Over the past 8 years, Pathfinder Society Organized Play has grown into a worldwide community. The phenomenal growth is testament to the hard work and support put in at all levels of the campaign. In fact, it's grown so large that I am adding two more categories of volunteers: Regional Venture-Coordinators (RVC) and Venture Agents (VA). These two new tiers serve to facilitate communication across the globe, and recognize the individuals who support Pathfinder Society with their efforts coordinating games.
Regional Venture-Coordinators, under the guidance of the Organized Play Coordinator, supervise a large section of the world, and will support Venture-Captains and Venture-Lieutenants in their duties. The other new rank, Venture-Agent, is responsible for organizing regularly scheduled activities at a specific venue, and will report to the Venture-Captains or Lieutenants of the area where the location is located.
If you are interested in volunteering for Pathfinder Society Organized Play, we are continually recruiting! Check this page to see more information on requirements and how to apply (this page has been updated today to outline all of the new duties of each volunteer category).
Without further ado, let me introduce the new Regional Venture-Coordinators!
Art Lobdell—RVC NortheastArt started in the Pathfinder Society at Gen Con 2007. From there, he immediately began organizing conventions and spread PFS to the greater NY area - Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. After being appointed VC in October 2010, he concentrated on recruiting VCs from Maine to Washington, D.C., leaving him to focus on New York City and surrounding areas. Art received the 5th Campaign Coin, making him Pathfinder Society #705, at Origins. Says Art, "I ran Midnight Mauler as a special so many times I have run it from memory 3 times or more."Dan Simons—RVC Mid-AtlanticDan started playing PFS at Gen Con 2009 and then in the local Pathfinder Society group in Washington, DC. He became the first Venture-Captain of the greater Washington, DC/Northern Virginia/Southern Maryland area in October 2011. When he moved near Baltimore, MD in 2012, he was appointed as the first Venture-Captain for that region. In less than a year, he moved back down to Alexandria, VA and became the VC of Washington, DC again, a post he has held for the past 2.5 years. Dan was awarded my Campaign Coin at PaizoCon 2015, and has attended numerous Gen Cons and PaizoCons, as well as PaizoCon UK in 2014.Del Collins—RVC SoutheastDel joined the ranks of Venture-Captain in October 2011. His region stretched from South Carolina, through Eastern Georgia, Eastern Tennessee, Central/Western North Carolina. Over the years, Del trained many GMs and convention organizers. He supports Pathfinder Society at Gen Con with vans full of volunteers. He received his Campaign Coin and became Pathfinder # 722.Bob Jonquet—RVC Great LakesBob joined the Pathfinder Society during its initial stages when all we had was a Beta rule set and roughly half a dozen tables at GenCon. He was instrumental in the early growth of the Chicagoland area received a promotion to Venture-Captain in April of 2011. He has since relocated to Central Illinois, where he continues to promote local play, organize regional events, and mentor new Venture-Officers. Bob is one of the original five-star GMs, and has been invaluable in helping to organize some of our largest events including PaizoCon and GenCon. He was awarded a Campaign Service Coin in 2014.Jason Roeder—RVC MidwestJason became a Venture-Captain in January of 2011, and received my fifth star in June 2011. He was the Pathfinder Society's second five star GM, narrowly beating Kyle Baird to it! He received a Campaign Service Coin on August 1st, 2015. In describing himself, Jason writes, "I am a guy that just really likes games. My favorite happens to be Pathfinder, so I play it a lot". You may have seen him at conventions—he's the overweight guy with a beard. If you walk up to him at any time, ever (even if you catch him at work) and ask him to play a scenario, he will drop whatever he is doing to join in. Jason enjoys movies, long walks on the beach, and terrifying players by running whatever monstrosity Richard Pett has authored recently.Todd Morgan—RVC NorthwestTodd is familiar to PaizoCon attendees as the man in charge. He became a Venture-Captain in 2011. Moving from Iowa to Nebraska, he continued to support Pathfinder Society. His hard work and dedication to the Pathfinder Society was recognized at Gen Con 2014, where he received a Campaign Coin at Gen Con 2014. The past two years, he has been co-lead of Gen Con. Todd is full of tales and is happy to share them over a beer or two.Eric Brittain—RVC SouthwestEric became a Venture-Captain with the first set of 13 back in October 2010. At PaizoCon 2011, he was voted best GM at the Grand Melee. Eric also contributed to the Grand Melee by writing two of the encounters for this event. At PaizoCon 2013 Eric was awarded my campaign service award, becoming Pathfinder Society #707. Says Eric, "This is very appropriate because upside down it spells out LOL." Most recently, Eric's activities include being the Venture-Captain of San Diego, playing 6 home games and 1 play by post game all using the Pathfinder rule set.Auke Teeninga—RVC AEE (Africa-Eastern Eurasia)Auke played his first PFS games at GenCon UK 2008 and after two years of flying to foreign conventions to play the game, he decided to set up local play in the Netherlands in 2010. It could be coincidence, but a month after his request for support, the Venture Captain program was announced. He was appointed one of the first thirteen Venture Captains and has made it a habit to meet up with other Pathfinder players from all across the globe. So if you are ever in the Netherlands, send him an email and he'll try to set up a game for you!Dave Harrison—RVC WEME (Western Eurasia-Middle East)Dave is a Welshman, not an Englishman, who started GMing Pathfinder Society games when Organized Play was set up in 2008. He convinced enough people to help him create PaizoCon UK in 2009 and it has grown into an international convention. He was selected to be one of the original 13 Venture-Captains in October 2010. As a UK Venture Captain, he has brought Pathfinder Society gaming to various events and encouraged others to take up venture officer roles for England, Scotland and Ireland. Paizo, Inc. recognized Dave as a Volunteer of the Year 2013-14. He continues to GM Pathfinder as often as possible at conventions and also enjoys terrifying GMs by signing up at the last minute to play Pathfinder Society games.Stephen White—RVC Asia-PacificStephen is a proud gaymer involved with RPGs since the early 80s. I first GMed Pathfinder at Free RPG Day in June 2007, and started supporting Pathfinder Society in Season 0 as he traveled Melbourne's con circuit. He GMed at GenConOz the year Jason Bulmahn visited Brisbane to launch the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and when GenConOz cancelled the following year at short notice, I co-organized the first PaizoConOz with Venture-Captain-Sydney Al Rigg. Stephen is one of the 13 original Venture-Captains appointed in October 2010, one of the earliest 5-Star GMs, and in March 2013 became the third recipient of the Campaign Service Coin. Stephen jokes, "Many local players joke that I had been demoted from VC Australia to VC Melbourne with the appointment of VCs in other States, but under their capable stewardship, you'd be unlucky to visit an Australian city and not find somewhere you could enjoy a game of PFS. In the meantime, I believe I've once again inherited the largest geographic PFS region with the inclusion of New Zealand, Singapore, India, East Asia and Hawaii. I'm looking forward to working with VCs in the Asia-Pacific Region, and will of course be campaigning tirelessly for more PFS excursions into Tian Xia, Vudra and... Sarusan!"
I would also like to recognize the GMs that have earned their 5th star since Gen Con 2015. To qualify as a 5-Star GM, you have to run 150 games, including 10 specials and 50 different scenarios, and run a game observed by a Venture-Officer. It takes many hours to achieve and shows dedication to Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Many congratulations to the following GMs!
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Zak Glade |
Markus Hyytinen |
Walter Helgason |
If your name is not on the list and should be, email me at tonya.woldridge@paizo.com.
Until next time, may your dice roll high and remember to Explore, Report, Cooperate!
Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator
