Zantumal's page

I would like to formally request to cancel my subscription. Is this the only method to accomplish this? I find no such option under my account settings.

Thanks

I'm debating on building an Ifrit Arcanist because it seems like it could be a good mix on the surface. These are my thoughts:

If I take Blood Archanist archetype and thus select elemental (Fire) bloodline, does this give the same benefit as it would to the vanilla Ifrit Sorcerer? The benifit being receiving an effective +2 bonus to CHA?

Same question applies when not taking the archetype but instead the bloodline development exploit for elemental (Fire)

Answers aside to the questions above, overall, what is anyone's opinion on an Ifrit Arcanist as a potential build?

Zantumal - it looks like the Friday night Midgard events didn't make it on to your schedule, or at least the XLS version.

Thanks for putting those together, by the way!

My pleasure. I found some others that also popped up and corrected both.

For those that would preferr to see the sechedule in a more visual grid format:

In Excel XLSX Format and In PDF Format

These files will get updated as more things get added or corrected. Things in green are open events. Things in yellow are listed as lottery events.

Sara if it is helpful in being able to track down what we do and don't see on the website or as a double check against your schedule.

ARG Cap'n!!! I’m noticing a significant lack of large bodies of water here in the middle of the state, so I’m guessing this area is ripe for burying pirate treasure.

Ditto to what Davick already says. I look forward to meeting the other VO's across Florida... and elsewhere.

I haven't GM'd a lot of PFS official games but I have GM'd over the last 7 years - perhaps more. I'd have to sit down and think how old my oldest campaign is. But, I am up to 5 official tables so far.

My 2 cents,
PFS CONVENTION gaming is going to be different than PFS Game shop is going to be different than PFS Home Game. Tailor your GM style to your players and the environment the game is at. I'll get back to that but I'll go through your list first.

Re: 1) - Being a GM, you aren't expected to know everything or be an encyclopedia. Unless it is a mechanics on the game questions, the player is going to be the expert on their character anyway. So being a GM, your job is to ONE - make sure everyone is having fun within the rules and TWO - make judgement calls that are fair to all involved. It is acceptable to ask to see documentation (and have the player spend the time to get it for you) on something you aren't familiar with and a good thing to do before the game starts so you know what kind of characters you will be GM'g for so you as the GM aren't surprised.

Re: 2) - As another has said, that is common courtesy. There are side conversations and then their are non-constructive side conversations. My general reaction is to just stop talking and look at the individual until they put the phone away or stop the non-constructive side conversation (if it were a home game). That gets the point across that also, as the GM, I'm in charge of the situation. This is where your environment can come into play. If you are at a convention, it is noisy already with limited time - I would move on because the time constraint is a bigger issue than the rudeness.

Re: 3)- Meh, that is a slippery slope. Because that demands that everyone RP on the same level. Some people don't RP a different character and play the game as if they were the character (an avatar). You're essentially saying to those people, they are playing the game wrong and diminishing their enjoyment. Now, there is metagaming and then there is METAGAMING. Again, this is a situation where the GM has to play to the audience he/she has. Be mindful of other peoples enjoyments. This mentality of the GM using the level of metagaming against the level of a player using metagaming can also promote the "GM" vs "Players" game. No, just no - and it happens a lot at conventions where the GM tries to play against PC's in the attempt to kill them. That isn't the spirit of the game.

Re: 4) - This job (I feel) can't be offloaded to the players. Yes, they should be aware but it is still the GM's job to keep the pace and flow of the combat. Here is a tip to help you that I saw at last years PiazoCon. Get little index cards and cut them into strips about an inch wide and maybe about two inches long or more. Fold them in half length wise so it becomes a 1 inch wide tent. Have each player write their character name on both sides. Hang them in combat order on your GM screen so both you and the players can see the combat order (including ones for monsters/npc's). As combat progresses move the tent card from front to back. This lets the players visually know who is coming up next so they can preplan their initiative actions.

Re: 5) - We're human. It happens. But it isn't the GM's responsibility to manage characters' bonuses. They give you a number, if they miss a bonus, I may or may not remind them depending on circumstances and how battle is going. I see lots of people pull out tablets and load HeroLab character sheets to help keep track of the additional bonus by turning things on and off. It helps.

Re: 6) - See answer 5.

Re: 7) - I'm not really seeing how having predetermined rolls aids in prevention of metagaming. (For perception) You still describe what the character or characters see (or dont describe on a fail) based upon a roll either predetermined or at the moment. Now I can see where it could speed up game play in general by knowing ahead of time what to tell the players and transition into combat (get predetermined initiative orders for the combats) - but that is work you are putting on yourself to keep track of.

So tailoring your GM style to the players and the environment, is going to depend on if you've played with these people before, where it is happening, are their predetermined expectations etc. For game shop and con, having a "speech" before the game is great but I wouldn't so much proclaim them as such edicts or laws. My suggestion to you is to do some more home game GM'ing (which you can still do as PFS scenarios) to get being the GM under your belt. Have the safety net of familiarity of player expectations with people you know first as a GM, and then progress (if you like and want more challenges) to game shop with unknown quantity players and then convention.

I'd also recommend looking at the information listed in the GM101 and GM201 documents on Paizo's website. If you have the opportunity to go to a seminar for GM101/201 at PiazoCon or other convention I highly recommend them. It is interactive with round table timed situations to help GM's be better GM's and deal with things the best way possible with constructive feedback from a panel as well as the audience.

::Raise Hand:: Maybe.

We (wife and I) haven't quite determined what our pre or post con activities will involve. It may all depend on transportation too. We do have our transit tickets from last year. We were thinking of taking a drive out to Mt. Rainier after the con on our way out of town. It is freaking awesome to see the mountain when you're flying right over it from the plan, and quite cruel when the pilot tells you to return to your seats and fasten your seat belts cause we're landing and the mountain is on the other side of the plane.

She has a cousin in town that I know she will want to try and visit with <subliminal message shameless plug> use the same caterer as last year who turned out to be my wife's cousin</subliminal message shameless plug>.
There is also this stone bridge under a big waterfall, that the bridge got damaged recently from a falling rock - but I think that is in Portland.

Zantumal, That's not far off from what LG had. In addition to the ARs, each character had an inventory sheet (and you could replace them when they ran out of fields to fill out as you burned through consumables, but you had to keep your old ones) that showed when you bought an item and sold it, used it, or it was destroyed. They also had magic item creation sheets that were used to track time and gold spent on crafting magic items. In essence, every character had up to 3 sheets for every adventure. It worked, but if you're not careful the tracking can get in the way of the game.

I'm sorry I don't know what LG and ARs stand for. Pretend like you're talking to someone who just walked off the street and started playing Pathfinder Society yesterday.

Just so I'm clear on my suggestion - the sheet would function like a log sheet to be filled over the span of multiple sessions, not one sheet per session, and the number of them would be variable upon how much purchasing the character did.

I also find it interesting that a large percentage of players use tablets at the table (which is cool for ease of play) but there is no way to verify stats, languages, skills ect that *could* shift over time from an unscrupulous player because there is no documented official character sheet required at the table and hence my idea for documented history of equipment separated from the chronicle sheet.

Something which looks like so: PICTURE

Any chance of a one-page schedule that just shows the slots and session names?

Go to what I put together