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Paizo's Gen Con 2009 Events Schedule

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Good morning!

In celebration of the launch of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook at Gen Con 2009, Paizo is offering a large assortment of events for players young and old, veterans and noobies, casual and grognard alike. In addition to an assortment of seminars, Paizo's premier organized play system, Pathfinder Society, will have four scenarios for 1st-level characters (with 2 additional scenarios for higher-level experienced players) available for play throughout the show from 8 A.M. on Thursday through 5 P.M. on Sunday. Slots start at 8 A.M., 1 P.M., and 6 P.M. and run for four hours. Look for such titles as The Decline of Glory, Tide of Morning, The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats, The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker, Sniper in the Deep, and Drow of the Darklands Pyramid to further explore the Pathfinder RPG rules and the Pathfinder Society Organized Play experience. On Friday and Saturday night, Paizo will also offer an interactive event for all levels of Pathfinder Society entitled Betrayal in Absalom that turns Indianapolis into an interactive City at the Center of the World for players to run an RP and combat-laden scavenger hunt. Prizes will be awarded to the winning teams each night. Lastly, every day of the show during dealer hall hours, Paizo Publishing will run a delve at their booth that's designed to be a meat grinder event that quickly shows off the PRPG rules set as well as handing out prizes to those lucky enough to survive. For those of you who just want to play and aren't interested in the Pathfinder Society, there will be pre-generated characters available for every slot of Pathfinder Society events with the exception of the interactive—the interactives both require you to have a character for Pathfinder Society ready to go.

For those of you signed up for Gen Con and ready to go, a summary of events is listed below including links to each event's sign-up page. You must be logged in to the Gen Con website for the links to work. We've also included a running total (frequently updated in this thread) of how many tickets remain for each event and slot. Online ticket sales for Gen Con 2009 end on June 27, 2009. So don't delay in reserving your spot for one or more of Paizo's Gen Con events!

Here are the events:

SEM0904095
PFS: PRPG Conversion & Creation Q&A
8/13/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $0
Tickets Remaining: 160

RPG0904098
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/13/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 63

RPG0904122
#31 Sniper in the Deep
8/13/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 32

RPG0904136
#24 The Decline of Glory
8/13/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: SOLD OUT

SEM0904079
Writing for Paizo
8/13/09 5:00 P.M.
Cost: $0.00
Tickets Remaining: 34

RPG0904101
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/13/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 44

RPG0904110
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/13/09 6:00 P.M. Cost: $6.00 Tickets Remaining: 10

RPG0904131
#32 Drow of the Darklands Pyramid
8/13/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 24

RPG0904149
#23 Tide of Morning
8/13/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: SOLD OUT

RPG0904102
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/14/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 31

RPG0904111
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/14/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 55

RPG0904124
#31 Sniper in the Deep
8/14/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: SOLD OUT

RPG0904137
#24 The Decline of Glory
8/14/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 1

RPG0904103
#29 The Devil We Know Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/14/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 52

RPG0904112
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/14/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 47

RPG0904132
#32 Drow of the Darklands Pyramid
8/14/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: SOLD OUT

RPG0904154
#23 Tide of Morning
8/14/2009 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: SOLD OUT

SEM0904081
Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Path Q&A
8/14/09 5:00 P.M.
Cost: $0.00
Tickets Remaining: 78

RPG0904104
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/14/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 59

RPG0904113
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/14/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 44

RPG0904178
Betrayal in Absalom: A Pathfinder Society Event (Version 1)
8/14/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $8.00
Tickets Remaining: SOLD OUT

RPG0904105
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/15/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 60

RPG0904114
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/15/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 61

RPG0904125
#31 Sniper in the Deep
8/15/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 9

RPG0904138
#24 The Decline of Glory
8/15/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 9

RPG0904106
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/15/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 31

RPG0904115
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/15/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 62

RPG0904133
#32 Drow of the Darklands Pyramid
8/15/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 1

RPG0904173
#23 Tide of Morning
8/15/09 1:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 11

SEM0904080
Thrilling Adventures on Other Worlds: Paizo's Planet Stories Line
8/15/09 3:00 P.M.
Cost: $0.00
Tickets Remaining: 49

SEM0904087
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Q&A
8/15/09 05:00:00 P.M.
Cost: $0.00
Tickets Remaining: 151

RPG0904107
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/15/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 71

RPG0904116
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/15/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 35

RPG0904179
Betrayal in Absalom: A Pathfinder Society Event (Version 2)
8/15/09 6:00 P.M.
Cost: $8.00
Tickets Remaining: 15

RPG0904108
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/16/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 54

RPG0904117
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/16/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 67

RPG0904129
#31 Sniper in the Deep
8/16/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 18

RPG0904140
#24 The Decline of Glory
8/16/09 8:00 A.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 18

RPG0904109
#29 The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats
8/16/09 12:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00 Tickets Remaining: 66

RPG0904119
#30 The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker
8/16/09 12:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 37

PG0904134 #32 Drow of the Darklands Pyramid 8/16/09 12:00 P.M. Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 16

RPG0904174
#23 Tide of Morning
8/16/09 12:00 P.M.
Cost: $6.00
Tickets Remaining: 11

We also still need volunteers for Gen Con! Please read this thread for details. Thanks!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Official Call for Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 Volunteer GMs and Assistants!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Hello!

This is the official call for volunteer GMs and assistants to help Paizo Publishing run events at Gen Con 2009. (If you're looking for the Origins volunteer thread, click here.) In order to be sure that Gen Con 2009 is the best possible play experience, I need a minimum of 42 volunteers (54 volunteers total on Friday and Saturday night) with no maximum—I'll keep taking volunteers until the slots are filled! Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering as well as the events and slots for which I need volunteers. This year, I'm also creating a new "Volunteer Assistant" position for the show—these two folks will aid me in all manner of things and will be my right and left hand man/woman throughout the entire show. They will be rewarded handsomely for their time. Speaking of our rewards, we've DOUBLED the voucher amounts you get for volunteering this year and increased the number of hotel rooms available for Tier 1 volunteers. By doing this, I hope to see even more people working for us at Gen Con.

Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell everyone in your game group! We need volunteers!

One last thing to keep in mind: you're volunteering for a slot, not a specific event. I'll assign people to events inside the slot they've volunteered for and won't take requests.

Volunteer Tiers and Rewards

Volunteer Assistant
The volunteer assistants will work closely with me every day of the show from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. to help muster slots, gather tickets, answer questions, and run HQ. The volunteer assistants may also be used as gophers, lunch-gatherers, or errand-runners. Reliable, punctual, and guaranteed-to-be-at-the-show applicants ONLY please. This position is limited to two volunteers and will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers I've worked with in the past (i.e., at Gen Con 2008 or Gen Con UK 2008). Volunteer assistants will only be used as GMs to cover GMs that are MIA. Volunteer assistants receive:

A FREE 4-day badge
A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room
A $150 voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE autographed copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook hardcover at Gen Con Wednesday evening
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Tier 1 GM Volunteers
Tier 1 GM volunteers are my workhorse, every day GMs. They are invaluable to making the show a success! Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 8 slots. Tier 1 GMs may feel free to volunteer for more than 8 slots if they so desire. I only have room for 18 Tier 1 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier. Volunteers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers who have previously worked for Paizo over new volunteers. Tier 1 GMs receive:

A FREE 4-day badge
A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room
A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE autographed copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook hardcover at Gen Con Wednesday evening
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Tier 2 GM Volunteers
While the rewards for volunteering for this tier are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from Tier 2. Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 4 slots. Tier 2 GMs receive:

A FREE 4-day badge
A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Tier 3 GM Volunteers
This is the minimum volunteer level. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 2 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:

A $10 per slot voucher for the Paizo booth (to be used in the Paizo booth on Sunday only)
A FREE black & white photocopied version of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before the show after signing an NDA
A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 T-Shirt

Volunteering for One Slot
While we will gladly accept anyone who wants to run just one slot during the show, there are no rewards for doing so other than our thanks.

Events by Slot
When volunteering, please be specific about what slot you are volunteering for. I will assign folks to scenarios on an as-needed basis, so you really only need to tell me the slot(s) you're volunteering for (since I won't take requests). I will update the needs in the Gen Con volunteer thread on the Pathfinder Society messageboards as I receive volunteers, so you may refer to that thread in order to remain up to date on where we still need help.

Slot 1: Thursday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 2: Thursday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 3: Thursday 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 4: Friday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 5: Friday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 6: Friday 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.
Need: 54 volunteers

Slot 7: Saturday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 8: Saturday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 9: Saturday 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.
Need: 54 volunteers

Slot 10: Sunday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Slot 11: Sunday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Need: 42 volunteers

Thanks in advance for volunteering, good luck, and have a great Gen Con 2009!

All volunteers can email me: josh@paizo.com with the subject line Gen Con Volunteer.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

New PAIZOCON Guests! New PAIZOCON Events!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Hello there future PAIZOCON 2009 attendees! Today's blog is all about our upcoming fan con and the events and guests you can expect to see there. In case you've been asleep under a bridge in Tasmania and have no idea what PAIZOCON is, please click here and find out. You can also purchase your 3-Day PAIZOCON badge and your $5 Pathfinder RPG Preview Banquet tickets. Hotel information can be found here.

Additional Guests
In addition to Monte Cook, Sue Cook, Eva Widermann, Wolfgang Baur, Clark Peterson, and the entire Paizo staff, we're announcing five new special guests today as well! You can view the complete guest list here.

