The Flaxseed Pathfinder Lodge: Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Game Master Redelia

Ninja'd!

I have taken over the game, but I have a few questions.

First, is there a way to give me GM status in the campaign? I'm not quite sure how adopting them works, but it would be helpful if it could be done. I can do without, though.

Secondly, Hmm, does your above post mean I should report the game once all players are checked in? I believe I can edit the session once we finish and figure out how everyone did (and if they survive...*break to maniacal laughter*), but until then should I just put in their names and numbers?

Crunch, have you run anything for the Gameday before? If not, here is the official gameday reporting link. Before you do that, roll for boons in discussion. A 19-20 nets a boon. If you or the players roll one of those, roll a 1d4 to determine what boon the player gets, and collect the player’s email so that you can include all that information in the reporting. That way we can get out your boons in a timely manner.

If someone dies or something weird happens, you can contact any of the PBP VOs to get the session edited after the fact. Magabeus or Redelia would love to help you.

As for getting the PBP Gameday moved to your name, go ahead and apply for it, but currently Paizo support seems very behind in their support queue. My guess is you will finish the game long before the thread is assigned to you, unfortunately.

I hope all this helps.
Hmm

Thank you, I think this answers all my current questions. I've started the players on rolling for boons and sent an e-mail to adopt the thread, but I can do without the latter.

Hey guys, a lot of you already know me, but I still wanted to introduce myself. I'm Redelia, and I've just been appointed Venture Agent for Flaxseed. If you need any help getting started as a player or GM, if a game gets stranded because the GM does not post, or if you have any other questions or things you need help with, please let me know. My PM mailbox is always open.

Magabeus wrote:

We are a region!

Oh, where did this red shirt come from? It color-coordinates with my mask and cape!

Hmm

Conga Rats

Hey guys, a lot of you already know me, but I still wanted to introduce myself. I'm Redelia, and I've just been appointed Venture Agent for Flaxseed. If you need any help getting started as a player or GM, if a game gets stranded because the GM does not post, or if you have any other questions or things you need help with, please let me know. My PM mailbox is always open.

Congratulations, Redelia! I know you're going to do a great job!

If anyone gives you trouble, just sick Blarg on them!

Redelia wrote:

Hey guys, a lot of you already know me, but I still wanted to introduce myself. I'm Redelia, and I've just been appointed Venture Agent for Flaxseed. If you need any help getting started as a player or GM, if a game gets stranded because the GM does not post, or if you have any other questions or things you need help with, please let me know. My PM mailbox is always open.

Congratulations, Redelia! I know you're going to do a great job!

If anyone gives you trouble, just sick Blarg on them!

Thanks, EbonFist. Unfortunately, I think everyone knows Blarg is really just a sweetie.

There's been discussion of the flaws of the FCFS(First Come First Serve) system.

Would alternating FC and LC for a hybrid FCLCFS(First Come, Last Come, Fair Shake) system be viable?

ie, Set a deadline for recruiting (say two days after the post), but note that the last folks to sign up have as much of a chance as the first folks, and then take the earliest person plus the latest person, then work 'towards the middle' of the sign-ups in alternating order?

Or is that too complicated?

...just trying to think of ways to mitigate the disadvantage some folks have for not being online 24-7 or having to work in jobs where they don't have the luxury of being able to check posts every five minutes?

The problem there is you'll see people avoid signing up if they aren't one of the first couple till the last second to try and be last.

Thats where lottery usually comes in. However I'll only ever have recruitment open for 24 hours max. If I do run lottery I don't want to leave people hanging for very long, otherwise they'll sign up for multiple lotteries and end up backing out of some if they win more than one, or they'll sign up for only 1 and miss out on recruitment opportunities on the off-chance they get in. I figure if I'm asking for 1/day posts then 1 day recruitment is good. I also try to make it clear that no, my lottery is not fair. I usually give a free pass to people who have recently GM'd for me, and for new players/pbpers.

Having never GM'd in PFS, this may be advice coming from the peanut gallery but I think the question of the right way to recruit is one that does not have a Right answer.

