RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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finlanderboy, you're agreeing with Adam. Extra hit points. Not any additional hardness. The GM in question was indeed correct.
EDIT: Because Thea is right. I had the privilege of eating lunch with Del Collins on Saturday, and he made the keen observation that, while previous Specials made you feel like you were losing, losing, losing, this one kept you in a good mood by showing how much you were progressing. It put the entire set of Saturday and Sunday sessions in a better mood.
On the other hand, my anecdotal observation was that there were a lot of people using pre-gens by Saturday and Sunday. Maybe these were all enthusiastic new players with generic tickets. Or maybe Bonekeep in winnowing out PCs. (Either killing them outright or requiring enough Prestige for recovery that players were afraid to play their now-vulnerable PCs for the rest of the convention.)
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finlanderboy, you're agreeing with Adam. Extra hit points. Not any additional hardness. The GM in question was indeed correct.
Then why does the core say "Weapons and armor normally made of steel that are made of adamantine have one-third more hit points than normal. Adamantine has 40 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 20."
I understand this as 20 hardness for weapons, armor, or a toothpick.
We also were told it had no extra hit points.
So that rule I copied and pasted form the core is either wrong or I do not understand it.
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GenCon.Was.Awesome. Big thank you to Paizo and everyone who had a hand in a well-organized muster system and recruiting such amazing GM's. I am indebted to the kindness, patience and helpful advice afforded by these persons (especially Trevor - you are a saint) to a noob like me who has only been playing Pathfinder since U-Con last November. I played in 5 scenarios for 5 different GM's and they all were fantastic.
I had planned on playing several 1-5 scenarios, but since most/all of them were sold out, played in all 3-7 and 5-9 scenarios. I quickly found that I was in over my head and had several close calls with character death - especially in a certain scenario in which I was critted 4 times... but I digress. The highlight of my weekend was joining a table of 5 experienced pros to face the peril of Bonekeep Part Deux and having the entire party survive. We had excellent party balance, exceptional tactics, and a GM who rolled like crap most of the night. I can't think of a better recipe for success - or should I say survival?
Fist bumps to all of you who helped organize, muster, GM and make this the most amazing RPG experience this lousy half-orc has ever participated in. See you next year!
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I ran into mustering problems too, but mine were based on being a single player. For the Special, my 8th level bard was rejected by groups looking for a fifth or sixth character for their table because he isn't a front-line melee, blaster caster, or cleric/life oracle. In the end I didn't get to play him, as by the time you got the people with generics out of there and figured out what was available there weren't any seats left for those levels. At least I didn't have to play Kyra again.
At my other session I watched a group with mixed real/generic tickets get seated without the volunteer asking if they all had real tickets. Once we did get a table together, we were sent to a table that already had people on it. We eventually got it sorted out, but because we started so late we ran out of time and failed part of the mission. :(
Thankfully, I had a good time playing both games; the GMs did a good job and the other players were great. I just hope that the organizers can figure out a way to make mustering less annoying. (Am I the only one who misses the twin lines? Maybe do real tickets like you're doing now and generics have to wait in line somewhere else?)
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We also had issues with mustering on Thursday night for Bonekeep Level 1. It took about 30 minutes to get seated because we were a group of 5. We had to wait until we had a 6th player at our level range before we could be seated. This requirement was never communicated prior to arriving to play.
As time really matters for this scenario that really hurt the party.
I am not sure that mustering for the same event should be held in multiple locations. It makes it harder for all the players to get sorted out.
We had a bit of an issue with playing Bonekeep Level 2 on Saturday. Again, time matters for this scenario and our GM spent a fair amount of time drawing the map. This may have cost us progress in the scenario.
The ballroom was a huge improvement over last year. It was easier to hear the GM and there was more room.
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This year was a vast improvement over last year in the marshaling department. Found groups and tables very easily this time.
The GM's this year were also an improvement over last years. My group had one somewhat questionable one, but it seemed even he was at least trying so I was fine it.
The new rooms lighting and sound was a VAST improvement over last year. And there were enough tables that we even got to sit in the big boy room for all 4 scenarios, unlike last year in which we were shunted to the overflow room twice and the overflow, overflow room once.
I was somewhat dismayed by the hurry to get us out Saturday night, seeing as last year we were playing until 1 am and HQ apparently had forgotten we were even in there. I understand the desire for us to leave and all, but I didn't need the constant pushing.
