Prestige Question for a Season 1 Scenario

[Edric Nansen]

I GMed my first PFS session tonight, running The Citadel of Flame from Season 1. Our Lodge only got started in December, and we've been mostly running Season 3 scenarios.

None of surviving characters completed either of their two faction missions. Based on the following text from the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play 4.0, I ruled that they earned 0 Prestige Points:

Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, page 25 wrote:

Seasons 1 & 2 (Scenarios #29–#56 and #2–01–#2–26):

These scenarios all include two faction missions. For characters using the standard advancement track, one of these should be considered the faction mission and the other the success condition for the scenario, maintaining the 2 Prestige Point maximum.

I haven't reported the session yet, and the surviving characters were played by local players who attend sessions regularly.

I'd like to know if I ruled incorrectly. If I did I can easily contact the players and make corrections to their chronicles, and also report the session correctly.

[Dragnmoon]

You did it correct..

For season 1 & 2 you get a Prestige Point per faction mission you complete, since they completed none they get none.

Quick question what happened to cause that? I have only seen that happen once and that was because most of the group was wiped out early on and the survivor ran.

[Edric Nansen]

Thanks for the answer, Dragnmoon. I can certainly see how that text could be interpreted differently than the way I interpreted it.

As for why no one completed any faction missions:

Spoilers, Just In Case:

The group was rushing through the adventure, in large part because of my inexperience at keeping things moving early on.

There were also PC deaths. Two deaths in the second fight and one in the third, all 1st level characters. The three survivors were all 2nd level. The math of the party's APL allowed them to play up, and there was unanimous agreement among the players to do so.

We were running very tight against the time limit. When I reviewed things after I got home, I also realized I did not read the description of the last room, which would have provided a clue for one of the Andoran faction missions.

The factions present were Andoran, Grand Lodge, and Osirion. Ironically they did complete one of the Qadiran faction missions.

[Eric Clingenpeel]

Spoiler:

Ok, first off, you round down when you have a fraction. so, (1+1+1+2+2+2)/6=1.5 add 1 for 6 players that's still only 2.5, round down to 2. I'm sorry, but they shouldn't have even had the option to play up. I can't believe you didn't kill them all, and I can only believe that you had your kiddie gloves on. The higher tier in that scenario is a killer.

[W. Kristoph Nolen]

Eric Clingenpeel wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

Wow. Rude much?

I generally like to believe that the PFS community is usually above trolling. You couldn't have found a better way to say that?

Thank you for affirming a general stereotype of Internet forums.

[Dragnmoon]

W. Kristoph Nolen wrote:

Eric Clingenpeel wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

Wow. Rude much?

I generally like to believe that the PFS community is usually above trolling. You couldn't have found a better way to say that?

Thank you for affirming a general stereotype of Internet forums.

I actually did not see that as being rude..

That said he is currently correct, though the wording in the Guide is going to change, but even with the new wording 2.5 does not allow to Play up.

So Edric, that was your problem, you allowed the group to play in a tier they are not allowed to and they where out of their league.

Here is the current wording..

PFS Guide pg 24 wrote:

In order to determine which subtier a mixed-level group of PCs should play in, you must determine the group’s average party level (APL). You should always round this number down.

So 2.5 rounds down to 2 which is sub tier 1-2 and does not allow for playing up.

In the Future update the guide will read something like this.

Mark Moreland wrote:

The quoted text now instructs to round to the nearest whole number, and to round down in cases where the average falls directly between two levels (ie. 4.5). This will appear in version 4.01 of the Guide, which is currently waiting in the editing queue behind several other, larger books.

So 2.5 will still round down (Though 2.6-2.9 would round up) to 2 which is sub tier 1-2 and does not allow for playing up.

[Edric Nansen]

I made a LOT of mistakes in this session. Probably did more things wrong than I did right. This despite preparing more for this session than for any GMing session I can remember.

I didn't see Eric's comment as being rude.

Spoiler:

In fact when they wanted to play up, I considered a TPK to be likely. I don't think I warned them of a likely TPK specifically, but I did warn them that I considered this to be a difficult scenario.

Though I did not intentionally try to go easy on them, by the end we were REALLY rushing, and the more rushed I felt, the more mistakes I know I was making. I probably didn't notice NPC abilities and tactics that would have been more effective. At the very end, I was choosing actions based largely on how quickly I could resolve them so we didn't run out of time.

The players did the math on the APL, and since we were close to 45 minutes late starting, I didn't double check it. Though even if I had, I would've ruled incorrectly, because I misunderstood the rule on rounding, even though I'd asked for clarification on it beforehand in our Lodge's thread.

For anyone reading this and worrying about poor quality GMing hurting PFS, rest assured that I don't plan to GM PFS again soon, if ever. The players were all kind and supportive, and said they enjoyed themselves. I believe they were being sincere, but my GMing wasn't anywhere near my own standard of acceptable.

[Eric Clingenpeel]

Don't give up completely. It wasn't your fault, sometimes players make bad decisions. And it was a really tough scenario. That sorc is a killer for lower level chars. The only poor quality GM'ing is not gm'ing in my opinion. If you're at least trying, that's good enough for me. If I'm hanging out having fun with my friends, I don't really care if the GM forgot some details, or wasn't sure about tactics, since I'm havig fun hanging out with my friends.

If you don't try you'll never succeed. Next time you can TPK them, you just have to learn from your mistakes and believe you can... ;) (Channeling a little Kyle Baird there for a second.)