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What I do want, however, is to be able to keep up on Golarion canon, and if there is material containing such that I cannot buy as a Paizo customer, I feel a bit like a second-class customer.hmm? Anyone canbuy scenarios. YOu can use them for a home game.
Anyone can buy scenarios, but most have to wait a year for the current convention special to be available for purchase. (I specifically volunteered to run the specials when I wasn't a VO so I wouldn't have to wait to know what was happening.)
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The specials for the most part have been focused mainly on the Society rather than Golarion at large. I suppose there may be some canon material mentioned, but the biggest example of that was Race for the Runecarved Key Part 2, run only once at Gencon. Such a scenario has specifically not be done since then due to the limited use versus development costs. Have you purchased the earlier season specials Zaister, and found them to contain the kind of information you want?
I know the scenarios are not brimming with world info, and that is not what I mean. Of course it is also a completionist issue. I just feel artificially restricting an unrestricterd resource such as PDF files is somewhat silly.
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I know the scenarios are not brimming with world info, and that is not what I mean. Of course it is also a completionist issue. I just feel artificially restricting an unrestricterd resource such as PDF files is somewhat silly.
If it were just restricting PDF files, I would agree. I can understand the logic behind restricting exclusive content until its purpose as convention incentive is fulfilled. Even if I really want to be able to run Bonekeep Part 2 right now.
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hmm? Anyone canbuy scenarios. YOu can use them for a home game.
No, they can't and that's exactly my point. These specials are usually restricted. At first they are only available to GMs that run them at PaizoCon/GenCon, and later only to 4- or 5-star GMs. Some, but not all are made available years later.
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If it were just restricting PDF files, I would agree. I can understand the logic behind restricting exclusive content until its purpose as convention incentive is fulfilled. Even if I really want to be able to run Bonekeep Part 2 right now.
I'm OK with the fact that I can't run the scenarios officially if I don't fulfill some condition. I'd just like to be able to read them, is all. I know well that I'll quite likely never run any kind of PFS scenarion, and still I buy them all.
Even if I wanted to run scenarios, what good does that do me if the VC in question does not answer any requests.
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hmm? Anyone canbuy scenarios. YOu can use them for a home game.No, they can't and that's exactly my point. These specials are usually restricted. At first they are only available to GMs that run them at PaizoCon/GenCon, and later only to 4- or 5-star GMs. Some, but not all are made available years later.
There's only a few a year. Most people can manage to get
They have incredibly little to no lore impact on the game
Shouldn't we get a reward for running all these games for PFS?
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What's stopping your home gaming group from playing PFS? What's stopping you from organizing these bigger events every now and then in your area? No, you're not going to be able to run, or even read, some of the one-off adventures because likely they weren't even published. I remember reading about one that was just a Word document. Paizo is not going to release a Word document, and they're not going to put in the money and time to format something for publishing that can't be used in-game.
i am talking about scenarios that are listed as published products on this site, and are probably available to buy for the "appropriate" GMs while for the uninitiated they just show up as "unavailable".
What's stopping me? For one the things I already listed above, and also the fact that I don't necessarily want to submit my home campaign(s) to the restrictive rulings of the PFS.
If some people getting something you don't/can't because they went to a convention that you didn't/couldn't makes you feel "second-class" then I'm sorry your self-perception is so fragile. No one is ever going to have access to everything. Paizo is not going to cheapen the experience of those who managed to be there by releasing that exclusive experience to everyone.
No offense, but maybe it's you who is "fragile" if you think your convention experience is "cheapened" because someone on another continent can read the scenario you played.
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Just as an aside: the VC listed for my city is Markus Lambertz. I have tried to contact him by email and via this forum, but I have never gotten any kind of response. He has one post on this forum, and does not seem to have any GM stars. I just checked the list again and I see there is now a second person listed as venture lieutenant (i'm not quite sure what that entails). That person also has exactly one post on the forum. The PFS events page has no events listed for Germany at all (or anywhere outside the US). How would I even be able to participate if I wanted? Or run a game?
where can I see what qualifications the Gm stars imply? I've been combing th PFS resource pages but I can't seem to find that.
