Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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I know that Season 0 launches at GenCon. Unfortunately, I will not be in attendance. However, many of you will be.
So, I have a humble request: would all of you (or as many of you as are able) be so kind as to blog/update/rave about how the launch goes? What excites you? What frustrates you? What went spectacularly? What went not-so-good? How do you think the events are working? How do you think they could work better? Any and all feedback would be awesomely appreciated. The more stream-of-consciousness and brainstorm-y, the better.
I plan on following up the launch of Season 0 at my own store as quickly after GenCon as possible, and want to be sure that my players get as good an experience as possible. Also, as the coordinator for the Guild in my shop, I would like to know what pitfalls to avoid and what tips you have that I could use to enhance the organization of these events.
Thanks, in advance for the help.
PS - I know we're a couple weeks away, yet, so I'll bump this post a few times between now and then. In the meantime, feel free to leave your thoughts regarding this event as we lead up to it. What are your plans? What do you know/suspect/hope for with regard to the PFACG? What are you doing to prepare?
PPS - I will enter all who post on this blog (with useful information, mind you - and I will favorite anything I find useful) into a drawing for a free copy of Skull & Shackles Adventure Deck 2 and a Class Deck of the winner's choice. If this blog really takes off, I'll do a second drawing for a Character Add-On pack and another Class Deck of your choice. I will ship these items free of charge anywhere in the continental US. Sorry, out-of-US folk; I don't have that much money to throw around. But if I do draw an out-of-US name, I'll donate to a Paizo.com gift certificate for you, instead.
I hope to hear from many of you, and I hope I have to give away both prizes. (-:
The part I'm a little concerned about is that I'm in one of the events which takes place shortly after the dealer hall opens.
Outside of signing up for 4 events there's no other way to have the class deck ahead of time / in time for my event if the line is exceedingly long is there?
Haven't seen much mention of this yet, but I do remember last year's line for RotR base game being pretty long.
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RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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The part I'm a little concerned about is that I'm in one of the events which takes place shortly after the dealer hall opens.
Outside of signing up for 4 events there's no other way to have the class deck ahead of time / in time for my event if the line is exceedingly long is there?
Haven't seen much mention of this yet, but I do remember last year's line for RotR base game being pretty long.
It's very possible to get in and out of the dealer's hall in a reasonable time Thursday morning as long as you use some strategy. I was thinking of writing a "dealer's hall rush" strategy guide but I'm not sure which subforum is best.
The basics are to be at the door that is nearest Paizo, arrive at least a half hour early, when everyone stands up try to squeeze as close to the front as you can without being rude, and then walk briskly to the booth when the doors open. Done well you can probably be in and out in 20 minutes.
Come on GenCon attenders! Let us know how the card guild looks!
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No contest entry but here are some updates from the inside...
The first scenario is cool. Its got nice flavor. I set up a table for it and then helped a family get started before heading down to the dealers hall to run demos all day,
I saw a necromancer wizard who could ecentually add defeated undead to his hand. Also saw somebody playing a new rogue who had the d6 sneak attack power but i didnt get a chance to see more.
Out of about 13 demos I ran, one group actually managed to lose, but just barely. I had several victories on the last turn and 1 with 2 players that would die at the end of the turn.
Any sort of info in parricular you want, Ill see what I can wrangle.
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We played in the very first session, Thursday at 8am. It was understandably a little disorganized, but the Paizo staff was great and kept everything moving. We used temporary class decks since they hadn't arrived yet.
There was an error in our table's pre-done setup: the henchman and villains had not been shuffled in. By the time we figured that out, we had pretty much run out of time, so we failed the scenario. We divvied up the boons with no problems and got our chronicle sheets signed.
Played again last night. Class decks were in at this point and we got our free one for signing up for 4 sessions. My brother's fighter deck was messed up: it had duplicates of half the cards and half the cards were missing. They replace it on the spot. We replayed adventure 1 and won the scenario. There was some confusion about how to fill out the sheets for a second time through, whether we needed a new sheet or what. We ended up just doing filling in the first sheet and getting a second signature in the box.
