Of all the feedback I receive about Pathfinder Society Organized Play, whether it be in person when I am visiting different regions, through emails, or on the messageboards, what I hear most is that non-convention-goers have little to no chance to obtain some of the convention-only boons that are offered at regional shows. The most popular of these boons are the racial boons, which open up the player's options to choose a unique race. I have thought long and hard on how we can even out things for those players who are not able to attend a convention for whatever reason.
First, let me clarify that we will always have special boons that can only be obtained at conventions. These will consist of a multitude of various options, from extending the range of the Day Job earnings chart to unique races. Our regional and national conventions and larger game days are where we garner the biggest PR for our game. But that doesn't mean I don't want to offer the chance of getting cool boons, especially racial boons, to members of our player base who don't attend conventions.
At these regional conventions, players only receive approximately a 10% chance to receive any boon that is provided at the convention. I don't think it is unreasonable to offer a similar chance to non-convention players.
One tool that has finally been opened to me is I am able to filter play of individual scenarios, and to see every reported table and every Pathfinder Society number that was at that table. I am also able to filter dates so I can see exactly how many tables of a specific scenario were reported over a specified time. Playing around with this new tool got me to thinking about how I could utilize it for the benefit of the entire Pathfinder Society player base.
My initial thought is that when a scenario presents something unique, such as helping a race like ratfolk, catfolk, or dhampirs (and no, I am not advising one way or another whether either of these races will make an appearance in Season 5), it might be possible to offer these races (or whatever races were aided in a specified scenario) via a lottery type of system. While I certainly don't want to flood the OP with a zoo of races (such as making them available on a Chronicle sheet for everyone who plays the specified scenario), I don't think it is a bad thing to occassionally give a limited pool of players the chance to play a new race, similar to the Grippli boon at Gen Con this year, as long as we control the flow of how many become available. With that said, my thinking is that after the first month or two of a specified scenario, I would randomly select from all tables that reported success in the specified scenario. All the players and GMs of the randomly selected tables would then have the unique Chronicle sheet sent directly to them.
Maybe this is or isn't the best way to offer unique boons to the entire playerbase, especially those who can't or won't attend conventions. However, it is the start of a working idea I am still toying with that would offer an equal chance to everyone who plays the specified scenario in a specified time limit. If you think this is a horrible idea, please offer a solution for how we can make it better. I would very much like to hear your feedback on what you think of the above system, or hear your thoughts on any other suggestions you might have for how to best utilize this new tool I have been given. As always, your feedback and comments help to strengthen the community at large, and without your feedback and participation, Pathfinder Society wouldn't be as awesome as it is today. I look forward to reading all of your comments.
Mike Brock Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
This reminds of the goblin outcry situation, all that superhyped hate on goblins PC´s and then it turned out it´s was exactly 35 chronicles given out. Why this hate on none-core races?
Why should anyone playing PFS buy none-core material if this person will never be able to use it? Even with this system there is a chance many, many people won´t be able to use it.
On the other hand you have some people who hoard chronicles and never use them. Some are luckily friendly and graceful enough to give or trade them away. All around the world there are many people who cannot visit a Con, maybe there is none where they are, maybe there are some but because of obligations they will never be able to go there.
Besides i think the point is also to get more people and GM´s to report their games and play in season. A good point for a living campaign.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Galnörag wrote:
What about implementing a 'meta' prestige/fame system similar to the one for player characters, but in this case make it for players.
Allow players to accumulate points similar to the way you count GM tables for GM stars, then allow players to spend there prestige to buy boons that have been unlocked by their fame tier.
So maybe the Kitsune boon becomes available after 20 life time points, and it costs 10. Limits the total number of the varied races by making it an expendable player level resource, but makes it open and fair.
If you do X you get Y, not you "might" get Y.
You can still give away the same boons that they might buy, so con attendance gets a chance at a perk, but a perk you can still earn.
I think this whole thing could quickly become a management nightmare for folks who don't report online, but I guess it could be a perk of online reporting?