Having a lottery is not fair to people who spend a great deal of time watching the boards to get into a game, thus sacrificing doing something else (because everything you chose to do means giving up other things you could do.)

FCFS is not fair to people who legitimately cannot refresh the page here every hour, or 15 minutes or 30 seconds because they have a job or unusual schedule or children.

Picking people who have GM'd for you or who you like is not fair because some people have no desire to GM and some people are jerks and some people just don't have the talent for writing good posts.

Picking newbies isn't fair because some people have put months and years into Flaxseed and deserve to be rewarded for that.

Not picking newbies isn't fair because everyone has to start somewhere and shutting them out is a sure way to slowly kill interest in the hobby.

Then again, it's not fair that my FTF games start at 10:30 AM which is too early for me to get my daughter to my in-laws and get back in time to play on a Saturday morning.

I think GM's should share ideas for how to recruit so they can find one that is good for them but should give up trying to find the "right" or "fair."

Here's a wild idea: just go with whatever system the GM thinks works. Or if you have a problem getting INTO games, try RUNNING games and then you'll find that people are a lot more friendly about letting you into their games.

The more games are run, the more likely everyone is to be able to get into a game. So be a part of the solution and run a game for every one you play in.

There's been discussion of the flaws of the FCFS(First Come First Serve) system.

Would alternating FC and LC for a hybrid FCLCFS(First Come, Last Come, Fair Shake) system be viable?

ie, Set a deadline for recruiting (say two days after the post), but note that the last folks to sign up have as much of a chance as the first folks, and then take the earliest person plus the latest person, then work 'towards the middle' of the sign-ups in alternating order?

Or is that too complicated?

...just trying to think of ways to mitigate the disadvantage some folks have for not being online 24-7 or having to work in jobs where they don't have the luxury of being able to check posts every five minutes?

I don't think it would be too complicated, and trying to find a solution people like is never a bad thing.

Having said that, your solution largely has the same problem that a standard lottery does: half the players won't know until the close date whether they got in or not. (The first three have guaranteed slots, assuming you choose six, but the others will have to wait to find out who's last.)

Overall I think it's an interesting solution, and you're definitely free to give it a try if you plan on running one. But not everyone will like it.

I joined these boards around a year ago, give or take. I started by trying to get into APs, primarily, as I like those long-form stories best. But I had a really hard time getting selected, as I didn't have any kind of posting history at all (is my guess, anyway).

So, I came over to Flaxseed and started playing PFS instead.

I found it remarkably *easy* to find and get into PFS games at Flaxseed. Learning how PFS was done, and registering my -1 character was way more difficult than actually finding a game to play in. Maybe I'm just lucky in that I'm in US Eastern time, but there seemed to always be recruitments running that I could get into.

I still find that to be true.

I didn't need a "newbie" spot to get in a game. I didn't need to cross my fingers in a lottery. I just signed up, and found myself in games. It was--and still is--easy.

So, from my perspective, I'm not sure that there's a problem. It's great to talk about different ways to recruit, but are there people trying to get into PFS games in Flaxseed that are actually sitting over in the wings wondering why they can't get into any games?

Here's a wild idea: just go with whatever system the GM thinks works. Or if you have a problem getting INTO games, try RUNNING games and then you'll find that people are a lot more friendly about letting you into their games.

The more games are run, the more likely everyone is to be able to get into a game. So be a part of the solution and run a game for every one you play in.

That's pretty much where these discussions always wind up. But the more we have these discussions, the more ideas are likely to be floated (like Wei Ji's).

Well, yeah. The instant you start regulating what GMs must do is the instant you either start losing GMs or they look for other places to recruit.

But it doesn't hurt to discuss the methods to get ideas.

It's great to talk about different ways to recruit, but are there people trying to get into PFS games in Flaxseed that are actually sitting over in the wings wondering why they can't get into any games?

That's... honestly a good question. I always assumed it was more of a theory question, like "here's what I occasionally find annoying about recruiting and how can we make it better?"

Agreed. Sometimes I even use FCFS for exactly the reasons some people don't like it. Sometimes I'm just looking to run a fast paced game, and FCFS makes it more likely that I'll get people with similar schedules who respond quickly enough to make that happen.

