Marack's page

To be fair, the question comes up more during character creation and discussion of character concepts that it does in actual play in my area. When it does, I give the speech. I am very fortunate to have a great bunch of players who avoid a lot of this behavior. Maybe when people realize that they can't grief the good guys they decide not to, but I'm not complaining.

The only necromancer in my area that sees regular play is a bones oracle who was built with getting into interesting conversations with good characters in mind. She generally tries to create undead out of non-sentient creatures or summon evil souls to give them one last chance at redemption in the service of good before being destroyed. The player understands that undead are always evil, and enjoys being creepy, but allows for and relishes the RP opportunities for playing with good characters.

When I run into this, I explain that paladins (and all members of the Pathfinder Society *looks directly at the almost evil Cheliaxian types*) take an oath on their honor to uphold the three rules, Explore, Report, Cooperate. They are honor bound to work within those rules. Characters do not have to like other characters, they do not have to approve of their methods and they could be hated enemies that could want kill each other and be fully justified in doing so, but while working for the Society they are required to cooperate by that oath.

Deities are complex creatures who can see farther than characters, and would usually allow their servants to be in the presence of other people who do bad things. When you consider that Pathfinders will be the ones to encounter many great evils it seems obvious that a deity would want her servant to be in a place to deal with that evil when it arises. The Pharasman cleric should not be in any danger of needing an atonement for not immediately squashing the undead, especially given the arrangement to destroy them after. Pharasma wants that cleric to be in place so that when the big boss at the end of the season, who has avoided her judgement for to way too long gets his due, she can see it happen. There is no suspension of dispelief needed.

We have an example in the Death's Heretic novel where a priest of Pharasma was allowed to serve and represent her, even though he was going against doctrine for an extended period. She sent a servant to deal with him, she didn't suddenly change his spell list. GMs can be much more capricious than gods are, and need to remember the don't be a jerk rule as well. Paizo likes the morally ambiguous neutral ground where characters are challenged and that creates good stories. Both good and neutral-icky characters are necessary for that storytelling. We need to make PFS a place where they can coexist, even if it drives our characters (but not our players) crazy.

TL/DR: What BNW said just now.

Convention and game preregistration is open.

Freeport! One of the best things to come out of the OGL. It's like coming home, except everything either oozes, runs or smells. Ah, Scurvytown, how I've missed you.

The things that are recorded on your chronicle sheets are not necessarily positive things. Some are good things and others may cause penalties to be assessed in future scenarios. The effect of that item is still to be determined, and it may or may not be a good thing to have.

That said, the amount of money and items you find in the scenario is not changed either way. It's just a way to record how your story plays out.

If you want miniatures, Archeson Creations has just about anything prehistoric you might want. Look in the prehistoric mammals and dinosaurs categories.

*salute* Congratulations, Adam! Amazing work! Not that we expect anything less.

Jewel City Game Con was created to bring a european style board game tournament to the Huntington, WV area. In its second year it has expanded to include miniature and role-playing games and Pathfinder Society will be a big part of that. We are looking for players and GMs. We will post scenarios in this thread once the schedule is finalized.

Location:
VFW Post 9738,
227 Main St ,
Huntington, WV 25702

Friday, April 19

Noon-7pm--registration/check-in (ballroom)

Pathfinder: 1-6pm (ballroom) and 7pm-12am (upstairs)

7pm: Ballroom closes...escape to the upstairs gaming areas (or face the VFW band at your own peril)

Saturday, April 20

9am-7pm--registration/check-in (ballroom)
Pathfinder: 1-6pm (ballroom) and 7pm-12am (upstairs)

7pm: Ballroom closes...escape to the upstairs gaming areas (or face the VFW band at your own peril)

Sunday, April 21

Noon-6pm--registration/check-in (ballroom)
Pathfinder: 1-6pm (ballroom)

Prices

Everyone 10 and up:
Friday or Sunday=$5
Saturday=$10
Weekend=$15
Under 10 and military peeps are free!

