Search Posts
Hey there, Pathfinders! At GalaxyCon Richmond later this month I'm going to be running a "Pathfinder & Starfinder 101" presentation and panel. I'm putting together a presentation now going over the basics of how to play and get started, and I want to make sure I use my limited time as effectively as possible. I have a simple question for you all today: what drew you into Pathfinder? Was it the character creation and the chance to play a particular ancestry or class? Was it the 3-action economy or degrees of success? Something about our world that really spoke to you? Did you just want to harness the power of gay for yourself? Thanks for your help! If you're in the Richmond area, I'd love to see you all at the show :)
Greetings, Pathfinders and Starfinders! Paizo Organized Play is seeking feedback on our programs as we look to Starfinder Second Edition and beyond. Whether you’ve been playing Organized Play for years, have just joined the Society, or haven’t yet played a game with us, we’re looking for your thoughts on our programs. The survey below should only take a few minutes to complete, and the data will be invaluable to the future of our programs. Please take the survey and spread the word!
Hello Pathfinders and Starfinders, Today we are asking for public comment on the following revisions to the Guide to Organized Play, specifically the section entitled Run as Written. Proposed Text:
The Paizo Organized Play program strives to provide a fun, engaging, consistent experience at all tables. GMs are required to run Paizo Organized Play adventures as written, but are empowered to make adjustments to suit the table, fix obvious errors or typos, use alternate maps, and ensure all players have the best possible experience.
GMs must:
GMs may:
GMs must not:
Current text, for reference:
The Paizo Organized Play program strives to provide a fun, engaging, consistent experience at all tables. GMs are required to run Paizo Organized Play adventures as written, which means:
- No changes to major plot points and interactions - No addition or subtraction to the number of monsters other than scaling directed by the adventure - No changes to the DCs or results of hazards or skill checks defined in the adventure - No changes to the mechanics of the adventure, including penalties due to weather, terrain or hazards - No changes to armor, feats, items, skills, spells, statistics, traits, or weapons - No changes to the mechanics of player character options - No banning of legal character options An enduring belief of a vocal portion of the community is that Organized Play adventures must be run exactly as written, with absolutely no GM improvisation, deviation, or correction of obvious errors. This is, quite simply, incorrect, and I would like to see the community actively work to excise this thinking. I’m going to quote this from the Guide to Organized Play’s guidelines on how to be a GM. As a Pathfinder Society GM, you have the right and responsibility to make whatever judgments, within the rules, that you feel are necessary at your table to ensure everyone has a fair and fun experience. The team that publishes adventures is human. We make mistakes. We make typos. Quite frankly, sometimes we make bad choices and put two large oozes in a room that can’t contain them. Tabletop roleplaying games are not video games; they have a GM at the table, with a brain and full ability and power to make alterations as necessary. We are asking the community of GMs to consider themselves an active part of the process. If there is an obvious error, you do not require our permission to fix it. If there is something unclear about an adventure, you do not require our blessing to smooth it over. We do our best to give you the best version of the adventure possible, but sometimes, despite our best efforts, it’s not perfect. We trust our GMs to run the adventures not as written, but as intended, and to ensure at their tables have the best experience with the best roleplaying game out there. These updates are intended to reflect the Organized Play team’s current thinking on this topic. Our deliberate and specific intent is to explicitly grant GMs greater latitude at their tables while remaining within the bounds of the adventures as published. We welcome the community’s comments on the proposed revisions. Please note that these do not take effect until they are formally added to the Guide to Organized Play. This thread will remain open for comments until October 21. Please keep any commentary respectful and on-topic; off-topic digressions may be split off or deleted.
Any changes posted by members of Paizo Staff or anybody with Paizo staff’s blessing in the Digital Products Updates and Patch Notes forum, or any websites which replace it in the future, are to be considered official errata for Organized Play scenarios. GMs should incorporate these changes into their games. The team creating Foundry products will never incorporate these updates without posting them publicly as well, to avoid creating a haves/have-nots system. These updates are unlikely to be reflected in PDF updates.
Any changes posted by members of Paizo Staff or anybody with Paizo staff’s blessing in the Digital Products Updates and Patch Notes forum, or any websites which replace it in the future, are to be considered official errata for Organized Play scenarios. GMs should incorporate these changes into their games. The team creating Foundry products will never incorporate these updates without posting them publicly as well, to avoid creating a haves/have-nots system. These updates are unlikely to be reflected in PDF updates. |