Jasons speech amused me. I approve of it :D
All in all, a huge improvement over last year!
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This was a great Gen-Con. Thanks to all the volunteers, you guys are really awesome!
I've been to several cons and I've played PFS since it started. Mustering is constantly the biggest complaint after the con, but it certainly seems to improve year after year. There's a lot of feedback here already to make next year the best ever ;)
The colored tables was a great idea. The boards in front seemed mostly useless, they seemed to list a lot of games that weren't being run during many slots. The projector screens were nice for images during games, but didn't seem to help mustering at all. We couldn't read any of the details from the muster area, until about halfway into the room.
I don't think you'll ever sit 1000 players with various desires perfectly. This wasn't perfect but you really did a great job this year.
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I had a great time! It was strange not being a Tier I this year.
The Ballroom was much nicer than the halls we have had before. I was excited about that. Being slightly hearing impaired, it helped me with all but the quietest and softest-spoken players. It got a bit cramped in some areas, though. I see that there will be an additional twenty tables next year; is Paizo increasing the space, as well?
The mustering was better in some ways, but in others it was a mixed bag. I felt more connected to it and my players, but I miss being able to enter the room earlier and take my table almost right away. I felt rushed to set up, and that delayed a few games by a few minutes - not a lot of time, but enough to be a little awkward. I'm not talking about pre-drawing maps or anything, but I like to be able to set up at a relaxed pace as I mentally prepare to slaughter the party, err, I mean to be a fun GM!
Additionally, I would like to advise anyone running future specials to be as prepared as possible for any Tier. I appreciate that effort was put into informing us of our Tiers, but I had my doubts. Organizing chaos is never easy, and sewer crawls happen. All we can do is be flexible. I know it might have helped some of us if the scenario had been released earlier, but the special is always a fast-paced, interesting series of events, and "right now" has always worked better and been more fun than "right" in the event. This advice comes from running four specials, sometimes on multiple occasions.
Overall, though - it was the best PFS hall I have seen yet. Thank you to everyone who played a part. We did well. I look forward to next year!
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Also had a great time :). Constructive thoughts-
1. Mustering was chaotic but seemed to work out in the end. A slightly less stressful system would be nice. I sometimes felt like we were mobbing coordinators while selling ourselves like goods in a bazaar. A lot of the suggestions already mentioned would be great. People checking tickets at the door being at the top.
2. Gm's were a mixed bag. I think I had the full gambit from fairly poor to truly excellent. On the poor side there were quite a few that didn't seem to have prepared very well or didn't know the rules solidly. In most cases it was not a big deal. The only time it did mildly bother me was in the case of BoneKeep part 2. We were not able to finish the scenario in a 5 hour slot mostly (in my opinion) due to the GM having to constantly draw maps and check stat blocks/read rooms. I almost wish I'd put a stopwatch on every time he stopped the flow of the adventure to read something.
We still ended up getting most of the credit for the scenario but with the way we were blazing through the rooms I wouldn't be surprised if we'd have finished an hour early with a different GM instead of missing the final 3 rooms.
Overall I would just encourage all GM's to take prep work seriously and have their maps drawn out ahead of time. It makes a massive difference.
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I would like to share a possible mustering "upgrade" based on a system my team uses at work. I work at a university, and for Honors Day, we must check in over 1000 students, verify that they qualify for honors, and sort them according to the levels for which they qualify. We do this very quickly by swiping each student's ID card. If a student forgets the card, we manually enter his/her ID number.
If each PFS player were given an ID card with their PFS number encoded, there would be no need for tickets other than generics. Each player would swipe to be allowed entry to the muster area. If they have not purchased a "real" seat for the event, the swipe would reveal this and they would be asked to step aside until such time as players with generic tickets are invited to join the muster.
CONS: initial costs for cards and card readers; need for multiple printed backup lists in case of system failure
PROS: speed (once the staff is used to the system) and the players who like to take advantage of overtaxed marshals will soon learn that they won't be able to bluff their way into a muster (thus saving everyone the time and frustration of dealing with them)
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for Cons shouldnt the maps/etc be done FOR the GMs? It is a showpiece event for Paizo to attract new players and get a lot of players together in the one place. It would make sense to provide the maps for each games ( it seems odd that a GM who is saying coming from interstate needs to print out the scenario and maps) for a game he is volunteering to run.
