TOPIC: Change in Ghost Policy

Well...after talking with some TD folks I have decided to change/alter the Ghosting Policy for Origins 2018. This is primarily due to the fact that the new electronic ticket situation at Gen Con makes thing very murky about ghosting at Gen Con. We will have more info later in the summer, but it will be after Origins Game Fair has taken place.

We've reached a compromise that I hope most folks can live with. I like the idea of TD vets having fun trying out new and interesting adventure set-ups at Origins -- since Origins is suppose to be a thank you to the vets for all the support throughout the year.

At this time there is no change to how ghosting will be done at Gen Con. We gotta wait and see what happens in July before anything can be decided.

Please give me your thoughts on the text below for Origins:

Ghosting is allowed at Origins 2018, subject to limitations and restrictions described here. Ghosting is when a single player turns in more than one ticket for the purpose of getting additional treasure or to increase their challenge by running with fewer players. The player will receive a wristband and a single 10-pack of tokens for each ticket turned in. If the player is so inclined, they could ghost up to 9 players. At the end of the run, the player will receive a completion token and between 3 and 10 treasure draws for each ghosted character. Like any physical player, a ghost character must equip a treasure-enhancing token to receive more than the standard 3 treasure chips,

However, unlike a physical player, a ghost can never receive more than 10 treasure chips in total. For example, a Level 6 player equipping a Charm of Avarice (with full synergy) and an Ioun Stone Silver Nugget would normally receive 19 treasure draws, but a ghost equipping those same tokens would only receive 10 treasure draws. Ghost characters can equip synergistic tokens, thus helping increase the effects of other synergistic tokens (e.g. Charm of Synergy, Charm of Good Fortune, Cabal items). Artifacts can't be equipped on a ghost character, nor can any token that is not a treasure-enhancer or synergistic.

I personally would rather see the same at Gen Con as at Origins. Limiit ghost to 5 but let them have full treasure. I like the consistency. Just my two cents. Won’t affect me either way.

No effect at Origins since Ghosting was not previously allowed.

Any change to GenCon needs to be settled before end of Origins since badge mailing for GenCon locks in tickets on June 17th while Origins is going on.

Capping at 10 seems to be a great way to balance the desires of some players to run with groups smaller than 10 while also not making it cost prohibitive.

I agree with Jedi that I would like to see consistency. Though I can see the argument that runs at GC are more expensive, and therefore need a higher cap to allow for that.

Also, isn't the rule at Gen Con a maximum of 5 ghosts, and one per player?

I think this will make a lot of people happy and a small minority unhappy

You will need to clarify how many and which treasure enhancers would be needed on ghosts to achieve the 10 token limit. Basically does it just max out at ten if all players and ghosts are fully equipped or less if some ghosts are missing items.

Adam Guay wrote: You will need to clarify how many and which treasure enhancers would be needed on ghosts to achieve the 10 token limit. Basically does it just max out at ten if all players and ghosts are fully equipped or less if some ghosts are missing items.

If the ghost has +7 treasure or more, they will receive 10 treasure chips. If they have less, they will receive what they would otherwise be entitled to, hence the minimum 3.

I am not 100% clear on what would happen if the player ghosting is 6th level or higher, and the ghost has +6 chips (say AotF and ISSN). I could see it being either 9 or 10 in that case.

Yeah mainly just looking for clarification before any weird corner cases may come up.

Also, bear in mind that what I said is a complete assumption. I have no official standing whatsoever.

I think it’s pretty clear in Jeff’s post that any combination of tokens up to 10 is counted anything more is just disregarded.

Bob Chasan wrote: I think this will make a lot of people happy and a small minority unhappy

If done at all cons, it may tighten ticket availability since the folks willing to do it at GenCon would be the likely the same folks who would do it at GHC since the tickets are cheaper. Same for Pax South and Origins next year.

Let me put on my green eyeshades.

For me, the big concern has always been the value of the loot exceeding the price of the ticket.

I’ll spare you the tedious math, but, assuming a 10-pack and two comp tokens are about equal to 5 loot, and compared to 24 for $78, I think that 15 loots for $58 is probably a little too stingy, but 10 for $48 is a little too generous. So, for the sake of simplicity, it sounds okay to me.

It avoids the tragedy of someone having to eat an entire ticket in case of a no-show, but it doesn’t encourage too much farming. (Because at 19 loot Plus stuff for $48 would just be begging people to ghost.)