Lou Agresta
Fantasy game design crept up on Lou Agresta in 2005, when diamondthrone.com accepted his first articles on true names. Until then a writer of travelogues, indie comics, fashion essays, and torturous, self-indulgent philosophy tracts, his more recent adventure credits include SAW #1 and #12 of the Trodoon Gate Saga (LPJ Designs), The Bloody Fix and The Punctured Vein with Rone Barton (O0negames), and Pathfinder Society Scenario #8: Slave Pits of Absalom. Lou is one of six authors from the Great City Campaign Setting (0onegames), a contributor to Sinister Adventures, and chief-scribbler over at the RPGAggression blog. A member of the Werecabbages freelance writer's guild, he also had his fingers in both the GM Gems and PC Pearls collaborations (Goodman Games) and has made guest appearances as Cthu-Lou on the Atomic Array podcast. Lou's set piece, slated for Pathfinder #24, will likely prove the last of its kind. Dungeon acquired his first adventure, written with Nicolas Logue, then canceled the magazine, leaving Lou forever haunted by the fear he is somehow responsible. Lou lives somewhere in upstate NY with his wife, daughter, a dog, and a couple of horses. While he has sometimes worn a kilt and ridden a tractor, no one has ever caught him doing both.

Rob McCreary
Rob McCreary was born in Japan and raised in the United States. He started gaming when the red Basic D&D boxed set came out. Rob currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic, where he is an English teacher by day and freelancer by night. Rob made it to last year's RPG Superstar Top 4 with a combination of coin belts, ziggurat-filled jungles, and monkey-goblins. Thus far he has contributed to the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, several Pathfinder Bestiaries, and the upcoming Dungeon Denizens Revisited. Rob is currently scrambling to finish writing the final installment of the upcoming Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, "The Final Wish."

Jason Nelson Jason Nelson is in the job market as a professor of education (have doctorate, will travel!) and a devoted Christian who lives in Seattle, Washington with his two kids, Allen and Meshia, and has been gaming since 1981. He's hardcore enough that he uses the name of his first-ever D&D character, Tjaden, in his email address, and he's also devious enough to have slipped the name of his fiancee into the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, to her great amusement and delight. Jason was some combination of lucky and good enough to make the Final Four in the inaugural RPG Superstar and has also written a number of adventures and articles for Dungeon and Dragon magazines (ah, memories) and over a hundred webcolumns for Wizards of the Coast, including the long-running "Save My Game" and "Behind the Screen." More recently, he has contributed to Dungeon Denizens Revisited and several Pathfinder Bestiaries, co-wrote Osirion: Land of the Pharaohs, and is the author of "The End of Eternity", the fourth adventure in the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path. It's awesome! You should totally go buy a copy!

rk post
Just prior to graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1994, rk post started freelancing in the fantasy gaming industry doing interior illustrations for several major game companies, gradually teaching himself how to paint with acrylics and eventually oils. rk garnered a staff illustration position at TSR in the fall of 1996 painting cover illustrations for games and novels. rk left (then) WotC in the winter of 2000 and now he doubles as a full time freelance illustrator and senior artist for Big Fish Games in Seattle. rk has contracted and worked with White Wolf, WizKids, Fanpro, Microsoft (Mythica, X Box), LucasFilm, 20th Century Fox (Aliens vs. Predator series), Sega (Dreamcast), Nintendo, Ballantine Books, Science Fiction Book Club, Hasbro (television and animation), Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, the History Channel, and Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo 2, World of Warcraft). rk post has his collected works available in a hard cover art book, Postmortem: the Art of rk post through Cartouche Press (www.cartouchepress.com). New and continuing work can also be seen at www.rkpost.net and www.myspace.com/rkpost.

Neil Spicer
Born in the shadow of North Carolina's Blue Ridge mountains, Neil Spicer started gaming in the early '80s. His first foray into RPG design began with a simple fanzine devoted to Alternity's Star*Drive and Dark.Matter campaign settings titled Action Check. Since then, he's written a handful of D20 PDF products for third-party publishers and co-authored a softcover D20 Future supplement called the Future Player's Companion through the Game Mechanics and Green Ronin. Neil somehow managed to survive Paizo's RPG Superstar 2009 contest and emerged with an opportunity to write Realm of the Fellnight Queen, an Pathfinder Module scheduled for release in January 2010.

Events

Below is just a small sampling of the events you can expect to see and participate in at PAIZOCON 2009. Event sign-ups will go live in May. We still have a few badges left—don't be left out, buy yours today! In addition to the events below, Pathfinder Society members of all levels and experience will be able to participate in a Friday night interactive penned by Erik Mona and Joshua J. Frost that's sure to keep people talking for years!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #23:
Tide of Morning by Steven Robert (for Tier 1–5)
Venture-Captain Dennel Hamshanks sends you to convince an Andoren druid named Hemzel to allow the Pathfinder Society to study his recently discovered lorestone, a minor magical item that unlocks some of the mysteries of the ancient Andoren druid circles. When you arrive and find Hemzel murdered and the lorestone missing, you must race against time to recover the lorestone and stop Hemzel's murderers from using it against the druids of Andoran.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #24:
The Decline of Glory by Tim Hitchcock (for Tier 1–7)
When the son of a famous Pathfinder gains control of his father's holdings in Taldor, the Pathfinder Society decides to build a new lodge there as a base to explore the many ruins of that crumbling empire. Unfortunately, the Taldan Phalanx has its eye on the holdings and an ancient curse has turned many of the residents into the walking dead. Can you survive the tangled web of Taldor's politics and fight off the echoes of the past or will you, too, see your glory decline?

Pathfinder Society Scenario #25:
Hands of the Muted God by Clinton J. Boomer (for Tier 5–9)
When the man who would be the Muted God wordlessly stepped beyond the gates of the Starstone's Cathedral, his thousand and one faithful ringing the Ascendant Court watched with the silent contemplation that is their highest sacrament. When he failed to emerge, many of his penitents abandoned their vows but a small sect remained loyal and worshipful. You and your fellow Pathfinders are sent into the mountains north of Absalom to follow the path of a doomed party and uncover the secrets of the Muted God. His loyal band of followers, called the Hand, will stop at nothing to keep you away from their shrine—even forming an alliance with some of Golarion's most evil denizens.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #26:
Lost at Bitter End by Joshua J. Frost (for Tier 7–11)
When a Pathfinder Society Priest of Nethys disappears in northern Geb while studying the Mana Wastes, the Society sends you to uncover his whereabouts and find his journals. Arriving in the town of Bitter End, you find it deserted but for a few mysterious creatures never before seen on Golarion. Those creatures quickly lead to more and soon you're embroiled in a mystery that could affect the very fabric of reality. Will you solve the mystery of Bitter End or find yourself lost forever in the Mana Wastes?

Cursed Lot: New Beginnings, GMed by Jason Bulmahn
Last year, a group of brave, but horribly cursed adventurers set out on a brave adventure. While one succeeded to be rid of his terrible curse, the rest suffered and even worse fate. This year, a new band of unfortunately cursed heroes takes on an even greater challenge... to rescue a missing dog. How hard could that be?

Fires Over Brinestump, GMed by James Jacobs
It's been three years since the last time goblins have been a problem on the Lost Coast, but last night, a band of Licktoad Goblins from the Brinestump Marsh lit a merchant wagon on fire. The lone survivior almost made it to the town of Sandpoint before dying of his burns, and shortly after his body is discovered, fireworks bloom over Brinestump Marsh, lighting the night sky south of Sandpoint in an unmistakable display of goblin celebration. Why are the Licktoad Goblins on the march? Who gave them fireworks? Does this herald the advent of another goblin invasion of the town of Sandpoint? A Pathfinder RPG adventure for six 1st level characters.

Into the Scarlet Monastery, GMed by Sean K Reynolds The zealots of the Scarlet Monastery have been a blight on the world for three years. Reviled by all, they hate against all nonhumans, accuse their enemies of spreading plague, and lynch innocents in the name of their crusade. Now is the time to defeat their Commander. But are two orc warriors, a troll mage, a warlock, an undead rogue, and a minotaur druid up to the task?

Before Nightfall, a PFPRG Playtest for a work in progress, GMed by F. Wesley Schneider
Forsaken, some places are best left to their haunted memories and the shadows of things best left forgotten. On the Ustalavic frontieer, one such ruin has long loomed over the lives and nightmares of the local peasents, a monument to terrors that can never be forgotten. Now a terrible new life has returned to the dreaded citadel, one that seeks to renew the horrors of centuries past. Take up arms and explore the deadly grounds and labyinthine courtyards of a soon to be infamous gothic castle, offer your advice and feedback on what makes for exciting horror roleplaying, and participate in the creation of a terrifying new adventure written in the tradition of one of the most famous horror RPG modules of all time.

Short Fiction Workshop
Paizo Fiction Editor James L. Sutter and Editor Christopher Paul Carey critique your short fiction! James and Chris will critique your story from an editorial viewpoint and go over it with you, focusing especially on the opening and those red flags editors use to quickly reject stories, helping you hone your writing and make it past an editor's initial cut. Please note that workshopping will be on a first-come, first-served basis during the listed timeslot—you can sign up so you don't have to wait around the whole time.

Pathfinder Society Scenario Open Call Workshop
A future Pathfinder Society Scenario for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game will be decided on at PAIZOCON 2009! Soon, Paizo's Events Manager Joshua J. Frost will put out an open call for one of the fall Pathfinder Society Scenarios—a call that can only be answered by attendees at PAIZOCON 2009! All who contributed may attend this workshop where Joshua will go over why each scenario was and wasn't accepted. For a unique look inside the creative mind of the guy who brings you your monthly installment of Pathfinder Society scenarios, look no further than this seminar! This event will be capped at 20 attendees.

