RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Hello all!
I'm the new venture captain for PACG online organized play, and I wanted to point you all to a new convention that's happening in March, right here on the Paizo forums. The convention will run from March 5th through April 30th, 2018.
Here's the announcement post: OutPost Announcement
That announcement post has some instructions on who can play in a play-by-post PACG game. Please direct any questions about these rules or online play in general to me at cartmanbeck@orgplayonline.com.
And here is the list to sign up to play: Signup sheet (PACG tables are highlighted PINK starting around #23.
Bumping this since it fell off the main forum view. Speaking from experience, playing PACG in a play-by-post is super fun and I encourage everyone to give it a go! :)
I'm deeply curious, especially since it increasingly may be my only opportunity to get into Organised Play due to the limitations of where I live. That said, I'll need to read a bit more about the dates, expectation of time dedication per player (and in a given timezone), and where I can/should start if I do not have any pre-existing Organised Play on record, though I'm familiar with the rules/requirements.
Is there a link to demonstrate how previous play-by-posts were run, and more details as to expectations of each player?
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Here is my table from when we ran the Cosmic Captive special.
I'll post some more info about expectations and what not later tonight when I have more time.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Let me jump in for Hawk and answer some of those questions.
As far as expectations, that depends on the person running the table, but in general we would expect players to post once per day whenever possible, and let the person running the table know if they won't be able to.
OutPost will start on March 5th, and you aren't expected to have any previous organized play experience. We have several seasoned players who can help you understand the details of how to play. Definitely check out Hawk's link above to see how games have worked out in the past.
Feel free to go sign up for a game here: Signup link (pink highlighted games toward the middle of the sheet)
Thanks for the link and answers!
Interesting table to read, a post at least once every 24 hours (similar to a lot of play-by-forum rules) is something I can easily maintain at an absolute minimum.
I'm confident enough in my interest that I will sign up... however, I lack a class deck (since, again, no Organized Play experience), and it feels somehow inappropriate to place my name in when I don't have a valid character, and can't guarantee I'll find a class deck that sufficiently appeals to me.
I'll do my research and purchase, then sign up if there's still room. Thanks again for the help!
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.... can't guarantee I'll find a class deck that sufficiently appeals to me.
Any of these decks are legal for Organized Play (and hopefully the Occult decks will be out in time for the PBP). If you enjoy PACG, you should definitely be able to find a deck and a character you enjoy (also: you can play any character from any base set/character add-on deck with the Class deck for that character's class).
Feel free to PM me with what you are looking for in a character if you want some suggestions.
Definitely encourage people to give it a shot. I started my first PBP game not too long ago and we've been having a ton of fun going through season 2 (runelords), currently in AD2. Looking forward to seeing more people join in and I'll definitely be willing to help out with questions from newcomers.
@cartmanbeck:
Must we follow the straight rule of "play a character with the Class deck for that character's class"*? Or can we use any of the "unlocked" characters?
If we CAN use unlocked characters -- must you have actually earned the unlock, or can you just assume it?
Thanks!
*with the addenda that characters from the non-class "Class" decks can use their character deck (ie, Pathfinder Tales)
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Absolutely may use the unlock IF you've earned it. We will be using full Organized Play rules here, so if you have any character unlocks or boons that you want to use, you'll have to scan/take a picture of the sheet showing the unlock or boon and email it to me at cartmanbeck@orgplayonline.com. I'll then file that boon/unlock for all future play-by-post games so that you don't have to show it for every game.
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Arrg! The dark past of the fast-and-loose, lazy "playing OP but not reporting" gamers like me comes back to haunt us. 'Tis a cruel (if overdue) comeuppance...
I've been learning to play the ACG recently, and am thinking of trying out the organized play format as well. I was reading through the special from last summer, and it looks like a blast.
If I were to join one of the Outpost games, is there an adventure that would be best for a beginner, or are any of the tier 1 games equivalent? Also, is 4 the preferred size for a table?
I would say Season of the Righteous is slightly harder than the rest of the Tier 1s (and you'd have to use a pregen for anything higher than a Tier 1 anyway), so pick any of them.
The specials are limited to 4 players by their nature, but it's not like we must balance the tables to 4 players each; 5-6 players are fine, though somewhat frantic and you don't get a lot of turns to yourself.
You will have to get used to the interface; we use a google sheet to keep track of our decks, but cartmanbeck can provide you with instructions.
... (and you'd have to use a pregen for anything higher than a Tier 1 anyway)...
If someone had a character they had already advanced to tier 3/4/5 through OP, and had either reported the plays or had the chronicle for it, couldn't they use that character for an AD4 Outpost adventure?
