, and tell me if the contents are something that you might find helpful? Feedback appreciated! Hmm

Hillary as always you are amazing. I am so glad you posted this. You did it! I'm looking over my scenarios and what tables are already and I'm going to post up tables shortly for PbP game day. I'm thinking a core and classic table of the same scenario at the moment.

Scenario Suggestions welcome.

I have all season up through currently released.

-Posted with Wayfinder

So... I've been putting together a New GM Kit for PBP GMs. Do you folks want to look it over, and tell me if the contents are something that you might find helpful?

Feedback appreciated!

Hmm

This or this quick reference to which tier to run could be handy to include.

Aside from that, seems most of the stuff I've stolen for myself you've already included.

I'd debated including those. I think I put them in and out of the folder about eight times...

Now that I know that someone finds them useful, I'll put them back!

Hmm

GM Hmm: You have put together yet another really amazing project! Very well done. It is concise, succinct, and easily referenced. Bravo.

If I may, GM Granta uses a chart for Knowledge rolls (originally attributed to GM Z.D.) that I have taken to using as well. I find that it is incredibly helpful for players to be able to visually see what their choices are for the extra tidbits of knowledge they can gather about a creature.

This is my copy of the chart. Feel free to include it as well if you think it would be helpful.

Considering that chart isn't actually a rule and neither is the "ask what category of information you want" I'd be very hesitant to include something that implied that it was.

It is just a guide line I, and some local GMs use for new players or not so new players who never know what to ask.

If a player ask, "tell me what is important".
What is important to a fighter may not be important to a sorcerer.
A fighter may want to know DR or resistances or feats.

A sorcerer may want to know its SR or resistances.

I just thought it was a really good visual aid to help the player focus on a couple of choices and to be able to verbalize what they wanted to know. Even as an experienced player, it helps to have something listing a few suggestions.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Hmm, would you mark Gameday VI Tables 62 and 63 full please.

Thanks.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Could you please mark table 93 as full, too? c:
Thank you!

Table 52 is full too.

A robed and cowled figure suddenly appeared in a poof of smoke, holding an inky black orb that seems to reflect the night sky! "I am looking for someone to in an adventure. Will the following agents report here for their journey across the world to the exotic world of Tian Xia! Ietsuna, caps, Blake's Tiger, Amazing Red, J4F0, and Chadius!"

Outside you hear what sounds like a goblin singing.

Come on now and lick a toad
GM I's game hits the road
Dodo come and grab your Poog
Hey Revvy, Mogmuch is in a mood
Reta waits for Blakey's stripes
And hopefully Chuffy is newbies likes.

Revvy Bitterleaf, Superdodo, Blake's Tiger please dot in the Gameplay thread here and we'll wait on our fourth which is reserved for a newbie.

"We Be Goblins Free!" is the only one of those I haven't played yet - so if anyone were to pitch a game thereof, I'd join.

"We Be Goblins Free!" is the only one of those I haven't played yet - so if anyone were to pitch a game thereof, I'd join.

That's funny, I just so happened to be starting a run of that very same scenario here.

Alright, let's examine this LGS thing. Sure, online (especially through Flaxseed) I have found I get to interact with very experienced players and 4 & 5 star GM's on a regular basis. I also have far more control over the interaction. I am in my house (or, let's face it, at work) as I read and compose and edit posts. I'm very comfortable in a controlled environment. At the LGS, I have a smaller 'talent pool' to work with, little time for 'role-play' and less control over the immediate location. I have a GREAT store here in Portland, but it does not compare to the nationwide (worldwide) cadre of players I can play with online. I operate with this mantra in mind, assume best intent. The people at my LGS want to have fun, the store wants to make money and I want to play a great game. So, if you've had a bad experience, it's up to you how you want to handle it. It would be great to take the positive aspects of Flaxseed and attempt to incorporate a similar culture at your LGS. As Ghandi said, Be the change you want to see in the world, and/or your LGS. However, I understand that taking on that responsibility is not something everyone is comfortable with.

