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I had a Great time at GenCon, I loved GMing for the PFS, and I plan on going back next year to do the same ,though most likely I will volunteer for less games so I can see more of the Convention ;).
Although everything got done, based on one mans opinion on what he saw at GenCon, I have some advice that may make things run smoother. Forgive me if this runs long.
If others want to add to this feel free to.
Before Con:
- Try to tell the GMs what they are running before the Game pre-registration ends for GenCon. Josh I am sure you where busy but by the time you told us what games were running Pre-Registration for games ended and not knowing what I was running and could not play I was unable to schedule and get tickets for the games I wanted in on. Luckily I was still able to get in with generics but it was close on one game and I totally lost out an another because it was sold out! *different game system*
Mustering:
- Put Signs at Entrance saying what games are being run in that room and to go to PFS HQ before looking to join the game. I saw a lot of people walking into the room looking for a game that was not in there and also not going to HQ first to be mustered.
- Have 1 GM per room in charge of Mustering. During the convention it seemed that Josh was doing most of the Mustering, I think it would be better if Josh did the mustering at HQ do send the players to the right room and in the room itself to have a GM do the mustering for that room. This will allow josh more free time to get those late comers as they go to HQ.
GM/Game Set Up:
- Don't use glossy paper for blank character sheets, they don't take pencil well.
- Give Pre-Gens to GMs. Many times I had to send players back to HQ to get Pre-Gens because they did not have a character, this slowed things down a bit and anything that slows a game down for a 4 hour slot sucks. If I had the Pre-Gens with me it would have been much easier.
- Give PFS # Cards to GMs. Same reason as above.
During/After Game play:
- This one is a strong one by me. Keep the Game rooms off limit from the interactive!. The interactive players coming in screaming for someone and going around interrupting looking for people was annoying as hell. Sorry about the strong language on this but it just annoyed me a lot!
- Allow people who play a Pre-gen a 1 time deal of moving over Exp Some PA and money to a character they make for the society. I had a few people comment that they were annoyed that they could not do this and felt they had no incentive to join after trying out the game. I think a reward similar to what you give the GMs for running would be perfect.
- Give the GMs some kind of survey to give to the Players. I don't want this survey to be used against GMs, but more of something on how to gauge on what players want from the game and what they like and disliked about the scenario or Society. Something they could fill out and return if they wished at a later time.
At this time that is all I have for Convention, I have some ideas for the Society but I will start another thread for that.
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Good suggestions.
Allow me to add: Get a different room. If that is impossible, as I suspect it may be, bring a huge bag of Halls for GMs... :)
From what I understand last year was worse...
One thing I would have added If I thought possible was 5 Hour Slots instead of 4. I know that is not possible and I am still trying to figure out and remember how we had 5 hour slots at GenConUK 08.
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Good suggestions.
Allow me to add: Get a different room. If that is impossible, as I suspect it may be, bring a huge bag of Halls for GMs... :)
Yes, I agree with this.
That was probably my one and only gripe with the PFS games. It was way too small a room for that much gaming, in terms of the NOISE, not the space. I am not at all hard of hearing, and it was UNBEARABLY loud in some instances, just a cacophany of yelling basically.
The rooms were big enough to fit all the players just fine, but the ceiling way too low, all that sound just reverberates in a room like that. A similair sized room with a high ceiling would have made the play exeperience much better.
That's the only real complaint I had with the PFS @ gen con. The staff were very friendly and knowledgable and I really enjoyed the scenarios, but it was so loud I could barely hear at times, for some of the games.
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Allow people who play a Pre-gen a 1 time deal of moving over Exp Some PA and money to a character they make for the society. I had a few people comment that they were annoyed that they could not do this and felt they had no incentive to join after trying out the game. I think a reward similar to what you give the GMs for running would be perfect.
At one table I played at, three players who were running pregens in their first PF game were told they could keep the gold/PA/exp for the adventure. They could rebuild the character anyway they wanted to except change the character name (and maybe the faction).
