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It makes very little difference to me if I'm sat first or the players. Give me a scenario and point me to my already seated table of restless players. When they've read their faction missions and introduced their characters I'll be ready to give them a fantastic play experience. I'm not showing off. I'm giving a different perspective here and have no doubt there are many GMs who do better than me in similar situations. Large shows will never be perfect. GMs should prepare themselves to be as mobile and flexible as possible. That's my approach. Again, adding a different perspective and not trying to discount anyone else's wishes or preferences.
Venture-Lieutenant, Illinois—Fairview Heights
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As this was my first PFS experience, I do not have much to compare it to. I played generics for all but one senerio, and while there was some chaos with mustering, overall the issues did not seem overwhelming.
A few things I wanted to note as possible ideas to improve flow beyond what has already been suggested:
- Divide the mustering into up/down/either. I know we had one table where two players thought they were playing an up table and had to switch when the other four at the table were playing down.
- For tables made up of mostly strangers, try to make sure there is a balance of classes. I know this may be hard to find a way to make this work. We had one table where the only healing was our Bard/Ranger and his two CLW potions. He had to burn through everything just to keep us up and I still have no idea how we managed to survive. Next PFS I play, I plan to have a mix of classes generated so that I can balance out the table. Perhaps pregenerated characters given to the GMs that they can offer a player for a quick fill in, noting to the players that they can change the character before 2nd level if they wish.
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- Divide the mustering into up/down/either. I know we had one table where two players thought they were playing an up table and had to switch when the other four at the table were playing down.
The muster sheets actually had checkboxes beside each scenario with a high tier and low tier so the person mustering tables could check off which table they had assigned hi and low characters to. I'm not sure why this didn't happen but we will take better care to train more efficiently next year.
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Kyle: I also noticed there were a lot more women this year. And families.
Mike: I loved that you made sure to not have the same adventure running right next to each other. I remember in season zero having several things spoiled for me by GMs using projectors where all the tables could see. Drove me nuts.
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1) A better mustering system. Contrary to what others have said, it was complete chaos.
2) Make sure you seat people with actual tickets before you seat generics and strictly enforce people having thier tickets at the table when ticket collectors come calling.
3)Make sure the GM's have read and are prepared to run the scenarios. It was painfully obvious that some had not.
4)Don't forget the players who aren't in the Special but are playing a scenario at the same time. Those who got shoved into the overflow room of the overflow room never saw a PFS rep the entire night on saturday.
5)Remember that the people who are there playing spent a large chuck of change to come play your game. They should come first.
1) Most slots, except the Special, were sat within 10 minutes from what I observed. What were your experiences so I have a better understanding on what you mean by complete chaos?
2) We will try to do this better next season. I admit this can definitely be improved.
3) How do we make sure this happens? Except for the Season 4 scenarios, most GMs had their scenarios 3-4 weeks in advance. Any suggestions are appreciated.
4) The overflow room was a last minute idea I decided to try to pull off 6 hours before the start. We had so many people asking could they get in with a generic, I didn't want to turn them away. The only room I could secure to do this was to have the open game room. The only other option was to turn away 12 tables of generic tickets, or a total of 70 or so players. I knew the play experience would be a lesser product than the big room. But, which is the greater of two evils? Setting up at least something for those who wouldn't otherwise get to pla the Special, or turning them away outright? In hindsight, maybe we should have turned away all of those generic tickets instead of offering a subpar experience. I don't know though. Thoughts?
5) I'm truly at a loss by what you mean by this. We tried to seat everyone we possibly could who...
1) Was directed on Thursday to my sign . Went down there 10 minutes early. Didn't get seated until a 1/2 hour after the start time. Was in the overflow room. Had a "real" ticket. Other then that had a great time
Friday. Arrived 15 minutes early, went to my sign. Was seated immediatly. No problems
Saturday. Arrived 20 minutes early for the 7pm slot. Watched as people with generics were seated ahead of my group. Mentioned this to the musterer and was basically ignored. Didn't even get seated until 8 pm way over in Sagamore. Didn't start playing for a 1/2 hour after that. Finished at 1:30. Had to send a player to the main room to get sheets, tokens, and such. The GM was never given any. No one came to collect tickets.