Additionally, it would be good if a player forced to replay a scenario for no credit (do to shortage of players to fill extra tables) still gets the player fame so that they are incentivized to stay and fill out the table.
As a final though as a local organizer always challenged to find GMs, perhaps GMs get 2 per module?
I think something like this would be great. Earn a point for each game you play or run (maybe 2 points for running?), and you can spend points to get boons.
Is there a strict limit on how many prizes would go out per month? This should be less of a river and more of a stream, imho.
I support anything that leads to greater incentive for accurate reporting stats for the Paizo team, so this is a +1 from me.
Perhaps this should also include character boons such as sinscarred.
Tim Vincent wrote:
Adding Aasimar and Tiefling to the list of always available races was the worst thing that has happened to PFS in recent memory.
I have to agree with Vincent here. I'm getting sick of seeing teams more suited to Planescape wandering around in Golarion. And that's before combat begins.
This reminds of the goblin outcry situation, all that superhyped hate on goblins PC´s and then it turned out it´s was exactly 35 chronicles given out. Why this hate on none-core races?
Why should anyone playing PFS buy none-core material if this person will never be able to use it? Even with this system there is a chance many, many people won´t be able to use it.
On the other hand you have some people who hoard chronicles and never use them. Some are luckily friendly and graceful enough to give or trade them away. All around the world there are many people who cannot visit a Con, maybe there is none where they are, maybe there are some but because of obligations they will never be able to go there.
Besides i think the point is also to get more people and GM´s to report their games and play in season. A good point for a living campaign.
Honestly I look at the goblin thing as a perfect example of why making player races limited time boons is a bad idea since the goblin race ( one of pf's most iconic races) is now basically closed off to anyone who would want to play them. I know over here where I'm at more then half my tables as well as some of my nonpfs friends would have killed for a chance to play those little iconics but thanks to their locked status now never will and that's kind of a turn off. In that situation I wish that races like goblins or grippli were made available to players through something like the aforementioned player prestige system (probably with a moderate to high cost associated with them) with the option to maybe earn them early through lotto or con boons. That way they can be limited through achievement as well as serve as a reward for events and such.
I am not a fan of the proliferation of non-core races. There are already too many, IMO, and some are not balanced vs. the core races. However, I do like giving players options to enjoy the game in whatever form they prefer. If that means more races, so be it. When dhampirs & tengu were issued, there was a cry of "it'll destroy PFS," but it didn't. When tiefling/aasimar became open access, there was a cry of "it'll destroy PFS, but it didn't. When goblins were given out, there was a cry of "it'll destroy PFS," and guess what? Yep, it didn't. :-)
I like the idea of tying boons to a player star system akin to the GM star program. It would be relatively easy to create a prize/reward package based on it. As someone said, you can replicate the Fame system from in game to a player star program. Maintain to scores, Fame and Prestige (or whatever you want to call them) and allow the player to "spend" their prestige points on boons. This would kill three birds with one stone. All players, regardless of location, convention vs. non-convention go'er, etc. would have access to special boons. It would (finally) create a rewards system for participation in PFS, something we have been mumbling about for years. Also, it would encourage more reporting which helps to determine what level of support Paizo should focus on the OP campaign.
What I would like to know is how the actual boon would be issued. A conventions, you receive ONE copy of the boon that is signed (and hopefully dated) by the organizer. Now, I fully expect that this new boon program will not include mailing the boons. That would be exceedingly expensive and counter-productive for maximizing the PFS budget. OTOH, dropping it into the player's download box or even emailing it, would allow the player to print multiple copies either for their own use, or worse, to hand-out willy-nilly to anyone who wants one. How are we going to issue these boons in such a way that they are still "controlled?"
Frankly I don't care all that much about race boons. However, a paladin of the Silver Crusade with maximum ranks in Heal who can't have a day job as a healer seems a bit silly. :p
I like the lottery system as outlined in the first post...but I wouldn't want the reward to be restricted to just racial boons. Extra traits, bonus weapon proficiencies, maybe even the ability for a non caster to cast a single 0 level spell are just as interesting as a basis for a new character...perhaps moreso.