... and much, much more! Don't delay—sign up for PAIZOCON 2009 today!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Presenting the Gen Con 2009 Scenarios!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I've spent a huge portion of this week thinking about and planning for Gen Con 2009. As most of you know, we're launching the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game at Gen Con, which means we're also kicking off Season 1 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The first slot of the show, Thursday morning, will be a character creation/conversion seminar with Paizo employees and volunteer GMs who have all seen the rules ahead of time and will be available to answer questions and help you either build a new character or follow our soon-to-be-released conversion guidelines for Season 1. We'll cut everyone loose before the dealer hall opens so they can hop in what will assuredly be a long line for the RPG hardcover itself and then let everyone flow back to the Org Play area to finish their characters alongside their shiny new (possibly autographed) Pathfinder Roleplaying Game books.

The real fun kicks off Thursday afternoon when we launch Season 1 of Pathfinder Society Organized Play! We have four outstanding scenarios written by four outstanding scenario authors (if I do say so myself) who will all be in attendance at Gen Con and will likely GM their own scenarios once or twice as surprise GMs throughout the show. Tim Hitchcock and the Werecabbages are brewing a brilliant Friday and Saturday night interactive event for the Pathfinder Society that I cannot reveal the details about yet as the lycanthropic vegetable club would stake me and eat my brains for doing so. Rest assured, when Tim pitched me the idea, I ran screaming through the office declaring it the best idea since horseshoes.

Here are some quick summaries of the four scenarios we'll be running at Gen Con 2009:

Pathfinder Society Scenario 29:
The Devil We Know, Part 1: Shipyard Rats (Tiers 1–7) by Joshua J. Frost
When simultaneous kidnappings of Pathfinder and Aspis Consortium agents rock Cassomir's imperial shipyards, the Society orders you to join forces with hated Aspis agents to solve the mystery. Can you work together with the enemies of the Society to uncover the source of the kidnappings, or will you perish in the shipyards of Cassomir? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 30:
The Devil We Know, Part 2: Cassomir's Locker (Tiers 1–7) by Joshua J. Frost
The Pathfinder Society dispatches you into the catacombs beneath the shipyards known as Cassomir's Locker to uncover the source of a shamanistic rat cult that's breeding monstrous vermin never before seen on Golarion. After thwarting a double-cross and delving into the dirty dungeons below, will you find the artifact that powers Cassomir's Locker in time or will you bring about the destruction of Taldor's most important port? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 31:
Sniper in the Deep (Tiers 5–9) by David Eitelbach & Hank Woon
When rumors stir of a hidden treasure ship in Absalom's Flotsam Graveyard, the Pathfinder Society sends you beneath the Inner Sea to investigate. Mayhem, undersea adventure, and chaos are to be had in this rousing rampage beneath the roiling waters of Absalom's harbor. Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Pathfinder Society Scenario 32:
Drow of the Darklands Pyramid (Tiers 7–11) by Sean K Reynolds
A rogue band of drow are plaguing the artifact shipping lanes of Osirion and the Pathfinder Society has sent you to stop them. When the drow capture an entire caravan laden with Society relics, the Decemvirate orders you into the Darklands to track down the drow and their stolen cargo. You'll travel beneath Golarion, fighting through caverns of hideous creatures to reach the fabled Darklands Pyramid—will your survive the journey, or become a slave forever? Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Lastly, I want to congratulate the selectees for the final 3.5 Pathfinder Society Organized Play Open Call: Elizabeth Leib and James MacKenzie! They're writing #28 Lyrics of Extinction and #27 Our Lady of Silver respectively. Congratulations!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Announcing PAIZOCON 2009!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

PAIZOCON returns in 2009 bigger and better than ever! Officially sponsored and run by Paizo Publishing, LLC, PAIZOCON 2009 brings together dozens of hobby gaming's veteran authors, artists, publishers, and designers and gives YOU the opportunity to meet, greet, and game with some of the best and brightest that the hobby gaming industry has to offer.

Hosted by the conveniently located Coast Bellevue Hotel, PAIZOCON 2009 is three non-stop days of gaming, panels, workshops, banquets, and (most importantly) fun! You'll get to rub shoulders with your favorite Paizo Publishing employees and freelancers as well as game with your favorite people from the Paizo Publishing online community.

Attendance is capped at 250 TICKETS, so don't delay—buy your tickets today!

Also, Saturday, June 13, 2009 PAIZOCON 2009 will host a Pathfinder RPG Preview Banquet in the main banquet hall at the Coast Bellevue Hotel. The Coast Bellevue Hotel's banquet hall can hold 250 people maximum, which means there are less tickets available for the banquet than there are for the show overall. Tickets for this event are capped at 225, so sign up as soon as possible to guarantee your seat. You may only purchase tickets for this event if you've also purchased your PAIZOCON 2009 3-Day Badge located here.

During the banquet, attendees will have the opportunity to view Pathfinder RPG products for the first time beyond the walls of Paizo Publishing. We will have copies of the Pathfinder RPG hardcover as well as preview copies of the Pathfinder Bestiary for everyone to flip through and marvel at. Additionally, members of the Paizo staff and PAIZOCON 2009 Guests of Honor will be seated one each at every table in the room, giving attendees the opportunity to chat with the industry professional seated at their table.

Throughout the banquet, there will be games and quizzes with each table acting as a team. Prizes will be given away and one lucky attendee will even win a copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game autographed by everyone at Paizo Publishing (to be delivered via the mail upon the game's release in August).

Don't miss out on this unique event at PAIZOCON 2009—buy your Pathfinder RPG Preview Banquet ticket today!

We hope to see YOU at PAIZOCON 2009! Don't miss out.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Upcoming Pathfinder Society Conventions

Friday, January 9, 2009

As part of our continuing effort to showcase upcoming conventions that are running Pathfinder Society Organized Play events, here are several shows coming up in January and February that have let us know they are doing so. If you're local to any of these fine conventions, please show your support for Pathfinder Society by GMing or playing few Pathfinder Society Scenarios there. Spread the word!

St. Crispins Santa Ana, CA January 10

MarsCon Williamsburg, VA January 16–18

SnowCon Maine January 17-18

Arcanacon XXVII Melbourne, Australia January 23–26

Conception London, United Kingdom January 28–February 1

Marmalade Dog 14 Western Michigan U January 30–February 1

Recess New York, NY January 31

Owlcon Houston, TX February 6-8

What the Hell? Con Greensboro, NC February 6–8

Winter War Champaign, IL February 6-8

OrcCon Los Angeles, CA February 13–16

GenghisCon XXX Denver, CO February 12–15

BashCon XXIV Toledo, OH February 20–22

UKON University of Kentucky February 27–28

Pandemonium Frost Garden City, MI February 27–March 1

If you know of any future conventions that plan to run Pathfinder Society Organized Play scenarios, please put their con coordinators, organized play coordinators, or RPG coordinators in contact with me. I'd love to use the blog to support as many shows as possible. With your help, we can support them all.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Upcoming Pathfinder Society Conventions

Thursday, December 4, 2008

As part of our continuing effort to showcase upcoming conventions that are running Pathfinder Society Organized Play events, here are two shows coming up in December and January that have let us know they are doing so. If you're local to either of these fine conventions, please show your support for Pathfinder Society by GMing or playing few Pathfinder Society Scenarios there. Spread the word!

Anonycon (thread) Stamford, CT December 12–14, 2008

SnowCon Maine January 17–18, 2009

If you know of any future conventions that plan to run Pathfinder Society Organized Play scenarios, please put their con coordinators, organized play coordinators, or RPG coordinators in contact with me. I'd love to use the blog to support as many shows as possible. With your help, we can support them all.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Upcoming Pathfinder Society Conventions

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Since we launched Pathfinder Society in August, I've received a lot of email from convention coordinators. They ask how they can run Pathfinder Society events at their shows, or seek more information about the Society, or sometimes just let me know that they're on board and plan to run events. Since they're helping us, I want to do something in return for them. Once a month, from now on, I'll use my weekly Pathfinder Society blog to detail conventions that plan to run Pathfinder Society events in the next month. I'll even give you links to their shows (when I know them or can find them) and links to threads on our messageboards when coordinators from each show are asking for volunteers to run Society events. Here are the shows debuting Pathfinder Society between now and the end of November:

Cold Iron Conventions Wisconsin October 23–26, 2008

Ubercon Parsippany, NJ October 24–26, 2008

NeonCon Las Vegas, NV October 30–November 2, 2008

Lucca Comics and Games Lucca, Italy October 31–November 2, 2008

d20 Pro Conline Online early November

Game08 (thread) Manchester, England November 1–2, 2008

MACE (thread) High Point, NC November 7–9, 2008

Mepacon Scranton, PA November 7–9, 2008

GASPcon Pittsburgh, PA November 1–2, 2008

Shauncon Kansas City November 20–23, 2008

WolfCon (thread) Chicago, IL November 28–29, 2008

If you know of any future conventions that plan to run Pathfinder Society, please put their con coordinators, organized play coordinators, or RPG coordinators in contact with me. I'd love to use the blog to support as many shows as possible. With your help, we can support them all.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager
josh@paizo.com

Paizo Invades England

Friday, September 5, 2008

Yesterday, we showed you a small sample of images from our recent excursion to the lovely England. Now that I have returned, all jet-lagged and full of smiles, I thought I'd share some more images plucked from the depths of my digital camera.

