PFS Happy Happy Joy Joy!

[Hmm]

Kevin Willis wrote:

Let's all post in happy threads. Give a shout-out to a great GM you had recently. Talk about a rarely used mechanic that you think is fun and would like to see show up in a scenario. What NPC race did you recently bump into that was amusing to socialize with?

Okay, I'm game. Let's start with great GM experiences, or players that made you smile.

I've been lurking on GM Red's Tier 1-2 Sky Key Solution thread. Those guys are NUTS. Watching that little team face apocalypse with enthusiasm and just get to work... Oh how I admire them.

I love the way they shouted, "We're going home, and so is EVERYONE ELSE!"

Did you have a great GM? Love a fellow player? Have a game that made you smile? Read a post that made you happy? Tell us!

This is the PFS happy happy joy joy thread!

Hmm

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Not to boost any particular GM's ego or anything, but I was in a Haunting of Hinojai run at SKALCon where the GM was battling the butt-end of some death-plague and was EXCEPTIONALLY concerned about our party of three martials and two support characters.

What REALLY happened:

We had a *ton* of fun as we handled the scenario in sometimes unorthodox and amazingly humorous ways, and managed to mitigate some encounters through clever cautious play DESPITE our rather ungainly grouping...

Made the trip awesome and that was on *Friday night*. Despite getting a case of Crud, trip was amazingly enjoyable and all in a very good cause!

[Serisan]

6 player table of Sewer Dragons of Absalom with 3 players using kobold pregens from True Dragons of Absalom. Our GM (Jolene) was amazed at how fast things went off the rails, particularly when I thanked Drandle Dreng during the briefing for providing Pathfinder assistance to enslave my tribe (I was the sorceror pregen). The rest of the players (by and large) embraced the madness that ensued and it was a blast. Jolene ran the scenario like an absolute champ that night.

Also, my "prepared speech" (wherein I pulled out what I described as an obviously magical scroll) for the chieftain went over very well. "You are stupid. FIREBALL."

So, happy happy for: GM, players, and the right combination of goofy scenario boon and old scenario.

[KingOfAnything]

A player played the kobold sorcerer when I ran

Spoiler:

Ungrounded but not Unbroken

Poor thing nearly washed out of basic training, but boy was the captain surprised when the whole party was awake and at attention when she came in for morning role call. He put his alarm spell to good use.

[Keith Apperson]

I got to GM for one of my favorite groups of players a few weeks back - part 1 of a 3 part module.

I was concerned going in, of course. Removing some of the assumptions of 'Point A' to 'Point B' that we typically see in PFS play can get dangerous with some parties.

I was right.

Briefing goes fine, of course. Prep, grabbing items, travel goes fine. First combat isn't nearly as rough as when I played it.

Then it happened. About 40 minutes into the session. Everything broke. The module abandoned the rails completely.

As I continued trying to pull us back onto the tracks, one thing after another simply did not work. Attempts at changing NPC reactions or justifying the events led to the entire table laughing ourselves to tears, multiple times. All because of one feat.

I still have two more parts to GM.

[Serisan]

Keith Apperson wrote:

I got to GM for one of my favorite groups of players a few weeks back - part 1 of a 3 part module.

I was concerned going in, of course. Removing some of the assumptions of 'Point A' to 'Point B' that we typically see in PFS play can get dangerous with some parties.

I was right.

Briefing goes fine, of course. Prep, grabbing items, travel goes fine. First combat isn't nearly as rough as when I played it.

Then it happened. About 40 minutes into the session. Everything broke. The module abandoned the rails completely.

As I continued trying to pull us back onto the tracks, one thing after another simply did not work. Attempts at changing NPC reactions or justifying the events led to the entire table laughing ourselves to tears, multiple times. All because of one feat.

I still have two more parts to GM.

I look forward to the exciting 2-part resolution of "kitsunes stealing dead nobles' identities."

[BigNorseWolf]

The paladin smashes the snake to a bloody pulp, sending gore flying everywhere. The Kitsune gets covered in chunks of it.

Tiny fox with pink ribbon: "GORE IS THE MASCARA OF GORUM"

[TimD]

<sigh> the thread title names makes me want to write a Quest featuring a rolling log trap (which is big, heavy, and wood) built by a kobold trap-smith named Blammo that triggers on PCs as they ascend stairs and then rolls over a goblin dog... spoof / derivative quests should totally be the next PFS contest...

