Shaun Burton's page

On Saturday September 27th, Fans of Gaming will be holding its third Game Day at The Avanti's Dome in Pekin IL.

As well as miniatures and board games, we will have several RPGs including some Pathfinder Society events. Details can be found at http://www.fansofgaming.net and sign up for RPGs is available through Warhorn at http://www.warhorn.net/events/fog-game-day-rpgs.

We still have plenty of space for our events and are in need of additional GMs.

Fans of Gaming is proud to announce FOG CON, to be held May 31st through June 1st at the Avanti's Dome in Pekin IL.

FOG CON caters for all types of gaming - CCGs, RPGs, miniature gaming, board games, LARP as well as having vendors and other events going on throughout the weekend.

We are offering an extensive schedule of Season 5 Pathfinder Society.

The main FOG CON website is at http://www.fansofgaming.net and sign up is available through Warhorn at https://warhorn.net/events/fog-convention ...

Farmageddon is a new Midwest convention created by a local Boy Scout group. It is being held March 21st through March 23rd at Blue Ridge High School in Farmer City, IL. The convention will raise funds for Boy Scout Troop 137 of the Crossroads District in the W.D.Boyce Council, so it is definitely a good reason for a weekend of gaming. They are currently looking for GMs and players, with a huge selection of Pathfinder events running all weekend.

More details about the convention as well as pre-registration can be found at their website: http://www.farmageddon137.com and sign up for games (after registration) can be found on Warhorn at https://www.warhorn.net/events/farmegeddon (note - it is spelled with an ‘e’ instead of an ‘a’ on Warhorn) ...

If you are interested in attending or even better by helping out with GMing – please check it out.

If you have any questions about the event you can use the ‘Contact Us’ form on the web page or e-mail Kurtis Bozarth at sirroswell@yahoo.com …

All

On June 15th, at Just for Fun in Peoria, IL, in conjunction with Free RPG Day, we will be hosting tables of Pathfinder and Pathfinder Society adventures suitable for new/beginning players as a way for new players to try out the game and get involved in Pathfinder Society.

As well as the Free RPG Day scenario 'We Be Goblins Too!', we will also have Beginner's Box games, and several Tier 1-5 games running throughout the day (First Steps and others).

If you are in the area - please feel free to stop by, or if you know anyone who is in the area, who would like to learn more about Pathfinder, please encourage them to come along and roll some dice with us !

All,

For those who are not already familiar with our events - once per month we host a Pathfinder Society Game Day at Just for Fun in Peoria, IL.

Our next event is on May 11th, starting at 10.30am.

More information can be found at http://www.justforfungames.net or at our Warhorn registration site http://warhorn.net/just-for-fun-pfs/ ...

We are always looking for new players and GMs. If you are in the area - please feel free to join us !!

Beginners are always welcome.

Also - if you are in the area and are looking to get your own Pathfinder Society event up and running - please feel free to contact me and I will help out getting you started any way I can !

I have just added two sessions of 4-20 Words of the Ancients to our schedule.

We still have seats at several of our tables and we have Pathfinder Society events running all weekend.

If you are in the area - please stop by and roll some dice with us !!

http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-rpgs-2013/

Signup is now open on Warhorn for RPG events. (http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-rpgs-2013/).

This is not an "official" registration for the convention (there currently is no pre-registration available), however we will use this to judge interest in each event and also to try and seat players at their preferred tables on the day (providing you are there when the slot starts - all bets are off for late comers !).

If formal convention pre-registration becomes available I will post it here.

I still need GMs for a couple of Pathfinder slots - if you wish to volunteer, please sign up through the Warhorn site. If no GMs are found, these events will be removed from the final schedule.

All,

I am pleased to announce that we plan an extensive schedule of Pathfinder Society and other RPG events at Spring Offensive 2013 !!!

Spring Offensive 2013 will be held on May 31st through June 2nd at the ICC Campus in East Peoria, IL.

A full schedule of Pathfinder/RPG events can be found on Warhorn:

http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-rpgs-2013/

More details of Spring Offensive 2013 in general can be found at

http://www.springoffensive.net

and on the Facebook event page

https://www.facebook.com/events/485588394841725/

We still need a few GMs and are accepting additional events - details of how to get yourself on the schedule can be found on the Warhorn site.

Hope to see some of you there !

Not only does it allow us to track how successfully scenarios are being completed, but it also allows us to change the plots and campaign info.

I am really excited to see this sort of thing implemented. It was used in the old RPGA Living Greyhawk campaign to shape regional story arcs for major events, and a similar concept was used in the latest Shadowrun Missions season to shape later stories based on events that had happened previously.

