| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey guildmates! I'll be starting up the ACG for NoVA and since it will be my first time being the organizer for PACGOP, I was hoping there were some lessons you all have learned that you could pass on.
So what is your one tip that you would give to organizers starting a new ACG chapter? Can be about anything related to PACG OP, but you can only give one tip!
Hopefully this thread will be useful to others out there thinking about, or just starting, their own ACG chapter.
The one thats helped me the most so far is, advertise your game in store and on social media.
Followed second by, get an organizer that can hold a sleeved set.
Beyond those two, if you have time to read over the scenario before starting, do as much prep work as possible so there is less delay when the players show up: build location decks (minus villains/henchmen), print out enough copies of the scenario so players can easily reference the during this scenario text and any custom cards, ensure that you remove duplicate copies of the promo blessings if you're a subscriber (OP rules only allow one copy of each promo, up to a max of 12 promos), get acquainted with the during this scenario rules and any relevant FAQs so you can adjudicate rules questions, make sure you have a reporting sheet with enough blanks on it for each player, etc.
It may sound like a lot of work but in practice I've found the prep work takes at most 20 minutes, and the game itself flows a lot smoother once players show up because of it.
|
Be flexible in what scenarios you offer, and be willing to replay for no credit to help others.
Keep all of your tracking sheets, and keep a database of pfs numbers and what scenarios have been played. Once you know who your regulars are, you can target scenarios for them. With season 1 starting, this also helps cut down on replays.
(example: Bob, Sara, Joe, and Bill show up to play. Bob and Sara are regulars, Joe is a casual player, and Bill is brand new. You see from your spreadshet that while Bob and Sara has 1-1A and B,Joe only has 1-1B. You prep 1-1C and 1-1D, which gives everyone something new.)
If you can afford to, buy a few extra class decks and make pregens for new players to use. Then fill out a chronicle for them, when they choose their class deck they want to play. (The 'Take one for the Team' rule)
If you are scheduling for a Con, schedule multiple runs of lower deck scenarios, and only a few for higher deck numbers. Be ready to use the time for demoing also, by running new people through the easier deck 1 scenarios. (using your pregens.)
I';m sure you noticed me talking about pregens. I bought one of each deck just ot use for pregens. They have been invaluable. I've gotten several people interested, and or playing because of them. If I hadn't had them, the new folk probably would not have played since tehy wanted to try the game before investing the $20 dollars needed.
Don't be too attached to your characters. Sarah Bull was telling me last night that she has a lot of dead characters because she had to run newbies through scenarios, who don't necessarily care about your characters.
"Take one for the team" isn't in the new Guide to OP so until Tanis puts that back in you can't use it anymore.
|
Related to that, I find that the kinds of characters I like to run in my home game (casters and support) I usually have to avoid in organized play. In our area *everyone* loves casters.
For example, my first example of organized play was 0-1B The Lone Shark. WIth a Bard, a Wizard, a Sorcerer, and a Rogue -- most of whom had never played the game before. It was the most brutal, ugly failure of a scenario I've ever seen. I don't think we closed a single location -- other than Lonely Island, which was misnamed on that day.
So learn what niches need to be filled and fill those -- everyone will be much more successful.
FWIW, I have just made changes to the Wrath 1A scenario that should make it a little more tractable. Should be up tomorrow.
I'm also looking at trying to get regular games going at one of the local game stores.
So thank you to the OP for getting this thread started.
Thanks
JD
So one thing my new group is wondering is how Season 0 works with the tier system. Particularly because some of the scenario rewards duplicate tier advancing. 0-1B:The Lone Shark - Reward characters gain a skill feat, in the tier system chars would have gotten a skill feat from 0-1A and a power feat from 0-1B completion. Advice on what to do in the meantime before SotS assets are updated?
Does switching to tiered characters pretty much invalidate/make overpowered all of SotS rewards?
My current advice is to just remove all the scenario feat rewards (you can keep the adventure rewards), but that's not an official stance. It's a bit demoralizing to not have a reward at all some scenatios, but it should still work balance-wise.
Official word will come eventually. It's a very busy time of year, unfortunately.
As a not official, but hopefully reasonable option, for someone just starting season 0, I'd suggest the following for AD1:
Was:
0-1A: Random Weapon or Spell
0-1B: Skill
0-1C: Power
0-1D: Random Boon
0-1E: Random Item or Ally
0-1F: Loot
0-1: Card
New:
0-1A: Skill (as per tier system)
0-1B: Power (as per tier system)
0-1C: Random Weapon or Spell
0-1D: Card (as per tier system)
0-1E: Random Item or Ally
0-1F: Random Boon
0-1: Loot
That should hopefully cover you enough gamedays until the official answer is in. It's also perhaps worth note that you can apply a similar rejiggering approach to most of the season and I assure you that Tanis won't come to your* house and yell at you.
* For some definitions of your. Like, Chad's in trouble. I'm possibly in trouble. Most new players should be safe.
|
|
For now I'd play Season of the Shackles as written and Season of the Righteous with the Tier system. When adjusted Season of the Shackles scenarios are made available then switch over. I haven't played a character across Seasons, though. (Is that common anywhere at this point?)
