Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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I just want to say thank you to all the GMs, players and everybody who offered help with PaizoCon UK this year. I feel it went very well and any problems were down to my own lack of organisation. So thank you all for covering for me!
Mike Brock, thanks for bearing witness and all the support Paizo has given us.
Truly had a fantastic time and ended up being so involved with things that I never had the opportunity to ask if people were interested in doing it again next year for our 5th PaizoCon UK!
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I just wanted to add my thanks to everyone who made PaizoCon UK such a great weekend. Sometimes as a GM, as I’m prepping multiple scenarios before a convention (5 in this case), I think to myself “maybe next year I’ll just go as a player.” But then I sit down at a table of enthusiastic players eager to go, and the magic of table-top gaming happens and I remember that this is why I put in all the prep work beforehand.
Every player I had this weekend was energetic, friendly, and engaging, and made my part easy and fun. I wish it was practical to have conventions like this more often, because it’s just a great community of people to hang out with. See you all at the next one :)
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The LARP event wasn't really my cup of tea though, I hope next year we have something more like the Area from 2011.
Did you play one of the Quests in the small room? Between that and the finalé, there was as much table-top play as the Melee provided last year.
Personally I thought the variety was one of the event's strong points, as there was something for everyone.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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Please keep the feedback coming. It is very useful for me to know what went well and what caused problems. Particularly when we tried something new. The Grand Convocation in particular. We are already considering what to do next year and always aim to cater to all tastes.
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I thought the LARP portion of the Grand Convocation was fantastic. In fact I was sorry to have to go off to another room for the side mission and miss some of the action in the big room. There was so much going on there that it was hard to take it all in, let alone interact with it all. I'd love to see it done again without the side missions, then have the tables at the end as happened this year.
It was great to see how involved those playing the NPCs became, and the lengths they went to with their costumes and preparation. Makes we want to go and get myself a costume so I can participate next year!
For the final battles, I liked the idea of the bard song and channelled healing spreading over to adjacent tables. I think it would be nice if there was more of that sort of cross-over if possible - anything to give the sense of a larger happening around the individual PCs. Perhaps some of those playing the NPCs earlier in the night could move from table to table, jumping into fights to help out with a timely spell or bit of advice before moving off to another group, or something like that.
Given how many people went all out with the interactive though, I'd say it should definitely be a part of next year's event.
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For the final battles, I liked the idea of the bard song and channelled healing spreading over to adjacent tables.Not to mention the flying heads, or was that just us?
I think that was just us. Carol's fighter was stonking.
Perhaps some of those playing the NPCs earlier in the night could move from table to table, jumping into fights to help out with a timely spell or bit of advice before moving off to another group, or something like that.While a nice idea, I'm not sure how well it would work given that Torch was GMing our table, and the people playing the NPCs would need to be given the Chronicles for that rather than playing in the Finale (and they'd have been missed in our group - see previous flying head comment)
and I don't how much my wig would have lasted. As a NPC, it was great to get some action in on the table with my character.
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Perhaps some of those playing the NPCs earlier in the night could move from table to table, jumping into fights to help out with a timely spell or bit of advice before moving off to another group, or something like that.While a nice idea, I'm not sure how well it would work given that Torch was GMing our table, and the people playing the NPCs would need to be given the Chronicles for that rather than playing in the Finale (and they'd have been missed in our group - see previous flying head comment)
Utterly random thought:
The NPC's spend the first 20 minutes of the game section dropping in at tables to give a particular piece of information, item, or other aid. Then they are drawn together to one or two tables to combat a particularly nasty event while playing pregens of the actual NPCs. What happens in that game feeds into what happens for the NPCs in the next season.
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Utterly random thought:
The NPC's spend the first 20 minutes of the game section dropping in at tables to give a particular piece of information, item, or other aid. Then they are drawn together to one or two tables to combat a particularly nasty event while playing pregens of the actual NPCs. What happens in that game feeds into what happens for the NPCs in the next season.
