I'd like a clarification on a rule, or expectation if you will: I recently GMed a group through Volume 1 of Wrath of the Righteous, but I threw some softballs and allowed some rerolls. I also allowed Hero Points. Subsequently, I have gotten into PFS and so have some of my players, and now I see that it might be possible to reward Chronicle sheets for playing sanctioned portions of APs.
But my impression of PFS is that GMs should run "by the book", and that character death should not be fudged. I completely understand the reason for consistency in an Organized Play system.
Is it the intention of the PFS organizers that campaigns run in the manner I ran WotR -- I'll call it "Campaign Mode" because it's intended to foster a long-running campaign where there is character continuity (i.e. characters are more likely to survive) -- should receive PFS credit? Or should I make sure to, when I run an AP with the intention of earning my players (and myself) PFS credit, shift to "PFS Mode" and run it strictly?
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Sanctioned Adventure Paths, which does not include Wraith of the Righteous, can be run in one of two modes.
Mode 1 is to just run the actual sanctioned section as a PFS game, with regular PFS PCs.
Mode 2 is in what is typically called home game or campaign mode, where you run the entirety of the AP for non-PFS PCs, and the players and GM get chronicles as the game finishes the sanctioned segments, treated as though played with pregens or assigned like GM credit, to a PFS PC.
In home game mode, anything pretty much goes, as long as the players get to experience the AP story. In other threads, not only have non-PFS PCs been discussed, but using a different game system entirely....
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Sanctioned Adventure Paths, which does not include Wraith of the Righteous, can be run in one of two modes.
Mode 1 is to just run the actual sanctioned section as a PFS game, with regular PFS PCs.
Mode 2 is in what is typically called home game or campaign mode, where you run the entirety of the AP for non-PFS PCs, and the players and GM get chronicles as the game finishes the sanctioned segments, treated as though played with pregens or assigned like GM credit, to a PDS PC.
In home game mode, anything pretty much goes, as long as the players get to experience the AP story. In other threads, not only has non-PFS PCs been discussed, but using a different game system entirely....
In the interest of not starting a new thread, is there a static list of sanctioned AP content somewhere? I just looked under Products, and it only listed scenarios and the stand alone modules. No AP list there.
Halp?
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Sanctioned Adventure Paths, which does not include Wraith of the Righteous, can be run in one of two modes.
Mode 1 is to just run the actual sanctioned section as a PFS game, with regular PFS PCs.
Mode 2 is in what is typically called home game or campaign mode, where you run the entirety of the AP for non-PFS PCs, and the players and GM get chronicles as the game finishes the sanctioned segments, treated as though played with pregens or assigned like GM credit, to a PDS PC.
In home game mode, anything pretty much goes, as long as the players get to experience the AP story. In other threads, not only has non-PFS PCs been discussed, but using a different game system entirely....
In the interest of not starting a new thread, is there a static list of sanctioned AP content somewhere? I just looked under Products, and it only listed scenarios and the stand alone modules. No AP list there.
Halp?
Disregard, had looked under something else, found it.
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The shorthand version would be in the top section of the Additional Resources page, where each AP with sanctioned content, and links to the chronicles sheets for it if applicable, can be found.
Note that this list would be subject to change, as both new APs can be sanctioned, and they sanction some of the older APs.
As of 9/3/2014, the sanctioned APs are:
Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition
Carrion Crown
Jade Regent
Skull & Shackles
Shattered Star
Reign of Winter
Mummy's Mask
Wrath of the Righteous will not, as far as we know, ever be sanctioned, even in home game only mode.
It is too early to tell, yet, if Iron Gods will be sanctioned.
The 3.5 APs will probably not be sanctioned anytime soon, if ever.
The older PF APs are in the queue for, eventually, sanctioning. Serpent's Skull would be the next one up, presumably. Kingmaker, given the sandbox it is, may be sanctioned in a different fashion, no information is actually available on that at this time, pure speculation.
Ah, I should have assumed that about Wrath of the Righteous because it is Mythic. But I have also run Volume 1 of Rise of the Runelords AE with this group so the answer is still important to me. Thanks.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Hamburg
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you could even change the ruleset so long as you are playing the adventure path in it's entirety.
At some point, Mike Brock said you could even play it as a LARP. If I ever have the resources to do so, I might actually host a RotRL LARP :) (but building Sandpoint would certainly be very expensive...)