Players tend to get much more of a sense of involvement when the campaign world can be affected by what their characters do in game. In fact in the RPGA it actually sparked a lot of player-driven meta gaming on message boards and player-created world information that fleshed out each game region (I participated in the Verbobonc town project where minor towns in the Verbobonc region were detailed out by players whose characters came from those towns and then they became Living towns in their own right through the use of in-character messages on associated Yahoo groups).

Figured I would throw in my $.02 worth here ...

On the subject of dragons ... It is always nice when a dragon shows up in a module, however I agree with many folks on here that they really shouldn't be that common.

Goblinoids are generally considered to be the most common 'monster' foe in most fantasy game worlds - I think that they should show up quite common, but I agree that orcs and other goblinoids have not been getting as many appearances as they should compared to goblins.

Dinosaurs have their place - but IMHO should be relegated to 'lost world' or out of the way locations and don't need to be that commonplace.

On the undead front - a little more variety maybe - but like goblinoids I think that these should be fairly common.

Swarms have been overdone - but that being said, would be quite common in the right locations. I think it is a case of making sure that swarms are used in environments where they would naturally appear (sewers for example).

Celestials - I don't really have much of an opinion on this ... they have a place but I don't see them cropping up all that often.

Humanoid NPCs are the most likely foes that the Society would face, especially in civilized society - so I really think that these will be by far the most common. I think care needs to be made to ensure that major NPCs and villains are a little less 'cardboard' though - with a little thought to things that make them unique. A lot of the NPC villains have an interesting write up and background but when they appear in the actual adventure it is just in the final boss-fight encounter where they are often reduced to a set of stats and just 'something else to kill' in the adventure.

Several people have mentioned haunts. Whilst I have nothing against haunts - if you are going to use them in adventures, you need to make sure that there is sufficient information in the adventure that gives players a clue how to defeat them. The most common complaint I hear is 'how are we supposed to know what to do about it?' - usually because the clue as to what will get rid of the haunt is either so obscure, or in odd cases practically non-existent. Maybe having an adventure about ridding a location of a haunt - where the PCs have to locate clues and information about it before actually confronting the haunt itself?

Thankfully I have not come up against any instances of having to make a rules calling at the PFS events I have been present at or organized - however, in a past life as an event organizer for the RPGA I have run into it a few times.

As Mike says - there is usually someone to ask who can recite the rules in their sleep, and with today's technology it is usually easy enough to get to the internet if all else fails (chances are someone else has run into the same question already). In the rare event that I have not been able to get a definitive answer to something, I have made it clear that any ruling given on the day is only provisional on the basis of keeping the session going. Wherever possible I have taken contact details of the player(s) affected and if I have not been able to get a definitive answer by the end of the convention, have followed up with them afterwards once I have the answer to hand.

The convention has announced that it will not be conducting player pre-registration this year, so we will be using Warhorn as our informal pre-registration for tables. Please head over and sign up for tables if you plan to attend to avoid disappointment on the day.

We will adjust the schedule if necessary to accommodate players if there is significant interest in certain games and less so in others to ensure that folks get to play what they want and make sure that we have legal tables in all slots.

http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-2012-pfs/

Hope to see you there !!!

The convention has announced that it will not be conducting player pre-registration this year, so we will be using Warhorn as our informal pre-registration for tables. Please head over and sign up for tables if you plan to attend to avoid disappointment on the day.

We will adjust the schedule if necessary to accommodate players if there is significant interest in certain games and less so in others to ensure that folks get to play what they want and make sure that we have legal tables in all slots.

http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-2012-pfs/

Hope to see you there !!!

Sign up for tables is now enabled on Warhorn for Pathfinder events at Spring Offensive 2012. Our events are all on the event schedule (there is a Pathfinder Society link on the schedule page). We have also added a bunch of additional slots to our line up.

You should note:

• Player registration for the con still doesn't work through the website (I have made the organizers aware of this problem)

• In order to avoid disappointment, you should register for games with the convention prior to the event. Signing up on Warhorn DOES NOT count as preregistration. In the event of overbooking of a table, preference will be given to any attendee who has preregistered, regardless of whether they have signed up on Warhorn or not (however we will do our best to get you a seat at another table)

The convention website is http://www.spring-offensive.com and our Warhorn page (for table mustering purposes only, you must still register for the con via the website) is located at the URL shown below:

http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-2012-pfs/

Hope to see you there !!!

