Event Reporting

[Preston Hudson]

I apologize for coming to the forums with all my questions but as a relatively new GM (Started 8/31/12) I would like to insure that I am doing things correctly. My question is about event reporting and table credit. I currently coordinate a PFS weekly game at one of our FLGS and I have seen some changes on my player log (I play at a different store from where I GM) that has brought a concern on if I am reporting correctly. Do you report each session that you run or do you report at the end of a scenario or module? Thank you in advance for your responses and I am appreciative of all of the assistance I have been getting from my postings on the forums.

[TriOmegaZero]

Every session you run should be reported, as soon as it is completed.

What changes are you concerned about? Are the DMs you playing under misreporting your sessions? If you cannot get them to correct errors, you can report an issue via the reporting system.

[Preston Hudson]

My player sessions are being reported correctly. I was primarily concerned about my session reporting as a GM and, based on your response, it appears I am reporting correctly by reporting each time I run instead of at the completion of a module or scenario. When I saw my player record it was showing just the correct information just fewer entries as I am aware that we have taken more than just one session to complete. Thank you for your response and I hope this clears up my description.

[TriOmegaZero]

Yes, your GM sessions are listed separately from your player sessions on your My Pathfinder Society page. If you view your Sessions tab on your user profile (accessible by clicking your username on a post or at the top of the page next to your PM link) you should see all reported sessions listed together.

[Preston Hudson]

I do understand that they are listed separately but when I looked at my player sessions the listed when we completed the scenario and not the session when we started. On my GM sessions, I not only see the starting sessions but the completion session as well with the message that they were already ran on session number whatever the starting session was as it was reported. When I saw my player sessions without those entries, I was concerned that I was doing something wrong in my reporting.

[Eric Clingenpeel]

Hold on... First off, are you running scenarios or modules? Scenarios are the 4-5 hour adventures that they put out two a month and there are currently 5 seasons of. Modules are the longer 36 page adventures that are put out several a year. Modules you have to wait until they are completed before you report them since they take several sessions to run. Scenarios you are supposed to run in one session thus you also report them after you are finished. Is this not what you have been doing? If so, then yes it would mess things up. If you aren't sure how to fix it, contact your local Venture Captain, and they can have a look to see what's up.

[Wraith235]

it looks like hes running Sanctioned Modules and reporting each individual session

if thats the case ... Sanctioned Modules (Crypt of the everflame, Godsmouth herasy, Ruby phoenix, Curse of the riven Sky ect) are only reported upon completion (i.e. when you hand out chronicle sheets)

[Preston Hudson]

Eric, thank you for your reply to this thread as well. Right now our group is only playing scenarios (specifically First Steps series). Unfortunately, due to scheduling, we only get about 3 hours of playtime which causes a scenario to be completed in 2 sessions instead of one. My impression, based on seeing my player sessions, was that reporting was to occur each time as game is run (weekly for our group). Once I saw the change in my player record only what was completed and not all played sessions (the group I play with runs into the same issue as the group I GM), it brought this question to light as to if I was reporting incorrectly. Now if it is the case of only reporting on a completed scenario and not each session, an additional question comes to mind. I have had two groups that I had started First Steps part one with but two different GMs finished each of those groups (they started them as players). I awarded the two players that finished the scenario chronicles as gave one to myself as GM credit. The question is if I were to go back in and change the reporting for those scenarios, would I award the GM credit to the finishing GM or myself. If credit is awarded to the finishing GM, my chronicle for part one would have to go through as a player and cover only as far as I.got to in the scenario (hopefully that is correct). The first part of First Steps would be the only one I would have question on correcting based on the information supplied above.

I would have sent this to my nearest VL instead of posting it here but I have not heard anything back from him on a previous question. I do appreciate your assistance and apologize for having these questions. Thank you for your time and guidance.

[Wraith235]

Preston Hudson wrote:

I have had two groups that I had started First Steps part one with but two different GMs finished each of those groups (they started them as players). I awarded the two players that finished the scenario chronicles as gave one to myself as GM credit. The question is if I were to go back in and change the reporting for those scenarios, would I award the GM credit to the finishing GM or myself. If credit is awarded to the finishing GM, my chronicle for part one would have to go through as a player and cover only as far as I.got to in the scenario (hopefully that is correct). The first part of First Steps would be the only one I would have question on correcting based on the information supplied above.

Are you saying you swapped to another GM partway through 1st steps part 1 ? who started out as a player ?

