Watery Soup's page

For games concluding and being reported prior to February 1st

Can you publicly clarify the nitty gritty of this for PbP idiosyncracies? I think I know the answer to these, but I just would rather have everything in one post from an authoritative source.

1. The reporting date should be the date that the game concludes, correct? As opposed to the date that the game started, or, since there's sometimes a significant discrepancy, the date that the Chronicles are handed out? So, for instance, if a game started in December 2025, and ends in March 2026, the GM would use the 2026 number? And if a game ends on January 30, 2026 but the Chronicles aren't handed out until February 2, 2026, the 2025 number is used?

2. What constitutes a game that qualifies to be reported? If a game is posted with public recruitment in Cottonseed, it qualifies, but what if a game has N seats filled from private recruitment and (6-N) publicly recruited? What happens if a game is a continuation of a previous game, e.g., someone publicly recruits for Beginning Box Part 1 in 2025, and then the game rolls over into 2026 and Beginner Box Part 2 completes in 2026? Does Part 2 count as "publicly recruited"? If it differs, what happens if it's not an official 2-parter? So, for instance, a group runs #2-09 (Dacilane Academy), and they love playing together so much that they roll over into #3-18 (also Dacilane Academy)?

I think there's a significant difference between two levels and a big difference between three, but that people overemphasize playing "up" or "down" because the highest CP low tier is comparable to the lowest CP high tier.

If there's a 2, 2, 2, 2, 3 (16 CP) game, there's not a lot of difference between the sixth player bringing a Level 1 character (18 CP) and a Level 4 character (22 CP).

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I shrug at is the PbP concept of "first come, first serve" as if the people who post first somehow have higher priority. Just because the first 3 people to post are bringing Level 1s shouldn't obligate me as the 4th poster to match their level.

A third of the world is asleep when I post, so posting "the next person who posts gets to set the rules for everyone else" is going to favor a very specific set of people.

I'm happy to level match based on other priorities. I'll level match my kids when I'm playing with my kids, and I'll level match new players since they don't have flexibility with their characters.

PbP conventions, which largely run on a FCFS system, annoy the heck out of me. Note that as a US Pacific Time Zone player, I'm one of the greatest beneficiaries of the "Midnight GMT" system, so I'm not annoyed because I'm at a disadvantage.

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But the thing that probably bugs me the most, and this is just in RPGs in general (although I think the PF2 system exacerbates the issue) is people just not adjusting their strategies for others on the team.

Yes, your ranger ideally wants to be 30' away so they can use their longbow without volley. But if you're Level 4 with a bunch of Level 1s and 2s, you have the most hit points, the highest AC, and even with your volley penalty, you've probably got the best to-hit. Congratulations, you've been field-promoted to Tank, and everyone else should be Delaying so that you can trigger the AoOs and give them flanking.

The same principle, but opposite effect, goes for low level characters. You might be a greatsword fighter, but maybe you shouldn't be tanking and Striking the 28-CP BBE 3x.

I swear this is relevant so bear with me: PFS2 has a disproportionate number of group skill challenges, i.e., 4 Successes to proceed. This means that often, the fate of the group is decided by the 4th best or 5th best at a skill - the Trained-but-0-INT Arcana roll, for instance, or the low-tier character who's rolling against the high tier DC.

tldr: Yeah, it's not great having a low tier character at a high tier table, but it's also not the end of the world if people pitch in.

There will be no multi-table special, but there's still a "Specials GM Deadline" listed.

Is there some kind of Special that isn't a Multi-Table Special, or is that a typo?

I think Soup mentioned he wasn't sure what happens when you level up while crafting something...

So, to be clear, I've never read anything that explicitly says what happens, one way or another, either in the rulebooks or on the forums or on Reddit.

At the beginning, I assumed Crafting didn't auto-advance. Then, after a F2F game, I gave instructions for Downtime, which included my PC's Crafting Level being lower than their Character Level, and the GM corrected me.

But, note that because Pirate Rob and I are in the same geographic area, what I heard is highly covariant with what Pirate Rob says. It's quite possible he's the one who told me, or someone who told him also told me, or he told someone who in turn told me, etc.