Welcome aboard, neighbor. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.

Assumed is the word used in the Guide to Organized Play. It's not a very strong word. There are a number of places where a strict reading of this assumption does not seem to be absolutely necessary.

With the first level rebuild rules, if a player wanted to have a different faction they say "I am using the rebuild rules to make a character just like Valeros, but is a member of the Andoran faction. However you want to word it, the effect is the same. This would also apply when using a higher level pregen to start a new first level character, as faction for that character can be changed at whim until the character is played above first level.

In a situation where a person is playing a pregen at a higher level than an existing character, that pregen should be able to use the faction of the character that is going to get the credit, since that character has to deal with the ramifications of actions in the scenario.

In most practical circumstances I feel it's acceptible to use the Grand Lodge as a default and not change it unless the player wants to play a different faction. There are corner cases where someone may decide to eat a scenario in order use a low risk to chance to push their faction agenda. That small risk is not worth having to tell a player that they can't play the faction they like.

I'd like to officially announce the appointment of the first two Venture-Lieutenants for West Virginia.

David McBrayer has been with us from the early beginnings of our group at Charcon in October 2011. What we have accomplished would not have been possible without him. He is the rock that we built this group on. David will continue helping in the Charleston area as we look to add additional games and venues to handle our growth. Congratulations!

Matthew Chambers has been making a weekly road trip to our games for some time now and has become a valuable part of our group. He and a core of other players will be starting regular games in Huntington, WV. There is a lot of demand from that part of West Virginia as well as southeastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. I am certain he is up to the task.

Thank you both! I don't have words to express my gratitude.

When you build a character, you get the languages that are listed in the entry for your race. In books such as the Inner Sea World Guide there are rules for humans from different regions that get languages in addition to common. If you have access to those books, you may use those to get a regional language in addition to common. If you pick a race that does not have common as a language, you get that for free.

I'm one of the GMs who will be at Mysticon running games. I can assure you that there will be scenarios that are appropriate for beginning players. Come by and give it a try.

What it comes down to is that it also depends a lot on the people around the table and a lot of us come from different backgrounds. I won't get into a dissertation of the different player types, but PFS tends to bring people together that often would not be with playing with each other normal circumstances.

As a PFS GM I see it as an obligation to provide a setting where they can all meet in the middle. No, I don't always pull it off, but I try. Each player and GM brings their own background and skill level to the table and in a campaign that is staffed by volunteers, sometimes you get what you pay for. (I usually get much more, but everyone has a bad game sometime)

I can only hope that you stick with it till you can find people that match your play style better and be a good example in the meantime. From the sounds of it, I would be happy to sit at either one of your tables.

All these points are the exact opposite of my experience.

I think that is also covered under table variation. In my experience, combat with a map is much faster than purely narrative combat. Then again, my non-pfs group has neen known to spend an entire session getting ready for a fight, then another whole session to conduct it. It's hard not to be faster.

Jiggy wrote:

What was the last edition you played? "Maps and minis" have been an assumed part of the game for a long time, I'm afraid.

GAMING HISTORY: (This explains a lot)

Cyberpunk
...
Began playtesting 5e (which is the Hatori Hazo Sword of D&D)

Moved, started into Pathfinder Society map and minis for the first time ever.

First, this sounds awesome! I have a gaming group that I've been part of for more than a decade now that does narrative roleplaying and I try to bring as much of that to PFS as I can. As others in the thread have said, between the Table Variation section and the Reward Creative Solutions sections of the guide it's not difficult to make a place for it.