Again, kudos to Tannis and the whole Paizo staff for keeping things going smoothly and bending over backwards to keep players happy. Excited for the next sessions.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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Woohoo! Nice to see people talking about playing the game at GenCon (even if it's only two of you).
I'd love to see more people chime in.
I'd love to hear more about how muster is working (or if there is a muster, like in the PFSRPG area).
Are people able to just jump in and start playing? Or is there some bit of prep a player has to perform to get his deck to a certain point? Any paperwork that is sticky to perform (like what TanRu mentioned)?
Otherwise, I just want to know what the experience is like.
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Mustering is going to present you with an interesting challenge. We saw everything from a guy who had blown through the first 4 scenarios and couldn't find anyone to play scenario 5 with him, to small groups of people who had never played PACG at all.
The three play sessions I've been in have all run right to the end of the allotted time. (Slots are 2 hours, but they have been ending them about 1:45 to allow cleanup I guess.) By the time people sit down, construct their decks, and get the scenario set up (some were pre-set up and some we had to set up ourselves), you're probably 15 to 20 minutes in.
Play itself has been great. Good variety of players and classes and characters. Tannis mentioned yesterday that they ran out of Rogue decks for the free decks. (I assume they eventually got more in since they are selling them downstairs now too.) No conflicts at the table. We haven't had any deaths, although in scenario 2 we had 3 people come close. We did fail the scenario though, so we will be replaying it.
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I think they've actually said it isn't intended for beginners and that beginners should still learn the game through RotR or Skull and Shackles.
EDIT: Here is where Vic said that OP is not designed for beginners. I'm sure they don't want to stop beginners from using the ticket they purchased for GenCon, so they'll let them play.
For people that had never played at all we tried when possible to direct them to the demos on the dealer hall which were much shorter and designes to teach the basics. That said we didnt turn anybody away for being new. I helped numerous groups learn the rules and have a good time.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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I am VERY disappointed in the Society version of the card game. The first two scenarios are WAY to hard for beginners. I have played two games of the first scenario and one of the second. With 5 player groups we failed both times in the first scenario. It wasn't even close both times, we had 3 open locations and about 20 cards total left in the locations. Lost at Sea is not for beginners. It really seemed aimed at people who have mastered Rise of the Rune Lords.
Hey Marius,
Even though you seem unlikely to continue with the OrgPlay, I'm entering you into my little contest. This kind of feedback is pretty valuable to a store like mine, so thank you for the notes.
To everyone else reading this, I'm wondering if this can be mitigated in any way. I know that cooperative games are usually designed to be a true challenge, else you're all simply sitting around going through the motions of winning over and over (which isn't as rewarding an experience as you would think). Ghost Stories, for instance, is a notoriously difficult cooperative game, and I have steered many a gamer away from choosing that one as their first foray into cooperative play. Pandemic or Flashpoint are far better choices for introduction. The PFACG has a very good reputation in the gaming circle, and I have to assume that it's not a cakewalk or it wouldn't have the good reviews it has.
In PFS we have adventures we go to on a consistent basis to show the new players the ropes. Anything like that which can be done for the ACG? It seems to me that one of the strongest aspects of any OrgPlay system is its ability to capture new players.
I'm loving these reports. Keep them coming!
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I played twice over my short weekend at gencon (thurs/fri). Short summary of my experience: new characters are interesting, scenario one is very hard, event staff was enthusiastic but not very knowledgeable. (I won't be expanding on that point because I don't want to harsh on volunteers, but two out of the three I interacted with seemed to me to have a poor grasp on the rules. Last one was very good.)
First night I played Kyra at the last session of the night. My teammates were a shaky Ezren, a ok Wu Shen, and a good Valeros. Ezren died with about ten turns remaining, exploring into 3-card location, one of which was known to be the villain, with any attack spells. Wu Shen almost died, I spent like four-five turns trying to closing a divine 8 checkwith 1-2 haunts stuck to me, and Valeros pretty much saved the day.