Basically, I'm just a sheep. I'll do whatever someone authoritative says to do.

05-16 A Lie Told to Strangers 3-6

My records indicate I've played this one before (a prerequisite to me running it) but I honestly don't remember anything about it.

I'm full on GMing right now, but I can potentially run it, maybe for the spring convention.

Lydia/Soup -- wanna do 06-20?

Absolutely! If Quinoline dies, I've got Nina Jaribu (angelic sorcerer) at 10.

2025 was tough. I have this shoulder injury that's still lingering and my 10(then 9)yr old was close to dropping out of school due to some bullying. And a host of other "smaller" problems like my mom's further slide into dementia and my wife's tendinitis that just won't get better and impacts her ability to walk moderate distances etc.

Hoping for a better 2026

That's tough, especially the kid one. I'd throw you a Hero Point if they existed IRL. Our neighbors across the street opted to send their child (then 10) to a middle school that's not the one literally down the street from us, due to bullying. Sheesh, fifth grade! We had absolutely no idea, and the kids were in a D&D group together that 5th grade year.

Hope you find a good solution.

I have experience in playing at higher levels, but certainly not GM'ing it.

Alright, so, in November, a question came up about taking over a 9-12 game, and you posted that you hadn't run higher than 7-10. I was planning this Dark Archives run, and jotted your name down in my notes.

Except, I didn't jot your name down in my notes. I wrote down cmlobue, for whatever reason.

A very confused cmlobue has agreed there are better people than them to have seats. The reserved seat in this game should be, and will be, for you.

Replays: I played Lady of the Harvest 3 years ago and don't remember a thing from it. I'll gladly burn the replay to join this table if you're okay with that.

It won't affect your application, but I believe Replays are limited to 4 XP PFS Mode scenarios only. If selected, you'd be playing that one without PFS credit, is that okay?

any limits on the build?

Regular PFS rules. The point is to let people see stuff they might see in PFS.

I've GMed D&D 3, 3.5, PF1e, and PF2e. Damn! Does that make me old?

Let's just say that my first D&D character's class was "halfling" and my first GMing experience was with the Red Box, and agree to tread lightly with the use of the word "old".

Anyone know where GM Tiger went?

I'm in one of their games, their last post was 7:47 pm Pacific Time (exactly 24 hours ago).

where'd you go, Soup?

Japan!

Missed the record-setting tuna auction, but we did catch a relatively tame auction a few weeks ago.

Took a ton of pictures of kitsune and tanuki statues at various shrines and temples, hehe.

Did not get ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH on the street, much to my kids' chagrin, but I did create a rushing goat monk named Kancho with one of my GM-babies. Expect future shenanigans.

My body is back in the US Pacific Time Zone but my brain is still in New Zeallipines time, so I'm sliding back into things gradually.

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I do want to echo that I'd rather not see run-of-the-mill PbD games advertised here, but I think it would be beneficial to keep announcing larger events like conventions, since there's probably enough crossover. Or special events that might entice primarily-PbP players to put up with PbD for a really special game.

Also, just as a purely practical matter, since the PbD player pool is bigger than that of the PbP player pool, us PbP luddites will probably soon find ourselves shut out of many events if we don't remind them that we exist. We're already not-always informed of convention dates.

Happy New Year everyone - from 2026!

To my games: as I feared, I have Internet (mostly) but not really the opportunity to post. So I'll be back next week.

Is it likely / unlikely that we will finish this in two weeks?

I will be traveling from Dec 20 to Jan 4, with questionable access to Internet. If we're not done before then, I'll have to ask for a pause in the game or for someone to bot Quinoline.

Alright, I've reported this game under the 2025 Cottonseed RSP event.

Revised Chronicles for Ashes and Rakdon are HERE. I've sent Kyle a partial Chronicle on Discord, so he has a record of the event number (I didn't know what level his character was, so I couldn't fill out the treasure bundles).

DoubleGold, note that Kaya Matthews' number is -2027. I figured it was more likely you mistyped the number than the name. Let me know if you wanted -2019 (Goupour Dune).