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Just as an aside: the VC listed for my city is Markus Lambertz. I have tried to contact him by email and via this forum, but I have never gotten any kind of response. He has one post on this forum, and does not seem to have any GM stars. I just checked the list again and I see there is now a second person listed as venture lieutenant (i'm not quite sure what that entails). That person also has exactly one post on the forum. The PFS events page has no events listed for Germany at all (or anywhere outside the US). How would I even be able to participate if I wanted? Or run a game?
Anyone can actually run a game. You don't need to get approval from the venture officers. To run a game, all you need to do is make sure the paperwork is done properly at the game, create an event in the system, and report the results.
Unfortunately, the Events section of the PFS site is not a reliable place to look for upcoming events. Each area tends to use their own method of advertising events. If a google search on your city or nearby cities and Pathfinder Society comes up empty, try asking at a local game shop (if there is one).
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It seems the peroson ostenibly in charge of PFS in Cologne does not even reside or hold events in Cologne but in Aachen only which is a good 40 miles away, which certainly is not just around the corner.
PFS is very patchwork. There's no way to guarantee a pfs cluster in every city.
The organization is rather disconnected as well. If you don't know where the local pfs is they can be a little hard to get a hold of.
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where can I see what qualifications the Gm stars imply? I've been combing th PFS resource pages but I can't seem to find that.
I believe it's explained in the free-to-download Guide to Organized Play.
Stars don't represent qualifications, but they do imply experience. If you have 1 star, that means 10+ games have been reported with you as the GM.
2 stars = 30+ games
3 stars = 60+ games
4 stars = 100+ games
And 5 stars = 150+ games, including 10 "specials", and an observation by a Venture Officer.
I, for example, have run approximately 180 games, but lack the requisite number of specials.
Stars give you minor in-game boons, also explained in the Guide.
But you and I have the exact same ability (and restrictions) to download and run whatever games we want. The site doesn't "open up" depending on your number of stars.
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But, it doesn't matter if you have 1, 5, or 0 stars.
You still can't download them.
Their availability is unchanged.
*headscratch* hows it going to work then? Hopefully I'll hit 4 stars this year *knocks on head* and then be able to download (i think the kobold one is the 4 start, 5 stars has a defacto convention requirement)
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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It seems the peroson ostenibly in charge of PFS in Cologne does not even reside or hold events in Cologne but in Aachen only which is a good 40 miles away, which certainly is not just around the corner.
Ok usually I would send you a PM, but since players in a similar situatuion might see this, the public response seems to have an advantage.
In no particular Order:
- In Germany, some areas have a stronger cummunity, and in some areas, you will have quite a drive ahead of you (car or train). I just came back from our monthly Game Day in Frankfurt (from 9 am to about 10/11 PM - though I usually don't get home until 3, for a number of reasons, mostly arguing ^^)
Here is the Warhorn link, if you are interested, I drive there from Aschaffenburg every single week at least once, and other players drive far longer distances.
Game Day in Frankfurt am Main
- Next weekend my VO and VL will travel with me to Würzburg (nice town, plenty of students playing RPGs) to attend Main Würfel Con to offer some replayables (the Main Würfel Con team asked very nicely when we met them at the last convention we attended - Cave con in Aschaffenburg.
- We have a yearly convention, where you might actually be able to play the scenarios you want to play (the event listing is not quite done yet, but we plan to offer the new specials):
German Pathfinder Society Convention 2015
German Pathfinder Society Convention 2015
5-6 Sep in Aschaffenburg, BY, DEVerehrte Pathfinder von Nah und Fern,
es ist endlich soweit, die Einschreibungen für unsere große German Pathfinder Society Convention 2015 am 05. und 06. September 2015 in Aschaffenburg haben offiziell begonnen.
Die Details zu den angebotenen Szenarios werden wir erst einstellen können, wenn diese von Paizo offiziell angekündigt wurden und wir einen entsprechenden Rundenplan erstellt haben. Anmelden könnt ihr euch natürlich bereits jetzt schon und wir werden Updates per E-Mail bekannt geben, sobald diese verfügbar sind.
