(PFS2) GM Round Robin: Into the Year of Shattered Sanctuaries

Game Master Farol

Yeah, especially with your angina and stuff. Don't know how much that impacts your availability.

勝20100 wrote:

I will be doing a trip starting Friday until the 27 where we will get back home with the whole family. I will bring my phone and should be able to post except near the end of our trip.

We will probably finish mid-august, in that case I am willing to run 4-01 if you are all interested. I will probably not have played it but that’s fine. (I need to look at gencon online schedule to see if I can play)

Are you still planning to GM now? I am asking as when I was reading your comment I was not sure if that was your plan :D Or you wanted to wait and run another.

Now reading my comment again, “I’d prefer to run the next scenario”, I realize my sentence is incorrect. I meant to indicate I wanted to run the scenario after the next one.

Now I understand why running 4-01 that is not out yet was an issue.

My angina went away a couple days after it started, I worked on the 7th but only really felt good the following day.

:) Ha ok. so the next scenario will be GM'ed by me. All the months of waiting in anticipation will finally pay off ;)

So given the options: 1-01, 1-10 and 1-14. I would like to GM

1-14 Lions of Khatapesh ;) If you have any variation of that scenario that you played gazillion of times, or one that you would like to play let me know.

I will try to prepare it to start on Monday/Tuesday.

I'm good with Lions of Katapesh :)

Only played it once and it's been long enough that I can't really remember too much about the finer details >.>

Yep, same. Big cats were involved, but though I remember the story somewhat, I don't know the how or why.

I've played it at least once and GMed a few times. I'm fine playing it again. Merian will bring a barrel of salt water.

I had to clear cookies on my phone and try to connect several times before the board would log me in. I'm glad it finally worked out.

I've played lions of katapesh two or three times. I think two of those had the same encounters. I also remember that in the first run the gm made complete mistakes on the number of enemies, the scenario seemed quite hard at the time.

I wanted to do the Gen Con online special but due to time zone differences that's in the middle of the night, so I will pass. I hope I can participate at paizocon europe if they propose them. Hopefully that does not end up at a time I am not available (for some reason, I am pretty sure that will end up being the case). Are some of you going to participate in those games?

It's quite hot in France at the moment, we've been enjoying the small pool at my parent's house a lot.

Ok folks, the link to the map is up, please fill in the slide 3 on it. I would also like to ask you to keep you exploration activity update in your tag line.

After briefing please post your items, and daily preparations.

I hope you will enjoy the game run by me no less than the ones before!

Hero Point roll time!

1d3 + 1d2 ⇒ (3) + (1) = 4

One for Corona, one for Merian!

Though I think we have enough to give everyone a second HP.

A relatively long briefing was posted ;)

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I looked at the possible variations of the scenario and picked one that I haven't played ;)

I am waiting for Meriana and Resinosa to update slides and join, but I decided to share the briefing with you.

Concerning exploration activity, what are everyone's plan? Resinosa could scout while Smell of the Pines looks around, or if we are outside, recall knowledge. The leshy will switch to tracking in case there is something to track.

Regarding Grades, in Poland we have 1-6, Where 1 means that you failed, 2 is sufficient to pass ;) Every other grading system sounds 'exotic to me' ;) And made me wonder about grading:

If you fail does it matter to grade it further? Very failed, failed, barely failed ;)

At times some tests would have numeric scores: like 65/80 but then it would still get translated to 1-6 grade. To make things more blurry at times teachers would add +/- to the picture: 5- being a bit less than 5 ;)

I can do scouting, Perception, and Recall Knowledge as well, depending on party needs. I think Perception is my preferred one, since I'm pretty good at that, but I'm flexible.

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Regarding grades, as I said, "we" do scores out of 10, where you need an above-average grade to pass (a 5.5), and grades even out. Assuming all tests have the same weight, you just add them up and divide by the number of tests. If you got an 8/10 and a 4/10, you do (8+4)/2 = 6/10. Generally, you can't get below a 1/10, as you get one point just for showing up.*
You need to do some math when some tests are a bigger part of your average than others, but that's the gist of it.

* Depending on the test or system used, some tests all points add up to a certain number and each right answer is worth a certain amount of points (like your 65/80, which then gets translated to a score out of 10) (some questions might be more difficult and be worth more points, for instance), and sometimes you're judged on overall performance. The quality of an essay might be a 7/10, taking into account bad arguments, bad sentence structure, spelling mistakes, and so on.