Out of the con, Im fine with it. Just in the con environment you would expect not to have to do it.
Once a mapgriddable map is produced, then it would just be a case of printing out multiple copies.
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for Cons shouldnt the maps/etc be done FOR the GMs? It is a showpiece event for Paizo to attract new players and get a lot of players together in the one place. It would make sense to provide the maps for each games ( it seems odd that a GM who is saying coming from interstate needs to print out the scenario and maps) for a game he is volunteering to run.
Out of the con, Im fine with it. Just in the con environment you would expect not to have to do it.
Once a mapgriddable map is produced, then it would just be a case of printing out multiple copies.
There is no earthly way Paizo could print battle maps for every single GM. And, while GMs volunteer to run, many are rewarded for doing so: free badges, part of a hotel room, Paizo store credit, etc. What you get depends on how many sessions you show up to run.
It is neither feasible or financially wise to have Paizo print all of these maps.
And some scenarios have maps that can, indeed, be drawn on the fly. Others do not and really do require maps in advance.
Some GMs prever to build elaborate maps with 3D terrain, others use flip maps or erasable battle maps. If Paizo made maps for every GM, and a GM showed up with his or her own map, then the materials Paizo printed would be a waste.
Also, I noticed a number of GMs didn't print out the scenario at all - they ran it from an iPad or similar device.
Mark
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I want to thank Mike and Paizo for letting me be a tier 1 GM again. I hope all my players enjoyed their time at my table.
I thought that it went smoothly on the whole. I usually go seated in plenty of time to get ready for my players.
A couple of suggestions:
I had 2 tables not go off. Both were tier 7-11. I like how you called all open GMs to the front for volunteers to help with other needs. But also, if your table fails to make, the next slot you should have players seated at your table first, instead of alphabetically. I actually asked this of my musterer Saturday morning, so the other GM of the scenario got the chance to have a slot off. (Turns out both of us got tables).
During the special, split the muster by tier. For example: If you want to play tier 1-2, muster at Kyra. If you want to play 10-11, muster at Seityl (sp?). Etc.
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finlanderboy, you're agreeing with Adam. Extra hit points. Not any additional hardness. The GM in question was indeed correct.Then why does the core say "Weapons and armor normally made of steel that are made of adamantine have one-third more hit points than normal. Adamantine has 40 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 20."
I understand this as 20 hardness for weapons, armor, or a toothpick.
We also were told it had no extra hit points.
So that rule I copied and pasted form the core is either wrong or I do not understand it.
I believe that second sentence under adamantine is used for objects and things like doors/chests.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Signs outside the Sagamore were good. Higher signs -- maybe 7 - 9 feet above ground, would be better.
Is there any way to promote the higher-level scenarios? Or should we all expect that, for the most prt, we'll be running levels 1 - 7?
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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** spoiler omitted **
Signs outside the Sagamore were good. Higher signs -- maybe 7 - 9 feet above ground, would be better.
Is there any way to promote the higher-level scenarios? Or should we all expect that, for the most part, we'll be running levels 1 - 7?
I don't think the problem is a lack of promotion, I think it's just the fact that a substantial number of the players who play at GenCon are new, and the 1-5s are more suitable for new players.
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So I thought I'd write up my GenCon PFS Experience.
So to start due to obligations (I was an exhibitor's booth monkey) I really only had time for 1 PFS session and that was the special. So all of the bellow is on the special. Had a great time but their were a couple of points, and these points are both good and bad.
1 - Mustering.
TLDR: As we had not played any other PFS game at the con we were unaware of the new mustering instructions, and working of what we did last year (go into the door with the sign next to it that said our tier) failed miserably. If we had done any session earlier we would have known the instruction in a far less stressful situation. It would have been nice to have the mustering instructions outside somewhere. If it was we must have missed it in the crowd of people.
We saw the sign outside the door that said Tier 1-5 and assumed where the sign was the door. We didn't notice who the character was on the sign which was a mistake.
We got a group together and went in. This led us to talk to mustering marshals that sent us to wrong tables and up and down the hall. Come to find out the sign outside that said tier 1 - 5 was on the opposite side of the hall of where we should have been.
