A ConCurrent Update

Are there preset Starfinder Repeatable tables on R20 for the convention that could be cloned for this?

I'm having a rough time trying to make maps work, and it's a huge stumbling block to volunteering to help on-line.

There are several GMs on the Paizo Organized Play Discord willing to lend tables and/or help with making building a table easier.

Maps are much easier if they are just the regular size flipmats, which allow you to set the size of the Roll20 map to 31x25 then resize the map to the 30x24 and you're done.

People have also used Google Slides and Discord chat dice roller for a real-time version of play-by-Discord, though it is less common.

Anyone know what's going on with the games on Warhorn with no GM listed? I'm not sure if those are not real games, or if information is just waiting to be entered.

Nefreet wrote:

One offers bonus AcP, and the other does not. So I go to the store that offers bonus AcP

Well, to be perfectly honest if the only thing you are using to decide which stores to support is the difference of 2 AcP, that is pretty shallow, IMO.

What? No. AcP is a tangible, mechanical benefit. No different from the Chronicle itself, or checking the box on a Starfinder Race Boon, or earning credit towards GM Stars.

If there are two stores equal in every other way, same distance drive, same friendly people, same sugar loaded snacks, how is it "shallow" to pick the one that offers more benefit from the other?

Is nobody else seeing this through the lens of a store owner?

Because if I was told my customers were being pointed towards my competition, I'd be understandably upset.

I think you need to figure out how it actually works in practice before you take up arms.

Nefreet wrote:

Why not just make every public venue eligible for bonus AcP to eliminate the need for drama, arbitrary oversight, lost revenue and bad PR?

Because most organizers have expressed the concern, just like we did for RSP, that there needs to be a difference between regularly occurring "standard" events and convention events because it costs more to attend a con, so the theory is you have to provide a greater reward. Rather than give all gamestores and local public events premier status, we should just eliminate the discretionary bonus and just make all events that do not qualify as conventions "standard" for AcP. That would alleviate your concern over having some GameDays worth more than others.

I believe this is probably the wisest course.

I do as well, but I also know that GM/players who cannot attend conventions for whatever reason will complain that it is unfair. That's what happened with boons and why the RSP program was created.

Its interesting that the argument (at least from Nefreet) is that having discretionary increased AcP values for GameDays hurts game stores, but I didn't hear that complaint for the past two year while the RSP was going on which was essentially the same situation. Generally speaking, some stores had it, some didn't. Course, admittedly, this would not have affected my region as I granted RSP to every public venue that asked for it (as long as it had VO oversight, per the guidelines). So, maybe I didn't hear the problems as a result.

Same. All of our stores count for RSP.

I know that my RVC runs it the way Bob was saying, so all of the events that are provided to him are marked as RSP/Premier in the system. If you find any reported events that you've attended in our state, Nefreet, please ask the VO for the store to reach out to the RVC about getting that fixed. If any of the public events in Sacramento (Game Kastle, Great Escape Games, or Room2Game) aren't showing as Premier for your AcP, let me, Andrew, or Kara know, and we'll get that fixed.

I think you need to figure out how it actually works in practice before you take up arms.

Am I interpreting this conversation incorrectly?

It sounds to me like:

1) Venue A and Venue B could be 100% alike in every way, but one offers bonus AcP and the other does not.
2) To find out which is which, that difference either needs to be advertised, or inquired about, because there are no guidelines for determining which Venue qualifies.
3) Every organizer probably wishes their Venue had bonus AcP, so asking them to "check and see" if it's possible is likely a waste of time.
4) I can't see how you could possibly convince the RVC to change their mind, either, since they should have considered everything when they first made their decision.
5) The decision is clearly arbitrary from the outset, given that two Venues could be otherwise identical.
6) Abuse could be rife. Maybe an RVC knows one of the Venue owners. Maybe they are a Venue owner, or otherwise have a stake. Or maybe one place left a bad taste in their mouth years ago and they never got over it.

I would think there are two ways to solve this:

1) Publish tangible criteria for qualifying for AcP, like there is for Conventions, so that identical Venues couldn't be arbitrarily treated differently.
2) All game store events offer the same bonus AcP.

