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Cosmic Captive has eaten everyone's brain.
Cosmic Captive+Work Change is hideous
Granta, do you want to make use of a backup for a few days of Cosmic Captive to regain some sanity points? You could set up an arrangement for coverarage on a couple week days to get you through the next ten days in better shape.
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Also, maybe this is an opportunity in disguise. How about instead of you cutting back on the GM School Wounded Wisp game, we give everyone in your class a chance to give you a few days break from the GM chair? Have them each run an act, while the others in the class comment on what they are doing? This would give them all a chance to try out the GM chair before they have to go solo.
I understand that not everyone has the scenario, but maybe we could let Larry start and I can work with the others. Understand: this is a proposal only. But it might be an interesting solution.
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Meanwhile, this brings us to a very important GM topic: Bandwidth. Mine as a GM is extremely limited. It's a good idea as a GM to know your limits. Whenever I do two games at once, I feel a bit strained. Three is impossible for me.
Other GMs can handle lots of games at once. How do you know your limits? Trial and error. I strongly advise doing ONE game at a time the first time you GM. If you decide to add more, do it near the end of your first game, and see how you feel with a week of both games overlapping. Build slowly.
The other issue is that sometimes you cannot predict things that will sap your GM bandwidth. Changes in your life (negative or positive) can creep up at unexpected times. When that happens, do exactly what Granta did. Be honest with your players. Let them know what is going on! Set new expectations, and move forward.
Hmm
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So... I've been putting together a New GM Kit for PBP GMs. Do you folks want to look it over, and tell me if the contents are something that you might find helpful?
Hmm
Um, well, I was looking at it and everything was magically shifting, so I'm assuming there's still some construction underway? @_@
1. This just looks helpful, especially since I didn't even know it existed!
2. The After Scenario reference is something I'd keep a copy of, GMing or no - it looks like it'd be consistently useful, period.
3. I liked the Map notes, because it seems like it'd be helpful for people that haven't tried doing pbp maps at all! Having participated in a few, I've learned some tips and tricks (thanks GM Granta!) so it's stuff I mostly know, but the few bits that I don't know - covering maps with shapes, for example - is super helpful! I don't know why I hadn't though about that! I've just been copying slides over from my prepped set. >^<
4. The botting guide looks really helpful! I've run into some situations where people are unable to post for a few days at a time or are otherwise busy and it's been really rough trying to find a balance between advancing at a good rate for the people that are still here and slowing to a painful halt. I would 100% read through the entire thing! I'm even looking at it now!
5. mysteeeeerious
6. secreeeet
7. The flow chart for grappling is super useful! I've not done a lot with grappling, but a face to face player I've been running a game for has started doing a lot more of that sort of thing, and the rules can get a bit confusing at times. @_@ That chart is going to be a lifesaver!
8. Again with my face to face guy - (he really, really, reallllly likes sundering) this is going to be super useful!
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Here's what I would tell anyone in a similar situation in my region/area of responsibility:
Approach your VO. Show him or her the sessions history on your Paizo account. If there are no reported sessions for a -1 PC, have the VO prepare the 'Welcome to Pathfinder' assigning it to your -2 PC, add explanatory remarks on the boon/chronicle, making sure the VO's name, PFS #, VO position, and signature are legible.
Yes, Hmm is your VO, and Hmm has done this before. However, your -2 character would have to be Level One still for this boon to apply. If we're talking about Mivvy, who appears to be a level one Swashbucker, we could do this.
Hmm
PS Hiyami, thank you for all the feedback!
Why yes, I did!
Cynan, what is your name and PFS number. If it is for Mivvy, I could write something up for her.
Hmm
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@Akash: Only good guys get bolded. Bad guys always act in the GM post, and so aren't "up" after said post. That said, even if their action had been just to move into view, there would still be a melee.
Shooting or Throwing into a Melee: If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character, you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll. Two characters are engaged in melee if they are enemies of each other and [u]either threatens the other.[/u] (An unconscious or otherwise immobilized character is not considered engaged unless he is actually being attacked.)
Once the first creature on either side is capable of making an AoO, there is a melee.
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As far as I'm aware, you log in and then....
1. My Account
2. Pathfinder Society
3. GM/Event Coordinator
4. Create Your Event
There are probably better routes to get there, but that's what I got from tinkering around with the site. I'm not sure how to report for games that are already part of a different event, though?
Excellent. c: Good to know! But... if it's based on the event, wouldn't it be whoever is running GDVI? That's... Hmm, right? O:
It will be me and likely Jesse entering all that data. The downside of the job.
For PBP Gameday VI, we have one event and a standard reporting form that GMs fill in.