Sunday: Had no problems
2) Okies
3) Honestly, I have no concrete solutions, as I am not really privy to what being a GM entails. The biggest problem was Saturday, where it was painfully obvious the GM had never even read the module. This was Golemworks, which was season 4.
There have been suggestions for rating GM's which have gathered different responses. Perhaps an internal thing that tells you if the GM has put in the effort?
4) I had figured the special was the reason we were shunted into overflow rooms. I understand it. I just don't have to like it.
5) Thats the thing though. By seating everyone, I watched people with generics seated before people with actual, pre-bought tickets. People were mustering themselves into groups and not telling the person at the door they had generics. Was really rather infuriating.
Believe it or not, I did actually enjoy myself at Gen Con during my 4 scenarios. My halfling rogue got to run about trying to prove Taldor is the superior faction :) I met some cool people, and played some good modules.
By the way Mike, if you want to put a face to me, I was the one who on friday came up to you in the morning and asked if anyone had turned in a tablet. I appreciated the kind answer you gave and I actually did find it.
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I'm actually planning to work with Gen Con to get a GM meeting on Wednesday afternoon that would last a couple of hours and do this exact thing. Thanks for the ideas.3) How do we make sure this happens? Except for the Season 4 scenarios, most GMs had their scenarios 3-4 weeks in advance. Any suggestions are appreciated.This one is a hard one but I'll take a stab at it.
I really liked what we did for the special. We gathered before hand and were able to ask questions about what we did not understand. Maybe a similar system can be run where Mike assigns a VO to be the "expert" for a scenario. They make sure to prep it extensively. The first day, 30 minutes before the first slot, we huddle and each "expert" Goes to a specific area. GMs assigned to a specific scenario can go to the table with the "expert" and gather to ask questions, make sure everyone is ready, etc...
Might only work with the brand new scenarios, and I can already think of logistical issues and refinements, but it's just an idea.
I think that a simple way to accomplish this would be to designate table numbers to each scenario so GMs gather round and compare notes. No expert necessarily required.
If it is not possible to do this on Wed, have the GMs for each slot meet 15 mins before at a designated table for each scenario to do exactly this. A scenario huddle if you like.
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Background
Played three PFS scenarios @ gencon this year (yay, i'm now lvl 2!). I had the specific event ticket for each.
Two GMs were awesome, one was okay. For one of my sessions, I and my group was sent to the wrong table/scenario, so we had to return to the muster location to be re-assigned.
Possible suggestion on the muster front:
1) have a 3x5 card for each table which has a GM ready for the scenario. When you send off the group, send the 3x5 with them (collect for reuse when gathering the tickets). If you want/need some overflow tables, have a 3x5 specifically marked as such.
2) if you want us to find our own groups, have signage up asking us to do so (be sure to include "if you have event tickets, find those who have them. if you don't, find others who don't ). If you would rather group us up, that's fine. I had both occur, depending on the muster -- consistency would have been nice/less confusing.
3) Kyle's suggested "'generics' stand here" sign would help reduce potential confusion as well (more signage is a good thing ;) )
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We had some volunteers telling mobs of people to sort themselves out and just let them know when they could seat a full table. I don't believe it should be the players' jobs to assemble themselves, but the responsibility should fall on the mustering volunteer.Can you explain this a bit more? I have the complete opposite opinion. If the person mustering has to build tables it'll become an auction, "I need a fighter on table 3, fighter on table 3." (seven hands go up) "4th level fighter with 55hps and tanks" (four hands go down), "65 hps, going once, twice, ..." I've seen it when putting the responsibility of table-building with the muster-volunteer created a huge bottle neck. I've also seen tables rejecting a player because he/she didn't meet their power or class standards and the muster-volunteer asks someone else to appease the rejecting table. That is not a situation for anyone to create or experience.
It's faster when players build themselves into a table of six and elects one person to represent that group who alone approaches the muster-volunteer to be sat. This is how I instruct everyone when I muster. It clears the area so everyone isn't mobbed around me and I can easily sit up to 10 tables in less than 10min. I've seen a smaller mob take 20-30 min when their table-building with the person mustering.
I have the firm belief and experience to prove players can call out what PC they want to play, what tier and fill an available slot quickly. The player can also listen to a table call out its need for a certain class to balance it, and if they have that character, the player can raise their hand to be welcomed to that slot.
