I'm currently running a chapter of PFS over on the Myth Weavers PbP boards. One of my GMs is getting a bit frustrated with a couple of his players whose post rates have tanked recently. The players in question seem to be "dialing it in", with no meaningful contribution to the game whatsoever. The GM would like to know how he should handle this situation, in regard to chronicle sheets after the scenario is over. Do the neglectful players still get normal XP and access to treasure and boons? Can the GM oust the players from the game? I'm not sure how to advise him, as I'm bit hazy how the official PFS rules apply in this situation.
Can I get a ruling?
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I'm currently running a chapter of PFS over on the Myth Weavers PbP boards. One of my GMs is getting a bit frustrated with a couple of his players whose post rates have tanked recently. The players in question seem to be "dialing it in", with no meaningful contribution to the game whatsoever. The GM would like to know how he should handle this situation, in regard to chronicle sheets after the scenario is over. Do the neglectful players still get normal XP and access to treasure and boons? Can the GM oust the players from the game? I'm not sure how to advise him, as I'm bit hazy how the official PFS rules apply in this situation.
Can I get a ruling?
Regardless of the ruling, I'd recommend that the GM first talk to the players in question if he hasn't already. Communication is vital in cases like this. The GM needs to inquire why their posting is so spotty, and let them know they need to participate more, if possible, and (potentially) discuss letting them go otherwise.
The GM has talked to the players, but to little avail. I'm aware that this problem is endemic of PbP sites, but I wanted to check to see if handling it as we see fit on the boards is okay as far as Paizo is concerned.
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If a GM thinks a player's actions are inappropriate I think he's well within he rights to ask them to leave.
What I don't think would be fair is giving them a chronicle with only half gold after kicking them out halfway though. Sure I can decide I don't want a player at my table but messing up their gold advancement seems like a no no. I think I'd likely either give them a full chronicle sheet or none at all depending on when the issue came up.
All that said in the ~30 PFS tables I've judged I've only ever had to take a player aside one to discuss an issue and have never gotten anywhere close to booting a player from my table.
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Getting less gold is a huge deal. Sure whatever the amount is doesn't really matter but one of the things going on with organized play is a standardization of awards. Sure it would be nice to give your great roleplaying perfect player double gold so that they could buy more purple scarves to roleplay with but in organized play you can't.
Just as I think giving the player you like double rewards is bad I think giving the player you don't like half rewards is also bad.
I will agree that giving the player you don't like only rewards up to the point where you kick them out it's legal but I won't agree that it's fair.
If the only reason they are hanging around is they want a chronicle sheet just give them their chronicle sheet and send them along their way. No need to invite them back, no need for additional grief.
Getting less gold is a huge deal. Sure whatever the amount is doesn't really matter but one of the things going on with organized play is a standardization of awards. Sure it would be nice to give your great roleplaying perfect player double gold so that they could buy more purple scarves to roleplay with but in organized play you can't.
Just as I think giving the player you like double rewards is bad I think giving the player you don't like half rewards is also bad.
I will agree that giving the player you don't like only rewards up to the point where you kick them out it's legal but I won't agree that it's fair.
If the only reason they are hanging around is they want a chronicle sheet just give them their chronicle sheet and send them along their way. No need to invite them back, no need for additional grief.
This is my general feeling, as well. Might as well give the players their sheet, and move on. No sense in fostering bad feelings, and the GM can simply refuse to play with those people again.
Thanks for your input, folks!
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I'm currently running a chapter of PFS over on the Myth Weavers PbP boards. One of my GMs is getting a bit frustrated with a couple of his players whose post rates have tanked recently. The players in question seem to be "dialing it in", with no meaningful contribution to the game whatsoever. The GM would like to know how he should handle this situation, in regard to chronicle sheets after the scenario is over. Do the neglectful players still get normal XP and access to treasure and boons? Can the GM oust the players from the game? I'm not sure how to advise him, as I'm bit hazy how the official PFS rules apply in this situation.
Can I get a ruling?
We run PFS on IRC (Austnet, #d&d), and players have to be able to commit to 3 3-4 hour sessions to get through a module, we've learnt from experience. We've since started asking newbies if they are able to commit before that and follow the honour code that they can - so they are told what they need to know before they start it.
Having said that, sometimes getting everyone's schedules together can be difficult and sometimes newbies end up vanishing, or even regulars give permission for someone else to play their character when they just don't feel like playing. While we consider it bad form to do that kind of thing, the best thing to do seems to be to award them the full chronicle sheet as per the party, allow the party to control that character - including the potential death of that character (even if he/she's intentionally put in the most vulnerable position, as long as they're not actively trying to kill him/her), and either check that the person doesn't make a habit of doing that kind of thing or simply say, hey, you're not a reliable player, I'm going to have say you can't be in for this anymore.
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The rules of Pathfinder Society Organized Play do not grant GMs the ability to make qualitative judgments about the players' performance during a scenario and alter standardized rewards as a result of those assessments.
Players at a table in a face-to-face game who are checked out and not really play to the GM's expectations are a similar situation, and not uncommon. But if the PC meets all the success conditions of the scenario and survives, that PC gets the same rewards as the PC of a player who was attentive and active throughout the session. The same rules apply online.
Similarly, you can't eject someone from your table unless they're violating the campaign rules or being disruptive to other players; this is the same online in PBP posts as it is at a convention.