You're proposing this as a fix, for when the person cosplaying the NPC is also down for GMing duties, right?
That could work, if the table they're set to GM is for a level-appropriate group. The various Venture Captains and Faction Leaders have a wide range of levels, and you don't want the PCs to be overshadowed by an NPC of APL(+lots).
Obviously, if the PCs at the table are all very low level, you can't help but have any NPC VC be more powerful, but you want to avoid a situation where the opposition you send in, to KO the NPC, is capable of accidentally wiping out the PCs (such as an indiscriminate 10d6 fireball or 5d6 inflict channel, into the midst of level 1-3 PCs).
Having a martial VC, and a martial villain, trading blows in the centre of the table, while the PCs deal with a swarm of minions, is less likely to result in a freak TPK.
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The photos are up on the website for anyone who wants to browse. The good ones are from Crispy. There are a LOT so I have divided them up into / Balti / Grand Convocation / Games. You all look very beautiful and/or handsome.
Go to PaizoCon UK website.
Please continue giving us feedback good, bad or ugly. Maybe send the really ugly ones directly in brown paper wrapping and the really good ones with a fiver enclosed.
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Thanks to everyone. I had fun both playing and GMing.
My thoughts:
The rooms we had at the venue were much improved on the last 2 years. Spacious, air-con, comfortable. Keep it up.
The convocation was a very noisy affair with lots going on and lots of interruptions. The NPCs did a superb job of costume and character. LARP however is not my cup of tea either so I didn't stay long.
I am not a fan of prizes through table voting, though it never seemed to come up at any table I was on anyway.
Is there capacity for increasing the numbers at the event or is there a limiting factor such as GMs?
As the event was sold out months before there is clearly demand. It would appear to offer more opportunities for new players if the cap was increased. It would be nice to aim for half the size of Paizocon US for instance.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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Please keep the comments and reports coming.
Although I'm not responding to each comment, they are all being noted to feed into improving next year.
I do want to ask people about prizes and boons though. Given the high quality of players and GMs we get, voting on a prize winner or giving a boon to 'the best player' seems to be problematic.
So do people have any other suggestions for how to distribute prizes and reward people?
I'm certainly offering a prize boon to whoever returns my copy of the Advanced Player's Guide that went missing at PaizoCon UK :)
Venture-Captain, Ireland—Belfast
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The Good: The rooms were bigger and better. The extra people added to the atmosphere and the standard of GMing was tremendous. Like last year for those of us who had flights to catch that would have prevented taking part in the final session a kindly GM (Thanks Shawn) brought the start forward giving us a chance to get that last chron! The NPCs at the Grand Convocation did really well in particular I will never imagine Guaril as looking like anyone else!!
The not so Good: Not much really. Some issues with mods that clash with Gencon sessions.
While I used to do OK back in the 80's and 90's with the old competitive D&D games at cons I was not sure that it's re appearance in the form of figure voucher prizes was good or bad.
For what it's worth, my perception is that access to boons is pretty restricted in the UK and a few more d20 rolls across the event would have been nice.
The strange case of the Grand Convocation: I hated the first part (an hour or so??) of the Grand Convocation, though unlike my mate I didn't leave. Milling around in character with nothing to do but decide which of the two candidates should get hitched didn't work for me. When the various side events began to get going it became more entertaining. I wanted to do the side quest but I couldn't find anyone at my level and only a couple within 1 level of my PC. The finale was very tense and the GM was excellent though being the lowest level PC at the table made me feel a bit of a spare wheel at times.
I suspect if I had played my lower level cleric rather than my mage then this would have been less of a mixed review.
The convention experience was tremendous and DV I will get going again next year.
I know how much work these things are so a big thanks to Dave, Rob et al.
W
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Venture-Captain, Ireland—Belfast
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Please keep the comments and reports coming.
Although I'm not responding to each comment, they are all being noted to feed into improving next year.I do want to ask people about prizes and boons though. Given the high quality of players and GMs we get, voting on a prize winner or giving a boon to 'the best player' seems to be problematic.