Second day I played midday as Bekah, who I quite enjoyed. Pretty solid group of the gnome fighter and sorcerers (husband and wife players) and radillo. Very cooperative group, very ready to spend blessings on each other. That might have been our downfall, actually, because we lost on time with about two and a half locations to go. Radillo died, and the gnome sorcerer came close, but I finally cured her back up.
My main takeaway from organized play is that I would anticipate having to replay scenarios quite frequently if that first one is any indication of the difficulty level.
It sounds like the difficulty level is pretty high, which I think for organized play is a very good thing. I don't think it would be fun to burn through all these scenarios the moment they come out... you should have to play each one an average of twice or so since we're only getting them once a week (other than the first four, obviously).
In other words, I think it's good that they're tough, because organized play really should be meant for veterans of the game, not total newbies.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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I'm still making "favorites" of posts that I am entering in my blog contest. Thank you very much, and keep them coming. There's still one more day to go.
I do want to make sure that I address the little sub-plot that cropped up in this thread:
It sounds like the difficulty level is pretty high, which I think for organized play is a very good thing. I don't think it would be fun to burn through all these scenarios the moment they come out... you should have to play each one an average of twice or so since we're only getting them once a week (other than the first four, obviously).
As a cooperative game, I think this is a good expectation. I highlighted a portion of the comment, and think this adds to that expectation.
However...
...I think it's good that they're tough, because organized play really should be meant for veterans of the game, not total newbies.
I don't know about this.
I have found OrgPlay to be the perfect vehicle to introduce players to a game (any game). A group of people sitting around and enjoying their games is a powerful marketing tool, and the number of people that simple tableau inspires to pick up that game and play it is amazing.
I run a "Learn to Play Pathfinder" night in my store, and use PFS scenarios to run it. I get a lot of players from this night who subsequently become regular PFS players. I am doing the same thing with D&D 5E (and Encounters, specifically, is pretty much geared toward this concept).
I realize that "winning" while playing a role playing game is going to happen far more often. But I would point out that winning at a miniatures combat game, or Magic, is only going to happen if you're better than your opponent. You should certainly not win at the PFACG unless you are "better" than the game you are playing, else it wouldn't be a fun game to play. But beginners should still be inspired to sit down and play with the groups they see in the PFSACG games. And they should absolutely be encouraged.
My takeaway from this line of thought: remember that this is a game we are playing to have fun. Encourage new players to join. Remember to set up their expectation level properly. And remember to let them know that they can play it again, and eventually will win.
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It sounds like the difficulty level is pretty high, which I think for organized play is a very good thing. I don't think it would be fun to burn through all these scenarios the moment they come out... you should have to play each one an average of twice or so since we're only getting them once a week (other than the first four, obviously).
In other words, I think it's good that they're tough, because organized play really should be meant for veterans of the game, not total newbies.
I also disagree, PFS OP has been built and designed to introduce new players in a fun way to the world of Pathfinder, has a low entry cost, and has a growing fan base. PFACG OP was never touted as "hard mode" for experienced players. I think if the intent is to make a new weekly challenge for people who have been playing it for a while that is a great idea, but it won't do much to grow local interest, gaming groups, and the hobby in general.
A much better way to do that would be to emulate the game night packs that FFG does for LOTR LCG.
I hope the consensus amongst the campaign designers isn't to have every scenario brutal, requiring multiple playthroughs, and that new players will be so overwhelmed they shouldn't even try. I recognize the value of demos (planning to run them locally myself) and having people play the intro scenarios in the base set, but to really get folks on board you need to reasonably get them to buy a class deck and sit down at a table the same night they discover the game.
Owner - Multiverse Comics & Games
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I spent most of Gen Con working in the Card game room and running dem o s in the the dealer hall. I even got to play scenario 1 this morning. The experience has been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to running the Card guild at my shop when I get home.
Scenario 1 is pretty hard but it really seemed to depend a lot on group synergy. The group I played with this morning played through scenario 1 in right at an hour. We ran out of cards in the blessings deck so failed the scenario. Since we still had 45mins left in the slot we reset real quick and played again, this time finishing just as or slot was running out and we defeated the villain. There was only 4 at our table and we had 2 players that had only played once.
