How I Run It: Rolling in the Open

The same conversation will pop up in the TTRPG community every few months: Do you roll in the open? Some people are against it, doing everything they can to keep players from seeing what they’re doing, down to doing fake rolls to keep them paranoid. Others do a mix, with players rolling in one box, while the GM keeps most rolls a secret. Me? I’m with the group where everything is rolled openly due to an accidental experiment I stumbled into a few years ago.

The long, long ago

In the past, our table was one of 100% secret rolls, because when everyone has aging eyes, no one can see what’s on a physical die that’s not right in their face. Even the GM couldn’t see what the players rolled and had to take called-out numbers in good faith. Eventually, we moved to a VTT, but the players kept their physical dice. On the other hand, I had to switch to the online roller because I was simply out of table space. Still, I turned on GM-only rolls, which was the same situation.

That is until a scenario came up where some of my rolls HAD to be public. I was annoyed with switching back and forth, so I said, screw it, I’m rolling everything in the open. The reaction from my players was fascinating.

Players, when you roll in the open

I would never accuse my players of metagaming, but they’re still human beings with expectations. One of their unspoken expectations had been that if my dice were rolling hot, I would save them. With everything in the open, there was no way for me to do that quietly. Their tactics tightened up, and they took being low on hit points more seriously.

Also, they could see the bonuses for creatures targeting them, which wasn’t bad. If something popped off with a hit way higher than they were used to, they immediately used different tactics. Some people cry ‘metagaming’ when this happens, but I don’t think it is. Sure, if you treat that non-descript halfling like he’s going to rip your head off because you saw a spoiler that he’s a level 20 monk, that’s no good. But you can generally tell how skilled someone is if you’re in a fight. Trust me, if you’re squaring off with me and with a professional boxer, even if we both whiff, you’ll quickly realize that they’re dangerous and I have useless noodles for arms.

Long-term changes

While some changes were easy to spot immediately, some took a while to shake out.

More egalitarian rolls. Oh boy, I’m going to get some hate over this one. People love their shiny number rocks and hate being accused of anything underhanded. And I’m not saying people cheat, but we cull our dice, right? If a set is pretty but rolls like crap, we never reach for it. If it rolls hot, we reach for it more often. The longer you’ve been around, the more chances you’ve had to cull the herd. A digital roller, however, can’t be culled. You get the roll you get. In the years since we went all digital, I’ve watched people who always “rolled hot” start to roll normally and people with “bad luck” roll perfectly fine.

Less drama. Turns move faster because there’s no drama over dice. Yes, some theatrics can be fun if you’re “firing” a die or taking time to pick out the perfect one for an important roll, but multiply that by five players and four rounds. It starts to add up.

Tiny maths suck. It’s not as much of a problem at lower levels, but when you start rolling 10d6, it takes time to add up the result, which causes delays for everyone and stress for some (seriously, some of us hate doing tiny maths on the fly). Even if it’s just small whole numbers, it’s still a big string of them.

What I do today

Today, I insist on digital rollers. This generally isn’t a problem since all of my games are virtual now, but I have had a few people ask if they can just set up a second camera pointed at their dice tray. The answer is, and always will be, no, with a touch of side-eye.

I’ll still sometimes roll in secret, but only for things where it’s necessary. Most of the time, though, it’s unnecessary for MY players. They love hamming up a low roll, so they want to play it up if they critically fail a task.

I won’t say there’s no drama, but it is now reduced to people sometimes typing “potato” to reset the seed or accusing me of paying off Roll20, which is perfectly fine since the drama happens AFTER their turn, not during. And we can all share in being mad at the dice roller together when it’s not going our way, which I think I prefer to getting mad on my own at my own set of pretty number rocks.

Gatewalkers: Book 1 Chapter 2 Done!

Over on D20Saves, I’m running Gatewalkers, one of the latest APs from Paizo! From the official website:

After they walked through that glowing gateway, nothing was ever the same. A band of characters become paranormal investigators to determine the cause of a global amnesic episode. Their quest takes them to lands near, far, and outside this reality altogether. Along the way, the characters meet fellow “gatewalkers,” defeat alien monsters, and explore strange realms touched by the Missing Moment. And when it comes time to learn the grim truth of what happened to them on that fated summer night, what then?

Warning: The first part of this blog will cover what happened in the stream, so there are spoilers for Book One. Part two will include my thoughts as a GM, so there are major spoilers.

Check out the playlist here if you want to watch the previous episodes!

Chapter Two recap: Through the first Portal

Chapter 2 picks up after capturing the rogue druid Bolan and his followers. The crew now had a name: Kaneepo the Slim.

Since Bolan was interested in only boasting and wasting their time, the crew set out to investigate the surrounding area to see if they could track down this mysterious figure causing so much trouble and who had made off with a valuable artifact called the Shadewither Key. This eventually leads them to a portal into the Thinlands (think First World but Drab), and they fight their way through various flunkies to take out the strange being themselves.

They release a prisoner (an uplifted hedgehog named Hubert), and together, they make their way to a set of Elven Gates that mirror the ones they saw back in the Material Plane. One reacts, and because caution is for losers, they jump through, landing them in a dense, colorful jungle. Progress!

The crew sees a city in the distance and opts to go there, arguing whether they’re in the Mwangi or a more colorful part of the First World. En route, they fight weird slugs, ford blood rivers, dismantle mining equipment, and avoid perfectly harmless mushrooms, finally making it to the city covered in telescopes.

A gaggle of elves greets them, curious if wary, and they find out they are all wrong: They’re not in the First World OR the Mwangi, but on a completely different planet: Castrovel!

SPOILER ALERT! 

After this point, there are major spoilers for players… INCLUDING MINE. So, James, Jorge, Ricardo, Don, and Daton: STOP READING. 

I MEAN IT. 

👿👿👿

The Good

The investigations early in the chapter were outstanding. They gave the players a chance to roleplay and flex their non-combat muscles. I also liked the system in the AP: As players earned “points,” specific facts came to light, making levels of success important. In theory, the rolls should have been secret, but I got lazy at the last minute and had players roll in the open. This isn’t for every group, but it worked for me since I love committing to a wretched failure.