Before.	After.
Most excellent GM, Rob Silk, prepares to delight his table of players in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play room at the University of Reading.	GM Simon Butler (back to camera) prepares to run first-time Pathfinder Society members through a scenario. Standing (in black) is Dragnmoon from the messageboards, and sitting to his right (in purple) is RPG Superstar Top 4 finalist and recent co-author (among many) of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, Rob McCreary.
Paul, Peter, and Claire proudly display their loyalties to the Andoran and Osirion Factions. Peter and Claire also helped the Paizo-led Quiz Team, Coalition of the Willing, to a resounding victory on Thursday night.	Playin' Games, located just meters from the entrance to the British Museum, was the first London store we wandered into after the convention wrapped.
Of course, they had a nice selection of Paizo products displayed prominently in their RPG section.	Nice warning.
Next, we visited a fantastic sci-fi book and games store called Forbidden Planet.	Where, inside, we found a healthy selection of our books. (You can't see them, but they had almost all of our modules just behind the books I pulled out for this picture.)
The "New RPG" section where you can see our books prominently displayed in very good company.	We tried to visit the Orcs Nest, but they were closed.
Despite being closed, they were displaying our recent releases prominently in their front window. If you look very closely at the previous store-front picture, you can also see shelves just inside the window with a solid three rows on Pathfinders displayed on it.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Con-Crawling Adventures!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

From Seattle to Indianapolis to the British Isles, it's been a busy month for the Paizo staff! A few weeks back we posted some snapshots from Gen Con Indy, but over this past weekend the crew has been having even more adventures with Erik Mona, Josh Frost, Jason Bulmahn, and Nick Logue off to Gen Con UK, while Jacob Burgess, Sarah Robinson, and myself hit up the Penny Arcade Expo here in Seattle. Check out a few of the highlights below.

Jason chills by the Paizo booth at Gen Con UK.	Introducing the new British language editions of all your favorite Paizo products!
Artists Eva Widerman, Wayne Reynolds, and Lydia Schuchmann represent Paizo's elite European artists' collective!	England's not big enough for these two madmen. Authors Rich Pett and Nick Logue finally bring their years-long rivalry to an end.
The cake might be a lie, but back home at PAX, Jake Burgess's feelings for Portal's companion cube are all too real.	Sarah and Wes really got into some D&D 4E. Get it! Ha!

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Gen Con Ephemera!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Someone made the terrible mistake of giving James and I cameras, a lapse in judgment we heartily exploited over the past week at Gen Con. While many of the images we captured proved too terrible to inflict upon you gentle souls, here are a few quick highlights we snapped from the showroom floor. Special thanks to all the Paizo volunteers, everyone from the message boards we ran into (you guys are awesome!), all who voted in the ENnies, Tiffany, Boomer, and um... Sheila (sorry we forgot your name; blasted cloak of invisibility).

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Gen Con and the Pathfinder Society

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Gen Con was a great success! We saw nearly 400 characters made for Pathfinder Society and handed out 600 registration cards for new players and Game Masters. Our fine volunteers rocked the Pathfinder Society room in ICC 101-102 and all of the players were enthusiastic, excited, and fun. The room was filled with laughter, chaos, and the roar of critical successes. Nick and I had a good time and everyone's positive and negative feedback was heard, written down, and (in many cases) will be incorporated in the next version of the guide. Season 0 is our playtest season—we're happy folks are helping us test it.

We learned a few lessons at Gen Con, both from the organization standpoint and from the standpoint of GMs and players. We know a little more about how to organize the event, how many tickets to sell for each slot, and how many GMs to gather to run it smoothly. We learned that a bull horn (thank you, Lou) is the most valuable asset of the room and we learned that people really DO want to sport the colors of their faction and wear their shirts with pride (and free re-rolls).

Thanks everyone who was there for making it a great success. We'll see you next year. Until then, found your local chapter of the Pathfinder Society and hook another bunch of recruits into becoming Pathfinders. We know they'll love it.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 4 Report

Monday, August 18, 2008

As Gen Con comes to a close, we look back on what we've accomplished here this week and we couldn't be more happy. This week represents to us how strong our community is, how much they support us, and how unbelievably willing they are to sacrifice their time, their sleep, and their sanity to insure that our company is successful.

I want to say thank you, personally and publicly, to our GMs here at Gen Con:

Chris, Christopher C., Christopher S., Clinton, Coridan, Craig, Dan R., Daniel M., Dave, Erik, Geoffrey, Greg A. V., Greg V., Heather, James, Jared, Jeremy, Joe B., Joe R., John, Liz, Lou, Mark, Marshall, Mat, Matthew, Michael K., Michael M., Michael W., Neil, Philippe-Antoine, Randy, Rob, Ron J., Ron L., Russ, Shane, Stefan, Steven, Tim C., Tim H., and Will

And to our demo team:

Bill, Carie, Hunter, Neil, and Scott

Thanks everyone!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 3 Report

Sunday, August 17, 2008

I'm tired. Let's do pictures!

Brian Lewis, Christian Doyle, and Scott C. Brown from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising.
SOLD OUT!

Juxtaposition.
Paizo won EIGHT ENnies Awards—7 golds, and 1 silver. Best Publisher (Gold) is the one we are most proud of and you, our community, made that happen. Thank you. These are all of last night's ENnie Award winners.

Victory!
Daigle at Ascension of the Drow.

Lou Agresta does horrible, vile things to the participants of Ascension of the Drow.
Clinton J. Boomer—exile, rogue, sycophant. (And a cool dude!)

Ed Greenwood, Michael A. Stackpole, Paul S. Kemp, and James Lowder signing Worlds of their Own.

See you tomorrow!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 2 Report

Saturday, August 16, 2008

We did it: We sold out of our entire weekend's worth of stock of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta Release in less than two days. Less than one day plus one hour, really. Ok, so less than 9 hours total. That's a lot o' copies.

We're also mowing through The Gamers: Dorkness Rising DVDs so fast that we had to have another very, very, very large quantity overnighted to us here at the show—a quantity that ends in three zeros.

At opening today we had only four copies of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover remaining; they sold out quickly.

Now that's I'm done showering you with OUR accolades and successes, let me show you YOUR successes:

Shot 1 of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play room on Friday afternoon looking from the main entrance. What you see there is a completely sold out slot—two full scenarios, 12 GMs each, 6 players per GM. I'd like to swear here in excited glee, but I'll keep it PG and say, "RAD!!!"

Shot 2 of the same room, same time, from the other entrance. The GMs that are standing are: Michael Kortes (in white and red, front), Knight Errant JR from the Paizo boards (in white t-shirt, middle), clight101 from the Paizo boards (just over JR's shoulder, in grey), SheKaKa67 from the Paizo boards (black hat, top left), Lilith from the boards (back right corner, green shirt), and Greg Vaughan (far right, green and white striped shirt). There are many GMs in this picture from the boards—these are the ones I can pick out of the picture.

Our community is awesome, and without our community's awesomeness, we wouldn't be around. That's YOUR success, community—being our support and our rock at shows like Gen Con (and stores, homes, and cons beyond).

Keep spreading the word.

My hat's off to you.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 1 Report

Friday, August 15, 2008

Nearly sold out of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta. STOP. Line at the booth stretches to Miami. STOP. Rabid gamers seen occupying every seat in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play room. STOP. Nick Logue taken over by zombie urges. STOP.

Hey, here's some pictures!

The entrance to the Pathfinder Society Organized Play cavern.	Paizo Contributor Michael Kortes takes a much needed drink between rounds of intense Pathfinder combat during Silent Tide.
Nick Logue, taken over by zombie urges.	Silent Tide and The Hydra's Fang Incident off to a good start at 8:00 A.M.
The Paizo booth.	James Jacobs, James Sutter, F. Wesley Schneider
Jason Bulmahn and his brand new baby book.	Paizo's awesome undead-horde-crushes-your-town (Falcon's Hollow) delve.

See you tomorrow!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

It has begun!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Or, at least, it will almost have begun when some of you start reading this. It had not begun as of me writing it, but Gen Con starts today and the Paizo crew couldn't be more excited. For two days, we've been delicately crafting our booth out of aged cheddar while letting the succulent roast beef floor stew in its own juices. The racks, carefully constructed from licorice and gum drops, sit majestically beneath our towering and quite delicious pecan sign.

Yes, you can say Gen Con is tasty. And we can't wait for the feast to begin. We're serving Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta and Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, a new Flip-Mat, Flip-Mat: Basic, on the side, with Yetisburg, Key Largo, and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising for the second course. For dessert, we have Gary Gygax's lost final novel, Infernal Sorceress, and a brilliant short story compilation that gathers together a host of hobby gaming writers who have all written shared-world fiction (like R.A. Salvatore, Gary Gygax, and Michael A. Stackpole) called Worlds of Their Own. The delve is back with an all-new horror twist, we have the cast and crew of Dorkness Rising on hand for signings all day every day, and a mega-signing on Saturday with a handful of the authors from Worlds of Their Own.

And then there's Pathfinder Society. Nick and I prepared the room yesterday and we've had it simmering at a temperature of awesome for twelve hours. We can't wait to guide a bunch of hungry adventurers (just like us!) through many, many days of exploration and daring-do.