Basically, one method counts up, each good answer builds your grade by a set amount, a different method counts down, theoretically going infinitely low, but capping at a 1/10. Exact sciences such as maths tend to use the former (as well as multiple choice options), non-exact sciences such as languages use the latter.

Merian will need some minor edits to her character sheet, I played 2-06 with her at a F2F convention and have not digitized the Chronicle.

Ok folks, I will give you one more day for briefing, finishing your chronicles and such. Feel free to ask other questions, this could be the last moment to purchase things, provide me with your daily preparation (if you have any variations) and school items.

In case folks haven't seen it yet, our Gameday XI convention has been officially announced! You can find all the deets here --> Gameday XI Announcement. Go forth and roll much dice!

Cool, I signed up to GM the PF2 special. I'll be unavailable from the 24th of October onward, so I hope the special is over by then. Also put that in the comment section, just to be safe. I haven't done a play-by-post special yet, but I think 6 weeks is enough to finish the special, right? Or does it go all the way until the end?

The specials are tightly timed, the organizers might be able to tell you how they plan to run the game.

Once back from my trip, I plan on giving the sign up sheet a look.

The specials are tightly timed, the organizers might be able to tell you how they plan to run the game.

Once back from my trip, I plan on giving the sign-up sheet a look.

There is no sign-up sheet, it is free for all. As the game is reported people can sign in. Some games do not have spots 30 mins after they are posted. On discord servers, everyone announces their game making it looks like black Friday sales in US ;)

Holy Iomedae that mode of recruiting is exactly the opposite of what I would design.

I have (had, I guess) always looked forward to PbP conventions because I feel (felt) I can plan out what scenarios I want to play and what characters I want to play them with.

Holy Iomedae that mode of recruiting is exactly the opposite of what I would design.

I have (had, I guess) always looked forward to PbP conventions because I feel (felt) I can plan out what scenarios I want to play and what characters I want to play them with.

*puts on VO hat for a moment*

This is useful feedback to have. The person taking charge of our Gameday XI convention wanted to try some different things, thus some of the changes from OutPost or last year's Gameday X. I'm not running the show but if anyone has any feedback (or additional feedback), please feel free to share it here or shoot me a PM, whichever is most comfortable for you!

I'll put forward a suggestion, even though I'm not sure how feasible it is.

Premise #1: In the past, I've noted a significant mismatch between what GMs want to run and what players want to play. We'll get 3 tables of a scenario offered, and 2 end up getting shelved. The GMs then scramble to offer other games. At the same time, players will ask why X scenario isn't being offered, which sometimes gets filled and sometimes doesn't.

Premise #2: I contend first come, first served recruiting isn't good in general. Games that fill up very quickly mean that people in the same time zone as the poster, or people who obsessively check the recruitment thread, are at a huge advantage. People sign up for games without considering the scenario, or what characters they want to play. This is an unavoidable problem in F2F play, as often games are offered weekly, and so if a player shows up physically in a certain location, they have to play whatever is being offered or wait a week (or drive to a different location). In online play (both VTT and PbP), it's an avoidable problem, rather than an unavoidable problem. The player pool is large, games start all the time (or should start all the time), and waiting for the next game isn't / shouldn't be a big deal.

Proposal: Create a bidding system, where players that register for a tournament get N bids for games they want to play. If they really want to play a specific game, they can bid all N on that game, or they can make 1 bid on N games, etc. GMs then reverse-bid to pick up the game, and they pick up extra bids.

Pros as I see them: This solves the mismatch problem (#1) and the FCFS problem (#2).

Admitted Cons: This is logistically complex, and could require some computer programming or sophisticated macros to implement. There's also the complication of whether to make bids public or not; people can metagame pretty badly if it were public, but, also, people could adjust better if they knew where all the games stood.

That all sounds super complicated on the players' side. The advantage of the current system is that a player just needs to sign up and they're done. Adding this whole bidding thing in the mix makes things a lot more complicated and doesn't even guarantee you can play, either (you can lose all bids, for instance). I have an in-between solution and an alternative solution.

In-between solution:
Players can sign up for any amount of games, and players get seated through priority. People who have signed up for only one game get seated first. If there's space left over, people who have signed up for two games fill up the rest, and so on.
When those players are seated, you cross off all the games that have been filled. Hopefully, that bumps people down from multiple tables down to one again. Repeat this process, and fill up with players who have multiple sign-ups again. This means that the fewer tables you sign in on, the more likely you'll be able to play. If you sign up for five tables, you spread your chances thin.

