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I play in a small but steadily growing lodge (2 full tables a week, soon to be 3). My VL and VC nice enough people, but they fulfill their roles in the most bare minimum way possible. They are difficult to get a hold of outside of our weekly game night. They will often flat out ignore questions on the lodge's official facebook page. The VL shows up pretty much every week, but he seems like he's going through the motions most of the time. The VC is only present about half the time, and he no longer plays or GMs at all (sometimes he will show up, not speak to anyone, and then go play some other, completely unrelated game).
I understand that people have lives outside of PFS. I also understand that hobby fatigue is a real thing, and that sometimes it is difficult to muster a lot of enthusiasm after years of playing and organizing the same games week after week. My issue is that recently there has been a lot of new players and renewed interest in the games at our lodge, (and if I'm being honest, it's mostly because of my own efforts) and I feel like these new players are being let down by our current leadership.
At the risk of sounding ridiculously braggadocios, I put a lot of hours into recruiting, organizing, and driving interest in PFS at my local lodge, and it shows. Over the past few months, attendance has more than doubled, and more are showing up every week. I'm always the one who volunteers to run an evergreen cold whenever we have more players show up than our normal tables can accommodate. I'm active on the facebook page, fielding questions and providing helpful resources to newcomers. I bring tons of extra dice, character sheets, pregens, pencils, minis, etc. that I hand out on game days so that new players can just show up and play.
I'm really not trying to toot my own horn here, I'm just trying to explain that I like doing these things. I am passionate about this game, and introducing the hobby to new players. But my passion is also causing a bit of a problem. Since I'm the one doing the bulk of the organizing, players at my lodge are now turning to me with questions that are best directed to our VL or VC. The problem is that these two are often unavailable or unreachable. For instance, we have a small local convention coming up, at which I know our lodge will be hosting some games. Several of our new players want to attend, and have come to me to find out what scenarios are being run, and I don't have any answers for them. I've reached out to my VC, but he's been unresponsive. I contacted the convention organizers directly to see if I could just run some games myself, and they told me that all requests must go through my VC. I feel like I'm being hamstrung here.
I guess my question is how do I get involved in organizing PFS in a more "official" capacity. I've played Pathfinder for a long time, but have only been involved in PFS for the last six months or so, which makes me pretty "new" to the hobby, even though I've adopted more of a leadership role. And I don't want to usurp my VL or VC, just pick up their slack and maybe take on some of their responsibilities. Is it possible for someone in my position to gain the organizational authority of a VL or VC but without the actual rank?
I realize a lot of the responses to this thread are going to be "sit down and talk with your leadership", and while I do plan on doing that, I also firmly believe in the mantra of "if you see something that needs done, just do it yourself". I'm much more of an ask forgiveness, rather than permission kind of guy.
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First off, Game Masquerade, thanks for working as hard as you do for our hobby. It sounds like you are putting your all into it. That’s how I started helping out, moving from a player to a steady GM, to a VL and con organizer.
I know your first instinct isn’t to “sit down and talk with your leadership”, but that is step one. They may be very happy to have the official help, especially if they are indeed burnt out as you suspect.
It sounds like you are at least doing the work of a Venture Agent at your current store and some of the work of a VL for the upcoming convention. If you don’t get resolution from your Venture Captain, you can find your Regional Venture Coordinator on the “Coordinators” page, and drop them a line. I would make sure that you first exhaust all local options before taking that step.
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From the sounds of it, you may fit well into the Venture Agent role, who assists the VC and VL, and typically handles the scheduling and reporting for one store or venue.
Check out the requirements here: Volunteer and see if that's something you're interested in. If so, you can pitch the idea to your VC/VL. Frequently we're happy to have someone offering to step up to help.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Michael made great suggestions, ideally, try to ask your VL or VC the next time you see them if there is room for a VA position in that lodge.
Always worth mentioning, that there might be other concerns your VOs have to deal with, and sometimes life just makes things difficult.
In any case, it is great that you are so motivated, so try to keep that alive ^^
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Besides the regional support program, what do you really need out of your venture critters?
I personally do pretty neat muffins ^^ and in general, I see them doing much more than their fair share when it comes to GMing etc. Strictly speaking, you don't need them for a lot of things, it is more a case of recognizing motivated individuals with a title, and listing their names on the coordinator's page so others can find them.
There are a couple of strings attached, but to be honest, becoming a VO does not have to be a big change.
When in doubt use them as a resource/aid, and if that does not work for you, just try to enjoy the game. For what they are worth, they can help to resolve conflicts and fix reporting, which can be useful (and some of them are pretty up to date on a lot of things).
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Passion leads to greater participation
Participation leads to increased involvement with organization
Involvement with organization often leads to becoming a part of the Venture CorpsThis is a very very familiar path
May you have as much fun walking it as I have
TIL venture officers are all sith. That explains a lot actually.
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TIL venture officers are all sith. That explains a lot actually.Passion leads to greater participation
Participation leads to increased involvement with organization
Involvement with organization often leads to becoming a part of the Venture CorpsThis is a very very familiar path
May you have as much fun walking it as I have
The Rule of Two used to apply as well.