The “dungeon” of this chapter was also a solid challenge for experienced players. There are many varied creatures and traps, and not every encounter has to end in death. The players get more out of the scenario if they resolve things peacefully.

They also latched onto Hubert, an anthropomorphic hedgehog, immediately, making him a party member right after rescuing him.

Some warnings

One thing about Kaneepo’s Lair: It’s meant to be done in one day, which can be challenging for rest-happy players. I didn’t realize this until the end, but the players assumed Kaneepo was “somewhere else,” so they happily burned resources. They were running on dry as they approached the last room, so I removed one encounter and neutralized another so they wouldn’t tempt death. The design isn’t bad, but it’s something to consider with your group. If they’re gung-ho, maybe drop a hint that Kaneepo is home or that they’ll likely have to finish once they start.

If your players are low on acrobatics, Castrovel might be a struggle. Not everyone needs it, but at least one or two people should be okay. I honestly think this is one of the reasons they put Hubert in the crew: He has a surprisingly good bonus.

Some of the moderate encounters felt severe due to the terrain. The players struggled a LOT with a stupid snail because it was in a rushing river, and the cliffhunters brought a lot of pain with the fight being in the air on a small platform. I’m not sure that I’d make them easier, though, because the whole vibe of Castrovel is “you’re in danger.”

GM thoughts

This is such a long chapter. It felt like two chapters if we’re being honest. If you wanted to bump up the end level of Gatewalkers, I feel like there are a few chapters so far that can be split into two with a milestone between them. Later chapters would have to be updated, but adding a level to encounters is generally pretty easy.

I also cut out several encounters. Since I stream this game, I try to keep things tight, which means anything that doesn’t add to the plot or the setting might get removed. If you’re looking to do the same, here’s what I took out of Chapter 2:

Shadow Guards Trap: The players were already low on resources and had already gotten enough information about what went on with Kaneepo.
The Looksee Man: They met him, but I went out of my way to make him non-aggressive. I knew the Big Bad was in the next room, and they were down to one heal.
Death from the Trees: They saw the creature since I felt like that added to the setting, but they left it alone.
Hilltop Ambush: The snail WRECKED the party, so I decided to skip this and move straight to the next plot-nudging encounter.

If you want to keep these, do so! I only remove them because I need less filler as a stream than if I were at a table with way more time.

One regret: I wish I had made more notes about Kaneepo’s motivations because I didn’t expect my players to grill everyone they met about what this dude was doing. Silly, I know, since their whole deal was taking him out, but I completely forgot to make some bullet points for myself.

As for the twist, the players LOVED it, and I do think they were genuinely surprised. Excellent work, Paizo!

As for Hubert, I’m trying to figure out what the heck to do with him. The books don’t offer a graceful place for him to jump off unless you count the unforgiving embrace of death. I’m talking to the players about making him an actual character with a martial class they level and control. Elite levels will only take you so far. Maybe a Beastkin Ranger?

Next Chapters

I’ve prepped half of book two, and… there’s a surprising lack of portals and plane jumping. I’m seriously considering moving one of the major areas (Skywatch) to the Ethereal Plane to add variety.

The “escape” that’s key to the chapter could be getting to and activating a portal that will take them to the material plane.
This could also explain the wonky nature of Skywatch. They’re in a reflection of it!
It could also be why the “call” from the major NPC of that book was cut off. The whole place left the material plane!

I’m still considering it (I have some time), but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. It also gives me some leeway in the third book to add another plane or two!

How I run it: Respecs

One awesome thing about playing in newer systems is that you always have new stuff to try out! This is also one of the terrible things.

When Pathfinder 2e only had one book, I co-ran a West Marches. It felt like every other month, we had a new supplement that added so many cool classes and ancestries and heritages. At first, allowing players to have more than one PC let people play around, but even that became an issue as players ran out of slots or didn’t want to manage yet another character sheet.

The GMs hesitated to let players retire characters left and right, because part of what makes game dynamics work is shared history. We didn’t want to lose half the town every time a new book came out. Sure, retraining exists, but it only goes so far and takes time. What could we do to make everyone happy?

Enter the Respec

What if there was a way to keep PC history and let people play something new? We didn’t want players changing things willy-nilly (so no swapping out every feat right before a game because you heard there’d be a red dragon), but surely once every few months wouldn’t be too unmanageable.

We started brainstorming. Here were some things we considered that were rejected:

Only allowing changes from the new book. This leads to too much accounting.
Only allowing a certain number of changes. Again, accounting. We would have to audit character sheets.
Only allowing one per player. When we came to our final system, this felt unnecessary.
Reset on gold and gear. PCs had a wide range of wealth, so this felt like it would punish our most active players.

I’m not saying that these were wrong decisions, only that they were wrong for us and our set-up.

Finally, we came up with what respecs would look like for us:

Your history stays the same. All your old experiences and relationships are a part of your character.
Your gear doesn’t change. If you need to buy new stuff, sell what you have and use your existing cash reserves.
You can change anything else on your sheet. Ancestry. Heritage. Background. Class. Feats. Spells. ANYTHING.
It’s up to the player to come up with the story. GMs can help but aren’t responsible for coming up with the idea themselves.
No downtime is necessary. It just happens. If you want to roleplay it taking a while, that’s perfectly fine, but the timeline is up to you.
Every PC gets one respec per book that includes significant changes. So, a Lost Omens book without a new class or ancestry might not count, but a book like Rage of Elements does.
You can’t stockpile respec points. It’s one or none.
You also don’t have to spend it right away. Feel free to hold onto it until the time is right.

The reaction was almost unanimously positive. Players got to try out new stuff, GMs weren’t overwhelmed, and town history stayed intact.

Metaplot

The biggest sticking point was explaining why these changes were happening. Some of the options we ended up using:

A Big Event. We put together a big event a few times that helped explain the sudden changes. Fey BS was a popular reason, but we also used disasters or other major events to explain the sudden shifts.

