mgcady's page

PFS might not be right for you, ChaosTicket… because you seem to not enjoy it (based on your complaints on the constraints.

RPG rules exist so that in our [insert genre here] game of cops & robbers doesn't degrade into a never ending cycle of "bang bang, you're dead… no I'm not." (And from some of the rules lawyer conversations I've seen over 20 years… that's not a guarantee.)

Organized play rules, whether it's PFS or whatever Wizards has now for D&D, or Fellowship of the White Star, Demon Hunter, The Camarilla (or whatever the new version of the V:TM LARP is), etc, allow more people to play across larger player pools because the additional rules keep us all on the same page.

It means that both players and GMs have those constraints.

As to your list above-

1) Reward from trying: if you don't complete a scenario, you do get rewards based on what you did do. It's in the Roleplaying Guild Guide.

2) Level capping exists because honestly, the story world and Pathfinder Society within that world isn't set up to deal with an influx of characters that will be stronger than the Decemvirate, the semi-divine beings who live on it, and eventually the gods themselves. Just as there aren't thousands of insanely wealthy trillionaires in this reality.

That being said… there are a number of scenarios and modules for post retirement play.

3) I hate it when I feel railroaded by a scenario too. I also hate it when I'm railroaded by my everyday life because of things like physics, biology, and economics.

I also know, play with, and run for, a group who likes to steal the tracks, melt them down, and build whatever the best tool is at the time to destroy the scenario. It's a challenge, especially as the GM, to make sure that that group still has a great time… but it's not impossible. Some GMs are better at it than others… just like some actors are better at improv than others, but that doesn't mean that a GM who isn't as good at that is a bad GM… they can still provide a good experience if you're willing to have one.

One of the most important things is if everyone at the table, real or virtual, is having fun: this includes the GM and all of the players.

My take:

I'd love to run Strange Aeons. It would also require the right table of players in the right mindset to do it, but oohhhh… shiny chaotic mind-bending insanity…

Ironfang Invasion: see my above comment to Farrindor. I would need a different group of players to still have a game that resembled the AP by the time they got to the end (I'm not sure that I won't have to completely re-write the last two books of Kingmaker and the second session is tomorrow).

Ruins of Azlant: ooohhh sign me up.

Starfinder: would have to have the right players willing to cross over. I wouldn't try running or playing it until it and the new setting have been out for a bit.

*happy HQ member dance*

Congrats everyone!

Queue epic send off at GenCon?

Jessica Price wrote:

My suggestion that we take the train back instead and spend the next several days hanging out in the dining car, playing the games we bought at Gen Con and solving the inevitable murder mystery was not met with much approval. :(

I think we all liked the idea in theory (or the road trip in a giant van with an online map and a donation link to bid for us to stop at local gamestores and play games along the way), but the length of the trip was just going to be too long.

Hey, I know folks who took a train to PaizoCon…

I want a Pronunciation Guide. I want one for the whole of the Pathfinder RPG product line (including APs, campaign setting, fiction... everything) and for Pathfinder Society materials.

Perhaps the former can be part of the PFSRD and the latter be under the PFS Player and/or GM Resources pages.

A government using the trappings and a particular spin of a religion for their own expansionist greed? That would never happen… *laughs*

Sarcasm aside… there's a combination of heretics, separatists, and powerful people paying lip service to religion for their own gains that can completely explain a convert all the infidels militaristic version of Sarenrae.

It's similar to a question I had at one of my tables of Merchant's Wake about Pharasma at PaizoCon, mainly how can Pharasma look on Osirion with any favor (including making Orisiani clerics…) when there's so many undead around.

[Posted as Veracity Reynolds]

As Navina is speaking, a sweet looking redheaded human woman walks in, her almost innocent appearance marred by the leather armor, darkwood composite bow, and multiple quivers of arrows. A medallion with an winged eye in a circle taps against her armor as she walks to an empty chair.

She pulls out the bow as she settles into a chair, checking the wood for any problems.

"Hello, everyone. Sorry if I'm late to the party. I'm Veracity Reynolds... most call me Vera."

She then scowls slightly at Navina. "Torch's absence? The only reason he's alive to be absent is that he was able to get away from me and my man Jayne," she pats the bow she's been inspecting, "before we were able to poke him full of holes."