Hmm
That sounds... extremely time consuming. @_@ Thanks in advance for all of your hard work!
Yes, for each game that you run that is not part of a PBP Convention! But you can keep the same number for all your PbP events if you want to do so.
To be honest the only reason that Jesse and I do it this way is so that we can get accurate data on how many unique players there are. It is the only time we get a snapshot of activity in our region, and we need to collect stats for a variety of reasons. The activity level may be atypical, but it is still data. Most of the time, we run blind. Our region is a nebulous one that is hard to measure.
Hmm
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So, I have walked into a classic error.
An Asmodean and a Paladin walk into a bar...
The link is to my game where I have recruited a paladin and an advocate of Asmodeus...
I ran a loaded lottery but was so focussed on looking at my players previous RP and the kind of roleplayers they were that I didn't think about character choices much!
Normally, my home-game houserules are: only Good characters; play a hero or don't play.
So, I've not masses of experience with evil (or evil-linked) characters beyond a few painful early ones.
Advice sought!
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Basing your player selection on their demonstrated roleplaying record, you've probably selected some great players. The PCs' backgrounds can be seeds for fun interaction.
PFS doesn't allow for evil PCs or Player vs Player violence, and evil acts have consequences. Within those parameters, we're supposed to accommodate diverse players and player styles.
Share your concerns with the players at the outset. The recruitment or discussion thread would be a good place for that.
If a player/PC crosses the line during play, a prompt caution or correction should avoid further transgressions and resentment among and between players.
As GMs and as players ourselves, we all have personal preferences and pet peeves. This class or that archetype is overpowered or broken, this or that feat/trait/spell is too powerful/weak, etc. That sort of discussion (or rant) has a proper place on the forums for those who need to express themselves and want to enter the passionate fray. The longer I've been involved in PFS, the more I avoid them--but that's my own personal preference/pet peeve talking.
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One of my favorite paladin conflicts was with a necromancy wizard in #6: Black Waters. Early on, the PCs find a decade-old severed arm that hasn't decayed at all, and of course that piques the necromancer's curiosity. He walks around with it in hand for the rest of the scenario, and rolls all sorts of checks to study it--and just generally would gesture with it and treat it like his own hand.
That drives the paladin nuts for hours, especially since their orders included being respectful of the dead. Toward the end of the scenario though, the Pathfinders run into a similar effect and I gave a bonus because of the necromancer's previous studying.
Well, that bonus turned failure into success, which of course meant that the necromancer kept lording it over the paladin, even into future scenarios together.
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Yarr. Having just finished GMing Giantslayer I wanted to talk about a different way of recruitment for games with campaign mode, such as modules and APs.
Below is a summary of how I did things for the AP and was quite happy with how it worked out (even if one of my players ended up being missing repeatedly)
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Most AP recruitment on Paizo.com tend to present character rules, some expectations of players and ask interested players to create characters and apply with those.
Most of these recruitments tend to draws dozens of applicants, and waste most of their time. Out of say 30 applicants only 6 will get picked, the other 24 having wasted their time creating characters, backstories and statblocks.
What I propose is a better solution to recruitment is to recruite players, rather than characters.
Post your expectations including things like posting speed, approximately what material you expect to be available and an invite for players to apply with their interest.
From there take a look at the players recent pbp posts. See if they have a history of regular posting, pushing things forward and writing interesting descriptive posts.
Make yourself some notes about who you're most excited about and then pick them. Really having an awesome player is much more important than an awesome character.
Once you've gotten your players you can have them make characters, likely quite quickly and then start them on the adventure. You'll also avoid wasting the time of dozens of players having to create characters that'll never see the light of day.
As a side note I tend to go for about 5 players with one of those slots reserved for a new player. I don't want to create an old hands only club but I also want my game to be as awesome as possible. Especially since even the stranger at the gate is due hospitality, I'll make sure to get somebody new.
In my most recent game that player turned out awesome and I'm glad that I got him, while one of my more experienced players frequently lagged behind in posting and had to be botted through several whole fights.
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/waves
PirateRob nailed it right on the head. I am currently:
GM'ing- 3 AP's (Giantslayer Book 5; Iron Gods Book 3 and Skulls and Shackles Book 4)
Playing- 3 (Giantslayer Book 1; Strange Aeons Book 1; Second Darkness Book 5)
Those are all on here as PbP. Scenarios make it hard to tell as they are over in a few short weeks, but a lengthier module will help you find solid players.
