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I have nothing but good feedback for this Gen Con.
I GMed 7 slots, and had 6 wonderful tables, and one average table. For those of you who GM at cons, you know that these numbers are phenomenal.
I hope our table wasn't the average one! Thanks again for an absolutely great game, my friend and I agree that it was the highlight of our weekend!
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A picture is worth a thousand words. This is the picture I mentioned in my previous post: here. (Spoiler for True Dragons of Absalom chronicle).
Of all the things the player could have done Saturday night at Gen Con, he chose to play PFS. This was the result. I understand peoples' reservations that people will use this change to do stupid things but a competent GM is able to control the flow of their game and should be able to deter players from doing such things. I would be greatly saddened if this policy turned away players not only from the great game that Paizo has created but a wonderful hobby.
At the end of the day, this is a game. That's all it is. It's a game that we as GMs are responsible for ensuring our players' enjoyment. Which is good because that ultimately makes more money for Paizo so they can continue to create a game we all enjoy.
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A picture is worth a thousand words. This is the picture I mentioned in my previous post: here. (Spoiler for True Dragons of Absalom chronicle).
Of all the things the player could have done Saturday night at Gen Con, he chose to play PFS. This was the result. I understand peoples' reservations that people will use this change to do stupid things but a competent GM is able to control the flow of their game and should be able to deter players from doing such things. I would be greatly saddened if this policy turned away players not only from the great game that Paizo has created but a wonderful hobby.
At the end of the day, this is a game. That's all it is. It's a game that we as GMs are responsible for ensuring our players' enjoyment. Which is good because that ultimately makes more money for Paizo so they can continue to create a game we all enjoy.
That Chronicle sheet was still there Sunday afternoon when I walked by that table, but I wasn't sure what to do about it. What should someone do if they run across a chronicle like that?
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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Re #2, and other comments that come up regarding that special and the often stated poor item allocation.
The PCs have an opportunity to purchase any additional supplies before traveling into the Grand Lodge. This is primarily a chance for them to fill any perceived gaps in their starting equipment, as none of the PCs has an especially large amount of discretionary gold.
There is specifically time in the scenario set aside for players to make purchases for items they deem necessary for adventuring, like a wand of cure light wounds. If you were not presented with that while playing, it was likely due to GM oversight.
Between the 6 pregens available, there is over 1,300 gold in petty change. More than enough to buy a wand. Before the GenCon update, there was actually more like 3,000 gold in petty change, but they reduced 322's gold and gave her a scroll of breath of life and a scroll of heal--two items most players would probably want anyway. Either way, you have enough wealth to get that normally 2 pp wand.
In addition, you guys are evil PCs that don't follow the exact same rules as regular PFS characters. This can give you a bit of leeway when making purchases. For example, when my table went shopping some of them simply stole the cheaper items they wanted after a brief ad-libbed roleplaying session. It gave everyone an opportunity to review their pregens and helped get them into the mindset of playing an evil PC.
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Overall, I found the marshalling process and the marshals to be excellent. I had the joy of playing with some very skilled and prepared GM's. I had a great experience at my table for the Thursday night special. There were a lot of things going on, we rushed from one area/combat to another, but for the most part we finished everything.
Thanks. I'm glad you were able to get seated quickly and efficiently. Getting that done is really the highest priority of the HQ staff.
While I really enjoyed the plot and content of the Saturday and Sunday specials, there was WAY TOO MUCH content, too many encounters, and not enough time for me and the others at my tables to figure out what we were doing with the never-before-seen pregens...
Feedback about the quality and content of the scenarios is best provided via the review feature on each scenario's product page.
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This was my first time GMing at Gencon. I ran 2 slots (The Sky Key Solution and the new Quest). A lot of the people I had for the quest weren't just new to Pathfinder, but new to d20 gaming in general it felt. They all had fun but I feel we could do better when it comes to helping them learn. Its not easy trying to teach 6 people how to play a RPG in a one hour period. Less then half the people I had even had dice and one entire group had no dice at all (I had extra dice of course but they had to pass around 2 d20s between the 6 of them).
So 2 Suggestions I would make for the future, would be to prove the GMs doing quest with extra dice maybe. I would go as far as to suggest a free d20 to players that complete all 6 parts of a quest but that would just lead to more experienced players clogging up the quest waiting line.
We actually had dice sets at the Kid's Track HQ for the kids, but if you really needed a set you could have borrowed one. We didn't really make that public knowledge, maybe we can do something about it in the future.
That's an interesting idea, we should be able to add that to the printing list depending on budgets and costs.Also I would suggest we have some (a lot of) copies of the Basic Rule Cheat Sheet from the back of the Game Mastery Book. This would be a tremendous aid when helping new players learn the rules.