[Davor Firetusk]

We had a Kitsune, Tengu, and Tien man in a party where 4 of us had Monk levels. 2 hours into the scenario we asked the GM how far we were. Page 4 was the answer. Great time role playing, and we still finished in less then 4 hours, for Ward Asunder. The presence of so many Kami's and Oni's made the comedy very puntiful.

[GM Lamplighter]

i love it when a scenario is written that gives me so much to work with. I think one of my alltime favs is 3-01 The Frostfur Captives... Escorting goblin allies/prisoners across Irissen?! Yes, please!

It's hilarious every time in real life, as long as I can convince the players to not stuff them all in a bag of holding or something. In play-by-post, it really shines. I made a separate alias for each prisoner, and they have conversations with each other, with PCs, they fight... Since PbP goes slow enough, this doesn't steal spotlight from the PCs but allows the NPCs to really shine. It turns into a nature documentary on the secret life of goblins.

Jim Groves is my hero.

[GM Lamplighter]

As a player, my favorite game happened late night at PaizoCon, in a hotel room with other Winnipeg and Edmonton folks. Ross Tait was running, and we were all really tired. It was my first time playing my fetchling, who I had decided was a bit like the Blue Men - unfamiliar with anything on the material plane, but curious and willing to try anything. His first mission sent him to a funeral, which is where he learned everything about how humans interact.

The scenario was hilarious, and that character concept has stayed with Davnet ever since, making him very atrange to interact with. Hard to describe since a lot of it is visual, but those moments with good friends at a great con are what make it all worthwhile.

[WalterGM]

Running #7-12 Twisted Circle and needing to describe something.

"Alright, so who's played Witcher 3?"

[Damanta]

I have to put a thanks out for the poor GM who had to deal with my lorewarden in Ward Asunder.

It was a blast, even if the combats were a bit lopsided, all those points into knowledge skills paid off to get the story.

[TheDegraded]

No worries Damanta, it was a pleasure as always having you at my table. I had as much fun as you did :)

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Sometimes folks do 'joke' characters that fail horribly or are even built around that concept of failure and somehow succeed.

There is a member of the Society that portrays "DUFF MAN", a masked performer if memory serves who is not only true to 'source' material, but saved the laconic 'Gibbs' during a particularly ghost-ridden maze situation.

Spoiler:

Gibbs didn't need to slap "DUFF MAN" *once*...

[Slothsy]

I've met so many good friends through PFS. These connections made have mattered a lot to me. I don't need a chronicle sheet to tell me that the true treasure has been friendship all along. Cue cheesy instrumental music.

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Rigby Bendele wrote:

I've met so many good friends through PFS. These connections made have mattered a lot to me. I don't need a chronicle sheet to tell me that the true treasure has been friendship all along. Cue cheesy instrumental music.

My Little Pathfinder.... Cooperating is Magic...

[TriOmegaZero]

But the chronicles DO help! Especially when unfortunate junior Pathfinders end up needing expensive clerical treatment. :)

[Hmm]

PFS has always been about the community to me. I cannot wait to meet some of you at Paizo con this coming year!

Hmm

[BretI]

One of the sessions that still shines for me is a special session we set up for a young man just before his family moved.

We called ourselves Team Half-Orc. The team consisted of a Half-Orc Barbarian, Half-Orc Fighter, Half-Orc Investigator, Half-Orc Bard/Bloodrager, Half-Orc Skald/Bloodrager and a dwarven monk that also liked to fight.

At the recommendation of others, we played Decline of Glory and Andrew Christian GMed it for us.

At one point in the scenario, the expected player response is to deny the opponents access to an area. Instead, we opened the doors and cried out "Come and get it!" It may have been slight overkill when Joliet Jake and Elwood unleashed Amplified Rage.

I loved it when Andy gave the last kills to the two young people (the Barbarian and the Investigator) in the game. I think it was a great send-off.

[TOZ]

I shall have to return to SkalCon for more such tales with Andy and Hilary.

[Leg o' Lamb]

TOZ wrote:

I shall have to return to SkalCon for more such tales with Andy and Hilary.

You are welcome every year.

