Dane Pitchford's page

As sad as I am to say it, I'd like to cancel my subscription to the Pathfinder Adventure Path. Thank you.

I'm sticking around in some capacity, at the very least. Time permitting, anyway.

And hmm, seems my swanky new title hasn't taken effect yet.

Shiny :)

I'm curious too. I intend to swing down to Oly for a few days, soon, and would love to pop in and play!

Major congrats, Mike. Like others have said, I can't think of anyone better for the job, or more deserving. As Seattle's VC, I particularly look forward to working with you :)

Tim,

I'd love to get in on talking about expanding PFS at the store. What times will you be around? Perhaps we can figure out a time where all three of us can meet.

The scenarios with the Ruby Phoenix emblem in the corner denote that they're tied to the season's overarching plot.

Congrats!

Dane Pitchford wrote:

And we also gave boons out at PAX this year as well. Quite a few people were able to snatch up a nifty chronicle that gave them the opportunity to play one of three restricted races. So yes, boons are going out to Cons other than just Gen Con ;)

Only three of the races, not all eight?

Yeah, only three this time. But they were the three that, at least that I saw, generated the most interest. Tiefling, Aasimar, and Tengu

And we also gave boons out at PAX this year as well. Quite a few people were able to snatch up a nifty chronicle that gave them the opportunity to play one of three restricted races. So yes, boons are going out to Cons other than just Gen Con ;)

In season 3 the faction missions have the name of the faction and the faction leader's face on it as well.

I actually prefer the old way (of not making it dead obvious), but I can see how it would clear up confusion in some cases.

I'll admit, I do miss the style of the missions prior to season 3, but the new look not only makes them easier to read, but it makes it so they can fit 10 of them in a similar amount of space, and it's not quite as hard on your ink cartridges :)

It's definitely enchantable. It's simply a chain shirt made of mithral, so there's no reason why it wouldn't be :)

I blame the Pope!

*shudders*

This is definitely something that'll be fixed as soon as possible. But we're definitely aware of the issue already. Still, thanks for the heads-up :)

Whether I reveal or not is entirely at the behest of the player I'm playing. My Andoran Eagle Knight in full Eagle Knight regalia would be one such character that openly reveals his faction. While not explicitly stated, my Qadiran should be obvious as she is designed to help others with their faction missions while demanding favors in return.

Did that last adventure. I helped out a Scarni of the group and demanded he sign my chronicle afterwards indicating that he owed me one favor.

I'll admit, my main character, Karriden, is kind of the same way. Hard to mistake the allegiance of a Hellknight in full spiky armor, after all.

Cool well we all know what you guys think about spoilers. Has nothing to do with this threads topic, or content of this thread since there is no spoilers here. Thanks for helping me though those of you that actually remained on subject.

And there's really no need to be so antagonistic. In trying to address your question, they were simply letting you know that there are those that prefer spoilers (whether minor or major) be placed in tags. We're all here to talk about a game we enjoy, so let's stay civil :)

Nor do I, for that matter :P

Dane Pitchford wrote:

No one has better parties than the Chelaxians ;)

Meh. Chelaxian parties are over-planned, invitations sent weeks in advance, seating charts.

I prefer the free-form impromptu Andoran get-togethers at the local pub.

Ah, but you also have to take into account how...hedonistic...Chelaxian parties can be as well ;)

Mark Garringer wrote:

LazarX wrote:

No you can't. Or rather you can only upgrade to an item you can find in the Allowed Resources list. None of those tomes has a price structure for upgraded named items. If you can't find it in a book, or a chronicle, you can't buy it, nor can up upgrade something to it.

Your only option is to sell the item completely at half price to fund the purchase of an allowable item.

This.

The bolded part is what now has me convinced.

It's a shame, though. I have a character who would (eventually) be very interested in getting Elven Chain and then enchanting it.

I actually think Elven Chain is a poor example for this topic, simply because it doesn't actually carry an enchantment of any sort. It's just ansuit of mithral chain, really...as far as I know, Elven Chain can be enhanced simply because

There's no prior enchantments to gum up the works.

I look forward to seeing everyone there! We're definitely excited to be showing PFS off at our first PAX!

-Dane Pitchford, Seattle Venture-Captain

No one has better parties than the Chelaxians ;)

I suppose it depends on the reasoning for killing the target, really. Paladins, by and large, shouldn't have an issue with killing an enemy if they're clearly evil. The problem lies when things get murky, or when the target surrenders. At that point, the Paladin (in most cases anyway) feels duty-bound to safeguard the captive until they can be turned over to the proper authorities, right?

It's definitely not an easy issue to arbitrate. The thing that bothered me about the aforementioned assassination mission was that, not only was it requiring characters to engage in the underhanded tactic of hiring an assassin (something most LG characters, and even most -good- characters I've run it for have had issue with), but it really gives no reason as to why you're even having this man killed, other than that he's Chelaxian, which...really isn't a good enough reason. To top it all off, you'd already taken the time to spread nasty rumors about the guy around town, so the second mission makes your first kinda...pointless. So yes, some of these missions are...well, -bad-, for lack of a better word for them.