-Swiftbrook
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Allow people who play a Pre-gen a 1 time deal of moving over Exp Some PA and money to a character they make for the society. I had a few people comment that they were annoyed that they could not do this and felt they had no incentive to join after trying out the game. I think a reward similar to what you give the GMs for running would be perfect.At one table I played at, three players who were running pregens in their first PF game were told they could keep the gold/PA/exp for the adventure. They could rebuild the character anyway they wanted to except change the character name (and maybe the faction).
-Swiftbrook
I asked and was told they were not allowed to do this.
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I asked and was told they were not allowed to do this.Allow people who play a Pre-gen a 1 time deal of moving over Exp Some PA and money to a character they make for the society. I had a few people comment that they were annoyed that they could not do this and felt they had no incentive to join after trying out the game. I think a reward similar to what you give the GMs for running would be perfect.At one table I played at, three players who were running pregens in their first PF game were told they could keep the gold/PA/exp for the adventure. They could rebuild the character anyway they wanted to except change the character name (and maybe the faction).
-Swiftbrook
Particularly in a con-environment, a one-time deal may not be enough, as they may walk out of one session, straight into their next, without any down-time to alter their character.
Living Arcanis had a policy whereby a player could completely rebuild their character (as long as they kept the same name) at any point before reaching 3rd level. This was a good policy, because even if you're not playing a pre-gen, if you're a new player to the game, you often make ill-informed choices that your character is stuck with for the rest of their career that you might wish to alter with the benefit of hindsight.
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Re: slot-length.
I seem to recall that at GenCon, the RPGA runs the following slots: 0800-1300; 1300-1800; 1800-2300.
I think GenCon UK had 0900-1400; 1400-1900; 2000-0100. While the dinner 'gap' is nice, the 1am finish is tough sometimes!
What were the Paizo slot times?
I don't remember playing to 1am at GenCon UK. But I do think your right, I think maybe they went from one slot to another with out a break in between.
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Good suggestions.
Allow me to add: Get a different room. If that is impossible, as I suspect it may be, bring a huge bag of Halls for GMs... :)
1. Noise was the biggest problem for the players as well. If you weren't sitting next to the GM your were asking, "What did the GM say?".
I think we out grew the rooms we were in but on the same note I assume space is limited to the number of GM's Paizo can grab before the CON.
2. GM's having the pregens would be MOST useful. The HQ gave some players the wrong level pregen. The person would have to go back and get another for play the level sever fighter in the tier 4-5 game.
Lastly
3. Next year, I think Paizo / Gamemastery can show off MORE!
Some of this year scenerios used flip mats and what not. Lets focus on that some more. Have the scenerios use some more of the accessory product lines and have the Tier 1 GM's get some of the product for use. What got me to get MANY of the accessory products was seeing them used. FLIP MATS rock! The combat pad ROCKS!
There were some GM's doing this but I think it would be AWESOME to see ALL of them doing this. ALso its a time saver when it comes to maps. Less drawing required and more time on story telling.
I am going to be GM'ing next year somewhere (When ever the Navy lets me) either Origins, DragonCon, GenCon, or Paizo Con and I will be using all my gamemastery stuff if I can.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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As for rooms, the Indy Convention Center is under construction/expansion. I think this was the last year of it, and therefore next year there will be lots more rooms available for running games. Hopefully, this will let Paizo and others running games spread out a bit more and cut down on the noise issues.
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Darius, as much as I agree with you, you also have to remember that GM's will choose to use whatever items they're most comfortable with. I don't think it would be in anyone's best interest to try to "force" the GM's to use any particular product(s).
p.s. Paizo, come up with item cards for the GM's to use during the game with the understanding that the players could keep them after their game. I would wage a bet that if a player walks away with a handful of item cards, they'll be more likely to buy some at the booth (or convince their GM back home to buy some!)
