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Blind Prophet's page

**** Pathfinder Society GM. 44 posts (101 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 25 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.


Grand Lodge 4/5

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Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:
Overly judgemental gnome?! Pffft.

I only say this with the most respect, Hilary. :D Just as much as my avatar looks like Morgan Freeman enjoying the heck out of some pirate cosplay, yours looks like a gnomish venture captain that just sits there, staring at the adventuring party when they ask her a question during the mission briefing that's really...out there.

"So you're wanting to ask me if there is going to be trees in the forest of ultimate doom? Hmm."

Seriously though, it took me forever to piece together that your signature is your initials.

Grand Lodge 4/5

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Tineke Bolleman wrote:
nosig wrote:
Andy Brown wrote:

Some people love to run games, and therefore collect stars.

Some people run games mostly to make sure that games happen (hi), and get fewer stars.
Some people don't want to run games (for all sorts of reasons), and so don't get any stars.

The only thing the stars tell you is how many games somebody has run, except for #5, which should be an indication that they know what they're doing well enough not to spoil a game.

However, there are some 5-stars I won't sit at a table with (even if they aren't running), due to either personality incompatibilities or disagreement over how the rules work.

And knowledge of one system doesn't always carry over to a different system; sometimes that's worse when the systems are similar (hands up all those who still get mixed up between D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder)

raises hand...
raises hand too

I still hear people ask for spot checks.

------
One of the things that I notice, having played the majority of my PFS online, is how many people pop up in our dischord channel's LFG chat, just looking for a game. By it's very nature, finding someone who wants to GM just for the love of GMing a game is very rare.

Originally, I starting GMing for my static online group because nobody else wanted to run it. There's alot more to GMing online than there is for GMing in person. I feel like I can whip up a map IRL, have a stat block, and be good to go. Online, not so much. I prep macros for my NPCs to try and minimize the interruption to game flow. I go out of my way to find interesting pictures for NPCs that aren't just taken from the bestiary, since I know at least 2 of my players have been around the block a few times, and can probably guess monsters just based on the pictures. I do dynamic lighting on my maps, to help my players get involved in the game more. I go out of my way to find hilarious memes to post on my splash screen of a starter page to give my players a chuckle. All in all, it usually takes me about a week to make a single scenario ready for gameplay (taking into account being a full time college student and part time worker).

This involvement of time also means that I have less time to play than I would normally like. Looking back at my chronicles, I have way too many characters, and the majority of the chronicle sheets are from GM credit. I have a 15th level character that I've played maybe 5 times.

Now, I GM because I enjoy it. I love reading the behind the scenes action, and helping my players flesh out their characters. Im touched by some of the actions that they've done. Sure, I may be gaming vicariously through my PCs. What GM doesn't?

I swear, this is the end of my rant. >_< Hilary, my GM stars mean more to my players than they mean to me. They show that I was willing to take (from their perspective) 5-10 hours out of my week to make a few hours of their time a little more enjoyable. None of them read the forums, so I know they'll never read this, and probably will never know the truth about how long it takes to set up a table (nobody's ever asked at least). One of my players has a huge social media fanbase, and you should see how she brags to her friends about her barbarian Barb. One of my other players, whos favorite character has the cooking profession as a dayjob, spends time in-scenario finding out what each exotic location has for new ingredients, and serves the party at his next mission briefing a local delicacy from the last place they adventured. They, and others, are the reason why I gm so much, and thus the reason why I currently have 4 stars.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a bonekeep table to prep. :D

Grand Lodge 4/5

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here's a little copy and paste from my reply to the blog post, since it feels like here's the official spot to voice the opinion.

Option 2 Doesn't sound horrible. It also doesn't sound too...well, for lack of a proper term, Overpowered. Let's be realistic, it's going to take some time for GM's to get up off the ground and get back in the saddle. I don't envision me hitting 4 or 5 glyphs that quickly, and maybe a little boost would be helpful in reaching that end road. Probably not even within the first year, to be honest. If option 2 seems to hard to implement (let's be frank, Paizo.com doesn't have the best track records with coding, especially when it comes to PFS), then option 3 would be my second choice.

Overly Judgemental Gnome said wrote:
However... ultimately I want what is good for the campaign. Although the thought of starting over made me horribly upset, I’ve calmed down some. If you think it’s best for the longterm health of the campaign to make a clean start, then that’s what I’ll choose.

I can see Hilary's gnome jumping up on a table and making a rowdy, ruckus of a room go quiet with her stare alone as she says this. How's this. I will voluntarily go with option 1 if and only if one of the in text venture captains gives mission briefings by guilting adventuring party's into going on missions by giving them a look. :D

Grand Lodge 4/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Judgmental Gnome Hmm said wrote:
My issues with this is that we would run into issues over what is a public and what is a private game. It can be murky, especially when it comes to the world of online play. I'd rather not kick over that barrel of lemurs if I can avoid it.

I completely agree. I run a privately public/publicly private set of games (core of 4/5 static players, w/ a pug for a 5th or 6th if they/I feel like they need it) and this just feels...awkward to say the least? It would be a loooooong time before i got my second star, thank you very much. :D

On an aside note, have there been any word of paizo converting dungeons over from 1e to 2e? Some of my players have been asking to do emerald spire again, "even if it's just for funsies". I'd love to give them a reason to delve it again.

Edit: I feel like it pertains here, because that dungeon helped me jump up in stars in the first place. :D