The Map and Miniatures can take some getting used to but it does have some advantages. It can speed up combat a lot, and makes it easier for visual people to keep track of where they are. If they are using pre-printed maps, it can spur creativity. (I've been disarmed? I grab that knife on the table and stab him) With enough knowledge, it can also be used to help your narrative thinking. ("I have room to run and 40 feet of movement. I can make a DC XX acrobatics check during my move to jump off the balcony and use my standard action to grapple that blasted kobold who has spider climbed onto the ceiling. ") It's hard for a GM to say no when you are using the rules to be awesome. :)

If you are looking at moving people (especially a GM) toward speaking in character a nice trick is to use the mission briefing. If they are reading or paraphrasing the box text they will usually be doing it in character. Most Venture captains give people space to ask questions after the briefing. Follow the conversation and respond in character with questions. Ones that get people thinking about whats going on. A little humor makes it less scary.

Something like "I do have a question, Ms. Heidmarch. I like your style, but couldn't you have had the blood cleaned off these badges before giving them to us?"

They have short scripts for a lot of the questions players can ask, so it might not be as intimidating as making them improvise in the middle of a scehario.

I agree with Miguel that unreported death could be a problem. This is something that we will probably have to consider in the future as more quests with higher levels come out. There is also the issue that since no gold or other rewards are given it becomes much more difficult to recover from death or some other condition. At the moment it is a very small risk and since it is not possible to report these I understand why it's not a priority.

There are no punitive measures listed in the Guide to Organized Play. We just correct the problem and go on. The Chronicle sheets are not invalidated. If you feel it necessary, there is nothing wrong with noting that his stats were fixed on a chronicle, but I would not if it was just an honest mistake. I'd only even consider it if it was a pattern of repeated abuse and I've never run into a situation where I would feel it necessary.

I think one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that Modules are a completely separate product line from PFS. ... I personally wouldn't want to play a pregen in a module, it's something for your character to experience.

Summary: Module chronicles were intended for when you would be playing the module anyway so there shouldn't be pregens for every module level.

Non-optimal is not the same as not necessary. At my regular PFS game we mix in a module from time to time for variety and because the players want it. Just a couple months back I had excited new players show up to play as we were starting a module and they played 4th level pregens. Am I to tell them, "I'm sorry, you haven't earned the right to play this module yet so you can come back in three weeks" and hope they do, or should I allow them to jump in, play well with a little coaching and use the chronicle as an incentive to make their own characters? I was able to let them play and they did well and they are now regulars.

Anyone who calls for getting rid of the ability to play a pregen in a particular tier is directly impacting my ability to recruit new players and making more work for me. Modules are now part of PFS and should not be marginalized. My players ask for them and when we offer them at conventions they sell out. When the choice comes up to play a pregen or not play at all, they choose to play a pregen. You may not want to play a module with a pregen, but I have never had anyone tell me that when it came to sitting at a table or not.

I do see the level 7 pregens used. I do not want them to go away, they are necessary. There were times at the my local convention where play happened that would not have without them. The players were competent and successful. It also showed them that higher level scenarios were really cool and caused someone that was constantly creating new characters to pick one and focus.

I don't support the idea that high tier play must be earned. It's just silly. Many of us have been in this hobby for decades before coming to PFS. I like the spread as it exists now. It covers the broadest range of scenarios and modules and not all modules come with pregens.

The only change I would have is to include pregens for all the classes. We are moving in a good direction with the NPC guide pregens being added. I feel that people would play higher level pregens more skillfully (which seems to be the complaint) if they are playing a class that they are familiar with.

It's much easier once you see them in practice. A lot of the changes come from practical needs that come up in the convention setting and they will click once you've done it a couple times.

Hello again!

I had some questions relating to DMing PFS events and the aftermath.

First, is there a page that gives step by step instructions on how to DM an event, how to fill out the paperwork, and what is expected?

I have been poking through some of the free Adventures and notice at the end the Chronicle sheets sometimes have a list of "Treasure" found. Do all PC's get this? Do you write down who gets what?

Noone gets any of it at the end. It all gets sold and the money "split". If they want anything that is on the list they now have access to buy it.

And I may not be reading this right, likely not, but in some cases are there new abilities that are granted to the people who participated in these games?