Frankly I don't care all that much about race boons. However, a paladin of the Silver Crusade with maximum ranks in Heal who can't have a day job as a healer seems a bit silly. :p
I don't understand your comment or maybe I missed the point of the ":p". Day Jobs have little to nothing to do with chronicle boons. There is a vanity in the Pathfinder Society Field Guide that allows you to use the heal skill for day job checks. It is only four prestige points and has no Fame requirement. So you could start making Day Job (heal) checks as early as the end of your second game session.
Frankly I don't care all that much about race boons. However, a paladin of the Silver Crusade with maximum ranks in Heal who can't have a day job as a healer seems a bit silly. :p
You can, it just costs 4 PP to get the Temple vanity.
Pathfinder Society Field Guide wrote:
Temple (4 PP): Regardless of your class, you are an
active member of your local temple or place of worship.
Your commitment to seeing your faith prosper and grow
has ingratiated you with the local clergy, and you may
even hold a spot among them when not out adventuring.
You can use Heal to make Day Job rolls. Once per game
session, if you have access to an operating temple of
your faith, you can have a cleric cast either cure moderate
wounds or lesser restoration on yourself or one of your
allies, free of charge. You must visit the temple to receive
this attention.
I also think getting a boon at different number of scenarios played is a good idea, maybe even a better one. Maybe you get a special boon emailed to you for every 25 reported scenarios you play in.
I like this idea. Though I'm not sure on how many race boons will be issued I think it should be a a rare boon indeed. Fact is some people can't attend the big cons due to age, geographic location, family commitment etc. To have something like this as a way to potentially reward those who still support PFS locally is something I can really get behind.
I really like the idea of rewarding people by way of boons - whether those be in the form of alternate races or some other factor isn't really the concern, though.
I know that I would appreciate something along the following lines:
*) If you organize and and report an event with 15+ tables (or some other number, perhaps tiered to 15/ 40/ 100+ tables) you qualify for a certain reward
*) at each DM star tier, you qualify for a certain reward
*) if an adventure is played and reported during the first two weeks of release, the DM and players *MAY* qualify for a certain reward
The rewards could be alternate races, of course, but there are other options as well (prestige classes, items, vanities, faction changes, and so on). It's not that I want to see a more complex rewards system, but I would like I see a more "rewarding" reward system.
As a store owner, even organizer, and regular DM I get a lot of questions about "why should I DM?" - and using the "Well, at 4 stars (100 reported tables; fewer if you run modules) you get the ability to run the yearly 4-star and VO special adventure" answer makes people really wonder about the benefit of it.
Some people DM because it is it's own reward. Some, however, would appreciate the extra reward. Emailing a reward PDF to a DM or a player would essentially be zero-cost but a nice little nod of thanks for their time and effort.
tl;dr: races are cool, but so are other little trinkets - and trinkets don't break the huamnocentric view of Golarion.
This is a good idea, but I think you need to somehow mark the player ID # in the boon, otherwise photocopying becomes too easy. I guess the watermarking is OK too, but it doesn't really imply the player can't sell/trade his boon. I guess I just see people cheating and the latest released scenario doesn't exactly alleviate my concerns.
I like the idea, but I second some of the earlier concerns about reporting requirements. If I only have X amount of time to play a scenario and make it, and then it doesn't get reported before the deadline, I will be disgruntled.
(Not that I'm often particularly gruntled to begin with, but you get the idea.)
If you are going to require reporting, I think the idea of the extra success condition mentioned earlier might be the way to go. If my understanding of the podcast is correct, and the second PP in any given scenario is going to be tied to an extra success condition, you've got an easy way of determining whether it was met without changing reporting.
Is there any way you could do an opt-in contest? If we're talking about only doing this for scenarios that introduce a new race--which I assume would only be a time or two per season--you could put up a quick two-question quiz about the content of the scenario, and anyone who gets both questions right gets tossed into the drawing. Although now that I've typed that it kind of encourages people to trade spoilers, so maybe that's not such a good idea.