I assume that part was only directed at me, since I said I haven’t done any OP yet.
Thanks for the tips, zeroth_hour2!
... (and you'd have to use a pregen for anything higher than a Tier 1 anyway)...If someone had a character they had already advanced to tier 3/4/5 through OP, and had either reported the plays or had the chronicle for it, couldn't they use that character for an AD4 Outpost adventure?
Yes. But if you don't have a character and choose to play a higher tier, you will have to use a pregen.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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... (and you'd have to use a pregen for anything higher than a Tier 1 anyway)...If someone had a character they had already advanced to tier 3/4/5 through OP, and had either reported the plays or had the chronicle for it, couldn't they use that character for an AD4 Outpost adventure?
Yep, and I'm hoping those players are out there, since I am running a Tier 3 and a Tier 4 table during OutPost! :)
Consequently, there are still a lot of slots left for PACG, so go sign up for a game! I'll likely be opening it up to allow players to play in multiple tables starting this week, given the huge number of current openings.
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Thanks for posting this here; I didn't know PSACG was playable by post. The format used in the forums is pretty cool, and I'm definitely going to sign up!
Is there a lot of the card game (organized play or not) played in the play-by-post in general? I see a few campaigns, but couldn't find any recent PACG recruitment threads. Just curious; I'd love to try it out, even before the convention!
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Oops I also had some questions.
First, the requirements of course include owning a class deck. Do we need to dedicate the deck for play, or is it okay if we are using it in a real-life game at the same time? In other words, is it recommended to use the physical deck to maintain your deck, hand, etc, or can we just keep track of that in a text file or spreadsheet, or with proxy cards?
I ask because I am having fun playing Alase in SotR, but want to maybe try out Baltazar too. :)
Second, for the Season of the Goblins adventure, would only Goblin characters be recommended? I don't have either Goblin deck but I played the first mission of that season at Gencon and it was fun.
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You should dedicate that character for the PbP. The PbP is an officially reported Organized Play adventure, so things could get wonky if you’re trying to play other officially reported scenarios at the same time with the same character. Actual deck tracking for the PbP takes place with a spreadsheet (it’s a shared google sheet that your PbP GM will also have access to), so if you want to use the physical deck for a different OP character or non-reported scenarios, you can safely do that.
For Season of the Goblins, you can use any character deck. Any non-Goblin characters are turned into goblins for the duration of the adventure path :)
During this Adventure Path
You gain the Goblin trait.
Wait, I’m Not a Goblin!
Every now and then, you have a strange memory that maybe
you aren’t a goblin. Maybe it’s because your character card says
“Human” or has a distinctly un-goblin name like Alahazra. It’s
almost like everything has been a horrible nightmare ever since
you tangled with some cultists of Lamashtu and some awful
mutating liquid.
Then you realize you’re just a goblin, writing is scary,
Lamashtu is great, and it’s time to set things on fire.
I've been wanting to try Angban in Wrath/Season of the Righteous, so I signed up. Looks like that "table" is primed to break into two.
Thanks for posting this here; I didn't know PSACG was playable by post. The format used in the forums is pretty cool, and I'm definitely going to sign up!
Is there a lot of the card game (organized play or not) played in the play-by-post in general? I see a few campaigns, but couldn't find any recent PACG recruitment threads. Just curious; I'd love to try it out, even before the convention!
The online format was only somewhat recently made "official" and there's been a slow rollout phase to work out the format, deck engine, deck trackers, etc. So that's why you only see a few campaigns out there and not any recent recruitment threads. Having said that I'm hoping that after Outpost we start seeing more games rolling out.
Unsure of their plans about rolling out extra tables before the event, but if there is interest then I'll already be learning the game engine and would be willing to GM a table starting before the event.
I dropped myself in a game slot, but I’ll be happy to switch to any of the tier 1 games if we need to consolidate tables or balance numbers.
I’m quite interested to see how this deck-managing spreadsheet works for online play. :)
Nyctessa sounds pretty cool.
I was going to play Nyctessa, but I had already decided to join a Wrath adventure. Playing a Poison-based character in Wrath (or MM) is not my idea of fun. :)
Nyctessa is ideal for S&S, which makes sense, given her origins. She'd fit well in RotR too.
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You might be thinking of Celeste (Naga pirate), elcoderdude, rather than Nyctessa (Dhampir Wizard). Nyctessa is probably just fine for Wrath.
You might be thinking of Celeste (Naga pirate), elcoderdude, rather than Nyctessa (Dhampir Wizard). Nyctessa is probably just fine for Wrath.
