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hey all... going to post pictures and stories here from my Gen Con UK Visit!!
Day -1
Not sleeping at all the night before started driving from Germany to the UK, discovered that the GPS was off by 2 hours on how long it would take me to get to the Ferry in france..GPS said 5 hours so I decided to be safe by 2 hours and get there early... one problem.. construction and Traffic made me 1/2 hour late!! too me 7 1/2 hours to get there.. missed the damn ferry, luckily I was able to catch the next ferry.
Been a long time since I have been on a ship... tried really hard not to get sea sick.....ugh
Here are some pics of what I saw when the ferry pulled into Dover
White Cliffs of Dover 1
White Cliffs of Dover 2
White Cliffs of Dover 3
White Cliffs of Dover 4
White Cliffs of Dover 5
White Cliffs of Dover 6
White Cliffs of Dover 7
Once I get to the UK, not only am I dead tired from lack of sleep and I have 2 hours left to drive..Now I have to drive on the wrong side of the Road!!
that was rough...kept looking the wrong way when I crossed a road
I get to reading Uni, get my Pass and room... fall dead asleep!
Day 1
Yay Gen Con UK is starting!!
after breakfast I head to the RPG building to run my game, Silent Tide, not many people show up for any of the games running.. we have 6 players 5 GMs, I voulnteer to GM. Oh and Josh and Nick!
All 6 players were not faimler with Paizo or the Society so I explain iot to them and help them all make characters. Once that is done we start playing!!
Here is a pic of my group and Josh and Nick!
Silent Tide Players
Josh and Nick
After that then I became a player for The Hydra's Fang Incident.
Had some Pazio Forum members in the group to include Illessa,
SargonX, Paul Watson and..DOh!!! can't remember his forum name..It has Ninja in it..
Not a very Good GM, was not prepared..We had no clue what was going on..and we think he skipped stuff...oh well.
After that headed directly to the Dealers room to pick up my Beta!!.. first day at the Con is slow, not many people show up on Thursday, but Eric stated they were still doing well.. so for those hoping to get a Beta on Friday..they still have some!!
By the way..Jason is tall as hell!!!
Paizo Booth with Jason, Josh & Eric
Hung out the rest of the day with Illessa and her friend *Though one that I can't remember the Forum name for*, drank some beers ate some food then that night went to the Quiz.
Jason and Eric formed a team with Illessa and her friend, SargonX & Paul Watson and a few others. There were 15 teams for the prize of a free round of beer!
They won!!!!
That is it so far... tired now..heading to bed.
One note..the Convention is a lot smaller then I thought it would be.
Edit: Took out a pic.. want to get permission first.
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Hi
Recognised couple gamers in your photos.
Hoping to get some more Living Greyhawk & Pathfinder tomorrow (Saturday) - much prefer the 3.5 system I know & invested heavily in.
Maybe see you there tomorrow (I'm the balding guy with walking stick. (The LG players from your photos know my char as Oskar Thorinson).
Cheers
Paul H
I'm trying to figure out why Josh doesn't smile.
Jet lag and lack of sleep, I'm thinking. :P
I'm trying to figure out why Josh doesn't smile.
I *am* smiling.
Though I am also very tired, very jet-lagged, and generally run ragged at these things. I love it, but it weakens the majestic power of my smile.
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I'm trying to figure out why Josh doesn't smile.I *am* smiling.
Though I am also very tired, very jet-lagged, and generally run ragged at these things. I love it, but it weakens the majestic power of my smile.
I see. It all makes sense now. :)
In all seriousness, I can't imagine how rough it must be to come out of Gencon and then run to the other side of the world to participate in another, much smaller version of the same con. It must be an odd mixture of pure frustration and achievement coupled in an unholy union with unmitigated exhaustion.
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*Uses his powers of prediction*
I have this wierd feeling that I am going to end up drunk and tired again tonight!!!
Met Wayne Reynolds today... really wanted to buy some original art from him, but originals are expensive..
Did buy a Portfoilio of all the Pathfinder Iconics.. And he put a little drawing in it and signed it.
Did not have my camera with me at the dinner last night or when I went to see Wayne...DOH!!!..
But here are some pics of the groups I played with
Here is a pic of the group I played with in The Hydra's Fang Incident, Some of the players are on The Boards!
Here is a pic of thr group I played with in Murder on the Silken Caravan & The Frozen Fingers of Midnight, both GMd by Wintergreen. Mostly played with the same group, just switched out 1 player.