We hope to see you here. If not, start a party on the boards. Have a good time while we are.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Here Comes Gen Con, Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Gen Con 2008 is roughly 22 days from the moment you read this blog. Paizo is unveiling more new products, hosting more new events, and cramming more game play into the Paizo booth than we have ever done at any convention. To give a taste of what you'll find at this year's supreme gaming event and to make those of you who can't make it seven flavors of raving envious, here's a full list of Paizo events we'll debut at the show:

Pathfinder Society Organized Play
Though most of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play events are totally sold out, there are still a few that have open slots. If you didn't sign up for these slots during pre-registration, no problem! Grab yourself two generic tickets per slot at the show and come ready to play. Keep an eye on the Pathfinder Society website for character creation guidelines that should be posted around August 1. The following slots still have availability:

Slot 2: Thursday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Scenario #3: Murder on the Silken Caravan
Scenario #4: The Frozen Fingers of Midnight

Slot 7: Sunday 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.
Scenario #3: Murder on the Silken Caravan

Slot 8: Sunday 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Scenario #1: The Silent Tide
Scenario #2: The Hydra's Fang Incident

Pathfinder Adventure Path Preview: Ascension of the Drow
Though this event is completely sold out, we'd be remiss to not include it in the list of Paizo events at Gen Con. Ascension of the Drow is a Nicolas Logue-run Paizo mega-event that will determine the ruling house of a Drow city to be featured in Pathfinder #16. More than 100 players, Game Masters, and special guests will play a variety of Drow, demons, and maybe even gods as they battle for total supremacy.

Assault on Falcon's Hollow: a Paizo Delve
Last year's delve went smashingly (pun intended) and we knew for this year's delve that we'd need to line up an even greater number of monsters to raise our tallies of PC deaths and TPKs even higher! Come by Paizo Booth #2221 during dealer hall hours, grab a pre-generated Pathfinder Roleplaying Game character, and test out the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game's combat system while you protect the tiny village of Falcon's Hollow from a ravenous horde of horrendous undead. Accomplishing pre-determined goals will win you and your party keys. Those keys just might open our treasure chest, winning you fame, fortune, and some free stuff. Sponsored by Dwarven Forge.

Paizo Publishing Seminars
Judging by pre-registration numbers alone, we may very well "sell out" most of our seminars at Gen Con this year (they're free to attend for Gen Con attendees.) Pre-registration numbers are the highest attendance counts we've ever had for Gen Con seminars and the show hasn't even started yet!

Writing for Paizo
Thursday 5 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Marriott — Indiana Ballroom C

Sticking with 3.5: the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Future of Paizo
Friday 5 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Marriott — Indiana Ballroom C

Pathfinder Adventure Path Preview
Saturday 5 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Marriott — Indiana Ballroom C

Worlds of Their Own Author Signing
Many of today's best (and best-selling) fantasists got their start writing shared-world fiction supporting roleplaying games. Worlds of Their Own collects more than a dozen thrilling tales, providing an exciting overview of the original worlds and characters of authors who achieved their greatest fame writing stories they do not own. Worlds of Their Own presents an unprecedented sampler of fantasy and science-fiction adventure tales from some of the best-loved and best-known authors in the genre.

Worlds of Their Own authors Ed Greenwood, Paul S. Kemp, Michael A. Stackpole, Greg Stolze, and Editor James Lowder will be on-hand in our booth on Saturday, August 16, 2008 from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. signing copies of Worlds of Their Own. Copies of the anthology will be available for sale in the booth.

Worlds of Their Own Mega-Signing
Saturday 2:30-3:30 PM
Paizo Booth #2221

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising Signings
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising will finally be unleashed upon the world at Gen Con! Paizo is the exclusive hobby distributor for Dead Gentlemen Productions and we're pleased to host a full-time signing area in our booth throughout the show. If the dealer hall is open, someone involved with The Gamers: Dorkness Rising will be in our booth signing copies of the DVD. As of today, we expect the following folks to spend time in our booth:

Don Early, Producer
Matt Vancil, Writer / Director
Nathan Rice, Lodge / Sir Osric
Steve Wolbrecht, Composer
Scott Brown, Leo / Turk / Flynn the Fine
Christian Doyle, Gary / Fastidian / Luster
Matt DeMille, Production Designer / Art Director / Set Decorator
Brian Lewis, Cass / Rennard / Brother Silence
Jen Page, Luster (Female) / Professor

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising Signings
Thursday through Saturday 10 A.M. to 6 P.M.
Sunday 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.
Paizo Booth #2221

We hope to see you there!

(If you don't get the blog title, think Beatles. You're welcome for getting that song stuck in your head.)

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Frozen Fingers of Midnight: A Pathfinder Society Scenario Sneak Peek

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Last Saturday night, Craig Shackleton gathered together a number of Paizo Origins attendees in the lobby of the Drury Inn in Columbus, OH and ran us through the first ever installment of a Pathfinder Society Scenario. The aptly named Frozen Fingers of Midnight kept a bunch of us up way too late as we explored Absalom in service of the Pathfinder Society. Our mission was to find the cause of a freezing sickness that had infected a highly-regarded emissary from the Land of the Linnorm Kings.

Ever the bunch of roleplaying fanatics, we created a freak show menagerie of characters too weird to live and too rare to die:

Erik Mona was Ecritus, a pathfinder in service to the Cheliax faction and a Cleric of Asmodeus with a voice much like the Monarch from The Venture Bros. cartoon on Adult Swim. Barely able to tolerate his less intelligent brethren, Ecritus used every opportunity available to him to manipulate his fellow pathfinders into doing his bidding.

Michael (a representative from the company printing the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game beta) played Angelo, a pathfinder Paladin in service to the Andoran faction and completely unsure of the terrifying rabble the Pathfinder Society assigned him to in order to solve the mystery of the freezing sickness. A quiet, jovial sort, Angelo spent most of the scenario in the background, steering clear of Ecritus and Jason Bulmahn's character.

Jason played Dar-An'Sumat, an Osirion necromancer obsessed with sending the dead to their proper resting place in Pharasma's embrace. Ever the loyalist, Dar was also a member of the Osirion faction, and while trying to complete his faction's mission in the scenario, spent a great deal of time with his hooks, cotton cloth, and flensing knives sending the deceased foes of the party to the great beyond. Jason was decidedly creepy in this role.

Chris Self, Paizo's Sales Manager, played a sorcerer of the Cheliax faction named Blase. In any other group of pathfinders, Blase would be creepy and strange, but when put up against the creepy and strange Osirion and Blase's fellow Chelaxian, he was pretty tame. Chris played him dark and goth-like.

My own character was an Ulfen barbarian with an incredibly long and unpronounceable name in service to the Qadiran faction. He was a member of the Pathfinder Society because the society's goal of protecting and seeking knowledge matched his own. Cast out from the Land of the Linnorm Kings as a youth, he wandered the Inner Sea educating himself in the ways of more civilized peoples. I played him as a smart, well-spoken Dolph Lundgren-type who saw violence as a last resort and would blackout when flying into a rage. He was fun to play and very difficult to roleplay around some of his more violence-first-then-questions-asked adventuring companions.

Lastly, and certainly not least, was Nicolas Logue as the Ulfen cripple and albino rogue, Thalg Sickeyes. In Nick's own words from the Post Your Gen Con Character Concepts Here! thread on the Pathfinder Society messageboards, "His bloody birth ended his mother, thus he claimed his first life before he took his first breath. He was born with his left arm crippled. It remains palsied to this day. Thalg is an albino, with sickly yellowed pupils and stringly white hair." Click the link to the thread to read more about Nick's decidedly twisted take on an Ulfen rogue.

Our first foray into a Pathfinder Society scenario was a blast. Craig Shackleton has written a fantastic little adventure for Gen Con and I'm positive everyone who gets a shot at playing Frozen Fingers of Midnight will be impressed as well. Who knows, if you're lucky, you may even get Craig as your GM.

Stranger things have happened.

And now, pictures:

From left to right around the table: Jason, Erik, Nick (already in character), Craig, Chris, and Michael all prepare characters for Frozen Fingers of Midnight.	Craig draws a map.
Jason (in character) brandishes a knife as he talks of sending guards to the afterlife. Erik (in character) looks on disdainfully.	Ooooh, a sneak peak at one of the battles in Frozen Fingers. What could all those miniatures mean?

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Origins Game Fair: Day Two

Saturday, June 28, 2008

The second day of the Origins Game Fair is over and I'm happy to report that there are at least 23 people in the world outside of Paizo who have seen the final Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta. If you're not one of them, you won't have to wait long to join them. In August, you'll be among the countless thousands who will get to see it first hand. Let me tell you, both as a marketing professional for Paizo and as an avid gamer who is running Curse of the Crimson Throne via the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the book looks gorgeous!

And now, pictures:

Mike Selinker (far right) stopped by to demo Yetisburg, a civil war comedy card game that he and I co-designed.	GameMastery Flip-Mat Tavern is up for an Origins Award. Tell everyone you know at the con to select 10-B on their ballot before late afternoon Saturday. All votes for 10-B will be rewarded with happy feelings.
The Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path is also up for an Origins Award. You must select 9-D on your ballot before late afternoon Saturday at the show to elect Karzoug president of the world.	It's hot in Columbus. Hellishly hot. Just ask this guy.
Since I have the reputation on the messageboards of being a tease, here's another one! Jason turns a page in the equipment chapter in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta print proof we showed off at the "Sticking with 3.5" seminar. By the way, this was the most well-attended seminar we've ever had at Origins.	A small crowd sticks around after the panel to listen to Jason Bulmahn extol the virtues of the half-horse player race to be released in the Beta. (OK, so that's really a sneak peak at another interior page of the equipment chapter.)

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Origins Game Fair: Day One

Friday, June 27, 2008

Thursday was the first day of the Origins Game Fair and the first day of any con is generally the slowest. Despite the reputation, Paizo's booth was filled with many gamers asking about the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the next Pathfinder Adventure Path, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, and Yetisburg, Paizo's new release under the Titanic Games line.