[TriOmegaZero]

I'd say my best story in recent times would have to be our GenCon nightcap session. It was 11PM Sunday night, we had shared a fine dinner, and it was time to play Table Tetris. Of the selections, we settled on The Kortos Envoy. It was the last Season 3 scenario I hadn't GMed, there was no prep needed, nor any maps needed, and the tactics didn't matter.

My brother's shield brawler was nigh untouchable, my wife's warpriest of Gorum was unimpressed by the focal NPC, TetsujinOni's cleric was a lump of metal that channeled and buffed, Wei Ji's bard actually used Gamin the Reforged in combat, and most importantly, Flutter did what Flutter does best. The final encounter involved the party rolling up on their sonic pterodactyl and asking the NPC if he really wanted to go. "No, your mount is better than mine." was the response.

Along the way we learned that five minotaurs and a cave troll can apparently fit in a 25ft wide corridor, and a Animal Growth'ed bonded mount is more than a match for an elder minotaur.

[Lady Ladile]

*peeks in*

I've enjoyed all my GM experiences with the handful of (PbP) scenarios I've played in so far, but special mention goes to Wolfspirit for running a great session of Siege of Serpents during Gameday IV last fall. And as far as I'm concerned, this song exists in Golarion canon!

In an ongoing session of Frostfur Captives our Suli player managed to greatly impress some of our charges by putting his boot through a door while also being on fire due to reasons. They promptly tried to duplicate this.

It's also been wonderful to meet and play with what seems to be a mostly different set of players via PbP-PFS than the ones I've met through 'regular' PbP games :)

[RealAlchemy]

My dwarf ranger on rolling an extremely high pre-scenario knowledge(dungeoneering) : "Of the many races in the Underdark, the Duergar are among the most powerful - ye can smell 'em from a long ways off!"

[Woran]

Because no one else ever gave me the oppurtunity to make my gamer dreams come true and sneak attack a monster with a balista.

I owe the GM.

[David_Bross]

One of my fondest memories of PFS play was a barbarian becoming charmed, and being told to save the BBEG from the rest of the party.

He bullrushed her to safety because the barbarian couldn't think of anything else that would keep the BBEG alive. She escaped safely with a Dimension Door and they lived happily ever after until the charm wore off...

[thistledown]

I was the GM for this table. It was the last slot of a long con, and I think every player was a GM during the con letting loose. I had such a blast rolling with their acts.

Quoting from one of the players in the Funniest PFS Moments thread:

Dana Huber wrote:

I've started to make characters for their silliness value rather than badassery... thus, Conan O'Brien, my bard-barian/DDI, who carries a greatsword and a rubber chicken... I keep a list of bad, D&D/PF themed jokes on hand to bomb the table with.

And I'm pretty used to him being the silliest character at any table I sit down at.

Not so at Kubla Con this year.

I apologize in advance for forgetting the names of all the characters I played with, but, around the table, we had:

-A dwarf witch who the player envisioned as, basically, a Southern Baptist grandmother, who invited every NPC we met to 'come down to our prayer meetin' for Jebus' and who constantly sat down in combat because she had to 'take a load off these old feet, Lord have mercy';
-the indispensable gnomish bearded cross-dresser and cabaret artist, Ms. Gnom de Plume, and her large and intimidating gaffer, who makes sure her lighting is always perfect (summoner and eidolon);
-the tiefling hippy alchemist who is pretty much a pacifist and who didn't want to kill the hordes of undead attacking us
([Player] "I dunno, man, can't we just, talk it out with them..."
([GM] "They're trying to eat your face."
([Player] "They're just hungry! Don't worry, I brought munchies.")
-the gunslinger whose name, I believe, was Typhoon Kamikaze (Crimson Typhoon? Something)... basically a walking giant mustache who was in an Wild West setting in his head and constantly asking if the NPCs we met had mustaches, and if the mustaches rivaled his own in manly glory;
-aaand the nagaji rogue with Int 7 whose player never once broke the sibilant lisp his character spoke with, and who mimed out his character's facial tics and gestures to perfect and hilarious effect.

I have never laughed so hard at a table. Ever. Between a visit to Miss Feathers and dressing the dwarf witch up as Cher in order to sing karaoke to a bar full of Andorans....

...yeah. Just. Yeah.

