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My group last year, decided to play RotRL under the PFS rules set to make things "easier". In other words, we could ignore xp tracking and item/gold bookkeeping. Having previously been playing under the Shadowrun Missions rules set, we liked the idea of "everyone being on equal footing" throughout the game.
We ran chapters 1 and 2 over the course of a year (playing 1.5 times per month on average). I was recently told by a PFS event GM that I could apply for credit for running those games.
I went to the RotRLA page on Paizo's site and found the reporting sheets. I have questions.
Each chapter is set as one whole bit. I understand that. They didn't break it up by event (i.e. goblin attack, Thistletop, Glassworks, etc..). My questions are more geared towards the reporting sheets and the credit.
First: the sheets say the "scenario" is for Character Level 3-5. We started as lvl 1 and worked our way up. I gave each player a level increase at appropriate times (i.e. what the book says they should be). But otherwise everything was the same as what the guide for RotRL says to do for PFS.
Were they supposed to be lvl 3 first? Did I screw everything up? or is it not a big deal? They're hitting their levels appropriately, but the reporting sheet is throwing me off.
GM Credit: How does this work for GM Credit? Do you get 2 per CHAPTER???
Each chapter we've run so far took about 6 months from start to finish (we play slow sometimes, we're in it for the fun, not the loot, part of why we chose to run under PFS rules). I find it amazing that a GM would only get credit for one scenario when it takes MULTIPLE sessions.
How does this all work? Did I F* everything up from the get go by not doing enough research before starting the game? Can my players even try to register their characters with PFS? Can I get GM credit? What exactly does GM credit do for me at this point anyway?
I'm a bit lost.
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What you've done is run a home campaign with PFS rules.
How running APs for PFS credit works: you run through the AP as normal, with any rules you want (you can use a different ruleset if you want, Paizo does not care) and once the characters have completed the sanctioned portion of the AP (this is listed at the beginning of the chronicle sheet bundle for each AP book) you ask them what character number to report them on, then report that book using those numbers.
So the characters they're using in the AP are not actual PFS characters at any point. They are AP characters. Once the AP characters complete a sanctioned portion of the book, the players are given chronicle sheets for a specific assortment of levels, f.ex. 3-5. They can then apply those chronicle sheets to a PFS character of that level, or to a character that is below that level. If the character is below that level, the chronicle will be waiting for them when they hit the minimum level of the chronicle.
Also, all modules give 2 tables of credit. This includes AP books. You can get a module chronicle as GM credit as normal, which you can apply to a PFS character just like your players do.
Forgive me if I have misunderstood how you have run your campaign and if as a result my explanation makes no sense.
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So, to be clear then, completing Burnt Offerings offers each player 3 xp for a PFS character (i.e. one who can play at any table for a season module like 3-11 or such).
So each player in my game has 6 xp to apply to a character in PFS?
Also, I have 4 table credit as a GM once I get the reporting done?
(as I've never done reporting before, does that = xp for my character?)
I ran/am running this game under the PFS rules, using the PFS rules you would encounter at any event, as we felt it helped keep "Bloat" to a minimum. I play in PFS events and am wondering how this affects both my character, and any character my group would want to play in PFS events.
Thanks for the help, PFS is both easier and more confusing than other "joined world" games like SR Missions or the Camarilla. The bookkeeping is easier, and harder in various areas.
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Mark, that's part of the post-Core reporting bug, that broke all multi-part reporting (Emerald Spire, etc.).
Pollution, the characters you used for Runelords are not going to be "official" PFS characters, even though you built them according to PFS rules.
When you complete a specific part of each book (detailed in the same document that gave you the chronicles), you'll earn a chronicle to give to an "official" PFS character. Nothing stops you from making those two characters effectively clones of each other, though.
The chronicles can be given to any character who has not reached the maximum level of the sheet. If it's a 3-5 sheet, any character in that level range receives the rewards immediately. Any character who is level 1 or 2 can be given the sheet, but won't actually get the rewards until the character hits level 3. Any character level 6 or higher cannot be given the sheet.
When you report each part, you'll get two tables of credit earned, so 4 if you've completed to parts, because they're longer than a regular scenario. You'll also get a chronicle sheet yourself, just like you played that part, giving you 3 XP, 4 PP.
Because of the bug I mentioned before, you'll basically report Rise of the Runelords twice, and get a message saying you've already played it before, which you can ignore.
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Hopefully, this post will help clarify things for you, not confuse them even further.
For APs like Rise of the Runelords, you can run them for PFS credit in one of two fashions.
1) Run the whole AP, as a home game, including the complete contents form each book/chapter, with plans to run all 6 books.
2) Run just the sanctioned parts of each chapter using actual PFS PCs of the appropriate level.
Option 1 gives the group the whole flavor of the AP, but will take significantly longer. Option 2 just hits a portion of each chapter, pretty much in isolation, but gets through it much quicker, overall.
For Book 1 of Rise, Burnt Offerings, the sanctioned portion is, basically, the entirety of the Thistletop portion of the book, covering the final chapter of Book 1. As such, it was sanctioned for PFS PCs of 3rd to 5th level, as that is the level range it would cover for a home game, as well.
As a home game, which is what it sounds like you are doing, the PCs are locked into Rise, and are not usable at regular PFS events. However, as your group completes each sanctioned section, like Thistletop or Foxglove Manor, which it sounds like you have completed, but after it got sanctioned, you would give each player, and yourself, the related chronicle sheet.
For the home game chronicles, they can be assigned to any PFS PC whose level is no higher then the cap for that chronicle. Thistletop would be 5th level cap, Foxglove Manor would be 6th level cap.
Now, they can be applied to the PC in one of three ways:
1) If the PC is within the level range of the chronicle, it can be applied immediately, usually gaining the PC a level (unless slow tracked), and access to everything on the sheet.
2) If the PC is lower level than the minimum for the chronicle, the chronicle can be left "hanging", and get applied as soon as the PC reaches the lowest legal level for the chronicle, 3rd for Thistletop, for example. Again, usually, that will bump the PC up a level (unless slow tracked), etc.
3) If the PC is first level (and this applies at first level only), the chronicle can be modified by lowering the gold to 1998, and get immediately applied to that first level PC, usually raising them to 2nd level (unless slow). Where it gets a bit confsuing is that, while item access is opened immediately, any boons on the chronicle sheet do not get applied to the PC until that PC reaches the lowest legal level for the chronicle, 3rd in the case of the Thistletop chronicle.
That last limitation was in response to a few boons available on some of the higher level chronicles that could break the game even more if applied to a first level PC, like the boon that gives a free Ioun stone that adds 2 to a stat, or some such. Having a second level Wizard with a 22 Intelligence might be going a little overboard...
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I am also running Runelords for a home group. My question tho is when we get to the high level content, how is that credited when society character are capped at level 11.
If you doubt that you'll ever get a PFS character up to high levels (or won't want to assign credit to them from an AP when they do reach that level) be aware of the option to assign credit to a 1st-level PC instead:
If you play a non-1st-level pregenerated character, you may apply credit from the pregenerated character to one of your 1st-level characters, with the gp gained reduced to 1,398 gp (or 699 gp for slow advancement track characters).
You do not lose access to any of the Prestige Points, or items listed on the Chronicle sheets that were earned during the adventure. However, any boons must wait to be utilized until the character is of the same level as the subtier on the Chronicle sheet unless otherwise noted.