October Update - New Boons, Guides, Stars and Conventions

This has been asked a few times in the context of other boons, but is probably more relevant for chronicle boons as they don't appear anywhere else... but it would be *extremely* helpful to get the full text of a boon prior to purchase rather than a summary. We have to choose how to assign these to characters, presumably, and doing so without knowing what specifically a boon does really doesn't feel good/could lead to purchasing boons you can't actually use on a character. Even some sort of external site with the text of the boons being linked would be fine.

EDIT: I had been operating under the assumption that moving things online would also expand how boons are potentially assigned to characters (e.g. you wouldn't have to assign to the character that played the adventure). It's been pointed out to me that that might not be true, which makes this much less of an issue.... Still, it sucks to get a good boon that you can't use just because you played with a character that can't use it.

If nothing has changed with how you assign Chronicle earned boons, it makes even less sense to remove them from the Chronicle sheets...

Thanks for everything you do, Alex! I have been honestly shocked at just how smoothly all these large online conventions have gone, and I know that your hard work is a big part of that.

I'm also very excited to hear that Extinction Curse sanctioning will be done soon!

I will second what Kate says - the quick switch to online for all these cons and how smoothly and quickly things got done is a true testament to Alex and the rest of the team!

Thanks so much for pivoting with us with all the craziness of the pandemic!

Hmm

Okay, regarding digitalization, I really don't know where to begin here...
1. The system does *not* work: I'm unable to download boons for characters who have played adventures. It seems to be saving a default character I selected the first time I visited, then not updating when I update the character.
2. And more importantly. Previously, when I finished an adventure, I got a chronicle sheet that said I had a boon and said what it did. Now, when I finish an adventure, I can go online, find the adventure I played by scrolling through multiple pages, select my character, choose "purchase", and assuming it works, I can then click on another link to access a pdf which.... is a chronicle sheet that says I have the boon and what it does. Why?

Something to remember when purchasing/selecting boons on your account, once you have done so for a particular character, DO NOT try to switch to a different character and select another boon. When it processes, for whatever reason, it reverts to the previous character and you wind up with the boon assigned to the wrong character.

What you want to do is close the page, leave the website. You may even need to clear your cache depending on what device/provider you use or even log-off your account and then sign back in.

Simply refreshing will not be good enough. If you do so, you may see the previous character populate the selection field when the screen refreshes.

Good luck!

You can find a german version of the Guide to Organized Play: Pathfinder Society (second edition) on my Blog at the link below.

Ihr könnt eine deutsche Version des Guide to Organized Play: Pathfinder Society (second edition) auf meinem Blog finden.

http://pfs2.talonzorch.de/?page_id=366

Good news about Extinction Curse.

Like the idea of the online chronicle boons, but the list is pretty awful to navigate. Hopefully sorting by season, module, ap with drop downs or at least a search function will be added.

Any word on sanctioning The Slithering?

Something to remember when purchasing/selecting boons on your account, once you have done so for a particular character, DO NOT try to switch to a different character and select another boon. When it processes, for whatever reason, it reverts to the previous character and you wind up with the boon assigned to the wrong character.

What you want to do is close the page, leave the website. You may even need to clear your cache depending on what device/provider you use or even log-off your account and then sign back in.

Simply refreshing will not be good enough. If you do so, you may see the previous character populate the selection field when the screen refreshes.

Good luck!

And this is why relying on Paizos web site is a really, really bad idea. Yeah, its a work in progress. Yeah, it might actually work properly someday

And maybe, just maybe, Paizo should have waited until AFTER it is working rather than to make changes in the hope that things will be fixed eventually.

I am also a little confused by something here. Everything I am seeing and hearing seems to be about this change to online boons for Pathfinder. Is it also applying to Starfinder? Because, I recently played in a game of Starfinder, and the gm was talking about how Fame was no longer awarded and boons were all online, but I didn't think that was correct.

I am also a little confused by something here. Everything I am seeing and hearing seems to be about this change to online boons for Pathfinder. Is it also applying to Starfinder? Because, I recently played in a game of Starfinder, and the gm was talking about how Fame was no longer awarded and boons were all online, but I didn't think that was correct.

Currently only applies to PF2, not Starfinder.

I have a two suggestions regarding the new system:

1) For the Hireling and Hireling Translator boons (Pathfinder Society section), as well as the related hireling boons (Game Rewards section): On the PDF, include a space to write the 2 skills or languages you take or improve with the boon, similar to what was done for Avid Collector and Esoteric Spellcaster.