Players have made or broken AP's on these forums. As for my skulls and shackles on. I was a brand new GM. We are now on Book 4 because I didn't quite know what to look for and didn't post expectations as Rob mentioned. With the Skulls and Shackles one I get several players that even after speaking with them make a post with barely a sentence and a roll. Heck sometimes even just a roll which is very frustrating as a GM as they still expect you to push the story forward with little to no guidance at that point.
I definitely learned from that experience. Post expectations, Find good players (Also throw in a newer player to help learn the right way to do things.) Players making good consistent posts that have any sort of push in it will make your AP successful. You will find that players making meaningful posts will actually run the story themselves for the post part allowing you as the GM to simply mediate and progress the story.
With scenarios and modules you can easily slack a little bit on posting rate as it won't hurt much. An AP is much longer game and you don't want to lose that momentum as it definitely spreads during times. People still have lives, vacations and such. Just have to be careful not to lose the momentum as each book will take roughly 6 months with 1 post a day from each person.
I've started listening to Glass Cannon and they make Giantslayer sound a ton of fun.
Giantslayer is very fun, though it is definitely very dungeon heavy. It may even beat Shattered Star as about 2 of the books are nothing but a dungeon.
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What I propose is a better solution to recruitment is to recruite players, rather than characters.
That's something that has confused me since the day I started doing PbP. Recruiting characters make absolutely no sense to me, and I still don't understand why people do it.
My long campaign started with invites, but when that still left a seat open, I recruited for a player rather than character and was thrilled with the results.
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In the short time I've been active in PbP, I've observed that most games call for posting once a day, and everybody agrees to do so. Then, in execution, there are a more than a few extended breaks in the action/posting by one or more persons involved.
Is there an effective way for the GM to get all involved to honor the commitment they made (without being a d&%@ about it)? Is it kosher to just say at the outset, look, if it's been 24 hours since your last post, you'll be botted and the party will move on?
PbP etiquette seems to encourage a player to announce his or her upcoming absence and request to be botted. Some players do that. Others disappear, then apologize when they rejoin the group. A few seem to just teleport in and out.
As a player, I find it helps to reduce frustration by being in several games at once, so when one flat-lines for several days, at least there might be something happening in another game. However, my preference would be fewer active games with more active participation.
I will definitely welcome new PbP players to join a scenario. But whenever I feel I'm ready to GM or play an entire AP, I would definitely want to look at the PbP record of all involved to make sure I wasn't buying a one-way ticket on the train to nowhere-never.
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I'm trying to come up with an outline for the GM School. For now, ignore parts II & III.
Between the creative juices drying up and just not having any accountability, the outline has been progressing much slower than desired. But getting you guys involved should help on both fronts :-D
I'm trying to come up with an outline for the GM School. For now, ignore parts II & III.
Between the creative juices drying up and just not having any accountability, the outline has been progressing much slower than desired. But getting you guys involved should help on both fronts :-D
Thanks for posting that, Granta!
Since you are going to deal with 'quantifiables' -- organization and prep -- I am going to talk about unquantifiables.
These unquantifiables are:
Fun is so elusive. But it's an essential part of having a great game rather than going through the motions.
Hmm, what do you mean by 'Fun'?
I am so glad you asked! I believe that the fun of games are shared by the players and the GM. Fun is infectious. When it is there, games leap into life. When it is absent... oh man do games drag for me.
Fun to me means looking forward to the crazy stuff that my players come up with. I know that games are fun when I am constantly refreshing my campaigns, awaiting the next post.
Fun means taking pleasure in the story, the setting, the characters. Fun means seeing something unexpected, laughing out loud, and then cackling madly as I consider the consequences. Fun means considering each character and considering how the NPCs react to them, and how to draw them out of their shells.
Fun is when everyone is moving gameplay forward, interacting with one another, experiencing the thrill of discovery and the joy of interplay. Fun also comes with challenges, whether it is a mystery to poke at, a tough and unusual fight, or a really bizarre roleplay encounter.
It's hard to define, but you know when it is there.
How do you create 'Fun'?
That can be tough. I think that it starts with GM Enthusiasm, but the players have to give of theirselves as well. If you have a bunch of empty seats who only post in combat and roll dice, you're not going to have fun. If you have that one grumpy player who dumps on everyone and complains, you're not going to have as much fun.
Still, let's start with that intangible: joy. That joy can start in the prep stage as you are reviewing a scenario and notice enjoyable NPCs, fun fights, or weird puzzles. I love to consider accents, turns of speech and sample dialogue.
I am prepping for PSA IRL at GenCon, and I admit that part of my prep has been songs for the quests. There's a mimic in one of the quests who is outrageous, and who I think deserves his own song (from Disney's 'Be Our Guest'.)