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Thanks for entering me Drogon, no I unfortunately am not at Gencon this year but I follow the PACG religiously.
I wasn't saying that ALL organized play should be for veterans, I was saying that organized play in this specific game, in my opinion, should be for those who know the game well. There are now 8 "beginner" scenarios between Rise of the Runelords and Skull and Shackles, and I feel like those should be used to introduce new players to this game. The way that scenarios are being released (once per week) if they were more beginner-friendly, I think they'd be boring to players who know the game well. There is also a cost associated with getting into OP for the PACG (buying a class deck) and I feel that no one should be expected to buy a class deck without trying out at least a scenario or two from one of the adventure paths. I also feel that other players shouldn't be expected to lend out their class decks to brand new players (I know I hate lending my cards... some people are very rough in their shuffling!)
I agree that PFS is great for newbies, but I would caution that there are definitely certain scenarios that are better for newbies than others. The Confirmation comes to mind. If you thrust a brand-new player into PFS in a 7-11 scenario, it would NOT be an easy experience for them unless someone at the table was able to give them a LOT of help with their level 7 pregen.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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The way that scenarios are being released (once per week) if they were more beginner-friendly, I think they'd be boring to players who know the game well.
Agreed.
I think managing expectations is the answer to this problem, however. Making the scenarios easier is not warranted. Just be sure to tell people what to expect. We do this all the time in other games, by the way. "Come play Magic on Friday to learn how to play. You're going to lose. Expect that; you're new. But the players will be happy to show you how to get better."
There is also a cost associated with getting into OP for the PACG (buying a class deck) and I feel that no one should be expected to buy a class deck without trying out at least a scenario or two from one of the adventure paths. I also feel that other players shouldn't be expected to lend out their class decks to brand new players (I know I hate lending my cards... some people are very rough in their shuffling!)
Very true. But I think that running this from a store perspective may be very different. I fully expect that I will have a certain number of "loaner" decks available to use for just this reason. I have found that giving people a game to play often results in their purchasing that game. This won't be any different, I think.
I agree that PFS is great for newbies, but I would caution that there are definitely certain scenarios that are better for newbies than others. The Confirmation comes to mind. If you thrust a brand-new player into PFS in a 7-11 scenario, it would NOT be an easy experience for them unless someone at the table was able to give them a LOT of help with their level 7 pregen.
Again, I fully agree. There are only certain scenarios I use for my Learn to Play nights.
But, again, rather than adjust the play experience for the ACG, I think it is simply necessary to manage the expectations. I really want to make that clear. The only concern is seeing new players sit with competitive veterans who are then upset about losing due to the "new player" element. But I think this will be a more unusual circumstance than the other way 'round.
We *want* new players, and need them if the OrgPlay system is to thrive. Encouraging them will be necessary. And denying them the chance to play just because it's not "new player friendly" is a mistake. Again, just manage their expectations and this will work out.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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I think a "Learn to Play" kind of thing has merit for this game, as well, and running demos is a great way to do that. But I think this kind of game is similar to board games in that I don't need 4 hours to show you how to play (unlike with the Role Playing Game).
It's just that new players will want to join a *game* sometimes, and that experience can be very proactive toward their investment in the product (both personal and financial), rather than just being part of a demo. Especially when a game has an organized play system to go with it.
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I wonder if the solution would be a setup like (or exactly the same as) the dealer hall demos. A couple locations with just a couple cards each, so you can run through it in a few minutes but still get all the concepts across.
This is exactly what I was asking for in another thread. I would like to be able to offer 2 or 3 play throughs of intro scenarios before each OP night so that new players can get a feel for the game.
I know vets want challenge, but from a PFS player perspective, the first chance that many people get to play Pathfinder is in Confirmation or First steps. Having the very first OP scenario out of the gate be relatively difficult (according to gencon folks) creates a bit of a quandary... we want people to play a game and see advancement, success, and development... that is what will get them to come back to play and invest in the product line.