Reincarnate. The Reincarnate ritual was another option open for players, though with no rolling or money spent. They ‘die’ and are brought back in a weird new body with new ideas in their head.

A Clever Retcon. A few players opted for a clever retcon of their own story, like an Elf who realized he was an Android with implanted memories.

Fallout

Whenever I tell other GMs about this policy, they’re skeptical. It sounds like it would utterly wreck games and the immersion, so I must have dealt with a ton of fallout each time a new book came out. Except… I didn’t.

I won’t say it was a non-event, but players were game to accept the new reality around their fellow PCs and even enjoyed playing it up. Also, since major books aren’t realized too often, players were careful about spending that respec point. They would be stuck with it if they didn’t like what they ended up with.

What I did notice

Re-engagement. In a West Marches game, big releases meant more people logging on and joining games so they could play with new toys.

Growing pains. Right after a new release, if players used respecs, you have to GM with a lighter hand. Players are getting used to new feats and abilities, so the first game might have a lot of long turns.

Changed tactics. If respecs are done to a dedicated group, they might take a session to readjust their tactics to new play styles.

Happy players. Not to sound too dorky, but a GM is always happy to see happy players, and players with new toys are generally happy.

Investment in personal arcs. This was an interesting one, but some players didn’t respec for the new books, but to update their story.

So, all around a win, and worth a little chaos!

Katie’s RPG Toolkit

This is going to be a very unsexy post about the tools I use or created to help me prep, run, and play in games.

Storage

Dropbox is a must. And it’s not just for storage! You can also create file-request forms for things like updated character sheets or backstories. And being able to share out links to content is huge.
Google Drive, especially Sheets. My groups live and die by loot sheets in Google Sheets. It’s also where we keep shared notes if someone is going to play note-taker.

Character creation

Hero Lab – I use this so much as a GM. It’s spendy, but it’s awesome for being able to create characters quickly. I can also create campaigns that share my content with my players, which helps us get on the same page since I can restrict certain books or check certain settings.
Pathbuilder – While I don’t use it, I recommend it for players who don’t want to use Hero Lab or if I’m not creating a HL campaign for that game.

PDF extraction

TokenTool – Sometimes, it’s tricky to get maps out of Paizo PDFs. This is my ‘always works’ solution.
Python – I found this blog post while trying to DIY a solution for getting images out of PDFs and ended up using their script as is. It works great! It has problems with maps for reasons I keep meaning to look in to but never quite find the time for.
PDF-XChange – If I just need one image, this program gives me the option to right-click and save the image. Why don’t more readers do this?!
Script for cleaning text – Sometimes, my AP isn’t in my VTT of choice, so I have to create the NPC sheets myself. This script removes line breaks AND puts brackets around the dice rolls. Simple, but saves me a surprising amount of labor.

Tabletop

My VTT of choice is Roll20 – I run many systems, and it covers them all. Also, I don’t want to worry about hosting, especially since players poke their heads in randomly to set up their sheets.
Discord for video and audio – It just works. I pop out the video call and arrange my windows so it’s always up.
Watch2gthr for music on YouTube – I only use this when the music I want to use isn’t royalty-free. Otherwise, Roll20’s jukebox works fine for my purposes.

A shot from the Dhampirs game, where I was the backup recorder.

Image editing

Gimp – Free and it can probably do everything most people need. I know it works for me.
Token Stamp – I could use Token Tool but I prefer the controls here. Also, TokenTool isn’t on every machine in my house.
Icons8 Smart Upscaler – An amazing tool for making your maps look better when zoomed in. I use this mostly with older APs.
Icons8 for icons – I originally subscribed to Icons8 for professional work, but I quickly found them super convenient for tokens and markers! You can recolor them, give them borders, and they’re super clear even when you’re zoomed out.

A collection of player tokens on a grid. — From our Extra Life game. I didn’t have time to set up bespoke tokens for everyone, so each class had a generic icon.

Music

I keep an eye on Humble Bundle when it comes to music. Every few months, they have bundles of royalty-free music that are made for games. These are great for when I’m going for a specific feel for a game. You’ll find them under the “Software” section, but make sure that you’re not buying a bundle for loops and sound effects (unless that’s what you really want).
When I don’t need super specific vibes, the music that comes with Roll20’s jukebox works perfectly well. Rat Battle and Baba Yaga will forever be a vibe.

Maps

CzePeku offers amazing maps that can fit so many scenarios. I’ve often come up with scenarios to use a particular map. Also, each map has variants, which can be super helpful in games for showing a change in location. So, the farm can go from day to night or from normal to bloody.
2-Minute Tabletop is the other map-maker I patronize, but for the opposite reason: The maps are more module and generic (but still so pretty!) so I can build what I need.

Note taking

Microsoft OneNote – I don’t use this as much anymore, but back when I first started GMing, this was my ride or die. I still break it out when I need flexibility more than structure. In fact, writing this post made me realize it’s perfect for an upcoming project…
Cambridge Quad Wirebound Notebook – The absolute gold standard for graph paper for me. The pages are off-white, so they’re easy on the eyes, and the grid is the perfect amount of contrast. I buy these in bulk.
Google Docs – Easy to use, if you have a browser you have access to it, and you can share the doc for collaboration. What more do you need?

So, that’s my toolkit. It’s a lot, but I’ve been building it up over 20 years, so the list was always going to be long. If you use something you think I’ve missed, drop it in the comments!

In praise of the monthly game

If you go on any forum or look up any RPG pundits videos, eventually, you’ll see someone ask how often a group should game. Some take a hardline stance, insisting that weekly is the only way forward. Other groups (generally those who are a bit older with more demanding calendars) will land on every other week. Today, I want to try to sell at least a few people on the least popular option:

The monthly game.