To address the dice further... As soon as someone (I think you, maybe) pointed out to me that we had people with no dice, I 'borrowed' a few sets from the Kids Track area and kept them on the end of the info desk, and once Kristen had finished with the dice and minis inventory at HQ, I had her bring them over for us to use, too. So by Thursday evening, we had about 10 sets of dice to use for people without them, though that probably isnt enough for something like this.
I wont presume I will be doing the same thing next Gencon (if Im able to go), but I will be discussing a few ways to make sure the Quests go even more smoothly than they did this year.
I really like the ruyle cheat sheet idea, too!
Thanks for the feedback!
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I thought things went well, considering the variables such as *people*. Throw "people" into the mix and things get all sort of wacky! I won't touch on issues that have already been presented and aren't a big deal.
First, I'm sorry to see Mike Brock go. I don't know him personally- or any of the Paizo staff- as I'm just a player at Gen Con and GM at home, but the way PFS at Gen Con has been organized, the way PFS on the boards has been governed, is an accomplishment that shines a light on how well Mike and his team worked.
Second, the volunteers. As a GM full time outside of Gen Con, I never get to play my characters- so my Gen Con is filled to the brim with playing, not GMing. The GMs and other volunteers make this whole endeavor work.
Regarding mustering, I used to think gathering a group of 6 was something Paizo should do, but the volunteers are so busy trying to get things started they shouldn't need to worry about that. People and groups should some heat off the volunteers and get a group together.
I used to be a 2ed D&D player since 1995. My group switched to Pathfinder in 2010 and began playing in PFS. I consumed all TSR and WoC products ravenously. Over the years I've come to see that WoC is severely disappointing with some serious issues. I won't go into details but I will say I'm sure glad I switched to Pathfinder. Not only is the game great but the people are, too. The messageboards, chats, and other resources show how much better Paizo is as a company than most. I appreciate all the free promo minis, the guarantee of an award (usually a boon) for every two scenarios played, and the general fun Paizo keeps bringing.
Since our opinions are asked for, I'll give mine concerning the specials. These were great ideas for specials. Hopefully pregen specials won't become commonplace, only because it takes time away from playing our actual characters and could cheapen the experience. Regarding the other specials, while they were fun, they seemed a bit stale to me.
The usual mass-go-at-it scenarios aren't as much fun as they used to be. They are all becoming go fight this, pick an area, go fight that, pick an area, rinse and repeat. The story lines and commentating on the goings on are always great, but, in my opinion and some others I play with, those types of scenarios are getting stale.
I'd hate to have to GM a special; I saw the GMs had a huge ream of paper (cannot imagine prepping for one).
The Sunday morning scenario as Aspis agents seemed a bit too much for the time allowed as well as the slot chosen- Sundays are tough to play and both GM and player aren't at their best.
I really liked the setup in the middle where you could play Goblins on a terrain table.
Quality of GMs is hit and miss. I've only ever had one terrible GM. Chris Hays and his terrain is in my top 3 (Chris, I was the gunslinger who blew heads off while my Necromancer friend animated Wyvern bones). Mediocre GMs (I actually consider myself mediocre) are what they are...some have a bit of trouble coming out of their shell and really embracing storytelling. I'm just thankful they are willing to give up their time and money to GM a game for me! Does anyone think a GM rating or survey card filled out by players would contribute or hurt?
I perused the Sagamore room Wednesday afternoon and evening. Anyone helping set up should be given an award- the AC was not on all day and night. I began to sweat simply standing there!
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maybe have some paizo dice available for purchase at the info desk? not ideal butGencon prohibits any sales outside of the dealer hall, so that wouldnt work.
If nothing else, I can bring some sets from home that I wouldnt be too sad over if they walked off.
If anything we could just send someone down to the dealer hall and buy a mug of dice from Chessex for around $5(?). It looked like a pretty big mug. Perhaps we could partner with Chessex and form the Gamers Without Dice Foundation.
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General mustering:
*Sometimes the boards were inside, and sometimes they were in the hall. It seems like they would be most useful in the hall, to direct people where they need to go while inside.
*Having four muster points (pregen banners) clustered together in the ballroom made for a very chaotic blob of people during some of the slots. Would it be possible to spread these out more? I understand some of the room was taken up with the ACG, but...
*It was difficult to find the "right" musterer for some of the games, partially due to the other nearby points.
*During at least one of the slots, the musterer for our game wasn't even present for a while. This was probably just a one-off problem, but it's worth mentioning.Special mustering:
*It was very difficult to understand (or even hear!) the volunteer with the microphone in the hall. This meant there were multiple groups that didn't know which end of the hall they were "supposed" to be on. I would suggest having boards outside for each individual subtier - I believe this was done in 2013, and it would have been helpful.