Maybe there will be a couple of more appropriate intro OP scenarios produced in the future that will allow a learning curve but still give meaningful and lasting rewards. Adding boons to a couple of the base set intro scenarios via a downloadable PDF would suffice if that is easier than writing up entirely new encounters. I believe they do that for the Beginner Box.
As for the cost associated portion that cartmanbeck mentioned, if people are playing PFS as they should, there is the entry cost of the PDF or hard copy of the core rule book there as well, it isn't free to play and thus meets the same sort of financial requirements, many people just ignore that. I hope that like Drogon, most shop owners will provide a loaner deck or two for new players, I know I will have a couple available myself for OP nights to encourage new people to give it a try.
Lots of room for development and refinement, that is what a season zero is all about after all. My biggest concern is that scenario one seems a killer. I wouldn't throw a first time RPG player into Severing Ties, I am hopeful the campaign finds a good way to work in newbies in the near future that offers concrete character progression to get them hooked while still allowing for advanced players to be challenged and thus engaged.
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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I would like to be able to offer 2 or 3 play throughs of intro scenarios before each OP night so that new players can get a feel for the game.
Ooh. Excellent idea.
Sessions are 2 hours, right? So if I schedule a 3 hour OrgPlay slot at the shop, that gives an hour for any setup and paperwork (assuming no new players show up) and gives plenty of leeway to provide a demo to new players when they do show up. Is that feasible? Or am I breaking the spirit of the 2 hour slot?
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Just make it 2 separate events:
6pm - 7pm Learn to Play PACG
8pm - 10pm PACG OP
This way veterans don't have to sit around bored while people learn and can show up for the OP, and people just learning don't have to commit to 3 hours of something they don't know if they like.
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I would like to be able to offer 2 or 3 play throughs of intro scenarios before each OP night so that new players can get a feel for the game.
Ooh. Excellent idea.
Sessions are 2 hours, right? So if I schedule a 3 hour OrgPlay slot at the shop, that gives an hour for any setup and paperwork (assuming no new players show up) and gives plenty of leeway to provide a demo to new players when they do show up. Is that feasible? Or am I breaking the spirit of the 2 hour slot?
The 2 hr slots generally seemed too short for brand new players to finish reliably but experenced players were getting through in more like an hour.
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Hi all!
Just got home form Gencon. I played in MANY sessions of the PACG and had a GREAT time.
All the staff did an OUTSTANDING job creating a great experience. From mustering to playing to being just fun!
I was able to complete the adventure path twice.
Cleric Zarlova
Ranger Agna
Also played
Fighter Tontelizi scenarios 1-5
Bard Siwar scenarios 1 and 4
And the Coup de grace was playing Jirelle twice as a reward for completing the path.
I look forward to playing more hopefully a local group will take up the organized play.
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Been a busy lil gamer this GenCon. I've played the demo on Thursday so I got some idea of the ship play. Played PFS on Friday morning and managed to do most of everything right in that game. Leveled my gunslinger. Yay! (Wish I had done the Special … gotta do it next year!) Then Saturday began my delve into the card game. Two sessions with the first with a friend. We managed through the first scenarios with a few bumps. We had questions but Tanis and crew did a great job overall with answering questions even though they were overwhelmed mostly.
But before we get there, we got to the exhibit hall about 40 minutes early. Didn't hear the guy from Paizo announce that there was a separate line to get into the booth. I understand why after the line last year. It was not easy to maintain. But they did a lot better this year and even though you had people mad, it was orderly and people got their stuff. I know I did. BONUS: About 10 minutes before general admission, the Class Decks showed up. So for those who got early access or press access, no Class Decks. I was very happy (and very surprised) that I picked up my 6 decks then went up to the card room to get my freebie deck. Got my books, base set and everything else without issue.
