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The following is based on my current knowledge and assumptions. If any is inaccurate, please enlighten me.
I recently attained my 4th star and have since started wondering about getting the 10 specials required to qualify for that 5th star. That's when it hit me...
The current specials which spring to mind are:
-Bonekeep Lvl 1 (4- and 5-star exclusive)
-Bonekeep Lvl 2 (Conventions only)
-Bonekeep Lvl 3 (Conventions only)
-Legacy of the Stonelords (Many-tabled gamedays)
From recent happenings, I come to gather a few things:
1) Multi-table specials are infrequent, rare enough to not be relied on to attain a 5th star with. (Ironically, the two specials I have run were these.)
2) At this point, everyone has played at least the first level of Bonekeep and the other two were heavily involved at the local cons since their release, so most everyone has played them.
2b) Of those who haven't played Bonekeep, they don't want to because of how horrible everyone makes it out to be.
So our current 4- or 5-star exclusive is a scenario that most people have either already played or are afraid they'll lose a character.
Perhaps this is filtered by the fact that I only just not got the 4th star as opposed to being around when it was first given x-EX status. However, as it stands, it seems to this one that a 4-star GM's ability to run specials is neutered to either Con's or the off chance a table of Bonekeep goes off.
Best recommendation I can offer is to not continue offering the Bonekeeps as -EX substitutes and return to a preview scenario as was "Cyphermage Dilemma" and "Day of the Demon".
Thoughts?
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I don't believe there was ever a big convention requirement. If nothing else, it would have made gaining a 5th star prohibitively expensive for people living in, say, Asia.
Sior, you can also gain credit by helping to run some of the less recent convention specials, like "Year of the Shadow Lodge" or "Siege of the Diamond City". Granted, there aren't a lot of conventions that are still running those, but you might, say, organize a game day at a con that could devote the requisite number of tables.
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Thoughts?
IIRC Mike said that they'd release a "normal" special (ie, not bonekeep) this year as the VO/4 star special. Depending on your area you can possibly run that a few times.
But yeah, I don't expect to become a 5 star GM for awhile, primarily because of the 10 specials requirement (locally there are only about 2 or maybe 3 opportunities a year to run a special).
Running specials at on-line events is another option if you're in a hurry.
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Granted, there aren't a lot of conventions that are still running those, but you might, say, organize a game day at a con that could devote the requisite number of tables.
Therein lies the issue. Those instances are few and far between, even for the online community with their bi-annual gamedays and Conlines.
Additional, I couldn't remember if the old specials counted as well.
Additional additional, the only thing I could find was this post by Mike Brock from 2010 stating that he had to personally witness at a con. This was before my time in PFS, so unsure on the specifics of the exact requirements before Season 4.
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Running specials at on-line events is another option if you're in a hurry.
Not so much in a hurry as a desire to get 'em done (and done well, mind you) as soon as I can so it doesn't have to be worried about when the time comes, hahaha.
Also, good to hear that there's (potentially) a new EX in the works. I was unable to attend PaizoCon or GenCon this past year, so missed the announcements.
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Thoughts?
IIRC Mike said that they'd release a "normal" special (ie, not bonekeep) this year as the VO/4 star special. Depending on your area you can possibly run that a few times.
But yeah, I don't expect to become a 5 star GM for awhile, primarily because of the 10 specials requirement (locally there are only about 2 or maybe 3 opportunities a year to run a special).
Running specials at on-line events is another option if you're in a hurry.
Come to Cangames in May for that precious special-running opportunity!
:-)
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This is the evidence pertaining to Paths We Choose
John Francis wrote:
I don't believe that it counts as a special for any purposes.
It was originally intended to be that way, but after some further consideration campaign management felt that it was too important a scenario to make it hard for anybody to get a chance to play it as early in season 6 as possible. As a result it was opened up so that anyone could run it (even a no-star GM at a single-table game day)
^this
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The older multi-table specials often only need 3 tables to run... a lot of areas can do that with some planning. It does not have to be at a "convention" per se. Also, there is no longer "Paizo approval" required for 5-stars. If you complete the requirements, you get your star.
I agree that the use of Bonekeeps as the Exclusives in recent years has made this very hard to accomplish if that isn't your group's style of play.
If there is a convention near you, try and get there to Gm a special. Another thing is to run Bonekeep online, either with a virtual tabletop or Play-by-post.
Hopefully this year's special will help you out.
