Cottonseed Lodge (PFS2)

Game Master Redelia

Lady Ladile wrote:

OutPost III: Title Yet to Be Determined will be coming to this space in early 2020 (other details also TBD).

We should totally hold a contest to name OutPost III's subtitle. Maybe I can write a filk for the winner.

Alright folks, I made a contest to help name Outpost III! Please give it a look over.

Outpost III Contest

I'd love to suggest "Third time is the charm" for the outpost three name, but I'm not sure that counts as a workable theme.

I'd love to suggest "Third time is the charm" for the outpost three name, but I'm not sure that counts as a workable theme.

Only run part 3 of multi-part scenario series?

With prior Outpost names, the theme applied to a notable portion of the offerings. The rest were new scenarios and higher lebel repeatables to help people advance their characters.

Hmm

Doom Girl wrote:

Lady Ladile wrote:

OutPost III: Title Yet to Be Determined will be coming to this space in early 2020 (other details also TBD).

We should totally hold a contest to name OutPost III's subtitle. Maybe I can write a filk for the winner.

Alright folks, I made a contest to help name Outpost III! Please give it a look over.

Outpost III Contest

Don't forget to vote!

I have a question and I hate to seem strange by asking, but if each scenario can be played once, how can you effectively have multiple characters? Out of curiosities sake.

I have a question and I hate to seem strange by asking, but if each scenario can be played once, how can you effectively have multiple characters? Out of curiosities sake.

Mainly because there are 11 seasons with around 20 scenarios or so each, plus modules that give a level each playthrough, plus repeatable scenarios, and then adventure paths.

I've always been curious how many characters you can actually get to level 12 without replays though. My rough estimate would be about 10 through just PFS scenarios and maybe 18 with modules/APs.

Well, one of my last PF1 characters (who is currently 17th level) was my -54...

Right, and you can easily have that many characters, but how many can actually reach level 12? At least one or two can get to about 16th level, but there is very limited content at that point.

*reaching* level 12 is easy (I have lost count of how many of my PCs hit that level) - play beyond that, not so much (before I shredded most of my PCs, when I was clearing house to make the transition away from PF1, I believe I had 5 PCs over 15th level; that was only possible, of course, due to AP and Module credit).

Thanks, I made a human druid for pfs2 to start a brand new character and maybe try out the class. However, I am not getting much playtime with him as I hoped for. I might just have to stick with the wizard I originally made for right now.

One more question, how can I recover the chronicle sheets that I lost? I was cleaning the house and I must have thrown out all the chronicle sheets for my wizard. My GM only reported the one game I was in so I have no proof that my Wizard is level 3 except for the people I play with at the store who know that I have played him before. Is there a way I can get that information back?

Thank you for your time and efforts.

To go back to the original question (by SCheuvront) - from what I have seen, in PFS2 play, most people seem to have a 'primary' PC that they play through most scenarios, and a few others that have a smattering of scenarios (mostly repeatables) under their belts.

As primaries level out of low tier, however, I expect people will focus on their secondary (or even tertiary!) PC concepts :-)

SCheuvront wrote:

I have a question and I hate to seem strange by asking, but if each scenario can be played once, how can you effectively have multiple characters? Out of curiosities sake.

Mainly because there are 11 seasons with around 20 scenarios or so each, plus modules that give a level each playthrough, plus repeatable scenarios, and then adventure paths.

I've always been curious how many characters you can actually get to level 12 without replays though. My rough estimate would be about 10 through just PFS scenarios and maybe 18 with modules/APs.

Aaaand I just realized this is the 2e discussion and not 1e, my bad.

I was wondering if there are requirements and/or a FAQ on how to GM PbP games as I can't find a stickied post on it and so far all I've seen is for PCs.

I've been a forever GM my whole gaming life and with my current life changes, it looks as if I'll be GMing Pathfinder face to face once a month, twice if I'm lucky. Hence why I want to get into PbP, as it's my first time I want to get it right and apologies if this is not the correct place to post this.

I was wondering if there are requirements and/or a FAQ on how to GM PbP games as I can't find a stickied post on it and so far all I've seen is for PCs.