Here is the group I GMd today for Silent Tide.
And here is a Pic of the Iconics Portfilio I bought from Wayne and his little drawing.
Like I said the con was small, was disappointed with that, especially the Trade hall which was very small and did not have many dealers :-(.
Hopefully next year in can make it to Gen Con Indy..
I do have one day left but My pathfinder games are done.
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In all seriousness, I can't imagine how rough it must be to come out of Gencon and then run to the other side of the world to participate in another, much smaller version of the same con. It must be an odd mixture of pure frustration and achievement coupled in an unholy union with unmitigated exhaustion.
Hmmmm....frustration sounds much more negative than I intended. Poor choice of words. I meant something more in line with feeling like you are being pulled in about a thousand different directions. Perhaps haggardness would be better?
****
By the way, thank you Dragnmoon for the updates. It is interesting to see Gencon UK. I think I am surprised, for the most part. Not at all what I expected.
Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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*Uses his powers of prediction*
But here are some pics of the groups I played with
Here is a pic of the group I played with in The Hydra's Fang Incident, Some of the players are on The Boards!
Here is a pic of thr group I played with in Murder on the Silken Caravan & The Frozen Fingers of Midnight, both GMd by Wintergreen. Mostly played with the same group, just switched out 1 player.
You've got me mixed up with Rob (Angel Gabriel) in the pics.
I was running pathfinder for the first time today (Saturday), running Silent Tide (and thanks for the maps) and Murder on the Silken Caravan on Sunday morning.Interesting to see others impressions of GenCon UK. It is the biggest convention I have been to.
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So if I see some guy with a camera taking pictures at the last two events, that's you Dragnmoon? Nice.
I also got DMed by Rob for The Hydra's Fang Incident, which went down brilliantly.
Finally, were any of you at the auction/screening of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. That was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. I think we were all rolling about in the isles with laughter.
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You've got me mixed up with Rob (Angel Gabriel) in the pics.
I was running pathfinder for the first time today (Saturday), running Silent Tide (and thanks for the maps) and Murder on the Silken Caravan on Sunday morning.Interesting to see others impressions of GenCon UK. It is the biggest convention I have been to.
Yeah I was told that last night...oops..
Dragonmoon!
Great chilling with you last night, and its been wonderful meeting all of you awesome paizo fans at the con!
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It was great to meet you dude! And for having only played in two scenarios...you were the BEST GM. We left (the wife and I) with her commenting about the next Con I go to if there is Pathfinder Society there she wants to play too! So I see that as a huge plus!
Josh was great too! Tried helping me out with my ATM issues, more than I think anyone would do. Another reason why I say paizo RULES!!
But i've ordered the Beta now, and have it sent to family in the states, see if it gets here first if they forward it.
Wish I could of made the night out...but as I told you the wife wasn't feeling good. She felt really bad about me missing it as well.
But all in all it was good time and the Society/Paizo staff made it a worthw while experience! Thanks!
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Not much happened today....bought a bunch of art...played some Star Wars Saga, and said goodbye to everyone.
I did get 1 pic in... here is a Pic of Wayne Reynolds
I would like to thank everyone for a great time!!!...
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It was a blast meeting you all guys.
I was really glad to meet the paizo team, and wish there was time to talk more with you all. I hope Erik sets into motion his plans to visit Paris at some point. :)
It was really nice meeting the other players, and meeting some of the posters on these boards in RL. Special thanks to uzzy (long live Taldor !). Also, to the druid player, don't forget to ffed the wolf !
Congrats also to all the DMs (Hi Dan !)
Also, I really, really enjoyed playing the pathfinder society adventures, especially silent tide ! It was refreshing, fun, fast played ... just great ! If you haven't yet, jump on aboard.
I saw some people taking pictures today, don't know if it was you Dragonmoon, but you may see my ugly face somewhere on this board or gen Con UK site :)
I hope to make it again for next year, it was really great.
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*Uses his powers of prediction*
But here are some pics of the groups I played with
Here is a pic of the group I played with in The Hydra's Fang Incident, Some of the players are on The Boards!
Here is a pic of thr group I played with in Murder on the Silken Caravan & The Frozen Fingers of Midnight, both GMd by Wintergreen. Mostly played with the same group, just switched out 1 player.
You've got me mixed up with Rob (Angel Gabriel) in the pics.