*For specials with pregens, why is pre-mustering even necessary? Why not just have everyone get in line, and take six at a time? If there's already a partial group that wants to stick together, skip them for the next small group that fills this one out.
*On Sunday, there were boards for "normal" games in the middle of where True Dragons was supposed to muster (according to the microphone volunteer). They were very confused (and apparently frustrated) about where exactly they were supposed to be.
Short and sweet, the muster signs didn't get handled well. On the list of things to make sure we do better next year. I think we can get a better design for them, too, and re-use the ones we have inside the hall. Not sure if it'll work out, but it's a thought.
As far as mustering the pregen Specials, that went really quick and easy so I'm disinclined to change how we're handling it. The deal is that the more marshals we have, the faster it goes. The more organized the players are, the faster it goes. So pre-mustering helps even in scenarios where who you're sitting with isn't as big a deal as in normal scenarios.
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I think my only concern is in regards to the marker-boards outside each door of the ballroom itself.
Over the course of the con, various scenarios were listed, but the issue was none (that I saw) specified whether it was intended for Core, or Normal Campaign mode.
Even when mustering, and telling the same people REPEATEDLY that groups I were trying to muster with were not core, they kept asking.
How did reporting go for Core tables anyways? I'm slowly considering trying it at my local lodge, but as far as trying at Gen Con? I'd rather not spend money if there was not enough interest to form a table.
CORE vs. normal will continue to be a problem, I suspect. We don't have enough CORE to justify separate mustering and we probably won't sell differentiated tickets next year. I'm afraid the onus will continue to be on CORE players to find like-minded individuals to play with. There might be some benefit to organizing parties before the event via messageboards or the like so you can just meet up in the hall. Most walk-ups and casual/Gen Con-only players probably won't be concerned about CORE, either.
Todd Morgan has the reporting sheets for the whole con and one of the things he'll be working on over the next week or so as his schedule permits is seeing what the numbers for each slot and event look like. I wish we were capturing how many tables of each subtier of the 1-11 Special were sat. Maybe we can add that next year.
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I thought things went well, considering the variables such as *people*. Throw "people" into the mix and things get all sort of wacky! I won't touch on issues that have already been presented and aren't a big deal.
First, I'm sorry to see Mike Brock go. I don't know him personally- or any of the Paizo staff- as I'm just a player at Gen Con and GM at home, but the way PFS at Gen Con has been organized, the way PFS on the boards has been governed, is an accomplishment that shines a light on how well Mike and his team worked.
We'll definitely miss him. His leadership and support over the last 4 years has been outstanding.
Second, the volunteers. As a GM full time outside of Gen Con, I never get to play my characters- so my Gen Con is filled to the brim with playing, not GMing. The GMs and other volunteers make this whole endeavor work.
Regarding mustering, I used to think gathering a group of 6 was something Paizo should do, but the volunteers are so busy trying to get things started they shouldn't need to worry about that. People and groups should some heat off the volunteers and get a group together.
Yep, having 12 people try to seat ~160 tables (average) per scenario in 15 minutes or less is challenging enough if the players self-organize. If they don't, it becomes a virtually impossible task. We have to work together with the players to make it all happen in a timely manner.
I used to be a 2ed D&D player since 1995. My group switched to Pathfinder in 2010 and began playing in PFS. I consumed all TSR and WoC products ravenously. Over the years I've come to see that WoC is severely disappointing with some serious issues. I won't go into details but I will say I'm sure glad I switched to Pathfinder. Not only is the game great but the people are, too. The messageboards, chats, and other resources show how much better Paizo is as a company than most. I appreciate all the free promo minis, the guarantee of an award (usually a boon) for every two scenarios played, and the general fun Paizo keeps bringing.Since our opinions are asked for, I'll give mine concerning the specials. These were great ideas for specials. Hopefully pregen specials won't become commonplace, only because it takes time away from playing our actual characters and could cheapen the experience. Regarding the other specials, while they were fun, they seemed a bit stale to me.
The usual mass-go-at-it scenarios aren't as much fun as they used to be. They are all becoming go fight this, pick an area, go fight that, pick an area, rinse and repeat. The story lines and commentating on the goings on are always great, but, in my opinion and some others I play with, those types of scenarios are getting stale.
I'd hate to have to GM a special; I saw the GMs had a huge ream of paper (cannot imagine prepping for one).
I got to have some conversations with both John Compton and Thursty (one of the more prolific PFS freelancers) and they have some good ideas for freshening up how the multi-tier Specials play. I won't say anything more because they're still in the idea stage and, while I'm no longer a VC, I still consider myself bound by my NDA.
