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I'm looking for some clarification on running an AP in Campaign Mode - specifically, if you can intersperse the Campaign Mode AP Chapters with regular ol' scenarios, with credit going from both to the same PC#? The AP Chapters themselves do not provide enough XP to level up to the next chapter normally, hence my asking. (I realize that you can apply credit from the Campaign Mode AP Chapters to characters as if playing pregens, such that chronicle sheets are held in reserve until the Org Play character reaches the appropriate levels; I'm just wondering if there's a way to avoid that, to have a more organic feel.)
So, for example, would it be legal to play a sequence of games like this, starting at 0 XP?
AP Chapter 1 - run in Campaign Mode, grants 1 lvl of XP, played with Campaign Mode PCs, but reported to Org Play PC #-7XX
Three Unrelated Scenarios - run as normal scenarios, altogether grant 1 lvl of XP, played with Society-legal characters (which may or may not be the same as their Campaign Mode counter-parts, depending on the character options used and boons each individual player has available), reported to same Org Play PC #-7XX
AP Chapter 2 - run in Campaign Mode, grants 1 lvl of XP, played with Campaign Mode PCs, but reported to same Org Play PC #-7XX
Three More Unrelated Scenarios - run as normal scenarios, altogether grant 1 lvl of XP, played with Society-legal characters, reported to same Org Play PC #-7XX
AP Chapter 3 - run in Campaign Mode, etc.
...and so on, and so on. It requires some mental agility of players whos Org Play PCs are different from their Campaign Mode PCs, but otherwise - does this work?
It seems legal to me: the wording in the AP Sanctioning Docs so far says:
...if you are participating in the XX Adventure Path with an ongoing group undertaking the entire, X-chapter campaign, you may receive credit for playing the adventures as if you had played a pregenerated character.It doesn't say the chapters have to be played contiguously, if you will, with nothing in between them. The sticking part, in my reading, is where it says:
Starfinder Society characters and characters from an ongoing Adventure Path campaign may not play in the same adventure.
And my confusion is: does that mean a character playing Campaign Mode is locked out of Society play until they finish the Chapter they're in, or the entire AP they're in?
It's not a huge deal if that's not legal; it just means we'll play the AP, and then go back and play those same Characters #s (with same or different characters) applying the AP chronicle sheets as they become available. It feels more stilted to me that way, is all.
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You absolutely have it all correct. You can 100% have credit applied in that particular order.
To ease your confusion...
As you know, there are two ways to get credit from an AP book to a society character, Campaign mode and 'Non-Campaign' mode. In campaign mode, the characters and the play do not need to abide by the SFS campaign rules. In 'Non-Campaign' mode the characters and play must be SFS legal.
Now to specifically address your confusion, if you are playing in 'Non-Campaign' mode that is when the characters are "locked" out of play until the chapter/book is finished, because they must finish one adventure before going on another. If the campaign character is the same character as the SFS character, then they also are locked. However, if it is definitely not the same character as the SFS character, then the SFS character is not locked.
For example, Dr. Cupi (an SFS character) and definitely not Dr. Cupi (Campaign mode character) apply credit from their respective exploits to the same character number. Because definitely not Dr. Cupi is definitely not Dr. Cupi the SFS character, they can play through their respective adventures unabated because they are definitely not the same character.
However, if definitely not Dr. Cupi was in fact Dr. Cupi, the Starfinder, then that character would have to wait for each scenario or chapter to finish before moving on to the next. (No worries though because they are definitely different characters)
Now, the reason I approached that the way that I did was because the overarching goal is for everyone to have fun. Every great now and then, the rules get in the way of that. Organizing people for games can be difficult. Just keep in mind all of your options so that you can ensure that everything runs smoothly and everyone has fun.
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Yea, there's some iffy areas around these parts and a lot up to GM interpretation.
Generally, I say that society characters CANNOT participate in campaign mode. This keeps the rules a lot simpler and avoids society characters from getting tied up in a non-society game.
However, when Will Riker is a Starfinder Society member, and his clone "Tom Riker" is in Azlanti space fighting space nazis, there is no conflict. It keeps the rules systems cleanly separated and, most of all, avoids mixing society and non-society PCs in an adventure.
We often see the opposite too; a new player joins society play after a home game fizzles out. They may have some AP chronicle sheets from that home game, and they ask about "bringing in" their beloved home game PC to society play. My advice is always the same - create their clone.
At some point before their first adventure there was an accident and there were suddenly two of them. One went off on a grand adventure, the other joined the Starfinder Society.
Of course the best is when players take advantage of "play any race you want" in campaign mode and create wildly different characters than any of their society PCs.
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Huzzah! Thanks for clearing that up.
I must confess, I am slightly confused as to whether definitely not "Dr." Cupi is a real doctor or not, though...
No problem.
Also, a very valid and reasonable confusion. I can say that "Dr." Cupi both claims to be a doctor and has, in his SF career thus far, successfully operated on 4 people in game. Scalpel? A combat knife works just fine. Open, bleeding wound? A blow torch'll stop that bleeding real quick. And, if you remind him, he'll wash his feet too before he operates.
(There was a situation in story where he may have given a more explosive gift to an admired. Then proceeded to fix the accident by installing a prosthetic. That the prosthetic was possessed was definitely not his fault. That pile of junk in which he scrounged the parts looked reputable enough for a junk pile. How was he supposed to know there was magic about? He is a doctor and a mechanic, not some oogy-boogy spell person.)
He can even show you a doctor certification that has his name on it.
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Venture-Agent, Russia—Kursk
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Related question about "locked" character.
Let's say, I play in the AP in campaign mode and we are in the middle of the chapter. After we finish, I want to apply the chronicle to сharacter #70X. Can I use character #70X in normal SFS scenario BEFORE we finish the chapter of the AP?
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Keeping in mind that I am no expert, and all of the above points about a lot being up to GM interpretation...
The general consensus seems to be that no, you could not use that SFS Character #70X in normal SFS play while it is still playing through a Campaign Mode AP chapter.
That said, it also appears to be the consensus that you could absolutely show up to the Campaign Mode AP with your SFS Agent's "twin." That way your SFS Agent can go off and do normal scenario stuff, while their twin is off having an Adventure (Path.) The fact that the non-SFS Twin gets a chronicle sheet that gets applied to the same #70X character number as the bona fide SFS Agent is just a happy accident.
...I think.
The Paizo Reporting Server knows, deep down, that they're not the same character.
It knows.
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Venture-Agent, Russia—Kursk
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That said, it also appears to be the consensus that you could absolutely show up to the Campaign Mode AP with your SFS Agent's "twin." That way your SFS Agent can go off and do normal scenario stuff, while their twin is off having an Adventure (Path.) The fact that the non-SFS Twin gets a chronicle sheet that gets applied to the same #70X character number as the bona fide SFS Agent is just a happy accident.
...I think.The Paizo Reporting Server knows, deep down, that they're not the same character.
It knows.
The AP-Character (non-SFS) is completely different from SFS #70X Character (name, race, class, everything). So when i will apply Chronicle for AP chapter to #70X Character, it's going to work like pregen. Hence the question: Is #70X character considered "locked" during AP chapter?
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Your SFS charter is not locked in campaign mode. You only lock a character playing an AP if you are using an actual SFS character to play the AP, not if you are applying the AP credit to a SFS character.
Also, I thought about making my forum name Dr. John Godek III, but didn't want to be seen as trying to copy Dr. Cupi ...