Josh, hopefully this is an appropriate place and way to ask about some aspects of scenario submissions. And if this is the case of "not seeing the forest for the trees," I apologize.

When detailing an encounter, do you want to see the specifics for each tier ("Tier 1-2: 4 monkey goblins, Tier 3-4: 7 monkey goblins, Tier 6-7: 104 ninja monkey goblins")? Or is it good enough to say something like "the party encounters a group of monkey goblins which attack without provocation", knowing that the author work out the details in development?

Do you have any advice regarding the summary? I feel like I end up repeating the same information as I put in the individual encounters.

Regarding the mix of encounters, many of the PFS scenarios I've read have at least one trap/hazard encounter. Is this something we should consider, or is it possible to have a good "all-combat" scenario?

Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide.

Josh, hopefully this is an appropriate place and way to ask about some aspects of scenario submissions. And if this is the case of "not seeing the forest for the trees," I apologize.

Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide.

I'm curious about what is considered important in detailing the encounters also. My entry had no tier descriptions at all associated with each encounter and focused exclusively on what I thought would add details to the story. Given the guidance, I was thinking (which might have been completely and totally wrong) that tiering was something that could always be filled in later in submission process.

Focus less on how you organize your submission and focus more on how well-written, thought-provoking, and creative your submission is. A lot of the time I don't even read an entire submission because the first paragraph is boring--if I find the first paragraph of your submission boring, then likely the entire thing is and your final turnover will be. Your introduction and summary should be 80% of the submission. Your encounter details should quick "here's what happens next" details. I'd also like to see less submissions where all 5-6 encounters are combat. Encounter /= combat. Encounter = puzzle, RP, investigation, trap, AND combat. You are far more likely to get chosen if you select a creative and thought-provoking mixture of the above.

Finally, and most importantly: I have to feel like you've played or at least read a scenario. I'd say 75% of this round's submissions were written for generic PRPG and not for PFS. If your submission says, "The PCs get hired ..." or "The mayor pays the PCs to ..." or "Your PCs are traveling through town X and see ..." then I KNOW you have no idea what Pathfinder Society is. If I know that, I know I don't want you to write for it. Harsh, but true. Know your audience.

I went back to my submission, and I found out that I removed most traces of the Pathfinder Society driving the scenario. Talk about bad editing on my part! Grrrr.

I was re-reading the guidelines for submission and got confused. Joshua, can you help me here? This is to reference the text on here (http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/submissions)

In the intro you state that "I'm looking for plain text submissions here, with the exception of read aloud text (feel free to make that text red in color)." But then in rule 4 below that you state, the submission must be in ".doc, .rtf, or .txt format".

Are you basically saying just normal text, no fancy stuff or fonts, no pictures, pencil marks, or anything else?

Or am I missing something or over thinking this...

I was re-reading the guidelines for submission and got confused. Joshua, can you help me here? This is to reference the text on here (http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/submissions)

In the intro you state that "I'm looking for plain text submissions here, with the exception of read aloud text (feel free to make that text red in color)." But then in rule 4 below that you state, the submission must be in ".doc, .rtf, or .txt format".

Are you basically saying just normal text, no fancy stuff or fonts, no pictures, pencil marks, or anything else?

Or am I missing something or over thinking this...

Josh is still on vacation until Thursday, so if you would prefer an answer from him you'll need to stand-by until then. However, as an RPG Superstar I think you have a good idea of what is being looked for. Just straight text, saved in a format he can open.

Like I said I was probably over-thinking things. :) Hope he is having a great vacation!

I am a US citizen, but currently residing in Tianjin, China, which makes physical mailing something of an issue, and my phone cannot send or receive international calls. This would, presumably, bar me from sending any submissions, but I was wondering if thee were any viable options?

I am a US citizen, but currently residing in Tianjin, China, which makes physical mailing something of an issue, and my phone cannot send or receive international calls. This would, presumably, bar me from sending any submissions, but I was wondering if thee were any viable options?

Damn where were you while I was in China?

Probably trying to get to China. The red tape to get a work visa here is insane!

martinaj, please note that there are changes to the submission process being announced in Monday's blog, according to the last PFS blog.

I see that it's less important how, exactly, a submission is organized as long as it's well-written, but I still am wondering about stat blocks for opponents and others met in the scenario. Should they be included at all? If so, should they be scaled? Are they part of the 750 word limit?

Statblocks (if included) count toward word limit, though I am unlikely to even glance at them when reading a pitch. I have books upon books of statblocks, but they don't mean anything if there isn't a story around them. Since hooking me and convincing me that this story is worth paying you to tell should be your primary goal, focus on that rather than what specific feat or equipment a given NPC has. After all, if you only have 100 words left over after a statblock to explain who the NPC is in the first place, I'm unlikely to green light the project, and those feat selections won't mean anything anyway.

Thank you!