The Sunday morning scenario as Aspis agents seemed a bit too much for the time allowed as well as the slot chosen- Sundays are tough to play and both GM and player aren't at their best.I really liked the setup in the middle where you could play Goblins on a terrain table.
It was pretty cool. I got to take about 20-30 minutes out of my schedule to play one of the missions on it with Mike and a few others. Maybe next year we can have a bigger diorama to play on, but that's going to depend on the new Campaign Coordinator and the guys at Miniature Building Authority who provided the terrain.
Quality of GMs is hit and miss. I've only ever had one terrible GM. Chris Hays and his terrain is in my top 3 (Chris, I was the gunslinger who blew heads off while my Necromancer friend animated Wyvern bones). Mediocre GMs (I actually consider myself mediocre) are what they are...some have a bit of trouble coming out of their shell and really embracing storytelling. I'm just thankful they are willing to give up their time and money to GM a game for me! Does anyone think a GM rating or survey card filled out by players would contribute or hurt?
We've toyed with the idea but never implemented it. The problem is data entry. We do keep a list of GMs when we receive feedback from players in person at the show, and if you have feedback (positive or negative) about a GM, please email myself or one of the other Leads, or the new Campaign Coordinator with the specifics.
I perused the Sagamore room Wednesday afternoon and evening. Anyone helping set up should be given an award- the AC was not on all day and night. I began to sweat simply standing there!
It was fair-to-middlin' miserable. :)
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The usual mass-go-at-it scenarios aren't as much fun as they used to be. They are all becoming go fight this, pick an area, go fight that, pick an area, rinse and repeat. The story lines and commentating on the goings on are always great, but, in my opinion and some others I play with, those types of scenarios are getting stale.
Siege - Wasn't a huge opportunity for RP here, but there was some. I think some difficulty arises when a GM has a limited time to try and gauge a table's interest in RP v. combat. I'm thinking that from now on I'll try to just be a bit more forward with my table when I run this next and ask them whether they prefer RP or combat, and try to tailor their experience towards their preferences as much as I can.
Solution- Part of the awkardness with this one seemed to be that it was moving foreward fast enough that people didn't have much of a chance to RP with some of the major parties in the scenario unless they got lucky on timing. The party I was GM'ing got transitioned to part three just as they were about to rescue [REDACTED], and only got to interact with [REDACTED] because they finished an encounter right as the [REDACTED] opened up.
The scenarios both use a wide variety of things that I haven't seen used very often or at all, which was very cool.
Regarding the announcements during Sky Key Solution: they were important and necessary, but like many have said took a chunk of time out of the special. Is there any way to try and account for announcements in the future when setting up slots? Given the way the slots are set up I'm guessing it's probably not a viable option, but I figured I'd check. My table got pretty frustrated when we got stopped the second time for the ENNIE's announcement.
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As far as the materials are concerned, .... We didn't hammer out a loan checkout system for them, but we may do that for next year as the checkouts for the pregens
Jon Cary your response addressed everything. Thanks.
Your response is why I continue to return to pathfinder despite my changing interests. You Rock
Your idea about borrowed map packs sounds good
I presume that you're referring to the Special on Friday night.
And sunday morning, the announcement about the boon table
The timing of those announcements was based on when the ENnies let out (~10 PM). That doesn't help with the end of slot timing but it did keep the doomsday timer from progressing while he was talking.
Still pulled us out of the scenario and I think we all at my table felt a bit confused as we tried to get back in, forgetting what we were doing.
This is a development issue and outside the scope of Gen Con organization.
The solution I provided could be a gen con solution as it would address the issues of larger cons and having to seat lots of people with an extreme variety of characters.
Here's an idea the pregen bag of holding that players reach in and pull out a 750 gp value item to help their table that only lasts for that scenario (and only works when playing the specials) or a temporary button that they can activate that gives them a bonus to whatever they are lacking. Whether that is permissible in the greater scheme of the society and organized play is beyond my ken.
The pregens are, as I understand it, intentionally designed to not be optimized. If you want an optimized character, the intention is that you play your character rather than a pregen.
Those pregens aren't just not-optimized they are sub par. My personal character is not-optimized. My problem is when I am trying to get marshaled for a table, since I don't come with a group they basically shoved me where they had roo: once on friday night once on sunday morning both times the table level was above my character level so I either played a pregen or didn't play I feel like I am getting dinged twice: once for not getting to play my only character and once for making a choice between not getting sat at all or playing a sub par pre gen, it's pretty demoralizing for a semi new player Like you said that's a paizo issue though.
I'm not sure which Special you're referring to. The muster on Thursday night was certainly a mess
It was both specials Thursday and Friday. As I mentioned, I was forced to play a pre gen in order to get sat on Friday. I searched for people needing a player of my level for a good 20 minutes, basically i just grabbed the last group with a spot available and played a pre gen.