So do people have any other suggestions for how to distribute prizes and reward people?
I'm certainly offering a prize boon to whoever returns my copy of the Advanced Player's Guide that went missing at PaizoCon UK :)
The Gencon model of getting a token for taking part in "x" sessions and then rolling on a prize table seems rather cool to me.
i.e. Collect enough tokens, roll a d20 and perhaps get a special prize perhaps even a figure voucher! and get a boon of some sort regardless.
Just a thought.
W
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I do want to ask people about prizes and boons though. Given the high quality of players and GMs we get, voting on a prize winner or giving a boon to 'the best player' seems to be problematic.
So do people have any other suggestions for how to distribute prizes and reward people?
I think if it'd been a secret ballot per table, with votes handed to the GM, who would then have something clear and tangible to return to 'HQ', it would've gone fine. The natural modesty of most people (who wants to bring up the topic, potentially implying to others 'I think you should vote for me!') is a stumbling block. As it is, in terms of boons and prizes, of the people I know, the only one who won anything was the top archer in the Archerfeast contest, who won a related boon.
Given that it's the event in terms of PFS in Europe, and virtually everyone stays for the whole event, everyone should be given a boon or something just for turning up. But that's just me.
One more piece of feedback: I think a bit more transparency over tiers at the Grand convocation would have helped. The advice to find a group of similar level PCs was good, but as a mix of level 4 & 5s, we were unable to play the higher level quest (and were between tiers for the mid-level one), and also between tiers for the finalé. We played up for the quest (leading to PC death) and down for the finalé (which ended up being quite comfortable).
To be clear, all of this is like pointing out that the lunar lander should've touched down 200 yards to the left - a minor quibble on a fantastic achievement.
Finaly, a query: among everyone I played with, I was the only person playing either a cleric or a gunslinger (I played both during the weekend). Did anyone else encounter anyone else playing either of these classes?
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One more piece of feedback: I think a bit more transparency over tiers at the Grand convocation would have helped. The advice to find a group of similar level PCs was good, but as a mix of level 4 & 5s, we were unable to play the higher level quest (and were between tiers for the mid-level one), and also between tiers for the finalé. We played up for the quest (leading to PC death) and down for the finalé (which ended up being quite comfortable).
To be clear, all of this is like pointing out that the lunar lander should've touched down 200 yards to the left - a minor quibble on a fantastic achievement.
Finaly, a query: among everyone I played with, I was the only person playing either a cleric or a gunslinger (I played both during the weekend). Did anyone else encounter anyone else playing either of these classes?
'Quite' comfortable is a relative term, as I recall - there seemed to be a certain amount of concern about the shadows! (Of course, the event got called before I started getting really tricky with them..probably a good thing.)
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'Quite' comfortable is a relative term, as I recall - there seemed to be a certain amount of concern about the shadows! (Of course, the event got called before I started getting really tricky with them..probably a good thing.)
Fair enough; I meant 'quite' as in 'sort-of', certainly not 'very'. We were all still standing (and mostly on reasonable hp) at the end, anyway.
It would've been easier if I'd remembered that my cleric's channel positive energy would've hurt the shadows a fair bit, and also that he could fly for a limited time (due to a boon from last year's Grand Melee) which would've helped with fighting through the crowds!
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I do want to ask people about prizes and boons though. Given the high quality of players and GMs we get, voting on a prize winner or giving a boon to 'the best player' seems to be problematic.
So do people have any other suggestions for how to distribute prizes and reward people?
If we have free stuff to give away then I prefer there either to be a raffle or everyone gets them.
Maybe a separate GM raffle based on tables run.
If there is a vote method I would hope it wasn't mandatory or coerced (or we can vote Jedi! or Raffle).
I find boons are yet one more thing to keep track off that I either forget or don't bother.
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heretic:
A master like guaril can always look different when he needs too.
And i was only ACTING sly and shifty honest, you can trust me :j
To the players I gm'd for a big thank you I enjoyed running for you all and I'm so glad everyone took the bad stuff so well I haven't rolled that well in years. I think Dave usually jinx's my dice at the slot zero but he didnt get the chance this year.