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First, a potential 5-Star GM must have run a total of 150 Pathf inder Society game sessions, including at least 50 different adventures and 10 or more Specials or Exclusive events over your entire history as a GM.Second, once you qualify to be a 5-Star GM, you must work with your Venture-Captain to arrange to run a Pathfinder Society session in the presence of a Paizo staff member, a Venture-Captain, or a Venture-Lieutenant. This designated Paizo representative will evaluate your rules knowledge, improvisational skills, preparation, and ability to provide a fair and fun experience for Pathfinder Society players.
Finally, at the recommendation of the Paizo representative, you may be granted a 5th star, which will be noted on your paizo.com user profile, on your Pathfinder Society membership card, and on your posts to the Pathfinder Society messageboard at paizo.com. Paizo announces and recognizes all 5-Star GMs by name at both Paizo Con and Gen Con annually.
These are the requirements, simply put. :D
Note that the "Paizo representative" can be your FNVO (Friendly Neighborhood Venture Officer).
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So then the complete list of Adventures you can currently run and get Special credit for is:
- Bonekeep Lvl 1 (4- and 5-star exclusive)
- Bonekeep Lvl 2 (Conventions only)
- Bonekeep Lvl 3 (Conventions only)
- Year of the Shadow Lodge (3 table gamedays)
- Blood Under Absalom (4 table gamedays)
- Race for the Ruincarved Key (4 table gamedays)
- Siege of the Diamond City (5 table gamedays)
- Legacy of the Stonelords (5 table gamedays)
Is this correct? Am I missing anything?
I only have 3 Specials under my belt. I have a long way to go.
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So then the complete list of Adventures you can currently run and get Special credit for is:
- Bonekeep Lvl 1 (4- and 5-star exclusive)
- Bonekeep Lvl 2 (Conventions only)
- Bonekeep Lvl 3 (Conventions only)
- Year of the Shadow Lodge (3 table gamedays)
- Blood Under Absalom (4 table gamedays)
- Race for the Ruincarved Key (4 table gamedays)
- Siege of the Diamond City (5 table gamedays)
- Legacy of the Stonelords (5 table gamedays)Is this correct? Am I missing anything?
I only have 3 Specials under my belt. I have a long way to go.
With the new Core Campaign, there might be more demand for a repeat of some of those games.
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A year or so ago there was an online VTT version of Year of the Shadow Lodge. That worked pretty well, and was fun. (The one technical issue was that using YouTube streaming for the "full-room" announcements meant that people at one table heard them starting up to 90 seconds different in time, so the GM would start talkinging again while you were still hearing the announcement.)
At an online con a couple of months ago (whose name I have forgotten, and I feel bad about that) I believe they ran "Siege of the Diamond City". (Is that right?)
Have there been other online VTT sessions of specials organized by the online VOs?
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I think those were the only two instances of a multi-table special.
We have (had) two local conventions annually. Last convention saw a few Bonekeeps not go off and, if I recall, two of the (same) multi-table specials.
'Legacy' was run at a mini-con back in November.
This past weekend was the last PFS con and zero tables of Bonekeep went off. It was previously established here that the multi-table specials were likely to not get run any more locally until a new one comes out.
I can see multi-table specials being run again under Core rules, but probably definitely not Bonekeeps. I don't think people are going to feel safe with the CRB restrictions. But time will tell.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic
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Bonekeep has not been authorized to be played as play by post due to the time restriction (at least as I've been informed from the 3th pbp gameday)
But virtual tabletop is legit as far as I know.
Yeah, with the 5 hour timelimit on Bonekeep a PbP wouldn't get past character introduction!
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Yeah, with the 5 hour timelimit on Bonekeep a PbP wouldn't get past character introduction!Bonekeep has not been authorized to be played as play by post due to the time restriction (at least as I've been informed from the 3th pbp gameday)
But virtual tabletop is legit as far as I know.
Seems ideal, everyone can claim to have played bonekeep and survived the entire time slot^^
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Just a note that the last Exclusive, Day of the Demon, came out Feb 26 2013.
In a month's time, it'll be over two years since an Exclusive was released.
A new Exclusive is well overdue.
bonekeep is the last exclusive to drop. they have been pretty good at dropping 1 per year. besides now all the specials and bonekeep have been given a replay chance with the core campaign.
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bonekeep is the last exclusive to drop. they have been pretty good at dropping 1 per year. besides now all the specials and bonekeep have been given a replay chance with the core campaign.Just a note that the last Exclusive, Day of the Demon, came out Feb 26 2013.