Wir können euch jetzt schon verraten, dass das Programm neben den Abschluss-Abenteuern der 6. PFS Staffel “Year of the Sky Key“ auch zwei interaktive Specials Level 1 – 11 beinhalten wird.
Stattfinden wird die Con, mit fantastischer Unterstützung des Jugend- und Kulturzentrums, im schönen Aschaffenburg in folgender Adresse:
Jugendtreff Hockstraße
Hockstraße 1
63743 Aschaffenburg
Link: http://jukuz.de/jukuz/83-0-jugendtreff-hockstrasse.html
Eintritt: KOSTENLOS für alle Teilnehmer!
Übernachten könnt ihr sowohl direkt vor Ort in euren mitgebrachten Schlafsäcken oder in einer der Aschaffenburger Jugendherbergen, Hostels, Pensionen oder Hotels. Denkt daran, euch rechtzeitig ein Zimmer zu reservieren.
Was das leibliche Wohl angeht, habt ihr die freie Wahl zwischen Selbstversorgung oder dem kulinarischen Angebot vor Ort: Gegen einen geringen Kostenbeitrag erwarten euch Frühstück, Kaffee-Flatrate und warmes Essen wie bereits in 2014. Ein Kaufland ist nur 100m Fußmarsch entfernt vom Veranstaltungsort. Getränke seid ihr lieb gebeten vor Ort vom Verein zu kaufen und nicht selbst mit herein zu bringen. Vielen Dank hier schon mal für euer Verständnis.
Behaltet euch ein paar Euro in der Hinterhand, denn wir werden erneut eine Losziehung an beiden Tagen veranstalten um die großzügige Produktunterstützung von Paizo unters Volk zu bringen. Außerdem werdet ihr an jedem Tisch an dem ihr mitspielt die Chance haben, einzigartige Convention-Boons zu gewinnen.
Wenn ihr noch interessierte Spieler kennt, leitet ihnen den Link zu dieser Seite gern weiter.
Also dann, auf und registriert euch – es warten Spaß, Spannung und fantastische Gesellschaft auf der German Pathfinder Society Convention 2015.
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- Personally I play every week in Frankfurt, and CAN very much find this event in the Paizo event finder:
[url=https://warhorn.net/events/frankfurt-pfs]PFS in Frankfurt
You actually have to toggel the Gemany option in the event finder to get something like this :
Germany
Hamburg Atlantis
Atlantis Sat, Apr 25
Karlsruhe PFS Gameday Karlsruhe
Spiele-Pyramide Karlsruhe Sat, Apr 11
Ludwigsburg PFS @ Ludwigsburg
Fantasy Stronghold Sat, Apr 11
Sat, Apr 25
Remscheid-Lennep Klingen Con
ALTES HALLENBAD JUGENDZENTRUM "DIE WELLE" Sat, Apr 11
Frankfurt am Main (Nieder-Eschbach), Hesse PFS Gaming Day (Rhein/Main Area, Germany)
Die Banane Sat, Apr 11
Frankfurt/Main, Hessen The Lodge of the Ring in Season 6
Die Banane Tue, Apr 14
Mon, Apr 20
Tue, Apr 28
Dortmund, NRW Tellurian PFS
Tellurian Games Fri, Apr 17
Fri, Apr 24
Düsseldorf, NW Pathfinder Society Rhein-Ruhr
Mage Store Düsseldorf Sat, Apr 11
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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It seems the peroson ostenibly in charge of PFS in Cologne does not even reside or hold events in Cologne but in Aachen only which is a good 40 miles away, which certainly is not just around the corner.
VCs and VOs thend to change, and some do cover a pretty large area. Ideally, you want to have VLs in the various cities, but that is not quite as easy to accomplish.
I don't personally recall meeting the VO in your area, so I really can't answer why your inquiry was unanswered, but it might just have ended up in a spam folder, or maybe that person is no longer active in PFS (the Guide is updated only once per year).
My suggestion would be to try PFS at the next convention that is reasonably close to your location. The yearly convention in Aschaffenburg might not be the ideal place to start... but take that suggestion with a bit of salt, I started PFS there ... and the first scenario was Bonekeep 3 (which is somewhat hard)... and I have been hooked ever since.
