Castamir's Flaxseed Station

Game Master Chris Marsh

@Shifty: I take it they're still holding that on a ship. At the moment it's a race to see which pops up first, my fourth nova, my fourth star, or my first glyph. It depends what people want to play.

@Shifty: I take it they're still holding that on a ship. At the moment it's a race to see which pops up first, my fourth nova, my fourth star, or my first glyph. It depends what people want to play.

So far Australia is rapidly emerging post 'rona, almost as fast as NZ! Community transmission is pretty much over and we are only getting positives from people returning from overseas (who are in quarantine). Borders are opening, we have the 'south pac bubble' forming (Aus/NZ/Fiji/Vanuatu) and cruise ships set to recommence sailing in Sep.

I think NZ will be holding off on cruise ships for a while - they seemed to contribute a big chunk of our cases, and no good way to quarantine them while still giving tourists a chance to walk around town.

Rest of that south pacific bubble might be nice though.

Dang, that's lucky! Japan was doing fairly well there for a bit, but then the country decided to lift the state of emergency and things are gearing up for another wave of cases, but compared to the States it's not that bad. Hope the cruise ship con is still a go later this year!

I am so jealous of the countries that got Corona under control. I don't think I'll see an in person convention in the United States until late next year. Some days it feels like it will never be normal again.

Hmm

Same! I was so hoping to make it to SkalCon this year, but there's no way that's happening now!

Yeah, I'm on the SkalCon committee. We're looking into possibly moving it online, and trying to figure out how we can still raise money for our charity.

I am so jealous of the countries that got Corona under control.

We were a little slow off the mark and got unlucky with the Ruby Princess cruise ship, but then locked down hard for a couple of weeks across the country. 17 days later we were in a far better position. We also eliminated all travel across borders (state and national).

I'd really like to get my feet wet and try to GM for PbP; however I've never even GMed any kind of game (bar a few D&D4 sessions when I started tabletops, heh), so I feel like I would need some pointers. I seem to recall reading about a "DM School" over on the PF2 lodge; are there any plans to offer it for SF as well?

First, welcome to the ranks of PBP DMing.

Every game system will have one or two points that is specific to that system and each site will have one or two points specific to that site, but the requirements and suggestions for running a PBP game is the same for all of them.

Doomed Hero’s Guide to PbP

Painlord’s Guide to Advanced PbP

Painlord’s Guide to PbP GM’ing

Now that all of season 2 is out, I have some questions. Feel free to answer in spoilers.
1. Datch appears a lot in season 2, do I ever get to fight him?
2. Does Dhurus really die in

DoubleGold, some choices will get picked up much later. We never know when the OrgPlay Team is going to use our scenario choices.

Part of the Paizo philosophy of mysteries is "Don't solve one without opening at least two more new mysteries." When I wrote the Preluria and Pakahano entries in Near Space, and we were told to make certain to provide many tantalizing adventure hooks there. Some might be picked up by Paizo, and some are deliberately left to inspire home GMs.

Keep in mind that I have not read or GMed everything. I'm at approximately 80% scenario adventure knowledge, but have deliberately left untouched many adventures that I want to play.

I'd really like to get my feet wet and try to GM for PbP; however I've never even GMed any kind of game (bar a few D&D4 sessions when I started tabletops, heh), so I feel like I would need some pointers. I seem to recall reading about a "DM School" over on the PF2 lodge; are there any plans to offer it for SF as well?

I have a GM school starting up soon, and believe I'll have a few slots available. Send me a PM if you're interested in participating.

@Charli - I know one of my PCs wants to find Silvermain's homeworld and take her home - although goodness knows how long she was on that moon. When I GMed that at Paizocon Oz last year, I ended up describing Silvermain's homeworld and environment to Tonya as her PC asked about it.

Also ConCurrent starts tomorrow. hope to see a lot of you there around the tables. Also don't forget that GenCon Online is right around the corner.

Concurrent Blog Post

Hey Folks! Organized Play Foundation is looking for some data on encounters comprised of skill checks and how they're playing out online specifically. We have a brief survey for both players and GMs that should take no more than 10 minutes of your time; if you'd take some time to fill it out, we'd greatly appreciate it!

Please take a moment and fill it out to help improve our community.

Survey (Link)

Great news! Starship Operations Manual and Near Space has been sanctioned.

