Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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It is my responsibility to not let my own feelings prejudice how I present or run the table. The players deserve that much from me.
Sometimes the scenario you get isn’t the best match for your style. My scenario is super simple — it’s meant as a demo, not a fully-fledged, story-rich scenario. I’m normally a storyteller and roleplay GM. So I am digging deep and considering that this is a teaching exercise for beginners. What I want them to do is to experience the joy of discovery and focus on the teaching. What can i do to to add to the excitement? How can I best answer their questions and bring sound effects and verve?
Find your cool bits where you can, and generate your own excitement!
Hmm
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Yeah, I’m not getting any Skittemander advancement either. Do you have a player as well as a GM chronicle, Ferret? Then at least you could check off three boxes on two separate chrons!
Hmm
Sadly, no, I don't have my GM Star Re-run chronicle yet (I am saving the playthrough until I have a live skittermander).
Also, I don't think that you can get credit on two Skittermander chronicles at the same time...
If you have multiple copies of this Chronicle sheet, you can only check boxes on one copy at a time.
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I got my e-mail and confirmed it, but I did have a question:
So, I have 8 GM slots. Two are the PFS specials, but for the other 6, I was assigned the same scenario 6 times. While I think prepping 8 different scenarios for GenCon would have been daunting, I was kind of hoping for a bit more variety. Is this normal?
Is there any way I could, say, swap 3 of my tables with someone else so they get three tables of my scenario and I get 3 tables of their scenario? I hesitate because GMing the same scenario 6 times across 4 days seems like a lot, and I don't want to get sick of the scenario (especially if I don't think it's a good one).
As Jon indicated, yes our typical arrangement is to assign the fewest different scenarios to a GM to limit the burden of prep. For volunteers who are only running a few slots, it might mean a different scenario every time, but for those running 8 (or more) slots, we try not to exceed four different scenarios unless absolutely necessary and we especially try not to exceed five. It is exceedingly rare for someone to have to prep six or more different scenarios though it may happen on occasion.
This is a philosophical decision and we realize not everyone thinks the same way. Its why we provide the custom comment field at the end of the questionnaire where a volunteer can request whatever they want so we can take it under advisement when processing their schedule.
Once the schedules are built, we do not normally make changes unless there is a compelling reason. Every time a change occurs it creates the possibility of errors in the program. GMs prepping the wrong scenario (or sub-tier) forgetting a change in which slots they are assigned, etc. Changes like what Joe asks are better suited to be accommodated before the schedules are assigned. In our experience, once we start allowing GMs to pick and choose changes after the fact, it isn't too long before we are inundated with change requests some of which are not fully understood by all parties involved. It creates a lot of confusion and occasionally hurt feelings. As such, we avoid it.
That is not to say we are not flexible enough to "fix" issue that may arise from scheduling. If the volunteer only requested PFS and received an SFS schedule, that is a problem we need to correct. Or perhaps they did not offer overnight availability, but received a "third shift" schedule. Again, we would be compelled to fix that. Personal preference is not normally something we accommodate after the fact. The event is simply too large with too many volunteers to make repeated changes to the schedule and remain efficient or accurate.
Thank you for understanding.
Explore! Report! Cooperate!
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Sometimes the scenario you get isn’t the best match for your style. My scenario is super simple — it’s meant as a demo, not a fully-fledged, story-rich scenario. I’m normally a storyteller and roleplay GM. So I am digging deep and considering that this is a teaching exercise for beginners. What I want them to do is to experience the joy of discovery and focus on the teaching. What can i do to to add to the excitement? How can I best answer their questions and bring sound effects and verve?
Find your cool bits where you can, and generate your own excitement!
Hmm
This was my experience last year running the demos for Starfinder. I still ran into great role-players a enjoyed the experience a lot.
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As Jon indicated, yes our typical arrangement is to assign the fewest different scenarios to a GM to limit the burden of prep. For volunteers who are only running a few slots, it might mean a different scenario every time, but for those running 8 (or more) slots, we try not to exceed four different scenarios unless absolutely necessary and we especially try not to exceed five. It is exceedingly rare for someone to have to prep six or more different scenarios though it may happen on occasion.
This is a philosophical decision and we realize not everyone thinks the same way. Its why we provide the custom comment field at the end of the questionnaire where a volunteer can request whatever they want so we can take it under advisement when processing their schedule.
Once the schedules are built, we do not normally make changes unless there is a compelling reason. Every time a change occurs it creates the possibility of errors in the program. GMs prepping the wrong scenario (or sub-tier) forgetting a change in which slots they are assigned, etc. Changes like what Joe asks are better suited to be accommodated before the schedules are assigned. In our experience, once we start allowing GMs to pick and choose changes after the fact, it isn't too long before we are inundated with change requests some of which are not fully understood by all parties...
Thanks, Bob. I don't mind doing it this way, and I understand not wanting to burden people with more than 4 to prep. I just didn't expect it to be that way, but that's not a problem. And I'm probably being paranoid about "not liking the scenario" as there are very few PFS scenarios I've run into that I haven't enjoyed. I will definitely make the most of what's assigned to me.