If you could limit it to people who manually enter themselves, though, and make sure the relevant scenarios include a note about that, that could be a good thing, because it would encourage more people to visit the site.
Or it could unjustly reward the already vocal minority here on the boards instead. Hmm. Well, we're brainstorming, so I guess my bad ideas are theoretically useful. :P
I know it would take some work to implement, but I love the idea of the meta fame and prestige system. It fits wonderfully with the in character system. It removes the random nature of the boons which I have never loved in the con implementation. It opens the boons to everyone. It encourages play. It encourages GMing. It encourages reporting. It encourages getting people onto the Paizo website which will lead many of them deeper into involvement with the game. Love it!
Thank you this is awesome. I was so pumped prior to phoenix comicon thinking that would be my first chance for a race boon, and I was both shocked and disappointed to see there wasn't any Piazo support there for it. This means the opportunity is still out there. This was a very welcome read.
As a passerby who is both uninterested in and unable to play PFS, please feel free to disregard this post from an interested "outsider". I am looking for some well reasoned, articulate and honest answers. thank you in advance.
* How do non-Core races contribute to an inimical PFS experience?
OR, to put it another way, to those with all the "Cantina-freaks" hate - what is the problem with non-Core races and why would you want to limit them? If people want to play them then there must be some attraction. Fantasy is moving along, and there are some new kids in town. And new audiences. Catering to them would seem to extend your fanbase, rather than "dilute" it with "crazy new fangled notions".
If there is a mechanic/OP reason, could they not be adjusted for society play?
* Can somebody link me to a source for a Humanocentric-Golarion as canon concept?
@Bob Jonquet - magnificent, well reasoned and honest post. You don't like them personally, but you can see beyond that, and the larger experience. Well done.
As a passerby who is both uninterested in and unable to play PFS, please feel free to disregard this post from an interested "outsider". I am looking for some well reasoned, articulate and honest answers. thank you in advance.
* How do non-Core races contribute to an inimical PFS experience?
OR, to put it another way, to those with all the "Cantina-freaks" hate - what is the problem with non-Core races and why would you want to limit them? If people want to play them then there must be some attraction. Fantasy is moving along, and there are some new kids in town. And new audiences. Catering to them would seem to extend your fanbase, rather than "dilute" it with "crazy new fangled notions".
If there is a mechanic/OP reason, could they not be adjusted for society play?
* Can somebody link me to a source for a Humanocentric-Golarion as canon concept?
@Bob Jonquet - magnificent, well reasoned and honest post. You don't like them personally, but you can see beyond that, and the larger experience. Well done.
I am not one of the race haters, but as to your canon question I may be able to answer a bit. Because the scenarios are to be run as written, and it isn't really reasonable for the writers to list every prejudice an NPC might have, races that are written in the books as despised by X tend to still get treated like the "normal" races when it comes to PFS play. When I made my first PFS character, he was a tiefling and I was expecting a lot of prejudice. I was trying to go out of my way to find ways to mask my heritage, after actually playing a few games I realized it didn't matter. In fact my view of this has swung so far the other way that in my head I was distraught when I saw a GM ignoring tactics to coup de gras a character because of her race even though she took a trait to appear human like most everyone else. (In all fairness I haven't read the module, that may be described tactics but I doubt it.)
I personally want more races because I want more options. But inserting more races does strip the prejudice from the story as a necessity to keep streamlined gameplay.
Gotta say that the chatter from some GMs talking about how they were hoping to off PCs from "undesirable" races whenever they got the chance left a bad taste in my mouth. I think it was worst when the goblin boons hit.
Didn't exactly lend itself to an inviting atmosphere.
I like the idea of getting boons into more hands. I know many feel the addition of nonstandard races take away some of the enjoyment of the game, and I can see why. But where I live, only our VC ever attends the cons where boons like these are handed out, so virtually no one has them (there are two kitsune boons I'm aware of, and that's it). So having some way for players in my area (Phoenix AZ) to pick up a boon would be great. To me, it's be refreshing to see the occasional character that doesn't look like every other one I've seen. I wouldn't mind seeing some more races opened up for everybody like aasimar, tieflings and tengu were (though I wish aasimar/tiefling were not, they are nice but with all the available variations they're more like humans with super powers than an alternate race).