I like Heretic's idea of collecting tokens to have chances at prizes but a boon for everyone.
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'Quite' comfortable is a relative term, as I recall - there seemed to be a certain amount of concern about the shadows! (Of course, the event got called before I started getting really tricky with them..probably a good thing.)Fair enough; I meant 'quite' as in 'sort-of', certainly not 'very'. We were all still standing (and mostly on reasonable hp) at the end, anyway.
It would've been easier if I'd remembered that my cleric's channel positive energy would've hurt the shadows a fair bit, and also that he could fly for a limited time (due to a boon from last year's Grand Melee) which would've helped with fighting through the crowds!
Heh, my post was intended humourously - typing quickly and forgot the all-important smiley! As I recall, your team was fine at the end of it, and you weren't really ever in real trouble. I was kind of wishing I could bring in a second shadow, just to see if it would unnerve people. :P
As to the channel energy, I was hoping some would get chucked around because they would have assisted adjacent tables in a cool way, but I didn't want to prompt players - that kind of behaviour's just awkward in a GM.
Glad you had a good time, at any rate. I promise I'll try harder to kill you next time! ;D
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Venture-Captain, Ireland—Belfast
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I was pondering this as I strolled home this summers evening.
In terms of how best to handle prizes and boons in particular it depends a bit on the context. What other UK conventions offer boons? What is PFS policy for the handing out of boons? Rather than reanimate the old vote for the best player to win cool prizes I would lean towards rewarding an outstanding performance by having the GM nominate a player who maybes an extra roll on a Gencon style prize table.
W
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I have been thinking about the Saturday evening slot. It always seems to be a time challenge due to it being a late starting and short slot. Consequently it often doesn't finish until well into the small hours and/or we miss chunks out.
Could we have shorter slots on the Saturday of say 4.5 hours to make the late slot start an hour earlier? (And relaxing 5 hour slots on the Sunday when we are starting to flag.)
Could we set a room aside so that those that don't want to take part in the evening special (of whatever type) can just play another standard scenario instead?
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What other UK conventions offer boons? What is PFS policy for the handing out of boons?
I asked a similar question on Facebook ('Which UK conventions have had racial boons?') and Dave gave the following answer:
'So far I think they have been available at Oddcon, Conception, UK Games Expo, Shadowcon. Mostly as GM boons. We've had tiefling, aasimar, dhampir, tengu, and I think kitsune, wayang and nagaji.'
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Just come back to this thread, minor niggles from a first timer were:
1) Having never LARPed before, so the start of the Grand Convocation was a bit slow, not really sure what I was doing, was quite confusing for me.
2) The unboons on the GC Harrowing table seemed rather harsh and could easily lead to a favourite character being killed, luckily for me that didn't happen. Especially as it was out of the character's control.
3) missed out on the side quest, wasn't really sure of how it all worked that.
4) need more room for the Balti night
5) wasn't impressed with the food at the Balti place
Despite the niggles, I really enjoyed the Grand Convocation once I started to role play my character a bit. A little warning that character costumes could be used, might have got more players in costume.
Decided its probably best to stay at the convention centre rather than in a B&B or Hotel nearby. Not all taxi drivers know where the convention centre is, although you get an interesting ride around the Birmingham centre and ring road as a result.
It seemed that a prerequisite for coming to the convention was you had to be friendly, helpful and flexible, because those were common qualities of everyone I met at the convention. Had a great time
You were indeed missed Wellard. Once dates are decided for next year I will contact you first!Sorry to hear that - you were missed.Major Face palm time..I got my dates mixed up and thought it was this coming weekend.doh..
Time to tell him about this year Dave!
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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Time to tell him about this year Dave!You were indeed missed Wellard. Once dates are decided for next year I will contact you first!Sorry to hear that - you were missed.Major Face palm time..I got my dates mixed up and thought it was this coming weekend.doh..
Thanks for the reminder :)