I've been a forever GM my whole gaming life and with my current life changes, it looks as if I'll be GMing Pathfinder face to face once a month, twice if I'm lucky. Hence why I want to get into PbP, as it's my first time I want to get it right and apologies if this is not the correct place to post this.

The PbP GM Kit will have a lot of information that is generally applicable:

I'm also (slowly) working on a guide for some of the idiosyncrasies of 2E: PbP-ing 2E

I've run a table of GM school a few times. I don't think I'll be able to run one again soon, because I'm organizing PlayDis Con this winter, but if you look in my profile, you can find the discussion threads from previous schools which may be helpful.

If you decide to try to GM PbP and would find it helpful, I can help you find a mentor who is an experienced PbP GM. The mentor would be one of your players and answer any questions and make a few suggestions during the game.

We also have a 'campaign' which is a place where GMs can chat and ask each other questions here, and anyone looking into being a GM would be quite welcome there. It's quite right now, but you can feel free to ask questions there.

... If you decide to try to GM PbP and would find it helpful, I can help you find a mentor who is an experienced PbP GM. The mentor would be one of your players and answer any questions and make a few suggestions during the game.

We also have a 'campaign' which is a place where GMs can chat and ask each other questions here, and anyone looking into being a GM would be quite welcome there. It's quite right now, but you can feel free to ask questions there.

I'd interested in a mentor if available. I want to be good at this as it's a whole other medium compared to face to face. I'd feel more comfortable running a quest. I'll drop by the GM lounge then.

The PbP GM Kit will have a lot of information that is generally applicable:

PbP GM Kit

I'm also (slowly) working on a guide for some of the idiosyncrasies of 2E: PbP-ing 2E

The guide is actually extremely useful right now as I was wondering how to run the three action economy in a post.

For any others who are interested in some guided GM discussions or possibly a GM school run through, please come join us in this discussion thread.

Have you played any pbp Deneve? As a player I mean. If not then playing a game or two might help some as well. Get the feeling for pbp. Or even reading through some other games.

Have you played any pbp Deneve? As a player I mean. If not then playing a game or two might help some as well. Get the feeling for pbp. Or even reading through some other games.

Nope, I haven't played PbP as a player; I am trying to join a game, though. So far I've been reading through two games to get an idea of how it works.

@Geneve: maybe tell the DM of the games you join that you are interested in learning some things of PbP here (I have DMed games with a player interested in that way, and shared info & tips... for whatever they're worth!).

I think the best way to learn this is to play a game. Apply for a game. Let the DM know it would be your first. Don't be afraid to ask questions or make mistakes. Try to accept suggestions and help. And don't have some patience. PBP plays slower than tabletop or virtual tabletop.

I'm still pretty new, but I definitely learned a lot by playing a few games first and comparing styles and techniques of different GMs. And for my first game as GM, I asked if any experienced GMs might be interested in playing and had several accept. That too has been very helpful.

Yup, I've been trying to join games, but with no luck on recruitment of a 2e game. I was following Kate Baker's game of her own quest, and Tyranius running Mosquito Witch, Garty running PFS2 quests and WaterySoup running Lost on the Spirit Road.

I've been off the Paizo forums/out of the PbP world for a while. I've back read a little to get some context, but I wanted to know if someone could help me get my PbP GMing boots back on. Is there an interest in PbP games for PFS 2E? If so, what's the one people are most interested in? I know the "recruitment" tab is best for when I'm actually ready to run. I've GMed a lot of the games in person and have a fairly good understanding of the system!

Deneve, would you like a spot in my next game? I'll be starting a new one shortly. I run the most PF2 for my face-to-face group, so I'm confined to repeatables here. Let me know if you have a preference between Absalom Initiation and Lost on the Spirit Road (both are variable, so you won't face quite the same thing you've already seen).

Slothsy, there's quite a bit of interest, I'd say. We have a decent few scenarios now and for some (me included) this is the best chance to play. Is there anything more specific you wanted to know?

Mostly for any tips or tricks people have found useful with some of the PFS 2E specific nuances. Things like secret rolls, granting hero points since games take way more than one hour, other standardized ways PbP handles society play.

Deneve, would you like a spot in my next game? I'll be starting a new one shortly. I run the most PF2 for my face-to-face group, so I'm confined to repeatables here. Let me know if you have a preference between Absalom Initiation and Lost on the Spirit Road (both are variable, so you won't face quite the same thing you've already seen).