♫ I'm your desk, I'm your desk
You're confused 'cause I'm the best
Cherie, stick like glue to me,
How your struggles give me zest
We dance around the room
Dancing you to your doom
And it's not because I'm vicious
O Cherie, you're quite delicious! ♫
Do I think every GM should filk? (Okay, maybe I do. But I know that's unreasonable!) I am creating the filks -- which I may or may not use -- to get my mind primed for joy.
Every GM should find something in the story to look forward to. Find your joy, and GM to your own strengths. Reach for it. Grab it with both hands. Try to share that joy with your players.
Figure out what gives them joy! What are they trying to acheive with their characters? Can you bring it out and make them shine? Even if someone is just a combat monster, you can take what they do in combat, and make them feel like a hero when you summarize the player's previous actions in combat.
Here are two recent examples from a GM that I think does an awesome job of fun:
Mr. Peppers knows he's successful when he hears a shriek from the creature being drenched in water, yet, unfortunately, the Janni is directly above Cup's head. The gnome gets soaked just as the creature does.
Gallix steps up and gives the earth elemental a very limited time on stage as he punches off its rocky head.
None of these by themselves guarantee fun... But I think that they can get you a great start.
Hmm
Is there an effective way for the GM to get all involved to honor the commitment they made (without being a d&%@ about it)? Is it kosher to just say at the outset, look, if it's been 24 hours since your last post, you'll be botted and the party will move on?
PbP etiquette seems to encourage a player to announce his or her upcoming absence and request to be botted. Some players do that. Others disappear, then apologize when they rejoin the group. A few seem to just teleport in and out.
Did you see Bot Buddy's Guide to Botting? It's in the New GM Kit, and my alter ego is quite proud of the job he did writing it.
I am all about setting a botting policy at the start of my games. I tell people at the outset that they are going to be botted. In the case of fast-moving games like specials, I tell them they're going to be botted after 8 hours.
I aim for the 2-3 posts a day rate, which is a bit fast for some players. My players are often startled when I start the game at a lightning pace and then maintain it. I firmly believe that posting expectations should be set before the first gameplay post, and then firmed up by keeping that pace going through the first few days.
Does this mean that I always go at that pace? No, sometimes you have to listen to your players, I had one game where my team asked me to slow down on the weekends and give them a bit longer to get a post in. Since everyone agreed, that was fine.
I do think that communication about absences starts with the GM. Post your own schedule. Communicate, and encourage your players to do so too. Will they? Most of the time I think they will.
I did have a couple games where they didn't tell me about absences at first, but then by midgame they started figuring it all out.
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I will definitely welcome new PbP players to join a scenario. But whenever I feel I'm ready to GM or play an entire AP, I would definitely want to look at the PbP record of all involved to make sure I wasn't buying a one-way ticket on the train to nowhere-never.
There is a reason that I do recruitments for modules. I want awesome players, I want chemistry, and I want people who will entertain me through a longer game. I'm selfish that way.
Hmm
By the way, how do you guys feel about me asking some of the recent GM 101 graduates to come by and talk about their first solo GM flights?
Hmm
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In the short time I've been active in PbP, I've observed that most games call for posting once a day, and everybody agrees to do so. Then, in execution, there are a more than a few extended breaks in the action/posting by one or more persons involved.
Is there an effective way for the GM to get all involved to honor the commitment they made (without being a d&%@ about it)? Is it kosher to just say at the outset, look, if it's been 24 hours since your last post, you'll be botted and the party will move on?
PbP etiquette seems to encourage a player to announce his or her upcoming absence and request to be botted. Some players do that. Others disappear, then apologize when they rejoin the group. A few seem to just teleport in and out.
I tell people up front that I will wait no longer than 36 hours before botting someone. One easy way to kill PbP is large gaps of waiting and inactivity. Other players lose motivation and they start to have huge delays. Then the quest never completes and everyone's upset that their character is stuck in a slow game. After the first botted action, I'll bot them in shorter intervals, especially if the rest of the party is waiting for them.
Stuff I have stolen from Bot Buddy's guide:
- All of my PCs have a "Bot me!" section that details my common combat actions, so you can quickly paste my actions.
- Speaking of which, I copy/paste my most common attack blocks so I don't have to retype them. All of my rogue-type characters have a block for their Stealth, Perception and Disable Device skills as well.
- I need to make a separate botting alias... Oh! I know! I'll make a doppleganger alias.
As long as you are upfront and can keep up a rapid pace, no one is going to complain that you botted them the wrong way.
I find that more people in a game tends to keep the game going faster and longer.