I know many feel the addition of nonstandard races take away some of the enjoyment of the game, and I can see why.
[Emphasis mine] What about the non-standard races makes the game less enjoyable? I think I'm missing something that seems to be fairly common opinion/experience.
Lottery system seems cool, and give some of us that can't make it to Cons a chance to get a boon. I think another way that could add on to that would let GMs a chance to earn a boon with games. like if we run 10 games of say The Rats of Round Mountain, then we can get are name in the Lottery an extra time for the Ratfolk boon. At lest that is my Idea.
I know many feel the addition of nonstandard races take away some of the enjoyment of the game, and I can see why.
[Emphasis mine] What about the non-standard races makes the game less enjoyable? I think I'm missing something that seems to be fairly common opinion/experience.
Because, to people who want a 'realistic' experience for the setting, a tableful of people of races that are supposed to be rare can harm the sense of immersion. In a group of six travelers picked at random, to get three aasimar, two tieflings and your puny human makes you feel as though there's a mis-representation of their rareness.
I know many feel the addition of nonstandard races take away some of the enjoyment of the game, and I can see why.
[Emphasis mine] What about the non-standard races makes the game less enjoyable? I think I'm missing something that seems to be fairly common opinion/experience.
Because, to people who want a 'realistic' experience for the setting, a tableful of people of races that are supposed to be rare can harm the sense of immersion. In a group of six travelers picked at random, to get three aasimar, two tieflings and your puny human makes you feel as though there's a mis-representation of their rareness.
So do you shy away from tables consisting of two alchemists and two gunslingers? Or how about tables of summoners? They're supposed to be rare.
Or for that matter, how about characters from Tien Xia? After all they don't show up all over the place in the Inner Sea region. Exiles from Hermena? Would Ksenia put you off because not only is she a Winter Witch far from home, but she's Jadwiga to boot?
If the possibility of playing at a table with people having fun 'breaks your immersion' then it's not the table's issue.
I like the idea of opening up race boons to local games. Since it is a tool for PR, have you considered using the lottery system for folks that pre-order products on the Paizo site?
I like the idea of opening up race boons to local games. Since it is a tool for PR, have you considered using the lottery system for folks that pre-order products on the Paizo site?
Heh, Boons for Charter Subscribers!
More seriously, that is an idea. Anyone remember when the warehouse staff would slip in a 'booster pack' of item cards randomly? Or when the PF Tales subscribers got a free copy of Prince of Wolves?
Maybe have a random boon, not even a race boon, 'just' a boon.* stuck in packaging. If it's a non-pfs player, it might get them interested.
*
Spoiler:
I hate the idea of 'just' a boon. The scenarion boons, for example are anything but 'just' a boon. Reddywipple would be offended at that thought.
Heh. One of my characters is now basically Riddlywipple plus this random witch that he drags around with him. That one "boon" is basically now my character.
Someone asked me what Talyn (my highest level character) was. I said a Faerie dragon, with a lore warden 7/rogue 2 companion. I even have a hand puppet for him. :-)
I don't love the timed feeling, especially when a scenario comes up and I don't have a character in Tier.
Play a pre-gen, then the appropriate race character will actually have the chronicle that earned them the boon :)
Interestingly I just gave the same advice to my Lantern Lodge players who are below tier for the Way of Kirin.
As mostly a GM and sometimes a player, I will say that overwhelmingly when I do play I prefer to play my own character instead of a pregen.
We also only play 1 / month, so for the Way of Kirin I pushed it into our schedule as close to the end date as possible to encourage everyone to go seek other PP at other local events/game stores/etc.
I think one of the most exciting features of playing a new race is the opportunity to create a racial personality (yes, I know that's racist - that's precisely my point).