I was running pathfinder for the first time today (Saturday), running Silent Tide (and thanks for the maps) and Murder on the Silken Caravan on Sunday morning.Interesting to see others impressions of GenCon UK. It is the biggest convention I have been to.
I was one of the players in both Wintergreen's adventures and they ROCKED! A great deal of fun role-playing but nothing dragged on. I'm also the guy with the full-beard in Dragonmoon's Hydra's Fang group and had a great time there, too.
All in all, I had a blast. Especially meeting with some of the people here, and the Paizo staff who are just as insane (in a good way, honest. Except Logue. I mean, he's going to be living in my old hometown when he moves here. How much more insane do you need? Even I had enough sense to get out of there. ;-) ) in person as on here. This was my first Con and I had a ball, so thanks to the people I was playing with who helped make it so.
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Hey everyone! I'm the dude whose name Dragnmoon couldn't remember. Oh, and I'm the one with the glasses closest to the camera in the Hydra's Fang Incident picture. The Con was absolutely awesome, and it was really great meeting you guys! I walked away with a signed Campaign Guide, a level 2 Pathfinder character, and a little medal for being part of the winning team in the pub quiz - made up of Paizo staff and fans, naturally! Go Coalition of the Willing!
I'd also like to chime in with Paul on thanking everyone I gamed with who made the Society games so much fun, and especially thank Wintergreen for some absolutely stellar GMing. Silken Caravan in particular was one of the most fun gaming sessions I've had in recent memory. I can't wait for the next opportunity to play with you guys, however far in the future it might be!
Thanks for telling us about GenCon UK. How big (or small) was it actually?
The drawing from Wayne Reynolds is very cool!
Stefan
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Hey Dragnmoon (Steve)! Thanks for doing this thread. Brilliant! I don't know where you managed to fit in the time in the heavy gaming schedule. I just got back this afternoon. I guess you are re-crossing the channel tomorrow. I hope we see you again at another convention.
GenCon was our biggest for the UK but Conception is the next biggest and very, very good. I'm afraid we just can't compete with the States for size except for the "Starters" at the Indian Restaurant. Just think of our Cons as "bijou".
Conception website address is
http://www.conceptionuk.org/
I understand accommodation is already almost sold out. You can reserve and then pay in a few weeks. Kithran assures me that Pathfinder will be a major part of the event, but some more player requests for Pathfinder games wouldn't go amiss on the Forum or direct to the organisers.
I had a ball DM'ing and meeting you all. You really kept me very well entertained with some unusual approaches the plots and some excellent roleplaying of snooty Taldorans, self-righteous Andorans, shameless moneygrabbing Qadirans, Asmodeus invoking Chelaxians and tomb-robbing Osirians!
I'm not sure I have pinned a name beside everyone on this message board here but I think Dragnmoon is Steve [Gillius], Paul H is Paul [Oskar Treehugger], Uzzy was Michael [Othello], Cosimo Angelo was Francois [Cosimo], Paul Watson was Paul [I never met his character], Ninjaiguana and partner I curried and drank with but to my shame can't remember names, Rob from Chech Republic [Xerena], Sarah [Akila], Andy [Fareflax], Wintegreen was Dave [Ashraf], Chris [Urision], Callum [Louis Ferranti], Nick [Szallus the Colour Sprayer], Terry T [Erasmus].
I was Rob Silk [ginger beard moustache, glasses, bad jokes].
Anyone who played on the tables I DM'd -- I still have your character initiative cards with stats which I plan to sell to the CIA tomorrow unless you send me £1,000,000 in used notes.
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Hey Dragnmoon (Steve)! Thanks for doing this thread. Brilliant! I don't know where you managed to fit in the time in the heavy gaming schedule. I just got back this afternoon. I guess you are re-crossing the channel tomorrow. I hope we see you again at another convention.
GenCon was our biggest for the UK but Conception is the next biggest and very, very good. I'm afraid we just can't compete with the States for size except for the "Starters" at the Indian Restaurant. Just think of our Cons as "bijou".
Conception website address is
http://www.conceptionuk.org/
I understand accommodation is already almost sold out. You can reserve and then pay in a few weeks. Kithran assures me that Pathfinder will be a major part of the event, but some more player requests for Pathfinder games wouldn't go amiss on the Forum or direct to the organisers.I had a ball DM'ing and meeting you all. You really kept me very well entertained with some unusual approaches the plots and some excellent roleplaying of snooty Taldorans, self-righteous Andorans, shameless moneygrabbing Qadirans, Asmodeus invoking Chelaxians and tomb-robbing Osirians!
