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Hello everyone , as everyone else on this topic, I am searching for advice.
This topic might have been already posted somewhere so feel free to post a link but in any case, advice is welcome.
All my life I played various rpgs, most of them similiar to d&d system. As of recently I started playing pathfinder before month or two. Game is great really, and it fills much of stuff which you couldnt do in normal computer games. As I played few times, I became more aware of game and how different it is and naturaly enough I started with a flavour character who wasnt top best, but he is fun and still usefull and kinda jack of all trades (witchlv4). Its really fun to play all in all, but I figured that if i can play and have so much fun, I should GM sometimes and let others feel same.
This a point where it becomes problematic..
As GM, I am doing eveyrthing in my power to be prepared for eveyrthing.
I read scenarios, reread them, triple read them, make notes on dcs, recheck spells of npcs, try to get additional infos about abilities/skills/everything else. In short I belive I covered most of it. I have numerous problems during my short GMing carrier:
a) PCs overruning NPCs
This is generally common and in most cases acceptable. But sometimes I just feel that this should have been a tougher fight. (this is concerning scenario oriented fights)
b) Scenarios are sometimes to weak
Sometimes scenario is designed for Tier 5 for example, but you have tier 6 PCs, what to do, how much should I upgrade the NPCs to be reasonable threat and not to overpowered?
c) Players are disruptive
BIGGEST PROBLEM. Sometimes it can turn into pure chaos. In this case disruptive is: talk to much, not enough roleplay, having high ego(but I can handle this).
d) Time
Second biggest problem. I often prepare even (in my head, where else?) some flavour encounters but none of it ever happens. Usually 4hour sessions turn into 3-3.5hour due to players fault. So on top of everything I have to aim perfectly to manage and finish scenario on time. As everyone knows it can be highly frustrating.
I dont have advantage to bring core/advanced books and bestiarys(I usually prepare monster sheets infront) but usually someone has it or can dig online about any info which is needed so I use my memory most of time trying to remember rules and sometimes its to much.
This is most of problems I can figure out at the moment.
Its all done on PFS rules and such by the way.
Thx for replys
Hey man, welcome to the boards (and Pathfinder in general). There are loads of threads for advice for GMs so try doing a search for general advice. As for your specific problems I have a few ideas for you. First off, it is good to be prepared, but don't go nuts. If you try to prep absolutely everything you'll just end up upset when someone disrupts your plans. Also, they will disrupt your plans, because noone likes being railroaded.
Now on a point-by-point basis:
A) If an encounter seems to be going to easy for the PCs try simply upping the power level a bit next time. Remember, a CR that is equal to the level of the party is only expected to cost them 1/4 their resources for the day, meaning you need four full-fledged encounters before they start to feel the hurt. And that isn't even always true, sometimes CR=APL still doesn't do that much. In addition, if they seem to be breezing through you can sometimes get away with ad hoc adjustments. Maybe have some orcs come charging out of a building when the PCs thought there were no more, etc.
B) I think you may have your tiers backwards, generally lower number equals better in tiers. Nonetheless, this ties into the first point I made on A. If you know they are just cakewalking everything, buff the encounters in the scenarios. They aren't set in stone.
C) Disruptive players are tough. Best piece of advice is to try to talk about it out of game. Just sit down your players and calmly discuss your concerns. That alone can work wonders. There are also threads dedicated to issues like this, so try a search for more in depth answers.
D) As for time, don't worry about the amount of time you have. If you want to squeeze in encounters that aren't pre-written go ahead. If you don't finish the scenario as written just finish it next session.
Finally, if you don't have a books, check out the PRD. It's got almost anything you would need.
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Thx for advice
Encounters are something that sometimes gets me worried if I should amplify them or not, so I am usually torn apart with sticking to scenario or amplifying creeps.
I will search those threads on disruptive players, as a guy with general ego I am sure I can force people to act polite, I just dont wanna be a bad guy in whole story...
Thx for reply, you maybe saved me weeks of trouble!
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Thx for advice
Encounters are something that sometimes gets me worried if I should amplify them or not, so I am usually torn apart with sticking to scenario or amplifying creeps.
