How much time do you put into PFS chronicling?

[Ravingdork]

How much time do you spend updating your character notes, chronicles, and other PFS records after the session ends?

For me, I can expect to spend no less than four hours the next day, as much as the session itself! Between handling downtime, deciding what to spend my gold on, filling out the chronicle, leveling up the character, updating my excel sheets and double checking the math on everything, scanning hardcopies of the records into digital files, and filing everything away on the computer and into custom notebooks, it ends up consuming quite a bit of my personal time.

However much time you spend, do you feel it is worth it? I've gone through great lengths to create an honest paper trail, but I don't think I've ever once been thoroughly audited. Even cursory "10-second" audits only seem to happen during conventions.

[Balkin]

Well, I'm not spending 4 hours after a session...

Even when I GM a session I might spend an hour doing all the paperwork and assigning the chronicle to a character. It's a bit of a different story if a character levels up of course. Probably another hour if I have to level a character. I use www.Wanderersguide.app to help level so even then it's not to bad. I do keep paper copies of characters just in case my tablet is glitching and keeping the paper copy up to date takes the longest part of that time.

Its sounds like you keep far more detailed records than I do. Not sure what to tell you to help trim down your time! Good luck!

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

I usually put in most of my time chronicling before a game.

Here's how I organize stuff, using the example of my character Kite-Dancing-On-Wind (I keep a copy of my character formatted for Paizo's PBP Forums, and play from it for live games.)

I also keep Kite’s Character Folder on Google Drive and it includes:

* My chronicles
* My ITS, a spreadsheet that tracks my adventures, my spending and my level, along with rep and experience.
* The google doc that I use to level Kite off the Paizo Forums. It's formatted for message boards.

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

Having everything organized like this means that after a game I just shove my chronicle in Kite's character folder, and update the ITS with the current rep, XP and cash from the latest adventure. That takes at most ten minutes.

When it comes time to play the next game, I check to see if I have leveled (the spreadsheet calculates this for me.) If I have, I usually look at the future planning section of my character sheet. This usually makes leveling fast if I have already decided some of this stuff in advance. If I haven't, I spend an hour deciding what I am likely to do in the next couple levels and put it in Future Planning.

So I spend maybe half an hour most of the time in my post and pre-game stuff, and occasionally an hour or two deciding stuff for the next few levels. That's my system and it works for me.

Hmm

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

If you want an ITS like mine, here is this Blank Shareable ITS that you can copy.

My boyfriend Bret made it, and it saves me countless trouble and lots of cognitive load.

Hmm

[Gary Bush]

Answering the OP, I must say that is a lot of stuff your doing. You be you.

That does seem like a lot of extra work but if that is who you best manage your character, fine.

To answer the question, less than 15 minutes. I try to enter the into Herolab.

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

It takes me a little longer than Gary because I am effectively leveling by hand, writing everything into a google doc or a spreadsheet.

[Sir Belmont the Valiant, II]

For me this is highly variable. Filling out a chronicle sheet and checking money/xp/expenditures takes 15 minutes, tops. Often it takes less.

Leveling up usually takes about ten to twenty minutes.

But somewhere along the line (level one or two) I take out the time to plot out my character's advancement over up to level eight or ten, and that can take quite a while. But once that's done, it's very seldom re-done.

Why only plan out to level eight or ten? I mostly play PFS and their character progression slows way down when you get past level six.

[Ascalaphus]

I'm usually the one handling the chronicles - I have the paid RPGChronicles subscription so I can email stuff and use the quick reporting tool. Also, I have all the sessions of our lodge in my account, so if anyone loses a chronicle, I can just send them the PDF again.

Going PDF only also means no faff printing stuff and then scanning it back in again.

Total time after I receive a chronicle (after sending it to myself):
- Open email, download PDF.
- Rename the file to "character name - chronicle X" and put it in the right folder.
- Open spreadsheet, go to character tab.
- Copy gold, reputation, XP from the chronicle.
- The spreadsheet automatically calculates how much gold I have, what level I am etc.
- If I've leveled up, change the level in Pathbuilder.
- If I want to purchase something, write a line in the spreadsheet and add the item in Pathbuilder.

So... this takes about 2 minutes?

[Quentin Coldwater]

I still do everything on paper. Character sheets, chronicles, and so on. (I do use a form-fillable PDF for character sheets, but I don't like playing from a tablet or phone). Filling in gold and EXP and such is two minutes, max. Hell, sometimes I'm lazy and don't fill it in right away, and I have to update a level's worth of chronicles and that's not that much more work.

I don't plan my characters. I look ahead and see what juicy bits are available, but nothing's set in stone. Leveling up takes 15-20 minutes, since my autocalc does most of the math. I just have to add the feats and the text in the relevant text boxes and I'm done.