Slothsy, there's quite a bit of interest, I'd say. We have a decent few scenarios now and for some (me included) this is the best chance to play. Is there anything more specific you wanted to know?

Thank you, Crunch. I'm in for Lost on the Spirit Road.

@Slothsy - you could join Deneve and I in a "GM school" run-through of either some of the quests or 1-01 which is easily divided into parts. I prefer the former as each person could easily prepare their own game in full and take GM credit for the quest they run.

Essentially, I would provide some guidance as to GM resources and techniques for PbP and run a quest to demonstrate and discuss. Then the next person runs a quest to put into practice what we have discussed. We continue through until all have run a game. We are the players for the games we are not running.

I would suggest Deneve GM later in the rotation to have more play experience. This would be in addition to joining GM Crunch's game.

We need 1-3 more participants to make this work.

Depending on post rate I'd join. I can mostly but not quite keep up with a daily post rate. I also have an unusual style which is good for contrast.

I'm not familiar with 2e (so, good chance to learn the new system as well) and do not have 2e scenarios (I usually run custom content anyway, but to my understanding scenarios are needed for credit). I've got a few pf1 season 6 scenarios laying around though, and different systems might also give more contrast and seeing how gm stuff still applies in different systems.

Depending on post rate I'd join. I can mostly but not quite keep up with a daily post rate. I also have an unusual style which is good for contrast.

I'm not familiar with 2e (so, good chance to learn the new system as well) and do not have 2e scenarios (I usually run custom content anyway, but to my understanding scenarios are needed for credit). I've got a few pf1 season 6 scenarios laying around though, and different systems might also give more contrast and seeing how gm stuff still applies in different systems.

You would be welcome to join us. The 2E quests are <$2.00 to purchase. I don't have time for anyone to run a full scenario which is why I am looking at the short quests or 1-01 which has distinct segments.

If we were doing this in a face-to-face session then I would happily loan people the printed material. We are, however, not allowed to share PDFs (for obvious reasons).

I was following...Tyranius running Mosquito Witch...

Oh hey, I'm in that one.

If I can figure out a way to buy online goods, but I've yet to do that (family issues. It's complicated). I'll look into it, I just haven't bothered before.

On the other hand I'm not overly concerned about getting credits, but can't players get a type of credit for playing home campaigns (or is that pfs1 only? I'm not well versed in pfs specifics as I don't do much organized play)? I can easily do a short quest and actually show after the fact behind-the-scenes style snippets of how I did it to show others how to apply these gm lessons to games without a premade scenario to follow. I was actually inspired to put something together the other day. Making a quick quest from it won't be hard.

Kinda. You can get credit from am AP in campaign mode, in which you don't have to follow all the pfs rules. But only on AP's that have been approved for society play and I'm not sure if that's come to 2nd edition or not. You can't get credit for a homebrew game for sure.

People do play non-society games on here though. There's just a lot of society games.

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

So GM Numbat, I will see about getting a module in any case, but as the point is to teach GMing skills and techniques, how important is it to stick with PFS? and PF2? I do have PFS 1 scenarios after all.

Though, I still think breaking away from a single system organized play for a game or two early on would be a good experience for new GMs to learn from.

As an Organized Play lodge that is what we focus on. Certainly what is learned through OP is very applicable to home games as well.

Oh right! lol I kinda forgot this was a pfs lodge thread.

Of course, while pfs gaming is applicable to home games, there is much advantage that comes from contrasting games. It helps illuminate the differences between what is GMing vs what is simply part of the rules. It helps show the scope of what the GM can do and is really important in understanding the dividing lines between rules vs rulings and narrative rpg gaming vs boardgame rpg gaming (the latter of which is particularly difficult distinction especially when folks are only familiar with playing modules).

And personally, I'm more concerned with teaching good GMing habits than a GMing in a particular environment. After all, if they become food GMs in general, then GMing for pfs won't be a problem anyway.

Interesting Character,

This is indeed a PFS lodge. Most of those who partipate in our GM school tables are already experienced GMs in some context, but want GM school in order to teach them how to run Society games on Play by Post.