Blog Post Link

I was just looking through the new version of the SFS additional resources and discovered a conflict between the PDF and the Nethys database.

Nethys says that the diplomat theme is SFS legal yet the PDF says under Adventure Path #22 - The Forever Reliquary that it is not.

Which is correct? And if it isn't, looks like Celly needs a new theme. Any suggestions for an up and coming diplomat please?

Additional Resources is correct. Icon and Tempered Pilgrim are both legal and could work nicely for a diplomat. Sensate would be a surprisingly apt choice as well as being super flavorful!

There is one other theme issue that I noted as well. Archives marks the theme that I wrote, Esper, illegal, but it's legal in additional resources so I added it to my Phrenic Adept!

Hmm

Since 'additional resources' is official paizo, and Archives of Nethys is a very helpful third party website, I'd say any difference between the two should always be interpreted as a mistake on Nethys.

Public service announcement: Esper is a really cool theme. That is all.

Additional Resources does always trump, but AoN did actually become the official SRD (and deservedly so!)

Public service announcement: Esper is a really cool theme. That is all.

Ah, thank you! I had fun making that one. When I got assigned a psychic warrior theme, I told Chris Sims, "I just considered and rejected the name 'Woo-woo Warrior.' You can thank me later."

Then in the course of writing the Psychic Magic article, I came up the history of the Ex-Swarm Patrol (ESPers) a psychic unit composed of shirren, and veterans from both sides of the lashunta-formian wars who made an uneasy alliance to fight the swarm. Their work together made a difference, taking a fragile truce and creating bonds of trust where none existed before. What I like is that the theme turned out to be something that all sorts of characters can use -- military or not. I am really proud of how it turned out.

Hmm

I switched Celly from Diplomat to Tempered Pilgrim since they both +1 CHA. Getting two languages per rank of Culture is an additional bonus. She's still 1st level btw, so we caught this early.

Sensate is also interesting - I think I'll use that for the Morlamaw I'm building.

Another one that sprung out at me was Starwalker, and it is so tempting to combine that with a Star Shaman Mystic who's an astronomer and can 'walk among the stars' without environmental protection. Could also be a Stardancer on the side. (cf Stardance by Spider & Jeanne Robinson)

Sensate would be a surprisingly apt choice as well as being super flavorful!

Hmm

I see what you did there...

I was just looking through the new version of the SFS additional resources and discovered a conflict between the PDF and the Nethys database.

Nethys says that the diplomat theme is SFS legal yet the PDF says under Adventure Path #22 - The Forever Reliquary that it is not.

Which is correct? And if it isn't, looks like Celly needs a new theme. Any suggestions for an up and coming diplomat please?

Paizo's additional resources page and books trump any errors found on Archive of Nethys or other third party programs such as Herolab.

DM Kludde wrote:

Public service announcement: Esper is a really cool theme. That is all.

Ah, thank you! I had fun making that one. When I got assigned a psychic warrior theme, I told Chris Sims, "I just considered and rejected the name 'Woo-woo Warrior.' You can thank me later."

Then in the course of writing the Psychic Magic article, I came up the history of the Ex-Swarm Patrol (ESPers) a psychic unit composed of shirren, and veterans from both sides of the lashunta-formian wars who made an uneasy alliance to fight the swarm. Their work together made a difference, taking a fragile truce and creating bonds of trust where none existed before. What I like is that the theme turned out to be something that all sorts of characters can use -- military or not. I am really proud of how it turned out.

Hmm

Ooh I was interested in Esper but missed it was legal on AR - well I know my next Theme!

I've been trying to come up with a good psychic. I even have a formian boon waiting in the wings...

I've been enjoying my phrenic adept, Dani. I just have to accept that Phrenic Adept is the true class, here!

Hmm

Announcement

The official announcement for Gameday IX will be coming down the pipeline soon but I wanted to get a head start of GM submissions for the two specials we will be running. This is to ensure the GM's are identified before the early player sign ups open up.

So if you would like to GM one of the two specials please fill out the form below. The cut off date for these submissions will be 29 July 2020.

The two specials being ran are:

Anyone looking to try out the nanocyte playtest class under playtest rules provided here(link)? I’m happy to set something up - all-nanocyte evergreen, anyone?

Anyone looking to try out the nanocyte playtest class under playtest rules provided here(link)? I’m happy to set something up - all-nanocyte evergreen, anyone?