Both of those alternatives offer better PR, better communication, less guesswork, and could instead increase Paizo's presence, rather than potentially decreasing it.

If you find any reported events that you've attended in our state, Nefreet, please ask the VO for the store to reach out to the RVC about getting that fixed.

This was touched off when I pointed out that one of those venues indeed didn't offer bonus AcP.

Anyone know what's going on with the games on Warhorn with no GM listed? I'm not sure if those are not real games, or if information is just waiting to be entered.

As of now, the Warhorn is updated to only games that have a GM, and all of them will run, assuming they have enough players.

1) Publish tangible criteria for qualifying for AcP, like there is for Conventions, so that identical Venues couldn't be arbitrarily treated differently.

Maybe you missed it, but we cannot have specific criteria for qualifiers as the needs of the community are way to diverse. If we make them low enough for sparse international locations to qualify, the highly active areas (mostly in urban US areas) would be overly rewarded. If we constrain the active areas, then the international areas will get nothing. The OP program has to have some level of local discretion. RVCs are expected to be some of the most experienced and knowledgeable organizers in our community. Before suggesting that they are abusing their position, maybe there should be evidence of it and share that with Tonya. OP is a tiered management system. The standard in such a system is trust, but verify. If you cannot trust your senior leaders to do what is right for the community, then we should eliminate them and not have Venture-Officers.

OTOH...

2) All game store events offer the same bonus AcP

Slightly adjusted compromise. If everyone gets the bonus, then its not a bonus. If we agree there is no reason to give one store (or more importantly "venue") more AcP than another, then we shouldn't give extra to any of them. Eliminate the discretionary awards.

Any event that qualifies as a convention receives the premier award.
Only Paizo-sponsored conventions receive the Premier Plus-level award.
Now its fair. All the qualifiers are clearly published. There is no chance of corruption. And there is a distinction between the three types/levels of events.

I'm in favor of this rather than the somewhat opaque any event the RVC designated gets extra AcP as if it were a convention.

If criteria can't be established, I would be in favor of either all stores getting bonus AcP, or no stores getting bonus AcP.

As long as every store is the same.

That would be equivalent to having specific criteria and would eliminate jumping through hoops.

I think we need to figure out what we want the middle tier for AcP to be and write up a solid definition. If we want multiple table events at game stores to be designated as meeting the criteria for awarding 10 AcP then let's just make it happen.

If we don't want that to happen, then we need to make a decision and make it stick so that it is consistent across the board.

Otherwise we're just going to have chaos continue.

The other choice is to have four tiers for AcP. Until the AcP system is finally fixed and working, I don't see four tiers as feasible.

So we're back to the first two options. Let's get a decision made, write the definition, get it in place, and move forward running games.

Individual created Events, I.E. homegames:
x1 AcP

Store Events:
x1.25 AcP

Conventions:
x1.5 AcP

Premier Conventions:
x2.0 AcP

Incremental incentive to attend larger events, zero drama or oversight required, can be set up with a simple drop down menu on the Event Creation page, better addresses the common complaint that Premier Events don't currently offer the same level of incentive that they used to.

I'm just looking through the Guide - I don't actually find any references to RSP in there anymore. As far as I can tell, there is no default reward to distinguish home vs. store play.

It could be that there's some reference in a blog - finding if there is a relevant recent blog about a topic is not really practical. But I think the very concept of RSP basically doesn't apply to 2E; nothing about AcP works the way that RSP does, so why even use that term to talk about it? It's just confusing and sets up the wrong expectations.

Premier level seems intended for conventions and some other things that aren't precisely conventions but should get some promotion. It doesn't seem intended to give it to about half the local stores just to irritate the other half of the stores.

I don't think you can really combine "here is a tool to put a spotlight on one event" with "everyone should get the same".

Now, you can argue whether there should be something to reward playing in a store instead of at home. IMO that isn't necessary, shops have enough reasons for people to go there.

What is the discord link? As it expired..

What is the discord link? As it expired..

Discord link from the ConCurrent 2020 Warhorn still works.

Any word on the pantheons update?

Come back later for the Battle of the Patheon contest update!

Any idea when this will be?