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You can actually report some of your home games, it is called campaign mode and the PFS restrictions don't apply. The issue is a bit complicated, but I am sure, that we could explain it to you if you are interested.
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Without travelling a bit, or establishing your own game in your area, it might be difficult to start, but a number of GMs already offer games over virtual table top (usually with the addition of google+ or skype so you can actually see your GM/players).
It is hardly ideal, but building a PFS community in area is a quite time intensive endeavor (it helps to live in a city with plenty of students), and unfortunately some areas are not covered quite as well (though I hear that even in some parts of the USA, you have to drive quite a bit).
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If you have any more question, feel free to ask here or if you want to talks about sensitive information per PM(I try to do this in the forum, so new players can find it / people can tell me when I am dead wrong).
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The only issue I have with only allowing it for 4-5 star GMs is, that these scenarios are unlikely to be offered at all tables at bigger conventions outside the US. At least in Germany we have more VOs (14) than 4-5 star GMs (3, all VOs). And we only have one 5-star GM at the moment, so he would have a hard time offering the chance of playing a kobold or an aspis agent to all players in the country. (And really, who doesn't want to play either of these ;D).
Also, i would really like to run both the exclusives :DNow seeing that it is quite the accomplishment to get to that many tables run and it should be rewarded, I can understand if such a corner case does not really factor into the decision. But just thought I'd add my two cents.
Well, let´s not complain, let´s get more games going!
Isn´t this an inspiration somehow?The specials are there and can be run once 4/5 stars are reached!
Oh and german PFS online games can be found here.
There´s a game nearly every week!
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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The only issue I have with only allowing it for 4-5 star GMs is, that these scenarios are unlikely to be offered at all tables at bigger conventions outside the US. At least in Germany we have more VOs (14) than 4-5 star GMs (3, all VOs). And we only have one 5-star GM at the moment, so he would have a hard time offering the chance of playing a kobold or an aspis agent to all players in the country. (And really, who doesn't want to play either of these ;D).
Also, i would really like to run both the exclusives :DNow seeing that it is quite the accomplishment to get to that many tables run and it should be rewarded, I can understand if such a corner case does not really factor into the decision. But just thought I'd add my two cents.
Well, let´s not complain, let´s get more games going!
Isn´t this an inspiration somehow?
The specials are there and can be run once 4/5 stars are reached!Oh and german PFS online games can be found here.
There´s a game nearly every week!
Good luck with the online thing ^^ it should be a viable option for quite a lot of players, and you seem to offer quite a number of great scenarios.
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Thanks Sebastian and Benjamin for your information. The warhorn.net website Benjamin mentions lists some events but strangely seems to make no mention of where those events are being held. Weird.
Weeknights 7-11pm games as the ones listed there are basically useless to me unless they are in Cologne. Traveling to cities like Würzburg, or even Frankfurt is out of the question for me, because I could no get to them on time or get back home in the evening. I don't own a car or even have a licence, and going by train is much too expensive for this purpose. To be honest, even a city such as Aachen is already out of the question due to the timing alone. I know this is my fault alone, but it's the way it is.
Campaign mode sounds interesting, where can I find more information about this? I can't find it in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, and googling doesn't help either. I understand PFS has completely different rules for experience and advancement that a home campaign. Is that different in campaign mode? Does is support levels higher than 12?
Regaring the venture officers: the documents about duties and expectations lists certain things such as at lea one organized game per month and so on. If people become inactive, shouldn't they be noted as such or removed?
EDIT: just noted the warhorn.net stuff is online gaming – then it makes sense no location is mentioned. I still have no clue how an online game is supposed to work.
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The events on the warhorn page i linked don´t list locations because they are held online via roll20.net.
If you are on Facebook you can also join the Facebook group to find games and new players.
I suggest you try contacting the VO´s there again, go to a local gamestore or search via a website like Spielerzentrale for other local players and start your own PFS games.