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p.s. Paizo, come up with item cards for the GM's to use during the game with the understanding that the players could keep them after their game. I would wage a bet that if a player walks away with a handful of item cards, they'll be more likely to buy some at the booth (or convince their GM back home to buy some!)
They kind of do something like this for the Shadowrun events (not quite, but kind of). They provide NERPS cards to all the players at the table which are capable of providing a minor benefit at some point during the game. I only played one SR game, but I guess everybody at the table is into collecting the entire set during the course of the con.
I don't know if it would be possible, but some neat unique item cards that show off the cool factor of the standard item cards and act as noncollectable might be a neat way of doing this.
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For all the problems with the room sizes/noise, I must say their location was EXCELLENT.
I second...the proximity to the east exits (worked great during the fire drill, grrrr) and to the trade floor made food breaks to the mall very efficient. There was also time to run in and buy something (dice, mini, etc) that you wanted for the next slot. Great job with the Con, thanks Paizo.
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My experiance was that the rooms that we were in being divided was better than having the rooms joined. Given how hard that getting rooms in the con is, I have to say that I will put up with it rather than ending up in say the old train station down the road.
Once the convention center expands, I'm sure that paizo will have some options open up.
As for things not heard, I had one player who did miss something do to background volume. I couldn't help that issue and had to live with it.
Knowing that the rooms can get loud, I cut and paste all the dialog from the modules into word docs and increased the font size to pass along to player after I read it out to the group. This was helpful in more that one case.
Surveys honestly is not what I am hoping to see at the table. There is enough paperwork going on. There have been a few comments from the players posted here on the boards and I'm sure if players wanted to they could email Josh.
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Surveys honestly is not what I am hoping to see at the table. There is enough paperwork going on. There have been a few comments from the players posted here on the boards and I'm sure if players wanted to they could email Josh.
The Idea for the Survey was for after the game on thier own time if they wish..not during the game.
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The Idea for the Survey was for after the game on thier own time if they wish..not during the game.Surveys honestly is not what I am hoping to see at the table. There is enough paperwork going on. There have been a few comments from the players posted here on the boards and I'm sure if players wanted to they could email Josh.
As a player (though I hope to make time to GM next year), I for one am all for surveys. It's an opportunity to elicit timely feedback about specific modules, styles and gives the GMs an opportunity to learn a bit too. They did this in the SR games I was in and I was thankful for it.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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At one table I played at, three players who were running pregens in their first PF game were told they could keep the gold/PA/exp for the adventure. They could rebuild the character anyway they wanted to except change the character name (and maybe the faction).
So far as I know, pre-generated characters didn't belong to any factions. So, they didn't attempt faction missions, and couldn't get faction prestige.
I think this is a good idea: factions place another level of complexity on the system, which people new to Pathfinder or the Pathfinder Society don't need. Also, it's a nice nod to the claim that most members of the Pathfinder Society are [/i]not[/i] involved in the Shadow War.
(The pre-generated characters don't have traits, either. Again, a worthwhile simplification in my opinion.)
All that being said, it wouldn't bother me if we allowed new people to trade in their pre-generated characters for a new PC with 1 experience point and 500 gp. (Not "keep the gold", in case they played a 7th-Level pre-gen and got a hefty gp award.)
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As a player (though I hope to make time to GM next year), I for one am all for surveys. It's an opportunity to elicit timely feedback about specific modules, styles and gives the GMs an opportunity to learn a bit too. They did this in the SR games I was in and I was thankful for it.The Idea for the Survey was for after the game on thier own time if they wish..not during the game.Surveys honestly is not what I am hoping to see at the table. There is enough paperwork going on. There have been a few comments from the players posted here on the boards and I'm sure if players wanted to they could email Josh.
