Themes86's page

If you want complete freedom of speech you can do it on your own website. When someone is behaving like a jerk we'll take whatever measures we need to to ensure that our messageboards remain a fun and friendly place. Agitating and campaigning across multiple threads rather than answering the questions posed is jerk behavior. The Pathfinder rules, as published by Paizo Publishing, LLC, are not the result of a democratic vote. They are OGL, so if you want to create your own version you can totally go for it.

I'm opposed to adding to the GM assumption. It is a barrier to entry for new GMs, both in expense and time. It is a barrier to flexibility; "Hey Joe, can you run 08-57 Death of the Society? It only needs the following list of GM assumption books...gotta bingo card?"

That said, some existing modules include elements from outside the GM assumptions without rules text for them, which can be annoying. A nice project would be a player driven project to assemble the rules sources for each module in an OGL or Community Use Policy document covering classes, races, spells, feats, playing aids, rarely used rules, location info from the Inner Sea Guide and/or the culture specific guides, etc.

First let me preface I've only been apart of PFS since January.

I don't think that APG should be a core assumption.

I coordinate PFS in a game store for which I have to travel an hour to get to. I don't drive which means that in order to run the game day I have to bring the books with me. Forcing me to carry another meaty tome would not be fun for me and would really make me reconsider promoting PFS.

Also PDF's aren't really useful to me for a few reasons. The first is that buying a PDF doesn't support the store I game at at all.

Second the store has a no lap top rule. This rule has been in force since the early days of LFR due to players using pirated material. I keep the rule in force for PFS because players have shown up with lap tops, no pdf or hard copies of books, and just using Hero Labs. I really don't want to have to check people's character on hero labs to see what material they are using and then check to see if all their pdf's are watermarked. It easier for me to ask to see if they have the hardcopy. Now the store does have a rule that a GM can be an exception to this I won't do that because it sets a bad precedent.

And third, I hate reading pdfs.

Another reason why I don't think APG should be core is because I already have a hard time finding GM's. To tell the already limited pool I have that they have to buy another book in addition to the three they already need plus the scenarios themselves would be a problem.

I also think that adding more books to the Core Assumption would not be a good idea. While I personally use an iPad at the table and have all the core books on PDF, that does not mean that everyone does! A lot of players still use dead-tree versions of the books, and adding additional assumed books starts to get very heavy very quickly, particularly in an environment like a convention where you have to carry everything with you.

Even if a GM does have something that can display the PRD available (say, on a laptop), they will not necessarily have Internet access. That is particularly true in an environment like a convention.

Finally, to those who say that the GM should prepare ahead of time, I would like to raise two points:

1) GMs do not always do so. Sometimes, you have to run a scenario cold, because (for example) the slot was overbooked, or another GM didn't show up. Other times, you run a scenario "lukewarm" -- maybe it's something you've run before, but weren't planning on running that particular day. In both cases, the GM won't necessarily have had time to download/print off/whatever all the stuff from the other books.

2) Even if the GM is prepared in advance, they might not realize something is needed. A monster from the Bestiary 3 is pretty easy to note and make sure to print off ahead of time. But if a character, say, has one particular feat from the APG? A GM could easily prep the slot and not notice until he was actually running the game that he didn't know what that feat does -- particularly if it's not called out in the NPC's Tactics section.

It is already possible to include content like this without broadening the Core Assumption, by reprinting the necessary rules in the scenarios themselves. I think that's a good policy.

I don't have an e-reader or a laptop and don't have any plans to buy one, so I don't want to see any more books added to the core assumption because I don't want to have to carry any more books with me.

I wouldn't mind at all though if some scenarios were released that required a GM to have the APG or other books that aren't in the core assumption, so long as the scenario description mentioned which books are required.

That way scenarios could include material from the APG and other books, but GMs wouldn't be required to always lug around another heavy book, or have access to an e-reader. A GM could be like the players, and opt to only print the pages they actually need from their purchased PDF.

While we've adopted the "once it's in the PRD it's core" for our printed adventures, I'm hesitant to do so in Pathfinder Society Scenarios. The main reason for this is that the more we assume people have on-hand, the more often people will fail to meet these expectations. And that sucks for the people at the table with the GM who didn't realize that the feat we used in a BBBEG's statblock but didn't explain was from a source he forgot to reference on the PRD before going to the convention where he won't have internet access. Currently, the buy-in for someone to volunteer for the campaign (or play in it) is as low as we can make it, with only two books assumed to be in everyone's possession, and only 1 additional book assumed for GMs. But once you start to assume everyone has internet access, portable PDF readers, and even the time to prepare by looking up all the non-CRB/Bestiary elements in a given adventure, there will be people who get left out of that assumption.

It's honestly not that difficult to reprint necessary rules elements from non-core assumption sources when a given NPC or monster needs them, and I usually don't consider those elements against the total wordcount of a scenario. In most cases, these elements are copied verbatim from other sources anyway. But they're only included in the first place when the alternate or expanded rules are really necessary for the story being told. For example, there's no reason for a mook expected to get killed in 1 round to have complex archetypes that need to be reprinted; I'd rather save the less standard rules for elements that really play a large role in the story.

Anyway, I'm looking at this discussion here closely, but wanted to express some of the concerns I have with expanding this or any other assumption about what will and won't be available at every Pathfinder Society table.