Flaxseed GM lounge (Inactive)

Game Master Redelia

*Happy claps*

Yay! Zin it's always been a joy to play with you, so I'm quite excited to see you're GMing! I'll have to try playing with you sometime!

Edit: And boy do I know the feelings in your wrap up post! But I do have to admit, when I ran my second game it went a lot better than the first!

^Yeah, I can definitely sympathize on your 'final thoughts' post because I still have that problem even after GMing for just over a year. It can also feel like a mixed blessing when you happen to have players that aren't shy about pointing out when you've missed stuff or gotten something wrong - I do want to know if I've jacked something up but it's sometimes hard to not feel self-conscious about it after the first time or two.

Congratulations, Zin! You know that we never stop learning, right? I think you’re doing great!

Hmm

Congrats Zin!!! Looking forward to more of your GMing in the future.

Happy Adventures.

Congrats Zin. That's awesome. You never stop learning, and I love the PbP format. I have time to think and look up rules. It gives me time to process.

FYI, the link to this campaign in the header of the Flaxseed lodge is broken. It's linked to "PFS GM mentor program" instead of "Flaxseed".

Ah, that is useful.

It’s now fixed. Thanks for the catch.

Note to everyone: renaming campaigns breaks all links to them. Do not do this lightly.

Hmm

GM Hmm: It was great to see you again at Gen Con this year!! One of these times, we are going to have to sync a schedule that will allow us to sit down and actually have a conversation!!

~Patrick

Would any of you be interested in another mentoring game in January? I have come up with another GM I would like to see explain how he runs. This time would be concentrating on how to enhance the story of the scenario.

Mmmmmaybe? I know Gameday will be over with by then but it partly depends on what you guys have on deck for RetroCon - don't want to over-commit as a player or as a GM :)

Not for me thanks.

Retrocon will be specials only.

Okay, then mark me as a tentative yes - I'll be happy to sit as an experienced player if you need to fill a table or run a table myself depending on the amount of interest.

Tentative yes. If it's specials only, I should have space open.

Enhancing the story and the description is my biggest weak area, so I would appreciate that.

I would join a game like that, if you still have table space.

When January is closer, I might be up for it.

As it stands, it's too far off for me to commit.

I would be interested in that game, definitely. Thanks!

I could Round out the table if you are still are needing players at that time.

Things have finally gotten close to normal again.

Although assignments for RetroCon haven't gone out yet I think it might be wise of me to step back from that tentative 'yes' on participating in the next round of mentoring/GM school activities since I did throw my hat into the ring as a GM for one of the specials. Not that I don't want to participate and help but with adding a special on top of my two long-term groups that I'm GMing for, I'm not sure that I'd be able to give a mentoring game the attention it deserves.

I know it's a little difficult to plan since our PbP events span months and you don't want to rush mentoring games too much but maybe it would be easier to plan mentoring games for the spaces between PbP conventions, that way you'll have a bigger pool of experienced GMs and players to pull from?

I'm wondering if it's getting to be time to wrap up this program for now. There was a great deal of enthusiasm at first, and we got in several good games at which we were able to observe and ask questions of really good GMs. Now, there's a lot less interest.

It could be - I've definitely noticed a lot more folks stepping up to GM/learn to GM over the last year or two and that's always a good thing! Maybe just dialing it back to running a 'GM school' once a year or something, depending on the interest, would work better.

My vision for mentoring of GMs has three components.

1. GM school run periodically for brand new GMs
2. This mentoring program, or something like it, for experienced GMs who wand to hone their skills
3. The possibility of a 'ride-along' of an experienced GM acting as player to help a newer GM

This program was meant to be component 2, and has functioned as that for a while. I'm wondering if it's time to close this down, and in 6 months or so recruit again for it from scratch.

Ride-along is a cool idea. Either watching an experienced GM do stuff or having one look over my shoulder and add suggestions.

As someone in the wings who is now ready to start learning to GM for PbP, I am definitely interested in all three of these.

I could see, and have thought about, finding a mentor to observe in detail and learn from while waiting for a GM school to open that is a good fit (timing etc). Then after GM school, perhaps working with the same or a different GM to observe and mentor while I run my first one or two games.

As soon as I have confidence that I have the basics down and know the mechanics for PbP then I would be ready for those more advanced programs.