For online games, all you need is a PC, internet, a headset and your character sheet. Then you register on warhorn and roll20.net and apply for a game. You can also make yourself familiar with those sites a bit before, not a very complicated thing.
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My numbers are way off for 2013 and 2014, since the guy who organized for the store at first (after our VO got us started and went on to other things) never reported anything and then dropped off the face of the Society when one of the shop owners took that over from him. I could go count my physical chronicles, but I'm lazy, so here it is.
Year - Player - GM - Total
2013 - 2 - 1 - 3
2014 - 6 - 5 - 11
2015 - 5 - 4 - 9
We're stuck in the situation of hosting at a small local game shop that also hosts events for a whole bunch of other stuff - PFS competes with Magic, Warhammer, HeroClix, Star Trek: Attack Wing, Star Wars: X-Wing, board game nights, and a few others besides. We get one Saturday afternoon a month where we have table priority; other than that it's a crapshoot.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Thanks Sebastian and Benjamin for your information. The warhorn.net website Benjamin mentions lists some events but strangely seems to make no mention of where those events are being held. Weird.
Weeknights 7-11pm games as the ones listed there are basically useless to me unless they are in Cologne. Traveling to cities like Würzburg, or even Frankfurt is out of the question for me, because I could no get to them on time or get back home in the evening. I don't own a car or even have a licence, and going by train is much too expensive for this purpose. To be honest, even a city such as Aachen is already out of the question due to the timing alone. I know this is my fault alone, but it's the way it is.
Campaign mode sounds interesting, where can I find more information about this? I can't find it in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, and googling doesn't help either. I understand PFS has completely different rules for experience and advancement that a home campaign. Is that different in campaign mode? Does is support levels higher than 12?
Regaring the venture officers: the documents about duties and expectations lists certain things such as at lea one organized game per month and so on. If people become inactive, shouldn't they be noted as such or removed?
EDIT: just noted the warhorn.net stuff is online gaming – then it makes sense no location is mentioned. I still have no clue how an online game is supposed to work.
Campaign Mode pretty much means that you and your players can run an entire and some of the larger 64 page modules pretty much any way you want, and get the PFS chronicles and GM credit.
So if you want to add several large complicated political subplots to Kingmaker (highly recommend it worked very well for me), use Ponyfinder material with Legacy of Fire... add mythic content to Rise of the Runelords or remove the mythic from wrath of the Righteous... you can.
I appreciate the fact, that weekday games in other cities might not be an option for you (but as Benjamin suggested online games might work for you) coming to a game day (we usually start at 9 AM ) or to a two day convention might be an option for you (the convention in September should feature all the specials mentioned in this thread).
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Sebastian, thanks for your explanation. I will keep the September convention in mind.
How is GM credit handled with campaign mode? What counts as a "session"? Is there any more documentation about this then in the Guide to Organized Play? Is that the "RPG" checkbox on the module in the event creating form?
Sorry for the many questions.
Venture-Lieutenant, Texas—Houston
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That is false. every online convention that the online VOs have submitted a request for has received support, including PDFs for GMs and prize suppor in the form of product PDFs and boons.I see this complaint a lot still and I do not really see it as a valid one anymore. There is a very strong online community with 4 and 5 star gms and online conventions for both VTT and PbP, they even give out boons. The games are there you just need to look a little harder. Try reaching out to one of the Online VOs (yes there are specific VOs just for online play) who would love to show you how to get started.That's a fair statement to make. However, not every online convention gets Paizo support. To further complicate matters, those conventions are still held to a standard that's expected for RL conventions in order to qualify being able to run special events. Speaking from experience, that's rather extraordinary for it to occur.
Mike is correct, there was only one 1 Online Convention that I never received the boon from for GMing and Playing, but that was not because it was not supported, I found out that the organizer had some issues and email him myself and was able to get the boons I was missing... All conventions that SIGN UP ON TIME are supported.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Texas—Houston
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As far as rewarding 4 & 5 star GMs, they get a +4 or +5 respectively to their reroll in every game and they get to replay 4 or 5 scenarios (per recharge, which may be a seasonal thing), right? That said, I understand that some scenarios are complicated enough that they should probably only be run by experienced GMs and the star system helps build confidence in the experience of said GMs. Scenarios that fit that bill should probably be limited to 4/5 star GMs just to ensure they are run correctly each and every time (although there will probably still be a few cases where there are errors made).How often do you think 4 and 5 star GMs play compared to the time they spend GMing? Do you think the bonus to one reroll a game and replay is sufficient reward for someone who has dedicated more than 500 volunteer hours to PFS to give at least 400-600 people entertainment? Or should we strive for providing additional rewards for those folks?