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Conan O'Brien, quite arguably the *most* potent 'joke' character I've ever had the experience of sitting at a table with in PFS play, followed very closely by 'DUFF MAN'.

Though, honorable mention to a certain paladin whose spiritual companion was brighter than them, and was offering tactical advice and insight and constantly prodding their paladin along in Portents...

[The Fourth Horseman]

James: I believe I know that Dwarf Witch. She's pretty awesome. Makes the best cheddar biscuits this side of Taldor.

[JohnF]

James Anderson wrote:

I was the GM for this table. It was the last slot of a long con, and I think every player was a GM during the con letting loose.

A little more information: Of the seven people at the table, five are now 4-star or 5-star GMs (and four are current or past venture officers), and the other two are regular GMs at our conventions.

Pathfinder Society play in the San Francisco Bay Area is a lot of fun ...

[Neal B]

Serisan wrote:

6 player table of Sewer Dragons of Absalom with 3 players using kobold pregens from True Dragons of Absalom. Our GM (Jolene) was amazed at how fast things went off the rails, particularly when I thanked Drandle Dreng during the briefing for providing Pathfinder assistance to enslave my tribe (I was the sorceror pregen). The rest of the players (by and large) embraced the madness that ensued and it was a blast. Jolene ran the scenario like an absolute champ that night.

Also, my "prepared speech" (wherein I pulled out what I described as an obviously magical scroll) for the chieftain went over very well. "You are stupid. FIREBALL."

So, happy happy for: GM, players, and the right combination of goofy scenario boon and old scenario.

And my trap-master kobold making use of 'reptile' synonyms/puns. And reminding everyone that those wonderful traps we kept falling into were his own doing.

We really broke that timeline.
Best use I've ever made of a boon!

[Neal B]

As a player I've enjoyed countless puns and bad jokes of my own.
My favorite probably being an older scenario, run by Tom at YMB. While we explored we found some confounded laborers (kidnapped slaves or the like) and I informed them that we had cleared the way out, and they were free to head home.
"You want us to walk a thousand miles home?!"
"Yes, and when you get halfway home, I want you to loudly proclaim the story of your travels. You can call yourselves the Proclaimers!" (It took long enough for most people to get it that it almost wasn't funny by the time it was understood. But I grinned like a fool!)

Or the time Keith was GMing an interesting scenario. Final battle we are getting stomped. Cleric of Nethys Planeshifts the Big Bad to the Maelstrom.
.....
"It has the thing we're trying to recover? Didn't it?"
"Umm..." *We search the whole place* No thing.
So! Some scrolls of Teleport, some prep of Planeshifts, and we all go to the Maelstrom, scry, teleport, finish the fight and return to Golarion in time for supper!

On the GM side of things: I always enjoy prepping a scenario that brings entertainment to others, and being dumbfounded at a group's solution to a problem that I was never expecting. (The chronicles are nice too, sometimes)

The most recent being running a group of 'misfits' through the Destiny of the Sands trilogy. Now, I say misfits because they insisted on playing up in each of the three parts, but their strongest martial characters were a level 3 cleric with 8 strength, and a level 1 druid's animal companion (part 3 the druid was a bloodrager pregen, so that worked out).
Combats were slow, arduous, with a lot of... ***creative*** tactics. But the group really got into the story, embellished the roleplaying, and discovered some interesting things about Osirion. (Also, I may have been a little giddy running this as an Osirion/Scarab Sage enthusiast)

(Geez! Why do I write so much?!)

[GM Hmm]

Neal wrote:

(Geez! Why do I write so much?!)

Because you have so much joy to share! Don't worry that's the point of this thread!

Hmm

[Selvaxri]

I was running School of Spirits at PaizoCon, and a Cleric of Abadar rolled a 30+ on a Diplomacy check.

I just stared at him.
"A Cleric... of ABADAR?!" God of Wealth, City, and other stuff- talked down this really pissed off enemy.
"How? Did you lecture them on the depreciating property values?!"

At least the Vishkanya Occultist got to use his Sleep Venom ability...

Running Phantom Phenomena, the Barbarian choke-slammed the Murlock back down into her lair before they sealed the well, in Monolith.

[Belafon]

Wow, guess I indirectly started this thread, so I'll chip one in.

