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Sounds a little crazy to me, but I think I can say with almost certainty that this would not be permitted. The people at the gaming table are either gm or player. Once the gm spot is filled thats it. That person is the gm.
What you could look at doing would be sitting with your new gm as he runs the scenario for his players. He may do all the block text and descriptive stuff and you run all the mechanics (ie spell targeting, melee). That way you are there to help him out if a pc asks a dicey rp question or he has questions on certain things.
In this instance , he will get the gm credit. So its logical to pick a module that you have played and perhaps he has played in already but the others havnt. Keep in mind that forcing someone to dm is the worst thing you can do for a gamer, if he or she hasnt volunteered to do so, then its not a good idea to push them to do so.
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While doing that would get it into the system it would also flag them as playing it when they didn't. Then if they ever do play it (thinking they had GM credit) when that session got reported it would be flagged that they had already played it.
I would do something similar to what Matthew said, have them prep it, run it, etc. Then you help them when they need it. That way all the reporting is legit and you are good. Plus it would give them a greater sense of accomplishment.
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At the end of the day someone has to 'eat' the module ( an old LG term which basically meant that someone couldnt play it because they had to run it). Ive done it a lot myself (mainly season 0 scenarios), the incentives to me seems to be if you dont run the game, no games get run... which would be bad for everyone then. It dosnt seem like you are asking that he runs every game, but I think fair is fair. People cannot expect one person to just keep on gming game after game.
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What I have seen done, however, is that you let the other person GM, but you play in the game.
That way, you are still there and available as a resource, but, if it is the right scenario, you both can get credit.
No matter what, you can do this with any of the First Steps scenarios, or any of the Level 1 modules, including the level 1 Free RPG Day modules.
Also, IMO, the First Steps scenarios do seem to be a little simpler in mechanics to run as a first-time GM, rather than dealing with the ugliness that can be a 1-5 or worse. We Be goblins! would also be a fairly good first-time module, as it is pretty much self-sustaining, on the role-play front, without the GM having to do all the initial RP himself.
On the First Steps scenarios:
This can be a good way to both get the feet of a new GM wet, since the three scenarios cover most of the typical environments Pathfinders will encounter, butit would also let the group start a new batch of PCs, and get some experimenting in on their side, as well.
You can only ever get two Chronicle sheets for any given adventure. One for GMing it, and one for the first time you play it.
You can play it again, you just won't receive a Chronicle sheet for it. No treasure, no XP, no Prestige, no Fame. You also need to inform the GM you are doing so.
Useful if you need to fill out a table.
The only exception is intro 1st-level only adventures, you can play those and get full credit as many times as you like, as long as each time it's with a different character.
-j
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hmm that sounds like it could work. One thing I guess I'm unclear on in my understanding, A player can only play each scenario once -ever- or once -per character-? If my 1st character plays through say, Sewer Dragons of Absalom (3-7), does that mean my second character can't participate in that at a later date or at a different tier level?
That is correct, Delta. Each player is allowed to play each scenario once, on a single character. They are also allowed to GM each scenario once for credit, giving the credit to a single different character. The only exception are the Tier 1 Modules and the First Steps scenarios, that can be replayed and re-GMed infinitely, as long as it is on a different first level character each time.
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There is no mechanism to give GM credit to more than one person per session.
This isn't technically true. The mechanics are there: I was overseer GM for Race for the Runecarved Key last Saturday, and I made myself the GM of an empty table for the purpose of reporting.
I think a lot of new GMs would benefit by having a co-GM or mentor-GM, and I would be happy with the go-ahead by campaign staff to allow people to do this.
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I was referring to legitimate uses of the system, not maneuvers that wouldn't pass an audit.
You can't audit people's website history. I mean, maybe you could, if people were to actually pull it up for you, but even if they did for some reason, it's going to be full of errors, which is why chronicles are the definitive record. And there'd be no way to tell from the chronicle.
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I like to use local incentives rather than Paizo ones. I let new GMs use my custom maps, minis, printed scenario and handouts. We have a couple of guys in the Lodge that make 3D terrain, and so sometimes new GMs are afraid the bar is set too high for them. I find this helps overcome that.
I also try to seat the new table next to a Lodge staff member so they have a resource nearby. Finally, I offer to help them out with the intro and paperwork stuff, to make sure they figure out APL, the sign-in sheet, etc. Most do on their own, but offering tends to help.
Finally: Run GM101, which is freely available and which you *can* get credit for. Even for a small group, a GM101 lets you cover the basics of PFS GMing in bulk, shows new GMs that there are other new GMs, and builds community.
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The setup however makes playing through First Steps multiple times an option of limited feasibility option because it'd be the same players playing through again, and I'm sure we'd all prefer new adventures when given the chance.
There are a number of other options that are replayable at 1st-level; the Godsmouth Heresy can develop quite differently depending what route the party takes, and We Be Goblins! is always a favourite, even among groups that have played it before.
Adapting Adam's suggestion however, we could have, say, 6 players at 1 table but divide the reporting session up into 2 tables giving GM credit to both? If we had 5 players, could I have sessions of GM+2 and GM+3 players reported? Or would either (or both) of these be frowned upon as "gaming the system"?
Don't do this. Whether or not it's viewed as gaming the system, it skews the reporting. If lots of people did this, Mike and Mark would see lots of small tables, and think perhaps future scenarios should be tailored towards tables of 3-4, with large groups being unusual. They might also think that if there are no deaths reported (even with such small groups) then the scenarios are much too easy, and make future ones much harder.
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If you have less than one table worth of participants you can simply rotate GMing between interested persons. The players get player credit and the GM gets GM credit. With a little planning you can keep everyone gaining the same rewards.
If the entire group has a character at level 3 you can run a scenario with a 3-4 subtier, and everyone will get the same rewards. Otherwise the GM runs the risk of getting different rewards. For example the same group of level 3s play up in a 1-5 earning 4-5 credit while the GM would be forced to take the 1-2 rewards.
If you play when everyone isn't there, you can always run a home game or AP until everyone is available and then play PFS scenarios to keep everyone at the same character level.
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Uh, the GM's credit is independent of the level of the table.
I believe Brian is recommending running Tier 1-5s for when teh PCs and the GM PCs are levels 1 or 2. Tier 3-7s when teh PCs and GM PCs are level 3, Tier 1-5 again when the PCs and GM PCs are level 4, then run Tier 5-9 when teh PCs and GM PCs are level 5, and so forth.
In that case, everyone involved will (or should be able to) earn much the same rewards for their PCs, whether player or GM for that session.