Yetisburg left the crowd laughing and certainly saw a nice crowd of folks eager to demo the civil war comedy card game, but every once in a while someone from the historical miniatures part of Origins would walk by, hat and jacket resplendent with civil war flag pins, stare at the Yetisburg banner, sigh, shake his head, and move on. As the co-designer of Yetisburg I have to say that reaction rests warm in my heart.

Since the yetis of Yetisburg come from Canada, it was only fitting that Canada's finest team of demoers, the Shackleton Brothers, would travel down from the frigid north to teach Americans how the yetis did their deeds in Pennsylvania all those years ago.

And now, pictures:

Nick Logue sets up the Yetisburg demo table in the Paizo booth before the hall opens.

Paizo's Planet Stories line looking robust as it fills the shelves on the booth wall.

Two of the Shackleton Brothers lead a crew of brave heroes through the trenches of Yetisburg.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

PaizoCon 2008

Thursday, May 1, 2008

This past weekend, roughly thirty adventurous gamers descended upon the LaQuinta Inn in Bellevue, Washington to participate in the first annual PaizoCon. In attendance were several of our messageboard family's most visible personalities, including Lilith, Chris Mortika, Pete Apple, Grimcleaver, Timitius (who put together the event), Russ Taylor, and many more. Paizo itself made an appearance Saturday, with Lisa, Vic, James, Wes, and Erik (along with Open Design's own Wolfgang Baur!) answering questions and joking around with everyone at the Game Industry seminar. Josh, Corey, and I stayed shyly in the back, while Cosmo sneaked around the room snapping pictures, including the four presented here.

After the seminar, the Paizo staff mingled with the con's excellent attendees, and eventually a number of Pathfinder RPG games broke out (run by Wolfgang Baur, Jason Bulmahn, James Jacobs, and Russ Taylor), as did demos of Titanic's upcoming Yetisburg and Falling, as well as Kill Doctor Lucky and Key Largo.

Here's a look at the entire room, including the panelists, during the seminar.

Here's a look at everyone during the seminar.

From left to right: Lisa, Vic, Erik, Wolfgang, James, and Wes, with Lilith off to the right reading off questions.

From left to right: Timitius, James, Jason, and Mike.

To see all of Cosmo's pictures and to get a glimpse at what the elusive bronze dragon editor looks like in his human form, check out this page. For a different perspective, check out Timitius's pictures. For a detailed recap and a chance to weigh in, check out this thread on our messageboards.

Mike McArtor
Editor

Four Score and a Gen Con Ago

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

This is a true story.*

We Paizonians have a tradition: every year at Gen Con we invent something. One year we invented Titanic Games. Another year we invented Pathfinder. Yet another year we invented trans-hyperdimensional quasiphasic proton pillows (patent pending). Last year, quite by accident, we invented Yetisburg.

The gathered Paizo editorial staff (Erik Mona, James Jacobs, Jason Bulmahn, F. Wesley Schneider, Jeremy Walker) and myself were playing rugby in the lobby of the incredibly expensive Burg de Yeti hotel in downtown Indianapolis. It was just after the second scrum when Jason threw his head back and howled, charging the ball carrier (Wes) with a vicious fervor that only a man as imposing as Jason can muster. One might say that, with his towering height and rampaging facial hair, he looked rather... yeti-like.

Wes, not wanting to be run over, retreated back behind his line and started rallying his team, pushing them toward the beastly Jason Bulmahn while shouting, "Don't be afraid of him! He's only seven feet tall!" Wes's teammates, Jeremy and James, took to Wes's orders like crows to a battlefield and started flinging all manner of object at Jason: silverware, bowling pins, a circa 1863 cannon ball, and one very angry muskrat. These distractions caused the hulking Bulmahn to pause just long enough for an errant Russian teapot to clonk him upside the head. He went down like a telephone pole, crashing terribly to earth and taking myself and the rest of our team with him.

As I struggled to extract myself from the pile of collapsed bodies, it hit me: this could be a game! It could be about our famous rugby match in the Burg de Yeti! And Jason would be represented as a yeti, with Wes as a famous rugby general and the rest of the guys as teams of brothers fighting against each other. Most importantly, I would need someone at least half as crazy as me to help me design it—Mike Selinker!

Yet another Gen Con. Yet another invention.

That's exactly how it happened. If anyone says that, as the Paizonians gathered for dinner one night, a very tired James Jacobs incorrectly heard an equally tired Erik Mona and then blurted out an incredulous "Yetisburg!?" in response, thus causing an idea I couldn't get out of my head, prompting me to tell Mike Selinker, and the two of us deciding we had to make this game—well, they're probably lying.

And that's the truth.

*Not a guarantee

Joshua J. Frost
Yetisburg Co-Designer
Director of Sales & Marketing

Stonehenge at Essen!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Live from the Spiel convention in Essen, Germany, this is the closest there has been to a gathering of all of the published designers of Titanic Games's Stonehenge Anthology Board Game. These photos take place at the Hutter booth, where many hundreds of players demoed various Stonehenge games under a giant trilithon. From left to right in the first picture are designers Richard Borg, me, Paul Peterson, Bruno Faidutti, and Richard Garfield. (Peterson's game "Stonehenge Rocks!" originally appeared in Knucklebones magazine.) Those are actual German players being harassed by the designers in the other picture. The only one missing is stay-at-home James Ernest, but despite my Guns N Roses-like sign, James is still in the band.

Mike Selinker
Titanic Games Lead Designer

Delve of Doom Results!

Friday, August 31, 2007

Gen Con was a great show for Paizo, as usual, but this year had a new addition to our booth presence. It all started with a little contest around the office to determine who could design the most deadly dungeon chamber. While this idea was all well and good, we would need some "test" subjects to run through our gauntlet of pain, and thus the idea of running a delve at Gen Con was born.

Using the fabulous Master Maze 3D dungeon terrain pieces produced by Dwarven Forge, along with our Critical Hit Deck, Combat Pad, and item cards, we set out to murder as many unsuspecting visitors to our corner of the booth, and murder we did. Of course, we also gave out some great prizes to those who managed to succeed, including free production, discounts at the booth, and even some real swords.

Every unfortunate soul who met his end in the depths of Tirana's death trap became a red dot on our oversized delve maps, as a warning to others. Of course, that didn't seem to help much, as by the end of the show there were 255 red dots on the maps. Considering that we ran roughly 1000 players through the delve, a 1-in-4 death rate is pretty respectable (mental note: make next year deadlier). Of course, part of the fun was figuring out whose rooms caused the most deaths. Phil Lacefield's rooms certainly had the most kills as a whole, but no individual room had more kills than Publisher Erik Mona's doom-filled Vrock chamber. Congrats to Erik for having the least compassion toward poor player characters.

If you missed out on the delve, never fear. Many of its chambers were used as inspiration for GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin, which should be hitting your store shelves any day now.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Delve-o-vision!

Monday, August 27, 2007

We'll have the scores for Paizo's Deadliest GenCon Delve Room contest up soon, but it's taking us some time to tabulate all the character deaths... it seems the majority of valiant PCs went down like field mice under a rotary mower. Until then, here's the first of several YouTube videos people took of fan favorite author and messageboard regular Nick Logue introducing delve players to his unique (and decidedly kinesthetic) brand of game mastering.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Gen Con Field Report Day 4

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The end is upon us!

Gen Con has come to a close and we're a bizarre blend of happy and sad to see it stop. We're happy to finally be off our feet and sipping cold drinks by the pool and sad to leave behind a throng of interesting and fun readers, fans, and gamers as we make our way back home tomorrow.

Sunday is the day of last resort as attendees cram the show floor to buy everything that piqued their curiosity the days before. Our booth has seen steady business all day and the early indicators are that this will be the best Gen Con Paizo has ever had.

Paizo Publishing had the distinct honor to sponsor Nick Logue's Iron DM event last night. Yesterday's blog was written before the Iron DM finale and we were excited to present awards to the runners up as well as the grand prize to Iron Dungeon Master "Ancient Sensei," an amazing DM who came in second place last year (by two-tenths of a point on their grading scale) and just edged out the winner of the past two Iron DM events, Iron Dungeon Master "Dreads." This year's ingredients were river rapids, Rakshasas, and redemption; "Ancient Sensei" did not disappoint with his first-hour TPK followed by a trip to hell where his players had to redeem themselves to return to life. Paizo was proud to give the top three Iron DMs a pile of GameMastery goodness, including autographed copies of GameMastery Modules D1 and W1. Ancient Sensei also received Paizo's "secret" prizes which included a copy of D2: Seven Swords of Sin autographed by nearly every Paizo employee who wrote a room for the module, and a huge sword donated by KingofSwords.com. You can learn more about Nick Logue's Iron DM by visiting irondm.com. We can't wait to sponsor this event again next year!

I can hear the angelic sounds of gaming through my hotel room door so I must heed the call and hastily beat a path to dice rolling. I hope you've enjoyed my four-day look into the Gen Con experience from the eyes of Paizo Publishing—it was fun to put together, so I hope it was fun to read.

