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But once I order it I can relax and stop thinking about it.
Bullet points for important details in an area also solve this problem.
Hey, everyone. We've had some changes over the past couple of months. I'm sorry to announce that my first Venture-Lieutenant, Marcus Mayes, has had to step down due to health reasons. He's been a great help and a strong supporter of PFS since before there was a VO program. He also organized the first PFS games in DFW. We'll still see him at gamedays, however his support and organizational efforts will be missed. At the same time, one of our long-term players and a dedicated GM has stepped up to help organize games in Arlington and elsewhere. Please join me in congratulating our newest Venture-Lieutenant for Dallas-Ft. Worth, Chuck Davis. Thanks to both Marcus and Chuck for their ongoing contributions to the campaign.
Tablecloths are provided by Gen Con/ICCLOS. We have very little control over what colors are provided.
We try to make sure everyone that wants to play, gets to play. That's what we're there for, after all.
This isn't really a Gen Con organizational thing.
It's always been 2 coins... the more you play, the better your chances. The way the prize table works you walk away with something (at least a boon) every time you roll at Gen Con. That means that you get at least 5 boons for playing all weekend long. That's a *lot* of boons.
There's a review section for each scenario in the Paizo store. John Compton, the developer for Pathfinder Society, reads all of those.
Thanks. I think I can speak for my fellow volunteers when I say that players having a great experience is our primary goal when dedicate our time at Gen Con.
Hey, guys. Overall, I'm very happy with the way things went this year. There were some tweaks we made that definitely helped and there are some that we kind of a wash, and there are some that could be made better. Before I get into that, though, I'd like to thank all the GMs and volunteers who helped to make this the best year for PFS at Gen Con ever. Some random thoughts: There's a lot more I'm not remembering -- Bob was taking notes during the after action meeting on Sunday that he hasn't had a chance to get out to the rest of the HQ team and I'm on my work computer without access to all my notes. I'm interested, as always, to hear feedback from GMs and players, so keep it coming!
Hey, Rho. I'm sorry to say I dropped the ball on getting events at A-Kon organized this year, so there won't be any PFS games at the con. We'll be having our regular gameday that Saturday (June 7th) at Area 51 in Grapevine, TX. Signups are through our Warhorn site at http://warhorn.net/events/dfw-pfs.
In addition to Mike Brock, you might consider reaching out to the local Venture-Captain for the convention. You can find them on the list of Regional Coordinators. They'll be in touch with local players who are familiar with the ACG and can help line up demos.
Mashable has a list of sites that were affected and have been patched. There are some heavy hitters there. It looks like most financial institutions don't use OpenSSL, fortunately.
BNW, I read back on page two that you use a spreadsheet to track your purchases, etc. Since we're allowed to make our own ITS (as long as it contains the minimum data on the provided ITS), what's stopping you from adjusting your spreadsheet so it has the same info (Item bought, chronicle bought, chronicle used/sold) and printing that out instead of using the sample ITS?
Let's boil this down to a simple list. The only events you can get PFS credit for are: 1. Pathfinder Society Scenarios that haven't been retired, including Specials and Exclusives.
Chronicles for Sanctioned Modules and Sanctioned Adventure Paths can be found in the Additional Resources. Rules for applying credit for Sanctioned Modules and Adventure Paths are in Chapter 6 of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The only option of these that allows for any homebrew anything is the Sanctioned Adventure Paths played through in full with non-PFS characters. You can then apply the credit for the sanctioned portions to a PFS character (but not the character you played through the AP with). You may not, under any circumstances, mix homebrew and sanctioned content on the same character and get PFS credit for it.
There's a one-sheet guide to starting your own PFS chapter available at http://paizo.com/download/pathfinder/PFSOneSheet.zip.
Say, does anyone know a good battery backup for an iPad? Since this will be my primary means of carrying books, I think it would be good to have a buffer. Of course, my scenarios will be printed (looking into ways to reduce space and weight here as well, such as getting them spiral bound instead of using notebooks). That's a point I can't reiterate enough. There are not enough power outlets in the Sagamore to accommodate even 10% of the GMs with electronic devices. I love my iPad and the space and weight savings it offers over hardcopy, but if you're planning on using electronic devices you need to be responsible for keeping them charged and running. Extra batteries, external batteries, whatever it takes. Also keep in mind that the number of outlets in your hotel room will be limited, so if you're sharing (as most of our Tier 1/2 GMs are), you may need a power strip in the hotel room to plug in all the devices everyone brings with them. One thing we CANNOT do is string power cords across the floor as it presents a safety hazard to players, GMs, and Marshals in a crowded room where the cord may be invisible under chairs, players, bags and cases.
Speaking of shirts: this year can some stress be put on wearing the volunteer shirts? Last year a large number of marshals were wearing shirts advertising their local gaming group. It's great to see that kind of enthusiasm but it really didn't help identify them as the contact when trying to get the tables formed. That shouldn't be a problem this year. Del and the rest of the SCARAB crew have been very helpful and understand that, as a Paizo event, we need everyone representing Paizo to be identifiable.
