Congratulations TriOmegaZero! I've seen you post to a number of threads that've been helpful to me and my friends in the past. Didn't know you were in Arizona!
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*prestidigitates the muck off* Sorry about that, the swim to the island was a little rough, what with all the krakens. *mends the claw marks* They are rather enthusiastic here on the mountain aren't they?
Thanks for the well wishes, and thanks to Tom for kicking off the thread. When you're as active as I on the forums it's hard to not talk about little things like an extra star by your username, but I'm at least not tacky enough to announce myself. Even I have some standards, low as they are!
As I said at PaizoCon, and expanded a bit elsewhere, I could not have done this without our fantastic player base, both here in Phoenix, back in Texas, and among the online community. You don't run 150 tables without dedicated players willing to risk their precious characters against the cold uncaring dice. You don't manage to run every multi-table special published without your fellow GMs and organizers willing to step into the breach with you.
Thank you to Arthur, Steve, and all the rest of the guys at the PFSOC who put on so many amazing Roll20/G+ events. I've had the most amazing experiences at Conline and Aethercon that I could not have had otherwise.
Thank you Kelly, Marc, and the rest of the Houston Lodge for offering me the opportunities at Space City Con and Comicpalooza. Know that I couldn't possibly choose between the Texas and Arizona communities, and had to concede the choice of where to live to economic realities.
Thanks to Jason, Tom, and the rest of the Phoenix Lodge for welcoming Shanna and I to the community and for offering me the opportunities at RinCon and PPC that they did. Thank you for pulling me out of the GM seat and forcing me to actually play my characters more. Remembering to get a different perspective is an important part of growing as a GM, even as I had to learn to shut up and let the GM run his table no matter how much I thought he was doing it wrong.
Although it goes without saying, thank you to all the Paizo staff that make this campaign happen, from taking me on as GM last minute at the Grand Convocation 4712 to the culminating event at PaizoCon this year.
My one piece of advice to everyone yet to make it to the mountain, especially those who are just starting their journey or fearfully considering that first step, will always be get excited. Find something you love about an adventure, something you can't wait to share with the players. Maybe it's an evocative NPC (Brian knows which "Venture Captain" I'm talking about), maybe it's a beautiful setting for the adventure (ask me to take you to the Temple sometime!), or maybe it's just the story you get to show the players (stone doesn't always keep its secrets).
If you are excited while running the scenario, your players are going to feed off of that, in a glorious positive feedback loop. Works every time.
And of course, I have to thank my wife for sharing my hobby and putting up with my harebrained half-baked plans dragging her from convention to convention and game to game. She's earned this 5th star as much as I have, considering the number of late night tables and long weekends she's participated in.
In the name of the One True Lodge, Explore, Report, Cooperate!
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*prestidigitates the muck off* Sorry about that, the swim to the island was a little rough, what with all the krakens. *mends the claw marks* They are rather enthusiastic here on the mountain aren't they?
Now that you're here, please begin the process of applying mythic templates to our krakens. Thanks. Oh, and welcome I guess. You're room's over there by the other n00bs.
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Do you have any advice for people starting to GM? What strengths do you see in the Phoenix area, as opposed to other places you've run games?
What's your favorite scenario to run?
As mentioned above, get excited. It really can't be said enough. I know the times I've run when I just wasn't feeling it have been my worse runs ever. If I'm unable to get interested in the game, I usually call it off if I can, because no player deserves that kind of experience.
Here in Phoenix, we have VOs that push to have GMs rotated out. I've seen plenty of players step up to take the workload off of our regular cast. At times it even seemed like my VC was working AGAINST me getting my 150. But it forced me back in the player seat when I probably wouldn't have done so of my own accord, and I am better for it. I was still in the mindset of 'I have to GM' from when I was the only GM in my area, and this helped me break out of that and work as a teammate rather than try to control everything. And it's a very good thing that we have cultivated more GMs as we have expanded to at least five locations now with two game days apiece monthly.
As for my favorite, I hinted at them earlier, but it is certainly a tie between The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment and The Traitor's Lodge. Both have evocative locations, while Temple has a much more sandbox feel over Traitor's mostly linear path. However, Traitor's Lodge has a single focused NPC versus Temple's more diluted ensemble. At this point I could practically run them from memory, and would do so at a moments notice.
Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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Here in Phoenix, we have VOs that push to have GMs rotated out. I've seen plenty of players step up to take the workload off of our regular cast. At times it even seemed like my VC was working AGAINST me getting my 150. But it forced me back in the player seat when I probably wouldn't have done so of my own accord, and I am better for it. I was still in the mindset of 'I have to GM' from when I was the only GM in my area, and this helped me break out of that and work as a teammate rather than try to control everything. And it's a very good thing that we have cultivated more GMs as we have expanded to at least five locations now with two game days apiece monthly.
Hey, wait. Does this mean I can claim victory in that long-ago debate you and I had about how I run game days? ;-p