Using cards instead of pregen sheets with all the powers spelled out.....I'm not sure that we can re-format the pregens into cards of some sort as the format is provided by Paizo.
Sorry I meant I really liked the current pregen layout (even if I don't like the pregens) that heavy card stock and lamination was perfect for me. keep doing that
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maybe have some paizo dice available for purchase at the info desk? not ideal butWe're not allowed to sell anything in the Sagamore. That's what the dealer hall is for. Gen Con rules.
Understoood.
Then, perhaps, we should have dice sets that could be checked out at the same place as the pregens. Having a decent number (perhaps a couple of dozen sets) would a pretty decent one time expenditure, but I wonder if some deal could be made with Chessex or Q-Workshop to donate some as demo dice... would get them some cheap advertisement as well! They could then be checked out much like GMs checked out pregens.
On that, I thought it was a little clunky having to have GMs check out the pregens. I know why it was done that way, but it was an additional burden put on already potentially overwhelmed GMs (and I don't recall seeing anything about the procedure for them). That being said, the laminated pregens were really nice. (were GMs really going to be charged if a pregen walked?)
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Idea - arrange for pre-printed maps for specials (and possibly other scenarios) from a local printer at a bulk rate and offer them as an optional purchase for GM's (or possibly in lieu of some of the gifts for GMs - I know i personally would have gladly traded getting large format printed maps delivered to the con instead of getting a second copy of Occult adventures)
The hardbacks are one of the major rewards for GMs at Gen Con and are unlikely to change. Paizo is already developing, printing and shipping them to Gen Con so it's easy enough to peel off the ones for the GMs from the rest of the shipment.
Printing and selling the maps would be a pretty huge undertaking, and one that I double Paizo would invest in. It could be done by a volunteer, but I'm not sure anyone from the HQ Leads team has time and cash to invest in gauging interest, collecting funds, printing them, and shipping them to the convention.
Perhaps it's something one of the Special GMs could take on?
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I was thinking that someone local might be able to find a local printer who could print them out - once you have the files to a printer making additional copies is, relatively speaking, easy - the challenge is getting the files formatted and scaled correctly and then if at all possible finding sufficient volume to get the price per map down considerably (even better would be to also procure sufficient acrylic sheets to overlay all of the maps to make it easier to mark effects etc.
Bloomington VC Mike Bramnik did just this and it worked great, from my observation. I think he only offered it to VOs, though.
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My first Gencon. On the positive side...
* Met and played with some great people
* Loved what lore we got to encounter with the specials, SKS in particular was fascinating to me
* We Be Aspis in general, had a lot of fun being the bad guys for a bit
Negative side...
* Got one DM who could mostly handle combat, but was too quiet for anyone to hear at all, and repeatedly messed up the scenario in ways that would have entirely broken it if I weren't so familiar with it that I could poke things along and fill in missing info for the rest of the party. Unfortunately, the rest of the party included 3 complete newbies who needed cards and pregens... all of which they abandoned at the table when they left.
* The format of the specials is pretty jarring - it sucks cutting encounters off early, and structuring things so that taking time to slow down and RP instead of chainrolling dice screws over the entire room seems antithetical to the concept of an rpg.
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Contributor
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I was thinking that someone local might be able to find a local printer who could print them out - once you have the files to a printer making additional copies is, relatively speaking, easy - the challenge is getting the files formatted and scaled correctly and then if at all possible finding sufficient volume to get the price per map down considerably (even better would be to also procure sufficient acrylic sheets to overlay all of the maps to make it easier to mark effects etc.Bloomington VC Mike Bramnik did just this and it worked great, from my observation. I think he only offered it to VOs, though.
Only because of time/money constraints. Next year I'm thinking of doing it on a more expanded scale (and thanks to good input from VC Jon Dehning, I think I can do it cheaper than this year too)!
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Idea - arrange for pre-printed maps for specials (and possibly other scenarios) from a local printer at a bulk rate and offer them as an optional purchase for GM'sPrinting and selling the maps would be a pretty huge undertaking, and one that I double Paizo would invest in. It could be done by a volunteer, but I'm not sure anyone from the HQ Leads team has time and cash to invest in gauging interest, collecting funds, printing them, and shipping them to the convention.
Perhaps it's something one of the Special GMs could take on?
Jon,
Please tag me on this next spring. We have access to a large format printer and will be having our own printed anyway. We can have the copy shop print more and bring them in. We drive in, so not an issue to load up the trunk. The university print shop is less expensive than a for profit enterprise, and somewhat less busy in the summer. We are already extracting the maps for printing.|
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GenCon2015 Pathfinder was, for the most part, excellent! It was my first true PFS experience at GenCon. (Long time D&D/AD&D player, short time Pathfinder player).