I've never run a 7-10 scenario. Is that feasible for someone who's never run above 3-6?

Just my two cents, but it's neither easy nor unfeasible. It's solidly in the feasible-but-difficult territory.

A big part of it is the sheer number of things characters have going on. You'll need to track weapon crit specializations and a lot of temporary conditions like frightened and persistent damage. If you've got a good system / tracker, it's fine. It's easier in PbP and can be downright maddening in person.

You'll need to remind characters of things like S->CS on saves, as many become Master at those levels. If the PCs are responsible, or they are willing to accept consequences if they forget, there's no problem. But I find there's a lot more "oh wait I forgot" retcons or potentials for retcon.

The major variable is how well you know the classes and especially the archetypes/dedications. So, for instance, you might know how an Investigator's Devise a Strategem works, but do you know how the Investigator Dedication's Devise a Strategem works off the top of your head? Again, you can count on PCs to be more responsible at these levels, but also, it just adds to the mental load to constantly having to look things up.

In my home games, I jumped from GMing a Level 8 homebrew to a Level 11 AP, before any of my PFS characters got up that high, and I found a significant learning curve with all the changes. The saving grace was that my PCs (my kids) made the same jump, too, so they didn't squawk too much when we all ended up forgetting about features that weren't built into Pathbuilder, and I did end up nerfing several encounters from Levels 11-12 as we all grew into the new paradigm.

I'll defer to GM Watery Soup, but if that game needs a GM, I'm willing. Let me know, please, Watery Soup!

I haven't committed to this, and I probably won't, so if you're willing, please do.

Kyle's responsive on Discord, and he sent me his GM/PC number. I'm remote right now, so I can't log into Discord (long story), but I'll take care of reporting this evening.

I'll also get the information to him for revised Chronicles.

Thanks, Lysle!

Is there a Cottonseed equivalent of "loaned scenario" that someone could provide?

I'd consider taking the game over with three caveats:
1. I've never played the scenario, so I don't know what's left.
2. I don't own the scenario, and I'm not thrilled about buying it if it's just a little left.
3. I'm traveling for two weeks over the new year and will likely have extremely limited Internet access.

Aw, man, that sucks. Hopefully Kyle can get back sometime.

I note that the game can't be reported unless Kyle logs into his account. This game counts as being recruited publicly, so if he wants to report through the Cottonseed Lodge, I'm a reporter and I could enter it on his behalf.

I'm also happy to link up on Discord if this thread isn't being checked. waterysoup#6233

I poked around the store to look at the new layouts. It looks a little more modern-e-commerce-y now. And it sounds like they updated their payment system backend, but I haven't purchased anything.

If the cybersecurity looks to be more solid, I may even give them my credit card information, instead of buying prepaid debit cards like I'm Stringer Bell.

The forums are all exactly the same proto-BBcode forums that we know and love. (No sarcasm - I actually do love it, no stupid overlay ads, loads on mobile, etc.)

That is correct.

[X] Spend 20 gp on raw materials and burn 1 day
[X] Make a Crafting check vs the Item's DC (Item Level 3 = Item DC 18)
-[ ] On CF, lose 10% of the raw materials and start over (but you can only start 1 project per Downtime unit, so you'll have to find something else to do for 7 days)
-[ ] On F, you have to start over but get the full value of raw materials back.
-[ ] On S, you Earn Income based on your character level and proficiency (Character Level 5 = Task Level 5, Expert = 1.0 gp/day)
-[X] On CS, you Earn Income based on your character level+1 and proficiency (Character Level 5 = Task Level 6, Expert = 2.0 gp/day)
[X] Apply that amount toward your completion every day you choose to work on it. It doesn't need to be contiguous.

Day 1: Lead Time
Day 2: +2 gp, 22/40 completed
Day 3: +2 gp, 24/40 completed
Day 4: +2 gp, 26/40 completed
Day 5: +2 gp, 28/40 completed
Day 6: +2 gp, 30/40 completed
Day 7: +2 gp, 32/40 completed
Day 8: +2 gp, 34/40 completed

Next Downtime block

Day 1: +2 gp, 36/40 completed
Day 2: +2 gp, 38/40 completed
Day 3: +2 gp, 40/40 compelted

And you'll have 4 days left over to start a new project or whenever.