I'm not sure I have pinned a name beside everyone on this message board here but I think Dragnmoon is Steve [Gillius], Paul H is Paul [Oskar Treehugger], Uzzy was Michael [Othello], Cosimo Angelo was Francois [Cosimo], Paul Watson was Paul [I never met his character], Ninjaiguana and partner I curried and drank with but to my shame can't remember names, Rob from Chech Republic [Xerena], Sarah [Akila], Andy [Fareflax], Wintegreen was Dave [Ashraf], Chris [Urision], Callum [Louis Ferranti], Nick [Szallus the Colour Sprayer], Terry T [Erasmus].
I was Rob Silk [ginger beard moustache, glasses, bad jokes].
Anyone who played on the tables I DM'd -- I still have your character initiative cards with stats which I plan to sell to the CIA tomorrow unless you send me £1,000,000 in used notes.
Rob,
Sorry we didn't get that game of Yetisburg I promised you in. Didn't see you after Silken Caravan finished today. Maybe next time.And Ninjaiguana and partner are called Peter and Clare.
Also linkified.
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It was a blast meeting you all guys.
I was really glad to meet the paizo team, and wish there was time to talk more with you all. I hope Erik sets into motion his plans to visit Paris at some point. :)
It was really nice meeting the other players, and meeting some of the posters on these boards in RL. Special thanks to uzzy (long live Taldor !). Also, to the druid player, don't forget to ffed the wolf !
Congrats also to all the DMs (Hi Dan !)
Also, I really, really enjoyed playing the pathfinder society adventures, especially silent tide ! It was refreshing, fun, fast played ... just great ! If you haven't yet, jump on aboard.
I saw some people taking pictures today, don't know if it was you Dragonmoon, but you may see my ugly face somewhere on this board or gen Con UK site :)
I hope to make it again for next year, it was really great.
Cosimo was it you who played the Silken Caravan with us today? Im one of the 2 Dwarfs that couldnt seem to climb a rope and then got slapped around by some harpies!!!!!! you saved us!
there was a guy taking pictures at the end of that game who was that????
Rich
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Thanks for telling us about GenCon UK. How big (or small) was it actually?
The drawing from Wayne Reynolds is very cool!Stefan
for me it was small...Especially the dealers room.
the attendance was in the low 1000's and had just over 20 dealers in the trade hall... it was very small trade hall
Conventions I have been to in the past on the east coast of the US have had about 7,000-10,000 attendance for I-Con *My local Con back home* or 20,000 - 30,000 in attandance at DragonCon, both with huge dealers halls.
Though they are very different Cons...
Both I-Con back home and Gen Con UK have the same feel, very Faimly friendly. While Gen Con UK has a dealers room of a little more then 20 dealers, I-Con has a Huge dealers room in a very large Gym with many more dealers. Here is a Pic of the Delaers room at I-Con
Now DragonCon in Atlanta Georgia US is a Scifi/Fanatasy debauchery filled orgy fest!!!... Granted I have much more fun at Dragoncon ;-). here are some pics I found to show you what I mean... and the dealers room is even larger then I-Cons!!!
All and all I still had fun... Though I was surprised it was so small.
Edit: By the way, the Paizo crew are staying just down the hall from me..
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Thanks for telling us about GenCon UK. How big (or small) was it actually?
The drawing from Wayne Reynolds is very cool!Stefan
for me it was small...Especially the dealers room.
the attendance was in the low 1000's and had just over 20 dealers in the trade hall... it was very small trade hall
Conventions I have been to in the past on the east coast of the US have had about 7,000-10,000 attendance for I-Con *My local Con back home* or 20,000 - 30,000 in attandance at DragonCon, both with huge dealers halls.
Though they are very different Cons...
Both I-Con back home and Gen Con UK have the same feel, very Faimly friendly. While Gen Con UK has a dealers room of a little more then 20 dealers, I-Con has a Huge dealers room in a very large Gym with many more dealers. Here is a Pic of the Delaers room at I-Con
Now DragonCon in Atlanta Georgia US is a Scifi/Fanatasy debauchery filled orgy fest!!!... Granted I have much more fun at Dragoncon ;-). here are some pics I found to show you what I mean... and the dealers room is even larger then I-Cons!!!
All and all I still had fun... Though I was surprised it was so small.