Looks down and sees where he is standing.

"Hmm...seems I have rambled into more a "Discussion" tab in the "Recruitment". My apologies." With that, he gets off his high horse and escorts it to the stables.

Interestingly, I've had the opposite experience. I've been blessed with an absolutely fantastic local group (no, not Minnesota!), and have been trying to take the positive aspects of that group and incorporate them into Flaxseed.

I am blessed with an awesome local play group as well. It is Minnesota! Jack and Keith may be the best pair of Venture Captains that a region could ask for, and Andy Christian and Jon Dehning were great too before them.

I adore Flaxseed, but I am also proud as punch of my local area. So... How does one make an LGS better? Here are the things that I would look to do:

1) Volunteer to GM there. Run a table. Get involved. Get to know the local crew.

2) Encourage the sort of gaming culture that you want to see flourish.

3) Have a schedule where games are announced in advance. Get tables pre-mustered. Be organized!

____

I'll note that 'Build it and they will come' was true of Flaxseed as well. Our founder, Mike Tuholsi (aka Endless Forms) created this delightful hub so that players and GMs could find one another. This did not come out of nowhere. This came about because someone cared enough to volunteer. He established the culture. He recruited other GMs. He built it, and he maintained it. He is the reason that our lodge flourishes now.

There may be some things you cannot fix. Maybe the local culture is toxic. Maybe there is only one location where public gaming can happen, and they've filled the space. But I think in most cases we can be vectors for positive change and create the kind of gaming that we want to see.

Hmm

But I think in most cases we can be vectors for positive change and create the kind of gaming that we want to see.

This!

My local community is great. I live in the Dallas area and there is one big store that is pretty much the prototype for how to run a successful game/comic book store (they started as a hole in the wall shop and are now in a former grocery store space.)

The PFS group has a handful of core GM's who run pretty much every time (they meet every 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturday) and this year they got regional support. They run 2 sessions of 2 tables and they almost always go and often fill up. It's big enough that a couple spin off sites have popped up, though none have taken off, yet.

I can't say my first experience was great. They weren't insular, but there is a lot of short hand that goes on in any community and when you're first starting you can feel like an outsider. I also do get to play on a regular basis, but after 2 or 3 sessions you start to see some familiar faces and get to know people and their play styles.

I can be a bit reclusive so it was important for me to make an effort and remember, people don't play and run PFS to NOT play with strangers and newcomers. The could always just play a private game with their friends if they just wanted to play a private game with their friends. If someone has gone through the trouble of getting involved with PFS it's because they want to share it with as many people as possible.

I still don't get to play as much as I want because of RL commitments which makes this place great, but I really enjoy being able to sit at a table once a month or so.

I don't know if other places use it, but everything around here is scheduled on Warhorn. If you can get people to use it, you can get scheduled early and know you have a seat, or don't before going out to the store...in fact, I need to check mine now...

My group in Pittsburgh is pretty dang great too. I felt almost evangelized when I tried my first PFS session. They will jump through hoops and split tables to the least number of allowed players if they have to just to make sure everyone gets to play, and we have enough experienced GMs that they WILL find someone to run something on the spur of the moment if necessary.

The only time I turned up and there were no games to play was when one of the group was getting married or something, the weather was 90 degrees plus, and we were meeting in the basement of a church with no AC. But since I'm also a board gamer and the gaming group does both I was not put out at all (other than by the stifling heat).

I love the PFS sit down community where I currently live but I will be moving in 5 months time to a place that is over run with 5E and no PFS in the closest LGS to where I will move (40 minutes away). Hopefully I can set some things up on the weekends.

I love the PFS sit down community where I currently live but I will be moving in 5 months time to a place that is over run with 5E and no PFS in the closest LGS to where I will move (40 minutes away). Hopefully I can set some things up on the weekends.