Once we got the right area it got better with the marshals explaining that they had misestimated the number of Tier 1-5 tables and were working on it.
Our group got seated finally and we were good to go.
In summary I think our big problem with mustering was we had no way to know the instructions until we got in the room and with the mass of people getting it my first instinct was to speak to a marshal that could help. Maybe instructions posted outside and better briefed marshalls?
3 - The space
The space was far better than last year. We could understand the announcer, and while busy didn't feel uber crowded. The only complaint I had was the lack of room in the hallway outside during mustering.
2- GM.
I want to say our GM was great he was a new 5 star GM that I think gained the status at the con. He at the last minute had to handle a Tier 1-5 when he had prepared for higher tier. He handled it amazingly well, and worked great with the 2 completely new PFS players we picked up during mustering. Definitely a great example of the quality of a 5 star gm.
3 - The special itself
The special was great. I've done Year of Shadow Lodge, Shadows under Absalom, and Race for the Key. This is one of my favorites. The use of technology and the general feel were great.
In summary we had a great time, but mustering for us was a mess.
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There is one comment that has been expressed by a growing number of players and that bothers me. Apparently, some marshals were "forcing" players to muster their own table. Personally, I did not see or hear of this happening in real time. Just learning about it now in feedback.
Yes, we encourage players to muster a table of six while they are waiting to be seated. Not only does this help speed up the process, but it allows you to organize a table of mixed characters to fill the various roles in a typical adventuring party. And if you have friends that want to play together, having a table of six, almost guarantees you will get seated together.
However, the marshal should not be requiring it. IMO, they should start the mustering process by calling for any complete tables and seating them first, followed by calling for five-player groups, then four-player groups, etc. until you are left with individual players and filling tables with them as needed. That process is quick, efficient, and usually means you do not have to "handle" players more than once. Occasionally that may force a pair of players to be split to different tables, but as the old adage says, you can't please all of the people, all of the time.
I have heard a few players say they refuse to muster themselves, that's the marshal's job. While this is somewhat true, each of us has a role to play in the process to make things easier for all involved. If *you* refuse to help the process, sorry, you don't have the right to complain if it doesn't work out in your favor.
By and large, the marshals did a great job considering the challenges and they deserve a hug, a pat of the back, whatever, for their, largely unappreciated, efforts.
Explore! Report! Cooperate!
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** spoiler omitted **
Signs outside the Sagamore were good. Higher signs -- maybe 7 - 9 feet above ground, would be better.
Is there any way to promote the higher-level scenarios? Or should we all expect that, for the most prt, we'll be running levels 1 - 7?
Unfortunately, the convention center has regs about easel or sign height in the hallway. Having higher or taller boards in the hallway can not happen.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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Unfortunately, the convention center has regs about easel or sign height in the hallway. Having higher or taller boards in the hallway can not happen.** spoiler omitted **
Signs outside the Sagamore were good. Higher signs -- maybe 7 - 9 feet above ground, would be better.
Is there any way to promote the higher-level scenarios? Or should we all expect that, for the most prt, we'll be running levels 1 - 7?
Uhhh...That D&D sign was pretty massive.
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I have to agree with Bob, I know I asked people to try and make 6 player tables. I'd ask for a full table of 6 and get 3 or 4 people that would say that they were a single person with a generic and want a table.
No matter how we as musterers phrased what we said, we were still mobbed with singles or generics or whatever and we had to try and make sense of it all and get people onto tables.
We had over 1000 people to get seated each slot, there are bound to be people not happy with the process, but overall, it was better than last year and we'll improve for next year and streamline the process even more.
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I have to agree with Bob, I know I asked people to try and make 6 player tables. I'd ask for a full table of 6 and get 3 or 4 people that would say that they were a single person with a generic and want a table.
No matter how we as musterers phrased what we said, we were still mobbed with singles or generics or whatever and we had to try and make sense of it all and get people onto tables.
I only played 2 slots, so I had no idea how the musterers were doing what they were doing.
But I do know that when I went up to get mustered for 5-02 and told the Musterer that I was a level 7 and needed a table. I basically got straight up ignored. He did not even acknowledge me, nor tell me what I needed to do to be acknowledged.
Fortunately Jason Leonard, Rene Ayala, his son, and another feller grabbed me and we made a table.