I think that surveys should be conducted on the website side, attached to the reporting of the event (possibly even getting a email stating 'your character [pathfinder character number] has been reported as playing [scenario name], if you would like pleas fill out a survey on this scenario [here]') This way it gives newer players time to get a feel for the game and its difficulty before filling out questions
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My experiance was that the rooms that we were in being divided was better than having the rooms joined.
One large room, large enough to limit the noise problem, would be better than three smaller rooms. In several of my games, the adjacent table(s) were playing the same adventure at the same tier. This can easily lead to spoiler. One large room has several advantages:
1) HQ can be in the room and everyone can see if 'Josh' or his helpers is available for a ruling. You don't need to run around to three rooms looking.2) The tables next to you shouldn't be playing the same adventure. No spoilers.
3) Spread out the tables and less noise.
-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
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My experiance was that the rooms that we were in being divided was better than having the rooms joined.One large room, large enough to limit the noise problem, would be better than three smaller rooms. In several of my games, the adjacent table(s) were playing the same adventure at the same tier. This can easily lead to spoiler. One large room has several advantages:
1) HQ can be in the room and everyone can see if 'Josh' or his helpers is available for a ruling. You don't need to run around to three rooms looking.
2) The tables next to you shouldn't be playing the same adventure. No spoilers.
3) Spread out the tables and less noise.-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
There wasn't a room beig enought to do that at genCon this year and the one large room we had was much louder than two smaller rooms this year.
There is little chance that you will be able to seperate like tables, most teirs will be simular, and you also have the advantage of DMs being able to help support each other. That was a big advantage this year.
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There wasn't a room beig enought to do that at genCon this year and the one large room we had was much louder than two smaller rooms this year.
There is little chance that you will be able to seperate like tables, most teirs will be simular, and you also have the advantage of DMs being able to help support each other. That was a big advantage this year.
I must be the only person who felt the small room was much louder than the big room. I could barely hear our GM in most situations and yes, sitting next to the same adventure did kind of suck ("hey, why are they in combat already? Did we miss something?").
The larger space may have more people, but it gave the sound a lot more room to deaden (vs. sitting next to a back wall and hearing everything).
We got the best space we could while staying in the convention center. I have plans to perhaps get us out of the convention center and into a space with higher ceilings next year. It's really the ceilings that make all the difference--a small room with low ceilings, not bad. A large room with low ceilings, really bad. A large room with high ceilings, perfect. Unfortunately, that space just does not exist in the convention center yet and won't until they finish the expansion in 2011.
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I think part of the problem were the low ceilings, but part of the problem was also some of the players. Some groups were yelling for minutes at a time. I look over at them and no wonder I can't hear my DM! I can understand yelling for maybe a few seconds at a time but not constantly. Anyway, maybe the solution is that I should yell at the top of my lungs too. :)
Other feedback
Slot time: All of my games finished in 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours, so 4 hours was plenty of time. I'm not even sure how some games lasted longer, since almost all my games lost 20-30 minutes to something. I didn't mind though, it gave me lots of time to browse the dealer hall.
Organization: As a player I had no problems at all with the organization. On more than a few games I came a little late and the organizers found a table for me within a minute, so it couldn't have been any better from my perspective. Dragonmoon did have some good suggestions though.
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Slot time: All of my games finished in 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours, so 4 hours was plenty of time. I'm not even sure how some games lasted longer, since almost all my games lost 20-30 minutes to something. I didn't mind though, it gave me lots of time to browse the dealer hall.
Really?.. I did not think that was possible... The only game of mine that lasted less then over 3 hours was a TPK, all others went over 3 hours, one almost went over 4 hours *The First one*
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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We got the best space we could while staying in the convention center. I have plans to perhaps get us out of the convention center and into a space with higher ceilings next year. It's really the ceilings that make all the difference--a small room with low ceilings, not bad. A large room with low ceilings, really bad. A large room with high ceilings, perfect. Unfortunately, that space just does not exist in the convention center yet and won't until they finish the expansion in 2011.