First we ran through Wounded Wisp on Friday at 1 p.m. The GM was awesome. He made the adventure entertaining and was patient with our lack of understanding with the Pathfinder universe. My only complaint with the adventure was it was too short. We burned through it in about 2 hours while earning full xp, expecting closer to 5 hours of gameplay.
Finding the event itself was not quickly intuitive. We went into the carpeted room and out again, back and forth a few times, until we found the person we were seeking to get us into the adventure. It was my group's first experience with a Muster.
On Saturday afternoon we ran through Between the Lines. Our party of 3 quickly hooked up with another party of 3. We knew the Muster thing by this time. I recall 2 of the 3 names of the other party but will not repeat here unless probed. The GM was thrust into the role with about 24-48 hours of prep time and it showed. Anytime we tried to roleplay and use diplomacy to discuss options with townsfolk, he got this dazed look in his eyes as though his adventure path notes did not compute for a parlay.
Through the adventure, two of we 1st level characters each lost two ability score points and found, at the end of the adventure after all roleplay and interaction was terminated, that our ability score losses would continue until the stats reached zero. The only cure was to drop about 900 gp OR burned points (XP? EP? PP? Some kind of point). We did not get full XP for this adventure as we escaped to the end after doing something which, unknown to us, put a Venture Captain at risk. Finally, the other three characters (not my two friends) were repulsed by the thought of helping us with the recovery costs. I am not sure of the motive but it seemed to be two parties of 3 instead of a party of 6 after the curtains closed and the GM declared the adventure OVER. Those three were outta there fast even after we asked for help paying to remove the stat loss.
I was frustrated by the lack of opportunity to get our hirers to help us, the fact we see permanent ability drain at level 1, and by the lack of help from fellow party members with the costs. The adventure itself was okay but not as fun as Wounded Wisp as each encounter appeared the same. (Fight a monster with x and with y. Oh..fight another one. And another one. And another one....)
Saturday was definitely a different taste than Friday. I am assuming Friday's players were the more typical Pathfinder Society members and the selfish play shown Saturday was an anomaly. I hope future adventures for the Society confirms my assumption.
In conclusion, both adventures filled my thirst for adventure. The first left me quenched and the 2nd left a bitter taste with sweet undertones of dungeon delving.
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My only complaint with the adventure was it was too short. We burned through it in about 2 hours while earning full xp, expecting closer to 5 hours of gameplay.
I was your GM for Wounded Wisp and I'll take responsibility for the game length. None of my tables took more than 2 1/2 hours. Were I to do it again, I think I would have brought prep for The Confirmation and/or First Steps with me to see if I could run two in a slot. Not sure if that would be allowed, though.
One point of clarification, though. While the slots were 5 hours, games are only expected to take 4. The extra hour is padding 'just in case.'
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Ability damage is not permanent. And it is highly unlikely that you would keep taking ability damage until you fell unconscious (the stat reached zero). Almost all such effects have very well defined effects and it is very rare for them to be ongoing like that and I really doubt there would be one in a low tier game.
Someone at the table should have explained to you that you had many options. First, spells and potions of lesser restoration will deal with ability damage and the potion is cheap. Second time between scenarios is undefined so you will be fully healed including from ability damage.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience.
I haven't played this scenario but ghoul fever is actually fairly common in low tier games. I'm guessing it was a similar "once a day" effect and that the GM didn't understand that you could make saves to end it. (Or he did and the players just failed them.)
edit: You are absolutely right though. There's tons of options like using the heal skill to treat (disease or poison), chugging antitoxins/antiplagues, or getting relatively cheap spells cast to boost those saves. It's just a matter of knowing those options exist.
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Venture-Agent, Pennsylvania—York
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Alright, GenCon was awesome as usual, and my PFS games overall were good as well. I did have a couple issues though. I played three PFS Scenarios.
My GM for 6-97 on Thursday... Rolled a D6, and that person went first in initiative, then we went around the table clockwise. NOT good. Especially since the guy to my left seemed to be the lucky number. That meant I went last at least half the time. It didn't seem like that big a deal when the GM first announced what he was planning, but by the end of the night I was seriously hacked off about it.
Otherwise, he ran a great game! I have no complaints at all about how he ran the scenario. I don't have his name yet as the scenario seems to have not been reported, not even incorrectly to another of my characters. I do know what table I was at if it matters. Anyway, I should have spoken up immediately. Heck, I could have run initiative for him to help out. Lesson learned.
My 7-00 GM on Friday was... not prepared. I think he got thrust into a higher tier than he was supposed to run, but that wasn't really the problem. He spent a lot of time flipping back and forth through his printed copy of the scenario looking for...? I don't know actually. He ran combat and other encounters just fine so rules knowledge and GM experience weren't a problem.