Link to Lorespire: https://lorespire.paizo.com/tiki-index.php?page=pfs2guide._.Player-Options- and-Tools#Downtime_Crafting

Two minor weirdnesses:

1. If you level up during a project, I've been told that the amount automatically adjusts. So, for example, if Lokoloko leveled up after this adventure, the downtime wouldn't change for this Chronicle, but for your first Chronicle at Level 6, you'd automatically increase to +2.5 gp/day (Character Level 6, Task Level 7) and complete the item on Day 2.

The weirdness is that I cannot find this in the rules (rulebooks or Lorespire), and as a result, I do NOT apply this to my crafting characters. If you want to Craft bigger things (things that might span more than a level), you should probably figure this out.

2. If you have a formula of an item, you have the formula for all the levels of that item. So, for example, you don't need to buy a Level 3 formula for moderate bottled lightning - you can buy the Level 1 formula for lesser bottled lightning, instead.

Again, the weirdness is that I cannot find this in the rules or Lorespire. But this one I read myself on the Paizo forums from someone official-ish, which seems official enough for me. I apply this to my crafting characters. On a practical level, the cost of formulas is relatively small: your 40 gp batch of moderate bottled lightnings would have a one-time, 1 gp surcharge if you can use the lesser bottled lightning formula, 3 gp if you have to use the moderate formula.

Happy crafting!

lol

Just in case anyone else is reading this and wondering why everything is still up, the announcement was updated to say the boards are going down at 12 pm Pacific (approximately 35 minutes from now).

I would guess Thursday as well, but if you called dibs, I'd take Friday over Wednesday.

Was there any resolution reached on migrating reviews and having 'verified'/unverifieid reviews as mentioned being discussed here?

I didn't know the reviews were getting nuked, and I didn't participate in the linked thread, but I just wanted to be clear to TPTB: I am not saving my old reviews, and I'm not reposting them. I've always reviewed things as a favor to Paizo and to the other players/GMs, not for rewards. If it's not valuable enough for you to save, it's not valuable enough for me to save.

The next time I start a Level 1-4 game, I will save lilythium a seat, assuming nobody by the name of flora-ine comes around and reacts first.

There's probably enough alumni-niums of Gameday games to start a game. Sulfur those people, I may offer #1-02. I'll make sure they get a seat before all the seats argon.

But this bro-mine is a little busy for the next week or two, so I don't have enough time to zinc into a game.

Happy (IRL) Mid-Autumn Moon Festival! I hope you are all surrounded by friends and family this week.

*Waves to Noral*

I don't play PF1 any more, but there's a steady stream of games that get started and finished.

Move the Phillipines closer to New Zealand, it should solve the typhoon problem.

What new Paizo store? Is there a link somewhere for the announcement?

HA! I just went looking for it and came here to post it.

https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo71tf6

Grand Archive: abstract, discussion, conclusions

Envoys' Alliance: ally, future ally, ally
Horizon Hunters: prepare, march, rest
Radiant Oath: light, harm, heal
Vigilant Seal: protect, destroy, contain

I think I'm missing one but I can't think of it at the moment.

I will tell you that if you give me a form it is likely that what you'll mostly get from me is positive feedback.

There is also Ye Olde Compliment Sandwich: say something nice, say constructive criticism, and then say something nice.

Smaller level bands: I see the problem, but I think that's just a player responsability thing. I get that some players want to keep playing one character, but for the good of the group I think it's good to look at your characters and notice, "huh, I have multiple characters in the 5-8 range, but none in 1-4."

You're right in that it becomes a player responsibility. But it's a pretty significant one. Because a player needs to advance a character into a narrow band every time one exits the narrow band, it's a significant amount of planning.