In a month's time, it'll be over two years since an Exclusive was released.
A new Exclusive is well overdue.
I don't know why people keep mentioning the Core Campaign changing this any. It doesn't matter how many times you GM Bonekeep, even if you can't keep applying credit to characters it still counts for getting your 5th Star.
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I don't know why people keep mentioning the Core Campaign changing this any. It doesn't matter how many times you GM Bonekeep, even if you can't keep applying credit to characters it still counts for getting your 5th Star.bonekeep is the last exclusive to drop. they have been pretty good at dropping 1 per year. besides now all the specials and bonekeep have been given a replay chance with the core campaign.Just a note that the last Exclusive, Day of the Demon, came out Feb 26 2013.
In a month's time, it'll be over two years since an Exclusive was released.
A new Exclusive is well overdue.
Because a lot of people have played Bonekeep already...nobody (probably) has played Bonekeep with their CORE play through yet maybe?
EDIT: So a LOT more potential current players that can play it for credit now...
Re-EDIT: and ninja'd by 2 lousy seconds =p
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Have there been other online VTT sessions of specials organized by the online VOs?
I have GM credit for Year of the Shadow Lodge, Blood Under Absalom, Race for the Runecarved Key, and Siege of the Diamond City from Conline and other online conventions. There was also a run of Legacy of the Stonelords that I unfortunately missed out on due to work schedule conflicts.
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Because the limiting factor on running Bonekeep is people who haven't played it yet that want to play it. Being able to replay it in Core will allow some individuals who have already played it in the normal game who wish to play it again (without burning a GM star), which allows another table of it to happen.I don't know why people keep mentioning the Core Campaign changing this any. It doesn't matter how many times you GM Bonekeep, even if you can't keep applying credit to characters it still counts for getting your 5th Star.bonekeep is the last exclusive to drop. they have been pretty good at dropping 1 per year. besides now all the specials and bonekeep have been given a replay chance with the core campaign.Just a note that the last Exclusive, Day of the Demon, came out Feb 26 2013.
In a month's time, it'll be over two years since an Exclusive was released.
A new Exclusive is well overdue.
I am not sure I have that many masochists in the area.
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Because the limiting factor on running Bonekeep is people who haven't played it yet that want to play it. Being able to replay it in Core will allow some individuals who have already played it in the normal game who wish to play it again (without burning a GM star), which allows another table of it to happen.I am not sure I have that many masochists in the area.
Aye, same here.
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This isn't so much about replayability, Seth, merely the lack of specials or exclusives available.
Previous multi-table specials have been done repeatedly and (locally) will likely not be run again any time soon, including the most recent.
The current exclusive is Bonekeep which was available before becoming an exclusive. Hence, most everyone has played it already and have no interest in a replay, and those who have not played it have no interest in doing so.
So unless I start launching into gameday preparations with older specials trying to find sufficient number of people to play (or replay with stars or replay with Core), it's not looking likely to be able to run these specials until a new EX is released.
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Remember that the Gen Con Specials can be a mixture of Core and Normal; while each individual table has to be one or the other, you could have three core tables and 2 normal tables, or 4 normals and 1 core and so on. I bet you could get Jesse Davis to set up a mixed core/normal special or two online as well.
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This is actually a pretty good deal for we GMs who are at (or near) 4 stars. I am hoping that the local organizers will start running a few more specials (maybe getting 2-3 per year, at least, outside of our local Con of the North).
I'll be hitting 4 stars running Legacy of the Stonelords at Con of the North (very fitting!), but this will only be my 4th special (no exclusives yet since Paths We Choose is no longer a special).
I was easily going to hit 150 table credits long before I hit the specials requirement... now I might get the chance to do it in under 2 more years (still will be rough without non-Bonekeep exclusives).
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This isn't so much about replayability, Seth, merely the lack of specials or exclusives available.
Previous multi-table specials have been done repeatedly and (locally) will likely not be run again any time soon, including the most recent.
The current exclusive is Bonekeep which was available before becoming an exclusive. Hence, most everyone has played it already and have no interest in a replay, and those who have not played it have no interest in doing so.
So unless I start launching into gameday preparations with older specials trying to find sufficient number of people to play (or replay with stars or replay with Core), it's not looking likely to be able to run these specials until a new EX is released.
Assuming you have enough players on board with Core to make enough tables to do the Specials again, then yes, it is about replayability. Aside from scheduling conflicts or lack of players, I see no reason why you guys couldnt run the Specials again if you really wanted to.
