Mike Bramnik wrote:
Well, if there's a substantial amount of table variation expected, it sounds like a prime candidate for a section in this document :)
There have been other threads on proposed rule changes but the threads seem to have been derailed a bit, so I wanted to request that a change in language be made allowing parties that hit exactly the float level (3,5,7,9) can choose to play up if they desire. What I have noticed happening quite frequently lately is that at tables of four players have three players that would fit in the higher tier, but because of one lower level player they fall exactly in the middle and then have to play down. Examples: In a 1-5 scenario, four level 3 characters and one level 1 character puts the APL at 3.25. That means that their average APL is 3 and they play down. The same applies for 3-7 scenarios with three level 6's and one level 3 (APL 5.25), 5-9 scenarios with three level 8's and one level 5 (APL 7.25) and 7-11 scenarios with three level 10's and one level 7 (APL 9.25). By the current rule, that party must play the lower tier, yet the three other players are two levels higher than the sub tier was written for. So obviously, the party crushes the scenario and gains out of tier gold. But often times the players themselves feel let down, since they were able to annihilate everything in their path. And some times, the players even feel cheated because the higher tier players could have gotten full high tier gold instead. For the reasons listed above I propose that the rule be amended to let let people exactly at the float/middle level play up in a sub tier calculation if they choose.
While the Faction missions have been done away with, there were some plot points doled out in Season 4 that seemed wholly inconsistent with the faction and I'm curious as if these inconsistencies will ever be explained. They involve Coulson Maldris and as Andoran players know, his faction missions are weird in Season 4. Spoilers abound below: Paraphrasing this combo faction mission for comedic reasons:
You know what? Screw those guys! I'm making my own embassy. With Blackjack! And hookers! You know what? Forget the blackjack! Another....strange one:
So, there's this guy who's kind of blackmailing me, so you gotta deal with it. How? Well, you know what they say about snitches! Seriously, stab him until you can't stab him anymore. This isn't even the only "Stab this random dude" mission in the season! At least where I play, these faction missions and oddities were a source of a lot of discussion. Does anyone know if these missions will be explained, or will this just be Maldris's emo phase? :)
Michael Brock wrote:
During a meeting of the deities who were elevated by the Starstone, Cayden Cailean challenged Norgorber to a bet. No one knows any details of the bet, but anyone who communes with Norgorber about the origin of the were-platypuses is instantly smote dead. Were-platypuses live in secret, while trying to honor both their heritage from Cayden Cailean and Norgorber. As for why it would be a great idea, since were-platypuses are the rarest and most secretive of the skin-walkers, they would make for excellent rare prize boons for PFS events. They would also allow for a secretive off shoot that would fit into many story campaigns that want a reticent organization that doesn't want to necessarily do its own dirty work.
I'm gonna throw in another opinion at the risk of a thread jack. I really don't understand the desire to play evil characters in PFS and I think that's hurting the game a little bit as well. If the desire to have evil characters is to play some of the classes that have evil has a requirement, maybe there's something that can be done to get around that. But as someone who has played several games with evil characters, once an evil character gets introduced the game goes downhill completely. To a causal player, when someone complains about not being evil characters they see them as saying one of two things. Either it's "I want to be the complete star of this show" or "I am going to be an unmitigated terror to play with at your table." None of these encourage people to play.
Overall, things at the con ran great. I got to meet several great players and GMs, and didn't have any bad games outside of a particularly angry table of Goblin Attack. One of the things that would absolutely help the marshals and the mustering process is a way to identify who the marshals are. Be it through shirts, or stickers that have their banner characters on them, knowing who the marshals are would absolutely speed up the process. 15-30 minutes before the event, all of the GMs were going up to everyone in a purple shirt asking if they were the marshal. The process would then repeat once it was time for the players to show up because it wasn't clear who the marshal was.
Paz wrote:
Actually, the field guide only says lawful, chaotic or neutral. I could see a new player being confused when they make an LG cheliax character :P |