For example, let's say a player starts off with four characters, A-D, levels 1, 3, 5, and 7, respectively. For starters, someone needs to play 36 scenarios just to get that setup! But once they do, they're good until they play 6 scenarios in a certain band. Then, say, Character C ends up leveling up to 7, and the player can't play any Tier 5-6 scenarios until Character B makes Level 5. But when Character B levels up to 5, then the player can't play any Tier 3-4 scenarios until Character A reaches Level 3.

It's a lot of management, and one that the higher volume players like most of the people posting on the forums naturally take care of. For example, I've got every tier covered, right now, and often double-covered with a martial and a spellcaster (so I can switch characters if the party composition is non-ideal) even before the changes were announced. So, it's not a big deal for me.

But, I immediately see the problem for my kids. They have far fewer scenarios under their belts, and while they had 1-4, 3-6, 5-8, and 7-10 covered with a Level 3-4 character and a Level 7-8 character, they'll need to fill in the gaps now, and they'll need to play an additional 12 scenarios to get a character to level 5 while keeping one at 3. It's a lot of work for them, and, frankly, one that they probably won't do, which brings me to ...

Yeah, it's feelbad to have to miss out on a game because you don't have anything in tier, but in my experience it's also not very fun to play very out of tier (like a level 4 in a group of 1s, or vice versa).

Brutal honesty? It won't feel bad at all. Because the people who don't show up are "invisible" - they're not there to complain. That's what sucks - not for the low-volume players, who will find something else to do, but for Paizo, who gets fewer players.

Think about it this way - why not make single-level scenarios? I mean, hopefully the answer is obvious - there is a downside, and ultimately, there will be a balance between how fun it is to play if you get to play, versus the probability you just don't get to play. PFS2 went down to a 4-level spread from PFS1's 5-level spread. If Paizo doesn't think that was a big enough of a contraction, why not try a 3-level spread (requiring everyone to make 4/3 more characters, instead of 4/2 more characters) first?

Or, Paizo can look at narrow-band scenarios like 2-11 / 99-01 / 99-02 (Tier 1-2 only). How do people like those, or how often do people play those, compared to the bigger-spread Tier 1-4 Repeatables?

Or, the other option is to have different banding at different levels. So beginner-friendly 1-4s and 3-6s mostly remain 1-4s and 3-6s, maybe with a few experimental 1-2s and 3-4s and 5-6s. The higher tiers, especially the ones without pregens available (so that new players are blocked out anyway), go 7-8, 9-10, 11-12?

Here's the thing. Somebody needs to gather the statblocks. It can be done once by Paizo, or it can be done hundreds if not thousands of times by GMs, and adds another point of failure.

Not exactly. Either GMs do it or GMs pay Paizo to do it. Paizo openly admits that this takes up an editor's time. It's not that they don't think it needs to be done, it's that they don't want to do it, either.

Now you need internet, and a smart device and power, and AoN to be up. I've been to plenty of conventions without functioning wifi or cellular connections.

I love you and all, but ... I attend a bunch of the same conventions and play in many of the same places, I've got a sub-$100 phone on a MVNO plan, and I can't remember the last place I've been, outside of intentionally-remote places like National Parks, where I could get neither cellular service nor WiFi.

To be clear, this DIDN'T apply 10 years ago. All those "Can you hear me now?" commercials existed for legitimate reasons, and those reasons were that carriers had dead spots and boosters were expensive. That's why things are different now, why changes made now may be different from changes made 10 years ago.

Ah yes. The old "if it isn't a problem for me, then it isn't a problem" canard. I was wondering when someone would trot that one out, so at least in that sense you didn't disappoint (though I could have done without all the sarcasm, and especially without the age crack).

Meanwhile, there is obviously a huge difference between Googling a simple question and juggling three or more stat blocks, often from multiple sources. Maybe your phone works great for that latter task, but mine certainly does not. Even if it did, my eyes wouldn't cooperate. As for a laptop, one powerful enough to do a good job of it isn't something I particularly want to risk in a public venue. And then there is the potential for Internet connection challenges, especially at conventions.

I do agree with one thing you said, though: someone here is being disingenuous...

I don't know what else to say other than Welcome to 2025.