But I don't like being ignored.
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I have to agree with Bob, I know I asked people to try and make 6 player tables. I'd ask for a full table of 6 and get 3 or 4 people that would say that they were a single person with a generic and want a table.
No matter how we as musterers phrased what we said, we were still mobbed with singles or generics or whatever and we had to try and make sense of it all and get people onto tables.
I only played 2 slots, so I had no idea how the musterers were doing what they were doing.
But I do know that when I went up to get mustered for 5-02 and told the Musterer that I was a level 7 and needed a table. I basically got straight up ignored. He did not even acknowledge me, nor tell me what I needed to do to be acknowledged.
Fortunately Jason Leonard, Rene Ayala, his son, and another feller grabbed me and we made a table.
But I don't like being ignored.
And how many other people were mobbing musterer at the same time as you were?
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And how many other people were mobbing musterer at the same time as you were?I have to agree with Bob, I know I asked people to try and make 6 player tables. I'd ask for a full table of 6 and get 3 or 4 people that would say that they were a single person with a generic and want a table.
No matter how we as musterers phrased what we said, we were still mobbed with singles or generics or whatever and we had to try and make sense of it all and get people onto tables.
I only played 2 slots, so I had no idea how the musterers were doing what they were doing.
But I do know that when I went up to get mustered for 5-02 and told the Musterer that I was a level 7 and needed a table. I basically got straight up ignored. He did not even acknowledge me, nor tell me what I needed to do to be acknowledged.
Fortunately Jason Leonard, Rene Ayala, his son, and another feller grabbed me and we made a table.
But I don't like being ignored.
I waited for a lull in the chaos. He had looked up from his clip board. He had just sent two groups of sub-tier 3-4 off and nobody was currently harassing him but me.
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I think it will be more productive to focus on the overall process than to get caught up with individual, situational anecdotes where some of the details may be getting lost in the recesses of selective memory.
One of the main points of threads like this is to provide suggestions to improve the process. Mike/Jon/Wez are watching and will be taking notes. Please give them some ideas and try to avoid complaining about your one time at bandcamp :-D
Explore! Report! Cooperate!
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I waited for a lull in the chaos. He had looked up from his clip board. He had just sent two groups of sub-tier 3-4 off and nobody was currently harassing him but me.And how many other people were mobbing musterer at the same time as you were?I have to agree with Bob, I know I asked people to try and make 6 player tables. I'd ask for a full table of 6 and get 3 or 4 people that would say that they were a single person with a generic and want a table.
No matter how we as musterers phrased what we said, we were still mobbed with singles or generics or whatever and we had to try and make sense of it all and get people onto tables.
I only played 2 slots, so I had no idea how the musterers were doing what they were doing.
But I do know that when I went up to get mustered for 5-02 and told the Musterer that I was a level 7 and needed a table. I basically got straight up ignored. He did not even acknowledge me, nor tell me what I needed to do to be acknowledged.
Fortunately Jason Leonard, Rene Ayala, his son, and another feller grabbed me and we made a table.
But I don't like being ignored.
Andy, no matter what we say to each other about the specific situation, as a whole the musterers were mobbed each slot, I know one musterer who left in tears after one slot because of how bad she thought she had done.
It helps the musterers when people can be patient, help to form the tables and don't all try to yell at the musterer at the same time. There is a lot of information from many directions that musterers have to try and process and if we aren't given a second to think it through a newer person to mustering is going to get flustered and start making mistakes.
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Uhhh...That D&D sign was pretty massive.Unfortunately, the convention center has regs about easel or sign height in the hallway. Having higher or taller boards in the hallway can not happen.** spoiler omitted **
Signs outside the Sagamore were good. Higher signs -- maybe 7 - 9 feet above ground, would be better.
Is there any way to promote the higher-level scenarios? Or should we all expect that, for the most prt, we'll be running levels 1 - 7?
That was also attached to the wall. We are talking about free standing structures. There is a big difference.
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Overall, I think that the convention was a great success and we had a lot of people. There were some minor hiccups along the way, but in the end people were seated and they got to play a game.
Some points from a volunteer standpoint...
*Have door *guards* for each slot that ensure that those with generics aren't mobbing the musterers along with those that have printed tickets. It's extremely confusing for a musterer to have a bunch of people all clamoring for a table and getting a mix of generics and real tickets all at the same time... and those with generics tend to be a lot more demanding than those with real tickets.