I'd love to see mini-workshops at all levels where someone demonstrates how to gain the most from various tools.

Discussions on various approaches and the rationale plus pros & cons would also be valuable.

A session on GMing for multi-table specials, what you need to know and how to make it great, would be excellent.

I am sure there is much more I could learn that I am not even aware of.

Just my two coppers worth from a potential future PbP GM.

Oh wow, some great ideas there, numbat!

I love these ideas!

Hmm

I'll ditto that; I especially like the suggestion of a session dedicated to multi-table specials!

Can't believe I've never heard of this program. How does it work? Does one of the Mentors oversee one of my games? Do I Co-Gm a game with my Mentor, etc. Am I told to run a specific module/AP?

Can't believe I've never heard of this program. How does it work? Does one of the Mentors oversee one of my games? Do I Co-Gm a game with my Mentor, etc. Am I told to run a specific module/AP?

Depends on the situation.

At this point I believe a mixture of all of those situations has occurred at least once so far.

Personally, I'd ask...what is you you are looking to get out of a mentorship? Is it a better understanding on how to set up maps and format the block text? Improve your skill at describing things? Build confidence?

Depending on what it is you hope to glean from the experience will likely change which setup would benefit you the most.

Hi, DoubleGold, and welcome!

This pseudo-campaign serves two purposes. It's a place where GMs who are interested in getting better can chat, and ask each other questions. It's also the place from which I sometimes organize games where a really good GM runs a game, explaining what they are doing, with the players asking lots of questions.

If you are interested in a more one-on-one mentoring project, you can either approach a particular GM who you admire and ask them to help you out, or you can send me a PM and I can work with you to find someone. The most common way that works is for a mentor to be a player at your table, and privately send you suggestions.

We do also have GM school intended for GMs who are brand new to PbP, but I think you probably have enough experience to make that not a good fit for you. You might still find it helpful to read through the discussion from a table of GM school.

Is there a GM school coming up soon? Or can I ask for a Mentor?

I've finally decided to go from Player to GM but I find that I am woefully unprepared...to the point that I'm not even sure how to start my PbP thread (as in, how do I get the tabs at the top?) and how do I edit a map so that spoiler information is removed.

Is there a GM school coming up soon? Or can I ask for a Mentor?

I've finally decided to go from Player to GM but I find that I am woefully unprepared...to the point that I'm not even sure how to start my PbP thread (as in, how do I get the tabs at the top?) and how do I edit a map so that spoiler information is removed.

Personally, I don't know of any upcoming GM Schools. With Outpost going on, I doubt there would be one until it's over at the earliest.

As for starting a thread, once you create the first "tab", it should prompt you for the others. I typically start with the 'Discussion Tab' myself.

If you go to this link and "Add new thread", you'll create a discussion thread by posting something. Then the sight will have prompts for connecting recruitment, gampeplay, etc.

Maps are a little more complicated sometimes. I run my through a free online pdf extractor. With the newer maps especially, it tends to pull the secret stuff layer out. With some of the older maps, you just have to deal with it as best you can.

Hello I have several doubts:
1. I have created the maps but I do not yet know how to take them to the page of my game or how to create the map link.
2. How do I create the flaxseed the thread that leads to the recruit of my game?

Hey Garmon! I'm not quite entriely sure what you are asking but I will try taking a stab at answering your questions.

1-A. There's two ways to add map links to your games. First is via your profile. If you click on your profile (the garmon or whatever your GM profile is) you can add it with a [url] tag to your Class level or gender box and it will show up on all of your posts. Or you can add it to the campaign by editing the campaign on the 'Campaign' tab.

1-B. You can get a map link from getting a sharable link in Google Drive, if you are using Google Drive. If you are not, then you'd have to find out if or how that program gives links.

2. You can post a link to the recruitment thread or what you are using to recruit in a post in Flaxseed, preferably the recruiment thread. Use a {Url=[url here]}{/url} tag, replacing the {} with [] and the [url here] part with the actaul url.

Finally, this might not be the best place for getting answers (it's a ghost thread most of the time) I'd also reccomend asking here LINK in the future, just in case.