I agree that if a table *can* pre-organize themselves it will go faster, but much of the time there are groups of 2s and 3s with the occasional solo player. The best mustering volunteer I saw was quickly able to take small groups of 2 and 3 of the same sub-tier, then add some singles of the appropriate levels and send them off to a table. No mess about classes and builds, no opportunity for discussing table tactics before they sat down, and no chance for rejecting a player because he doesn't meet power or class standards.
Many players have more than one character they can bring to a table (about 40% of players had more than one appropriate character from my experience). Pre-gens are always an option, if the table is severely lacking a role.
If players are concerned with the table make-up, then they can and should pre-form most or all of the table and send their one rep. However, if the mustering staff does nothing to assist players form tables, then the problems that you stated with "fighter auctions" become worse. I myself was subject to such elitist attitudes by a table that didn't want a "tank" with less than a 22 AC. I'd have been much happier to have simply been placed, rather than have to fall under such judgement. When this happened I literally had to "sell" my character to get into a table. That doesn't add to the fun of the experience, it detracts from it.
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Additional thought:
Have a very specific time for "real" tickets to get priority. This will make it easier for mustering the "real" and "generic" tickets at some point in time. For example with a 7pm slot:
6:45 - Mustering begins for "real" tickets. Muster volunteers ask all generics to stand at the railings until 7:10.
7:00 - Final call is shouted out for "real" ticket holders to muster.
7:10 - Generics are called forward and tables are filled equally with "real" ticket holders and "generic" ticket holders.
Giving specific times will help everyone know when they will be seated, still gives priority to people who registered ahead of time, and let volunteers know when they should be adding generics into the mix.
Obviously, choose whatever time points make the most sense.
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I agree that if a table *can* pre-organize themselves it will go faster, but much of the time there are groups of 2s and 3s with the occasional solo player. The best mustering volunteer I saw was quickly able to take small groups of 2 and 3 of the same sub-tier, then add some singles of the appropriate levels...
Oh, yeah, completely agree. When the bulk of people are sat the person mustering should assist the 2s, 3s and singles to form up. Especially when Real vs Generic adds additional complexity. I also don't play the selling your character game. It gets shut down immediately.
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First of all, Gencon was fantastic this year! Thanks to all who helped plan, organize, and carry out the event. I had a great time. I do have one suggestion ( understanding that attendance was more than what anyone could have planned)... One table that we decided to play at the last minute, we got generics and ended up with overflow gm. We played a 7-11 gm who had little time to prep ( 15 minutes at the table) and had only run first steps.. We did have a good time, however I think the gm felt bad since they were not prepared for the 11th level fights. My suggestion would be.. If Overflow is used next year like this year, pfs might want to try to tier the overflow gms to their experience. All in all it was an awesome 4 days!
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Let’s start off with things I liked
I loved the Water for the GMs.
I loved getting 4 GM shirts instead of the 1 we usually get.
I loved the Bigger HQ area
Now My Suggestions
Overflow room - Though as an idea it was a good one, due to it being a last minute decision I don't think it went well.
For Next year have an Overflow room pre set up with GMs and Musterers (Is that a word?) Send all those with Generic Tickets to this room to be seated there. If there are players that have Event tickets who want to play with players with Generics send them to the Overflow room as well.
This is very important IMO, have a Set Max number of players you will send there and don't go over that or try to set up another room on the fly, it will cause chaos.
GMing - I know we can't make GMs prep prior to running the scenarios but Paizo can make sure they have everything they need in time to do so. The new Seasons scenarios and the Special really need to get out at least a week earlier then they have been, so at least 2 weeks before the Con, though 3 weeks would be better. For me, this was the biggest issue.
When I sat to run the Special they already knew what Sub-tier I was going to be running, this would have been a lot more useful if I knew that when I was prepping the special. In the future please provide this so GMs aren't waisting time prepping all the Tiers that they don't need to. You can have a smaller group as emergency GMs who have more sub-tiers prepped.