If your phone doesn't do tabs, download a better browser. If your computer is too valuable, go onto Ebay and find a 5 year old tablet for $20, that's big enough to read and cheap enough to carry around.

And remember - even if you're positive you won't have a connection, you can always print out the stat blocks yourself! Pro tip: you can do this at restaurants, too, since everyone who's complaining about WiFi obviously has the same problem at every single restaurant that has online menus. Right?

Do you not have a printer? Check with your public library, many of them offer printing services for free. Or get a teenager to print out stat blocks for you for $3/scenario. Because if there's a market for this, there's a bored teenager willing to make a few bucks.

I was traveling, and other than the physical bits (GM screen, combat pad, dice, maps, etc.), I brought with me only my 2019 CRB. Had stat blocks not been included in the scenario, I would have to also brought Bestiary 1 and Bestiary 2, tripling the amount of hardbacks I had to carry, not to mention find space for at the table

This is just such a trivial complaint. ALL of those books are available on Archives of Nethys, and we can stop pretending that not everyone has a smartphone. It was a great argument 20 years ago, it was still somewhat valid 10 years ago, but it's 2025 now. Just look it up on AoN, at the table, and you probably don't even need WiFi because mobile data is so good at this point.

BUT BUT BUT, you say, "I be a one eyed pirate and I be unable to see thar tiny fonts on me phone." Okay, fine. Bring a laptop and set your phone as a hotspot, like all the skibidi rizzlers under 40 do.

BUT BUT BUT, you say, "I run a game at NORAD and we're hermetically sealed under 3 miles of concrete and I can't connect to WiFi because I need national security clearance and it's a 32-bit password that rotates every hour." Okay, fine. Just print out the monsters from AoN before you enter Cheyenne Mountain, then.

There is so much information at our literal fingertips that I've resolved rules disputes in real time by punching in questions like "pathfinder does frightened have the mental trait reddit" into Google. Boom, 10 seconds, mystery solved, and less than that if you're willing to blindly accept whatever the AI overview tells you.

10-15 years ago, when they put in the stat blocks, everyone was happy - because Archives of Nethys was different, because smartphones were less powerful, and because data caps existed. It's 2025, now. Just Google it. Or, perhaps since it's 2025, just DuckDuckGo it.

I get it, physical materials are nice sometimes. But pretending like this should be a driving reason to make a bunch of other people do a bunch of extra busywork is disingenuous.

P.S. Just so it's clear, I personally prefer the statblocks. I just don't see why anyone would complain this much about it. Spend the time arguing about the 2-level spreads, instead. That's an actual problem.

you have priced scenarios too high in comparison to both the larger market and your own non-OP adventures. They are so overpriced, in fact, that you have almost certainly decreased overall revenue (please take a moment to Google “price elasticity of demand” – seriously). The recently announced move to shrink scenarios is effectively the third price increase in a handful of years. Prices increases didn’t work the last two times...why do you think the third time will be the charm?

I don't know how you can make any of these claims without proprietary Paizo sales data.

Do you know they've made less money selling fewer units on a higher priced product than they would have selling more units on a lower priced product? It's possible that Paizo itself doesn't know that, so it's very unclear why you're so sure.

Did price increases not work the last two times? I don't know why you just state that like a fact.

But, perhaps, most controversially,

organized play is marketing

I question whether this is fundamentally true. Sure, it started off as marketing, 15+ years ago. Does it still function that way?

Put another way: of all the players that come to PF2 now, what percentage of them come in through PFS2? Does PFS actually bring in new players? If there's some quantitation of the value of a new player (like the likelihood they by the Player Cores, multiplied by the profit on a book), how does that compare to the purported loss on the scenario?

This next part is simply my personal speculation, but I think the "golden era" of PF2 is over. A lot of people heard about it when it first came out, and maybe over the next 4-5 years, I'd always hear people saying "I've been wanting to try that!" And in general, Society play was a great way to invite people. That interest has really dropped in the past 1-2 years. It's not the game everyone's been waiting to try, any more. So, in that context, if Paizo / Org Play (I always consider them the same, even if everyone gets huffy about conflating them) wants to just admit that PFS isn't a loss leader, that they're no longer willing to take a significant loss on the products, I understand that.