Until next year!
Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

The three winners of this year's Iron DM (from left to right): two-time champion and this year's second place finisher, Iron Dungeon Master "Dreads;" this year's champion, Iron Dungeon Master "Ancient Sensei;" and third place finisher Iron Dungeon Master "Necessary Evil."	Nicolas Logue signs a copy of D1: Crown of the Kobold King.	Erik Mona waits for the results of a critical die roll as he runs the Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.
The Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve was never without lines or a crowd of onlookers.	The race for Most Deaths is a close one! As of this morning, Customer Service Enforcer Cosmo Eisele and Paizo Publisher Erik Mona were tied for the most player characters killed in their rooms.	Board #1 as of this morning. The dots are where PCs died.
Board #2 as of this morning.	Paizo's youngest fans were on hand to demo Stonehenge: An Anthology Board Game.	Steve Greer expounds on the importance of good dice-rolling while exploring a dungeon.
	James, Erik, and Wes talk about Pathfinder and Paizo's upcoming Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting.

Gen Con Field Report Day 3

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Today was another hectic day in the booth! Saturday has the reputation as the busiest day of the con and today was no exception. Paizo's booth was buzzing with the news of our awards last night at the ENnies—we took home two gold medals for GameMastery Flip-Mat: Tavern (the second year in a row a Flip-Mat has won a gold ENnie) and the Savage Tide Player's Guide free download and our partner company, Open Mind Games, took home a much-deserved silver ENnie for the awesome GameMastery Combat Pad.

We also had Gary Gygax back on hand with us signing The Anubis Murders, as well as Larry Elmore signing the final print issue of Dragon, and our own Paizo editors signing their works as well. James, Wes, Jason, and Jeremy signed a good deal of autographs and it was nice to see the readers and fans patting these guys on the back for their amazing work on Dragon, Dungeon, and Paizo's GameMastery and Pathfinder lines.

Today was also Nicolas Logue's Iron DM. Nick runs this event every year and its reputation as one awesome gaming experience has increased its attendance year-over-year. Iron DM saw 15 Dungeon Masters and over 130 players this year. If you're not familiar with the event, Iron DM is modeled after the Iron Chef television series: DMs get one hour to write an entire adventure using three "ingredients" that Nick reveals at the last second. Once the adventure is written, the DMs find their randomly assigned table of players and begin. The event is often interrupted by mini-games called Player Olympics, wherein the players must compete table-against-table to win prizes and fame. At the end of the day, the Iron DM who receives the best review scores from his or her players wins the crown. Paizo Publishing was proud to sponsor this event, and we gave away buckets of GameMastery items as prizes. I have a video of Nick introducing one of the Iron DMs that I'll upload to YouTube when I return to the office. Nick is most definitely a character and his Iron DM event was a blast.

Tomorrow is our final day at Gen Con and, though my tired feet wish its end, it would be great if the gaming and fun could continue on for another four days.

And now, pictures!

James Jacobs, Erik Mona, and Jason Bulmahn show off Paizo's two gold ENnies after last night's awards ceremony.	Ryan and Amber from Open Mind Games show off their silver ENnie.	Dragon #359 cover artist Larry Elmore and Erik Mona pause for a picture during Larry's magazine signing.
Paizo is always proud to host the folks from Dead Gentlemen Productions in our booth! These fine folks are (from the left): Jen Page from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Female Luster), Steve Wolbrecht from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Nodwick), Don Early (Executive Producer of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising) and Chris Dupenthaler from The Gamers (Mark the Berserker) and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (Mark).	Paizo's prize table for Nick Logue's Iron DM contest.	Nick diligently copying down deeply personal information about an Iron DM so that he can embarrass and crush him later.
Gary Gygax returns!	This time, he came with a HUGE line! (That's Paizo's Jeremy Walker standing behind him.)	Monte Cook shows his love for Pathfinder #1.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Gen Con Field Report Day Two

Friday, August 17, 2007

The second day of any four-day convention is typically referred to as the "slow day." Retailers and manufacturers complain that nearly every year their business is down, the crowds are down, and Friday is generally a light day. Eager four-day attendees are typically seen swarming the Dealer Hall on Thursday to get the awesome Gen Con exclusives (such as Paizo's alternate Pathfinder #1 cover) and those folks are more inclined to game and rest on Friday. Then the two-day crowd hits with the four-day crowd on Saturday and the show floor turns into a zoo.

Today was slow for us, but we're only able to say so because yesterday was such a huge hit. Pathfinder and GameMastery Modules continue to do very well and I'm pleased to report that our first three Planet Stories novels (The Anubis Murders, City of the Beast, and Black God's Kiss) are selling very well and their positive reception has been exciting to see.

Speaking of The Anubis Murders, Gary Gygax was on hand this afternoon for 90 minutes signing copies of his book and generally anything people asked him to sign. "Keep on the Borderlands" got several Gygax-o-graphs as did the original hardcover Monster Manual, current editions of the core system, badges, convention on-site books—you name it. Someone jokingly asked Gary to sign their baby and he would've done so, graciously, had they not told him it was a joke. He was a nice guy and it was a real honor to meet him. One quick story about his session in the booth today: a guy walked up, looked at his book and said, "Hmm, Anubis Murders, I'm not familiar with your work. I'll have to go look it up." Gary gave him a stern, reproachful look and said, "Try Dungeons & Dragons." Needless to say, the guy looked very sheepish as he fled the scene.

We also had the pleasure of Wayne Reynolds' presence in our booth today, signing copies of the poster included with Dragon #359. He modeled Pathfinder #1 for us, as you'll see below.

The number one question on everyone's mind, of course, was "What does Paizo think of 4th Edition?" We heard this often and our response was the same each time: we're excited to see it, but we know just as much about it as you do. I can report that WotC intends to have an OGL with 4th Edition and that Paizo's eager to learn more, but that does not put us closer to a decision—it only puts us in need of more research and discussion. Rest assured, the moment we make a decision we'll scream it to the four corners of the multiverse.

And now, pictures!

A beholder watches over the crowd as they prepare to hear WotC's 4E announcement.	Jungle James!	Eric Boyd says farewell to the final print version of Dragon magazine.
F. Wesley Schneider and Michael Kortes talk about Paizo's products.	Erik Mona, Gary Gygax, and Greg Vaughan.	Amber Scott (Medesha on the messageboards) holding up her very own copy of Paizo's Gen Con exclusive Pathfinder #1.
The following is a picture-by-picture example of the many forms of the martial arts employed by the mighty and unstoppable Nicolas Logue as he GMs the Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.	Rhinoceros Style.	Chicken Claw!
Bear Growl.	Dyn-o-mite. (I recorded five minutes of Nick running the delve. It'll be on YouTube and this blog very soon.)	Tim Hitchcock, Nicolas Logue, and Michael Kortes talking about GameMastery and Pathfinder.
The incredibly talented Wayne Reynolds modeling the covers he sketched and painted.	Jason Bulmahn demos "Stonehenge Roulette," the game he wrote for the Stonehenge Library.

Tomorrow: Larry Elmore stops by to sign the final Dragon cover!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Gen Con Field Report Day One

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Hello from Gen Con!

It's broiler hot, the humidity makes you feel like you're walking through a warm pond, and the bodies are stacked so close in the hall when someone trips in aisle 14 the domino effects doesn't stop until aisle 37.

And that's awesome!

We're having one of our best first days at a con ever and it's in no small part due to the crush of Paizo readers and fans that have mobbed our booth to look at and purchase Pathfinder, to play in our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve, or to watch the latest Dead Gentlemen video. Our booth is busy busy busy and we love it!

Of course, the con is buzzing about the Wizards announcement to take place at 6:30 P.M. Eastern tonight. We're all aware by now that they're announcing 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons tonight and the Paizo staff plans to be in full attendance to usher in the news. Many of you have asked us, "Will Pathfinder/Modules/Paizo/etc switch to 4th edition?" Our response is this: We haven't seen 4th Edition, but we feel that we have a good gauge of our fan base and if we think it's something they will like and support then it's something we will like and support. We always take our readers' and fans' feedback seriously and we'll take feedback on this potential transition doubly so. We hope to have more information soon and we'll let everyone know the moment we've come to a decision.

Now, pictures!

F. Wesley Schneider prepares to kill willing players at our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.	Paizo's Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve is sponsored by KingofSwords.com. Naturally, that means they gave us seven swords to give away to seven lucky delvers!	A quick shot of the Paizo booth straight down the middle.
James Jacobs poses with a mysterious figure from the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.	Paizo.com messageboard regular Lilith (wearing the light grey shirt) prepares to lead Kill Doctor Lucky first-timers on a quest to kill a sorry old man.	James Jacobs and F. Wesley Schneider hold court as they enlighten the uninitiated about the glories of Pathfinder.
An ever-moving and easily blurred Jason Bulmahn rolls the dice to determine one unlucky player's fate in our Seven Swords of Sin Dungeon Delve.

Tomorrow: Gygax, pictures from the 4E announcement (we hope!), and more!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Sales & Marketing

Come to Gen Con!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Gen Con is always a big deal for us here at Paizo, but this year is even more momentous than most. With many people getting their first chance to pick up and check out copies of Pathfinder (with an alternate Gen Con-exclusive cover!), Seven Swords of Sin, Elements of Power Item Cards, and the first few books in the Planet Stories line (from such authors as Michael Moorcock, C. L. Moore, and Gen Con Guest of Honor Gary Gygax, who will be signing copies at our booth), this convention will be our first chance to show off all of Paizo's new ventures at once. So along with a boatload of shiny new products, what kinds of things can you expect to see starting Thursday?

Signings: Want your chance to personally meet industry legends like Gary Gygax, Larry Elmore, Wayne Reynolds, and our own cast of Pathfinder and GameMastery authors? Paizo has you covered!

Seminars and Events: Learn about everything Paizo's going to be doing in the upcoming year, design your own Stonehenge game, or play in game demos ranging from Kill Dr. Lucky to Pathfinder roleplaying blocks run by our editors and authors.

