Jessica as a Gray Maiden: winner of our Gen Con Pathfinder costume contest!
Over the last week, you’ve all had a chance to vote here on the forums for which Gen Con Pathfinder cosplay cosume is the best. Almost 200 of you cast your lots, and while every contestant got some votes, with many judges agonizing over their decisions, it quickly became a race for first between Jessica as the Gray Maiden and Bonnie as Feiya, our iconic witch. As the thread rolled on, however, a clear victor emerged. And the winner is... Jessica as the Gray Maiden!
For her sheer costuming awesomeness, Jessica will receive our eternal adoration and $50 in paizo.com store credit. The rest of the contestants will have to settle for just the adoration part.
Good work, everyone, and we hope to see you all dressed up again next year!
It’s that time again! Though I failed in my sacred duty to announce the Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest well ahead of time, we still had a number of unbelievably strong contenders this year, and it would be a shame not to crown one of them as the winner—a title which, in addition to bragging rights, confers $50 in paizo.com store credit. So let’s get voting!
Here’s how it works: Presented below are the photographs (and names, where possible) of this year’s contestants. In the comments thread for this blog, you can pick the ONE winner who you think has the most awesome Pathfinder-related costume and shout out your vote. You have until next Thursday at noon to get in your choices, after which we’ll announce the winner.
Your options are:
Jessica as a Gray Maiden
Leslie as Seoni
Jean-Marc as a paladin of Sarenrae and Luc as a paladin of Iomedae
Eric as our Iconic Alchemist
Bonnie as our Iconic Witch (and Corey as kilted barbarian)
Nani as a Harrower
Natalie (with the metal plates), Nicole the alchemist, Amy the ranger, Megan the pregnant sorcerer, Mike the cleric.
Let me start this off by saying that our fans and friends are freakin' amazing. Seriously, folks—when Tiffany started this whole costume contest thing two years ago by showing up at the Gen Con booth dressed as a cleric of Desna, we were flat-out flabbergasted. The fact that Pathfinder cosplay has grown by leaps and bounds since then—enough to justify a full-fledged costume contest—is one of the greatest compliments our game could receive. If you've never seen what goes on in our hotel rooms after a long day of working the Gen Con booth (and I sincerely hope you haven't, as we were told those door locks were secure), there's a whole lot of summer-camp-style giggling that goes on late into the night as we marvel at all the folks we've met that day. The costume contest only compounds that.
This year we had a number of strong contenders. In fourth place, Kelly's amazing Harsk outfit (complete with badger and authentic handmade crossbow!) tied with Blake's fabulous depiction of Nethys, the two-faced god of magic. In third, Tiffany's Harrower costume was a spot-on recreation of the art from the campaign setting hardcover, while Jason's potion-covered homage to the iconic alchemist exploded into second place.
Yet there can be only one winner of the Third Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest, and this year the landslide victory went to Lora as the iconic witch. The level of detail on this costume was simply stunning. As art director Sarah Robinson pointed out, given the number of illustrators who complain about having to draw all the little pouches, fetishes, and other bits and pieces Wayne Reynolds likes to load up the iconics with, seeing someone actually make them to this level of detail is amazing. For her dedication, Lora receives the grand prize of $50 in Paizo store credit, as well as bragging rights until next year, when she'll have to defend her title.
When the time comes, will you be the one to take it from her?
We’re back from Gen Con, and in addition to the usual scramble to meet deadlines and recovery from horrifying illnesses contracted by shaking hands with approximately ten bajillion people, that means it’s time for everyone to vote on the contestants in the Third Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest!
We had an extraordinary number of contestants this year, and all of them did bang-up jobs! Yet only one can be the official winner of the grand prize (both a pile of Paizo store credit and bragging rights), which is where you come in. At the bottom of this blog, you’ll see a link for comments. Sound off and place your vote for the best costume in that thread. You have until the end of the weekend to make your selection. On Monday morning, we’ll tally all the votes, and announce the official winner in a blog post next week.
Ready? Here are this year’s fine contestants, in no particular order:
Lora as Feiya, the iconic witch.
Jason as Damiel, the iconic alchemist.
2009 contest champion Kelly as Harsk, the iconic ranger. (Maybe he’s a little tall for a dwarf, but how can you say no to a hand-made crossbow and his adorable animal companion, Biter?)
Blake as Nethys.
David as a paladin of Iomedae.
Corienne as a Tien monk.
2008 contest champion Tiffany as the Harrower from the campaign setting hardcover. (You can’t see her wayfinder here, but it came with its own ioun stone!)
Noel as Trifaccia from Pathfinder Adventure Path #12. Look out, he's got a whip!
Honorable Mention: Jodi as Amiri, the iconic barbarian, who despite her amazing costume has removed herself from the running, on account of already being Sean Reynolds' girlfriend (and isn't that prize enough?).
Just a quick reminder that this is your last chance to start getting things ready for the Third Annual Paizo Gen Con Costume Contest! For more details, you can always refer back to the official announcement, but the short version is that if you come by the booth during Gen Con wearing quality Pathfinder cosplay, you've got the chance to win both cash and cred from the Paizo staff. So bust out those sewing machines and start working!
Now, since no blog would be complete without art, here's Jenny Poussin as Seoni, her costume courtesy of Paizo messageboard regular Laithoron. It's unclear whether their powerhouse partnership will actually be competing this year, but at the very least they should give you some inspiration.
James L. Sutter
Fiction Editor
(And yes, you've seen this picture before—the question is, have you seen it enough?)
What’s that you say? It's too hot to knit with wool at this time of year? Nonsense! Summer lasted only 2 days this year, and it was only 50 degrees Fahrenheit when I biked in this morning—practically mitten weather already! And if you don't live in frigid Seattle, remember that it's never too early to start making Crystalhue gifts... such as Mammoth Mitts!
These mittens feature a mammoth motif1, spiraled ribbing and decreases, and colors that echo the Realm of the Mammoth Lords art from the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting. (Players who knit their mittens from qiviut earn 1 PA. Players who gather their own qiviut gain a bonus PA, but must make a DC 25 Reflex save to avoid being trampled.)
Mammoth Mitts
Materials: worsted weight yarn: 1 skein MC (moorit/red-brown), 1 skein CC1 (cream), 1 skein CC2 (purple); 1 yard of thinner black yarn
1 set US 4/3.5mm double-point needles, embroidery needle
Gauge: 24 sts/29 rows = 4 inches/10 cm
Directions for larger size are in brackets.
Directions:
Using MC, cast on 36 [44] sts.
Right cuff (ribbing spirals to the left):
Rows 1–2: (k2, p2)*
Rows 3–4: (p1, k2, p1)*
Rows 5–6: (p2, k2)*
Rows 7–8: (k1, p2, k1)*
Repeat these rows until cuff is desired length.
Left cuff (ribbing spirals to the right):
Rows 1–2: (k2, p2)*
Rows 3–4: (k1, p2, k1)* (p1, k2, p1)*
Rows 5–6: (p2, k2)*
Rows 7–8: (p1, k2, p1)*
Repeat these rows until the left cuff is the same length as the right cuff.
Mitten body2:
Rows 1–4: Knit (36 stitches).
Row 5: Place marker, make 1, knit 1, make 1, place marker, knit to end (38 [46] stitches).
Even rows 6–18: Knit.
Odd rows 7–19: Slip marker, make 1, knit to marker, make 1, slip marker.
Continue until mitten has 52 [64] stitches.
Rows 20–26: Knit. (Knitting should reach just above the join of your thumb and index finger when you put your hand inside.)
Slip the 16 [20] thumb stitches onto a piece of waste yarn.
M2 stitches, join the live stitches (38 [46] stitches).
Rows 27–29: Knit 3 rows.
Work Chart A [B] (2 repeats per row).
Rows 40–53: Resume MC; knit. (When you put your hand inside, knitting should just cover your pinkie, about 5.5 [6] inches from base of palm.)
Thumb:
Pick up the 16 [20] stitches, plus 2 more from around top of thumb.
Rows 1–16: Knit. (Until just past the end of your thumb, about 2 [2.5] inches.)
Row 17: K2tog*.
Bind off.
Finishing:
Weave in all ends.
Using thin black yarn, embroider the eye and tusk details (feel free to go crazy making your mammoth look shaggy!).
Chart A (19 stitches × 11 rows):
Chart B (13 stitches × 11 rows):
1. The motif used in this pattern is based on a motif used in Kathleen Tayor's "Elephant Hats".
2. Row numbers will be a bit higher on the mitten body for the larger size, since it has more increase rows. I've included notes about fit, so you can gauge more precisely how to adjust the pattern to your own (or your recipient's) hands.
With PaizoCon just a few days away, some of you reading this blog may be thinking, "Man, I can't believe I can't make it to Gen Con and PaizoCon this year. The world is so unfair!"
While that is undoubtedly true, never fear, gentle GenConian! Because this is your official reminder that the Third Annual Pathfinder Gen Con Cosplay Contest is less than 2 months away at this point! (Shock! Gasp!)
Here's the deal: At some point during Gen Con, you show up to the Paizo booth dressed in your best Pathfinder costume. (That means monsters and characters with obvious ties to Golarion itself, not generic cosplay—that wizard hat could be from anywhere.) In addition to drawing a crowd of happy gawkers, the contestants will have their pictures taken by whatever staff members are handy. Those folks with the best costumes, as decided by us, will end up on the Paizo blog once we return from Gen Con, at which point we'll allow the posters on the messageboards to pick their favorite. What criteria that mad and merry crew will use is anybody's guess—creativity? recognizability? skin-to-clothing ratio?—but whoever they select as the best Pathfinder cosplayer will walk away with 50 dollars in store credit! But more importantly, the winner will go home knowing that he or she (or they, if folks want to team up to make a life-sized linnorm) have entered the exclusive cadre of the Paizo Cosplay Winner's Circle.
And now ('cause you knew it was coming), a note for PaizoCon attendees: While there's no official costume contest at PaizoCon this year, folks attending both cons are encouraged to bust out their costumes early and show the colors this weekend, to give the competition a taste of what they're up against. (And, of course, to get as much fun as possible out of that Hellknight armor you spent all winter forging.)
So what are you waiting for? Fire up that old sewing machine and see if you have what it takes to compete with folks like the already announced model-and-designer team of Jenny Poussin and Laithoron from the Paizo messageboards, whose amazing realization of Seoni (pictured above) is bound to set the bar high this year. But forewarned is also forearmed, and there's still time to get in on the game...
James L. Sutter
Fiction Editor and General Rabble-Rouser
Some people paint minis; others sketch their characters or scenes from their adventures. Me, I knit—tentacled beasties, piratical or tentacled hats, fingerless gloves with guild names embroidered across the knuckles.
Being between projects at the moment, I was browsing knitting patterns online and was disappointed to note that although there are some amazing fantasy knitting patterns, I couldn't find any Pathfinder-related patterns! That must be remedied!
As this realization coincided with the first set of pages from the World Guide: The Inner Sea hitting my desk, I thought it only fitting to create a pattern that represents one of the Inner Sea peoples. Thus, I present to you the Linnorm Helm1, 2!
Linnorm Helm
Materials: worsted weight yarn: 1 skein MC (dark red; use 2 skeins for Large version), 1 skein CC1 (dark green), 1 skein CC2 (yellow-green)
1 set US 4/ 3.5 mm double-point needles
Gauge: 24 sts/29 rows = 4 inches/10 cm
Directions for larger version are in parentheses.
Directions:
Using MC, cast on 112 (128) stitches.
From bottom to top, work 2 repeats of the chart A (B).
Using MC, knit for 2 (3) more inches or 5 (7.5) cm.
To decrease for the top:
Row 1: (k6, k2tog)* [98 (112) stitches]
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: (k5, k2tog)* [84 (96) stitches]
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: (k4, k2tog)* [70 (80) stitches]
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: (k3, k2tog)* [56 (64) stitches]
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: (k2, k2tog)* [42 (48)stitches]
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: (k1, k2tog)* [28 (32) stitches]
Continue working k1, k2tog until 8–10 stitches remain, then bind off. Weave in all yarn tails.
Chart A
Chart B
Errata: If you find that the bottom of the hat tends to roll up on you, start with a 1" ribbed brim, and then begin the chart. Just be sure to take this added length into account in determining when to start decreasing! For the medium size, knit around for 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the end of the chart, then decrease; for the large size, knit around for 2 inches (5 cm) above the end of the chart, then decrease.
1 The charted motifs are based on a motif from Nancy Spies' wonderful book Here Be Wyverns.
2 If you're wearing an actual helm, this hat works well as a liner. It's no fun to have your helm freeze to your ears in winter, believe me!
The votes for the First Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest are in, and after a hard battle, the winner is... both of them!
Yes, it seems that our messageboard horde saw too much merit in Tiffany's fantastic starknife and Kelly's unnerving Pactmaster mask to let either of them go unrewarded. (And in a way, Tiffany started this whole idea with her costume last year, so perhaps we should consider this the 2008 and 2009 awards.) Regardless of how you parse it, the result is that both Kelly and Tiffany will be receiving $50 in Paizo store credit. Congratulations to them both, and special thanks to messageboard poster Taig who offered to foot the bill for the second prize—we may not have taken him up on it, but we always love seeing the generosity of our community.
As for all of you who didn't have time to compete this year: there's always time to start preparing for next year's contest! Time to start collecting those giant crab legs for your Rovagug suit, hitting the gym in preparation for the Merisiel outfit, or shaving the family dog and training it to carry your goblins—I mean "beautiful children"—on its back. The possibilities are endless!
(P.S: I'm ashamed to admit that Tiffany's contact information was lost in the shuffle of Gen Con. Tiffany, if you're reading this, please email me at james.sutter@paizo.com to claim your prize!)
Another Gen Con has come and gone, and as all the editors crawl out from where we've been hiding in fetal positions beneath our desks, recovering from the exhaustion and excitement, we're forced to conclude that this was the best convention yet. The release of the Core Rulebook was a rousing success, the ENnies were kind, the community was more welcoming than ever, and our favorite industry professionals were just as zany and fun as last year. Yet all that in no way lessened the excitement of...
PATHFINDER COSPLAY!
Despite the relatively late warning (next year's contestants: consider this your starting gun), we doubled our Pathfinder cosplay turnout this year. That's right: two intrepid individuals spent portions of their con wandering around in full Pathfinder regalia, forever winning our hearts (and potentially $50 dollars in store credit). This year's contestants were Tiffany as a cleric of Desna (whose same costume last year inspired the contest, and hence is allowed to compete this year as well—unfortunately, only last year's photo is available) and new challenger Kelly, who wowed us all with his incredible rendition of a Pactmaster of Katapesh.
Tiffany as Cleric of Desna
Kelly as Pactmaster of Katapesh
Which costume is the best, and most deserving of reward? It's a tough question, but it's up to you to decide. If you want to weigh in on the matter, or just congratulate them both on their amazing costumes, head over to the Pathfinder Cosplay Contest thread on our messageboards and make your voice heard. Votes will be collected for roughly 48 hours, at which point we'll announce the winner here on the blog. So what are you waiting for? Let the voting begin!
Here at Paizo, we have many different levels of experience with cosplay, from Art Director Sarah Robinson's complete disdain for anything other than the latest trendy fashions (seriously, the woman has every purse in the western hemisphere) to Jason Bulmahn's days playing a lumbering oaf at midwestern renaissance fairs (how little things change!), to Wes Schneider who may, in fact, be a Pokémon. But the one thing we all have in common is that we love the idea of people dressing up as Pathfinder characters.
We never thought such things were possible until we met Tiffany, a real-life cleric of Desna, at last year's Gen Con, and thanks to her we're now convinced that anything is possible. Which is why I'm filled with glee to announce the First Annual Pathfinder Gen Con Cosplay Contest!
Here's the deal: At some point during Gen Con, you show up to the Paizo booth dressed in your best Pathfinder costume (faction shirts and other official Paizo merch don't count). We should stress that we're looking for monsters and characters with obvious ties to our world itself, not generic cosplayers (that wizard hat could be from anywhere), or people dressed up like actual Pathfinder books (very clever) or members of the Pathfinder staff (the world already has one James Jacobs, and one is enough for everybody). In addition to drawing a crowd of happy Paizoites, the contestants will have their pictures taken. Those folks with the best costumes, as decided by us, will end up on the Paizo blog once we return from Gen Con, at which point we'll allow the posters on our messageboards to pick their favorite. What criteria that mad and merry crew will use is anybody's guess—creativity? recognizability? skin-to-clothing ratio?—but whoever they select as the best Pathfinder cosplayer will walk away with fifty dollars in store credit!
So what are you waiting for? Get out that sewing machine and hot glue gun, send your party members on a run for foam rubber and acrylics, and show us what you're made of!
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