We move from our last international blog in Finland to a relatively new Pathfinder Society lodge in Ireland. I met my first Irish players at PaizoCon UK last summer and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Venture-Captain Dave Harrison and Venture-Lieutenant Rob Silk had been handling the entire United Kingdom by themselves and I decided it was time to give them a break. After all, that is a huge area. So, after talking to them and they were in agreement, I assigned them to solely focus on England while I looked for new regional coordinators in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It wasn't long before Pathfinder Society veteran William Boyle stepped up to assume the Venture-Captain role of Ireland.
Without further delay, I present to you William's report on Pathfinder Society in Ireland.
Illustrations by Francisco Rico Torres and Imaginary Friends Studio.My name is William Boyle and I am the Venture-Captain for Ireland, both North and South. I am aided and abetted in this by my Venture-Lieutenant, Andrew Wilson, along with a dedicated crew of gamers, GMs, store liaisons, FLGS owners and managers, games club runners, and long-suffering, significant others.
I was lucky enough to encounter Pathfinders and Golarion at Gen Con UK in England back in 2008. It was great, but back home in Ireland, there was not much sign of Golarion on either side of the border. Move forward a couple of years and we realised that there was this really cool organized play campaign, Pathfinder Society. After a couple of home games we knew this deserved a wider audience. So to work...
Traditionally, RPGs here were played more at games clubs, conventions, and home games than at the limited number of games shops. Pathfinder Society has become a big part of the RPG thread at "Q-Con" in Belfast. "Q-Con" is the annual convention of Queen's University Belfast Dragonslayers Society, and is the biggest Gaming/Anime con in these islands. Last year we also joined the official programme of Gaelcon—Ireland's biggest independent convention—after previous unofficial visits! When we go to conventions we like to get the Hirst Arts 3D terrain out to add a little "preindustrial light and magic" to the show!
We have also been lucky enough to run events at local games clubs, leading to invitations to go to others. As the word has spread, brilliant GMs in other parts of the country such as Nina Hanzlikova and Liam O'Tailliuir have run Pathfinder Society at local clubs and conventions! We have run all nighters and 24 hours sessions at the Dragonslayers. We even appeared on a segment on the excellent www.theadventuringparty.net podcast!
Since the start of Pathfinder Society, games shops here have begun to spring up that allow games to be played on site.
In Northern Ireland we have The Black Knight (Larne) and Creative Destruction (Portadown). In the Irish Republic, Pathfinder Society is played at Gamers Hub in Maynooth. Additionally, Gamers World in Dublin city centre will have it's first Pathfinder Society session in early 2013.
In 2013, Pathfinder Society will be at the same conventions noted above, but we will also be adding Warpcon and Leprecon to the list. The monthly games held at TBK have led to home based AP games (now also under the Pathfinder Society umbrella), and at the December 2012 game, almost every Pathfinder book, map, and mini on the shelves was snapped up.
We enter 2013 with high hopes and plans to expand on all fronts. Sam Johnston is our Store Liaison (aka Venture Sergeant) in "Creative Destruction Games" and Gary Bingham the same for The Black Knight in Larne. With these two dedicated volunteers, we are lucky to have a top IT gal and guy who are working on our home page and player database.
I cannot finish without recognising the tremendous support that Mike Brock and Dave Harrison have and continue to provide. Many thanks, fellas!
So if anyone is considering a trip to Ireland let us know we'd love to have you over for a game!
William Boyle
Venture-Captain, Ireland
Thank you to all of the players and GMs and the VC and VL for creating an awesome Pathfinder Society lodge in Ireland. I look forward to having a pint or three with all of you at The Sack of Potatoes Pub during PaizoCon UK this coming July. Keep up the awesome work!
Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
