o.O For a number of reasons. Please keep in mind these are only my personal opinions and that I have absolutely no control or influence over these proposals.
I just fought 4 greater shadows at a time in the 12+ tier of the Grand Convocation. (shadows kept coming back, wave after wave...)
1) It's not too weak or strong because it depends on which tier you're aiming at and the situation (terrain, advance notice, etc).
2) Shadows can be devistating to certain party mixes (basically any party w/o dedicated healing).
3) Shadows are generally boring. They have a very narrow schtick. Multiply that by 4. Instead, look to create a memorable NPC that can actually interact with the PCs (even if that's just taunting them while killing them). If you like shadows, use one as a single henchman. That narrow schtick can be used to distract the party and split up their resources (channeling, high touch AC PCs, ghost touch weapons).
Keep in mind that these quests are often seen as a tool to get new players to try the game. Those types of players that only have an hour to try it out instead of the usual 4 hours. You should be looking to provide the most exciting and unique experience possible in a single hour of roleplaying.
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All right, that's fair! I was guessing along the same lines but it's good to be sure. It might be hard to apply your suggestions and stay within the concept I'm picturing, but they seem sound and I'll be keeping them in mind.
I might ask for specific suggestions in the Working on an idea thread if I really can't come up with anything else.
Are we allowed to reference NPC stats in the Gamemastery Guide or the NPC Codex once it's released?
At this time, you can only reference stat blocks from the PFS GM Core Assumption.
Kyle is correct. What I meant was, if you put four CR 1 creatures in an encounter and then say that's a CR 3 encounter, that indicates you don't know how to calculate CR.
As for the digital signature, I'll need to check and see if that's ok, but my guess is that it is.
Its 5... right...
<_<>_>
but 5 is right out.
I thought 4 CR 1 creatures was a total of CR 1/2? It clearly takes 8 CR 1 monsters to challenge a group of 4 first level PFS PCs. ;-)
How about 4x Ezren?
Question for everyone: Is it permissible to say for a stat block "Giant Spider hp 16 as per Beastiary pg 258? The beastiary is part of the core assumption for GMs.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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OK, I have a daft question. I have a submission prepared to go out but the Submission Agreement form is locked. Are we supposed to print it out and rescan a signed copy or send it snail mail? Is it enough to attach a copy and cofirm agreement in the e-mail? Could we get a form fillable version of the document?
Preface: I work in IT so here's my IT solution.
The one I digitally signed was not locked (although it's not form fillable). Adobe Reader X is free for download and has an easy way to sign the document. Here's the steps you'd follow to do so.
1. If you open the .pdf with Adobe Reader X, there will be a toolbar above the document viewer. Third button from the left is one that looks like a pen signing a document. Click that.
2. It'll open up a sideboard with some options. If you select Place Signature, it'll prompt you to draw one or insert one from an external source. I recommend using a website like this one or just handwriting and scanning (although at that point, you could just scan the whole document).
3. When you've finished, save it (it will prompt to save it as a copy, which is fine) and then open it to make sure the signature you added works.
Good luck!
OK, I have a daft question. I have a submission prepared to go out but the Submission Agreement form is locked. Are we supposed to print it out and rescan a signed copy or send it snail mail? Is it enough to attach a copy and cofirm agreement in the e-mail? Could we get a form fillable version of the document?Preface: I work in IT so here's my IT solution.
The one I digitally signed was not locked (although it's not form fillable). Adobe Reader X is free for download and has an easy way to sign the document. Here's the steps you'd follow to do so.
1. If you open the .pdf with Adobe Reader X, there will be a toolbar above the document viewer. Third button from the left is one that looks like a pen signing a document. Click that.
2. It'll open up a sideboard with some options. If you select Place Signature, it'll prompt you to draw one or insert one from an external source. I recommend using a website like this one or just handwriting and scanning (although at that point, you could just scan the whole document).
3. When you've finished, save it (it will prompt to save it as a copy, which is fine) and then open it to make sure the signature you added works.
Good luck!
These instructions should be noted or perhaps posted with the Agreement form.
This will be asked quite often I have no doubt.
