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This week I GM'd at Giga and at MPB and was asked to GM at wasteland. I don't see many people stepping up.
So how do we change that?
My suggestions--
Everyone contributes $1-2 to the GM help with prep. Other cities do this but for whatever reason it has been a no no in Atlanta. This IMHO makes little sense.
GMs having an informal rotation system. MPB has me, Abraham, and Henry taking turns.
Offering the "newest" scenarios later in the month so that players don't feel like they "lost out" on any chance to play.
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I'm not able to volunteer to GM as much as I used to due to having a toddler at home and I think some of the GMs who were carrying a lot of the load for such a long time have drifted away (some are playing Starfinder more, or playing home games, or maybe just got burned out). It's also true that there's always a drop-off during the summer due to people traveling (this past weekend, for example, I know that some folks were off at GenCon, about which I'm jealous!).
Having said all that, I'm not wild about the idea of paying to play. I GM because I like it, and getting a few bucks wouldn't make me any more or less interested in GM-ing. I also worry that it could be a disincentive for some people to play, especially new players, which we really need more of.
As an alternative, I wonder if it's time for another session of GM 101? Attending this was crucial in helping me feel like I could step up and GM for the first time. I think there are probably a lot of our regular players who would like to GM, but who are intimidated by it. GM 101 really helps a lot with addressing those concerns. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned toddler, I can't offer to organize this myself.
Lastly, we will (hopefully) see an influx of new players after DragonCon, which will hopefully help rejuvenate the whole play scene. And, regardless, we are 1 year away from the launch of Pathfinder 2.0, which I strongly suspect will bring out some of the older GMs who may have run out of Pathfinder 1.0 playable options.
Them's my 2 cents.
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(08-08-2018, 11:56 AM)Abraham Z Wrote: As an alternative, I wonder if it's time for another session of GM 101? Attending this was crucial in helping me feel like I could step up and GM for the first time. I think there are probably a lot of our regular players who would like to GM, but who are intimidated by it. GM 101 really helps a lot with addressing those concerns. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned toddler, I can't offer to organize this myself.
Noted. Having seen all the Atlanta venues, I feel like the upstairs room at HobbyTown would be the best for this, followed by the back room at Heroic, followed by the public area at Heroic in an off time frame (the key draw is the low ceiling).
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Another thought: Guaranteed GM seating. If you GM at one location within 30 days, you go to the front of the line for sign ups.
Hope that helps,
Kerney
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I'm against money for GMing. AL did that and while it did help them get GMs, it encouraged
GM grinding to get stuff.
If folks want to kick in and buy the GM coffee or lunch of their on volition, that'd be fine, but
I'm against any kind of mandated "pay to play" scenario where the players have to pay and
the GMs expect remuneration of any kind.
To be completely honest, the weight of the system and the free form nature of AL is what is
kicking our asses. Starfinder is really a niche product (one that I like). As AL is becoming
more strict and with PF2 coming out, I think we'll see some folks coming back.
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Liam, what do you mean by "free form nature of AL"? I haven't even looked at 5E, or AL, so I'm curious what that refers to.
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(08-09-2018, 10:17 AM)liamfisher Wrote: I'm against money for GMing. AL did that and while it did help them get GMs, it encouraged
GM grinding to get stuff.
The one thing I noticed in places I've been is that rewards, say a $10 gift card, which is enough to buy lunch, for example, or most of lunch and MPB or Manuels isn't exactly enough to get people to go wild buying things. When I was in Denver, there was one GM (one of the best I played with) who had had some emergencies and was basically dead broke. The fact he was able to GM in the morning and play in the afternoon was enough to keep him playing.
It would be enough to get a few more volunteers and also more GMs. Nobody is talking about getting rich and getting massive amounts of stuff.
On the other hand, having 15-20 GMs who are 2-3 star GMs is useful versus 5-10 4-5 star gms is useful to the community because it prevents burn out and encourages tables. If we are going to grow as a community again we need that.
That said, I get this option is unpopular (and I'd love to see your suggestions) and essentially part of the culture.
On the other hand, allowing the past GM's being "first" in line to sign ups might be a good, non controvertial thing?
All the best,
Kerney
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We don't just lack new GMs. We also lack new players and latter leads to the former. More people are always going to want to play than GM so unless you have a steady influx of new people things degenerate to the point where you have the same few people always covering the GM duties. We need to focus on recruiting and we need to be more welcoming to people. Making things fun for everyone at the table is everyone's job. If there is a new person at your table you want to be more concerned with that person's fun than your own. Noobs are the life blood of any kind of social situation and we forget that at our own peril.
I will also point out that there is no shortage of GMs for starfinder. There the competition for GM slots is heavy with the GM almost always claiming a table before it is has 3 player sign ups.
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I would love a GM 101 class. I would definitely attend such a class. I was personally intimidated about GMing because I was worried about not knowing every single rule from memory, or that someone was going to play a complicated (requires 7+ side books to legally play, etc.) PC that I don't know the rules about.
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(08-09-2018, 11:23 AM)Abraham Z Wrote: Liam, what do you mean by "free form nature of AL"? I haven't even looked at 5E, or AL, so I'm curious what that refers to.
Not Liam but from what I know about AL it (before the season 8 changes) tended to be a lot looser in terms of rules.
* XP worked the same as the table top book.
* Equal rewards between hard back campaigns and scenarios.
* Rewards system acted like traditional RPG (you got stuff not have to buy stuff).
* No reporting besides filling out the sheet at the table, and even then it was just a mark of "I've played it".
* GMs are allowed to tweak the scenarios combat encounters.
I'll also add the scenarios are shorter and designed to run in 4 hrs.
Now a number of the ideas above are changing with Season 8. They are moving to a milestone
system (similar to pfs/sfs xp but not exactly). They are moving towards gold being awarded by the system not the scenario, and gaining treasure points to obtain magic items.
Their has been a LOT of wailing and gnashing of teeth on these changes, so we will see how it goes.
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