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Small request for those who format the PFS scenarios.
Is there any chance that the battle maps could be moved to the Appendix, after the handouts but before the encounters? There are so many times that important text flows from one page to another, and gets interrupted by a battle map. This becomes even more vexing when there are multiple encounters close together, and you have to skip 2 pages of maps to finish reading a sentence.
Could we also get more clarification as to where players and opponents start? Some scenarios are great about this, while others completely lack any indications.
Thanks! That's my pair of coppers.
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Flagging this to get it moved to the correct forum.
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It happens with more than just the stat blocks, though. I don’t really know the best situation. Reading box text and having to flip or scroll through two pages to get to the rest of a sentence can be annoying. But I also don’t really want to have to scroll to the end of the scenario for the map, either. I generally print out the stat blocks, even if I’m going to mostly run off of a tablet.
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While I don’t mind the maps in the middle, I would ask that some care be made not to split box text up around a full page map. Having to turn two pages can make the natural flow of the speech get interrupted. Minor frustration, but I would think that it would be a solvable problem with a little care.
Or at least make the page change in between paragraphs!
As for the stat blocks, when I am not running on Roll20 or in a PBP, I so tend to print them separately, much like Ferious Thune, so that I can see the set up info (and developments) while also having the stat blocks. Fewer page flips is better.
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My solution to boxed text is not to read it from the scenario. For live play, I create a word doc and print it on fancy scroll paper. When I'm done reading it, I give it to the players so they can refer to it throughout the session in case they need to refresh their memory what their objectives are.
For online (roll20), I do the same using a handout. Once I've read it, I share it with the table.
Not only does this allow me to ignore column/page changes mid-sentence, but I can add a little "flair" to the text, seamlessly incorporating additional information I might find from the wiki, etc. and what the PCs might know from their knowledge checks. Since I have access to their character sheets before the session, I can dispense with most of the preliminary knowledge checks for anyone trained in the relevant skills. In my experience, only people with training in the relevant skill or a special ability that grants temporary or simulated training deign to make the check. Everyone else is too afraid of a critical failure to risk it. YMMV
Explore! Report! Cooperate!
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My request for a formatting change would be to avoid a paragraph-long room description where every other sentence alternates between Player information and GM information. Although that's probably more of a plea to the authors themselves.
I prefer [in-character box text] followed by [ooc GM information].
When they're combined, I probably spend too much time breaking them apart so I can seamlessly read only in-character information to the players. Before online play, I accomplished this with different highlighter colors. With online play, I'm practically re-writing the entire scenario.
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While I don’t mind the maps in the middle, I would ask that some care be made not to split box text up around a full page map. Having to turn two pages can make the natural flow of the speech get interrupted. Minor frustration, but I would think that it would be a solvable problem with a little care.
Or at least make the page change in between paragraphs!
As for the stat blocks, when I am not running on Roll20 or in a PBP, I so tend to print them separately, much like Ferious Thune, so that I can see the set up info (and developments) while also having the stat blocks. Fewer page flips is better.
Not to mention, I have found in the ones I have run so far, these awkward breaks in block text allow the players to begin doing their own thing while I am trying to find the rest of the block text.
Another problem I encounter often is how when the hand outs are made to have flavor of the scenario, the text themselves are often hard to read. If you are going to insist on making the handouts with the story's flavor, maybe increase the size of the font or pick a different font that would be easier to read?
Also, I agree with Nefreet. I often have to pause the game so I can decipher what I can read to the PCs (outside of the block text) and what they shouldn't know at that point.
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Since all new material has the stat blocks separate in an appendix at the back is this really still problem? They aren't going to re-edit anything in the existing library so if this is in response to those, it is what it is.
Yes.
Because the tactics will be with the combat not in the stat block. So if the Space rats run away at half hit points but the space badger will fight until.... flip.... flip.. flip..... -19 points thats harder to look up than it should be. Important details about the room also go missing, etc.
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In F2F games, I will print out pages (single-sided) and reorder them in the sequence I anticipate needing them, including printing out a page twice. So my pages may look like this: 2, 3, 4, 17, 18, 5, 6, 19, 20, 2, 7, 8. I'll also highlight different section with different colors (pink to read verbatim, yellow to read but not verbatim, green for DCs, blue for treasure bundles, etc) so I can find a lot of stuff at a glance. In longer / sandboxy games (e.g., Adventures), I've been creating spreadsheets to track which sections they've visited.
It kills trees, but planetary devastation is a small price to pay for my convenience.
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In F2F games, I will print out pages (single-sided) and reorder them in the sequence I anticipate needing them, including printing out a page twice. So my pages may look like this: 2, 3, 4, 17, 18, 5, 6, 19, 20, 2, 7, 8. I'll also highlight different section with different colors (pink to read verbatim, yellow to read but not verbatim, green for DCs, blue for treasure bundles, etc) so I can find a lot of stuff at a glance. In longer / sandboxy games (e.g., Adventures), I've been creating spreadsheets to track which sections they've visited.
It kills trees, but planetary devastation is a small price to pay for my convenience.