Organized Play Update: Increased Rewards for Sanctioned Content

Thank you for listening to our concerns. It's much appreciated ^_^

** Runs off to edit chronicle sheets **

"That was a little bit extra in the coin pouch I wasn't expecting. Can't argue with success and might even be able to afford a small vacation off that! Thanks!"

Thank you!

Fantastic! Thanks so much for aligning the rewards! I hate having to remember exceptions ;)

The reputation part is greatly appreciated. The rest is just icing. Thank you.

Since some of these were potentially played before fame was done away with, do we get the same amount of fame along with the corrected reputation?

Since fame can no longer be spent I'm not sure it would do you much good.

These changes are very much welcome!

Hmm

Woo! :3

Does the downtime increase on these adventures if applied to a character that has the field commission?

I don't see why not.

I need some clarification on how Paizo is planning on dealing with, for example, blind players who, because of how chronicles have been created by Paizo, can't edit their chronicle sheets (at all). In fact, if one is blind and uses a screen reader, you can't even fill out a blank one -- which means you can never GM. But getting back to the current problem, is Paizo going to finally create fillable sheets so that blind players can actually do what you're suggesting in this announcement (i.e. "Mark the gold earned on your most recent Chronicle Sheet with a note about its source.") OR are you going to create some other type of announcement to make this accessible (ex. Blind players can just put a typed sheet of paper with the gold into their collection of chronicles to denote the change). I ask because, currently, it is being stated that GMs don't have to do this for players and even one nice individual said that we should get a tattoo of the added downtime....

For PFS1E, I have created form fillable sheets for almost every adventure. As I get into PFS2E, I expect to do the same for those adventures. I'm not sure about my ability to publicly share them, but I am more than willing to provide them to anyone who asks.

Laarafel, record keeping changed with PFS2. You decide what method's best for you. So long as you can still show your records to a GM if they audit you, you're fine.

I keep everything on a spreadsheet. You can keep a Word document. Bignorsewolf uses crayons and napkins (allegedly). It's up to each player to keep track however's easiest for them.

Additionally, GMs are no longer required to sign Chronicles. You just need to provide the Event Name, Event Code, Date and PFS ID#.

I don't see why you couldn't provide a blank Chronicle, with an addendum Word document containing the player rewards and GM info, and maybe an explanation for any future, curious GMs.

There is also RPGChronicles.net, which can help with filling out Chronicles. I don't know how friendly it is for the visually impaired, though.

I've had problems before with GMs not accepting anything that wasn't on a chronicle sheet (including downtime). I just tried using RPG chronicles to dummy up a character sheet and it doesn't work without GM#, Event#, etc. all of which I don't have.

I need some clarification on how Paizo is planning on dealing with, for example, blind players who, because of how chronicles have been created by Paizo, can't edit their chronicle sheets (at all). In fact, if one is blind and uses a screen reader, you can't even fill out a blank one -- which means you can never GM.

If theres a situation the rules don't cover you can go outside the rules, especially for reasonable accomidations. The game is 99 percent on the honor system anyway, so if a DM can't fill something out having the player do it, having an assistant do it, or having everyone pass their chronicle sheets to the left to be filled out is no big deal. Its an all official and everything game but still a game, not titrating an explosive compound. Close is good enough.

GM number is your paizo number

You get the even number when you register an event. Most people register one event for their personal dming or for their venue/ lodge and use that for all their games. So if I'm running games myself the event is BNWs den of inequity #122345

For the back pay for this change, On your next chronicle just note +45 gold from Downtime backpay changes"

Bignorsewolf uses crayons and napkins (allegedly). It's up to each player to keep track however's easiest for them.

More than ONE crayon? Getting swanky there...

I've had problems before with GMs not accepting anything that wasn't on a chronicle sheet (including downtime). I just tried using RPG chronicles to dummy up a character sheet and it doesn't work without GM#, Event#, etc. all of which I don't have.

Do you have a local/online community you engage with the most? GMs not accepting the alternate allowed recording keeping, for 2e at least, is not acceptable and something that should be elevated up the VA/VL/VC chain as appropriate.

Sadly this does not help me, now if they somehow brought back PFS1 that'd be great. I guess one can dream! lol

Laarafel wrote:

I've had problems before with GMs not accepting anything that wasn't on a chronicle sheet (including downtime). I just tried using RPG chronicles to dummy up a character sheet and it doesn't work without GM#, Event#, etc. all of which I don't have.

Do you have a local/online community you engage with the most? GMs not accepting the alternate allowed recording keeping, for 2e at least, is not acceptable and something that should be elevated up the VA/VL/VC chain as appropriate.