The whole thing was just super slow paced. We were playing tier 10-11 which is always a bit slower paced due to the complexity of the encounters but, I didn't feel like we accomplished anything, and the final encounter was finished before we had barely started it. I guess I just feel like we made only a token contribution to whatever count that would have gotten us a better final result.
The 7-03 GM Saturday at 1 PM was quite excellent! Rules knowledge, pacing, role play as well as roll play were very good. I definitely played the wrong character as there was a lot more need for various skills than for combat, but we got through it! I'd definitely play with him again!
So, again, overall good experience with a couple hiccups. When it comes to events this size you have to expect some problems. It certainly won't stop me from returning next year!
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My GM for 6-97 on Thursday... Rolled a D6, and that person went first in initiative, then we went around the table clockwise.
Wow, I don't think I have ever seen a GM change such a major rule like that before. I have seen little stuff but not something as big as initiative. I hope no one at the table made anyone that put a lot into having a high initiative.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Steve,
I do something similar, and I've done so since "Race for the Rune-carved Key". Let me explain what I do, and why.
All convention Specials have a very large number of combats (Sky Key Solution a notable exception; it only has a half-dozen or so) and time is of the essencein many of them. (Particularly the ones where numbers of table successes in a time block determines the room victory). So I want combats to go as quickly as possible, and I borrowed an idea from running demos.
I have the players sit at my table in initiative order, clockwise starting at me. So the highest initiative PC is at my left, and the lowest is at my right. I have the characters "take ten" for initiative rolls. (So the PC on my left with a +5 gets a roll of 15 on all combats.) I roll initiative normally for the opponents, so I know where in the pattern the bad guys go. (The sorcerer rolled very high and goes before our top PC, but the wooly rhinoceros gets an initiative of 13, and goes between the rogue and the bloodrager.)
Why? Because the biggest time-suck in combat is people hesitating when its their turn. This way, everybody can tell when they're up next in the initiative order, and that remains consistent through the event.
If somebody wants to use a "roll twice for initiative and take the better" one combat, they can roll instead of "taking 10" We'll remember that the bloodrager goes second, instead of fourth. Likewise if someone delays or readies; the initiative order isn't set in stone. But this change helps us get through the combats quickly.
If someone were to object, I wouldn't insist on doing this. We could roll each combat's initiative, and act in accordance with that, for each combat. And Balkin, if you voiced your objection to your table GM, I'm willing to bet he'd have shifted back to baseline initiative as well.
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The thing about ghoul fever is it is a disease. Diseases are cleared for 150 g.p. or 1 p.p. which surely every GM knows. If a GM let them leave the table with it uncleared without explaining how trivial it was to get rid of that is almost criminal.
They are not actually cleared for those amounts. Those amounts give you a chance, per the spell. A caster level (5 in the case if remove disease) check verse the DC of the disease is required, and if failed, the purchase can be made again.
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It's been said before and I'll say it again. the corner tables could not see the projectors and most of the time you could not hear what was being said over the microphone, this caused our table GM to have to repeat everything. If we can't hear the overseer then it would be better if the table GM just read it off.
Better projector placement and speakers being moved from the center of the room to the corners would have been much better.
Otherwise everything else was awesome.
Thanks,
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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One thing I would like to note is that some of the Gen Con reporting doesn't have date's attached. Which if a player or gm is looking for a session in their history means it will be at the top of the list rather then the bottom.
This could lead to a rise in people reporting missing scenarios, and will most likely generate more report an error submissions.
So we might need to stress to the data entry folks that putting a date in is important even if the GM forgot to fill it out. I understand the normal scenarios are a bit harder to guess dates, but the specials shouldn't be.
I personally had 2 scenarios that didn't have dates put in which I fixed, one was a special, and I know I entered the date on all my tracking sheets.
About half of my sessions didn't have dates listed in the system, and I know for a fact that I filled in the date on the reporting sheet.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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To repeat what was said by Jon upthread and has probably been lost in the morass--projector placement is what it is. There is a third projector that could be lowered between the others, but there is no way to get projections on the opposite wall.
This is because a) the projectors are set up by the GenCon people and b) because projectors need to be mounted up in the balcony and there is no balcony on the far wall. No balcony on the far war = no projectors on the fall wall = no screens anywhere but on the wall they are already on.
We could make projectors more visible by having substantially less tables, but fortunately the projectors are never really critical. My table could see the projector, but whenever we missed text or an image, we asked our GM after the overseer had quieted down and he repeated it for us.