You're moving? Where too? We barely game together in person as it is.

The Glass Cannon Podcast had a fan meetup in Saugus, Mass which is about an hour from Boston. They hosted some PFS games, so I printed one of my PFS characters. That was my first live PFS game, and it turns out they have something going on almost every day in the Greater Boston area. Once summer classes are over I'll look into it a bit more closely...

We've got a ton of stuff going on here in the Chicago area, as well. I just do a little bit of PBP, mostly to help with starting out new PCs at low levels.

That includes on PC that I made Core initially, but will be transitioning to standard campaign at level 4, when I start taking tons of feats from the Weapon Master's Handbook. We don't have Core play locally, so this lets me level this guy up playing/GMing stuff that I've already previously played/GMed for credit in the standard campaign.

I also like PBP for certain PCs with distinctive personalities that I don't have time to play up as much as I'd like at a face to face table.

My friends and I aren't (or rather weren't) particularly good at saying 'no' to people. It was a little rough fitting PFS sessions into times we were available and when the LGS closed for the night (and he was being quite generous about letting us stick around WAY after closing time) but we managed to do it for a while. At a certain point though we had several people show up who had very difficult schedules to work around. Additionally, most of us were happy with the status quo and had no desire to implement formal rigid signups. Since we have 10+ PFS players in my group of close personal friends, we ended up just leaving the LGS and hosting the game at my house. We have a 'regular' AP that we run, and any time someone can't show and gives reasonable notice (maybe 1/month) we send a message out to announce a PFS night and run with it. I wouldn't mind going to more PFS events in person in the San Fernando or Ventura County area, but this has worked out great for us, and I haven't really looked around since then. Still go to that LGS regularly for board games / cardboard crackMTG, and I think someone tried getting a PFS group up and running there again, but it didn't stick from what I can tell.

I live in a rather small town, where there don't seem to be any PFS games. There's one LGS in town, and they do have space for games. When I asked if there were any Pathfinder games there, the owner made some comments in a not very nice way about roleplaying gamers needing quiet. The big city nearby has several PFS gaming locations, but it's a bit further than I can make fit into my life.

Yeah, I'm pretty jealous of you guys. I live in a decent sized city, with an awesome LGS, but every time anyone has tried to get some sort of organized play (PFS, Adventure League) it's failed. The local community seems to only care about trading card games and the occasion Warhammer release.

I'll note that 'Build it and they will come' was true of Flaxseed as well. Our founder, Mike Tuholsi (aka Endless Forms) created this delightful hub so that players and GMs could find one another. This did not come out of nowhere. This came about because someone cared enough to volunteer. He established the culture. He recruited other GMs. He built it, and he maintained it. He is the reason that our lodge flourishes now.

While Flaxseed has flourished beyond EF's expectations, I think, my recollection is that he was inspired by DM Rah's Maximo's Hideaway, which for whatever reason only lasted a year and a half or so.

We've got a ton of stuff going on here in the Chicago area, as well. I just do a little bit of PBP, mostly to help with starting out new PCs at low levels.

Would that I were closer--I'm far enough from Chicago proper (west edge of Joliet) that it's tough to get to anything. It takes about 40 minutes to get to Ballydoyle's, and that's the closest place there's any regular PFS. Katie Fountaine occasionally runs PFS games at the local shop, but the interest level is generally pretty light.

Fromper wrote:

We've got a ton of stuff going on here in the Chicago area, as well. I just do a little bit of PBP, mostly to help with starting out new PCs at low levels.

Would that I were closer--I'm far enough from Chicago proper (west edge of Joliet) that it's tough to get to anything. It takes about 40 minutes to get to Ballydoyle's, and that's the closest place there's any regular PFS. Katie Fountaine occasionally runs PFS games at the local shop, but the interest level is generally pretty light.