My last 2 previous GenCon UKs were back in the early 2000s late 1990s (sorry cant remember the exact years)when they were held at Loughborough and Manchester. They certainly seemed much bigger then, just trade hall wise. Loughborough had a whole university gym (a big one!) to itself and there were lots and lots of traders. Saying that i thoroughly enjoyed this one and im definately going back next year!
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It really was fantastic. I did enjoy meeting you all, even though I didn't get to the curry night. Got lost repeatedly on site trying to find Windsor Hall. Take a wrong turn and you're walking an extra half mile, it seems.
Conception seems great, but it's a bit far down south for me, unfortunately. I do hope I get to play some more PFS, but it's sadly unlikely, at least till next GenCon.
And yes, I was Othello, who almost got people killed, and was surprisingly rarely injured. Which was quite useful, given that he had a total of 4hp!
The games were great, so my thanks to all the GM's I had, and all the players I played with. Pleasure meeting you all.
See you next year, eh?
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It really was fantastic. I did enjoy meeting you all, even though I didn't get to the curry night. Got lost repeatedly on site trying to find Windsor Hall. Take a wrong turn and you're walking an extra half mile, it seems.
Conception seems great, but it's a bit far down south for me, unfortunately. I do hope I get to play some more PFS, but it's sadly unlikely, at least till next GenCon.
And yes, I was Othello, who almost got people killed, and was surprisingly rarely injured. Which was quite useful, given that he had a total of 4hp!
The games were great, so my thanks to all the GM's I had, and all the players I played with. Pleasure meeting you all.
See you next year, eh?
The Othello who was ready to abandon his Dwarven Comrades to the clutches of the Harpies? ; ) ive seen you here and on a few other sites its a pleasure to have played alongside you.
(I was Torgar the Dwarf Priest in the Silken Caravan)
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I was honestly under the impression that you were all dead, and not unconscious and being subdued to heck! I'd have tried to help if I knew you weren't, even with the 0hp. Though I think that if it wasn't for the helpful DM with his quick fix, that'd have ended with a TPK.
Though, to be fair, as an upper class Taldorian twit, he'd have quite enjoyed not having to be around a bunch of stinking dwarves. ;)
Are the Paizo guys planning on coming next year too? I was quite amazed to see them you all the traders hall actually working the stall.
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I was honestly under the impression that you were all dead, and not unconscious and being subdued to heck! I'd have tried to help if I knew you weren't, even with the 0hp. Though I think that if it wasn't for the helpful DM with his quick fix, that'd have ended with a TPK.
I was under the impression that we were all dead as well ; ) I was only joking though! Yeah Dan was a great DM who made it really enjoyable!
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Hi
Just adding my thanks to the Paizo team and everyone who GM'd or played in the Pathfinder scenarios.
Yep - I'm the Oskar Treefriend, or Oskar Thorinson of Living Greyhawk. I'm Welsh, and I tend to play Dwarves. (Many of my family worked in the mines, so it's probably a family thing...).
Glad to hear the news that Pathfinder's going to be at Conception. There's a big hole where LG was, and not sure it's going to be completely filled with the new LFR.
Personally, I'm looking towards a 2:1 split between Pathfinder & LFR there - already looking forward to the new scenarios if they're as good as Hydra's fang Incident & Silent Tide. Hopefully I'll get a few games & level up before then.
Cheers
Paul H
(AKA Oskar Treefriend/Oskar Thorinson)
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Hi,
Thanks to all the players for the Silent Tide and Frozen Fingers that I had the pleasure to DM for. I note Cosimo, Uzzy and Paul H above. Any others of you out there? I'll smile today as various classic quotes come back to me!
Personally thought Silent Tide was the better of the 2 adventures but both were very good.
Cheers,
Lewis.
Conventions I have been to in the past on the east coast of the US have had about 7,000-10,000 attendance for I-Con *My local Con back home* or 20,000 - 30,000 in attandance at DragonCon, both with huge dealers halls.
Ok, so you have quite different experiences from Cons... For me, 1000 people at a con are a lot.
Here is a Pic of the Delaers room at I-Con
This looks like the whole rpg hall at the Essen Spielemesse...
European events seem to be a lot smaller overall... Which is all right with me, as I don´t like huge crowds.
Now DragonCon in Atlanta Georgia US is a Scifi/Fanatasy debauchery filled orgy fest!!!... Granted I have much more fun at Dragoncon ;-). here are some pics I found to show you what I mean... and the dealers room is even larger then I-Cons!!!
Wow, quite the freak show :-) Quite some sights to see, huh?
Stefan