Shopping for equipment varies. I don't count that as "updating" as I usually don't actively search for stuff. I'm a lazy shopper and rarely spend money beyond the mandatory runes and +1 items (I can't be bothered to go through all the items on AoN and see what niche item would fit my characters), so unless I stumble upon something interesting or build-defining (usually through chronicle sheet rewards), they're just vanilla characters. And if I do know what to look for, it's just a few minutes of incorporating that into the character sheet.

[Azothath]

I'm paper based. I have scanned my personal character sheets into *.svg and edit as needed saving 3rd, 7th, 11th level versions as they develop. So they are artsy and pretty. My form is a bit tight as everything you need is on the front page, fonts from 8 to 14pt.
PF1 Spell sheets *.svg for colors (CL, schools, slots, 0-5th on the front{about 180 spls}, then 6-9, mythic, metamagics & feats on back) and ITS-My-Stuff.odt for stuff.
I usually plan a bit ahead keeping sticky notes or notes on the character sheet. I run wizards so the paperwork load is high.
Still, maybe 5 min if I level at the table. 4 hrs at home doing several planned paths for PCs at home, so roughly 4 hrs for the next 3 levels. Chronicles don't usually impact builds after 2nd level.
I am very-pro on writing notes on your PF1 chronicles.
I did PF1 chronicles the same, *.svg plus template with data. Just change some data and print next pdf. Easy, neat, and unique.

While attention to detail is fine, how much of that data you are writing is applicable to PFS RAW? Is it just role-play characterization? With PF2 it is mostly Paizo recorded and pdfs so you're left with basic design choices, purchases, and characterization notes.

[Tim Emrick]

After each session, I will roll/calculate downtime activities, and add the session to a file I keep for each PC with a list of their chronicles and boons (with as abbreviated a summary of the latter as I can manage, for quick reference). Often I'll just write the chronicle/boon info at the end of the print copy I keep in the binder with the character sheet, and wait to update the digital file whenever the character levels up.

If the character has earned a chronicle boon, I'll print that out for their binder as soon as I can after the game is reported. Similarly, if the PC hits a new Reputation Tier, I'll go see what new boons they qualify for, and buy and print them. (I usually keep notes about what which boons are coming up next, so that I can minimize that shopping time when they get access. And I earn enough AcP that I'll usually buy most faction boons and hireling upgrades, whether or not I'm sure that they'll see use by that PC.)

I rarely plan out leveling or gear more than a couple levels in advance, but I usually have a couple items per character that I'm saving money to buy (even if it's just, hey, you're level 2 now, go buy that first rune). If the PC has enough to get one of those now, I'll go ahead and add it.

If the character has leveled up, I will apply those advancements as soon as convenient (right after game if I have time and energy, otherwise within the next few days). I'll make notes of those changes on the old print copy, and update the digital file (Hero Lab for PF1, fillable PDF for SF1 and PF2) either at that time or as soon afterward as I find time.

For most of my SF1 PCs and all of my PF2 PCs, I also keep a reference file with the text of feats, class features, magic items, spells, etc., copied and pasted from AoN, so that I don't have to constantly look stuff up during game. That gets updated when the character levels, or occasionally before then if they bought a lot of gear that needs to be added. (For PF1, Hero Lab handles most of that, but I declined to subscribe to their SF1 and PF2 models.)

I haven't tracked how much time any of that takes me, but I would guess that I rarely spend more than an hour of bookkeeping after any given session, unless the character leveled up or had other significant changes. In those cases, I'd estimate it can take me up 2-3 hours to update everything. Occasionally it takes longer, especially if I'm taking my time to peruse books for new gear and spells (but that's not pure bookkeeping, as such). But if I'm not shopping or leveling up, it's more like 15 minutes, at most.

My regular gaming groups try to avoid needing to level up during sessions, due to the time required. For an AP, if we know we're almost to a milestone, the GM might ask us to prep a higher-level version of our PCs ahead of time, so we can maximize playing time. A couple of times, I've played the same PC multiple times at a con and knew ahead of time that I would need to level them up between scenarios, so I did as much of that work ahead of time as possible (including preparing another copy of the character sheet at the new level).

[Ravingdork]

It probably doesn't help that I'm also updating my personal character sheet, my online character sheet, and my Pathbuilder character profile so that everything is consistent and up to date with everything else.

A lot of my time goes into making decisions, then into cross checking things.

[Pirate Rob]

I preplan out most of my character choices. Using sheets like this.

Minimized having to make decisions over and over again about how to level a character up and what to buy etc.

[Cai the GM]

Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:

I usually put in most of my time chronicling before a game.

Here's how I organize stuff, using the example of my character Kite-Dancing-On-Wind (I keep a copy of my character formatted for Paizo's PBP Forums, and play from it for live games.)

These examples are great, definitely pointing players here.

Thank you.

[Matt Clay]

I love to play with different build options and such most nights on my iPad as I unwind watching ghost adventures with pathbuilder open. So many hours with most of my society games every other Saturday in Pittsburgh.