As such, I think emphasizing the role-playing prowess of players would be paramount in determining who gets access to these new and rare boons. I don't think we'd like it if a racial boon simply became an exercise in mathematics to determine how to squeeze the most bang out of a new set of variables.
Currently, there's no way to determine via the reporting system who has done a decent job in playing their character - in role-playing. Since we're all playing role-playing games, I would think that devising a way to reflect role-playing excellence would be a novel way to nominate players for novel boons.
We've started to do that at our local con. We had the table GMs asterisk on their recording sheet the player who best exemplified their character during the scenario. All of those PCs were awarded a small prize, and were given a second chance to draw for a boon.
Think of it like an Academy Award nomination by a GM. It would require more recording from GMs, but it would reward behavior that we'd all like to see, and it would guarantee that the boons would be given to those of merit, not just luck.
I love that there is an effort to open up the race boons to non convention goers. However Im not so sure the lottery is the way to go. I can see a lot of disappointment coming as a result of that. I much prefer the idea of connecting boons to GM'd games.
I like the idea of opening up race boons to local games. Since it is a tool for PR, have you considered using the lottery system for folks that pre-order products on the Paizo site?
Heh, Boons for Charter Subscribers!
More seriously, that is an idea. Anyone remember when the warehouse staff would slip in a 'booster pack' of item cards randomly? Or when the PF Tales subscribers got a free copy of Prince of Wolves?
Maybe have a random boon, not even a race boon, 'just' a boon.* stuck in packaging. If it's a non-pfs player, it might get them interested.
*** spoiler omitted **
Now that would be a wee bit unfair, because for everyone outside of U.S. preordering or having an abo costs a tick more in terms of customs and package. In fact, nearly all stuff i own is a pdf partly because of this.
I like the idea of opening up race boons to local games. Since it is a tool for PR, have you considered using the lottery system for folks that pre-order products on the Paizo site?
Heh, Boons for Charter Subscribers!
More seriously, that is an idea. Anyone remember when the warehouse staff would slip in a 'booster pack' of item cards randomly? Or when the PF Tales subscribers got a free copy of Prince of Wolves?
Maybe have a random boon, not even a race boon, 'just' a boon.* stuck in packaging. If it's a non-pfs player, it might get them interested.
*** spoiler omitted **
Now that would be a wee bit unfair, because for everyone outside of U.S. preordering or having an abo costs a tick more in terms of customs and package. In fact, nearly all stuff i own is a pdf partly because of this.
Benjamin,
Thank you, that is something I did not consider, out of country shipping.
The whole idea of realism in a fantasy world with both magic and science (alchemy and gunpowder) blows my mind.
Also the whole idea that aasamar are extremely rare when there is a whole country of them makes me laugh. It seems more probable that aasamar are about as numerous as Wizards.
I like the idea overall. A set percentage chance to win, with maybe a few percentage nudge controllable by scenarios played/results obtained by a group would be awesome, I think.
Having a set path with a defined effect (play this, get boon) will result in grinding by players. Which just seems odd, since unusual races are supposed to be...you know...unusual.
If people are honestly worried about the Moar power part of having the different races and options, as a GM, it's a simple two questions.
"What book is that from?" and
"May I see the source?"
I've been a charter subscriber since day one. I do have everything*, and have a PDF of the books as a result. I could make an 'hog the fun' character if I wanted to. I don't. Someone googling 'How to beat ass in Pathfinder Society' better be ready to shell out a lot of coin for that.
"Oh you have the PRD? No, that doesn't count."
"Oh, you used Hero Lab? No, that doesn't count."
"Oh you used d20pfsrd? You used Archives of Nethys? Nope, nope."
I commented Saturday at the table that I want to run 4-21 and 4-22 for the local group because I know the players quirks. I've not run a con before, but I *will* give characters at Origins the once over. By having the scenarios 'under my belt' I can pace myself better with strangers. I've also asked players "How did you get X bonus?" And when they break it down I've replyed "Oh, I know it's possible, just wanted to make sure you knew your numbers."
If people are quaking in their boots about characters coming from '20 different books' then step up and enforce the rules.