My calendar is a mix of bi-weekly and monthly games, and I love it. I have a large group of people I want to play with, and a ton of material and systems I want to run, and adding a few monthly slots has helped me get more of what I want. Right now I’m in / GMing six monthly games, something that would be impossible if I stuck to games that happened more often.

Pros

One thing that will always stun me is how casually people will ask for a weekly game. That feels like such a huge ask when you have a family, a job, and other hobbies. Unless I have a legal obligation to you, you’ll probably not get a chunk of my time every week.

Once a month, though? That’s a much smaller ask. That’s easy to schedule around. I can clear my evening one Sunday afternoon a month, but it’d be a rough sell, saying I can’t go out ANY Sundays from now until whenever.

There’s also more wiggle room. While I tend to keep games on the same day of the week, the date we play can shift to fit everyone’s schedules. As long as I get in early, I can get a quorum. I consider three players enough, since my groups are okay with adding a GMPC to the party for a session or two.

Finally, you can fit in more games! A monthly slot takes up way fewer evenings that a bi-weekly or weekly, so you end up having more room to run different systems or adventures! This has been one of the only ways for me to work through the Paizo Firehose of Content and satisfy my cravings for different systems.

Cons

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, of course. There’s some downsides to running a monthly game.

First, people can lose track of where they were after a long pause. This even applies to the GM, who may have forgotten exactly what rooms were cleared or who the players met or what hooks had been tossed out. A month can feel like a lifetime between sessions.

You also build less familiarity with a sheet you touch less often. Even if you have an aide, like Hero Lab, many players will struggle to remember how certain feats slot together or what they have rattling around in their bag.

In the same vein, missing a session hurts a lot more when the game is only once a month. Two months between sessions can lead to a loss of momentum, and more than that can lead to people assuming the game is dead. It can be difficult to recover from long gaps without being extremely proactive, and that’s not a trait everyone has.

Also, unless you plan for it, games can feel like they drag. Every campaign has a session or two where not a lot gets done, but these don’t hit as hard when you play more often. There’s a need to keep the game going at a decent clip when it doesn’t happen very often.

And… some people just don’t want to do a monthly game. Even if that’s the only thing that works, even if that means they’ll have no game at all, they just don’t want to bother. So, you might have to cull some players from your roster at the outset.

Suggestions

Even with all of those cons, there’s ways to work around them! Well, except for the last one, but that’s the case for pretty much any choice in the TTRPG landscape: Some people just don’t wanna.

Over-recruit. If an AP suggests four players, I recruit six. If we have three who can make it, we have a quorum. This keeps us from missing sessions and losing momentum, and it doesn’t kill the game if one or two decide they really don’t like the format.

Cull beforehand. This kind of game requires communication, because you’ll be setting up dates every month that aren’t regular. If you have a friend who is the kind who says they’ll get back to you and then never does, this isn’t going to be a fit for them. I’m sure they’re lovely, but stick to regular games with them.

Consider speedrunning! I’m currently doing this with my Frozen Flame group, and it’s working quite well! Players can get through a ton in one session, but are still challenged at the end of the book.

Cut out the fluff. Unless you think your players will really love an extra encounter or a side plot, cut it. Time is precious in a monthly campaign, so spend it wisely.

Focus is key! Start sessions on time, and watch the banter. Use every second you have to move the plot forward and have fun in game. If you know a friend is almost always late, either consider culling them, or have an in-game explanation for why they always wander into the action late.

Reset between sessions. At the end of the session, everyone gets a chance to rest and reset. Keeping track of sheets can get rough with larger gaps, so it keeps things simple if you always know that you can reset everything at the start of every session. Also, it gives you a chance to shift the party if you need to pull someone different in, or let someone else stay at the inn because life got hectic.

Finally, record your sessions. You will 100% forget small details after a month, and if you have a recording, it’s easy to go back and check to see if the players triggered a certain hook or found that important piece of treasure. There’s dozens of apps for screen recording, but I use OBS, since I already have it set up for when I stream. If you do this, though, make sure players know ahead of time that you’re recording sessions, and what your policy is on uploading the videos later. Some groups, I’ll make an unlisted YouTube playlist, others get a link to the files in my Dropbox account, and some I don’t share at all because a player requested it.

Final thoughts

Look, I know the monthly game isn’t going to be everyone’s bag, but I do think everyone should try it at least once. It can be a great way to play with people who have busy schedules, get through material you otherwise wouldn’t have time with, and maybe mess around with some systems you don’t want to dedicate a ton of time to otherwise.

Prepping APs 15 minutes at a time: An obsessive guide

I run a lot of games. Like… a lot. I have a bi-weekly home game where we swap around who’s GMing, a bi-weekly stream, and a whole slew of monthly games. This wouldn’t be possible without three things:

Pre-written adventures
The ability to do remote games
Lots of organization

Because I get asked, I figured there’s no harm in documenting how I prep Adventure Paths. Heck, maybe it’ll inspire someone who wants to GM but says they have no time to pick up an AP.

Caveats

I’ll say this up front: I am an over-prepper. I know my self too well. Improv-heavy games wreck havoc with my anxiety, and I find myself unable to really enjoy the act of GMing if I’m doing too much on the fly. I would much rather prepare for a fight that never happens than have to throw one at the last second. Not everyone needs this level of prep in their life! Take what works for you!

Also, I prefer this to homebrew campaigns. I’ve done several, and while fun, they require a LOT more work on my end to come together the way I want. I still do run homebrew, but the vast majority of what I’ll run is going to be pre-packaged.

Why do all this?

As I said before, I get super stressed if I feel under-prepared. I can generally hide it, but that doesn’t make it any less unpleasant to live through. If I’m prepared, I can chill out during the game, drinking my tea, secure in the knowledge that I’ve planned for most of the zigs and zags.

I also have small chunks of downtime in my day-to-day life, but a lack of large chunks of open time. I can sneak in 15 minute activities with no shuffling around, but one “Oh, by the way”, and my four hours of free-time on a Saturday morning are gone.

Finally, I love maps with walls and doors and lighting and music. I like a pretty VTT experience. You can’t really get that if you’re cramming.