It was well in the middle of spaces I've been in. Not nearly as loud as some convention rooms can get. Rooms with concrete floors have been some of the worst, in my experience. Helped that there weren't another 3-4 tables crammed in to each room...
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Really?.. I did not think that was possible... The only game of mine that lasted less then over 3 hours was a TPK, all others went over 3 hours, one almost went over 4 hours *The First one*
Slot time: All of my games finished in 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours, so 4 hours was plenty of time. I'm not even sure how some games lasted longer, since almost all my games lost 20-30 minutes to something. I didn't mind though, it gave me lots of time to browse the dealer hall.
Same here (except no TPK). Our average adventure time was a bit over 3 hours with one outlier at 2.5 hours (most were just over three to three and a half). Last year we had one go right to the line at 4 hours on the nose.
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We got the best space we could while staying in the convention center. I have plans to perhaps get us out of the convention center and into a space with higher ceilings next year. It's really the ceilings that make all the difference--a small room with low ceilings, not bad. A large room with low ceilings, really bad. A large room with high ceilings, perfect. Unfortunately, that space just does not exist in the convention center yet and won't until they finish the expansion in 2011.
While I am all for getting a quieter space, wouldn't moving off-site be detrimental to getting the word out about Pathfinder? I have to admit, for all its faults as a gaming space, the room you've had these last two years is fantastic from an advertising perspective.
Though I still argue that it was quieter last year.
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Same here (except no TPK). Our average adventure time was a bit over 3 hours with one outlier at 2.5 hours (most were just over three to three and a half). Last year we had one go right to the line at 4 hours on the nose.Really?.. I did not think that was possible... The only game of mine that lasted less then over 3 hours was a TPK, all others went over 3 hours, one almost went over 4 hours *The First one*
Slot time: All of my games finished in 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours, so 4 hours was plenty of time. I'm not even sure how some games lasted longer, since almost all my games lost 20-30 minutes to something. I didn't mind though, it gave me lots of time to browse the dealer hall.
It's highly dependent on tier and party make-up. I was level 1 for most of GenCon and my Ranger ripped through BBEG's. In #23 he killed the BBEG with one arrow (crit), and in #30 it took 2 rounds for the party to win (partly because my d8 wasn't cooperating). I was finding that with most of the singular type encounters, they needed like 2-3 more hp. But again, that was with our party at tier 1-2.
Oh, and the longest slot took 3 hours, and we completed one in under 2. I liked the slots feeling long, it gave us more time to interrogate and role play (which despite the previous paragraph, happened a lot in all my slots).
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Really?.. I did not think that was possible... The only game of mine that lasted less then over 3 hours was a TPK, all others went over 3 hours, one almost went over 4 hours *The First one*
Ours was only about 2.5 hours with you Thursday night... it didn't help that almost everything was dead before getting into melee with anything other than the two fighters though...
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Paizo, come up with item cards for the GM's to use during the game with the understanding that the players could keep them after their game. I would wage a bet that if a player walks away with a handful of item cards, they'll be more likely to buy some at the booth (or convince their GM back home to buy some!)
Kyle, that would rock!
The only difficulty I see is that, in Pathfinder Society, the PCs always sell all of the loot at the end of the adventure, and so they never get to keep the items they find.
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Kyle, that would rock!
The only difficulty I see is that, in Pathfinder Society, the PCs always sell all of the loot at the end of the adventure, and so they never get to keep the items they find.
The cards wouldn't represent anything after that one game, thus showing up at the next slot and claiming that it's an item you have wouldn't work (unless you bought it)
edit: Let me rephrase that. You're at the table, you find a +2 longsword during the scenario and the GM gives you a card. "Awesome!" you say. After the scenario, you must make the choice to buy that sword per the chronicle sheet. Whether or not you buy it, you keep the card to show off to your buddies. They wouldn't be used to "track" PFS inventory (outside the scenario you found it).
Here kid, take this card. The first one is free! Tell all your friends!