NielsenE beat me to it.

Since Downtime is handled by players, it'd be impossible for a GM to be upset that it wasn't handled by another GM.

Eric Nielsen wrote:

Laarafel wrote:

I've had problems before with GMs not accepting anything that wasn't on a chronicle sheet (including downtime). I just tried using RPG chronicles to dummy up a character sheet and it doesn't work without GM#, Event#, etc. all of which I don't have.

Do you have a local/online community you engage with the most? GMs not accepting the alternate allowed recording keeping, for 2e at least, is not acceptable and something that should be elevated up the VA/VL/VC chain as appropriate.

NielsenE beat me to it.

Since Downtime is handled by players, it'd be impossible for a GM to be upset that it wasn't handled by another GM.

One would wish that was true but I've had this happen more than once and the only conclusion I can come to, based on their commentary and mine was the only record keeping that they questioned, is that they didn't believe I could do math. Regardless and because it's a game, I really don't want to have to deal with ignorant ableist individuals who think disabled people (blind people specifically) can't do anything.

Because these guidelines for this change specifically state, "Mark the gold earned on your most recent Chronicle Sheet with a note about its source," that is what I'm going to have to deal with and, to be honest, I can't rely on VOs to do their job with regard to this type of behavior because, when I have reported this type of thing, I've been told to just move onto another table (i.e. "just don't play with them") and don't worry about it..... kind of what I'm getting here... rather than correcting the issue.

I've reached out to Alex about this; we'll need to wait until mid-next week for an official response, but it sounds like the intent is that the normal guide guidelines for allowing alternative record keeping is meant to apply to this and GMs should not be disallowing that. The example process listed in the blog post is NOT meant to be exhaustive/prescriptive only as an example. (And IMO not the best example in the online era, I suspect a simple text document with a link to this blog, the scenario name/date played/chronicle number to tie it back to the original chronicle, and the updated quantities gained/new total would have been more accessible to people without PDF editing software in general... looks like the same data you'd put into a line of a spreadsheet based record system...)

But it sounds like that won't help you, since your GMs haven't been following the guide in the first place. I stand by my original comment in that case -- if GMs are being discriminatory towards players with disabilities, that's something the VO corps needs to address. If VOs are disregarding your reports, please go up the chain for your region/online.

The intent of the guide statement about alternate record keeping is explicitly intended to address situations like this, and allow more access to the game to people with disabilities.

Alternately, the next time you play a game, you can ask the GM to note the additions on that chronicle.

Eric will continue to follow up with Alex to get a correction to the above document.

In the mean time, If you are having GMs or VOs disregard your needs, please forward that information up the chain. Likewise if GMs are disregarding the guide, that needs to be brought to our attention.

It was mentioned about adding the missing credits for the Starfinder scenarios, but is it the same for Little Trouble in Big Absalom, which only awarded 2 treasure bundles? It's xp was increased to 4, so do we also get 8 more?

I was just adjusting things for my character and noted that the gp reward spot wasn't changed.

Even asking to see a player's chronicle history is a bit wishful thinking. I have personally seen players who created new characters without any supporting documentation, were called on it, and next time presented a stack of chronicles that, due to past access to reporting, I knew to be fabricated. If someone wants to cheat, there is literally no way to definitively stop it. Auditing a character sheet to make sure it is legal is one thing. I mean its fairly obvious that a level one character does not have a holy avenger, a staff of power, or a +12 to attack. However, outside of the the character sheet itself, I find zero reason to audit a player's records, especially outside of a casual meet 'n greet session where there aren't any time constraints.

What happen if you apply the chronicle on a Field Commission agent?
The society guide say; "Field Commission agents do not gain any consumables at the start of a mission. Instead they gain 3 days of down time per XP earned in an adventure instead of 2"

But here, it say explicit 24 days.

But if we do the maths, a common agent get 8 days per 4exp adventure, which means 24 days for a 3 adventures (1 level)

Meanwhile a field agent get 12 days per 4exp adventure wich means 36 days for 3 adventures (1 level) if you apply this chronicles you are losing 12 days of earn income?? While a non field agent doesnt loss any downtime with this change

The word to focus on would be "instead":

they gain 3 days of down time per XP earned in an adventure instead of 2

This Blog is simply streamlining the default.

If you're Field Commissioned, or Slow Track, or something else that modifies your number of Downtime Days, you'd obviously make those adjustments on your own.

Yes, especially given the new approach in the guide of simply assuming the default for all things and deferring optional subsystems to the various appendices -- I would expect blogs to only reference the default going forward to keep things simple. This doesn't mean the other options don't work, just that they expect people who want to delve deeper to understand the rules and/or ask clarifying questions if needed.