Before prep!

I’m in the market for a new AP. What do I do before I start getting into it?

I read the summaries for the chapters. I want to make sure the vibe matches what my group is looking for.
I check the Paizo forums for that specific AP. They can be a treasure-trove of lessons-learned, suggestions, warnings, and re-drawn assets.
I read the Player’s Guide. It’s tempting to skip this step, but there’s details in the guide that aren’t in the AP.
I brow-beat my players into reading the Player’s Guide. Seriously, players who skip this often end up screwed over later because they selected a class that won’t work, or didn’t invest in a skill that comes up all the time.

Let’s talk prep!

I prep in three cycles: Reading, monsters, maps.

Reading

I don’t read the whole AP at once! I know some people do this, and good for them, but I prefer to work one chapter at a time. I would rather start playing sooner than put it off for a few months while I get through a whole slew of reading. I’ve found that as long as I’m two chapters ahead of the players, I generally have enough buffer to work with.

I also highlight a LOT. I use three colors: one for plot bits I don’t want to miss, one for DCs that aren’t already in a monster/hazard block, and one for treasure. My goal is to be able to find important details at a quick glance without turning my whole document yellow.

An example of my highlighting. Yes, my pdfs are very colorful by the time I’m done with them.

Now, if my chosen VTT has my adventure pre-loaded, awesome! I’m mostly done! This is 80% awesome, but it can lead to me being less familiar with the creatures than when I have to craft them by hand. Still, I’m not turning down the time saver.

Creatures and Hazards

After I read a chapter, I’ll go ahead and create all the creatures. How long this takes varies quite a bit. Some books, I can grab almost everything out of a bestiary. Others, nearly every creature is custom for that AP, so I have to create it by hand.

I could just roll everything by hand, but again, I like to actually relax during games. So, I fill out the NPC sheets for pretty much everything in the book. Because I’m working with 15 minute blocks of time, I try to focus on doing the same task over and over. So, I might work on filling out sheets during one session, while another, I work on getting the tokens set up (like I said, I love a pretty token).

For making tokens, I use Token Stamp. There are other tools, of course, but this one being browser based means it doesn’t matter which computer I’m on when I’m doing prep.

Part of my token creation page. Top/Green: All done! Yellow/Middle: Needs a token. Pink/Bottom: I’ve only made a stub.

Maps!

Maps are the last vital thing I set up. I have a blog post on extracting maps without giving yourself a stomach ache, and I still stand by that method. This is especially true since the automated tools I’ve used don’t seem to like grabbing maps from the interactive PDFs.

To be honest, this part of prep goes the fastest for me. Even with fancy lighting, I can get a map walled up in ten minutes, and since my creatures are made already, it takes only a few more minutes to populate them.

The other stuff

If I have F’s left to give, I’ll pick out some music for ambiance and fights, and maybe make a few handouts. If you like music, I strongly suggest making a few playlists that you can put on randomize and forget about until the situation changes. I like having one for fights, one for general ambience, and one for town.

When running my non-modern games, I use my VTT’s jukebox, which works perfectly fine. For modern games, though, I’m usually leaning on music that isn’t royalty-free, so I used Watch2Gether. And before you ask, no, those games aren’t streamed or uploaded. If they were, they’d get a strike before I had a chance to share a link out.

How long does this take?

I know that “It depends” isn’t a very satisfying answer, but… it depends. A chapter with lots of maps and custom creatures can take way more time than one that’s mostly roleplay and theater of the mind. Also, careful reading takes more time than quick reading.

Looking back over my notes, it looks like two weeks per chapter is a fair average. This seems like a lot of prep, but keep in mind that a chapter is three or four sessions for me, minimum. Since these games are monthly or, at worst, bi-weekly, that level of prep keeps me ahead of the game.

Because this is only 15 minutes at a time, I can generally prep two chapters every day without having to block out huge chunks of time. Because I stop once I’m well-enough ahead, I’ve found I can have around six games going at once without burning out. Really, the hard part is finding time to play!

What am I thinking about changing?

My day job involves coding in Python, so I’ve been diving more deeply about extracting text and images more quickly. I also want to learn more about talking to the Roll20 API (my VTT of choice) so I can create creatures and handouts more quickly. I will always pay for an AP if I’m running it, but Roll20 tends to pick and choose which they’ll import. I know other VTTs keep on top of this, but I’m not interested in switching platforms for reasons that could fill a whole other blog post.

This seems like… a lot.

I mean, it is. And it’s not necessary. I’m describing how I do it, but it’s hardly how everyone preps an AP. It’s not even how I did it when I first started running them.

With my first AP on a VTT, I didn’t use the system’s character sheets. I typed in every roll by hand, as did the players. I have friends who will skim over just enough to get the idea of what the story is and then vibe off of that. I have other friends who won’t put down a map until the players ask, and only toss down a token when it comes time to fight the thing. Heck, I have a GM where all the tokens are circles with letters in them.

While it’s a lot of work, this is the level of effort that lets me have the GMing experience I want to have: Chilling out with my coffee rather than frantically trying to understand what a block of text means, because this is the first time I’ve seen it.

At the end of the day, you do you, boo, as long as it gets us more games.

Night of the Gray Death: A Pathfinder 2e Adventure

A while back, Paizo released a new adventure, set in Galt. I knew from the second I saw the promo text that I wanted to run it. I love high-level Pathfinder play, and I love it even more when it’s given a novel backdrop.

From Paizo’s website:

Galt’s executioners are the masked and mysterious Gray Gardeners. Held above the laws of the chaotic nation, these grim killers soak the revolution-wracked land in dread and blood. They behead the guilty and innocent alike with their magical guillotines, but few possess the courage to stand against them. Powerful heroes must infiltrate the Gray Gardeners and put an end to their reign of terror. As the heroes race from haunted crypts to the elegant opulence of an ill-fated masque, the midnight chime will bring salvation or doom to a nation.

