Doug Miles's page

This is a thread for all the GMs out in PFS land and a public service announcement for all of those out there that denounce any benefit or perceived benefit that GMs get.
I have to say, that I'm not easily offended by anything; seriously.. ask Bob, or Kyle or Doug. I don't offend. However, there have been recent posts like the one below that have come close to really offending me and I think it's time that this is addressed. I'll apologize now if you feel offended at the end of reading this, however, if you're offended because you feel the thread is pointing at you... then perhaps you need to look at what you've written.
Posts like this one:

Yeah, I was going to say that only players who actually play their characters during the season should be eligible to earn boons. And GM credit shouldn't count.

And

So what's to stop someone from making characters in all 10 factions, GMing 10 times, and applying the credits to all their characters, so they can get all the boons?

These are what have tipped the scales for me. GMs get very little benefit out of providing you with a fun time that to be snippy about anything involving GM credit is baffling to me.

Often times a GM has paid the same badge fee, hotel fee, travel fees and in additional bought the scenario, paid for all the additional items he brings; in addition to spending his time running the game so that you can play. And then complain because the GM might get a benefit that you don't.
The part that annoys me is that the quoted posts automatically assume that the GMs are going to play the system. There are so many worse things out in the world than to assume that someone somewhere that doesn't interact with you is going to get a benefit that you might not thing to take advantage of that again, I'm just baffled.
The bottom line for me is this. Why is there all the GM hate? Why are people so concerned that GMs are somehow going to get ahead in this game? Why can players just be happy that someone is spending their time, money and energy to run a fun and interesting game?
When was the last time you thanked the person running the game? Because generally what I see is that players grab their chronicles and run away. ( There are a few exceptions but still, ).
For those that want to foster GM hatred, walk a mile in our shoes. Here is a typical convention for me... let's see how well you can do it.

Weeks before the convention I'm prepping scenarios, drawing maps and making other preparations (making sure homework is done and real work is caught up if I'm taking vacatio time). I'm making sure I have my badge paid for and that the hotel is arranged. Then there is the travel – aside from my local convention, the closest convention I've been to is 2 hours away.
I show up at least 45 minutes before the first slot starts, make sure I have my table and that all my "stuff" is set up and out. Run the game for 4 hours (players take intermittent potty breaks), sign chronicles and the players leave – cept for those that like to talk afterwards. I have to clean up and reset for the next game – sometimes involving moving tables depending on the con (at Gencon we had different tables each slot and we had to completely pack up and leave the tables before the next slot). The person talking to me doesn't understand that I haven't eaten yet, I have to pee and I need a bit of quiet time. I'm not sitting there with my legs crossed because I'm all ladylike and dainty.
Rinse and repeat for 2 more slots and at least another day and a half.

The player... shows up and plays.

Tell me GMs don't deserve the little that they get.

One of the three duites of a member of the Pathfinder Society is cooperation. If a paladin feels it would violate his convictions by adventuring with someone who summons an imp or other such creature, the paladin should choose not to go on the adventure. Playing a paladin is tough and this is one of those decisions you have to make as a paladin. I know because i have a 6th level paladin. Not only have I had to choose a different character to play at least three games I sat down at as a player, I also have about 1/4 of the max prestige because I refused to complete a faction missions because they would violate my paladinhood. Such is the life of a paladin. The same holds true with obstructing others faction missions. In a home game, there a faction missions a paladin would never allow to happen. However, for PFS, it is one of those trying things for a paladin.

I concur with the above posters that this should encourage role playing and lead to interesting situations but should not lead to a beakdown of the game at large.

Attacking a familiar, animal companion, etc... of an adventuring companion is tantamount to PVP and falls under the don't be a jerk rule.

Taken from p. 64 of the Core Rulebook under the associates entry under Paladin:

Associates: While she may adventure with good or neutral allies, a paladin avoids working with evil characters or with anyone who consistently offends her moral code. Under exceptional circumstances, a paladin can ally with evil associates, but only to defeat what she believes to be a greater evil. A paladin should seek an atonement spell periodically during such an unusual alliance, and should end the alliance immediately should she feel it is doing more harm than good.

I looked but I did not see anything in the CRB that said a paladin's oath was to kill all evil outsiders and could not allow them to live. Maybe I missed it. Could someone provide a page number and source book for this info please? If that is the case, I would suggest a paladin never go on a planar adventure.

As a VC and GM that sees a lot of characters, play styles, etc. I want to ask all the players in our community to, please, be careful when building characters. Many of the game mechanics lend themselves to being used to "break" a character such that it makes it equivalent to a CR much higher than their level would indicate. Within the guidelines of PFS, GM's are not empowered to make significant changes to the scenarios. If you are much more powerful than the challenge, it is not fun for the other players at the table, nor the GM, and might even rob you of an otherwise fun game experience.

Yes, there are players out there that like to read the walk through books with spoilers or to play games with the "god" code turned on, and they are entitled to have fun as well. But understand that is not the truth for the majority of players. Please have some compassion for the entirety of the community and build characters that are equivalent in skill/power/ability as your companions. That works both ways, as well. Don't build a character that is essentially useless because you think it's "cool."

We are playing in a cooperative environment with players you don't know. If you want to run game-breaking characters, please keep those for your home games where the GM has the ability to tailor the campaign to fit your strengths and weaknesses. If your character can do things that make you say things like, "cr@p look at that damage" or "wow, with that AC, it'll take a nat 20 to hit me all day," or "no one can save against that DC," then perhaps you need to reconsider the build.