It was mentioned about adding the missing credits for the Starfinder scenarios, but is it the same for Little Trouble in Big Absalom, which only awarded 2 treasure bundles? It's xp was increased to 4, so do we also get 8 more?

I was just adjusting things for my character and noted that the gp reward spot wasn't changed.

The increase in rewards granted 4 Fame, not 4 XP. It is still 1 XP (see the note about Free RPG day items going forward).

I did notice we didn't say anything about increased treasure. That is on my list to review.

Alex is out for a few days, so it will be the end of the week before he and I can circle the wagons and make sure we are both thinking the same thing. We'll get a clarification statement issued then. Thank you for your patience.

=\

Still just 1xp?

Then what was this apology for:

A note on Little Trouble in Big Absalom: This adventure, despite taking 3-4 hours to run, currently awards credit as though it were about half that length. This was an error on our part, and we apologize for it. We can’t retroactively fix the XP now, because that would have cascading effects upon your characters, but we want you to know that we regret the error and our failure to fix it quickly, and that it’s not our intent going forward. If an adventure takes 4 hours to play, it will award credit as if it were a scenario.

It sure sounds like that's talking about XP.

=\

Still just 1xp?

Then what was this apology for:

Quote:

A note on Little Trouble in Big Absalom: This adventure, despite taking 3-4 hours to run, currently awards credit as though it were about half that length. This was an error on our part, and we apologize for it. We can’t retroactively fix the XP now, because that would have cascading effects upon your characters, but we want you to know that we regret the error and our failure to fix it quickly, and that it’s not our intent going forward. If an adventure takes 4 hours to play, it will award credit as if it were a scenario.

It sure sounds like that's talking about XP.

I think they're saying that Little Trouble in Big Absalom should have awarded 4 XP, the same as a standard-length scenario, but it's too late to fix now. Maybe in the future Free RPG Day One-Shots will give standard 4 XP?

Then we have two conflicting "going forward" statements.

I really, really hope it, and/or future Free RPG Day adventures, align with the same, streamlined framework as literally every other adventure now has.

This was exactly what I was referring to in my initial comment of "Thank you for listening to our concerns".

"Shove prefer way is now. Is honest reality for truebloods of Absalom who aren't 'fancy-pants' 'Sewer Dragons' who get most of the good stuff."

I don't think its conflicting statements.

a) They're sorry for the situation LtiBA is in. They aren't going to change its XP values since it would have odd ripple on effects across existing characters; they aren't going to change its XP for future runs since again that could get confusing. Its going to stay an oddity.

b) Any future sanctioned content (ie not an OP published Scenario) that is designed to take as long as a scenario, will give scenario appropriate rewards.

Alex is out for a few days, so it will be the end of the week before he and I can circle the wagons and make sure we are both thinking the same thing. We'll get a clarification statement issued then. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for this post, Tonya. It's important to for us just to know that you have seen that there is an issue, and that you're working on it. Our goal as GMs should be to lower barriers whenever we can.

Hmm

I don't think its conflicting statements.

we want you to know that we regret the error and our failure to fix it quickly, and that it’s not our intent going forward. If an adventure takes 4 hours to play, it will award credit as if it were a scenario.

It is still 1 XP (see the note about Free RPG day items going forward).

Its still not a conflict; it might be slightly confusing wording.

a) The first thing you quoted -- they apologize for the situation, say they aren't fixing the XP on the existing problem offering. And that they don't intend to make that mistake again.

b) the second quote is confirming they aren't fixing the current one, but aren't planning to make that mistake again.

I have a question about one-shots. Since these are now being treated more as scenarios, does the Endless Potential Boon Replay allow me to offer up a replay to someone who might want to play Band on the Run?

Or is the Endless Potential Boon still for scenarios only?

Hmm

The increase in rewards granted 4 Fame, not 4 XP. It is still 1 XP (see the note about Free RPG day items going forward).

I did notice we didn't say anything about increased treasure. That is on my list to review.

Hi all! I'll be running LTiBA for the first time in a couple weeks and would appreciate clarity from whomever is capable.

From the blog post up top, I understand the adventure should grant:
*1 XP
*4 Reputation
*8 days Downtime

The original sanctioning document listed 2 Treasure Bundles, and the quoted comment from a couple months ago suggested that was being looked at. Did anything ever come of that?

Also, should AcP/GM credits for this be allocated as if it were a Quest (like the XP remains) or a Scenario (like the Reputation and Downtime were changed to)? Given most things were corrected up to Scenario level, I'm guessing these should be as well? Everything but XP?
Thanks!