For those who don’t know, Galt is basically Golarion’s France, but stuck in a perpetual revolution. This adventure leans into that hard, bringing together the paranoia of a state tearing itself apart and elaborate balls.

It’s also high-level and feels it. The challenges were no joke, but there were still multiple situations where a competent player can short circuit a problem with a well-applied feat. For me, that’s peak high-level play: Either screaming in terror or waltzing past dangers.

Our group

Our group was made of a group of PCs from a West Marches campaign. Initially, it was a polycule who was extremely extra, but eventually they had to call in back-up when it became clear they couldn’t charm or sneak their way past some upcoming challenges. The make-up:

Two rogues (one thief, one scoundrel)
A swashbuckler
A bard (controlled by me)
A fighter (called in later, because lord, we were squishy)

We played once a month, during the week, so the sessions were shorter than a weekend one might have been. I recorded every session, which left us with 18 hours of recorded playtime. We’re a fairly focused group when it comes to moving the plot along, so if your group is more chaotic, it might take longer to complete.

Note: After this point, there be spoilers, so if you want to play in this, begone!

Pros

There’s something for everyone! A large part of the game involves gathering information in multiple ways. Maybe the face charms the dress-maker. Maybe the rogue sneaks into the quiet mansion. Maybe the fighter goes and beats the snot out of someone in their way. There’s always a path forward, and there’s always something for everyone to do.

It’s also great to see high-level adventures. So many companies struggle to put out content for characters past the midway point. It can be rough for GMs who lean on pre-packaged content. There’s a reason we do this, after all! This was not only high-level when it came to challenges, but also concerning the stakes at hand. This isn’t about taking out a pesky dragon. This is about saving a nation.

It’s also easy to slot into any existing campaign. Your group (probably already well-known) gets called in. In fact, it works better if none of you are from Galt. You’re neutral parties that aren’t being closely watched by the Revolution.

There’s also so many fun NPCs. It’s honestly a challenge to fit so many of them in, but this just makes it appealing for me to run again.

Cons

There is one fight that can be a game ender: Three Lesser Deaths. It happens in the middle of the second chapter which is run hour-by-hour. Because of this, if the combat knocks out a character, they’re OUT for the rest of the chapter, which could run for several sessions. This one worried me so much, we pulled in a Fighter to boost our very squishy party. Nearly all other fights were fine with a sensible group, but that one could have been rough.

Speaking of, a high-level adventure can be both a boon and a bane. With our players, we shared a high level of mastery and familiarity with our builds. This is not a module for complete beginners. Experienced players with new sheets may also struggle at first, so don’t skip the easier fights in chapter one. They’ll need that practical experience for chapter 2.

There are a number of encounters that never happen, so you may end up prepping maps you never use. If that’s something that bugs you, consider reshaping the first chapter to guide the players a bit more tightly. Each path leads to what they need, so select whichever one seems like it fits with the group’s vibe.

If I were to run it again…

I would probably cut references to NPCs the players never met. This happens in the later chapters, and while it does add to the air of menace, it also confused them, thinking they were clues rather than ambiance. I would also make sure to hint that the Lesser Deaths were a thing somehow, so players could prepare. Otherwise, I would keep it as is! It’s an awesome adventure that had something for everyone.

Falling in love with Starfinder

Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a few years late to this. Starfinder has been out for a hot minute (and may even be due for a version 2 in the next few years). It’s one of those systems that’s always flittered around the periphery of my awareness. I vaguely knew it as “Pathfinder in Spaaaaaaace,” but never looked any deeper.

I did grab a Humble Bundle or two, because I have a problem, but it was more because it was too good a deal to pass up, and I love Paizo. Recently, though, those PDFs have gone from collecting digital dust to being actively perused, as I consider diving in.

Why now?

A little bit of timing, and a little bit of needing something to spice up my RPG life.

My home game runs Pathfinder 1e. Specifically, we run Adventure Paths because we’re all busy professionals with schedules that can get wild at random times, so having a published adventure gives us something to fall back on. We swap around being GMs, with each of us claiming a different AP well in advance. While I love APs… I’ve come to the end of APs I want to run.

I’ve also played a lot of fantasy in the past two decades, and a moderate amount of modern. I’ve barely touched sci-fi, though, and I feel like it’s time.

Why Starfinder? Why not [insert system here]?

People have been trying to get me to play Star Wars for years, and I always have to turn them down. I know I’ll get flack for this, but I just don’t like Star Wars. The movies are good, I enjoyed reading the Thrawn Triology, but that’s about as much as I want to engage with the universe.

I’d love to play Cyberpunk, but I really really want to play in Spaaaaaaaaaace, not on dystopian Earth. I won’t turn down a campaign (one is even on the horizon), but it’s not what I want to run.

With Starfinder, I’m already somewhat familiar with the system (especially since it’s a blend of Pathfinder 1e and 2e rules) and the world (at least, what’s left of it), but it’s different enough to be interesting. Like, they removed a whole planet and a swath of time! There’s cool new species to play around with! SPACE COMBAT!

Also, it has Adventure Paths. Again, during my hectic times, I really need a plot structure to fall back on so I don’t end up burnt out. They also help get me and players on the same page, since it’s well-known what themes each AP covers. No one’s going to show up to the Firefly-like game expecting Starship Troopers.

How deep am I?

I read through the Beginner Box and ran it over on D20Saves.

Uploaded on my back-up channel

I highly recommend starting with reading the Beginner Box, because it gave me a great base for diving into the core books. True, it’s a streamlined version of the rules, but the overview helped me get situated quickly.

Now, I’m making my way through the CRB, which is shockingly readable for a rulebook. It has a great blend of humor and getting to the point which is making it a joy rather than a chore.

A dog peering over an open copy of the Core Rulebook. — Chloe was less than thrilled with losing access to my lap every morning.

Reading a rulebook from front to back is unusual for me. Normally, I read what I absolutely have to in order to create a character, and then look up things over time. Eventually, the whole book gets read, but it takes some time.

So, what next?