Yes. The text on the chronicle sheets are often referred to as boons and the players get those if they earn them. If not, cross them off.

Likewise, is playing through particular Sessions how you get the ability to play different races? (Had some friends asking about Tengu)

Just keen on knowing what would be expected of me as a PFS DM - as if I get more and more involved, I'll likely be doing that

Thanks!
Josh

As said above, the additional resources pages tell what players can get access to. Most races other than a few require a special chronicle sheet to have access to. You usually win those at conventions. Tengu are fine though.

You should spend some time with the Guide to Organized Play. It gives the step by step you are asking for.

1) Dragons - I like the idea of an arc dealing with Dragons with a really scary one at the end. The entire scenario would be a running fight with one that goes through multiple encounters. One per season works for these. They need to be big, iconic and scary. One per season is about right.

2) Goblins - Goblins are part of the Pathfinder identity and having one goblin scenario per season seems to work well. Interaction is a must. Goofy songs and psychopathic antics are a must. Don't make it so common that it gets boring.

3) Orcs - We could do with a few more orcs, but Pathfinders spend a lot of time in civilization and orcs are uncivilized. I would love to see a few scenarios in Orc territory. Bonus for the pathfinders having to interact with it more than just killing them.

4) Drow - These should show up from time to time when Pathfinders have a reason to be in the Darklands. For other reasons, I'd like to see a scenario that explains drow background to players so we don't have to keep explaining why you can't play them.

5) Dinosaurs - I would love to see a Land of the Lost style series below the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. As a side note, more expeditions into Mwangi would be great as well.

6) Undead - Getting tired of zombies and skeletons. As a GM, there is very little I can do to make these interesting or dangerous. Intelligent undead can get some more use. They make great evil masterminds. Given the fact that they don't get old and die, they would possess a lot of lore that Pathfinders could find useful. Moral quandaries about dealing with evil creatures are interesting.

- others

Goblinoids - The higher functioning goblinoids, especially hobgoblins are organized and scary. We got a touch of this in the Goblinblood dead. We could use a touch of hobgoblin Nazis.

Outsiders - I'd like to see some themed scenarios featuring various outsiders. We have a lot of them covered by various scenarios but there are others that haven't been touched yet. I'd like to see more scenarios that touch on planar travel.

Aliens - Creatures from or adventures going to the places described in Distant Worlds. Love it. Want more. Let's found a Pathfinder lodge on Akiton or Castrovel.

Mythos Creatures - Every now and then we need some cosmic horror. Pathfinders are in a good place to learn things that humanoids are not meant to know. Finding those things or dealing with the consequences is creepy and fun.

Cyclopes/Aboleths/Azlanti - Let's investigate the remains of the ancient civilizations. The creatures here can have an interesting mix of ancient power and serve as object lessons about pride and the fall from that power.

Kobolds - I love the development done with urban kobold tribes. I'd like to see the relationship between the Pathfinder Society and the Sewer Dragons explored. The line between civilization and uncivilized creatures is interesting to me.

Unique Monsters - I would like to see something new and different appear from time to time. One or two completely new or modified creatures per season will help keep players on their toes.

Today's the day. See you this weekend!

I know what it feels like, RainyDayNinja. We will definitely make sure you get your fill.

On the topic of gaining more gold than the scenario allows. I've had a Szarni player aquire gold that wasn't in the scenario. Sometimes it's impossible to say no without breaking verisimilitude. I didn't award him any gold more than the chronicle sheet allowed at the end, but he happily spent the extra cash on bribes, food and ale while adventuring in town. This is in no way an official rule, because I'm sure some players could side track whole scenarios this way. As a table ruling it worked pretty well at the time.

Thank you! It's an honor to be here. We've had an active PFS community here for about a year and we're going to keep growing. In the next couple months we have both a convention and a game day planned and it's going to be a great time. West Virginia is a great location for organized play. We have a great community of players and we are in driving distance to regional conventions all around us. Come and check us out.

