Phinous Tok's page

Also, what does it mean to "own" a book? I have two kids who play PFS. Our family only owns one copy of each book. Can only one family member take ownership credit?

Howdy,

My group and I are close to wrapping up Rise of the Runelords - which, despite many of my best efforts - was a bit of a cakewalk.

(Well, they are headed into the final module, so maybe that one will be the end...)

At any rate, for our next AP, I want something much, much, much more challenging.

Of the APs that people have played, which offers the biggest challenge? My group tends to be gamerey btw, very much into stat max/min, etc. Unlike me.

The easiest solution would be to run Wrath of the Righteous but don't have the players get mythic levels. That should be a nice challenge.

I would like to see more on the Vanara. "Vanara of Glorian"

I would also like to see something on making constructs, clockwork items, creatures (and prosthetics?). "Artificer's Handbook"?

Honest question for the masses...

Since there seems to be a lot of dislike for 'endless waves/encounters' for the ending act, what sort of mechanics would you like to see replace them in future events?

-Thursty

From my standpoint down at first level, it wasn't the endless waves that was the issue. It was:

1) the lack of a climax battle and
2) the lack of feedback regarding the direct effect of our actions

My suggestions:

1) have a short (1/2 hour?) "final chapter" where a boss appears and enters the fray. (Even if the players are in the middle of a wave).
2) Figure out a way to link tables of different tiers (for example, all yellow tables are linked) so that something like the siege weapons directly influence the partner table(s). The waves would be more enjoyable if after each successful siege weapon shot we heard a cheer go up around us.

Well, in all honesty, the cult of Lisalla is kinda like that.

I am sure that its appropriate for the setting. But the original post was about promoting new kid players. I just wanted point out that the adventures could be a bit kid-friendlier if the goal was to have more young recruits.

I was playing high tier tables though. I dunno how the situation was for low tier, but I saw generics get seated for those too in Siege

Yes. In fact the two guys at our table that were not in our group were there on generic tickets. They acted like they had won the lottery.

Not only should Mike and John be given kudos to how well the games went (and they went well) or how many PFS tables were sat (holy crap there were a lot!) they should be given kudos for fostering a solid and safe community for gamers of all types. It was really awesome to see!

I had a great time playing all weekend with my buddy and our school-aged sons. It was a well organized event.

My only complaint is we came across more than one game with a weird S&M subplot (Severing Ties and the Disappeared). It was probably just a coincidence but it seemed like every other secret room of the weekend led to an illicit bondage nest. The GMs tried to message the content to make it more kid friendly. I just found it strange that this theme happened to keep coming up. I got to be a running joke between me and the other dad.

Phinous - that's the exact reason I would describe what was happening to my table as it was happening - pull back the flavor a little bit in order to show what mechanical effect they were having and what help other tables were doing to them. I think my table appreciated it.

I would have loved to hear that. In fact, I am still not sure precisely what it was.

Edit: I don't mean this as a knock on our GM. He did a very professional job with it all.

Several in our group had their kids there, playing low tier, so I know what you guys did. Sounds as exciting as being stretcher bearers, which is what we did at 6th level, over, and over again!

It was not unexciting -- although it became a little repetitive eventually. We enjoyed responding to the tactical need to <redacted> while also fighting off waves of attackers.

It would have been more dramatic if the attacker waves became increasingly hard to deal with, but, as it happened, we managed to handle them without too much difficulty. Personally, I would have preferred to end with a "boss wave" but I understand that the timing at our table was controlled by external forces that made such things hit or miss.

Our GM did s good job of letting us know that the <redacted> was having a positive effect in general. My point was only that this could have been heightened if we knew more specifically who we were helping and how much more we needed to do.

Was it a close call or a cake walk on the other end? In fact, what actually happened? From our perspective we only knew that it was suddenly over.

I'm simply suggesting that next time they take into account the need for more feedback to the contributing tables as well as a clearer wrap up to the event.

Assuming that the mechanics were the same at the Beta at PaizoCon, your efforts were much appreciated by the higher tier tables affected.

I know that it wasn't clear to the higher tier tables at PaizoCon that the <redacted> were the results of the efforts of the lower tier tables until afterward.

I also know that, when we found out, mot of at the higher tier tables expressed our thanks for the assistance the <redacted> provided to us.

Were specific <redacted> benefiting specific tables?

We would have loved to hear a cheer go up we time we accomplished a <redacted>. Just having the link made express (rather than implied) would have totally changed my feeling about that part of the event even if everything else was left the same.

I'm not sure about the logistics issues, but perhaps we could have had linked tables of each tier. So that whenever we did our thing our GM could simply have walked over and notified the GM/GMs of the higher tier table/tables. (for example, all of the yellow tables could have been linked).

Just a little peak like that behind the curtains would have made a big difference.

I had a lot of fun at the Diamond City special event on Friday night. The energy in the room was incredible and I was impressed by how well organized the whole thing was. The Society managers deserve kudos for such a well run event.

I have one suggestion directed toward improving future events. From the standpoint of a low level character at a first level table, it would have made the event more exciting if there was stronger feedback regarding the mechanical effect that our table's efforts were having in the game. This was particularly true in the final chapter.

Without getting spoilery, the final chapter involved a lot of repetitive activity for the sake of continuing a particular endeavor. But we never received much feedback as to how our particular endeavor was benefiting the higher level tables (except by inference).

If, for example, our "endeavor" was resulting in tangible aid to another table or tables (again the mechanics of this were unclear) then it would have made it more enjoyable for us if the GMs to arrange for some some of tangible feedback. (I cant get more specific without spoilers).

As it was, from our perspective, the game just ended with a sudden announcement of victory without a clear understanding of our contribution.