Back to Saturday … first scenario wasn't cake but it wasn't easy. All of us had played previously (some the S&S demo). We had questions but managed through it. My friend scooted for the following session but we started up without much of a clue about the scenario. About halfway we figured out what we needed to and plotted the endgame. Definitely not an easy scenario but doable once you figure out the points. Of course it was in this game that I realized that Harsk has some different dice than his RotR cousin. (Was using the wrong Dex die). We executed the plan and … forgot that the villain was shuffled into the pile. Oh well. But instead of celebratig defeat, we managed to recover and beat the main baddie. Definitely not what I expected after the first but fun. I'm gald it wasn't a walk-through scenario. The first wasn't either. But they did say it isn't designed for beginners.
I'd recommend that we have a demo to help teach newbies even though it is recommended that people have at least played the game prior. Hint, hint ... can we get the demo (played at GenCon) as an intro to S&S.
My next session was today. Third scenario was fun and we plowed through it without much worry as opposed to the second which was on the last blessing. I'd have to say that my Paizo experience was great this week.
Tanis, big applause. You were a great leader for the PFSACG. Thank you very much for all your help and guidance. Always with a smile. And you didn't lose you voice. And you answered all my questions. Even though they weren't all together. :-O
(And I applaud the work you've done on the organized play scenarios!!)
Vic, very glad to have met you. You were always there to run demos. Again, your attitude was amazing. Thanks for your help and your knowledge.
Mike, thank you for your product. It has made a huge splash. I felt bad catching you in the middle of your walk through the hall to get your John Hancock on my S&S box. But I appreciate it. Very friendly guy.
And Jim Zub, thanks for the signatures on all the comics and the Harsk on my blank cover. It was very nice to meet with you, talk about the comic storyline and get to know that the comic writing is in good hands.
And finally, to all the Paizo staff and their volunteers. Very nice and very helpful. Thank you for making our GenCon/Paizo experince a good one.
Theryon/David
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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... And the Coup de grace was playing Jirelle twice as a reward for completing the path..
Can you elaborate on this, please? Was one of the rewards for playing through the organized play scenarios that you got to "unlock" a character from the S&S set or something strange like that?
Yes. If you were able to complete the path that unlocked the ability to play Jirelle in organized play with the rogue class deck.
Was fun :)
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Hi all!
Just got home form Gencon. I played in MANY sessions of the PACG and had a GREAT time.All the staff did an OUTSTANDING job creating a great experience. From mustering to playing to being just fun!
I was able to complete the adventure path twice.
Cleric Zarlova
Ranger AgnaAlso played
Fighter Tontelizi scenarios 1-5
Bard Siwar scenarios 1 and 4And the Coup de grace was playing Jirelle twice as a reward for completing the path.
I look forward to playing more hopefully a local group will take up the organized play.
I believe I was playing a couple sessions with you!! I was looking for Scenario 5 and we both ended up doing 4 again instead, I used a fighter for that session.
I did complete Scenario 5 in the 4-6 pm slot on Saturday but that was it for me so my Sorc (Amaryllis) is one slot shy of finishing the adventure.
LOVED the game, ended up buying S&S, Add-on Deck and 2 class decks (Sorc/Fighter) Played a session with some friends on Friday night as well and hoping to organize some local gaming here soon.
Sam
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Mike, thank you for your product. It has made a huge splash. I felt bad catching you in the middle of your walk through the hall to get your John Hancock on my S&S box. But I appreciate it. Very friendly guy.
Never feel bad about taking up my time to compliment me.
And Jim Zub, thanks for the signatures on all the comics and the Harsk on my blank cover. It was very nice to meet with you, talk about the comic storyline and get to know that the comic writing is in good hands.
Love that Zub.
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I played a single Friday slot of the card game guild. I had mentioned the game to a bunch of my friends that I only see at Gen Con and they really wanted to play with me despite not being very familiar with the card game. I had managed to get all the class decks at the very end of early access and had given the group a primer about how to create decks. It ended up being a lot easier to have them make decks than I though - there is not a lot of choice in the basic cards. I chose the cleric of Cayden Cailean and I literally used all my deck's basic items, allies and armor, for example. The wizard deck doesn't even contain enough B armors to build a starting deck for the necromancer(we were told to go ahead and use the 1 armor). (Yes there is a wizard with 2 armors.)