2) For the summary list of the boons you've purchased at the bottom of the Boons tab: Have a way to sort by character name. That way you can easily see what each character has purchased.

We are working on a page for the full texts of the boons to add to the guide site. It is currently being checked for errors.

Why cant they code a rollover of the boon name and display this information in a textbox? This is really not hard to do.

I was scrolling through the boons list to check it out and see how it works, and to see what is available.

Welp, I came across a boon for a scenario I'm currently playing in PbP and it was a huuuuge spoiler of the ending.

Is it possible to put the Boon descriptions under a spoiler tag?

This is really not hard to do.

If I had a nickel...

Why cant they code a rollover of the boon name and display this information in a textbox? This is really not hard to do.

The following is based on decades of experience as a programmer with absolutely zero knowledge of the internals of the Paizo implementation.

But it reeks of a system that was poorly designed (in terms of scalability and change if nothing else) from the very beginning that has grown and accreted over time without them ever being allowed to step back and make the major redesign changes that are required.

When a program gets to that point you spend a LOT of time just fixing bugs. And just about EVERY code change you make introduces bugs elsewhere.

The analogy that we always used was a leaking balloon. Patch one bit and you put enough pressure on the OTHER bits that one of them gets a leak.

A problem almost certainly made significantly worse because the original programmers are long gone and because the code is very likely poorly documented (because the time spent on other activities just doesn't give enough time to the poor programmer to document those bits they DO actually understand).

Note - this is NOT at all saying that the current or previous programmers were incompetent. It is a very, very easy trap to get into and the only way out is for management to acknowledge the problem and spend the resources to fix it. And for a small company like Paizo it is quite possible that those resources are just not available.

The biggest and best programming companies fall into this trap all the time. And for them programming IS their core competency. Its much more likely for a small company like Paizo where programming is NOT their core competency.

If the problem is what I think it is I suspect the only reasonable solution would be for Paizo to take advantage of all the programmers out here who would volunteer their time (free swag!!!!! :-)). But that has issues all of its own, the largest being the psychological one that Paizo would have to admit they can't handle things and then having to give up control.

Quite frankly, I'm generally surprised that they get ANY changes made.

Which is a huge part of why I think Paizo is being really, really silly to keep making unnecessary changes that require changes to their system. They'd be much better off spending those programming resources elsewhere.

Will Little Problem in Big Absalom be included in the online boons?

If the problem is what I think it is I suspect the only reasonable solution would be for Paizo to take advantage of all the programmers out here who would volunteer their time (free swag!!!!! :-)).

They have said numerous times they cannot utilize volunteers to do internal company work. We cannot edit scenario, we cannot write boon language, we cannot fix development oversights, and we certainly cannot work on their internal server system. They need to hire those services whether it be staff or contractors. The website has been an issue for a VERY long time. This is not new. Like most things that need attention at Paizo, they are either unable or unwilling to fix them. Its the only conclusion you can reach when the same problems remain for years without repair. This is why any chance we have to move something outside of th company is good for us. Example, the 2E Guide. By moving it to the OPF, they can now unload much of that onto a group of volunteers. We can certainly argue about how successful the implementation has been, but in the long run, having it on a 3PP site is good for us.

Hmmm.. Could reporting go to the OPF? Or is that a different can of worms?

pauljathome wrote:

If the problem is what I think it is I suspect the only reasonable solution would be for Paizo to take advantage of all the programmers out here who would volunteer their time (free swag!!!!! :-)).

They have said numerous times they cannot utilize volunteers to do internal company work.

I think that we're in violent agreement, but I'd change their position from

Even if there is some legal liability with volunteers they could presumably handle that by hiring some volunteers for a salary of US$ 1 a month

Not in Washington. Minimum wage. Or something.

Even if there is some legal liability with volunteers they could presumably handle that by hiring some volunteers for a salary of US$ 1 a month

No, you have to pay at least minimum wage. There might be a way around that with contracting a project like they do for authors, but admittedly I do not know the particulars of that. If it was that easy, there would be a lot more companies taking advantage of it.

Aside from that, Paizo may be under scrutiny by the state labor relations board coming from the lawsuit even though AFAIK it was dismissed. Whatever the status, I'm sure they are hypersensitive to their hiring practices after that.