Organized Play Guest Blog: Introducing New Players to Society

I hope oozemorph archetype is one of the boons :O

Great work and exciting things from the Onboarding Taskforce! Looking forward to introducing new players to these helpful tools.

Great news!

Good Luck Paul!!

Feel free to reach out of help!

New players bring continuous life to our adventures! Not only are there opportunities to be had in-game society-but out of game society. Whether you are a nufriend, or older friend, if you see some aspect of org play that you wish to participate in, ask around. From playing, to GMing, coordinating games and conventions, volunteering for events to HQ or report games- There is a place and position to contribute in manners you most enjoy. Onboarding is step one, and it can take you as far as you wish to go.
Many wishes of memorable adventures, and Happy Gaming!

Is there a guide on how to build/track a new character? I made a PFS character a few months back and when I joined a digital con, the first GM, didn't have any issues with what I gave him. The 2nd GM said I had to show what I spent my starting gold on. Is there a resource that shows what specifically you need to do and how to track everything? Any good videos out there?

Thanks,

H2OS

There is no form or resource for 2e. In 1e we had a an inventory tracking sheet that we could record certain purchases on. Starfinder has a similar form.

But for 2e, no form was created. It is up to the play to track their purchases. May use a Google sheet, others use hand written lists, and yet other will record on individual chronicles their expenditures.

Did the second GM indicate what their problem was with what you spent?

There is no form or resource for 2e. In 1e we had a an inventory tracking sheet that we could record certain purchases on. Starfinder has a similar form.

But for 2e, no form was created. It is up to the play to track their purchases. May use a Google sheet, others use hand written lists, and yet other will record on individual chronicles their expenditures.

Did the second GM indicate what their problem was with what you spent?

It was that I didn't show on the tracker the gold spent for starting gear.

Is there a guide on how to build/track a new character? I made a PFS character a few months back and when I joined a digital con, the first GM, didn't have any issues with what I gave him. The 2nd GM said I had to show what I spent my starting gold on. Is there a resource that shows what specifically you need to do and how to track everything? Any good videos out there?

Thanks,

H2OS

The Organized Play Foundation Guide says you can use chronicles or digital tools. It used to be you wrote your starting GP on each chronicle and logged purchases by writing them on every single chronicle. That way a GM could make sure everything "adds up." Many people still do this.

Now that we can officially use digital sources, resources like the tracking sheet provided in the blog post can help get you started. I use a similar spreadsheet and also associate chronicle #'s with each purchased item on my character's inventory sheet ("Chronicle 0" would be your starting GP). That way the purchases add up and can be cross-referenced. Whatever you choose, some kind of inventory tracking that is clear and well-maintained (and probably tracking edits, if electronic) is the most important requirement for passing an audit.

If I'm at a con I try to print out everything relevant that I can as you won't always have access to internet (or save in PDF format and be prepared to show the gm your device). Of course, in these VTT times we can just share docs in the cloud.

Wonderful, clearly written Guide!

Can we have the equivalent for the BB Gamemaster? A guide that walks the new GM through filling in the chronicle and reporting the game?

Great to see this! Way to go, Nicole and the team!

Great job Paul!

Really glad to see this - I've run into quite a few new players lately - so the more, the merrier. Well done team.

I love the idea of making things easier for new players. One request, though ....

I think the flip-side of that is the question of how to make it easier to bring in new players. For most of us, our normal mode of "in person" games has been seriously disrupted. At some point in the future, we will have an opportunity to do games in-person. How do we bring new people the table? Are there things we can do with organized play to facilitate recruitment?

Even having dealt with pfs1 additional resources, the idea of trying to make a character with PFS2 s additional resources and rarity levels, and availability seems beyond daunting.

Gary Bush wrote:

There is no form or resource for 2e. In 1e we had a an inventory tracking sheet that we could record certain purchases on. Starfinder has a similar form.

But for 2e, no form was created. It is up to the play to track their purchases. May use a Google sheet, others use hand written lists, and yet other will record on individual chronicles their expenditures.

Did the second GM indicate what their problem was with what you spent?

It was that I didn't show on the tracker the gold spent for starting gear.

Being a numbers guy, I can understand the GMs point. That being said, it is an easy fix for the next time.

It is "best practice" (I do hate that term) to show gold as well as the item on whatever method used to track purchases.

I find the idea of moving Boons to online only as reducing barriers to entry quite bizarre. It makes no sense. We still have chronicles being issued for every game. If the Boon is listed on the Chronicle all I need to do to know what it does is read it.