"But, despite the harm he's done, there's a bright lining this disaster. The fact that people are gathering here means that even if Torch was a opportunistic bastard, the need to watch the Decemvirate like hawks and help keep our fellow Pathfinders protected from their machinations is a mission that goes on without him."

Vera then smiles slightly, if a little bitterly. "As Father Barsi says, 'One must always build upon the foundations of hope.' I plan on building on my hope from within the Grand Lodge, watching from within. Who's with me on that?"

Was there someone this past GenCon who did something really nice out of the blue for you? If so- let them know you appreciate it!

Here's mine:
I don't know what his handle on the boards is (if he's on them), but thank you Russell Akred (I know you're a VC, I don't know where offhand)… for giving me a hot dog because you overheard me worrying about being able to grab a bit while waiting for the HQ/marshal/Special volunteers briefing. It helped me a lot… especially since I had a busy muster point and was giving hand signals for 5 hours.

4-18 Veteran's Vault, low tier.

I'm playing.

First encounter:

I'll start out by saying that I do see where "there is a problem that needs to be addressed" comes from. I've seen both characters way above *and* way below WBL negatively impact tables.

However… I don't think that the method proposed in the podcast will have the desired effect, since I believe it will result in players walking away from tables.

And I think it will be more commonplace… to address Jiggy's list for example (which seems to assume that we're talking about a 1-2 session low-turnout local game day):

… 1) If there's a game where there's only one table, AND

People who signed up but don't show (bad weather, getting sick, car issues, forgot their cousin's wedding, had a partner/offspring priority interrupt their day…) can turn even a planned 3 table gameday into a one table game day.

2) If somehow a one-table game day has managed to produce PCs spanning a 4 or 5 level range, AND

1 player who didn't show up for a few sessions, 1 player who also goes to other game days/conventions/plays online once in a while, plus 1 new player would easily make a wide level range within a small group of people.

3) All of the low-level players would rather go home than play a pregen, AND

4) All of the high-level players would rather go home than either play a pregen or start a second PC, AND

Well, being told that you must take on additional risk (including a death you cannot afford to pay for) without reward for playing up and you're forever penalized for playing down would contribute to unwillingness to play up/down. Under the current system, I'm willing to play down once in a while, knowing that I can play up once in a while to offset that and get back to WBL eventually. If I have to take that hit without any future compensation, when I get to higher levels I run the risk of harming the table by being below WBL in comparison to other players.

As for "oh play a pregen" or make a new character for low low level games… perhaps I have a reason that I want to play a specific character (have already GMed it and am looking for play credit, its part of a series, a Season 5 for my faction, just sounded from the description like a mission that a specific character is *made* for, etc.).

Also, the only pregen I've seen so far be accepted with anything resembling open arms is Kyra (granted, we haven't seen too many NPC Codex pregens yet).

5) No one is willing to step up and GM a second table, AND

Well, if you only have a GM with 4-5 players, having someone step up as a second GM doesn't help at all.

6) Either the organizer did not announce the scenario ahead of time, or none of the players could be bothered to pay attention to such an announcement and see the problem BEFORE arriving;

Any number of players dropping out, or new players or players from out of town player showing up who don't know the local scenario schedule (or where to find it) but having seen a "Pathfinder Society Played Here on Saturdays at Noon!" poster/website announcement and deciding to show up… these all play merry havoc with any announced gameday schedule.

THEN, if all six of those conditions are met, we have an uncomfortable situation worthy of throwing the system out.

I think that *any* combination of those factors, not just "all six conditions are met" can bring about a situation that drives players away from tables, which is something that PFS actively tries to avoid.

Are you guys serious?

Unless I'm missing something, every single situation used as a case against the "Podcast System" can be solved by one or two people just deciding to NOT be the most important person for one day.

One thing to think about: Even if the players at that theoretical one table game day rotate the play up/down hits and never have contact with the larger PFS community, eventually the overall WBL hits may result in higher level play that is more difficult and deadly for that group than a group that hasn't taken those hits… perhaps catastrophically so (e.g. a TPK w/o resources for the rescues and raises).

Thank you! It seems silly to have to search through every thread to avoid asking a question that's already been answered.