We do our organizing on a public Facebook group. Everyone interested is welcome to join.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WVPathfinder/

We also maintain a presence on the Charcon forums for those who hate Facebook. While you are there, take a look at the con information. It's going to be a great time.

http://charcon.org

The schedule is up and pre-registration is online at http://charcon.org/

If we are considering boons for adventure path play I would like to see boons for finishing the books, not just owning them. This would work more like the holiday or beginner box boons that are given out by the GM.

You could then tie them more closely into the events of the adventure path. The GM could mark items based on the PC's choices. I haven't read Shards of Sin other than to look at the back matter but some ideas crossed my mind.

A boon could give you access to a Thassalonian deity and represent recruiting a moderate member of a cult instead of killing him. This idea could also be used for unusual races.

Access to magic items or other back matter that are found in the adventure

Boons related to the influence of the sins presented - an either/or choice based on resisting or giving into the sin in question.

My group is discussing using one session a month of our weekly PFS game to run the new adventure path. It seems a good fit since the players are already invested in being Pathfinders and it gives some variety to play at our FLGS. I think that we are so used to being pathfinders in our PFS games and the fact that the adventure path has the PCs as pathfinders is causing some mental overlap.

I'm so used to dealing with chronicles and GM credit for these games one of my first thoughts was how we were going to handle these. It took me a few minutes to realize that we are not going to have them. Not having to deal with loot and experience is a big time saving device and it will be odd to lose it.

In our case, our GMs who run the AP are running games for organized play that just happens to be outside of the PFS structure. The GM is doing more work, and promoting Pathfinder in public so I can see why some would want the same credit they might get for a scenario or module.

Getting through an adventure path in a store or convention setting is a big deal. We're going to do it either way because the play is its own reward, but a boon for finishing either a chapter or finishing the whole path would be pretty awesome.

I understand why we are not getting them. Adventure paths are way outside the organized play rules. The reporting system is in no way able to handle APs. Characters in them are going to level completely through the level range for normal PFSOP and might not ever see a normal scenario. Why make chronicle sheets for characters that could never use them?

We have updated our schedule. We have more than 30 slots of scenarios and two full length modules on tap. It's going to be a great weekend!

CharCon is THE West Virginia Gaming Convention

Charleston Civic Center
Oct 19-21, 2012

This is the second year for PFS at CharCon and we are expanding. Look for 25 tables featuring many scenarios including The Cyphermage Dilemma and full length module Realm of the Fellknight Queen.

Registration and lodging information can be found at CharCon.org.

Charleston is conveniently located within easy driving distance of several major metropolitan areas:

Columbus, OH 3 hours
Cincinnati, OH 4 hours
Pittsburgh, PA 3.5 hours
Lexington, KY 2.5 hours
Roanoke, VA 3 Hours

I hope to see you there!

Haha. I haven't thought about that kobold in a long time. Ours was renamed and was an amazingly well equipped 12th level fighter before we finished. I was certain that at any time he was going to disappear and start his own reign of terror with the hand me down gear he had received.

I'm looking forward to running this scenario for my group. I see many prestige points being spent to have her as a vanity.

I had a discussion about this with my players on Sunday while talking about changes to the Guide. Overwhelmingly they were in favor of what it takes to make the chronicle sheets better, even if it means fewer things are available right away. We approve of what you have done and want to see more of it going forward.

I have a player who is really hardcore pro Cheliax. His goal is to become a Hellknight. While he was dissapointed not to be able just take the prestige class, the opportunity to earn it in game will make it that much more valuable and awesome.

As a GM, one of the limitations in PFS is the ability to tailor your scenarios to your players. Adding things like Prestige class access and more interesting items to chronicle sheets gives us a chance to do so by scenario selection. If I have a player who wants to be a Hellknight? I put that scenario in the queue. If a particular item would be useful, there it goes.

My experience with my players is that as long as they understand why the decision was made, they are good with it. They just want fun scenarios and good loot on the sheets. None of these players participate on the forums. I can barely get half of them to register their characters. They aren't the sort to send harassing emails.