So I showed up with a six player group, two of whom had beaten Runelords and four of whom had basically played only once, and that last year at Gen Con.
The volunteer organizing things warned us away from having a six player group but allowed us to override him. We all wanted to play together.
They graciously set up a set for 6 players for us. Then the volunteer felt like he had to explain every single little thing. I suppose I should have been more rude and just told him "yes we get it" but he was so earnest I felt bad about interrupting him. But we ended up losing about 10 minutes of play time between the extra set up and the long winded explanations about what a scenario was.
We lost. We found one henchman near the top of its deck early, then hit a long stretch where there were no henchmen. Even trying to explore 2-3 times a turn we went through 2 full rounds (12 turns) with nothing really progressing. We found the villain via some primitive scouting and I think we erred by not spreading out and going for the temporary close, which is probably my inexperience with large groups(usually I play with 2). My cleric died on his last turn due to a nasty vine creeper dinging my deck for 4, and the group ran out of blessings time about 30 seconds before time was called on the slot.
Most of my group didn't care to register or advance characters as they were just giving the game a try. My girlfriend decided to go ahead and keep her necromancer and take a card upgrade. They had fun and felt the loss was mostly due to bad luck of having nearly all the henchmen/villain near the bottom of the location decks, plus a couple really bad die rolls (seriously like a 6 on 2d4+d8+d10). For my part it being the first scenario it's not like character death was a harsh result.
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I played five sessions at Gen Con. I chose to play Lem, and was pretty impressed with the Class Deck version, as well as the class deck in general.
Session one was the first slot of the con, Thursday at 8. It started pretty well, but we just weren't finding the villain or his henchmen. When we got through a deck and found that the last card wasn't a henchman either, we realized they hadn't been dealt into the deck. (We'd come to the table with the scenario set up for us.) I let Tanis know that we were inadvertently playing Hard mode. She came by, fixed our location decks, and thanked us for being good sports during the very first slot of PFSACG play. It was a close game from then on in, but we ended up timing out from the blessings deck. We were curious and checked: the villain was the very next card in the last player's location deck, if only he'd had another explore-granting card we would have had a shot at it. Thankfully, I still got to upgrade my deck: I got to pick a spell 1 and slotted Rage in.
Session two was later on Thursday. I ended up playing this one with my friends; we ended up with a full table of six. We as a group had various amounts of experience with the game, and as a result weren't exploiting the various synergies a six player group can expect to have. We fought the villain a couple of times but weren't spread out well enough to temporarily close locations, so we timed out again. But I did snag a helpful upgrade for my deck (Ally B), and as a group we got exposure to how a six player game goes, so there's that. :)
I'll compose another post later to chronicle my Friday and Sunday games. (Spoiler alert: I would eventually succeed at Scenario 1)
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I played a total of 9 sessions over the course of the convention, 2 of them failed due to the blessings deck, 1 due to the slot time expiring. My main character got thru all 6 scenarios, and my secondary was only used in the session where real time expired.
IMO, the most difficult scenarios were the 1st and 4th. The first is very swingy, based on the fact that your character decks are especially weak. As well, people were less familiar with the abilities of their characters (as they were all new), and there were many new players. One of the main reasons my group had time expire in the one session was that a GM stopped by and got into a long conversation with a new player about how all of the different products worked - good promotion, but not great in a 2 hour slot where 2 out of 4 people are learning the game. The 4th scenario was a boon hunt, requiring you to close every location. Our 5 experienced players got it on the very last card of the Blessings deck.
The 2 scenarios I failed were 1st and 3rd, but I don't believe the 3rd was particularly hard, just bad luck.
A lot of people complained about the 2nd scenario, but my group sailed through without difficulty. I think our success was due to evaluating things ahead of time, and responding appropriately to the locations.
Overall, the scenarios had well-written backstories and a few interesting twists. One scenario uses the same Location in multiple places. One scenario had a Henchman printed on the scenario card, and you just used proxies in the decks. Other scenarios summoned extra Henchman & Villains, or strengthened the Villain based on the remaining Henchmen, or had no Villain. I will be interested in seeing the price point on the Adventure package.