An example, to (hopefully) clear things up.

There are a few problems with this as well:
- There might be more demand than supply. If there's 60 people who just want to play A and only three GMs, 42 of those get left out and have nothing to play.
- There might be tables that don't fire because there's not enough people. In the example above, C is last to find players for, and is unlikely to find enough players. With a big enough con and a wide variety of adventures that shouldn't be a problem, but it can still happen. The problem is finding the right balance. Too many players and not enough scenarios means people are gonna left out. Too many scenarios and players are spread too thin. You can cap tables at 4 at first and see how things spread out, then adding more people as you redistribute them.
- This all is a lot of work. I'm sure there's a smart algorithm and/or nerds who can do this for you, but still.

Or or do some fancy tallying and seat the least popular table first, see if it fires (in this case, C will with three players and a pregen), and if not, spread those players out across A and B. Players who just wanted to play C get left out, but that can't be prevented anyways. Have the players selected randomly so that it's not "first-come-first-served," and you'll have fixed most of the problems. Again, lots of work, but I'm sure there's programmes/geeks that can do this stuff.
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An alternative solution would be to let players request certain scenarios, and have GMs on standby who are willing to GM, but don't have a preferred scenario. When they see a scenario is requested enough, they can pick those players and fire off a table.
Basically it's the exact reverse of what happens now. Instead of having players sign in to a scenario/GM, you can let players add their name and requested scenario to an Excel sheet and have GMs add their name to it.
One problem I see is that it doesn't fix the "first come, first served"-issue. 10 people can request a scenario, but only 6 people can get seated. But then, a second GM can jump in and run for the other 4 (or a mix of 5-5, if they want). Or have a second deadline where those people "left over" can re-select and jump into a different game that's already fired, but hasn't reached its limit of 6 people yet.
A mix of the current system and this system is also possible. Have several scenarios on offer (some GMs just really like/want to run certain adventures), and have several GMs on standby filling in where needed. The problem here is that there might be too many players and not enough GMs, not being able to fill all tables (as well as tables with only one or two people), but I think this system's a lot better. There'll always be supply and demand issues, I feel.

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These are just two ideas off the top of my head. Both have problems, but solve Soup's issues in different ways, I feel.

Or or do some fancy tallying and seat the least popular table first, see if it fires (in this case, C will with three players and a pregen), and if not, spread those players out across A and B. Players who just wanted to play C get left out, but that can't be prevented anyways. Have the players selected randomly so that it's not "first-come-first-served," and you'll have fixed most of the problems. Again, lots of work, but I'm sure there's programmes/geeks that can do this stuff.

I added this as an afterthought, but this is much easier than my original idea. You don't even have to limit the number of games per player to one. Just make sure the people who have signed up for the least number of games are served first. If everyone has at least one game, you can go over the list again and fill the tables with people who already have a different game, but are also interested in this one.

Hey folks, A time have come to give away a Hero Point, this one goes to Corona for putting down fire that was consuming the cart! Well done! Next HP give away will happen around 8th of August

And btw I do hope that my M.G.S.H with hawkeye as a doctor was a 'subtle enough' reference to M.A.S.H Series (Military Army Surgical Hospital).

^I understood (and appreciated) the reference ;)

Hey Folks, On sunday I am going on a week vacation. Since I am not bringing my laptop I will not be able to set up the last exploration on my phone. Due to that I suggest pausing our game for a week.

I am coming back on 21st of August, and we should be done before august is over ;) ((I hope :D))

This is actually my Sat/Sun/Mon to work anyway so a pause works fine for me, GM. Hope you have a good vacation! :)

Works for me!

No worries, enjoy your holiday!

I'm a young whippersnapper and M.A.S.H. is from before my time. But I appreciate the reference anyway. :)

Is that a hole behind the goblins skeletons? I should have gone for some shoving, Resinosa’s athletics is not too bad. Maybe I should have put that instead of trip on her secondary attack.

I know realize how hard it is to move enemies around, that enemy was way too far from the edge.

Hey folks, since we are heading towards teh end (this is the final combat), if you wish please roll your earn income.