ObTopic: Use a service like Meetup, Warhorn, or something similar so your players can see the upcoming schedule and let you know that they're coming. It'll help you and your players plan ahead. Ours organizers use the same Meetup that our local RPG PFS folks use.
|
We've got some people who have played across seasons in Baltimore. Those of us who have been playing all along have a bunch of partial characters, and we converted some. And even with my new group, the other organizer with a box couldn't make it one week, so I had the second table play out of my Shackles box.
Mini chronicle sheets for playing 0-0 and 1-0, the earned deck upgrade can be applied to ONE PACG character per player per season?
I think I understand this but want to check. Alexa plays Season of the Rigtheous Intro 1-0:Demonic Politics as Lem and successfuly completes, and chooses a Item B deck upgrade from the acquired loot. Alexa wants to try something different this season and makes a new Wu Shen from the class deck she just bought and registers the char on her PFS account. When Alexa shows up to play 1-1A next week, her deck can have Merisiel's promo item because Alexa applied her mini chronicle for the season giving her a Item B upgrade and she chose the class promo.
How do I as the organizer track and record that?
1-0 allows you to play with a base set or character add-on character without using a class deck. However, it says "may" so you could use a class deck character if you wanted.
But yes, it only applies to 1 character. You can only get 1 mini chronicle a season.
Are you talking about the Chronicle sheet or the online reporting system? In terms of the chronicle sheet, either leave the player number blank so she can fill it in or mark the player number in the reward box, either should be fine.
I don't remember if we're even allowed to report 1-0 in the online reporting system.
Okay thanks guys, that was one of the confusing points because demos aren't stored online so no tracking of mini chronicles. I'll make sure to tell my players to keep their mini chronicles with the regular chronicle sheets.
I have a couple of the class decks that I've built pregen characters out of for new players, does anyone know if its possible to build pregen characters out of any of the boxes? Or should I buy all the class decks?
Since we play on public tables and theres a lot of handling of the cards I'm worried about wear and tear. Has anyone sleeved their game? If so what sleeves did you use and did you opt for a new box inset?
I'm running two groups, a bi weekly and a weekly, and so far I've been setting up the adventure/locations as I go, does anyone have any methods for how they prepare before the session?
|
|
For the main game (outside of 1-0), players have to play from a class deck. I have all the class decks so that I can loan them to people who want to try the game, but you as an organizer are under no obligation to invest that much. Official rule is you have to have a class deck to play.
When I know how many people are coming, I try to prep ahead of time. I shuffle all the decks and deal out the cards for each location, then put elastic bands around them. I put the villains and henchmen on top so that a.) I can take them back out again if I need to re-allocate decks for last minute player changes and b.) the boss doesn't end up visible at the bottom. I haven't been doing this as much lately because of fluctuating table size and because I've been getting there early and have time. But sometimes pre-setup can mean the difference between playing one game or two.
|
I have a couple of the class decks that I've built pregen characters out of for new players, does anyone know if its possible to build pregen characters out of any of the boxes? Or should I buy all the class decks?
If you are playing the Organized Play, you cannot build pregens out of the base sets. You are required to build them out of the class decks. (I'm assuming since your previous questions dealt with reporting the demo mini-chronicles that you're dealing with OP/PFSACG.) If you wish to allow players other pregen options then you could purchase more class decks and set those up as well. I have a set of class decks with the pregens built for this purpose.
Since we play on public tables and theres a lot of handling of the cards I'm worried about wear and tear. Has anyone sleeved their game? If so what sleeves did you use and did you opt for a new box inset?
I use the Pathfinder Card Game sleeves by Ultra-Pro but after a season's use at three locations, quite a few corners are starting to peel a bit. I think I'd prefer Ultra-Pro Pro-Matte sleeves or KMC Hyper Mat. But the Ultra-Pros fit better. I sleeved all my sets because of the face I run sessions at three stores each week.
Because of the wear-n-tear on the box and that I want to keep the boxes in good/excellent condition, I have opted to use a shoebox card box with two rows and a cover. They sell them at most collectible card game retailers for about $2.50 or so. I'm going to replace my shoebox for S&S at the end of the season.
I'm running two groups, a bi weekly and a weekly, and so far I've been setting up the adventure/locations as I go, does anyone have any methods for how they prepare before the session?
I try to make sure the set is reshuffled before any session. Any new decks have been added (and shuffled). And if Basic/Elite cards need to be pulled, that has been down before a session. In some cases, I will prebuild the locations and the blessings deck and pull the villains/henchman (and cohorts, etc.). I can lay out all the locations, shuffle the henchmen/villains, plop down the blessings deck. (And put out ships/cohorts as needed.) I don't do that every time but it can help if you have the time. But shuffling beforehand really helps.
|
|
For ACG you shouldn't make characters out of the box; it assumes all of the cards are available.
Many people have sleeved their game. Sleeve choice is pretty widely spread; if you search the Card Game General Forum for "sleeve" or "protector" you'll find a bunch of threads on them. (For my various card games I've been using KMC W-Version clear sleeves, sometimes doubled with Perfect Sizes.)
You almost have to replace the insert if you sleeve. This thread talks about two inserts. (I don't know if there's more options out there.)
Our organizers have built pregen decks and have the boxes set for the farthest along groups in the area. They don't necessarily know if they're running one or two games or which scenario they're going to run, so they set up the locations after that's figured out.