In my experience, most 4 and 5 star GMs run games because they take great pride and pleasure in doing so, often more than they like playing. Shouldn't we provide rewards that fuel into that passion?
I am going to say this to further Mike's statement on this, I am only a 3 star GM, I'm about to be 4 star and I will already have my 10 specials done by the time I get my 4th star, but I will say as I am developing a new area into PFS, I run EVERY week at least once, and if I get to play one time a month - I am lucky. I do not mind this, but I wanted to make it clear, I don't mind 4/5 exclusives... even if VOs do not have access to them until a year later.
Also, I started with PFS June 1, 2013 at A-kon 24.
2013 -> Played 35/ GM 9
2014 -> Played 22/ GM 39
2015 -> Played 2 / GM 11
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Venture-Lieutenant, Texas—Houston
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Sebastian, thanks for your explanation. I will keep the September convention in mind.
How is GM credit handled with campaign mode? What counts as a "session"? Is there any more documentation about this then in the Guide to Organized Play? Is that the "RPG" checkbox on the module in the event creating form?
Sorry for the many questions.
HOPE THIS HELPS, IF IT DOESN'T PM ME / Email me jlgibe@att.net
How is GM credit handled with campaign mode? It is like running the Rise of the Runelords, when the group completes the first book, you can give them a chronicle sheet for part 1 and allow them to apply it to any PFS character within the level range. They will get 3xp, 4pp, and the gold listed on the chronicle sheet for completing the entire book, each book completed would earn 1 level for a PFS character the player chooses to apply it to. You record it and get 2 GM points as well.
What counts as a "session"? Slot 4-8 time period where a PFS Game or Module is scheduled. Table 3-6 people playing in a slot. Sessions are How many slots x tables.
For example My con runs 3 days. It has a total of 3 slots per day (9 total slots) and we anticipate 3 tables per slot (3x9 = 27).
That's 27 sessions.
Is there any more documentation about this then in the Guide to Organized Play? YES
Is that the "RPG" checkbox on the module in the event creating form? NO, that checkbox is to determine if you are playing Pathfinder Society or Core Campaign (Core Campaign can only use things from the Core Rulebook or Chronicle sheets, if the player has the appropriate reference materials.)
Sorry for the many questions.
NO PROBLEM.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Sebastian, thanks for your explanation. I will keep the September convention in mind.
How is GM credit handled with campaign mode? What counts as a "session"? Is there any more documentation about this then in the Guide to Organized Play? Is that the "RPG" checkbox on the module in the event creating form?
Sorry for the many questions.
Don't worry, answering questions is what many of us are here for.
The RPG checkbox is there to indicate whether you are going to run a scenario in normal mode, or in core Mode (core mode is rather new, it reduces the available options to those in the CRB (with a few exceptions)).
Regarding campaign mode, I have yet to report it, but unless I am wrong, you just create an even, and report it (whether the characters, have just played the PFS legal parts with PFS legal characters or in campaign mode with non-PFS characters), if your players have PFS numbers, you list the number the character they want the chronicle to receive. If your players don't have a PFS number yet, you can print one for them, and just report the event to that number.
If I remember correctly, one module counts as 2 tables of credit, no matter, how long it actually took to run it for your group.
EDIT:Joseph Gilbert is correct (and apparently a Ninja).
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Thanks for the answers, guys! So, I see, campaign mode awards characters with PFS-style XPs, so I guess that means they advance in PFS style, not the normal stlye I'd be using for a home campaign then?
For campaign mode, the characters actually playing in the campaign advance however you choose. There are next to no restrictions on the game for a campaign mode AP/module.