I can certainly say though that if recruitment methods become regulated, the GM pool will go down, not up.

I do like hearing these discussions from time to time however. Sometimes it gives me ideas about when to use which type of recruitment.

My 2 cents on recruiting: It is up to the GM how he or she recruits. Each and every system has its drawbacks and advantages.

I agree completely with GM Andrew and DebugAMP on this subject. The discussion is useful because it shows everyone what recruitment methods there are, but it is still the GMs decision which one he uses.

Happy gaming!

I typically mix up my recruitments depending on the game I run; sometimes half is reserved for GMs or people I Owe, the other half lottery. If I only need to recruit 1 or 2 and want to start fast it's FCFS. For folks who failed lottery I keep an eye out and promise them a place in future sometimes.

With that said, I don't think recruitment is a big issue, I've never found myself short of games, and once you're on the board for a few months, most folk find that they never really are short of games. That's my perception...

More of a discussion idea than a request for implementation. Trying to figure out a good yet fair way to recruit in the future when I run something in pbp.

At the same time, not everyone is cut out to GM, so it is harsh to try and spin that as the 'ideal' solution.

Agreed, not everyone is cut out to GM, but I'll absolutely make it a point to thank and reward people who GM for me. Given that I generally try to GM 1 game and Play 1 game at any given time, that really only means 1 or 2 slots of my 6 are reserved for a recent GM for any given scenario.

My 2 cents on recruiting: It is up to the GM how he or she recruits. Each and every system has its drawbacks and advantages.

My 2 cents to your 2 cents, is that if there are a fair amount of GMs, and all do their own blend of things (lottery, FCFS, new players, friends...) it should mean that all players get a shot at getting in somehow.

Then all will never be able to even try to get into all the games, but should be able to get into enough games to have fun, or so I'd think.

Eric, that’s four eurocents combined

The difficulty (I find) is getting the particular scenarios one is actually looking for.

Getting a game is easy, there are a bajillion MOFF/Confirmation/etc repeatables, but not a lot of people running current 'in season' games.

Yeah, I don't know that I've ever seen anyone actually say, "Hey, I never can get into any games no matter when I check the forums or how often I check" - at least not recently. There have been a lot of new faces popping up over the last few months that want to play but it seems like there's been more or less an equal amount of new GMs stepping up to start running games as well - not to mention that now there's almost always 2 or 3 people willing to jump in right away to take over an abandoned game or even start up a game when someone asks (such as the case for folks who missed out on most of the early Gameday games).

@Shifty - I bet if you (or anyone, really) posted here seeking a specific scenario then you'd find someone or someones happy to run it for you! It might take a little time for the GM to get ready to do it, but I can't imagine that you wouldn't get any offers at all :)

The difficulty (I find) is getting the particular scenarios one is actually looking for.

Getting a game is easy, there are a bajillion MOFF/Confirmation/etc repeatables, but not a lot of people running current 'in season' games.

Probably not helping the 'in season' request, but given all of the Humble Bundles, I'll be taking requests from seasons 4-7 as soon as I start recruiting again.

@Shifty - I bet if you (or anyone, really) posted here seeking a specific scenario then you'd find someone or someones happy to run it for you! It might take a little time for the GM to get ready to do it, but I can't imagine that you wouldn't get any offers at all :)

Oh for sure it can be done, and yep people take requests - I was just picking up that there was a lot of emphasis on the repeatable content, which is a bit of a shame considering the rich backlog of content out there and brand new fresh goodness.

My focus is on Starfinder GM'ing now, as I feel compelled to go collect 5 Novas :)

**DebugAMP disappears in in a puff of smoke and a disembodied voice takes his place**

For that matter... any requests from seasons 4-7?

re. GMing PFS: I have just started GMing here, and though my focus is CORE, I am fine w. running games people want when I have the time, and hope to be able to do requests etc. (I am not going to be GMing PFS tabletop anymore, for a while, since I am running SFS now for tabletop ; which is what brought me here: to try and play at least a bit of the scenarios before DMing them)

If people are taking requests, let me know and I've got a character I'd like to play through Frozen Fingers of Midnight and the Silent Tide! Both are season 0 though.