Expanding on the answer to your question #2, here is a post from GM school describing how to create a campaign from a thread (I couldn't tell from your question if that's something you'd already done or still needed to do): Redelia's GM School

Wondering if it is time to offer some more formal GM discussions again. We have a bunch of new GMs online and we have a new system we are adapting to.

Hello, I'm introducing myself as a new GM for PbP. I've been a GM for PF2 since October and have experience in running D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e, but am looking to expand into PbP, where I'm a complete newbie at it.

I'm interested in a mentor if available, although I think that with PlayDis Con everyone is going to be busy.

Wondering if it is time to offer some more formal GM discussions again. We have a bunch of new GMs online and we have a new system we are adapting to

I second this as well.

Hello, I'm introducing myself as a new GM for PbP. I've been a GM for PF2 since October and have experience in running D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e, but am looking to expand into PbP, where I'm a complete newbie at it.

I'm interested in a mentor if available, although I think that with PlayDis Con everyone is going to be busy.

GM Numbat wrote:

Wondering if it is time to offer some more formal GM discussions again. We have a bunch of new GMs online and we have a new system we are adapting to

I second this as well.

I would be happy to mentor you. I actually did not sign up to run games during Playdis Con in part so that I would be available for other things as well.

I am going to post and see if there are others interested in starting some more formal discussions or even a GM school run through. For the latter, we'd need at least two others.

Well, I'm in; however, I really hope we don't have to wait long.

I'm always up for teaching GMs, though pbp is not my forte. That said, I've been getting into it more like a pro/scholar than just a gm for friends. I see it as an art worthy of greater study and investment much like how music has casual folks but also people who go to school to study professionally and learn more deeply than casual folks ever dream of, then of course the auxiliary study of composition. GMing is to me much like music, you have the casual level but also room for a more pro level and auxiliary stuff regarding the design of adventures, monsters, etc that can benefit from a more professional/scientific level of study. I'll even get it into art schools if I can.

This is a time of year where I need to keep my commitments on the lighter side which means I'm limiting the number of games I get involved in as a player or as a GM. That said, I do check the forums on a regular basis so I'm happy to offer advice and answer questions even if I can't actively participate in a mentoring game at the moment :)

For those who were expecting a GM School to start - my sincerest apologies. Life keeps throwing me new challenges and I while I thought I would be able to start a group a few weeks back, I have to admit that at this time I can not commit to being consistently available. I don't want to start unless I know I can provide the support needed.

Hopefully, you have all been able to find other mentors and start your careers as GMs. If not, please speak up and indicate you wish to run a game and are looking for at least one or two experienced GMs to play so they may mentor if needed.

This is still a good place to come and ask questions and seek advice.

So, how many folks are looking for a GM mentor?

I was looking to join for the pfs pf2 stuff in particular, but for more general GMing (especially those looking to delve deeper than mere amatuer level) I'd be glad to run something if I can get at least 3 others.

Hi, everyone. Since one of my current games is winding down, I plan to offer a GM school session starting soon. GM school is intended for people who are new to GMing, new to GMing in Play by Post, or have a little bit of GM experience but still want to learn the basics. All students in this session of GM school will participate in a classroom, and also be placed at a table with a mentor. That table will play together through a scenario, with everyone acting as GM part of the time. I will be leading the classroom discussion. Your mentor will be an experienced GM. If you are interested in participating as a student, please fill out this google form.

I'm still open to teach as well. Redelia is a better option for pfs and pf2 specific familiarity, while I'll be focused more on universal GM techniques and practices as well as optionally going more in depth into the theoretical, psychological, and other aspects one would study if there were a professional level of GMing.

I'm still open to teach as well. Redelia is a better option for pfs and pf2 specific familiarity, while I'll be focused more on universal GM techniques and practices as well as optionally going more in depth into the theoretical, psychological, and other aspects one would study if there were a professional level of GMing.

I wonder if you wouldn't have more takers if you post in the general recruitment thread rather than the Organized Play threads given that you are offering a more general experience?

I didn't realize we were still in organized play section. Thanks for pointing that out. :)

Though, I'd have expected organized play GMs to aspire to more professional style than home game GMs, but maybe that's just me.

Anyone who wants to sign up for GM school and has not yet done so needs to sign up in the next 24 hours. After that I am going to close signup for this session.

Oh, have a great GM school session!