Late Players - There is nothing that brings a scenario to a screeching halt worse than a bunch of late players showing up at a table after the scenario has already started. This happened to me twice, the first time I had 3 players show up almost an hour late that I was told I had to seat which also caused me to go to 7 player table. The other time was a player that showed up 45 minutes late, though in that case he was late because his assigned game never happened. If a player shows up with tickets more then 1/2 hour late, tell them too bad they should have showed up when the event started.
Musterers - More of them, with the correct instructions on how to do their job.
HQ - Don't let players go to HQ when mustering is going on, that should be for GMs only. Have a Big Sign stating that all players should go to the Mustering area during that time. It was annoying seeing players going to HQ with tickets asking where they should go (For myself mostly because I thought it was very obvious where they should go). Have the GMs get their Tables and paper work at HQ instead of with the musterers. I understood the reason behind this was to make sure players were not sent to a table without a GM, but this caused delays in seating the GMs because of the wave of players there. HQ should be responsible to making sure there is a GM at every Table and the musterers should make sure there are a enough players at every table.
Have the Auction area and Boon area separate from HQ.
Tech - Bring a spare Laptop/Printer/Ink.
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Perhaps some type of "Player Tips for PFS at Large Cons" 1 page document can me produced?
Include such tips as purchasing real tickets ahead of time rather than generics, show up half-hour early before your slot, self muster into 6 player groups, try to have multiple PC's to choose from for each tier or an appropraite pre-gen, etc.
Put the document on the PFS section of Paizo.com and have hard copies on hand to pass out at the conventions as well (perhaps at the Paizo booth?).
Wouldn't solve all your problems (always last minute and unprepared players), but it could help alleviate some of the issues.
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We had some volunteers telling mobs of people to sort themselves out and just let them know when they could seat a full table. I don't believe it should be the players' jobs to assemble themselves, but the responsibility should fall on the mustering volunteer.Can you explain this a bit more? I have the complete opposite opinion. If the person mustering has to build tables it'll become an auction, "I need a fighter on table 3, fighter on table 3." (seven hands go up) "4th level fighter with 55hps and tanks" (four hands go down), "65 hps, going once, twice, ..." I've seen it when putting the responsibility of table-building with the muster-volunteer created a huge bottle neck. I've also seen tables rejecting a player because he/she didn't meet their power or class standards and the muster-volunteer asks someone else to appease the rejecting table. That is not a situation for anyone to create or experience.
It's faster when players build themselves into a table of six and elects one person to represent that group who alone approaches the muster-volunteer to be sat. This is how I instruct everyone when I muster. It clears the area so everyone isn't mobbed around me and I can easily sit up to 10 tables in less than 10min. I've seen a smaller mob take 20-30 min when their table-building with the person mustering.
I have the firm belief and experience to prove players can call out what PC they want to play, what tier and fill an available slot quickly. The player can also listen to a table call out its need for a certain class to balance it, and if they have that character, the player can raise their hand to be welcomed to that slot.
This +1. How about the people who show up to play "volunteer" to get themselves sorted? The volunteers already clearly had their hands full. Adding responsibilities seems counter-productive.
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My suggestions.
1. As others have said, seat the GM's first and then send them players when you have them.
2. Mustering could use some work. The organization was not too bad, but the hallways quickly became packed. The Mustering points were too close together and at times it was hard to tell where one began and other ended. Also the signs marking each mustering location needed to be higher up. The signs were often blocked with people making it difficult to find the proper location.
3. Move HQ to the front of the room.
4. Have a Generics line.
5. Build a couple overflow judges into the schedule. If none are needed for the initial seating of then they can grab players from then generics line.
6. You are a big dog, act like it! Let's face it, PFS had grown in leaps and bounds. I think part of the problem that PFS has faced every year at Gencon, is not being prepared for growth. The Truth is that PFS is easily as big if not bigger than any other organized campaign. Go for the gusto. Get the Sagamore Ballroom next year or another similarly sized space. I have little doubt that you will fill it.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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I also don't play the selling your character game. It gets shut down immediately.
I'm not sure what you mean here. I don't see a problem with saying "Have bard, sorcerer, & rogue; looking for cleric, front-line fighter types". Or were you talking about something far more detailed than just broad description of class or roles?
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There were overflow GMs for each scenario offered each slot. The problem is when GMs don't show up and the "real" overflow is actually needed, those with generics are stuck with whomever's willing to volunteer to run your scenario.