Would love to have a go at it!

Anyone looking to try out the nanocyte playtest class under playtest rules provided here(link)? I’m happy to set something up - all-nanocyte evergreen, anyone?

If I can manage put a character together by the time you start, I'm interested.

I'd certainly be interested!

That'd be fun to try!

Just finished up The First Mandate and now looking to play In Pursuit of the Scoured Past if there's a GM out there interested in running it.

Just finished up The First Mandate and now looking to play In Pursuit of the Scoured Past if there's a GM out there interested in running it.

If nobody runs it before there's a table on Paizo and one on the Cosmic Crit Discord being offered as part of Gameday IX. Less than a month away...

How often are specials run and where? Like if I choose not to play the special season 3, would I miss out, or would there be another chance in the future to play it?

Just wondering, how does sign-up work?

I don't see any space to sign up on the form, just the listing of the games. The rows which housed the player sign-ups are greyed out for me when I look at site.

The GM's will create their own recruitment and recruit through the various Lodges as we normally do. No massive player sign up form this year. If you see a game on the recruitment page you would like to play in. Follow that link and sign up when general player (Or early GM if a GM) sign ups open up.

How often are specials run and where? Like if I choose not to play the special season 3, would I miss out, or would there be another chance in the future to play it?

Specials are ran every PbP Con and we will be cycling through SFS ones as they can be replayed in a different tier group set by the scenario.

In theory if someone wanted to coordinate a smaller run of a special, that could be done as well, couldn't it?

That is how the Shifty specials used to run anyway.

Do SFS specials maintain a minimum number of tables like PFSv1 ones used to?

Although we'd want to avoid them clashing with the actual gamedays and folk would have to pay for their own copies of the special. In theory I think it would be doable.

How do race boons work with rebuilds? If I play a scenario using a race boon and then decide I don't like it am I screwed? Can I un-apply it as "Chronicle 0" and apply a different race boon?

In theory if someone wanted to coordinate a smaller run of a special, that could be done as well, couldn't it?

That is how the Shifty specials used to run anyway.

Do SFS specials maintain a minimum number of tables like PFSv1 ones used to?

Although we'd want to avoid them clashing with the actual gamedays and folk would have to pay for their own copies of the special. In theory I think it would be doable.

Not necessarily as it all has to flow through the VO team. I will give a bit of background as I like to be transparent in the process. Essentially an event request is put in through the Orgplay Team where you request which specials are to be ran and the RVC signs off on them. Then the VO team puts in a support request to drop the product into the GM's accounts. This is all done through Conventions (Premier Event).

This is why the PbP Online team began Retro Con. To run a lot of smaller able count Specials. This way we can run several Specials a year.

How do race boons work with rebuilds? If I play a scenario using a race boon and then decide I don't like it am I screwed? Can I un-apply it as "Chronicle 0" and apply a different race boon?

If you’ve applied a permanent personal boon slot to a character (such as a capstone or race boon), you can choose to swap out or remove the race boon as part of a character rebuild. If you remove a race boon in this manner, then you must pick another appropriate race (such as a core race, or a race made available by another race boon you possess). Single use Chronicles that are replaced in this manner are lost, so be careful when applying these special boons to new characters that you might rebuild.

So if I don't want to waste a race boon then I am stuck with it. Sounds like I should start all my race boons with repeatables or standalone scenarios

I'm interested in signing up for 3-00 but I haven't played much of Datch's arc yet and I fear I'll be missing out if I play it right away; what main S2 scenarios involving Datch should I play beforehand?

I'm interested in signing up for 3-00 but I haven't played much of Datch's arc yet and I fear I'll be missing out if I play it right away; what main S2 scenarios involving Datch should I play beforehand?

She is first introduced in 2-01 Pact World Warriors.

She also is involved in the events of 2-17 Cost of Living.

At much higher level is 2-20 Shades of Spite

Those are the main ones. She also makes appearances in a number of other scenarios.

Half of Season 2 features the results of her work in some way.

I was thinking of signing up for 3-03 (1-4 - start of an arc) but I'm wondering - what's the best start level to play the arc in order and stay in tier for all the parts ... anyone know?

Same applies for the 3-6 arc starting with 3-04

My flash story, Making Waves, just got published in "Tales from the Drift!"

My flash story, Making Waves, just got published in "Tales from the Drift!"

Huzzah! Congratulations!