*Have clear signage and a better way of denoting muster points for each slot. Many people were confused as to the number lists for each slot and thought that the numbers on the plackards outside corresponded to the slot and that that was the only scenario that the musterer was doing.
*Give the musterers a high chair to sit or stand on so that they can be heard over the din of everyone and so that they can see the group that they have
*Spread the muster points out a bit more so that there is more room for the hoard of peoples
*Have a 2nd wave of volunteers (if possible) to ticket, token and water the gms and tables to get it done faster and minimize interruptions to the tables.
Hrmm .... can you tell what I did at Gencon this year?
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Except for having to explain to a musterer that a 3-person table was legal (turns out we had been waiting ten minutes for a fourth for nothing), I found the musterers very good. When I had to muster a second half slot of WBG2, I did AWFUL, so I can definitely appreciate what a good job people were doing. :)
I hope to be back next year, and maybe my Bonekeep table will even let me kill people. :(
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I waited for a lull in the chaos. He had looked up from his clip board. He had just sent two groups of sub-tier 3-4 off and nobody was currently harassing him but me.And how many other people were mobbing musterer at the same time as you were?I have to agree with Bob, I know I asked people to try and make 6 player tables. I'd ask for a full table of 6 and get 3 or 4 people that would say that they were a single person with a generic and want a table.
No matter how we as musterers phrased what we said, we were still mobbed with singles or generics or whatever and we had to try and make sense of it all and get people onto tables.
I only played 2 slots, so I had no idea how the musterers were doing what they were doing.
But I do know that when I went up to get mustered for 5-02 and told the Musterer that I was a level 7 and needed a table. I basically got straight up ignored. He did not even acknowledge me, nor tell me what I needed to do to be acknowledged.
Fortunately Jason Leonard, Rene Ayala, his son, and another feller grabbed me and we made a table.
But I don't like being ignored.
Andy, no matter what we say to each other about the specific situation, as a whole the musterers were mobbed each slot, I know one musterer who left in tears after one slot because of how bad she thought she had done.
It helps the musterers when people can be patient, help to form the tables and don't all try to yell at the musterer at the same time. There is a lot of information from many directions that musterers have to try and process and if we aren't given a second to think it through a newer person to mustering is going to get flustered and start making mistakes.
Yup. I agree. And I didn't get irritated. Fortunately after the second time of trying to ask him what I needed to do to get onto a table, the other guys indicated they wanted me at their table, and all was good.
I know that not everyone there was as understanding, and that some of the players were downright rude and nasty.
My anecdote was merely stated to show that part of the confusion probably came from:
1) The musterers did not know a specific procedure to follow, as they all seemed to require slightly different things from the players at their station.
2) Players were all clamoring for attention, and its hard for a musterer to pay attention to a hundred screaming voices. But there was no posted procedure for players to follow on how to get the attention of their musterer and what information they needed to have for the musterer before they would pay attention to them.
My experience did not turn out badly. I got a table, relatively quickly. It was apparently a function of the unspoken rule that I needed to have a full table before I'd be paid attention to or mustered.
If that rule had been posted somewhere, then I would have known what to do, and the situation would not have happened.
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Overall, things at the con ran great. I got to meet several great players and GMs, and didn't have any bad games outside of a particularly angry table of Goblin Attack.
One of the things that would absolutely help the marshals and the mustering process is a way to identify who the marshals are. Be it through shirts, or stickers that have their banner characters on them, knowing who the marshals are would absolutely speed up the process. 15-30 minutes before the event, all of the GMs were going up to everyone in a purple shirt asking if they were the marshal. The process would then repeat once it was time for the players to show up because it wasn't clear who the marshal was.
The musterer should have been the one with the clipboard, and wearing either a purple volunteer shirt, or I know that some had the blue scarab shirts on. I'm sure there is a plan in place for next to help with the visibility of the marshal tho
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Andy there were large poster boards that gave instructions on how to muster, I believe there were 6 or 7 of them posted near the doors... So we did try to let players know the process to streamline getting onto the tables.
Must have been so crowded I did not see them.