Ballydoyle's? Is that the Downer's Grove group that meets on Sundays? I went there maybe twice, 3 or 4 years ago, but I heard they're meeting some place different now. I'm in the NW suburbs these days, so I mostly play at Games Plus in Mt. Prospect on Sundays. Feel free to come join us if you ever get a chance.

I think there are a few regular groups within driving distance of where I live but I've just never made the time to visit.

In September or so I am getting a group of people I know together to try Starfinder Society. If we like it well enough, we may transition to the AP, but trying to finish that is a much bigger commitment than monthly SFS.

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Ballydoyle's? Is that the Downer's Grove group that meets on Sundays? I went there maybe twice, 3 or 4 years ago, but I heard they're meeting some place different now. I'm in the NW suburbs these days, so I mostly play at Games Plus in Mt. Prospect on Sundays. Feel free to come join us if you ever get a chance.

That's the one. They'd been at Fair Game for a while, then moved to Emmett's when Fair Game shifted their focus to board games, and then to Ballydoyle's.

Games Plus is an hour or so away, but I'll keep it in mind--thanks!

I am super excited to announce that after having started the Giantslayer AP as a pbp 11 months ago, I have successfully completed all 6 books as GM.

Congratulations Treppa, Kyshkumen, Khellerin, Oladin & Picciui for sticking with me through all 6 books to end The Storm Tyrant's reign of terror.

RIP Doug Sherwood paladin of Aroden who was slain by a critical lightning strike from The Storm Tyrant himself.

I have a pretty active PFS group but I'm unable to participate simmply because my schedule clashes with their game timings.
Hence my turn to PbF.

I see both points but though I'd prefer the First come first serve, I've found that lottery better serves me better. It doesn't help that my search for games narrows down to mostly CORE and some classic having being GM for most of my RL groups.

I'm finishing up a Carrion Crown game in RL that took nearly 2 years and with all the party Stunts pulled, it was time to end it.

I finished an Iron Gods campaign IRL a couple months ago that was a solid 2 year game. Congrats on seeing it through!

I just finished a yearlong run on Hell's Rebels myself. We only did through book 5- the group just decided they were fine with leaving it there because of how high level play was very trying for us all.

I've never been able to get anywhere close to finishing an Adventure Path - I got into a Rise of the Runelords game on here a while back, but we didn't get very far before the DM found ithself unable to keep going with it.

If anybody starts a PbP Adventure Path on here - one that allows for playing with non-PFS/custom material - I'd be very interested in hearing about it!

Skull and Shackles is in the last stages of book 5, Reign of Winter is complete, Carrion Crown is on pause in book 2, Hell's Rebels is in book 2 going strong, and Curse of the Crimson Throne just started.

I'd love to run one here, but I'm concerned about the time commitment. We'll see how things go when I get Dragon's Demand rolling.

I have been toying with doing an AP except that just doing a 64 page module (Daughters of Fury) proved to be an enormous undertaking

I tried to run different AP but it's too tiring to keep up on Pbf though I blame myself for not preparing for it properly.

I think there are a few here that managed it. I respect them and their players.

I am super excited to announce that after having started the Giantslayer AP as a pbp 11 months ago, I have successfully completed all 6 books as GM.

Congratulations Treppa, Kyshkumen, Khellerin, Oladin & Picciui for sticking with me through all 6 books to end The Storm Tyrant's reign of terror.

RIP Doug Sherwood paladin of Aroden who was slain by a critical lightning strike from The Storm Tyrant himself.

11 months?! That's amazing! It took me 5 years to do the entirety of Curse of the Crimson Throne via PbP.

I can only imagine the level of commitment required to GM an AP, and those imaginings already give me nightmares.

I congratulate any GM who can take on that level of commitment and come through without hating the game, the players, and the entire community by the end of it.

This is why I try really hard not to get offended when characters that I thought were particularly awesome don't make the cut when applying to an AP.

11 months? Wow! That's fast. Congrats!