Yep. Pretty keen of you to figure that out. (Just this morning a BGG poster said, trust Robert*, he's nearly always right about PACG.)
*that's me
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Oops I also had some questions.
First, the requirements of course include owning a class deck. Do we need to dedicate the deck for play, or is it okay if we are using it in a real-life game at the same time? In other words, is it recommended to use the physical deck to maintain your deck, hand, etc, or can we just keep track of that in a text file or spreadsheet, or with proxy cards?
I ask because I am having fun playing Alase in SotR, but want to maybe try out Baltazar too. :)
Second, for the Season of the Goblins adventure, would only Goblin characters be recommended? I don't have either Goblin deck but I played the first mission of that season at Gencon and it was fun.
You should dedicate the specific CHARACTER to a play-by-post, so if you sign up for a play-by-post, that character can't play in any meatspace games until we finish. However, you can definitely use the same DECK with another character (or even another "instance" of the same character) for any other games. In other words, if you have a Balazar that you are using in a meatspace game, you probably shouldn't sign him up for a play-by-post in OutPost, but you can feel free to sign up a newly-created Zetha.
Does that make sense?
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Also, take note: Due to the current level of sign-up interest, we're opening up to allow any given player to sign up for up to TWO games, instead of just one. Feel free to put yourself down for a second game!
Here is a blank copy of the Character Manager Spreadsheet that I created: Character Manager
Make a copy for yourself, and play around with it. You will type the cards that are in your deck into the "Don't Look" sheet (ALL CARDS NEED TO HAVE DIFFERENT NAMES. So if you have two Blessings of the Gods, you'll want to name them "Blessing of the Gods 1" and "Blessing of the Gods 2").
The "LOOK" sheet is where you'll do the meat of your playing. To draw a card, put "TRUE" or the number 1 in the yellow spot next to the word "Draw" and the sheet will generate a random card for you that's not being used in another way. You can then type that card name into the "Hand" section, and it'll give you another random card from your deck.
All other card movement is simply typing into one column and deleting from another. So if you have to discard a Blessing of the Gods, you type "Blessing of the Gods 1" into the Discards column, and delete it from the Hand column.
Make sure to scroll down and fill out your charater's hand size, skill feats, and powers. Then, when you're ready to post your character's current status for the game, you can copy A32-A58 and paste them right into the Paizo forums, and it'll look something like this:
Hand: Steal Book, Adadamae Student, Knot of Isis (traded), Augury, Blessing of the Elements, Life Drain, Blessing of the Gods 1,
Displayed: Volcanic Storm,
Deck: 9 Discard: 2 Buried: 1
Notes:
Dexterity d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2
Constitution d4 [ ]+1
Intelligence d12 [X]+1 [X]+2 [X]+3 [ ]+4
Arcane: Intelligence +1
Craft: Intelligence +1
Knowledge: Intelligence +3
Wisdom d6 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ] +3
Charisma d8 [ ]+1 [ ]+2 [ ] +3 [ ] +4
Hand Size 6 [X] 7
Light Armors Weapons
Powers:
"When you attempt a check to acquire a spell (□ or an item), you may use your Knowledge
skill in place of any listed skill."
After you play a spell, you may recharge a random spell from your discard pile.
"Discard a spell to reduce Cold or Fire ([X] or Acid, Electricity, or Force) damage dealt to you
([X] or to any character at your location) to 0."
This sounds fun! I signed up for a slot, and emailed Cartman some questions. (I'm totally new to Play-By-Post)
Hey Tyler -- does all hell still break lose on the spreadsheet if you use cut-paste to move cards the Hand column to Discarded, Recharged, etc? (Instead of deleting then typing the card name.)
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Hey Tyler -- does all hell still break lose on the spreadsheet if you use cut-paste to move cards the Hand column to Discarded, Recharged, etc? (Instead of deleting then typing the card name.)
Another way is you can COPY and paste, just don't CUT and paste. The copy function doesn't update other cell references so the spreadsheet still works as intended. when you cut, it updates the references and then breaks the spreadsheet. You then just have to remember to go delete the old cell you copied from.
Ctrl-Shift-V is a genius suggestion though - nothing breaks, and the colours stay nice. Thanks, JohnF.
Yeah, I still recommend typing things in, but copy-paste shouldn't break anything (other than the colors of the columns). cut-paste is still horrendous. :)
Well, it's not horrendous if you're actually trying to move things around a spreadsheet and keep your formulas/scripts working. :)
I'm not nearly as familiar with Google's suite of apps as I am with Microsoft Office, but it'll be interesting to see what it's doing.