The chronicles you can earn for playing/running an "approved" AP/module in campaign are applied to PFS characters you may have. These are different than the actual characters going through the game. So in effect, you are getting XP/credit for 2 characters. The one you play the game with and the PFS character who gains the chronicle "experience".
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Thanks for the answers, guys! So, I see, campaign mode awards characters with PFS-style XPs, so I guess that means they advance in PFS style, not the normal stlye I'd be using for a home campaign then?
No, its more like double XP: the character you play the campaign with gets XP the way you want it. But you also get XP for your PFS character.
Its a system that awards you for playing longer adventures. Either an Adventure Path or one of the new Modules. They take a bigger investment for player and GM, and once you know the story, there is not a lot of sense in replaying it.
Lets work with an example: I have a home campaign where we play the Jade Regent adventure path. As its a home campaign, I let my payers play what they want, and what races they want. They get XP per encounter, either killing or roleplaying something. So if they kill a goblin they might get 20 XP, while killing one of the big bad guys might give them 1000XP. I also get to decide what money and other rewards they find. And if they decide to do something that is not in the adventure path, I just make stuff up.
Now four of my regular players also play PFS. The fifth does not and has no interest is doing so.
Once I finish a book, I can give my four players that do participate in PFS a chronicle sheet, as if they had played part of that adventure path for PFS. They tell me which of their character recieves the sheet. That PFS character gets 3XP and a lot of gold, even tough it never actually was played. So its free level up for that PFS character.
So if you can find a regular group in your region to play and adventure path or module with, you can already start and get some credits for PFS. That way you have something you can use if you ever play a PFS game.
It works out for my players. Of the four that play PFS, only one of them is a regular PFS player. The other three only play at conventions, but because of the Adventure Path credit, their characters grow so they can participate in higher level games at the conventions.
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It's worth pointing out that if you're aiming to build up PFS 'credit' (either XP via chronicles, or GM star credit) then GMing/playing an Adventure Path in campaign mode isn't a very efficient way of doing it.
I'm close to finishing GMing Rise of the Runelords, and by the end we'll have taken approx. 75 sessions of 3 hours (so 225 hours). For that, the players have earned 18 XP across their PCs (as have I), and I will have earned 12 GM star credit points. That works out as approx. 12½ hours per XP and 19 hours per GM point. Compare that to 4-5 hours per XP and GM point for a standard PFS scenario.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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It's worth pointing out that if you're aiming to build up PFS 'credit' (either XP via chronicles, or GM star credit) then GMing/playing an Adventure Path in campaign mode isn't a very efficient way of doing it.
I'm close to finishing GMing Rise of the Runelords, and by the end we'll have taken approx. 75 sessions of 3 hours (so 225 hours). For that, the players have earned 18 XP across their PCs (as have I), and I will have earned 12 GM star credit points. That works out as approx. 12½ hours per XP and 19 hours per GM point. Compare that to 4-5 hours per XP and GM point for a standard PFS scenario.
If you really want to get PFS table credit fast, play a module like dragons demand (IIRC thats 8 tables of credit) or run Emerald Spire in PFS - for 32 table credits .. instant 2 GM stars. ^^
EDIt: Makes you feel like a thief, but some of those scenarios require quite a bit of prep time... and you have to deal with level 4.
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It's worth pointing out that if you're aiming to build up PFS 'credit' (either XP via chronicles, or GM star credit) then GMing/playing an Adventure Path in campaign mode isn't a very efficient way of doing it.
I'm close to finishing GMing Rise of the Runelords, and by the end we'll have taken approx. 75 sessions of 3 hours (so 225 hours). For that, the players have earned 18 XP across their PCs (as have I), and I will have earned 12 GM star credit points. That works out as approx. 12½ hours per XP and 19 hours per GM point. Compare that to 4-5 hours per XP and GM point for a standard PFS scenario.
If you really want to get PFS table credit fast, play a module like dragons demand (IIRC thats 8 tables of credit) or run Emerald Spire in PFS - for 32 table credits .. instant 2 GM stars. ^^
EDIt: Makes you feel like a thief, but some of those scenarios require quite a bit of prep time... and you have to deal with level 4.