Because, to people who want a 'realistic' experience for the setting, a tableful of people of races that are supposed to be rare can harm the sense of immersion. In a group of six travelers picked at random, to get three aasimar, two tieflings and your puny human makes you feel as though there's a mis-representation of their rareness.
So do you shy away from tables consisting of two alchemists and two gunslingers? Or how about tables of summoners? They're supposed to be rare.
Yes, Yes.
Matthew Morris wrote:
Or for that matter, how about characters from Tien Xia? After all they don't show up all over the place in the Inner Sea region. Exiles from Hermena? Would Ksenia put you off because not only is she a Winter Witch far from home, but she's Jadwiga to boot?
Yes, Yes, No.
Matthew Morris wrote:
If the possibility of playing at a table with people having fun 'breaks your immersion' then it's not the table's issue.
Possibly so, but it still does so.
Is higher power an issue for me? Yes. But even if new races were allowed with 15 point-buy I'd still find them irritating en masse. I highly doubt I would *see* them en masse with 15 point-buy though.
On topic: Encouraging reporting is great. Spreading the wealth is good. Giving chronicles and trusting people to print just one is iffy. Race Boons are bad.
One issue several people have raised, which I consider a total non-issue, is emailing chronicles and worrying that people might print multiple copies. Given how cheap color scanner/printers are these days, how is that any different from worrying that someone who got a boon at a con last week will simply photocopy it?
If Paizo is really worried about security on these things, they can pre-print the character number on the chronicle, based on the number of the person they're sending it to. And that can still easily be overcome by anyone with Photoshop, or White Out if they want to go old school.
At some point, you've got to trust people. I just don't see this as any more of an issue than it's always been.
I'm kind of a fan of this idea of a meta-Fame/Prestige for the players. If 15 sessions played/GMed opens up a basic race boon (say, Nagaji) and 30 opened up a rare (say, Goblin) with a limit of 1 rare of each type per player, you're not likely to see a flood of boons.
Alternatively, if you wanted to push the current season (NOT A BAD IDEA), you could have slightly lower numbers, but only for S5 scenarios. This encourages people to play into the season plot much more than the fact that there is a plot for the season.
as long as I am allowed to do some sort of celebration lottery-winning dance and get like a big oversized chronicle sheet while having to pose with balloons and paizo employees for the next lottery commercial
'I won, so why not you?'
also if this lottery thing turns out to be some sort of hunger games scenario where ross byers hunts me through a forest then I am going to be so mad
Netopalis
Venture-Lieutenant, West Virginia—Charleston
PFS is based on the honor system. You can't check everything, nor are you expected to. There is nothing stopping somebody from fudging their consumables or even entirely rebuilding their character except personal honor. Rather than try to limit that, we should embrace it and create a culture that frowns on cheating and trusts each other to not do it.
PFS is based on the honor system. You can't check everything, nor are you expected to. There is nothing stopping somebody from fudging their consumables or even entirely rebuilding their character except personal honor. Rather than try to limit that, we should embrace it and create a culture that frowns on cheating and trusts each other to not do it.
*shock* we agree. ;-)
Most of my characters are a mess, records wise. I've gotten better and Ksenia and Enuck can weather an inspection. Dexios mostly can. It's not from cheating, but from incompetence. That can be fixed, thus why Ksenia and Enuck are 'clean'. (Aside, I'll likely be bringing just them, and a write up for the blob of GM credit that is Mayim)
I know people cheat. I find it silly. I mean I'd played in historical games in Battletech where people were cheating for no reason. I prefer to assume people don't cheat. It's trust, but verify.
Hmmm... just had an idea. What if these boons were purchasable on the Paizo website for very little- say $1? Then nobody could "cry foul" as it were (unless they had less than a dollar to their name, and I am not even going to comment on that) that they are unfairly distributed... PFS VCs could still give out boons at Cons or large Game Days that qualify under whatever rules are established.
A plus is that the purchased boons could be watermarked similar to other PDFs.
I am sure there are dozens of ways to abuse this approach- but there always are ways to cheat if folks want to.