1st steps series are designed for unlimited play credit / GM Credit

but what your describing ... Im actually lost as to what happened

[Preston Hudson]

Sorry about the confusion. I started First Steps Part One with one group of 7 players on our first week. On our second week, we ended up having to go to a second table. I started First Steps part one with the new table and one of the players from the first week, GMd the first table of players from the first week. On week three, we ran two tables again where I had started the group that finished part one on part two and a different player GMd the second table consisting of players who did not finish part one the previous week. Thankfully, since then we have had myself and another consistently GMing to avoid the craziness of the first couple of weeks which will allow the correcting of parts 2 and 3 to be smooth. It is part one that is going to be a bit of a challenge to correct the reporting on in the system. Wraith235, thank you as well for your help on this issue as my intent is trying to insure I am doing things correctly. Thank you for your time.

[Wraith235]

Preston Hudson wrote:

Sorry about the confusion. I started First Steps Part One with one group of 7 players on our first week. On our second week, we ended up having to go to a second table. I started First Steps part one with the new table and one of the players from the first week, GMd the first table of players from the first week. On week three, we ran two tables again where I had started the group that finished part one on part two and a different player GMd the second table consisting of players who did not finish part one the previous week. Thankfully, since then we have had myself and another consistently GMing to avoid the craziness of the first couple of weeks which will allow the correcting of parts 2 and 3 to be smooth. It is part one that is going to be a bit of a challenge to correct the reporting on in the system. Wraith235, thank you as well for your help on this issue as my intent is trying to insure I am doing things correctly. Thank you for your time.

Week 1

Table 1 - GM'd 7 players

Week 2
Table 1 - Finished by player from Week 1
Table 2 - GM'd Part 1

Week 3
Table 1 - GM'd Part 2 for Table 1
Table 2 - Player GM's the finish of Part 1 from the previous week

ok ... looking at this

aside from it being a mess ... and the fact that I am not a Venture Officer

and these options ONLY apply to the the "In service to Lore" Part 1's

Option 1 - Week 1 Table 1 ... and Week 2 Table 1 get invalidated as not a legal table (not the most attractive option)

Option 2 - you take GM Credit for Week 2 Table 2 ...
and Give GM'ing player GM Credit for Week 1/Table 1 ... and Week 2/Table 1

my Honest advice ... Start earlier so this does not happen again .. your the event Coordinator - take time frames of your FLGS into account when setting up your games ... change your start time if you have to ... but do everything you can so that this doesnt happen again ... Scenarios are designed to be run in a 4-5 hour time slot .. some are as quick as 2-3 hours (tho those are Rare)

[TriOmegaZero]

Wraith, I do not believe the tables were invalid. Seven PCs are allowed to table, but it is strongly discouraged.

[Wraith235]

no your correct on the 7 players part ... the issue was a continuation of a scenario on week 2 with one player assuming the mantle of GM

again Im making an educated guess ... I Honestly don't know how to handle this officially ...

[Preston Hudson]

Wraith235, thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule and the events at our FLGS going on the same night, starting earlier is not an option. In hindsight, after having mapped things out, I know how Part One should have been run to prevent this mess from occurring. It sounds like I need to set up a meeting with or pass this on by E-Mail to my closest VL as we do not have a local VO where I run for an official word. Option 1, you're right as it is not ideal. Option 2 sounds good and I just take a loss of a chronicle as a result (which is livable). Thank you again for your advice.

[Preston Hudson]

Wraith235, actually I confused option two a bit but after a reread I did come up with an option that does not affect the players that stepped up to GM those games and only costs me a chronicle. I give then credit for the two groups they finished on part one and report everything else as entered. TriOmegaZero, thank you again for your input to this dilemma as well and I hope the solution I just came up with would be a valid resolution.

[Victor Zajic]

It really sounds like you either need to find a different night to play when you have 4-5 hours free so that you can finish scenarios, or find something else to do in this time slot. You're going to run into a lot of problems with PFS if you are regularly not finishing the game in one night. If you can gaurentee that the same people are going to show up both days, it's not much of a problem, but that can be very hard to do when running events at your FLGS.

[Preston Hudson]

Victor, I do have a pretty regular group so going forward should not be a problem. I have also come up with a completion policy for those who show occasionally so I am not worried on that going forward. I believe I have figured out what I am going to do with regard to fixing my dilemma so no one gets penalized (to include myself). It looks like with everyone's input, I have managed to solve this issue. I thank all of you who provided advise and input into this issue. I am so glad I chose this game to GM as the community here is excellent.