Keep the current 4-hour scenario length. Keep the wider level bands. Keep the statblocks.

I've commented on this in the main thread, but one of these is going to affect players far more than the other two. The 3-hour scenario change is mildly positive IMO, and the statblock change is pretty neutral.

The 2-level bands is really the only thing worth complaining about. It's pretty strongly negative for low- and medium-volume players, and will require players to have far more characters in their stable than the 4-level bands, or everyone just has to play pregens, which sucks.

Very nice! Well-deserved congratulations!

I'll second the Bounties, but I have additional criteria, even within the Bounties.

1. I prefer to have the skill check first, and then the combat. I find it easier to describe the Degrees of Success that way.

2. Although the Bounties are now Adventure Mode (meaning GMs can modify the enemies), I still stay away from the few where there was a single Level+2/Level+3 boss, because I really, really, really don't want to TPK people in their first taste of PF2.

For the same reason, I tend to avoid Bounties that have special mechanics, like difficult terrain or fliers, as part of the combat.

3. I prefer the mood to be light, and the challenges to be rather whimsical. I know people love to feel heroic and save the world and stuff, but as a first time scenario, "we rescued a baby dino" is fine. Slaying undead is also nice an morally unambiguous, but a lot of undead have special mechanics like weaknesses and resistances that can be confusing, especially with brand new players, like the ones that keep on asking which one is the d20.

Non-factor: I don't see a problem with new players starting off with a 3rd level Bounty with pregens. As a matter of fact, I think 1st level PF2 characters are boring, and feel very generic. The only reason why the Paizo pregens are okay is because Seelah has an incredible backstory and everyone wants to play her after they hear it.

tl;dr B10, Hillcross Roundup

WE WILL NOT SIMPLY RELABEL MAPS, WE WILL MOVE PHYSICALLY MOVE NEW ZEALAND TO BE CLOSER TO THE PHILLIPINES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.

Brad clarified that the start is at 0001 UST on 9/4.

Thank you.

Which is 0801h Philippine time on 4 September.

1201 NZST on the 4th - tomorrow afternoon.

Time travelers posting from the FUTURE!

TIL that New Zealand is 4 hours ahead of the Phillipines. Seriously? Wow. I would have centered Australia south of the Phillipines and put New Zealand just off shore of NSW. I would have guessed they were 1, maybe 2, time zones apart.

AND THEN AS A UNITED STATESIAN I WOULD HAVE DEMANDED THAT THE WORLD MAP CHANGE TO FIT MY PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS OF GEOGRAPHY

In the Gameday announcement, the dates are given as September 3-November 26, but then the text says that the start date is September 4.

When does Gameday start?

And, to be clear, it's GMT, correct? So "September 3" is about 2 hours from now?

And no. Having the level 4's doing the work for level 1s will not grow the community. That is a really stupid mentality and quite honestly I know that has pushed away people from organized play.

So, let's say you're right.

Why don't we just make single level scenarios, then?

bugleyman wrote:

2. Keep challenge points and multiple level bands. As everyone on the ground is telling you, both are absolutely necessary to actually make legal tables go off.

You do know the game doesn't work correctly with the level band system right? I know people are clamoring for it but very often it either results in a wonky cases where either one player is completely dominating the encounters on his own or players are struggling to do anything.

While that's true, the alternative is that none of the players are able to do anything because the game doesn't run.

The gameplay would, indeed, work best if every PC were the same level. The downside is finding a critical mass of people with a character of that level, or, players needing to manage a stable of 20+ characters to make sure they always have one in level.

I can imagine this isn't a big deal for high volume players. For example, I currently have 16 characters, and I've got every 2-level block covered from 3-4 to 9-10. With these changes, I'll need to start 2 new ones for levels 1-2, and when my 12 levels up to 13, I'll need to move someone from 9-10 to 11-12, which may mean moving someone from 7-8 to 9-10, etc. It's complicated, but managable, for me.