My home game group has agreed to run through Into the Unknown, which looks like a great intro for experienced players. After that, I still have to finish my PF1 AP (we’re on Book 4 of Ruins of Azlant), but after that, I have a decision to make:

Against the Aeon Throne has the benefit of already being in Roll20, so this cuts my prep time in half.
Fly Free or Die sounds like something my players would love, since we usually end up being a bunch of morally gray weirdos on our own.
I already own Dawn of Flame, so I might as well use it…

Honestly, all of the APs sound fun, so it’s likely going to be a tough choice. It’s one I’m looking forward to!

Thinking about the next West Marches

I’m going to start this post out by saying something up front: I am nowhere near ready to start a new West Marches adventure. I love the format, but I’ve really been enjoying having time to run smaller, more focused games. I’ve been chewing my way through some Paizo APs and Adventures, and I wouldn’t have the time to prep for them if I was worried about a sandbox game as well.

That said, I still find myself thinking about the next one… after all, it is a format I deeply enjoy, and surely, I’ll run out of Adventure Paths at some point, right? I might as well jot down some notes on what I’ve been mulling over.

The basics

The system, obviously, would be Pathfinder 2e for any fantasy sandbox. I’ve already written about how PF2 is well-tuned for West Marches, and time hasn’t dulled that opinion.

The world is robust, so there’s no need for me to do a ton of worldbuilding.
The math works for encounters, making it easy to adjust to pick-up groups.
There’s so many heritages / ancestries / classes to pick from.
It requires pretty much no GM fiat to run, making it easier to keep track of what house rules you have at a shared table.
The rules are all free and online!

Lessons learned and potential improvements

It would be pointless if I co-ran a game for almost three years and didn’t come away with some lessons learned. No attempt is perfect, and there’s always ways to improve.

Levels!

One of the biggest bugbears we had was dealing with level spread. When we started, chat would determine how much XP we got, and everyone had different levels of XP, due to everyone starting at level one when they joined. Level spread became a bigger and bigger problem as time went on, to the point where the GMs started to burn out trying to offer enough games for everyone. In our experience, you couldn’t have more than a three level spread before someone overshadowed the rest or the lower levels were in danger of being one-shot.

We eventually solved this by introducing banding, which worked, but I’ve since grown disillusioned with that as a solution. My other West Marches game (VtM V5) used that, but we eventually abandoned it to make everyone the same level.

Lesson learned: Kill level spread before it kills you.

XP!

In the last server, XP was awarded for chatting in our Discord. This made sense at the time, but also wore down mods and GMs who felt obliged to keep things active. After all, players who don’t get a level get cranky, and might just leave for greener pastures. This is another idea I’ll be swapping out. Some alternative ideas:

A flat amount each month. Easy to plan for, but doesn’t motivate players.
An amount for each game played, but given to everyone. Great for getting games on the calendars, but might cause some pain if we have low months due to Real Life.
A totally random amount between 250 and 1000. I’m including this mostly because it amuses me.

Lesson learned: Link XP to something that’s sustainable for the GMs, since they’re the most limited resource.

Play-by-post!

This one is tricky… Many people love PBP. Hell, I love running and being in text scenes. I’ll also be the first to admit that it can take so much time. Our intention with pushing more PBP in the old game was two-fold:

More XP at the end of the month
Allow people to roleplay, with the live games being more combat focused.

In the end, it kind of worked, but it also fed the issue with GMs feeling burnt out due to pressure to post. We created a ton of channels so people could post in set “locations” (think #tavern, #bookstore, #market, etc), but newcomers were overwhelmed by so many options. Also, not everyone likes PBP, and would rather roleplay during a game!

While I don’t want to block PBP (the people who like it REALLY REALLY like it), I think I’ll tweak a few things:

No creating dozens of channels. Instead, keep it to a single digits number. If channels are busy, players can always RP in DMs and post the result later if they want.
Disconnect XP from posts
Offer more games where RP is the focus rather than straight combat.

Lesson learned: PBP is great, but isn’t for everyone.

Time zones!

Good lord, this one bit us so hard.

If you have players separated by an ocean, scheduling games can become complicated fast. Most of our players were in the US, so games in those time zones made sense. This left EU or third-shift players without games unless a US GM was willing to run super late or super early. Personally, I didn’t have a problem running the odd early game on the weekend, but I wasn’t willing to do that every weekend.

I never want to tell someone they can’t play… but on the other hand, it’s not like GMs are paid employees who agreed to all-hours shifts. They’re volunteers who have their own lives, games, and need for sleep.

The solution for this one is tough, and one I’m still working through. “Have GMs in every time zone” isn’t feasible, and having GMs run at all times isn’t sustainable. Some ideas I’ve had:

Have set timeslots and stick to them. This way, incoming people know if the server will work for them.
Don’t set timeslots, but have core hours. For example, if the core hours are weekdays 5-12, games can start no earlier than 5pm, and must end by 12am.
Do nothing and hope for the best? Obviously, this one is my least favorite.

Lesson learned: Round Earth is a terrible design. Whoever thought of it should be fired.

Classes and alts!

One awesome thing about PF2? It’s constantly coming out with new classes and ancestries and heritages! One rough thing about PF2? The exact same thing.

Because games blossom when people bond and make connections, I’m not a huge fan of a revolving door of PCs, especially if players expect that they’ll be pulled into the plot quickly. On the old server, we decided to let people have alts, allowing them to have multiple characters (three, to be exact). Some people loved this, and some had trouble keeping up. Also, to be honest, as a GM it became difficult to keep track of all of the personalities. Classes weren’t as much of a problem as bodies. People want to play with their buddies, but if the buddy is a different level / same class, they may not feel like they can ever be in a game with them.

I still love the idea of alts, because they give the server flexibility and let people try out new stuff without dropping an old character. So… is there a way to meld to two?

My potential fix: Let a PC have more than one build.

This would be built into the story via some sort of magic device. Essentially, PCs would be gifted an artifact that has the “impression” of another former adventurer. How this plays out is up to the player. Maybe it’s just one personality and three different classes, or maybe they choose to have different “personalities”, depending on which class is active.