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Mode 2 is in what is typically called home game or campaign mode, where you run the entirety of the AP for non-PFS PCs, and the players and GM get chronicles as the game finishes the sanctioned segments, treated as though played with pregens or assigned like GM credit, to a PFS PC.In home game mode, anything pretty much goes, as long as the players get to experience the AP story. In other threads, not only have non-PFS PCs been discussed, but using a different game system entirely....
I've always been unclear about this. So let me confirm if my thinking is correct. I can run an AP start to finish in "campaign" mode. Using whatever crazy rules I want. When ever we finish the sanctioned portions of the AP, I could issue chronicles, as if played with Pregens/GM credit that could be assigned to pfs characters of the appropriate level. Is that correct?
Another, related question: I ran RotRL perhaps 18 months ago. I didn't issue Chronicle sheets then, not knowing it was PFS-sanctioned. Can I give out Chronicle sheets now?
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Those crazy rules don't even have to be Pathfinder.
I'm running a Reign of Winter pbp here on the boards using 13th Age, we're currently on book 3.
At home I'm running Rise of the Runelords using Kingdom. Of course the adventuring party we sent to Thistletop dyed in the process, they did cleanse the place of evil. I wonder what we'll do next.
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Those crazy rules don't even have to be Pathfinder.
I'm running a Reign of Winter pbp here on the boards using 13th Age, we're currently on book 3.
At home I'm running Rise of the Runelords using Kingdom. Of course the adventuring party we sent to Thistletop dyed in the process, they did cleanse the place of evil. I wonder what we'll do next.
They painted it red?
Seriously, the idea of playing an AP with an entirely different system IS intriguing.
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Another, related question: I ran RotRL perhaps 18 months ago. I didn't issue Chronicle sheets then, not knowing it was PFS-sanctioned. Can I give out Chronicle sheets now?
You'd have to check when ROTRL was sanctioned. If it was sanctioned BEFORE you ran it, then I'd say you can issue sheets. It's no different from if you had to run a PFS game at a game store and forgot your chronicle sheets, then had to issue them later.
If ROTRL was not sanctioned back then, then the rule is there is no retro-active credit.
Makes sense, thanks.
I don't see why not, what with futuristic tech creeping into the main campaign of PFS...
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I don't see why not, what with futuristic tech creeping into the main campaign of PFS...
I like to waffle, so, when something may run into the weirdness clouds, I tend to put syrup on it and dither.
Until the chronicles come out, or there is a definitive statement in a blog post or some such, I tend to weasel-word about future events.
"The third AP after Iron Gods may or may not be sanctioned for PFS. Unless it uses hinky rules like Mythic, the odds favor it getting sanctioned. Now, as to when the sanctioning materials will be out, my Magic Eightball says, "Propects murky, ask again later.""
I'd like a clarification on a rule, or expectation if you will: I recently GMed a group through Volume 1 of Wrath of the Righteous, but I threw some softballs and allowed some rerolls. I also allowed Hero Points. Subsequently, I have gotten into PFS and so have some of my players, and now I see that it might be possible to reward Chronicle sheets for playing sanctioned portions of APs.
But my impression of PFS is that GMs should run "by the book", and that character death should not be fudged. I completely understand the reason for consistency in an Organized Play system.
Is it the intention of the PFS organizers that campaigns run in the manner I ran WotR -- I'll call it "Campaign Mode" because it's intended to foster a long-running campaign where there is character continuity (i.e. characters are more likely to survive) -- should receive PFS credit? Or should I make sure to, when I run an AP with the intention of earning my players (and myself) PFS credit, shift to "PFS Mode" and run it strictly?
A follow-up question to this:
I plan on running RotRL soon and I'm going to work in three of the Shattered Star books as well. All are approved for campaign mode. Do the individual books count or even parts of the books count separately, or does the AP (in whole or in parts) need to be run start to finish before chronicle sheets are allowed?
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Out of curiosity, could you run an AP in a different setting? For example, could I run Skulls & Shackles as a Spelljammer game with the players as space pirates? Or would something like that modify the story too much?
As long as it is still recognizable as Skull and Shackles, you should be alright.
Of course if you are changing the setting to space and changing the system, I am not sure how recognizable it would be.
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Out of curiosity, could you run an AP in a different setting? For example, could I run Skulls & Shackles as a Spelljammer game with the players as space pirates? Or would something like that modify the story too much?As long as it is still recognizable as Skull and Shackles, you should be alright.
Of course if you are changing the setting to space and changing the system, I am not sure how recognizable it would be.
Oh, I'd run it as Pathfinder, just change the setting. It's mostly hypothetical anyway, though.