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Contributor
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Not sure if this is a better place than the blog replies for my post, but I figure I lose nothing by copy-pasting, so...
*cracks knuckles* alright, moved, mostly unpacked - time to give this a shot :)
Quick question - if an aspiring author has an idea for a "series" of scenarios, and wants their quest-submission to be a sort of "lead in" / example of the sort of thing that might be involved, can that be alluded to in the quest? In other words, if the _____1 that the PCs are seeking might be involved in something later, can ________2 who sets them on their quest from the ________3 Pathfinder lodge mention that _____1 might be important later?
Thanks, and also thank you for having the open call - even if my submission gets shot down, it's really impressive to me that you're opening up to have potential new authors send in their work!
Director of Brand Strategy
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Quick question - if an aspiring author has an idea for a "series" of scenarios, and wants their quest-submission to be a sort of "lead in" / example of the sort of thing that might be involved, can that be alluded to in the quest? In other words, if the _____1 that the PCs are seeking might be involved in something later, can ________2 who sets them on their quest from the ________3 Pathfinder lodge mention that _____1 might be important later?
We are not looking for series or metaplot submissions. At this point, all multi-part scenarios and the campaign's larger metaplot are outlined in-house. A submission for a series or an obvious prequel for a nonexistent series would likely be rejected outright.
Last season you were looking for Scenario idea submissions, but this season you are looking for written Quests. These are two different animals. How is scenario submission working this season?
I ask because I was crafting a scenario submission at the end of Season 3, but decided to wait for the new guidelines so that I could be current. The new guidelines are not a change to the old, but a completely new thing.
Are the scenarios being handed out to already established authors?
If you like a Quest submission might you ask the author to flesh it out into a scenario?
If you like a Quest might it be published as a Quest with possible opportunities for the author to write an unrelated scenario?
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Last season you were looking for Scenario idea submissions, but this season you are looking for written Quests. These are two different animals. How is scenario submission working this season?
We're not current soliciting scenario pitches.
Are the scenarios being handed out to already established authors?
Yes.
If you like a Quest submission might you ask the author to flesh it out into a scenario?
It's not likely. If I get in submissions that are formatted like a Quest but read as backdoor scenario pitches, that's going to raise "didn't follow directions" flags and will more than likely result in a rejection rather than the additional back and forth of working with an author in fine-tuning a pitch into a workable outline to get green-lit.
If you like a Quest might it be published as a Quest with possible opportunities for the author to write an unrelated scenario?
Absolutely. That's the intent of the current Open Call. If we like a Quest, we'll publish it, which is why that's what we're looking for and not something that we can't immediately publish or that requires additional editorial resources without knowing if the final result will actually be publishable. If an author has a Quest published, I'm likely to offer her another Quest, perhaps with some guidance of what I'm looking for for a given release or planned use of the Quest. We want to build relationships with new freelancers, and Quests are a much better fit for us to do so than full adventure pitches. Once we have a relationship, opportunities to write scenarios and other Paizo products are a much more likely possibility.
Larger issues that display a lack of attention to detail and familiarity with our products and style: capitalizing spell names; not capitalizing feat names; not italicizing magic items or spells; not adhering to our established format of presenting encounters in separate sections describing creatures, traps, development, treasure, and so forth; lack of understanding of how to calculate CR for a multi-creature encounter; misspellings of established proper nouns from our setting or the campaign; not spell-checking your document; not proofreading your document for grammatical errors.
In both cases, the more your submission looks like what we publish in both style and quality, the more likely we'll be to accept it.
The Open Call form says to only use bold and italics:
You are encouraged to use bold and
italic text to conform to the style and formatting standards
of the Pathfinder RPG, but please do not use additional
styles or artificial means of recreating horizontal lines (such
as those in statblock headers or section breaks); these will be
added by Paizo prior to publication of accepted submissions.
The only trouble with this is that the text the GM is suppose to read aloud is in a lighter colored font. When you don't have the advantage to use a lighter colored font, there's no way to distinguish between the box text and the rest of the text. Would it be okay to italicize the box text to make the distinction? Or would that put us in the category of someone who is lacking familiarity of the product?