The short version is there are about 15 regular players here in WV that are happy with your changes and hope that they continue.

I was making the assumption in my earlier posts that everyone was going to follow the rules in the guide regarding access and recording things on chronicle sheets. Moving on from that here is what I think I will use.

There are a few spells from non-core sources. Obviously, unless the player has the book they can't cast them.

nosig wrote:

that way we'll get twice the spells...

...at twice the cost.

Seems fine to me.

This. The edge cases here are self balancing. I love it when my players with the same class split into two different tables voluntarily. The existing rules work, the GM gets a chance to use some creativity and the players get a chance to experience something different from the normal scenarios. Even with the possible metagaming (which is the sort that the players of wizards often enjoy) I don't see any negatives here.

As far as the PFS rules go you follow the normal rules for Pathfinder unless there is something in the Guide to Organized Play or FAQ that says otherwise. A spellbook based caster can learn any spell from any legal source through normal methods. You can't give them anything that they can not normally access. There is no game balance issue here.

Enjoy the chance to be creative within normal PFS play.

It's nice to know this. I've been looking to run this module for the local group. I'd say to do exactly what the scenario says and pick the spells however you like.

My method would be to fill the spellbook with spells that fit the theme of the scenario. I would use a few that are outside the core rulebook because you don't see them very often in normal scenarios.

That is only a couple hours away from my group in Charleston, WV. I will spread the word.

There are a few scenarios where the tactics don't make a lot of sense with the map that gets assigned to the encounter and this is one of them.

If you really enjoy the Numerian background you should look at getting the recent novel, City of the Fallen Sky. In addition to the good story, you can get a boon chronicle to apply to your character which could help represent your character's experience in Numeria or just his life tinkering with strange devices.

How do you feel we've done in recent scenarios—namely ** spoiler omitted **—at balancing combat with roleplaying? Are the combats too hard (a conscious choice as a result of having fewer of them)? Are the more free-form roleplay encounters engaging? How can we improve upon this going forward, or would you rather see us return to a more hack-and-slash style with a bit more consistency in terms of difficulty and formula?

I think that you are doing great. I much prefer the fewer more interesting (and difficult) combats mixed with the open roleplaying encounters. I cringe every time I set up a speedbump encounter where it literally takes longer to draw the map than it does to complete the fight. My players would much prefer spending that time roleplaying.

There is still space for hack and slash scenarios and heavy RP scenarios. Part of the fun is not knowing what to expect when Drenge wakes you up in the middle of the night.

On the subject of chase scenes -
I really like chase scenes, but the enjoyment of these depends entirely on the skill and creativity of your GM. When I played God's Market, we were taking a mostly mechanical approach playing it like a badly written board game. The GM actually put the page on the table to put our miniatures on.

I read through the titles of the different boxes and quickly saw the intended geography in my mind. I pointed this out and our group of players had a few fun moments out of it, even if the mechanics we were presented with were pretty banal. When I run chase scenes I try to give my players the sense that they are running through the world and not just moving pawns on a monopoly board.

My suggestion is for you to include a couple short sentences of flavor text for each square in the chase. It would eat into the word count of the scenario, but give the GM a little to work with if they are running it cold or just not very creative. I think that you should make it explicit that the Reward Creative Play rule applies to chases.

My wizard is obesessive about collecting as much magical knowledge as possible so I am always looking for this situation. Every scroll he encounters on a chronicle sheet gets scribed, even if it has to be bought. Sitting down with another wizard doesn't happen often but it happened at Origins this year after the interactive. We handed each other our spellbook sheets, copied down the spells we could learn and started making spellcraft checks while the GM was filling out chronicle sheets. I walked away with 9 new spells and he got 4. (It would have been more if not for his banned school) This is one of the great parts about playing a wizard. It pays to know the rules for scribing and be efficient so you do not cause your GM a lot of grief.