This is one of those ideas that either have people super excited to play, or who immediately aren’t into it. My hope is that it’s a mechanic that can add to the game without taking away from anyone who would rather just have one class. As someone who never got to play her Rogue main in WoW, I 100% get that.

Lesson learned: Not everyone wants to juggle three personalities, and it can start to tax the GMs.

Streaming!

I’ll be real: This was a lot of fun to do. No, we never had a huge audience, but players who couldn’t join a game could watch, and it was fun to clip moments. I got so used to doing this that I started recording (though not streaming) my regular games.

It does require set-up to do, and a machine beefy enough to handle a VTT, Discord, and OBS at once, but this is one of the things I would pitch to the server as an option. The only problem would be if a player didn’t want to stream, which I 100% get. In that case, some options might be:

Don’t record the game at all
Stream the game through Discord
Record it and post a link to the game later

I’m leaning towards the last one, since if you can stream, you can record.

Lesson learned: A record of games is nice to have!

Final thoughts

Okay, decent write-up, but when is the next game happening? A few months ago, I would have said “January 2023” but… I’m writing this in May 2023, so that obviously didn’t happen.

I would say it would be more likely to happen sometime in 2024. The itch for more loose games is growing, and I have a growing number of people I’d love to play with who can’t commit to a full AP. When it does happen, I’m sure I’ll post about it here!

5e to 2e: Player Agency

Right now, we’re seeing 5e GMs checking Pathfinder 2e and asking about what they should know before starting. The advice in the 2e subreddit has been spectacular, like what materials to start with, how to make a sheet easily, and even how to convert beloved characters.

If I had to give just one piece of advice for GMs, it would be this: The balance of power at the table is about to shift. Embrace it.

I don’t mean mechanics, though they do play into it. 5e is considered “cinematic,” which often comes down to bids between players and the GM. Players have an idea, pitch it to the GM, and the GM can set a DC that the player can then try to hit. GM fiat rules the day, encouraged by a ruleset where less is spelled out in favor of a more flexible experience. It can feel like you’re in an action-adventure movie as the scene is played out in the most ” interesting way.”

Pathfinder 2e tends to spell things out more explicitly, meaning GM fiats aren’t as necessary. Nearly every action you can do has been written out in the rules, including DCs and who can attempt them. Of course, GMs have wiggle room, but most tend to roll with what the book says. If a player is given all of the information ahead of time, they can plan their turn without GM input.

Basically, it’s like watching competence porn.

DVD covers for The Martian, Legally Blonde, and Leverage — Elle Woods is peak Competence Porn, I am taking no questions at this time.

I’m not even joking: If you sit down with a group of players who know their sheets and know the system, it’s a thing of beauty, watching them take apart an encounter by breaking out every tool in their toolbox. It hits differently, knowing you took out the mouthy bad guy because the bard drained them and boosted everyone else, the caster made them clumsy and on fire, the fighter scared them and put them on the ground, and the ranger then filled them with arrows. That’s where the magic is.

Don’t mess with the magic

If I’ve seen a 5e GM struggle, it’s because they’re used to molding the surroundings to fit the story they want to tell. The problem is that PF2 gives players a robust toolkit, and many players come to know this toolkit inside and out, and they are relentless in deploying that knowledge.

The bad guy is monologuing?
Ranger: Hunt prey. Draw longbow. Hunted shot. They’re within 200ft of us if we can hear them, right?
GM: Uh, they’re behind a rock. Full cover.
Bard: Quickened heightened Dimension Door. Telekinetic Maneuver to get him from behind the rock.
GM: ON A CLIFF.
Oracle: Moonlight bridge 🙂
Bard: Oh, can I just toss him off the cliff?!
Monk: [cracks knuckles, about to do some monk BS]

There’s a reason why Paizo APs don’t have the bad guy monologue unless they’re okay with them biting it at that particular moment. Even in exceptionally well-laid-out APs, I’ve had plans wrecked by a group of players who saw an opportunity no one had thought of and took it, bypassing weeks of material.

That’s because the balance of power has changed.

The balance of power

The GM holds the most power at a typical 5e/cinematic table since everything comes down to their in-the-moment calls. However, as more rules become explicit and call for fewer fiats, the power shifts to the players. I’ve seen 5e GMs struggle with this as they try to wrest power back by blocking feats and abilities.

Maybe they don’t say that the feat doesn’t work… but they’ll move the baddie to what they think is out of range. Or they give them a power they shouldn’t have because it doesn’t exist (think free-action-uninterruptable-teleport). Or they make up reasons specific spells/skills don’t work against that creature.

This isn’t how you end up with a happy table. Players will feel stymied, the GM will feel like they’re plugging holes in a leaking dam, and the story will feel stilted.

A different perspective on stories

So, if you can’t depend on events falling out a certain way without frustrating your players and yourself, is it even possible to plot ahead in strategic games?!

Absolutely. It just takes a shift in your perspective.

The most significant shift is that you stop seeing your plans as plots to be experienced and more as problems to be solved. You give your players a puzzle, and they have to use their wits and toolkits to figure it out. The story comes from how they do it. You start with the assumption that there’s more than one way to resolve the conflict and that the players will likely surprise you.

One of my favorite scenarios was a murder mystery, where the PCs were tasked to find the body (hidden away), discover who was guilty (probably one of the noble hosts), and find some additional dirt on them (the murder wouldn’t be enough because this was Cheliax). While writing it up, I laid out all that had gone before, who was involved, how, who knew what… but had no idea how they would succeed.

As Matt Colville once said, that wasn’t my problem. That was their problem.

My players were resourceful, using tricks I hadn’t thought of to get information, snoop around, find dirt, and even bring the victim back to life. They even made a few allies along the way! It’s not an outcome I could have predicted, but it’s one that the players still talk about to this day. And, even better, I could just relax and eat cookies while the players planned and poked around, watching them engage with the world without me having to make up anything on the fly.