Anyway, I'm off on a tangent again, and I apologize. My advice for running missions like that is, rather than altering the faction mission, try to enforce that the target they're going after really is evil, if at all possible. If it comes down to a fight, make them fight to the death rather than surrender, if it makes sense for the character they've been sent to kill. It takes some doing, but I think it is possible to, in some cases at least, twist things around so that the Paladin's code is satisfied, and they still accomplish the mission.

Of course, I'm still bugged by the whole "killing a captive and taking his head as a trophy" thing, but that's treading into "evil acts" territory, lol. I blame it on my own LG sensibilities coming to the fore :)

As for what to do when the paladin stops the druid, that's hard to say. I don't know the players you're dealing with, and I think this is the sort of thing that has to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Talk to them, get some understanding of where each character is coming from (and try to keep it civil of course. We're all here to have fun, after all). And remember, for the most part, it's assumed you don't get full prestige from every single scenario, so if you miss one on occasion, well...that's really okay.

Hmm...well, depending on when the rule change went through, you may have been the victim of some rules confusion here. I'm not sure exactly when we implemented it, but the current rule for scenario credit is that you can receive credit for a scenario exactly twice. Once as a player, once as a GM, and that's it. Anything recorded prior to the change, of course, is still perfectly viable and was grandfathered in, but anything after that...well, if your scenario took place after the change occurred, I'm afraid it's not a legal chronicle, as sorry as I am to say it.

Of course, if anyone remembers when we made the change, that would make this a whole lot easier to figure out :)

-Dane Pitchford, Seattle Venture Captain

Well, if I ever move back to Norfolk (not entirely out of the question, but certainly not planning to anytime soon) maybe I can convince my 'superiors' to let me shift over as VC there should there not be one already :)

But I'd totally be willing to pop in and run some games (maybe even a session of the Special, whatever it may be at the time. Currently it's Midnight Mauler). I'll have to see if I'll be able to afford a trip down to visit in the near future...

Well, if you know the GM who ran you through the scenario and can get into contact with them, I'm sure they can issue you another chronicle sheet.

As far as the novel chronicles, the one for Plague of Shadows is the only one currently available. That said, you don't get any XP or Prestige of any sort for it. It just gives you access to special boons and purchasable items related to the novel, so those won't help you reach level 2 any faster. I'm afraid you'll have to play through two more scenarios with your level 1 character (or a single sanctioned module, if you can find a group to do that with)

Personally, I'd question the act of slitting a prisoner's throat and removing his head as a trophy, in order to fulfill an Andoran faction mission, its entirety, and in my experience the vast majority of Andoran players I've encountered (not just Paladins or Silver Crusade members) would have issues with that tactic, though I'll admit to not being sure of which mission you're speaking of, so I can't be entirely certain what it was asking for.

But, that's a bit off-track for the question, and I digress.

What Mark said is accurate, and that sort of situation is unfortunately sticky. In certain missions (such as a particular Andoran mission that involves assassination), you'd run into that problem with LG characters at the very least, especially Paladins, regardless of their faction. If the faction mission goes against some fundamental aspect of your character, there's not much you can do, and the GM really can't alter the missions to try and circumvent this.

Dane Pitchford wrote:

Stuff

No, it was fine Dane, the scenario said to make skill check X, so you played it as written. Anyway, no apology needed and I regret using it as an example. Next time I'll use fake examples. :)

Plus, it's not like I came up with anything more creative myself than asking the Bard negotiate for me, so it's fair game. That's what happens with 3 hours sleep! If I had to do it again, I would have started a small fire in his house to create a distraction, lol.

The point is, I think it would be nice to have an official guideline on how to handle alternate solutions to "skill check missions", for the future, so there's not as much GM fiat.

Heh, exactly. At that point, I was running on 3 hours of sleep...for the last several days in a row, so I was pretty scorched as far as brain functions go :)

As a former Norfolk native, I might have to pay you guys a visit if I'm ever in the area visiting the family. :)

K Neil Shackleton wrote:

Stuff.

I meant a later meeting of course, otherwise you haven't done anything for him, right? I'm not concerned about my prestige point (what's done is done and it might even say in the scenario that Diplomacy has a 0% of working), it was just an example, I'm more concerned about what you should so, as GM, in a generic case.

It sounds to me, so far, like a GM should be somewhat flexible.

With the Frostfur Captives, almost every mission can be solved in other creative ways other than what's given in the scenario, so I'm wondering how I should handle it. Especially since it's been handled strictly with me when I've been a PC in various scenarios. MM wasn't the first time other solutions weren't allowed.

I do apologize for the way that table worked out, honestly. As much as I hate to admit it, you guys sorta fell victim to the GM (me, in this case) being crushed by three prior days of pretty much non-stop GMing.

That said, you bring up some very valid points, and I myself have expressed dissatisfaction with how that particular mission works out. I think (in the future, at least for me) some flexibility in that one will definitely be required. Still, all in all, that entire scenario is much better when the one running it has all of their faculties at 100%, lol. And yes, I'm coming down on myself. It was my own failing that day that made the scenario suffer, though it does have its own drawbacks as well (most of which you've already touched on in your reviews of it).