So it does happen, and when it does it's great. Make sure to pick up the occational scroll with situational spells on it to scribe so you always have something weird to trade.

Marack,

Gotta disagree about some of your suggestions.

Limit it to 2 star minimum? Not really a good judge of GM innovation. I am, hopefully, going to get my second star in the near future. Howeever, I know that I am pretty much the kind of judge who shouldn't try sandboxing.

I agree with you, I was just grasping at a way to gauge experience in running games. The star system is all that is provided here and we already have a precedent with scenarios that require 4+ stars to run. That was where I first thought to put the limit, but I am sensitive to those who have no VC's or 4+ star GMs in the area. *waves*

If this type of system were to be allowed there would have to be some method for maintaining quality. That would either through an approval process or some sort of gate to entry for those who don't have the required skill. I'm not sure that either is feasable.

I will say that my experience of playing under 4 and 5 star GMs at Origins has made me think that at that level, they do have what is needed for good encounter design. I knew they were good, but what they ran was much better than what I found in the printed scenarios, even though they used the same NPC's, strategies and maps. It really inspired me to turn my creativity up a notch.

In principle I like this idea. In practice I don't think its workable. I played Living Greyhawk in the day and the quality of the scenarios was a lot more inconsistent. Paizo has pretty high standards for what they put their name on and I think that is a good thing. I would not want anything taking away from that.

That said, I like the idea of the occational GM generated scenario, but not as a means of completely ignoring the existing campaign. For me to buy into the idea I would want them limited, possibly in the following ways.
- Only usable during game days or conventions. Possibly limited so that they may only be run at the one event ever.
- Only usable by GM's with a minimum number of stars (2 or 3), VC's or Convention organizers. (The last because I live in a region with no VC or VL)

The real trick with this would be how we would ensure quality scenarios of the sort that Paizo would put their name on without talking resources away from Paizo. A poory written custom scenario could leave a very bad first impression to someone playing their first PFS game.

I've thought about it and even with a community staff of volunteers for reviewing and editing of these we would still need a Paizo employee to serve as the ultimate judge, which would take away from their already limited time.

One possibility that would serve to limit casual abuse and offset some of Paizo's costs would be to charge for the privilege, although I'm not sure that would be acceptable to either Paizo or the community.

The more I think about it, the more complicated it becomes. When I think of myself being able to write a story that would suit the goals and development of my players, it sounds amazing. When I think of subjecting my favorite character to a scenario written by that annoying guy I played with at that one convention... I am very fearful. I know that other campaigns make it work, but I'm not sure what I would want to give up in this one to make it work here.

I fully agree with this idea in that I brought it up myself before. But Michael mentioned that the IT team is currently really busy with redesigning the PFS page and from the sound of it from the ground up. So although I love the idea, it's currently not an option.

I gathered that, which is why I suggested it. Take a look at this:

http://paizo.com/products/btpy8g3n?Pathfinder-Tales-Prince-of-Wolves

The chronicle sheet is a download link in the description of the product. There is a similar link on the additional resources page. There are links to errata on other product pages and the downloads page. If they can link to .pdfs on these pages, there should not be any reason that the same could not be arranged for the ARG catalog page. All I am assuming is the ability to add links to pages that already have to be updated as new product comes out.

This requires no resources that do not already exist. The system does not have to track anything and the existing rule that says that players can only use a boon once prevents abuse. As far as I can tell this is the only solution that allows restricted access to new races without opening the floodgates and also having little development time other than creating the chronicle sheet and quality control.

I admit that there may be technical and bureaucratic issues behind the scenes that keep something that simple from being done in a reasonable time. My day dob is in corporate land and sometimes getting even little things from IT requires multiple requests and months of "hurry up and wait." If this is the case, then I can understand his frustration as well as his inability to talk to us about it other than say "It's not an option."

+1 Marack. Good stuff.

