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@Beckett, it's a stumper.
I think the biggest problem is the cyclicity itself, specifically that the plan I originally heard was for an event like this to happen every 3 months for a game that takes something like 3 months at the high end for me to GM, with a 3 month completion deadline. Given the hard completion deadline which does force some scenarios to be sped up, I am less tempted to go over my usual limit for number of games ran so I have enough time to devote to the game to ensure completion.
If the gamedays were less often (i.e. 2-3 times a year or something), they would be a special event and would be out of sync with the time it takes to run a typical game. In between them, I would run my games how I liked and then when the gameday events popped up, I'd be tempted to up my limit rather than holding back to wait for them because they were a once in a while type of thing.
As it is now, the time it takes me to run a game is close enough to the time between "events" that the temptation is to replace my regular games with the event games, which defeats the purpose.
If the games were every month or 6 weeks (like was proposed above) just about every online game that would be run would be an online Gameday game, which absolutely runs counter to the purpose.
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@Beckett, it's a stumper.
I think the biggest problem is the cyclicity itself, specifically that the plan I originally heard was for an event like this to happen every 3 months for a game that takes something like 3 months at the high end for me to GM, with a 3 month completion deadline. Given the hard completion deadline which does force some scenarios to be sped up, I am less tempted to go over my usual limit for number of games ran so I have enough time to devote to the game to ensure completion.
After that - the next PbP Game Day will be summer(ish) 2014, so roughly one every 6 months going forward.
Something to keep I mind is that we are not sure what the time limit will be. Only that the Events will be more around every 6 months, which I think is a good idea. I also think it's a good idea to switch the way that reporting is done, though I am a bit concerned that that might lead to a bit of cheating. Not sure if that's an issue, but we will see. Hopefully it will lighten the burden on the Online VO's.But the deadline could also change as well, dropping to something like 2 months or extending to the entire 6 months.
On one hand, I was really thinking about trying to run an AP or two, and on the other I'm not sure what would be a good/fair deadline. Hopefully we can also see a little bit of statistics with the post mortem survey.
But, all in all, I think this entire Game Day event has gone over extremely well so far, and is doing, (in my opinion) great things for PFS in general. Happy to be a part of it and likewise hope to be a part of the next one.
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I would argue for a 6 month limit as that would open up the opportunity to run longer scenarios (like the modules) or perhaps the sanctioned parts of AP's.
With the 3-month deadline, I was reluctant to run anything with too much roleplay as my historical completion rate has been as short as about 10 weeks and as long as just over 4 months. It depends very much on the players and on the scenario.
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And I would argue against anything longer then 3 months. Most players don't want their PCs tied up in a game for that long. Also, longer games mean a higher chance of people dropping out, GM and players alike. Roleplaying can be accomplished if the GM stays on top of his game and has a high posting rate.
If you want to run AP's or modules, throw up your own thread and run it outside of a "Gameday" like a dozen of other GM's.
I would like to see a Special set up somewhere down the lines (my vote is Year of the Shadow). It would defiantly take some coordination but it would be interesting to pull off.
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I can do the anecdotal evidence thing too. :-)
I've ran a dozen scenarios via PbP and they have taken anywhere from 2 to 4 months with me as GM (I'm currently in the 7th month of a Masks of the Living God game and we're maybe half way through). I update 5 times a week (Monday to Friday) at a minumum, often twice a day and expect PCs to update at least once every 36 hours. I've played in 24 scenarios via PbP and the longest of those took just shy of 5 months (though I'm in one that's dragging and I'm fine with it). Also, I know of several of the gameday games running on Mythweavers that are in serious danger of not quite finishing, even knowing there is a 3-month limit. Those are mostly because of bad combinations of GM and PC timezones (GM in Australia, balance of PCs in North America).
My point is that not every GM and not every group can make the 3 month deadline. I made sure my game for this gameday would finish by picking the sort of scenario that wouldn't bog down and by cracking the whip hard on making PCs post regularly and skipping them if they didn't, but I would have enjoyed things more if I had been able to let a few of the scenes linger when I had to cut them short to meet an artificial deadline.
I am in favour of reporting them games immediately on completion and I think that some deadline is appropriate, just that 3 months is a bit tight in my experience.
If a PbP game takes a long time because the players are having fun roleplaying, then there should be allowance to take more time to complete the game. PBP is a different animal than face to face play and in some ways doesn't mesh well with face to face play where the issue of having a character "tied up" becomes important.
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I feel three months is about the right time-frame (based on my experience previous PBP games and this one online-game day). The arguments made by
I would argue against a new online game day every 3 months. We are quite lucky to get ANY boon support for online games. Most of us play online because we cannae make it to cons. MB has made it clear that boons are to remain a reward for playing PFS at cons. That we have finally gotten a VC and that we have a 'con' is a huge step, and I dinnae want to abuse the generosity. No one who misses GenCon gets to have another GenCon run the following week. Everyone who misses PaizoCon has to wait... 12 whole months! Please do not complain about 3 months being too long.
Just my opinion, but I will follow it up with a couple of suggestions. Run an online game after X online games are reported. Or announce the game day for any games started between today and today-X days. I think plenty of advance notice will help ensure no-one gets missed and avoids the 3(?) month wait.