Dragon's Demand is only 6 tables of credit, 3 reportable sections. If, and only if, you play in campaign mode, but apply all three chronicles to the same PFS character do you get a 4th bonus chronicle, which also must be applied to the same PFS PC.
The Emerald Spire and Thornkeep levels are a special case, so they can run a bit quicker, but still give 3 XP, 4 PP, and 2 table credits.
And, as an additional thought: All the Free RPG Day modules can be run for PFS credit. They all take about 4 hours to run, give 1 XP and 1 or 2 PP, and 2 GM table credits.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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It's worth pointing out that if you're aiming to build up PFS 'credit' (either XP via chronicles, or GM star credit) then GMing/playing an Adventure Path in campaign mode isn't a very efficient way of doing it.
I'm close to finishing GMing Rise of the Runelords, and by the end we'll have taken approx. 75 sessions of 3 hours (so 225 hours). For that, the players have earned 18 XP across their PCs (as have I), and I will have earned 12 GM star credit points. That works out as approx. 12½ hours per XP and 19 hours per GM point. Compare that to 4-5 hours per XP and GM point for a standard PFS scenario.
If you really want to get PFS table credit fast, play a module like dragons demand (IIRC thats 8 tables of credit) or run Emerald Spire in PFS - for 32 table credits .. instant 2 GM stars. ^^
EDIt: Makes you feel like a thief, but some of those scenarios require quite a bit of prep time... and you have to deal with level 4.
Dragon's Demand is only 6 tables of credit, 3 reportable sections. If, and only if, you play in campaign mode, but apply all three chronicles to the same PFS character do you get a 4th bonus chronicle, which also must be applied to the same PFS PC.
Thank you for the clarification, I have the module and just skimmed the chronicle sheets for ... the item.
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If I run a few games this year (last year I mostly only ran a home game and sporadically at that and prior to that I was running nearly weekly as I was organizing an SF game night) I should hit 4 stars sometime at or just after GenCon this year (hoping to get my 4th star before GenCon is over.
I actually don't know for sure how many specials i have already run - it is a few and I'm running a bunch at GenCon so I think I'll be well on my way to my 10 specials requirement soon as well.
Online play is something I think I'll have to look into - how does it work for PFS? I've played a few games online for home campaigns (as a player, not yet as a GM) - how do you handle chronicle sheets (both old and new), characters, setup time, scheduling play etc? If it means I can finally play the many scenarios from the past few seasons I haven't played I'm really interested - and if I can figure out how to set up maps etc I'm open to running games online as well (unclear on how you distribute chronicle sheets however)
Is there now a section somewhere on how to play/run online games?
Section is in Grand Lodge, under sub-forum Online Play. ;)
You can also look for the Pathfinder Society Online Collective, which is a fairly active group for online PFS, using Roll20 for the VTT mainly.
Chronicles are usually scanned in and emailed or in a dropbox.
Mostly, online GMs waive looking at chronicles, although a few do, and osme need to do so for certain requirements relating to specific scenarios.
Games usually run about the same length in time, these days, as a face-to-face PFS game would. VTT for maps and die rolling, voice client for verbal communications.
Depending on the map, they can be easy to import (from a flip-mat, for instance) to a pain to properly re-size to fit (custom maps that are not perfectly shrunk into the PDF, so they wind up a bit strange when pulled out and resized into the VTT.)
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And, as an additional thought: All the Free RPG Day modules can be run for PFS credit. They all take about 4 hours to run, give 1 XP and 1 or 2 PP, and 2 GM table credits.And will kill all your characters. :P
Say what?!
We Be Goblins! is not a PC killer, it even has special rules for when your goblin gets killed.
We Be Goblins Too! is similar.
Master of the Fallen Fortress is, usually, not a PC killer, unless the PCs are all unprepared.
Can't say anything about Risen from the Sands, have not had the chance to run or play it, just rumors...
Dawn of the Scarlet Sun can be dangerous, but is mainly an issue if you only use the provided pregens, and usually only if you don't use pregen X.