I have said this numerous times, and it's message is as important as its ever been, "Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should."

I would say YMMV, but its not about the "you." Everyone's mileage may vary depending on your choices.

Please verify the state laws regarding background checks for adults interacting with minors in both the home state of paizo and gencon. There are liability issues and child endangerment issues to consider. I strongly urge you speak with legal council and social services if you have not done so already. Best luck and be safe.

Before Paizo, I worked Crimes Against Children and Special Victims as a police detective for almost 10 years. I have more than 1500 hours of training in all aspects of child abuse, child abduction, and child homicide, as well as various other topics. I also was a member of the NW Georgia child abduction response team. Besides my normal case load, I worked more than 500 cases along side the Department of Family and Childrens' Services in Cobb County Georgia during that time span. I am well aware of the liabilty and child endangerment issues that need to be considered. This is one reason the tables we be located directly alongside PFS HQ. Additionally, it is why we require a parent or guardian to remain with their child at all times during the two hour sessions. Finally, it is why I am personally screening any GM that will be involved with running the tables for 4 children and their parents.

I appreciate your concerns, take the matter of child welfare extremely seriously, and welcome any further emails you may have.

It depends on what the players are used to and what they will get used to doing.

Generally players want to show up and play there character of awesome and they don't want to have to do anything extra.

Some areas muster at the spot while others pre-muster. It's mainly what custom is there as to what players expect.

Most places do a semi-premuster, however, it's hard to fully premuster before the con as things change up to the moment before the con

You might just be used to spot mustering, which if I recall you're Michigan right? Most of the LG (et al) that I recall from there was mustered on the spot.

Other areas of the country varied this.

close, he's in Illinois, you got the right half of the country good job.

There are advantage to both. For premustered you don't have the situation where you show up ready to play your 1st level PC only to find that the rest of the table is 5th level, etc. For on the spot mustering you can be more flexible (though honestly it can also be more chaotic).

From all the "on the spot mustering" I've seen and participated in it hasn't been that chaotic and has been fairly easy. We haven't needed to worry about any kind of pre mustering and had we had to deal with that then it really would have been chaotic.

But I don't think that you are saying, for example, that you think that warhorn is too much of a chore to ask players to sign up beforehand? Depending on your players (and what they can get away with not doing) it very well could be mind you.

But for many warhorn is a godsend, right?

For mustering GMs for a convention it's definately a nice tool to have, other than that I've seen it used more as a reference than a hard and fast tool

When prepping a scenario would it be nice to know what factions you had? If you will have a paladin or the like at the table? etc.

Personally I don't care what factions there are until they are sitting at my table. What factions are going to be present places no bearing on how I prep a scenario (have you read through society scenarios to know how the factions play into them?)

If you went with something like this, then you quickly avoid easy mistakes people make on characters by having it filtered through a set system where there are no mistakes on what's legal and what's not.

Bob Jonquet wrote:

That being said, I would be happy to be proven wrong. Go ahead and implement your plan and organize a local convention. It probably should offer at least 15 sessions since that is the level Mike seems to have set for an event to be an official convention for PFS purposes. Afterwards, provide feedback on what worked and what didn't. I would also like to hear from the player-base on their opinions as well. Good luck.

We don't see many 15 session cons in my neck of the woods. Most were done over weekends and would thus be in the range of 9 slots. Is that level acceptable? Otherwise I'd just have to talk about cons I've been to. Some are premustered with or without walkins. It really just varies with the locale and gaming circles.

Perhaps you should organize one, make sure it's large enuf (whatever Mike would deem the number to be) to be consider a large convention implement all your suggestions. Until you've contributed to the society i.e. rolled your sleeves up and gotten dirty with the rest of us, I hold little sway to your opinion given from on high.

I have a character who was level 3 and had 8 exp. Two weeks ago I was running a mod with tiers 1-2 and 4-5 tiers. I assigned the DM credit to this character raising her to level 4.

Does the character get the items and gold of the 4-5 tier she is now or the the 1-2 she would have played if she had actually played the mod?

After reading over my post again I realize that it comes off as very... snooty? So apologies for that.

Note that what I'm proposing is pretty optional.

Fair, and I can see how it could be helpful in larger arenas or venues to know where players stand from a distance.

As a GM, would knowing what your players preferred play styles are be a boon when getting a module started?

I suppose it couldn't hurt to know more about my players preferred play styles, I just wonder if its necessary. As a gm and a player, I can identify people's play styles in the 5-10 minute introductory period before a game starts.

In regards to your play style and how it feels to play with other ones (smashing your forehead into something hard and metal repeatedly), I'm right there with you. Those kinds of players are painful to be around, especially if you're doing sessions back to back. I just don't know if separating them out solves the problem. They'll just be painful to play with at another table. My goal with those players is to encourage them to break out of their current mold and try something new; I want people who play one dimensional characters to eventually play ones with depth.

That may not be "do-able" at a con or gaming event, and the badges might be a good idea in that case. I've never attended such an event so I'll leave opinions regarding that to people with more experience. In a general sense, however, I'm of the opinion that bad players can learn to be good, if they're encouraged.

I enjoy Monte's third edition books, especially the Arcana Evolved series and the Books of Eldritch Might but I still won't try fourth edition no matter who they hire.