My theory is that most people wait to post until there is something they feel like responding to (even if it is unconsciously or simply from being unsure what to post), and therefore more people means it is more likely someone will feel like responding to a post and also more likely there will be something each person feels like responding to thus keeping up the pace.
Even if my theory is wrong about that though, more people means that even if someone vanishes for a short period or misses a day or two there will still be plenty of people posting, and if the game looks to be going strong, then folks tend to post more even if they missed a couple days.
I agree with that - to an extent. I've had games where too many posts cause a player to suddenly disappear entirely. This wasn't PFS and it was a long, looooong time ago, but I think that might still hold true. Some people might become intimidated by how far they've fallen behind and struggle to catch back up, no?
In which case, if you notice that happening, how would you handle the situation? I remember feeling bad about it when it happened then because the player was someone that was fun to RP with, but they just kind of... disappeared from that game. I did see them in other places here and there, but I wasn't the GM and I wasn't sure how to really help. :c
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I have also definitely taken on botting - I'm running a practice game at the moment that's not PFS and botting's definitely helped to keep us from getting bogged down. I just check the forum, check how long it's been since I posted, compare it to the last time that person posted and decide whether I ought to intervene or not. In some cases, the answer is a super YES and in others, I give 'em a few more hours before advancing. c:
Perhaps it is just different circles, but oftentimes the games I see die, do so because they get lonely. Whether or not someone can post to move things along, if people are posting, even just in ooc, the game keeps moving, but if there are too few people, no one notices a post, the game gets low on the list, and when there is a post it is like shouting into the void. Sometimes another player will mention having forgotten the game existed because it had been so long since there was a post so they had written it off.
While most of the games I've seen last a while always have multiple things going on, thus players are doing lots of commenting and chatting even while waiting for when they can go again.
That is basically what I meant by different circles. Still, it doesn't hurt for gms to think about how the playstyle of the game they are looking to run affects how beneficial or detrimental certain decisions may be.
Congrats on finishing an AP, that's awesome!
How long did it take?
About 11 months.
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*a wild Ladile appears*
Hey guys, I was one of the people in Hmm's GM 101 class and she asked me if I would peek in and share a little about my experience running my first solo game (The Confirmation) which just finished the last encounter earlier this evening.
As best as I can tell (only now soliciting feedback from my players so this could always change!) everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. This game was invite-only, as I wanted some familiar faces that I could count on to post and be active and to give me assistance if I needed it or honest feedback - and to be honest, I will likely always try to fill at least one or two seats at any given table of mine with folks that I already know I enjoy playing with. One bit of feedback that I *have* gotten so far was along this sort of line - it was pointed out that the GM deserves to have fun too and that there's nothing wrong with making sure you have players that *you* enjoy playing with.
There weren't any issues with the technical side of things like setting up my maps and such on Google Slides, though I did have to go back and reread the notes from GM 101 since it'd been a couple of months. I've still got chronicles to do for them, which I will take care of tomorrow.
Uh let's see, what else? Since I'm still getting my sea legs, I didn't really lay down much in the way of ground rules or anything before we started. The one thing I did explain up front is that due to my work schedule varying week to week, bouncing between day and night shift, that I couldn't commit to saying anything like, "There'll be a post every morning at <time>" or "I'll post 2-3 times per day". Thankfully, everyone seemed okay with this and I did try to make up for slower days and post more on the days that I didn't work.
There's probably other things or finer details that I'm not thinking of right now; does anyone have any specific questions about anything in particular for me?
Is there anywhere that details what the site does to text? And if there is a bb code for monospace?
I can't use google docs type stuff because my phone is usually my only internet and it can't handle google docs. I plan on text maps, but I noticed that sometimes spaces get cut, especially leading spaces and tabs, and wondered if there were other ways the site modifies text.
Monospace is also pretty important to text maps. Code tags might be helpful too as sometimes code tags also apply monospace.
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@Ladile: Here is a tutorial I made for filling out chronicle sheets.
@Alicorn: Have you tried Slides or just Drawings? Google Slides is supposed to work on mobile devices, and quite honestly, I can't imagine doing a combat without it.
Yes, I've tried several of the different google docs things. The primary problem is that is it never finishes loading in usable time. Though I have gotten a couple small spreadsheets to open after around 10 minutes of waiting, but I couldn't move the view sideways nor edit anything. That was ages ago.
I suspect my phone is just too old or my 2g connection just too slow, or both. My phone comes with android 4.2 and a mere 1gb each system storage and ram (usually with less than 200 mb ram available), so my phone might just not be powerful enough for google.
As for doing without, I've run many games without any kind of mapping, of course, that was while not being overly concerned about being perfectly rules bound either.