1. We do expect volunteers to wear the shirts, so you'll be visible to staff and players as a volunteer. VOs, of course, can wear their respective shirts instead. 2. HQ will provide Chronicles and reporting sheets. 3. Slots are 5 hours and I'm hoping we'll have 30 minutes between slots*. We start mustering 15 minutes or so before the slot starts, so we'll expect GMs to be checked in by then. *In past years we've had the first two slots back-to-back and a 1-hour gap between the 2nd & 3rd slot of the day. I haven't verified with Mike that we're changing that this year, but I'd like to.
From the Additional Resources:
I believe that provides access to all the Core and Base classes at level 1 and 7 for play as pre-generated characters, but you have to have the NPC Codex to make use of them.
The onus is on the GM and event organizers to make sure that new players are: 1. Aware of the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, and where they can get a copy.
If you have players in your area that are not up to speed on these topics, and you are a GM or event organizer, then the burden is on you to educate them. Heck if you're a veteran player, part of being a member of the PFS community is sharing information of which all players should be aware but may not be. This task is never ending. As long as you are involved in the campaign, there will be new players that need someone to guide them and bring them up to speed on the campaign rules and how to find them. Help them so they can, in turn, help others.
Then I looked at a few NPCs out of the NPC Codex today and saw how few items some of the low level ones carried. I started thinking perhaps that gold piece number in PFS was a target number to keep a player in check from being too powerful. I guess it is to a point but it's not as limiting as I feared. The guidelines for total PC wealth are actually set out in the Wealth By Level (aka WBL) chart. PFS gives a little more than that out, generally.
It's not addressed in the rules, roysier, so I guess that leaves it up to the event organizer and GM to work out. Just be aware that the official upper limit is 6 players, and some players may be upset if you don't allow them to play when you haven't hit that cap. Heck, I recently had a player storm out of a gameday because I wouldn't take a 7th player at my table.
There's a "FAQ" button on every post. Just click it and it will be flagged as a potential FAQ entry for review by Paizo staff. There's also a sticky thread where a lot of ruling that haven't made it into the FAQ are posted. If you think something needs to be added to that, you can PM or email Mike and he'll look at adding it to the stickied post.
there have been people adding their own stuff to chronicle sheets, which causes issues with balance and consistency. Not to mention being clearly against the spirit and intent of an organized play campaign, namely that everyone has access to the same rewards and options (given an equal level of involvement). And that it's explicitly against the rules.
Off-topic, but: You can take 10 on disarming traps as long as you are not in danger (in combat, swinging from a rope attached to a roc's foot, etc) or distracted (The raging orc horde on the other side of the crevasse shouting and screaming for your blood as they chop down trees to make an impromptu bridge, or the beautiful maiden you're trying to rescue is just so grateful she has to sit in your lap). You can't take 20 because there's a penalty for failure (the trap may go off).
I'm a bit of a strict simulationist in this kind of situation. I run the character on their own, going so far as to move away from the table and only coming back when the scout does -- or when I feel I need to move the spotlight back to the rest of the party :) I don't reward or punish these actions explicitly. I have the bad guys react as they would given the situation. If the scout succeeds in getting information and reporting back, then they get their reward. If the scout gets spotted, then the bad guys take appropriate actions. The scout knew the assignment was dangerous when he volunteered for it. As far as timers go, there's two kinds to worry about: simulation timers (the bad guys will be ready to go in two days and leave at that time unless the party stops them) and dramatic timers (the hostage is in stasis until the party shows up, then the 6-round timer to save him starts, because that makes the story more exciting). Personally, I prefer the former. It makes my life as a GM much simpler. However, if a scout pops in on the latter, then the timer is probably going to start at that point because I don't have any guidance in the scenario about what was happening earlier. As I say that, however, I feel like that's not really fair to the players. Perhaps the best way to handle it is to have the scout show up just when they're getting started on the hostage (or whatever) to give the scout time to return to the party and let them know they need to hurry if they're going to be heroic. If there's encounters between them and the hostage that the scout bypassed somehow, then you can still have them show up just in the nick of time and start the dramatic timer at that point -- unless they dawdle. If the scout tries to rescue the hostage solo, well, you just run that encounter for him and see how it goes. It may be best to be a live lion, and fortune may favor the bold, but that doesn't mean the dice are going to agree with you.
I gotta disagree, Drogon. We already give up enough verisimilitude with the campaign rules as they stand. Having every Pathfinder wandering around with a bag full of "Oh, I have just the right item for this event," stretches credulity even further. There's another reason, too: part of Pathfinder (and D&D) is planning your equipment and magic items ahead of time, then going in and seeing if you're really ready to deal with the challenges. Giving "magic bag" access to purchase items as needed during the scenario reduces the challenge inherent in the planning portion of the game. YMMV, IMHO, etc. We might as well remove encumbrance rules while we're at it. If you're in a town (or have time to travel to a town) that has the items available during a scenario, then buy whatever you need. If you're in a dungeon in the middle of nowhere with the nearest town 2 days' ride away by horse, then I hope you're not under any time constraints.
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