However, this is going to be a problem for low volume, or even medium volume players. My kids "only" have 3 characters each and already struggle with 4-level ranges. We've had to pass on some games when we'd otherwise be free, because they didn't have an appropriately leveled character.

I don't run a lodge, but I suspect that, with these changes, many are going to have to offer a Season 1-6 Repeatable scenario as a backup game in case they can't muster a narrow band game.

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stuff about PFS2 stat blocks missing

I'd prefer to have stat blocks included, but I think people are overreacting to their absence.

One of the things that has really changed in the past 10-15 years (since PFS1 included them) is the availability of high quality cell phone data service, and the availability of AON as an official source.

It used to be dangerous to assume people could access the SRD at a game location. I think it's pretty safe, now. Most locations that have poor cell service have invested in those relays/boosters, and even in the depths of a convention hall, I've never had problems pulling up AoN, or Pathbuilder/Herolab, on my phone. And if AoN is down or slow, there are even a bunch of other non-official sites that are as good or ... uh ... better.

Like I said, I'd still prefer to have the stat blocks included, especially since these are PDF-only products so the number of pages is literally not a concern, but the 2-level blocks seems like a much bigger potential problem, and they're getting the same attention in the comments.

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Stuff about assuming 4 vs assuming 6 PCs

I don't think this is as big of a deal as people are making it to be, especially given the narrow level ranges. CP was more useful when scenarios could have had four Level 1s or six Level 4s. If it's four Level 3s or six Level 4s, I can see the case for less granularity.

I just had a player sign up for my GameDay game with a 5,000,000s OPF number.

It appears to be a valid PFS number - the correct character name autofills when I put it into a reporting sheet. So it's not a typo.

The second highest OPF number I've seen is 2,500,000-ish. Did Paizo skip 2,000,000+ numbers, or is there some method to this madness?

Yes. I'm getting a lot of 504 (Gateway Timeout) errors, more than usual.

But, on the bright side, I haven't noticed posts disappearing, which is the most infuriating bug and what often happens when the other things happen.

Watery Soup wrote:

I don't think I'll ever finish a season from now on.

Don't be so glum, friend.

Nothing glum. Just being realistic.

I enjoy playing things and running things in series, and especially informal series (such as the Dacilane Academy series), making it easier to remember the NPCs. But they often stretch across multiple seasons, so without having played large parts of a certain season, I end up with blind spots.

If PathfinderWiki is still updated, I can always find summaries there, but for the first few seasons of PFS2, it was easy when I kept up / semi-kept up.

Just so I'm understanding -- you're going to run them for Gameday?

Uh, yes, one of them.

I just registered to run 3-11.

Sweet! I will probably use my GM signup to sign up, then.

Any requests from my list?

Ideally you'd play it [4-03] IRL ...

Unfortunately, that's tough for me. There are multiple, active Lodges near me, but they tend to be "first run" games. So they're mostly running late Season 6 games right now.

I actually haven't played ANY Season 6 games F2F (and only 3 by PbP), and two Season 5 games F2F (plus 3 by PbP). I don't think I'll ever finish a season from now on. I'm just looking to complete Seasons 3 & 4 because the gaps on my tracker bug me.

Is anyone interested in a GameDay GM trade?

I am looking to play any one of four non-repeatable scenarios from Seasons 3 & 4 that I haven't played: #3-11 (3-6), #3-14 (5-8), #4-03 (5-8), and #4-08 (3-6). The Season 3 ones are preferred because I already got the scenarios as part of a Humble Bundle (I prefer to play before I run).

I'm willing to run any of the following as a trade:
#1-02 (1-4), #1-19 (3-6), #1-25 (5-8), #2-01 (1-4), #2-03 (1-4), #2-04 (3-6), #2-07 (5-8), #2-08 (5-8), #2-10 (5-8), #2-12 (3-6), #2-21 (1-4), and anything in Seasons 3-4 that aren't part of a multi-scenario series (including informal series, like the Dacilane Academy "series").

My apologies for not posting anything, but I'm on vacation, and the Wifi isn't connecting, so I'm tethering my phone, but Google Maps is verrrry slow. It may be Sunday before I can post anything that requires a map.