And if things were still that chaotic with players bombarding the musterers, then the instructions were probably not displayed with either large enough font to be easily read at a glance, or not put in places where a player could easily see it. I can see with the crowd of players trying to muster, they probably blocked line of site to the instructions for anyone who was just coming up to muster.
That being said, one thing a musterer could do, if someone isn't following the streamlined instructions, is to politely point them to the board so the player knows there are instructions.
I guess my anecdote was too subtle in one way. I wasn't specifically trying to indicate that I had a bad experience or throw some specific musterer under the bus.
But if I got ignored, I'm sure many others got ignored as well.
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As for the muttering of GMs wanting to get to their table so they can Pre draw maps, most GMs receive their schedules months in advance. My question would be why aren't they already Pre drawn before they arrive?
If you use a battlemat you can only have 1-2 maps on it. Pre drawing will be useless after your first scenario unless you're playing the same thing.
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The musterer should have been the one with the clipboard, and wearing either a purple volunteer shirt, or I know that some had the blue scarab shirts on. I'm sure there is a plan in place for next to help with the visibility of the marshal thoOverall, things at the con ran great. I got to meet several great players and GMs, and didn't have any bad games outside of a particularly angry table of Goblin Attack.
One of the things that would absolutely help the marshals and the mustering process is a way to identify who the marshals are. Be it through shirts, or stickers that have their banner characters on them, knowing who the marshals are would absolutely speed up the process. 15-30 minutes before the event, all of the GMs were going up to everyone in a purple shirt asking if they were the marshal. The process would then repeat once it was time for the players to show up because it wasn't clear who the marshal was.
I understand that there were many Scarab folks there assisting with mustering and HQ. And I know that Del wanted to probably advertise not only their help, but Scarab as well.
But in that situation, I think it would have been better to wear the more visible purple volunteer shirts.
Maybe we could also create big feathery hats and you all could wear neon boas.
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If you use a battlemat you can only have 1-2 maps on it. Pre drawing will be useless after your first scenario unless you're playing the same thing.As for the muttering of GMs wanting to get to their table so they can Pre draw maps, most GMs receive their schedules months in advance. My question would be why aren't they already Pre drawn before they arrive?
It's an easy matter of buying a grided easel pad and pre drawing on there .... sometimes the 10$ spend on the pad of paper means a huge difference in the moment.
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If you use a battlemat you can only have 1-2 maps on it. Pre drawing will be useless after your first scenario unless you're playing the same thing.As for the muttering of GMs wanting to get to their table so they can Pre draw maps, most GMs receive their schedules months in advance. My question would be why aren't they already Pre drawn before they arrive?
I pre-drew maps on 24 x 32 pads with 1" grid lines. Then I fold them up and put them in my bag.
You don't always have to pre-draw on a rubber battlemat.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I'd like to make it clear that I'm not dissing the marshals at all. I'd much rather be a GM at tables then having to marshal people to them. :)
But with everything that everyone brought with them (bags, suitcases, totes, etc) there needs to be more than just a clipboard that makes them stand out. I know it may be a little cost prohibitive, but let's say that the marshals were wearing an orange shirt. Then everyone could tell who was what position by their shirt color alone. Orange is marshals, purple is GMs, green is VL's, and red is VCs. It would make it easier for both the GMs and players who are looking to check in.
Agreed; it was difficult to distinguish who was a marshal and who was not. Clipboards are hard to see through a giant crowd.
Maybe you could get baseball caps with "Marshal" written on them or something?
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Sent a PM
The quality of the GMs I had this year was excellent, with 1 exception (sort of). My first GM on Thursday showed up late and then asked the group if we could hurry through the scenario so he could get to the dealer booth soon after the hall opened. I was not happy with the idea but the rest of table agreed. However, after we started playing he seemed to settle into GM'ing and we ended up not skipping over or rushing any of it (except at the beginning)....
That one was me, and I'd like to apologize for showing up late. My flight was significantly delayed the night before and I didn't arrive in Indy until after 1 AM. The dealer room comment was dumb, and also a product of lack of sleep. I do feel like I quickly got into my "groove" and I think that session actually turned out very well.
One thing I'd like to mention is that three of my tables didn't make this year, so I spent a significantly shorter portion of my time GMing than I expected to. I think that next year if I'm able to come back, I'll try to request lower-tier slots, since the three that didn't make were all the same scenario, #4-24 which is a Tier 5-9.