Otherwise I will leave it blank for you to fill in ;)

Once it's all said and done Corona spends some time working in the mess tent at the goblin camp, hoping to keep morale boosted by preparing delicious and filling meals...

Cooking Lore (DC 14): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Merian will stay at the goblin camp and teach them how to make seawater pickles.

Azarketi Lore or Crafting: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Fail, 0.02 gp/day x 8 days = 0.16 gp

It's not the flavor they expected, the seawater is much too weak to be used as pickle brine. Also, Merian's been bathing in it.

Smell of the Pines writes a report about the events.

Pathfinder Lore: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

That’s a critical success, 5 cp per days so 4 silvers.

It also makes sense to use Nimble Dodge on the first attack to lesser the chances of taking critical hits.

I’ve seen people only use it if it can make a difference, is that the way it is supposed to be used? (ie. knowing the roll to hit before choosing to use the reaction or not)

It also makes sense to use Nimble Dodge on the first attack to lesser the chances of taking critical hits.

I’ve seen people only use it if it can make a difference, is that the way it is supposed to be used? (ie. knowing the roll to hit before choosing to use the reaction or not)

SO, Nimble dodge says:

Trigger A creature targets you with an attack and you can see the attacker.

So in a VTT game, it would work like that:
<GM>: Monster B attacks Thriss'k
<Thriss'k>: I am using Nimbled Dodge
<GM>: do the rolls, ((and you resolve them))

==================

In PBP however you usually pick target and do the rolls, and then player retroactively says: "Oh I would use Nimble Dodge at that third attack that was 20 ;)".

Which is not how it should be, so I personally try to delcare my reactions as Thriss'k did here

'Reaction: Nimble Dodge: +2 AC versus first attack I see.'

It just makes more sense to do it [Nimble Dodge] on the first attack, I think.

Mathematically, that's the way it works out with one exception: if the enemy's modifier is so high that it hits on a nat 1, then you're better off using Nimble Dodge on the second attack.

If the enemy needs a nat 10-15 to hit you with its first attack, technically, using Nimble Dodge is just as good on its second attack as it is with its first, but in all cases nat 2-20, using Nimble Dodge is either the best or tied for the best, and using Nimble Dodge (on any attack) is better than not using it at all. So unless you have good reason to wait, you should always use it on your first attack (since, you never know, a second attack may not happen).

The only good reason to wait might be if you had a competing reaction, e.g., a champion with a rogue dedication that had both Nimble Dodge and their champion's reaction. Then, you could consider holding off Nimble Dodge in hopes you'd get a better use of your reaction on the second attack.

tl;dr Use it on the first attack, because math.

Hey folks,

Here are the chronicles: >>Here<< Take a look if everything is fine. I reported the game already. I got everyone's earn income but Thriss'k (I assume you will handle it)

We still have some RP to do to wrap the scenario, but that is a signal to
勝20100 to start getting ready ;D

Please let me know what did you like/dislike, and any other feedback that you have.

Thriss'k tries to find some nice-smelling flowers and herbs to turn into potpourri or incense. One bag he rives to Rawiri as a present, the rest he sells on.

Herbalism Lore: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Alas, the harsh climate isn't suited for the herbs Thriss'k is used to and he returns home with only a meager bag of coin.
8 copper for me.

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The scenario felt a little short, but maybe that's just the scenario's fault.
I liked the personal touches, such as the MGSH. I always like it when GMs add their little spin on things. :)

Here are the chronicles: >>Here<< Take a look if everything is fine.

Access denied.

GM Farol wrote:

Here are the chronicles: >>Here<< Take a look if everything is fine.

Access denied.

Can you try now?

I can access it now, thanks!

Downloaded the sheet, thanks.

With the start of all the pbp convention, things will start slowly, sorry about that.

I’m considering using tableplop rather than google maps. Is that something everyone’s fine with?

Tableplop is OK with me as long as I can access it without an app on my phone.

Agree with Merian. I'm not familiar with Tableplop, but as long as I can access it without logging in to something, I'm fine.

Also, level 3! What should I do with my skill increase? I'm considering putting it into Intimidate (that Threatening Approach is going to work sometime), but maybe with a Charisma of 12 it's just a lost cause.

My chronicle also looks good, thank you!

I've never used Tableplop but I'm happy to give it a whirl :)

Merian is now level 4. Is that a problem for anyone? If so, I've got Bechamel Mornay, a starlit span magus 2.