I will search those threads on disruptive players, as a guy with general ego I am sure I can force people to act polite, I just dont wanna be a bad guy in whole story...
Thx for reply, you maybe saved me weeks of trouble!
A simple trick for encounters. If you feel the encounter needs to be a little tougher have a few low level minions run in from "off stage". Many published encounters have a variety of enemies in individual encounters. Add a few of the low level guys if the fight gets too easy. They come in from the bathroom or another room. Maybe they were patrolling the hallways. The reason does not really matter.
That said I think some encounters should be cake walks. It lets the players feel like their PCs are powerful. Then they get a little cocky and you can slap them down in the next encounter.
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For Society OP, boosting (as any kind of statistical changes to, not "intelligent enemies adapting to a situation"-type changes) encounters is generally frowned upon (last I checked anyways.) Make sure to check the Society GM boards for a scenario you're going to run, too. Sometimes, the authors suggest alt-tactics or stat-block error fixes that CAN be used, as the Campaign Coordinator has seen and not reigned it back in. Most, if not all scenarios were designed with semi-optimized parties, of scrambled together parties, as that's what public games often end up being. Because of this, well-optimized groups can run through a scenario like a greased-up piggy. At higher tiers, try to find the "harder" scenarios, like the Devil We Know series (I think was one of the harder sets. We were one of those piggies, so I have a minorly-skewed view of difficulty. But I digress.)
Also, a 4-hour timeframe is tough (in my limited experience), and is why some convention organizers try to push for a 5-hour block. IIRC, the 4-hour thing was for simplicity of scheduling, legacy decisions, and Season Zero scenarios. They only had one faction mission per faction, and were not nearly as complex. Now that scenarios can (and often call for) new and special mechanics, the 4-hour thought process is more of a bare minimum. They have "Optional Encounters" in some of the newer scenarios to give some breathing room, so that at least helps.
As a naturally-disruptive player/dude (usually of a peanut gallery style disruption) in a generally disruptive home group, I can't add more than above posters. Talk to them, and try to compromise or something. "If you see me holding back giggles, just keep going. Really. Stopping to ask what is funny only makes me think about it more. Just get past it and let my terrible memory get to work," is my current stance on Carrion Crown. Because just because the bro next to me and I find that the "guy from Canterwall taught some tribes up north the Magic of Friendship" hilarious, I will stifle myself as long as I can so you can keep going with the eulogy.
All-in-all, just talk to them about it. If they're not having fun in Babytown, maybe something that isn't Organized Play is more their speed, where a DM can crank encounters past 11 if need be. If they're having fun now, though, why change? Fun is the goal, no?
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A simple trick for encounters. If you feel the encounter needs to be a little tougher have a few low level minions run in from "off stage". Many published encounters have a variety of enemies in individual encounters. Add a few of the low level guys if the fight gets too easy. They come in from the bathroom or another room. Maybe they were patrolling the hallways. The reason does not really matter.
A bit like this.
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A simple trick for encounters. If you feel the encounter needs to be a little tougher have a few low level minions run in from "off stage". Many published encounters have a variety of enemies in individual encounters. Add a few of the low level guys if the fight gets too easy. They come in from the bathroom or another room. Maybe they were patrolling the hallways. The reason does not really matter.A bit like this.
Too many guys. More like this
I did this the other night. Did one encounter (several fights) that culminated with a boss fight. They all assumed it was the end and blew through their spells and channels etc. Then they got back to their compound and found it being attacked, then proceeded to have to do a chase to get to the center and have another fight. By the end they had nothing left, and it was much more exciting.
Always good to get them to think that they are on their last encounter of the day to then hit them with another
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For Society OP, boosting (as any kind of statistical changes to, not "intelligent enemies adapting to a situation"-type changes) encounters is generally frowned upon (last I checked anyways.)
And just to add, I am aware of this, so far I didnt alter any enemy encounter, I am strictly sticking with it. When I mentioned amplyfing creeps in scenario I meant it more as of idea, not something I would imply on same scenario unless maybe my group tier is way of the charts.