If people are taking requests, let me know and I've got a character I'd like to play through Frozen Fingers of Midnight and the Silent Tide! Both are season 0 though.

You are a lucky bear! FFoM is the next scenario on my request queue, and I was planning to open signups soon anyway, so go ahead and pop over to my signup sheet and grab a spot!

I GM FtF PFS games fairly often, but I don't do it as PbP. I just don't feel like I've got the time every day to do it properly.
It usually just takes a few minutes from to pop off my PC's actions/questions/responses from my phone. But GM'ing a PbP seems it would have to take a more significant time investment everyday in front of the computer to update maps, check the scenario, respond to the actions of everyone else, and all the other NPC's stuff.
I don't feel that I could reliable dedicate that much time each day for the several weeks of a scenario.

Congrats, Redalia, on the VA position for the Online region! You've come a long way since I had Narika at my table! :-)

Thanks, Xynen. That was only my second or third PFS game ever. :)

I think I played with your -1 when she was level 1 back at GM V's table of City of Strangers. Right after that I remember running to Judge a Soul for a pregen that became your -2. And now you're a VA! Congrats!

Yep, you played with me in my first ever PFS game, and were the third PFS GM I ever had.

Wooo hooo! Hooray for GM Rinaldo!

For that matter... any requests from seasons 4-7?

Well if you're offering ...

How about #5-10 Where Mammoths Dare Not Tread from Season 5?

Also, I can highly recommend, GM Rinaldo!

He has done an amazing job running his first PbP game.

re. GMing PFS: I have just started GMing here, and though my focus is CORE

Finally, I'm not alone anymore!

You've not been alone for a long time.

Eric Collins - France wrote:

re. GMing PFS: I have just started GMing here, and though my focus is CORE

Finally, I'm not alone anymore!

When work is not going insane I plan to join you all once again. I'm only interested in GMing Core here now. I have enough Classic GMing in-person. ;)

I wouldn't mind starting a CORE character, though I would worry about getting him levelled up.

I wouldn't mind tracking down some high level core, as this guy is only 5 games from 12 after he finishes his current.

I really enjoy my CORE character, only level 4 at present though

I wouldn't mind tracking down some high level core, as this guy is only 5 games from 12 after he finishes his current.

Seconded, as I am only a game from retiring.

I wouldn't mind starting a CORE character, though I would worry about getting him levelled up.

Start your stable. Multiple characters is always a good idea

Since it randomly came up in one of my games: if you're using Google Drawings/Docs to handle PBP maps, it's useful to have the common area templates in easy to grab format. I keep mine in a blank doc to grab and copy into maps as needed, rescaling as appropriate, etc. If anyone wants to grab the templates, here ya go.

Over the next few weeks as my GD6 tables finish off I'm aiming to start a couple of new tables, one a high level classic run of Lost at Bitter End, and one a Core table of The Horn of Aroden (though that will be early December in all likelihood).

Most of these seats will be filled in a FCFS basis. However in light of the recent discussions on getting into games, I've added two innovations.

In my low level game (Horn of Aroden) I've saved a spot for a new PBP player. To me, that means you have three or less PBP games to your credit. It will be filled on a FCFS basis for newbie players.

I have also kept two slots for "lottery" characters. On my signup sheet there are some blue squares you can put your details into if you miss out on a FCFS slot. The lottery will be a bit biased in that if the table looks like being low tier, I'll probably roll for low or between tier characters. Likewise if it looks like being high tier I'll likely not include low tier characters.

Please don't put down "lots of characters, level TBD. If you want a roll, pick a particular character. Same for if you grab a FCFS seat, pick a specific character.

If there are not "spaces" left in the lottery, feel free to add extra lottery lines to any given game.

Sign up sheet is linked below my name, or you can just click. here

The Man Behind the Curtain wrote:

For that matter... any requests from seasons 4-7?

Well if you're offering ...

How about #5-10 Where Mammoths Dare Not Tread from Season 5?

If I may be so bold...

The Fabric of Reality is on my To-Play list.

⁢
"Ooh! I would also be down for tearing the Fabric a new one!"