[Don Walker]

Unlike sanctioned modules, I do not believe there are any provisions for running scenarios over multiple sessions. Scenarios must be completed during one session. If the group does not finish then whatever gold and items they missed are removed from the Chronicle sheet. If the scenario's success condition was not met then the prestige point for it would also not be earned. Players would still get the 1 XP as long as they completed at least 3 encounters.

This is not a case of "since there is no rule against it, then it is allowed." There are no rules to explain how to run a scenario over more than one session so there is no way to know how to do it.

[Saint Caleth]

Don Walker wrote:

Unlike sanctioned modules, I do not believe there are any provisions for running scenarios over multiple sessions. Scenarios must be completed during one session. If the group does not finish then whatever gold and items they missed are removed from the Chronicle sheet. If the scenario's success condition was not met then the prestige point for it would also not be earned. Players would still get the 1 XP as long as they completed at least 3 encounters.

This is not a case of "since there is no rule against it, then it is allowed." There are no rules to explain how to run a scenario over more than one session so there is no way to know how to do it.

Why make a restriction like this when it is already a-OK to have games (of the PbP variety) that take longer than a single physical sitting at a table to complete? Why can scenarios not happen over multiple sittings like modules, and using the same rules?

Or you could just use common sense and say, "sure, you just can't play that PC until this scenario finishes" instead of screwing the players out o the chance to experience the last parts of a scenario because they are getting kicked out of the FLGS at closing time or whatever. Its really simple, so I'm not sure why you need a specific rule to be willing to do that, especially since that rule actually exists.

That said, the OP's story is a complete clusterf+*%, and should probably be avoided in the future.

[Wraith235]

Well on a side note I do know of 1 Scenario that I believe can be run over 2 sessions ... but thats cause its considered a double size scnario ... Eot10 part 1

[Paz]

Don Walker wrote:

Unlike sanctioned modules, I do not believe there are any provisions for running scenarios over multiple sessions. Scenarios must be completed during one session.

I just wanted to point out that VCs have said otherwise in the past.

[Sniggevert]

Don Walker wrote:

Unlike sanctioned modules, I do not believe there are any provisions for running scenarios over multiple sessions. Scenarios must be completed during one session. If the group does not finish then whatever gold and items they missed are removed from the Chronicle sheet. If the scenario's success condition was not met then the prestige point for it would also not be earned. Players would still get the 1 XP as long as they completed at least 3 encounters.

This is not a case of "since there is no rule against it, then it is allowed." There are no rules to explain how to run a scenario over more than one session so there is no way to know how to do it.

Actually, Mike answered this question last month. As long as the players and the GM were all the same for both sessions he saw no issue with it.

[Chris Mortika]

Don Walker wrote:

Unlike sanctioned modules, I do not believe there are any provisions for running scenarios over multiple sessions. Scenarios must be completed during one session. If the group does not finish then whatever gold and items they missed are removed from the Chronicle sheet. If the scenario's success condition was not met then the prestige point for it would also not be earned. Players would still get the 1 XP as long as they completed at least 3 encounters.

This is not a case of "since there is no rule against it, then it is allowed." There are no rules to explain how to run a scenario over more than one session so there is no way to know how to do it.

I've run scenarios for families with kids who don't have the attention span to play four to five hours straight. We've played on Friday evenings -- 2 hours -- and then finished up on Saturday morning.

Mike, I can identify these sessions. Send me a private message if you need to invalidate them.

[Don Walker]

Sniggevert wrote:

Don Walker wrote:

Unlike sanctioned modules, I do not believe there are any provisions for running scenarios over multiple sessions. Scenarios must be completed during one session. If the group does not finish then whatever gold and items they missed are removed from the Chronicle sheet. If the scenario's success condition was not met then the prestige point for it would also not be earned. Players would still get the 1 XP as long as they completed at least 3 encounters.

This is not a case of "since there is no rule against it, then it is allowed." There are no rules to explain how to run a scenario over more than one session so there is no way to know how to do it.

Actually, Mike answered this question last month. As long as the players and the GM were all the same for both sessions he saw no issue with it.

Well, there you go.

As stated in other posts, be sure to mark the event as private.

I would also change the date of the event to the date the adventure was completed as this would be the date that appears on the Chronicle sheets.

And of course, only report the scenario once.