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Three month turn around time is about right. My groups had ample time to rock on through their scenarios, and had I planned ahead we could probably have done two - and we were fairly leisurely.
I appreciate the 'event support' and the chance of Boons is great!
The thing is though, its free boons for what we were all already doing anyway, so if you are going to run the gamedays more frequently than twice a year for months on end then the default play would all be under some sort of Gameday banner and the open table/individual event code play we have now would no longer exist and instead be replaced with a lot of administration and double handling best avoided.
If every day is a 'Game Day' we may as well go back to what we were all doing all along which is hosting pbp games and reporting them the way we always did here on the forums and when we report a session just mail us a boon and save yourselves the hassle.
I really would prefer Game Days to be infrequent and 'special', not 'business as usual'.
BTW, thanks for the game day, it was a good concept.
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Helaman, I'm not sure how the VCs will respond to your question, but if they can't make an exception you could try temporarily speeding up your posting rate. Is it possible to arrange a few hours on a particular day (or two) for everyone in your group to monitor the game and make a series of posts? I did it once and managed to move forward 60 posts.
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So, I was thinking, (assuming that the 2nd Game Day will likewise limit to 2 games at a time per GM) of running The devil We Know parts 1 & 2 (if I can swing it), and would love to take part in any specials if they are being allowed.
Has anyone had much experience with those two in PbP, and if so, what where your thoughts?
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Missed the first game day, but really excited for the second! I'm hoping early-mid January so the PBP games I am currently GMing can be concluded, but I should be able to handle a little overlap. It would be wonderful to be able to get a boon, as being in the U.K its difficult to get a chance at one.
Six months seems about right to me. By the look of things so far a month is about right for a scenario, maybe a little less, so 4 games out of 12 counting seems about right to keep them special.
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I'm hoping early Jan too, so I can start a new round of games after the New Years cool off, but I can't see it happening by even mid Jan of there hasn't been an announcement by now - just the lead time is a week or two in and of itself easily.
Was going to open my games back up around the 5th, now I am not sure if I should wait - dont want to be a week in and realise we missed out.
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I also missed the first PbP Gameday as a GM, since I had no experience GMing via forum at that time. I started GMing then, and had a blast with it so I'll definitely take part in the second Gameday as a GM! I appreciate the opportunity to play on the forums here and having a chance of getting a boon for it, because my life doesn't really allow me to travel far and wide to Cons.
My intention is to run a module (probably Broken Chains or Realm of the Fellnight Queen). My games have earned the reputation of quick-paced ones so I believe I could manage having a full module being played in three months.
As for frequency, once every three months seems fine. One caveat though, slower games may not be able to finish a module or AP volume. So maybe once every four months?
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Oh yes, modules can be done within the time frame. I group I was in just got through Fangwood Keep on Christmas Eve. We glossed over one or two things to finish by the holiday, but we made it.
I was GMing that one too, and even though we got off to a slow start, we still did it in 3 1/2 months.
Fellnight Queen would definitely be of interest to me!
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I ran Fellnight Queen some years ago, it´s really great!
Maybe i could do it again.
Anyway, somebody knows where to report the scenarios here?
Totally forgot how to do that.
HERE you go. :)
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Online
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Hey, Guys - Hope everyone had a great holiday season.
Sorry for the radio silence over the last week - everyone is all off on various Holiday events and trips and just getting back into the swing of things.
We will drop you guys a better date on PbP Gameday 2 after our VO meeting tonight.
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Hey, Guys - Hope everyone had a great holiday season.
Sorry for the radio silence over the last week - everyone is all off on various Holiday events and trips and just getting back into the swing of things.
We will drop you guys a better date on PbP Gameday 2 after our VO meeting tonight.
No worries. Hope you had a great holiday season as well, and on to the New Year.
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I want to double-check that I've done this right. I've reported all my games with the Ztool thing. But I'm not supposed to report them directly to Paizo's system. Is that right?
Also, can someone explain what is supposed to happen with boons? I received one with no explanation as to what I should do.
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Tarondor,
Just like Jeremy said - any character whose level is in-tier gets the gold for that tier. Any character of a level out-of-tier gets the average of the two rewards, but access to all items on the chronicle for the tier played.
Trys - there was a holiday boon available to all PFS players, though I'm not sure how it was meant to be disseminated.
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It should have been emailed out to all the players and GM's.
Check your email around 10/7/13.
Or HERE
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So...
What's the plan for PbP groups that aren't going to finish in time? I know of 4 games anyway where people signed up and played for 3 months and are currently in the last or second-last encounter.
- Do they stop on the 4th as though they had run out of time in a live event and get full credit?
- Do they report early and finish the scenario over the next couple weeks?
- Do they lose access to the gameday boons and finish for a regular chronicle?
- Is there any room for a time extension?
About half of the Gameday scenarios running on Mythweavers are in this situation with 1-2 encounters still to run. The others are complete and reported. Maybe we are a slower-running community in general (which works for us - we are a fairly international group) or maybe this completion rate is similar to other PbP groups and we just don't tend to hear about the slower groups in threads like this.
I have a feeling that the fall and winter holidays happening during this caused some issues with timing.