I only wish I'd been able to do it some justice that day.

*whistles innocently*

Unfortunately, until the sheets can be properly updated on the site, the best thing to do is just to make note if someone's of one of the five new factions and go from there.

Giving this a quick bump. We're still looking for GMs for PAX, particularly for the Friday 10am to 3pm slot.

As if you need a bar -inside- the PFS room, Tim. ;)

And boy, was I wrong. The gates are still open, so let's get those Volunteers coming :)

Although I'm not sure how many GMs Mark and Liz feel we'll need, just looking at my list, most of the slots are fairly well covered (though Friday is looking the weakest, as far as coverage goes).

We'll be running mostly low-level scenarios at three of the tables, likely things like First Steps, Master of the Fallen Fortress, and other similar adventures that are easy to play for newcomers to the game.

The Delve itself will be a special PAXport to Golarion event, with each of the five tables showcasing a different nation in the Inner Sea Region in a quick adventure/encounter that should only take about an hour to play.

Though Mark and Liz are the deciding factor on when we have enough GMs (well, how many is enough, exactly), from the number of GMs that have stepped forward so far, it does look like everything is fairly well covered.:)

There was also Devilslayer, which was similar to demonslayer in bonuses, but also gave Infernal as a bonus language

Hey, glad to see you guys are going to be at PAX after all! I've never run a game of Pathfinder, but I'm sure looking to play in one.

and we look forward to seeing you there! This is starting to look like it's gonna be a blast :)

Define good ;)

Actually, I've been really impressed with the people who've volunteered so far, even before Mark sweetened the pot. Are they well-known names from around the boards? Well, not to me, but I'm not so much worried about that. The fact that they're stepping up on such short notice makes them good in my book, and I'm excited that we've gotten to the point where certain slots are actually filling up, as far as GMs go.

Rebis Ouroboros wrote:

Dane, will there be pdf's of the scenarios that we'll get in advance so we can study the scenarios beforehand?

Yes. As soon as we have the schedule nailed down, we'll get volunteers everything they need.

Yes, exactly. As with any con, once we have the schedule worked out, the needed modules will be added to the volunteer GMs downloads so that you guys have time to prep them beforehand :)

Next year there will be a lot more notice, at the very least. Of that I assure you.

And I just added you to the list! Welcome aboard! :)

so far we've had 12 awesome GMs step up to the plate (with two more that I'm still waiting to hear back from), so thank you all -so- very much!

Thank you guys for stepping up and volunteering. Seriously, we couldn't do this sorta stuff without you, especially at such short notice. :)

Keep em coming! We could still use more GMs, and I plan on recruiting till we fill up all those spots!

Still more spots to be filled, so don't be afraid to step up to the plate. :)

Indeed! It's a pretty sweet deal. PAX is just over two weeks away, and spots are starting to fill up, so I'd suggest jumping on this while you can (if you can).

Bump for awesomeness. Already have several volunteers, but we still need more :)

Well, we're most certainly going to be at PAX, but we desperately need GMs to make sure things go off without a hitch. If any of you guys are interested, shoot me an e-mail at SeattlePFS@gmail.com

For the moment, I'd err on the side of "no they can't", which...sucks, actually, because I want to use one for my tiefling too, lol. Still, until the Additional Resources document gets updated to show whether or not we can, the assumption would be that we can't.

Heya, folks. Your friendly local Venture-Captain here.

I know it's a bit short notice, but we need GMs for PAX Prime coming up in two weeks, August 26th, 27th, and 28th. We plan on having 8 tables there, with several delve slots running every hour, and numerous full Scenarios as well.

If you want to come to the Con, or already plan on being there and want to help out, shoot me an e-mail at SeattlePFS@gmail.com
There will be GM rewards, of course, including a badge for running a certain number of slots, as well as Paizo store credit, so volunteer, and help make this PAX Prime one to remember for PFS :)

Keep Playing,

Dane Pitchford

While I have no issue with the charity angle, I'll admit that selling these things off for personal gain sorta rankles me.

I managed to get the chest open exactly four times during the Con, and all but one of those times I got a racial boon. Tiefling, Aasimar, and Sylph. The fourth time I wound up with Devilslayer. Now, all but the Tiefling I wound up giving away, mainly since I didn't see myself using any of the other racial boons, and I wanted to spread the awesome. The Sylph went to a GM who had lost his token for the day, and the Aasimar went to a friend at the Con who I knew hadn't gotten anything yet. Heck, I even gave away Devilslayer to one of my players just for being awesome.

My point is, yes, these boons are cool, but...really? Selling them? To me that's just a step too far if you're just doing it to be selfish. Sadly, there's not much we can do to stop it, but...seriously, people.

Kyle Baird wrote:

Feral wrote:

I'm cool with exclusive content.

My only beef is that chose PaizoCon over Gencon this year and PaizonCon had no cool exclusives. =(

The boons from the Grand Melee weren't enough? Sheesh. ;-)

What boons?

The Chronicle Sheet given from the Grand Melee was full of boons.