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I would like to start off by saying that my first gencon was amazing and everything was generally easy to understand and laid out very well. I ran the Thursday night special, Siege of Serpents 1-2 tier as well as Tapestry's Toil on Sunday, without too many problems. My Sunday group ended early, at around 11:00 am, but as it was a pre-made group of seven who wanted to leave early, I was pretty happy with it. My Thursday group for the special did very well in combat and the roll-play sections, that we wound up having to sit around and wait as the rest of the tables caught up. (We finished every encounter in act II and act III about ten minutes before time was called for each, and just finished act IV when time was reached then as well).
My only suggestion for gencon, would be to come up with an alternative to the "red", "yellow", "green" sections for map color. I had a colorblind person at my table, and with my husband being color blind as well, the red and the green looked identical to them. Although I understand the reasoning behind the color choices, it would be nice to think about the 10% of the population that is affected by red/green color blindness and choose friendlier colors (Blue, Yellow, and Red work really well).
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I GMed a whole bunch this year so everything I say is from that perspective. It seemed to me that mustering was amazingly quick, tables were seated with in 10 minutes of the starting time even for the specials. I am sure it was chaos out there but from my side it seemed seamless and quick.
All the specials were very well done this year, I particularly liked Siege of the Serpent, well written, great mix of of social and combat encounters and a good story line. My only beef with the scenario was the sheer amount of prep, the number of creatures was a lot for me. Like I said this was my first Gencon special experience. Also the True Dragons of Absalom was a great scenario but we could have used more time. I am thinking that was my fault, I sort of got wrapped up in the awesomeness of Kobolds.
I loved the addition of all the quick games, the 3d Goblin Raid, the quests and even the card game rounded out an amazing Gencon in my opinion. Good Job!
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This is the only major critique I can have is in regards to mustering specifically for the specials. We had people who were claustrophobic in our group and the process was very unkind for those. Especially if we were there for the specials early and kept getting pushed into the walls to try and make a path in the hall when more people would come in to stand waiting.
A suggestion, especially for those who have pre-set tables (i.e. 6 people early). We have information tables, why not be able to pick up an assignment with a single person early before the muster to stop the pushing crowding issue. -- for those who pre-arranged their table seat them about 15-20 mins early and clean out the hallway for those that need to make tables.
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
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I've been playing PFS for almost two years now and I know I'd still appreciate a crash course on Golarion lore.I was a little disappointed to have the opposite experience. I love having new players at my tables, but only got a few of them at 1 of my 7 tables. And five of those games were tier 1-2! I have a 10-15 minute crash course on golarion I like to give to new people, that generally gets someone saying "that's where my character will be from!"
But also I had a LOT of tables of new players at this year's con. Which is great for the hobby (I ran for two people who had never played an rpg before hopefully they both will play again - one at one of my we be goblins free tables and one at my True Dragons table. ). I also handed out nearly 10 new pfs numbers to players without them (my whole we be goblins table and half of my true dragons table and some players at other games). Not quite what I expected but I ran with it.
Basically it's a corrected and much more polished version of my post way back in this thread.
But without the deities section.
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
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I've been playing PFS for almost two years now and I know I'd still appreciate a crash course on Golarion lore.I was a little disappointed to have the opposite experience. I love having new players at my tables, but only got a few of them at 1 of my 7 tables. And five of those games were tier 1-2! I have a 10-15 minute crash course on golarion I like to give to new people, that generally gets someone saying "that's where my character will be from!"
But also I had a LOT of tables of new players at this year's con. Which is great for the hobby (I ran for two people who had never played an rpg before hopefully they both will play again - one at one of my we be goblins free tables and one at my True Dragons table. ). I also handed out nearly 10 new pfs numbers to players without them (my whole we be goblins table and half of my true dragons table and some players at other games). Not quite what I expected but I ran with it.
Basically it's a corrected and much more polished version of my post way back in this thread.
But without the deities section.
You know, now I'm thinking of recording that and putting it on youtube. I'll have to think about that.
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Organized Play Developer
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Y'all already know this, but I think the pregen book was an excellent idea. It seemed to work well for GMs and players, plus it freed us info desk minions to actually provide info rather than digging through the stacks for that perfect pregen for each new player.
I've seen a lot of great ideas suggested here, some of which I'm sure the HQ leads will look into, but some that just aren't feasible.
For instance, I highly doubt a 1:00AM to 6:00AM slot will ever happen. If you want games during that time, run some games for friends in the hotel lobby! :)
As others already stated, we cannot sell anything in the Sagamore, so the dice option is out. At the end of the con we had some borrowed dice for Quest players to use. Maybe a few sets of dice can be on hand next year, but the real issue there is the cost of enough dice to keep even a fraction of the players happy.
Anyway, keep the feedback coming...this is very helpful for HQ people.