And to add an extra layer of security for these kind of things, have it to where the player using the boon needs a Venture Officer signing off on it, if one is available in their region. When and if they bring it to a convention, a VO would probably be available to sign off on it there. Otherwise, if they're not bringing to such an event, a local GM can sign off on it until a VO becomes available.

I don't think that extra layer of security is necessary. I'm usually the local GM and I have organized play at a small con. Local GM's know their own players and they will know if someone has cheated the process. That is all that's needed. Putting that responsibility on a VC seems like a good idea, but it is only as secure as the memory of the VC in question. How are they supposed to remember that they are signing off on a chronicle sheet for someone they spent 5 minutes with that had the exact same chronicle signed by them a year before. You are adding additional complexity for little benefit.

My area does not have a VC and likely never will because of population density. The reason I'm in PFS right now is because of a good experience at last year's Origins where the VC's and 5 star GM's were taking the tables of newbies themselves once everyone else was seated. Their time is better spent helping run the events rather than signing off on chronicle sheets.

The whole point of my suggestion was to provide more equal opportunity while using existing resources. I think that is the real issue here. People want the opportunity, even if they will rarely use it. We can have the more common exotic races available to everyone through the downloadable chronicle sheet. This leaves the more exotic ones to be handled through convention boons.

If this still leaves a gap in cool boons to give out, you can also mix in boons that are either background or cosmetic oriented. As an example would be a boon that lets you play as one of the red humans from Akiton or one of the Lashunta from Castrovel. These are normal humans and elves, only with cosmetic and cultural differences. Unusual mounts, animal companions or pets could be added the same way if there still needs to be convention boons that motivate people. I personally know people who would trade a stack of race boons for one that would let them take Besmara for their deity.

I think that some races should be added as general access, but not all of them. I remember a plot point from a recent scenario that monstrous races are illegal in Absalom, so it is not unreasonable to limit it to those that could walk the street without being jailed. In my experience the game will self correct to keep things human centered as long as humans get an extra feat at first level and the others do not. Personally, I love that Golarion is human centered. The different human races and nationalities give a lot of flavor that the other races do not seem to have. That said, the occasional odd race can also add a lot of flavor.

My suggestion is to treat boons for races from the ARG or Dragon Empires like the boons for the novels. You can download and print one, it had to be signed off by a GM who sees that you own the relevant book and you can only use it once. This gives everyone the chance to play something new. We will probably have a brief monster squad period. Those who fall in love with their new characters will play them but I believe most will go back to their existing characters after buying the new book and dabbling a bit.

We ran the BBB for the local game store and there were three race boons given out. One has never been used. One made a character and never played it. The third played his character twice and went back to his elf.

Personally I believe skill challenges and "chases" need to go away. I played a society game once where there was the chase mechanic - one of the tasks was a stuck door or something like that. I said fine, I'll force the door, and succeeded. Then I said, I'll hold the door open so the rest of the group can just lay on the speed. The judge was like, no, you can't do that, you need to keep pursuing.

Forcing a series of skill checks on a "pursuit" theme without any regard to the party's abilities are inane. The entire "series of skill checks" idea is just bad mechanics if it ignores other rules like haste, boots of speed or of flying, flying mounts or companions, monks who could easily Ki jump over obstacles, etc.
I really, really wish adventure designers would stick to the existing rules when writing scenarios, instead of using some other square-peg-in-round-hole game mechanics to resolve the situation.

I can understand where you can get that impression, but I found the encounter to be rewarding and allowed everyone in the group a place to shine. There were one stage that my travel/liberation cleric literally walked through. It honestly sounds like a GM not being flexible enough. In a similar position My GM allowed a character to do just that with a door, making skill checks every turn against falling debris. In another situation, a character who made it easily was able to stick around and use tools and aid checks to make sure that the others passed more easily. It's important to remember that just because an encounter uses special rules, every other rule in the game does not magically go away. In a chase scenario slowing down to help your teammates is an important tactical decision that should not be taken away.