At a convention earlier this year I got a chance to play at a table Linda Zayas-Palmer was GMing. When the 6 of us sat down there were 5 animal companions at the table. Including a large tiger and a Spirited Charge Narrow Frame cavalier. She kinda had this look in her eyes of "oh, it's going to be that kind of table."

Then, through the course of the scenario, we proceeded to engage in only one of the possible five combats. (And were pretty much forced into that one.) We used such alternatives as:

• Going around the creatures' lair *
  
• Challenging an NPC to a test of skill
  
• Bribery
  
• Talking politely to the traditionally evil creature (we ended up besties)

*:

When we snuck up on them and got to make knowledge checks she was likely expecting questions like "do they have DR?" and "what are their special attacks?" Not "what languages do they speak?" and "how do they normally respond to travelers in their territory?"

The conversation immediately following those answers probably tipped off how the rest of the scenario was going to go, though. "I don't see any reason we shouldn't just take a longer route. Anyone else?" "Sounds good, no reason to disturb them."

Linda did a great job of rolling with a table that was probably the exact opposite in temperament from what she was expecting. I really enjoyed the way she role-played creatures that probably had very little written personality. She has that ability to make those tiny tweaks that give everyone a chance to be in the spotlight at least once in the scenario.

And the rest of the players were great, everyone bringing little personality quirks that fit right in. It's always good when six people who haven't met before are laughing at shared jokes afterwards. And we even got one of my favorite things to happen at a table: "Wait, you actually prepared that spell today? The one rarely used spell that is absolutely perfect for this situation? That's awesome!

I really hope I get a chance to play at one of her tables again. And to play with that group of people from all around the country!

[Hmm]

That sounds like a lovely experience, Kevin!!!

Hmm

[Davor Firetusk]

I GMed school of spirits a month ago and it was a blast when 2 of the PCs who sat down had recently completed Black Waters. The role-playing was great. On top of that there was a 3rd player who was very new to Pathfinder who had recently picked up a level of spiritualist, and elegantly incorporated her lack of familiarity with the class into her role-playing.

[Hmm]

Oh, I bet that was great!!!

I have yet to GM that scenario -- it's seen a lot of play in the stores in which I consistently GM. Still, it would be a lot of fun to do. It sounds like you had a fun table!

Hmm

[Hmm]

Two years ago:. My very first time at a PFS table, we played Trial by Machine as a bunch of level 1s. We barely survived, but we all made it.

___

Today: I got to GM a seeker level module for:

• Jeffrey Reed's -1 character, Nink. Nink was at that first table of Trial by Machine;
  
• Dianne Christian, who was my GM from Trial by Machine;
  
• Keith Apperson and Andy Christian, who were the VOs who'd warmly welcomed me that day.
  

I felt like I traveled full circle, getting a chance to give back to people who've given me so much joy. Plus all four players were an utter delight to game with. Any game with anthropomorphic crocodiles wielding chainsaws = win.

Hmm

[fullmetal1]

I will never forget the story of desna smiles. we were told after it was all said and done that we had just flat skiped more than a third of the mod.

I don't know all the pertinent details since I was a player not a gm but we were going in to irrisen via boat to a city described as being a half day south of "desna smiles". according to our gm that is the only thing written about desna smiles. that's it. but my Halfling druid was a devout follower of desna.

so when we get stopped half way there and asked where we were going I promply reply "desna smiles" (I had actually forgotten the actual name of the place we were actually going and "important npc" got left in the boat) when the chieften (I think?) questioned the rest of the party the bard was like "oh yea, devout worshpers of desna here going to desna smiles. bluff high 20's"

chief: "its in irrisen!"

me: "yep!"

chief: "what about the rest of you? you don't look like followers of desna?"

bard :"they are bodyguards."

chief: "bodyguards?"

rest of party: "yea do they look like they are safe on their own?"

chief "yea but its in irrisen. nothing comes back form irrisen"

me: "yea but its a place called desna smiles! I HAVE TO SEE IT!!!"

chief: "its not just a bunch of smiley faces in the snow!"
(quite upset now)

me OMG!!! YOUV'E BEEN THERE?!?!?