Sign up for tables is now enabled on Warhorn for Pathfinder events at Spring Offensive 2012. Our events are all on the event schedule (there is a Pathfinder Society link on the schedule page).

You should note:

• Player registration for the con still doesn't work through the website (I have made the organizers aware of this problem)

• In order to avoid disappointment, you should register for games with the convention prior to the event. Signing up on Warhorn DOES NOT count as preregistration. In the event of overbooking of a table, preference will be given to any attendee who has preregistered, regardless of whether they have signed up on Warhorn or not (however we will do our best to get you a seat at another table)

The convention website is http://www.spring-offensive.com and our Warhorn page (for table mustering purposes only, you must still register for the con via the website) is located at the URL shown below:

http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-2012-pfs/

Hope to see you there !!!

I have added extra events to the schedule, including the Cyphermage Dilemma.

Still waiting to get our events on the convention website so you can pre-register for them - but Warhorn is updated.

http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-2012-pfs

I am planning to host a slate of Pathfinder Society events at Spring Offensive, a local gaming convention in East Peoria, IL at the end of March. The convention runs the weekend of March 30th through April 1st and more details can be found on the convention website - http://www.spring-offensive.com.

I am looking for both player and GM support for this convention. If you are interested in GMing - please contact me offlist at vampyr13@gmail.com. Players should pre-register through the convention website once the events are confirmed on the convention schedule.

Once pre-registered, we are using Warhorn to muster tables and GMs - our current schedule is available at http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-2012-pfs. Please head over and create a Warhorn account if you are interested in playing or GMing. Signup for games will be enabled once I have confirmed our events are on the schedule.

If you have any suggestions or requests for additional scenarios or would like to volunteer to judge - please let me know asap. I have to submit a final schedule of events no later than 03/15/12.

Thanks - I hope I see some of you there!

I am planning to host a slate of Pathfinder Society events at Spring Offensive, a local gaming convention in East Peoria, IL at the end of March. The convention runs the weekend of March 30th through April 1st and more details can be found on the convention website - http://www.spring-offensive.com.

I am looking for both player and GM support for this convention. If you are interested in GMing - please contact me offlist at vampyr13@gmail.com. Players should pre-register through the convention website once the events are confirmed on the convention schedule.

Once pre-registered, we are using Warhorn to muster tables and GMs - our current schedule is available at http://warhorn.net/spring-offensive-2012-pfs. Please head over and create a Warhorn account if you are interested in playing or GMing. Signup for games will be enabled once I have confirmed our events are on the schedule.

If you have any suggestions or requests for additional scenarios or would like to volunteer to judge - please let me know asap. I have to submit a final schedule of events no later than 03/15/12.

Thanks - I hope I see some of you there!

All of the First Steps are good adventures for new GMs. I also agree that Penumbral Accords is easy to run - the encounters are pretty straightforward and self-contained. The adventure is interesting and fun, but not too complex.

Frostfur Captives is fun, but new GMs may have a hard time managing the Goblin captives as well as the main action (it's not difficult, but it is an extra thing to think about).

If it is absolutely necessary to put a new GM on a higher tier table - Wonders of the Weave Part 1 (Dog Pharaoh's Tomb) and Part 2 (Snakes in the Fold) are also fairly straightforward dungeon crawl adventures, however the GM would have to deal with PCs with more abilities. This shouldn't be too much of a problem if the GM already has experience as a player and the PCs fall in the lower end of the tier however.

Most players are going to be coming in just to have fun. Don't be afraid to let your players know that you are new to the game and that this is your first time with the system.

Players who are more experienced with the game will usually be able to help you with areas of the rules where you are unsure, or simply can't remember how a mechanic works. There are very few players out there who are going to complain about a novice GM, and those that do usually find themselves without friends to game with.

Another piece of advice - if you can't remember a specific rule, and can't find it quickly in the rulebooks, make what seems to be a sensible and fair call and keep the game moving. You can go back to the rulebooks after the event and refresh your memory when you have got more time.

I find that having access to the online Pathfinder Reference Docs or (if you have an iPad or iPhone the Pathfinder PRD app) very useful. It can often help find rules fairly quickly.

Pathfinder PRD:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ or http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

Pathfinder PRD App:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/pfr/id365514623?mt=8 (there are additional data packages for books beyond the core)

Hope this helps !

I'm really looking forward to the updated guide. I think the section on alignment infractions is going to be an interesting addition, and may help provide guidance for dealing with some situations that can arise during a game. I also think that allowing continued play after 12th level will be a welcome change for some.