Delves: Bring your friends or join a party and play your way through a chunk of deadly 3D dungeon based on Seven Swords of Sin and run by a crack team of expert GMs. Do well, and you just might win awesome prizes from Paizo—including one of several actual swords!
The ENnies: Show your support for Paizo at one of gaming's most prestigious awards shows! Will our proud convention warriors end the night with glory or defeat, champagne or stale Mountain Dew? Only time will tell!

Hope to see you there!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Origins Wrap-Up

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Another Origins Game Expo has come and gone, and what a great time it was! We Paizo folk were there in force, with the largest booth taking up the center of the exhibit hall. Thousands of fans stopped by to check us out and pick up some of our newest products. Many got their shiny new copies of GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King, signed by none other than author Nicolas Logue himself. We sold enough of the new GameMastery Item Cards: Dragon's Trove deck to nearly empty the hoard (don't worry, we've restocked it for Gen Con). But the big winners at the show were the Combat Pad and the Critical Hit Deck. We had trouble keeping these hot products on the shelf.

Visitors who stopped by our booth on Saturday and Sunday got a special treat, as we had a few early print copies of Pathfinder #1 on hand for fans to flip through. I think you could hear the "oohs" and "ahhs" all the way across the exhibit hall.

Nowhere in our booth was the action more intense than over at the delve. Hundreds of fearless gamers walked into the dungeons of the Kobold King in hopes of scoring fabulous prizes from the Paizo treasure chest. While every player walked away with at least one key to try his or her luck, many met a gruesome end. All told, 88 characters were brutally cut down in the dungeon (55 by yours truly... I guess I went a little kill-crazy). If you missed out on your chance, you can always pick up Crown of the Kobold King (it should be arriving in game stores any day now) or you can stop by our booth at Gen Con and try your hand at our new delve event (based on GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin). With a bit of luck, that delve will have an even higher body count.

For more pictures, check out the photo gallery here.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

ENnies Voting Open!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Voting for the coveted ENnies awards, presented each year at GenCon Indy for excellence in the RPG field, is now open to the public! Voters need not be members of EN World—merely visit http://www.ennieawards.com/voting.html to cast your lot and make your opinion known. This year, Paizo has been nominated in a number of different categories, including:

Best Miniature Product—Flip-Mat: Tavern
Best Regalia—Art of Dragon
Best Aid/Accessory—GameMastery Combat Pad (nominated as Open Mind Games/Paizo Publishing)
Best Aid/Accessory—GameMastery Critical Hit Deck
Best Free Product—Savage Tide Player's Guide
Fan's Choice: Best Publisher—Paizo Publishing

...plus an honorable mention for the Age of Worms Adventure Path as Best Adventure. So what are you waiting for? Get to the polls and let your voice be heard!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Paizo at Origins

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Origins is here, and Paizo's right in the thick of it! From July 5th through July 8th in Columbus, OH, swing by the con and experience all the action, including:

Pathfinder Preview Games
Curious about Rise of the Runelords? Sign up to run through one of six two-hour preview roleplaying sessions, GMed by Erik Mona, Jason Bulmahn, and all-star Runelords authors Nicolas Logue and Greg Vaughn. Or just stop by the booth to chat with all of them, plus GameMastery Module author Tim Hitchcock, about their work on Paizo's forthcoming adventures.

Paizo Delve
Get in on the ground floor and stop by the first-ever Paizo Dungeon Delve, based on Nicolas Logue's GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King. The delve, run by Jason Bulmahn and Nicolas Logue inside the Paizo booth during dealer hall hours, will offer small groups of players fifteen minutes each to explore and survive the Kobold King's dungeon and locate as many keys as they can. These keys can then be used at each group's Delve conclusion to attempt to open a real pirate chest and win prizes.

Seminars
Want to have all of your Paizo questions answered by the powers that be? Attend one of Paizo's several scheduled seminars, including:

"What is Paizo's GameMastery Line?" chaired by Erik Mona and Jason Bulmahn

"Stonehenge: What's An Anthology Board Game?" chaired by Mike Selinker and other Stonehenge designers

"What's New at Paizo Publishing?" chaired by CEO Lisa Stevens and other Paizo employees

"Writing for Paizo Publishing" chaired by Erik Mona and Jason Bulmahn

"Introducing Pathfinder" chaired by Erik Mona, Nicolas Logue, and Greg A. Vaughan

"Design a Stonehenge Game!" chaired by Mike Selinker, in which the crowd and Mike will have exactly one hour to create a new game for Stonehenge to be published online at the Stonehenge Library!

Board Game Tournaments
Test your strategy in one of two Stonehenge tournaments, as well as several Kill Doctor Lucky sessions and the premiere of the all-new Kill Doctor Lucky … and His Little Dog Too! rules variants.

So what are you waiting for? Hop over to the official Origins site and get your badge today!

Seven Swords of Sin Revealed

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Say what you will about their morality, the rulers of ancient Thassilon knew how to govern. Knowing the horror that a full-scale duel between them would unleash, the Runelords settled on an elegant means of solving disputes. Each of the seven wizards created a unique blade imbued with the barest shadow of his might, and whenever two disagreed, each would bestow his blade upon a chosen champion, whose job it was to decide the matter in bloody arena combat. To be a champion for one of the Runelords was the greatest honor a warrior could aspire to... though generally a short-lived one.

While most of the great Thassilonian wonders were shattered or lost in the empire's fall, there are those who whisper that the swords themselves remain, hidden and awaiting hands to wield them. To the Thassilonians, they were known as the Alara'hai, the Seven Blades of Conviction. Given the Runelords' reputation, however, most scholars today know them by a different name.
—Pathfinder Chronicles

A while back, it was decided that Paizo would run a delve at this year's GenCon—an enormous three-dimensional dungeon that would allow participants to walk up to the booth and play 15 minutes of D&D for free, battling an array of cruel traps and monsters and collecting keys that could potentially win them real-world treasure (the exact nature of which I'm not allowed to reveal yet, but trust me—it's some quality loot). In keeping with the spirit of things, we decided to make the creation of the delve into something of a game itself—each interested member of the Paizo staff was assigned a few rooms and an EL range and told to fill it with unique traps and monsters, with the goal being to see whose room could kill the most players at the convention. People went to work with gusto, and soon the delve was a bizarre menagerie of deadly encounters, each stranger than the last. But as the idea germinated, we came to realize that this delve was too cool to be a one-shot deal—there had to be a published product. We could take the established rooms, add enough new dungeon encounters and plot elements to double its size, and weave a storyline that tied it all together. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea, and soon the adventure had a vague concept, a title, and a slot on the release schedule. Time went by, and the process rolled onward without issue. Then one day in a product meeting, someone asked who was going to be revising the rooms and writing all the extra content.

"Oh," said GameMastery Brand Manager Jason Bulmahn. "Sutter is."

I was drinking at the time, and promptly coughed tea into my sinuses. "What?" I squeaked.

"Surprise!" Bulmahn said. "I thought it would be more fun to tell you this way. You'll have a month to write it. Get to work."

Thus was born GameMastery Module D2: Seven Swords of Sin. In the weeks that followed, we faced several unique challenges in developing this adventure—things like finding a narrative that made sense of encounters like fiendish goblins riding dinosaurs and living cauldrons spewing boiling magma, or coordinating the numerous tie-ins with the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path—but at the end of the day I'm really happy with how the adventure turned out. In Swords, PCs discover that a powerful sorceress named Tirana has stolen numerous powerful magical weapons dating back to the days of ancient Thassilon, and are contracted by the Church of Abadar to recover them before she figures out how to unlock their full power. To do so, the PCs track the thief back to Kaer Maga, an anarchic outlaw city built entirely inside the ruins of a great Thassilonian structure (and my favorite part of the module, but more on that in later posts). Once there, they have to locate Tirana's headquarters and descend into an abandoned research facility filled with traps and monstrous guardians, finally coming face-to-face with the wizard herself, who wields the legendary Sword of Lust.
With several new monsters and magic items, a squatter metropolis on a cliff, a deadly dungeon with an old-school, Tomb of Horrors feel, and pages of art as gorgeous as the cover shown above, I'm hoping this module will have something for everyone.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Gonna Set My Soul on Fire!

Second Day Non Sequitur

This Just In, From the Future!

Summer Conventions

Paizo's Gen Con 2009 Events Schedule

Official Call for Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2009 Volunteer GMs and Assistants!

New PAIZOCON Guests! New PAIZOCON Events!

Events

Presenting the Gen Con 2009 Scenarios!

Announcing PAIZOCON 2009!

Upcoming Pathfinder Society Conventions

Upcoming Pathfinder Society Conventions

Upcoming Pathfinder Society Conventions

Paizo Invades England

Con-Crawling Adventures!

Gen Con Ephemera!

Gen Con and the Pathfinder Society

Gen Con 2008 Day 4 Report

Gen Con 2008 Day 3 Report

Gen Con 2008 Day 2 Report

Gen Con 2008 Day 1 Report

It has begun!

Here Comes Gen Con, Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo

Frozen Fingers of Midnight: A Pathfinder Society Scenario Sneak Peek

Origins Game Fair: Day Two

Origins Game Fair: Day One

PaizoCon 2008

Four Score and a Gen Con Ago

Stonehenge at Essen!

Delve of Doom Results!

Delve-o-vision!

Gen Con Field Report Day 4

Gen Con Field Report Day 3

Gen Con Field Report Day Two

Gen Con Field Report Day One

Come to Gen Con!

Origins Wrap-Up

ENnies Voting Open!

Paizo at Origins

Seven Swords of Sin Revealed

Origins Events Announced!