Not completely a bad thing, learning through pain. My friends and I learned that you take a lot of chances by not pre-registering for most Gencon events. Sometimes learning is painful. You came in on generics? PFS is a full-service society, and we're going to bust our tails to get you a table. By the way, have you ever considered registering for events ahead of time . . ?
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Overflow room suggestion:
Have the overflow GMs be allowed to GM whatever scenario they are comfortable running. First Steps 1-3, some 1-5 scenarios, etc... Overflow GMs should come prepared to run 3-5 scenarios specifically from low level ranges.
People going to the OF tables with generics are not usually coming with a specific scenario in mind, they just want to play some PFS! Just get the musterers to snag a group of 5-6 players in the same level range, and sit everyone at the table. the GM can then say "hi, my name is XXX and looks like we have a group of all level 2s and 3s. I got these options of 1-5 scenarios, what has everyone played so far?" and see if you can come up with a scenario that everyone the table can play.
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Sader, I know that Saturday night we had a terrible wasteland of no overflow GMs, to the point where we pulled people from HQ to make tables, juggling volunteers, and doing whatever we could to get enough GMs for everyone to get their finding paths on...
I know HQ tried to match overflow GMs to scenarios they knew first, but for at least one slot, there were exactly 2 overflow GMs that I saw at HQ. I know Mike scheduled more than that.
I am by far not bitter, I just wanted to let society know to better us as a whole. The table was very appreciative at the gm for stepping up to run regardless..
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Carlos, that seems like a net loss. Better to match those players to a scenario (there's a limited list of what's offered during the con), then get a judge who can do that scenario.
That's what I meant. It wouldnt have to be one of the offered ones.
90% of the people with generics I had at the tables I GMed for were just happy they got in and played ANYTHING.
This way, GMs can bring in whichever scenarios they are comfortable with, etc... I guess the biggest detriment is they would need their own Chronicle sheets, as HQ only prepares the scheduled ones.
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I am by far not bitter, I just wanted to let society know to better us as a whole. The table was very appreciative at the gm for stepping up to run regardless..Sader, I know that Saturday night we had a terrible wasteland of no overflow GMs, to the point where we pulled people from HQ to make tables, juggling volunteers, and doing whatever we could to get enough GMs for everyone to get their finding paths on...
I know HQ tried to match overflow GMs to scenarios they knew first, but for at least one slot, there were exactly 2 overflow GMs that I saw at HQ. I know Mike scheduled more than that.
Sure, it's a balancing act. On one hand, the GM did not want to turn away a group that showed up ready to play. On the other hand, at some point the GM has to look at that group with eleventh level characters in their hot little hands and say "I am not prepared for this." It's a balancing act. Kudos for "erring" on the side of being bold. However, learn from it.
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I also don't play the selling your character game. It gets shut down immediately.I'm not sure what you mean here. I don't see a problem with saying "Have bard, sorcerer, & rogue; looking for cleric, front-line fighter types". Or were you talking about something far more detailed than just broad description of class or roles?
What I mean is being questioned about my AC, how did I get it that high? What are my saves like? It was like being on an interview for my Kensai to get the job of "tank" at their table.
People are going to do that no matter what, but I don't think the musterers (now that it's a word) need to put up with that or worry too much about table composition. I don't think it's asking too much for them to get 5-6 players together in the same sub-tier and send them off to a table.
I was just pointing out that a few musterers did a great job at it and got the groups assembled quickly. This is in direct contrast to the ones who said, "When you get your group of 6 together, let me know and I'll send you to a table," to a bunch of confused players. We then sprouted into the chaos of trying to organize ourselves. After several groups tried for form up, we were turned away because we had "generics" in our group.
Point: More organization is needed to keep things running smoothly, and the responsibility of organizing the masses should not fall on the masses. People look to authority for direction, and wearing a purple shirt gives you the authority to say, "low tier on my left, high tier on my right. If you've got a generic ticket, please come back in 10 minutes."
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5. Build a couple overflow judges into the schedule. If none are needed for the initial seating of then they can grab players from then generics line.
6. You are a big dog, act like it! Let's face it, PFS had grown in leaps and bounds. I think part of the problem that PFS has faced every year at Gencon, is not being prepared for growth. The Truth is that PFS is easily as big if not bigger than any other organized campaign. Go for the gusto. Get the Sagamore Ballroom next year or another similarly sized space. I have little doubt that you will fill it.
I had 17 overfill GMs every slot scheduled. Problem is, we had real GMs and overflow GMs that simply didn't show up and that led us to "breaking even.".
Also, I will schedule as many tables as I know we will have GMs for. If we have 300 GMs volunteer for every slot, I will schedule 300 tables of PFS for every slot. However, we barely were able to get 75 GMs per slot this year. I can only schedule as much as the volunteers that want to give back to PFS. Get the word out for everyone to step up and GM one or two games for the con and I will run a ton of tables.
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Point: More organization is needed to keep things running smoothly, and the responsibility of organizing the masses should not fall on the masses. People look to authority for direction, and wearing a purple shirt gives you the authority to say, "low tier on my left, high tier on my right. If you've got a generic ticket, please come back in 10 minutes."
This is just wrong. We're talking grown adults for the most here, with the occasional youngster, usually accompanied by a parent or guardian. Not hoards of preschoolers. Not sheep. Some very simple self-policing, facilitated by players experienced in mustering, is exactly what is needed.
I am confused where you think all these extra volunteers are going to come from to perform these added duties. Because the ones that are there already sacrificing their Gencon to serve are already slammed. Some self-policing by the masses is exactly what the doctor ordered.
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I also don't play the selling your character game. It gets shut down immediately.I'm not sure what you mean here. I don't see a problem with saying "Have bard, sorcerer, & rogue; looking for cleric, front-line fighter types". Or were you talking about something far more detailed than just broad description of class or roles?
Check out the post made by the person I was replying to. It's all there to save time here repeating the conversations.
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I have been considering doing some GMing and volunteering at Gencon Next year, if only for the chance to rub some elbows, Am I to understand that I can basically run every slot I want?
I know a campaign coordinator and some VCs that will be veery excited to speak to you. Actually, there is even pre-Gencon action at a couple placess off-site, if you wish to stretch it to five days of pure GMing satisfaction.
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I had 17 overfill GMs every slot scheduled. Problem is, we had real GMs and overflow GMs that simply didn't show up and that led us to "breaking even.".
So each and every slot 17 people who said they were going to be there didn't show up?
Regarding volunteering. I think if there was further incentive, especially for GMing 1-2 tables, it would help. For example, a little something (the Gencon free mini? a free t-shirt? getting to CHOOSE one of the available boons?). I think GMs would like it if they could actually choose the boon (instead of it being random), and it wouldn't cost you anything.
You could also have more tier 1 GMs, you just have to think of a way to raise more cash. That idea alone could be a thread in itself. What kind of things could you auction? I think being able to select your GM (from VOs, Paizo staff, scenario authors, etc) during set times/scenarios at Gencon, would be worth something.
I think for a lot of GMs who also like playing (like me), until it gets hard to register for a game (it was easy this year), we see that you're not turning away generics, and there seems to be plenty of GMs, there seems like there's little need to volunteer for 1-2 tables.
Venture-Lieutenant, South Dakota—Rapid City
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One of the notes I've made is to create a GM assignment board for each slot so every GM will know what table they are assigned to every slot they are GMing. I already have these sorted out before the con starts so it isn't much more effort to go the extra step to have these posted at HQ as well.
That's all I would have wanted to make it better; knowing where to be ahead of time so I can sit down and get everything ready (which can take up to 1/2 an hour depending on the scenario) would have saved me much headache and time.
Only other thing I heard any complaints about was the line for HeroLab station for character creation was bogged down often. Not sure if you have any influence on being able to create a second station, but another one of those on the other side of Paizo HQ would hopefully lead to fewer players running a Pregen for multiple games and getting into PFS that much more.
Finally, I gotta agree with Dragnmoon and others that having the water for each slot and a shirt for each day was a surprising plus. Given the nature of GenCon, trying to wear the same shirt each day would be highly unpleasant.
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Regarding volunteering. I think if there was further incentive, especially for GMing 1-2 tables, it would help. For example, a little something (the Gencon free mini? a free t-shirt? getting to CHOOSE one of the available boons?). I think GMs would like it if they could actually choose the boon (instead of it being random), and it wouldn't cost you anything.
