Very well. Since apparently everyone is disappointed, updated certs coming soon. Please delete the old ones.

I am posting this to demonstrate some of our reasoning, and to give you guys a bit of insight. We certainly hear the concerns and are talking about them.

Exclusivity: People skipped our con events because they could just play them at home and other games HAD to be played at the con. We went back to exclusivity to bring back the special experience of "being there"

Mortal Danger: Heroes will still win, and will overwhelmingly still survive (only 1 under-tier character died, in the last mission, because he didn't want the flaw). But, in the tough fights, they will feel like they had their butts kicked, because they did. There will need to be some tinkering (no fights with 18 minions that average 20 Stamina a shot) so that it is the big bad that beats your face in, not just some schmucks you are supposed to kill. But that is an adjustment to the balancing act of adventures. The BI was especially brutal on this front.

Limited XP for exclusivity: Arcanicon BI, Arcanicon Delve, Origins BI, Origins Delve. If at 250xp, that would be a [Rank - sorry about that] every campaign year. If at 500 (2 rounds and all) it would be 1.5 tiers. Imagine adding an exclusive event to GenCon. We have a decent number of folks in some spots out west as well. Add Kublai or Ghengis or some other con at 250-350. We have a company making LARP rules for WH, that are adaptable for ARG. We the have LARPS that can encompass combat and mysteries, etc. Those would warrant XP as well. Event travelers could be looking at a full Tier every other year unless the XP for exclusives is constrained.

Three changes at once seems like a ton, especially since the changes are now, and the payoff is later.

This does not mean that we won't have some other rewards here.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I completely understand the reasoning behind reducing/eliminating the xp for BIs. On the other hand, the point was made that it would have been a good idea to announce this prior to the BI instead of afterwards.

I think in this case what hurt was having the xp reduction and a 'material' reward which was underwhelming. Of course a big part of what we go to BIs for is the experience of playing, but after spending $16 and ~10 hours I think most of us were hoping for a little more...especially after hearing about the (largely cursed) treasure trove that came out of Arcanicon this year.

I realize that there is some delicate balancing to do, but in my mind it makes sense to have an above average material reward if the xp is going to be significantly below average. As much as the experience of playing a BI is enjoyable, I suspect that if you were to one day announce that getting to play would be the only reward, you would see a pretty significant reduction in attendance. Most of us accept the higher risk in the hopes of a higher reward.

By no means is this a criticism of PCI. The BI is one of the things that I most look forward to every year, and I hope to be able to continue attending in the future. You guys really are doing good work, which seems at times to be a little thankless.

My math may be off but it would take 28 mods/events at 350 xp average to jump a Tier in a year, given a Tier is 10000xp. If I can play that many (assuming they are available) maybe I should be able to jump a Tier. Don't know about most of you but I doubt I can fit 28 mods into my life in a year. Wish I could...but life gets in the way. That said what am I missing in Eric's post concerning the xp issue? Just trying to wrap my brain around this, not trying to start any negativity.

P.S. Seems to me and my friends around here that 350 for a HP and 250 for a SP might be a fair xp award. Some mods do that but some don't. And I can see that some might give more or less but it's best to try and stay consistent in my opinion.

Thanks.

While I understand the general sentiment Eric expressed to keep things "fair" for those that do not or cannot come to Cons and play the exclusives... I have to admit that as a player I insist on rewards commiserate with effort.

Like many others, I juggled a lot of balls and shelled out a fair bit of cash to attend Origins (which has absolutely nothing to do with why I feel we should get 'more' for the BI). I chose to sit at a BI table which lasted the vast majority of Saturday, a HUGE day for the Con, and in doing so I gave up the opportunity to partake in the large NSDMG, other RPGs, and several tournaments that would have been fun. In exchange I got: "to be part of the story", 100xp, and a bonus fate point.

Here's the breakdown as I see it.
"to be part of the story" - that's my 'reward' for attending the convention in the first place and playing a Con exclusive, otherwise why wouldn't I just play everything at home? Bottom line - this should be a 'given' and not factored into the BI reward.

100xp - wow...simply wow... the only thing that has ever given less experience is the LARPs, which we didn't even get to have this year (side note - a LARP easily could have been storied in given the plot line we had). Bottom line - I sat in a seat for 10hrs (effective a double round module) and my character nearly died half a dozen times (DIED died, not just vanquished) for 100xp... XP is supposed to be a measure of the actions taken, events participated in, and adventures had. It measures a character's growth. I got 500xp for Long March, Dark Coda (which should be cut down to a single round adventure) and 100xp for stopping an invasion. That...does not seem to balance.

bonus fate point - well okay, I didn't get much xp but at least I got this awesome....uh...one time use...fate point... *scratching head* seriously...? I already have 4...that I almost never use...but sure, a bonus one-time-use-only fate point...on a cert...that'll go into a folder....and be forgotten about... Bottom line - I simply cannot be 'nice' (as requested by Eric) about this 'reward', thus I will say nothing further about it.

Look, I understand SOME of the point of view of PCI's thoughts on Con exclusives, but the lack of a LARP, getting screwed out of xp because my table decided not to be grave robbers, storylines (in the standard mods) that were incredibly 'meh' to my S'sressen table (BEAST), an incredibly hard BI with just awful 'rewards', and campaign wide "gritty rules" that may likely kill my characters (spending multiple advancements into defenses alone does not fit said characters, thus I refuse to do it)... It all boils down to a very disappointing Origins for me. The only true highlight was the BEAST Special Table - which was EPIC, thanks so much for the story Henry and the combat Matt. If this is the path Arcanis is going to take (for Cons), I think it likely I'll download the mods as they become available and run home games, then attend the Cons for other things.

I meant rank in that instance

Got it. Thanks!

Just to be clear, if I attend a major con like Origins, and play as I did, two hard points, a soft point and a BI, I would expect to average about 1000 xp for my trouble (about 250 per event). To me that seems fair. Others may differ.

To go slightly further, I would say 'per round' or 'per slot', not 'per event'. In a double round event, like a BI or such, you should get double the xp reward.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Drop the XP and go to the Pathfinder system: play X modules, level up.