A couple of things tripped up the table GMs. The Adventure Number for these scenarios was 1, not 0. Even if you fail the scenario, you get to upgrade your deck by dividing acquired cards and plunder.
Overall for the completed 6 scenarios and adventure, I received the following: 3 card pulls, 1 skill feat, 1 power feat, 1 card feat, the ability to use the 2 Loot cards in setting up future scenarios, and unlocking Jirelle as a playable character (using the Rogue Class Deck).
There was also a token given to us for every session we played. 2 Tokens allowed us a roll for a prize in the PFS room. Unfortunately for those of us who were only playing cards, the vast majority of those prizes were Boon sheets for PFS. Understandably, there was not much set up for our Season 0 sessions. Hopefully at future conventions there will either be a separate table for Guild, or we can have the option of getting something else instead. Not a complaint, just a constructive criticism for the future. I enjoyed giving the boons out to random players :)
We also received Goblin Keelhauling promos for playing.
Most importantly, it was a fun way to spend a lot of the convention. And I met and gamed with some really fun people. Justin & Jordyn, it was great meeting you!
And thanks to Tanis & the crew. They all put in long hours so we could have fun, and overall did a great job.
And I'm quite happy that I got my Base Set signed by the majority of the Lone Sharks :)
Advice for those wanting to run Guild games...
A Table GM is really only needed to run the 1st Scenario, especially if there are new players. Avoid getting into protracted discussions at those tables, however, as it really penalizes the group in a short session.
Later Scenarios really only need a co-ordinator of some sort to sign off on sheets, answer rules questions, monitor time, and check in on the group occasionally.
Make sure players know that losing the Scenario due to the Blessings Deck is not unusual, and you get a deck upgrade each time.
GM/Co-ordinators should concentrate on familiarity with the Org Play rules, and with new rules for the set (Ex: Ships). You will probably have players who can deal with most other rules issues, but need guidance in those areas.
Have Fun!
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Just got home from Gencon and wanted to drop my impressions of the PACG organized play. First, as some have said, 2 hours is too short if the people sitting down need to construct a deck. I strongly recommend having completely pre-built class decks if you run an event. In the room, they had the entire class decks to borrow, but the individual characters were not built. Yes, having an entirely built character deck reduces choices, but it would really speed up play.
Other than that, I had a blast. I played 5 sessions total and won 4/5. I played Scenario 1 twice with Valeros (failed first attempt and completed second) and Scenarios 1-3 with Ezren. I'm not in love with the Class deck version of Ezren, but I got to level him up a bit and think he will come into his own as he progresses.
I will say that it seems the class decks using the characters found in the base Skull and Shackles set do better at the scenarios. They are focused on barriers and monsters that appear in the new base set so this makes perfect sense. That does not mean that you cannot use the other characters. I do, however, suggest carefully reviewing the class deck variants to find one that has the most advantages in the S&S base set.
Overall, I had few complaints. The staff was great; the scenarios were very interesting. My only item I really want to know is when I can download the Gencon scenarios. I am itching to run this at a local game store and at my community college game club night.
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First World Bard: you were a great Lem! I was Arabundi and my brother was Flenta in that first slot. We both commented to each other a couple times over the weekend how quick to assist you were. You inspired me to play Meliski later in the weekend, which I liked a lot.
Doc76, we played with you too. You are a monster! Congrats for getting through the whole adventure twice!
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Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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Gah! You people are awesome! I'm absolutely giving away two prizes for this thread. I'll give people a few more days to weigh in and then do the contest drawing this weekend.
I'll also reply with some thoughts and well-deserved comments when I get a spare half-hour (which I absolutely don't have right now).
Thank you all for playing and posting. I would still love to see more.
I find the idea of unlocking characters for OP as a reward really interesting. I'd like to see/hear some more information on that.
I find the idea of unlocking characters for OP as a reward really interesting. I'd like to see/hear some more information on that.
+1 to this - I'd like to know whether we can expect other characters to become available as we go along.