GMs generally (and I have to check the rewards for each Tier of GMing) get at least one Volunteer T-Shirt as well as a special boon that is not available via other means.
I think for a lot of GMs who also like playing (like me), until it gets hard to register for a game (it was easy this year), we see that you're not turning away generics, and there seems to be plenty of GMs, there seems like there's little need to volunteer for 1-2 tables.
That's because you don't see the scrambling by event staff trying to find GMs at the last minute, pulling HQ staff off duty to run tables, or pulling in "off-duty" VOs to fill in so that everyone can get seated.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Regarding Problem #3 - GMs who choose not to come prepared to the table:
This is an embarrasment to the Pathfinder Society organized play campaign -- and Gen-Con itself to a lesser degree. I don't know that there is much that Mike and the PFS staff can do.
The GM huddle idea might help a little, but if people are asking questions like "What's the plot?" "Wait; does this thing have a big four-armed gorilla?" then GMs who've honestly prepped aren't going to be able to get their questions answered in time.
The change needs to be organic and needs to be part of our culture. We have to discourage GMs from making that choice. I wish it were possible for a player to refuse a Chronicle sheet, or refuse the XP from a Chronicle sheet, in protest.
A related point. If you sit down behind the GM screen and roll your eyes at the scenario, letting us players know you think it's poorly written or trivial, or in some other way less than your expectations; then do us all a big whopping favor and politely ask Mike to find you a scenario more to your liking. Barring that, keep your opinion to yourself and run us through the module as if you think it's the greatest thing Paizo has ever written.
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Also, I will schedule as many tables as I know we will have GMs for. If we have 300 GMs volunteer for every slot, I will schedule 300 tables of PFS for every slot. However, we barely were able to get 75 GMs per slot this year. I can only schedule as much as the volunteers that want to give back to PFS. Get the word out for everyone to step up and GM one or two games for the con and I will run a ton of tables.
That makes sense. Never thought of that. (Armchair Campaign Coordinating is hard!)
Maybe as part of this discussion you could ask for suggestions on how to incite more GM's to volunteer at Gencon 2013? It may be a bit hypocritical of me to mention seeing as I did not volunteer to judge. So consider me your target audience.
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I had 17 overfill GMs every slot scheduled. Problem is, we had real GMs and overflow GMs that simply didn't show up and that led us to "breaking even.".
I assume, that unless they had a good reason that you accepted, they wont be invited back as at least a Tier 1 GM next year.
No, not every slot were we missing 17 GMs. Most of the time, we were missing 9-12 GMs. But, we also had some last minute cancellations such as the two Tier 1 GMs who emailed me at 10 am Thursday morning and said they weren't going to make it.
As someone who tried to move up to Tier 1 GM status in early August, this makes me sad.
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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Maybe as part of this discussion you could ask for suggestions on how to incite more GM's to volunteer at Gencon 2013? It may be a bit hypocritical of me to mention seeing as I did not volunteer to judge. So consider me your target audience.
So if you were walking around Gencon, was there any way (short of you going up to the PFS HQ area and asking) for you to know that Mike would be interested to hear from anyone who could step up and judge scenario X in slot Y? Even an hour or two of advance notice (and a copy of the scenario) could let you do a better job than someone pulled in cold.
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We're talking grown adults for the most here, with the occasional youngster, usually accompanied by a parent or guardian. Not hoards of preschoolers. Not sheep. Some very simple self-policing, facilitated by players experienced in mustering, is exactly what is needed.
I am confused where you think all these extra volunteers are going to come from to perform these added duties. Because the ones that are there already sacrificing their Gencon to serve are already slammed. Some self-policing by the masses is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Let me be clearer-er: Should a mass of mostly adults be able to muster themselves and quietly and nicely walk up to the volunteer as a unified group of six? Yes, they should be able to. Will they most of the time? No.
I'm not trying to disrespect my fellow man. However, most of the time people look for direction, especially at an organized event. When the volunteers who are perceived to be organizing tables are waiting for the players to organize themselves, it takes a long time to be seated. Will the masses eventually figure it out? Sure. But if you're going to leave it down to them, they might as well wander the tables and find a group that way; there'd be no need to muster.