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Love my schedule!
Hectic but I love it!
Slot 2 1400-1900 Thursday Afternoon:.... GM Archlord's Envy
Slot 3 2000-0100 Thursday PM*:.......... GM PFS 8-99C Soltice Scar(1-2)
Slot 7 2000-0100 Friday PM*:.............GM PFS 10-00 Hao Jin Cataclysm(1-2)
Slot 10 1400-1900 Saturday Afternoon:....GM SFS 1-18 Blackmoon Survey
Slot 11 2000-0100 Saturday PM............GM SFS 1-99 Invasion of the
Scoured Stars(1-2)
All three specials again this year and the 2e Playtest! Only 21 days YIKES!
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We will be comparing ticket sales to GM availability again before the event so if you are interested in playing something that is currently sold out, keep on eye on the Gen Con catalog. Also, people cancel tickets from time to time. Another reason to watch the catalog. We often see a lot of tickets returned on Wednesday night/Thursday morning as player’s plans change
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I got notification that the scenario I'm running is in my downloads but is not yet available. Based on the email we received should I not be concerned until next Wednesday or does that only apply to the drop itself and I should poke someone about getting the scenario available for download. It is a scenario that is not yet released.
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I got notification that the scenario I'm running is in my downloads but is not yet available. Based on the email we received should I not be concerned until next Wednesday or does that only apply to the drop itself and I should poke someone about getting the scenario available for download. It is a scenario that is not yet released.
Tonya has been granting drops on scenarios that aren't uploaded and ready to distribute since she'll be traveling when they are finalized. Once everything is in-place, they'll look like a normal download again automagically.
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Questions about what I need to prepare for GenCon – I’m scheduled to GM three scenarios, the two PFS specials and #9-14: Down the Verdant Path on Sunday. I understand that I’m also supposed to be ready to run an evergreen if there is insufficient demand for the scenario I’m scheduled to run.
I’m assuming that this won’t happen with the two specials, and that I only have to be concerned about possibly running an evergreen for #9-14, correct?
If I’m prepared to run either #9-16: Fallen Family, Broken Name (1-5) or #9-09: Beyond the Halflight Path (3-7), will that be sufficient?
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You will likely want to read through all the evergreens mentioned so you are familiar with them. If you are called to run one in place of your regularly scheduled scenarios, you should be provided all the prep you need. You may only be given pawns to run with however.
So, I won't be given a choice of which evergreen to run? Also, I got links to two Starfinder scenarios, a game I have never played. Is there any chance, I'd be asked to run one of them?
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Contributor
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My husband is GMing my scenario seven times at GenCon, so I just have to hope he’s still speaking to me at the end of it!He's a rather brave man.
I think if the person who wrote the scenario I'm GMing sat at my table, my nerves would go into overdrive.
I wouldn't pull that on someone without arranging it ahead of time, but honestly, I think most of us are just delighted to see our adventures in action. I doubt any author would be scrutinizing your GMing.
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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That’s common, Marc!
It’s been added to your account so that the moment it becomes available, you can download it. This is one of the joys of GenCon — because we’re getting adventures before everyone else, some of those adventures are not ready yet.
Keep an eye on the PF Resources Slack. The moment 10-00 becomes available, the discussion in the 10-00 channel will be fast and furious.
Hmm
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Just received confirmation that all scenario drops are complete. All GMs should look at their downloads and verify the presence of the materials needed to run your events. If anything is missing, please reply using the email we had sent you earlier this month with the schedule and let us know what is missing. I will be accumulating any notifications and submitting them at 10am (cst) tomorrow (Friday). With Tonya out of the office and customer service off on the weekend, if you do not notify us before that deadline, the next available window to make corrections will be Monday.
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Will there be any more slots of the 10-00 Hao Jin special available?
If you are asking as a player, the answer is it depends on if/when more GMs step up. The last time we updated ticket availability it was based on GM count.
If you are asking because you want to GM, send an email the the genconleads address and express your interest.
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I'm just putting this here so there's a record of it before Gen Con itself. The emails I've been receiving have stated that only tokens from this year will be accepted at the redemption. I specifically asked Tonya about this at Origins and was told I would be able to use my tokens from there at Gen Con, so I am now apparently the proud owner of 18 tokens that will now be worthless.
If you're wondering why you struggle to get enough volunteers, its relatively little things like this. I put in 40 hours of work at Origins, will be doing likewise at Gen Con, and will likely end up with less boons because of what turned out to be a lie.
Maybe this will be addressed at Gen Con itself, but if its not I will not be back volunteering next year, and I will tell everyone I know to not volunteer either. Its really demoralizing.
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Just a reminder. We are processing notifications of missing scenarios just as quickly as possible. Paizo customer service is bustin' their ass like a champ to get them done the next day. As of this moment, every notification of missing materials has been submitted and should be resolved by end of business tomorrow. Watch your download accounts and thank you for your continued patience.