CHIEF: NO!!! ITS IN IRRISEN!!!

me so it could be smiley faces in the snow1

chief...... you are free to leave, go to your deaths, I don't care.

find out later that had we mentioned any of; the town we were going to, the important npc, or that we were pathfinders it triggered I mini quest that was a 3rd of the mod and had effects for the life of the character but I was so insistent about desna smiles that we skipped it :)

[Flutter]

I have now wild empathied a boat.

[Hmm]

Flutter wrote:

I have now wild empathied a boat.

That is beyond awesome.

Hmm

[thunderspirit]

TOZ wrote:

I shall have to return to SkalCon for more such tales with Andy and Hilary.

Second the return to Skål Con. It's going to be a must-attend. :-)

[Upaynao]

I'm going to give a shout out to Pat Stearns and his kineticist Shibas, who recently got to use his telekinetic powers for the greater hilarity of the table.

In

Spoiler:

The Sarkorian Prophecy

there is a rather vicious storm bearing down on the PCs early on in the adventure. And as someone in our group finally identifies which mound was suitable for cover, the storm comes on down in the middle of those of us left outside. That is to say me, as my shapeshifted druid, Kalahi Lion-Born. The dice being what they are, I spent a reroll to get a natural 1 on the required save not to be thrown up in the middle of the all-consuming vortex. And as I'm pondering how exactly to extirpate myself out of this situation, Shibas says empathetically:

"Don't worry guys. I got this. How much hp do you have?"

Remembering a prior session I GM'ed where Shibas levitated a rowboat past some rather surprised foes, I tell him, inwardly steeling myself against who knows what at this point. On his turn, he turns back to me and says: "Just so you know, you technically get a saving throw against this."
-It's cool, I choose to fail it. What are you doing to me now.
-GM? I'm going to foe throw the druid at myself. Oh s+~+, I hit myself.

So in the middle of a thundering, otherworldly windstorm, this dire tiger shoots down through the wind currents into the burrow where the Kineticist is holed up in, meteoring through with a puff of dirt exploding outwards.

Both the kineticist and the druid survived.

[thunderspirit]

My Serpent's Ire table and Madison's Gamehole Con went almost completely off the rails the moment they sat foot on the plantation.

Spoiler:

Posing as merchants, a pair of rocking Bluff checks followed by a surreptitious charm person (on which I rolled a natural 1) later and Temarra is sound asleep in her bedchambers in a Zarta Dralneen romance novel, while Thestil leads the party through Slumbersun posing as Temarra.

Safe to say, numerous encounters were resolved in decidedly non-violent manner, and a lot of researchers in Slumbersun ended up looking for a new job. :-D

[nosig]

Chris Rathunde wrote:

My Serpent's Ire table and Madison's Gamehole Con went almost completely off the rails the moment they sat foot on the plantation.

** spoiler omitted **

Serpants Ire:

Hope I don't spoil any part of a fun time... but I don't think that would have worked. Temarra doesn't have authority to go past the recieving lab (Area B).

From the scenario, This is also the farthest Temarra has ever traveled into the facility; despite her authority above ground, her only way to speak with lab authorities is to travel here and beg an audience. Having received word that intruders have entered the complex, guards have assembled here to fend off the PCs. .

If Temarra showed up "showing people around" there would likely be a big fight right there in the recieving lab...

[TriOmegaZero]

That's what happened in my run yesterday. Bluff hit a wall, fight began.

[Serisan]

Hmm was GMing last night and I ruined* her night with a Wall of Horse**.

*:

Nothing could be further from the truth as she started laughing hysterically.

**:

Communal Mount to surround an enemy

Since my character is a courier and we were tasked with rescuing a Pathfinder agent, I asked the Venture-Captain for up to 10 minutes of epithets about said agent's failed performance so I could Mindlink him when we found him.

[Hmm]

Oh, Serisan! I was going to post about that. Cleverest use of that spell ever.

The other thing that was brilliant was watching how Rosc distracted the "puppies". They had Nessian Warhound Cubs, and the halfling summoner on a demonic spider shot a web at the Aspis Alchemist, dragging the Alchemist behind him while cooing, "Here puppy! Here puppy!!"

Of course the dogs chased, giving the rest of the party a chance to loot bodies in peace. There wasn't enough left of that alchemist for an open-casket funeral...

I could not stop laughing during last night's game! My players made my day with their wacky antics.

Hmm