Also, there can be a great deal of disagreement as to what makes a good GM. In the context of a Society game, some of that disagreement is reduced because we've all agreed to follow the rules, which included running the scenario as written.

While I do not disagree that GMing in different environments and with different games can make you a stronger and better GM overall. It is not the focus here.

As Redelia indicated, what is being offered is mentoring specifically geared toward GMing PFS2 (easily adapted to PFS1 and SFS) through PbP.

@Interesting Character - from what I am reading, it looks like this is not a good fit for you and what you are looking for. If I am wrong, and you are interested in learning/strengthening your PbP Organized Play skills then you are more than welcome to join us. If I am correct then I understand you not wanting to participate.

"what is being offered is mentoring specifically geared toward GMing PFS2 (easily adapted to PFS1 and SFS) through PbP."

That is very good with me, though I do admit to initially thinking it was general GMing school. Notice that I intend on getting a 2e module if I can manage it. I was just explaining my point.

"we've all agreed to follow the rules,"

There are three different things this can mean, for two of them you are correct, but in one sense you are quite wrong. That is in handling creative solutions.

In one game I played in, I tried to accomplish something completely within the rules but the module didn't address my attempted solution, so the GM ignored and disallowed it because they didn't know how to handle it. That is a very bad thing, such a bad thing that if I was teaching this as a class in school it would be an instant failing grade, as in you would not pass the class if you couldn't handle such a case, regardless of a focus on organized play.

I will post a signup sheet soon and see if we can get this started.

For any looking at purchasing content to run - please wait until we have a discussion about who already owns one or more of the quests and who may have already played what.

Is this stalled, or will the sign up sheet be posted elsewhere?

Sorry, I have been super busy and haven't posted it yet. Had planned to have it up already. I will post as soon as I can.

@Slothsy - you could join Deneve and I in a "GM school" run-through of either some of the quests or 1-01 which is easily divided into parts. I prefer the former as each person could easily prepare their own game in full and take GM credit for the quest they run.

Essentially, I would provide some guidance as to GM resources and techniques for PbP and run a quest to demonstrate and discuss. Then the next person runs a quest to put into practice what we have discussed. We continue through until all have run a game. We are the players for the games we are not running.

I would suggest Deneve GM later in the rotation to have more play experience. This would be in addition to joining GM Crunch's game.

We need 1-3 more participants to make this work.

Eh, I don't need a full GM school experience. I have play-by-post experience previously and plenty of society experience.

I was more curious about any toolkits that the community had developed or internal norms I should be aware of as I start prepping. I just finished up the IRL convention I organized and am going to finish up prep on 1-09 Star-Crossed Voyages and then prep my Starfinder quest as an author's table option over in the SFS thread.

Sorry, I have been super busy and haven't posted it yet. Had planned to have it up already. I will post as soon as I can.

I'd like in too! Keeping an eye out for the sign up.

Thanks Numbat.

New 2e character looking to smash things.

Was wondering if I could get some input on how other PBP GM's have been handling Secret checks?

Starting up my second PBP run and wanted to see what others have been doing.

I've been using "semi-secret" checks.

I have the players make their rolls inside spoilers in their own posts. That way I don't need to slow down to confirm if someone wants to roll and don't need to guess on who would want to roll. Plus, my players could just as easily peek at my spoiler.

I do it the other way around - I make sure I have everyone's skill bonuses, then I roll in a spoiler tagged "GM Screen" (which I trust the players not to read) then I provide each player whatever information the secret check provided (if a recall knowledge) or the result of the action (otherwise). That way the player doesn't know whether they rolled well or not, so they don't have to keep that meta-knowledge out of their reactions.

Blake, are you saying that you have them put a die roll into a spoiler, and ask them not to peek at their roll? My only problem with doing that would be that I often typo my tags, and have to preview the result to make sure I got what I intended.

Yes.

It gives back a sense of autonomy and those who peek will peek. I don't simply roll for everyone because some people who have low modifiers will not want to roll to avoid critical failures (especially the ones where its worse than just misinformation).

I do roll block Perceptions etc for Exploration mode (also initiatives and mass saves) since they've already told me what they're doing and those usually precede a scene change so waiting for everyone to check in slows down the pace.