We're not talking about ways it could or even should happen, but ways to make sure it's quick and efficient most of the time. When you want a proactive approach to keeping things organized, then you need to have a clear and concise system in place for volunteers to follow. You cannot have a proactive approach to organization when leaving it in the hands of the masses. The masses are an unknown variable, while your volunteer team of musterai can be trained with a efficient system.
tl;dr Yes: people should organize themselves, but it is folly to depend on that. Existing musterai can handle the load, but need a set system.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Arizona—Tucson
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From what I've seen, it seems that you may have been too accommodating to the generic tickets and last-minute arrivals. While it's generally better to avoid turning people away, if the effort begins to impact your ability to fulfill your original commitments you'll need to draw the line.
In order to better accommodate overflow, I would suggest that a few scenarios from previous years be readied, with hard copies and chronicles printed and set aside. While it can be difficult to find a GM familiar with the latest PFS releases, it's easy to find someone who has already run classics like Shipyard Rats or Silent Tide.
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From what I've seen, it seems that you may have been too accommodating to the generic tickets and last-minute arrivals. While it's generally better to avoid turning people away, when the effort starts degrading your ability to fulfill your original commitments you need to draw the line.
In order to better accommodate overflow, I would suggest that a few scenarios from previous years be readied, with hard copies and chronicles printed and set aside. While it can be difficult to find a GM familiar with the latest PFS releases, it's easy to find someone who has already run classics like Shipyard Rats or Silent Tide.
I like this, classic scenario prep would be really cool, and easy for a GM to step into <Citadel of Flame anyone?>
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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It would help us if we knew what the priorities are for Gen-Con. For example, is the PFS OP campaign more interested in letting everybody play -- whether they have generic tickets or event tickets -- and grow the brand by growing the number of people who can play Pathfinder Society? Or is the campaign more interested in providing quality GMs for a more limited number of people who do get seated?
That's the question between giving someone a scenario and asking him to run it cold, or else use the GMs you've got and turn people away.
Before we know what Paizo wants to do with the Gen-Con PFS experience, we don't know what "improvement" means. We've been talking about culling perpetually poor GMs (the people who are responsible for a lot of the bad experiences that players report) from the herd, but that might be just the wrong tack if we're trying for maximum tables.
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The RPGA Organized Play campaigns generally didn't give credits to judges, so Slot Zeroes (playing the scenarios with a group of people who would be judging and/or volunteering at the con) was a big thing. It encouraged HQ to get the modules to the judges in a timely fashion and it was a good experience for the judges to see how the game played out and discuss any tricky parts. I always thought that was a big help and still didn't feel comfortable with most modules until I had run them at least once. You never can tell what players will do and discovering that Brown Mold is not in the module or the Bestiary 1 (which was the only one out at the time the tournament was written) is not something you want to find out at the table when your group changes tiers from what you were expecting.
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This is from a players perspective...
1. Tell the players to self muster and then report to the Muster person. This should really be on the players and not the poor muster person.
2. The muster person seats only full tables of player mustered groups.
2. Enforce a time limit for before you start accepting generics on tables, 15 minutes before event start or something like that.
3. Each Muster person is in control of there Muster point, enforce time limit and communicates to the group.
4. If there has to be central control then communicate to every one waiting including the Muster person more often. do not force the muster person run off and find someone for info.
5. Enforce the starting time of the special.
6. Is it is a timed event have the time keep at the table and call out when people should be at milestones based over all time but give them time to finish based on there table time.
7. Allow for overflow events when you run the special, does not need to be the special but make it easy for groups to find get a scenario to play. Give them space and a scenario so they can do something if then can get into the special. There were a lot of people that were turned away last year...most of them low levels. Maybe something easy for GMs and fun for players....can you say Dungeon crawl!
7. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Early and often...
Comments on GM's
Over all the GM's were great, even when they were unprepared I had fun which is why I play.
I only had an issue with one GM but it not because he was not prepared. For some reason he really did not like the bard on the table. He had the baddies attack the bard when there were other obvious threats and once he had actually had the baddies attack anyone who tried the heal the bard...Not really sure why. But it seemed wrong to me and I was not even the bard.
I hope this helps