Community Gameday Spotlight: (PbP)Year of the Shadow Lodge: June 7 - July 20, 2016

[IronHelixx]

Community Gameday Spotlight: Year of the Shadow Lodge

A community led Play-by-Post Gameday featuring the Season Two Multi-Table Special, Year of the Shadow Lodge.

When: June 7th - July 20th, 2016

Event Coordinator: Shifty

Description:

A Pathfinder Society Special designed for Levels 1–11.

When a famous Pathfinder returns to the Grand Lodge in Absalom with a long sought after Azlanti artifact of power, the Society celebrates the achievement by throwing a massive party in Absalom's arena. (And we all know how Pathfinder Society Parties tend to end.)

Written by Tim Hitchcock.

For more details and questions please see the PbP Mustering and Update Thread here:

http://paizo.com/campaigns/YearOfTheShadowLodge/recruiting#1

If you need any assistance getting involved please contact Shifty, or email the Online VOs here.

- Jesse

Jesse R. Davis [IronHelixx]
PFS Venture-Captain, Online Play
[e-mail]
http://PathfinderSocietyOnline.com

Our Mission: To Champion, Serve, Support, and Build the PFS Online Community.

[IronHelixx]

Just wanted to say thanks to Shifty for stepping up to organize and run this gameday, and thanks to all the GMs who stepped up to run (and even waitlist) to make sure everyone gets to play - looking forward to it. =)

[FiddlersGreen]

You trust him to organise and run this? I don't know... I hear he's a little bit.... Shifty... ;)

[Shifty]

Hi!

Thanks for the post!

Magabeus and I initially envisioned a tight and compact 'toe in the water' session of 6-8 tables. It has grown to 13 now and the spaces are filling rapidly. We had GM's for all tables within 7 minutes of the thread going live, and we filled up ten tables in the first day, with the rest continuing to fill and spill into waitlists.

This was way more of a popular event than we thought it might be, and we are pretty interested to 'see how the monster works' because the intent is to (if we as organisers enjoy the process) run more of these and move through the backlog of Specials.

A driving factor for me was the struggle to get the 10 specials for my 5th star, and it has been really encouraging to get messages from GM's in the same boat who are joining us for the event to get that 1/10th closer to that coveted ***** and participate in a community event.

[GM Evil]

I for one can attest to how quickly this thing filled up. I watched the spreadsheet update in real time and it was insane seeing everyone barging in all at once to get a spot. I'm thrilled to be a part of this and really can't wait to see how it unfolds, and do it again in the future.

[Shifty]

Given the demand, we have now added extra tables.

There are now more spaces available...

[N N 959]

Just an observation, this is only running some six weeks. That is not normally long enough for a full PbP scenario.

[IronHelixx]

The Specials definitely require more time commitment than your usual PbP game - and there is a higher expectation for post rate - but that is by design. (We ran the PbP Siege of Serpents in 45 days and virtually every one of the 42-ish tables were able to finish it just fine.)

- Jesse

Jesse R. Davis [IronHelixx]
PFS Venture-Captain, Online Play
[e-mail]
http://PathfinderSocietyOnline.com

Our Mission: To Champion, Serve, Support, and Build the PFS Online Community.

N N 959 wrote:

Just an observation, this is only running some six weeks. That is not normally long enough for a full PbP scenario.

[N N 959]

I was part of Seige, and our GM had to just end some battles before they were technically complete. I am all in favor of higher expectations on post rate, just want to consider whether it is going to produce the best experience.

[IronHelixx]

Understood. There were definitely a couple of tables that struggled with the pace a little in Siege of Serpents - but that happens in IRL events too. Tables often have to move on when the end of an ACT happens, even if everything is not quite wrapped up neatly for a given table - there are guidelines in the recent special scenarios on how to transition those situations as smoothly as possible - that is just the nature of the event. We had even more tables finish early that were waiting on the other tables to finish certain acts though - it's the balancing act of a multi-table special we have to try and make work as best we can for the majority of tables.

N N 959 wrote:

I was part of Seige, and our GM had to just end some battles before they were technically complete. I am all in favor of higher expectations on post rate, just want to consider whether it is going to produce the best experience.

[DebugAMP]

The last special I played in person had many combats end before they were actually done. Just the nature of specials and take variation.

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Both at GenCon and over the PbP as a player I can assure folks that there will be tables that will feel 'rushed' and others that feel almost 'casual' in terms of play.

At GenCon 2014, The Paths We Choose (run as a special, even though it really isn't) and Legacy of the Stonelords both had this happen, with some overachievers dragging the slower tables along.

At GenCon 2015, during the Sky Key Solution, there were even some tables that decided to take a *short-cut* and this dramatically altered the timeframe for some of them, from my understanding. Even not taking the short-cut our table was tight, competent, and on-task and except for one encounter was slightly above average in timing.

During the PlayByPost, it actually felt the most 'fluid' of the specials I've been in, because we weren't having to compete sound-wise with other tables, the aid tokens were flying fast and furious, and it generally felt 'quick' but we covered a lot more during that than at GenCon (played CORE during PbP, Classic at GenCon)

[Vahanian 89]

I think this is really cool and, if it goes well, we should try to do more of these outside of gamedays.

[Shifty]

If it turns out really cool and Magabeus and I don't hate the world afterwards we will continue running more :p

[Shifty]

This crazy train kicks off in a few days, time has flown.

[Shifty]

It's about a week in, and appears to be going well.

15 tables have filled, and all of the scheduled GM's were able to join us - and there was a significant pool of reserves should those GM's have had a change in circumstance.

The scenarios were all in the GM's hands in a timely fashion, the players were generally well organised and ready from the start (only some minor shuffles and a couple of waitlisters brought forward), and kick off went smoothly.

There was a bit of learning around the best way to set the event up and manage it, and the use of Google sites seems to have its advantages - but also has a few holes.

Doing the rounds of the tables I have also found:
*All groups are on track.
*Standard of GM's is really encouraging.
*The 'newer' PbP GM's are really putting in with enthusiasm and learning the ropes, with great support from their players.
*Some of the chat in the early stages around the in game event was hilarious, quite the imagination some players and GM's have...(and oh so cynical in their humour!)

Whilst we are still only at the front half of the scenario all of the above is quite encouraging and I think it has been a good learning opportunity, and the work put into the planning is paying off - especially as it can be very quickly rebadged and reused in any other multi-table very quickly.

I will be interested in what the feedback is when it comes in at the end to see how else we can improve the experience (as long as it also improves them for the Overseer and Table GMs!)

[Shifty]

Run complete!

Thanks for all the assistance and interest, look forward to the next one.