Instead, now, every time I play a game I need to go and check if there is a Boon on the Paizo website. That means it has to let me log in (not always guaranteed), remain stable enough to let me find the Boon page (definitely not guaranteed) and then navigate through the mess that is the Boons page to find if it exists. If it exists I then need to download it, using the right character, and hope the system doesnt randomly jump to me trying to buy a different boon (as has happened multiple times). I then need to download it before being able to read it.

How is this simpler than simply looking at the sheet the GM sends to me at the end of each session? What costs are being saved by not including the text on the PDF. How much times is really taken adding three or four lines of text to a PDF?

I love the idea of making things easier for new players. One request, though ....

I think the flip-side of that is the question of how to make it easier to bring in new players. For most of us, our normal mode of "in person" games has been seriously disrupted. At some point in the future, we will have an opportunity to do games in-person. How do we bring new people the table? Are there things we can do with organized play to facilitate recruitment?

Hi John,

There are several things we can do, and even now while we are restricted with COVID.

Word of mouth is always fairly reliable. Tell you friends, and tell their friends. If you have coworkers who already game, offer to run the Beginner Box, or a Quest, just to wet their appetite.

Definitely work with your host locations on cross promotion. Make sure your host location has some form of in store advertising, like a calendar, a wall for flyers, something people who walk in asking if the store knows anyone who runs Paizo games can be directed toward so they can join the community. Getting store engagement to advertising Paizo Organized Play is a dual benefit; the store can turn that one time customer into a repeat customer, and we make new friends, new GMs, and maybe even some day, new Venture-Officers!

Find out where gamers are gathering, and bring Paizo games to them. Find event sites, like Meet Up, and see if you can offer Paizo games at those meetings. See if there are gaming groups meeting up at local libraries, universities, or military installations. So much of growing the community isn't insisting that players come to us. Listening to players, and bringing games to them, in person, online, and where they are most comfortable, is the key to happy and healthy gaming.

While I think this is a great idea, please, please lose the word "onboarding." It's one of those business consultant terms that I hate with all my heart and soul.

Is there a guide on how to build/track a new character? I made a PFS character a few months back and when I joined a digital con, the first GM, didn't have any issues with what I gave him. The 2nd GM said I had to show what I spent my starting gold on. Is there a resource that shows what specifically you need to do and how to track everything? Any good videos out there?

Thanks,

H2OS

The Onboarding Taskforce has been working on making tools for helping track your character's XP, Reputation and spending. You can find those here.

https://www.orgplayfoundation.org/join/new-players-pop/

We are always looking at ways to make these tools more efficient and clear, so all of us will be watching feedback from those who use them. Feel free to post here with any such feedback!

While I think this is a great idea, please, please lose the word "onboarding." It's one of those business consultant terms that I hate with all my heart and soul.

A fair point. Do you have a suggestion for a better terminology for this taskforce?

pjrogers wrote:

While I think this is a great idea, please, please lose the word "onboarding." It's one of those business consultant terms that I hate with all my heart and soul.

A fair point. Do you have a suggestion for a better terminology for this taskforce?

Nufriend Taskforce?

Sorry, I will go away now....

I find the idea of moving Boons to online only as reducing barriers to entry quite bizarre. It makes no sense. We still have chronicles being issued for every game. If the Boon is listed on the Chronicle all I need to do to know what it does is read it.

Instead, now, every time I play a game I need to go and check if there is a Boon on the Paizo website. That means it has to let me log in (not always guaranteed), remain stable enough to let me find the Boon page (definitely not guaranteed) and then navigate through the mess that is the Boons page to find if it exists. If it exists I then need to download it, using the right character, and hope the system doesnt randomly jump to me trying to buy a different boon (as has happened multiple times). I then need to download it before being able to read it.

How is this simpler than simply looking at the sheet the GM sends to me at the end of each session? What costs are being saved by not including the text on the PDF. How much times is really taken adding three or four lines of text to a PDF?

One advantage with the boon being on the website is for those boons that can be applied to other characters it is easier to get a copy of the boon to the character. The old method required finding a copier, making the copy, crossing out the stuff not relavate, then attaching to the other character.

Agree the website is a pain. We all hope that it will continue to improve.

While not perfect, I do find it a little better. Just keep in mind that once you get to the boon tab, reload the tab. This should take care of the problems you mentioned.

Oh, you folks on the Onboarding team have done a wonderful job! I was looking at the spreadsheet for new players for PF2 and thought: this is great! I will be introducing it to my Boy Scout group who is still on Level One.