Ruby Phoenix: Sydney, Australia; April 6th-9th


Local Play

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

When Easter Long Weekend: April 6th-9th, 2012
Where Young Henrys, 76 Wilford Street, Newtown, NSW
Cost $2 per session
Links Registration, Shadow Lodge, Paizo Event.

The Shadow Lodge presents Ruby Phoenix, a Pathfinder Convention in Sydney, Australia over the 2012 Easter Long Weekend.

Ruby Phoenix will feature:

  • all the latest scenarios from Season 3 of the Pathfinder Society Organised Play Campaign,
  • Sydney's first public offering of the Season 3 Exclusive, The Cyphermage Dilemma,
  • selected scenarios from earlier Seasons,
  • a host of sanctioned modules, including the Season 3 pivotal event, The Ruby Phoenix Tournament,
  • a character workshop hosted by everyone's favourite comedy duo, Metz and Max
  • and a selection of great food and drinks, available right at your table.

Sessions are $2 each and run at 9-2, 2-7, and 7-12 on the Friday to Sunday, and at 9-2 and 2-7 on the Monday.

Ruby Phoenix will be held at Young Henrys, a new craft brewery in Newtown. It will be shortly before the official opening and so we have the place to ourselves! There is a fully-licensed bar and fantastic food will be available right at your table, from Young Henrys' own smoked BBQ carvery, to the Earth Vegan café next door.

For those of you who will be travelling in, the Abbey on King is good, cheap, local accommodation.

All ages welcome. Tier registrations are now open, so head to the Ruby Phoenix Warhorn site now to indicate your interest for each slot. As we get closer to the event, we will match scenarios and modules to the tiers in demand and, if you have registered for a tier, you will be pre-registered for an adventure at that tier. When this occurs, we will notify you so that you can modify your registration as desired. This system will help us to schedule sessions at the tiers in demand.

The best place to keep up to date on the development of Ruby Phoenix is at the Shadow Lodge facebook page. So, if you're on Facebook, make sure to head over to the page and click "Like". This will add our announcements to your feed. You can then head to the Ruby Phoenix event page, join the event to let us know you're coming, and join in with the pre-Con discussions. Let us know what you'd like us to run!

Keep an eye on this thread also, as we'll post all major updates regarding Ruby Phoenix here too.

So, like the Facebook page, join the Facebook event, register at Warhorn, and put it in your diary! With your help, we'll make this Australia's biggest Pathfinder event to date!

Cheers,
Al

4/5 5/55/55/55/5

Looks good; will have to throw in an app for some low-brow low-tier action.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Only four weeks to go until Ruby Phoenix!

All the scenarios and sanctioned modules have now been loaded into the registration system so you can now sign up for games here. If you have already registered and indicated preferred tiers, then we have transferred you over to what we thought would be the best option. But you may have already played what we chose for you, so go, check, and switch to any game you'd prefer if we got it wrong.

As you'll see there are over 50 games to choose from, including the latest scenarios and sanctioned modules. Not sure what to play? Well, there are some clear advancement paths throughout the Con. If you're starting a 1st-level, for example, you could play The Godsmouth Heresy, followed by Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the Living God, City of Golden Death, and conclude with Carrion Hill. You'll be 6th-level at the end, if you survive, of course...

Alternatively, you could start with the Quest for Perfection trilogy, and try to recover an item that will help the most powerful members of your Society to succeed in The Ruby Phoenix Tournament which will be running in parallel as well as at the end of the Con.

If you have a 5th to 7th-level character, then you could play From Shore to Sea followed by Realm of the Fellnight Queen, Cult of the Ebon Destroyers (which will be GMd by its author and Ruby Phoenix special guest, RPG Superstar 2010, Matt Goodall), and conclude with The Harrowing. If you manage to survive, you will have advanced four levels by the end of the Con!

In addition to the scenarios and modules, we also have our first character building workshop. So if you're looking for tips, tools, and tactics for your character, sign up for Saturday morning's informal discussion on how to take your concept to crunch. Our Masters of Ceremony, Metz & M, will lead and moderate proceedings so bring your character concepts, a notebook, and an open mind...

There are, of course, many other options available too, so sign up and check out what's on offer. If the game you want to play is fully subscribed, and there's nothing else you can play, then sign up to the game's waitlist. As we've always done in the past, we'll do our best to accommodate demand and, if necessary, switch undersubscribed games to create more tables of popular games. So don't hold back from telling us what you want to play!

When signing up to play sanctioned modules, bear in mind that you'll need to sign up to play all the parts of the module which will run over two or three slots. Don't know which games are sanctioned module and which are scenarios? Check in the blurbs!

Note also that, as of version 4.1 of the Guide to Organised Play, you will now need an existing level-appropriate character to play a sanctioned module, just as you do for a scenario. So, please, only sign up for games for which you will have a character within the advertised tier remembering, of course, that you will level up at the end of every three scenarios, or at the end of a module.

See you soon!

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Just as we have done in the past, we have now made several changes to the schedule to reflect demand, and to account for some variations in sanctioned module durations that arose during our play-test. There are quite a few changes so head to the Ruby Phoenix Warhorn site to check and update your registration. Due to demand, we have now increased our schedule from five sessions per slot to six sessions per slot. That's 66 sessions of Pathfinder Society organised play over the Easter Long Weekend.

So, with two and a half weeks to go until Ruby Phoenix, 50 of the 66 tables are running with:

  • 13 sessions booked out,
  • 6 with 1 seat left,
  • 13 with 2 seats left, and
  • 18 with 3 seats left.

Of the 16 tables still to reach minimum numbers:
  • 2 need only 1 more player,
  • 6 need 2 more players, and
  • 8 need 3 players.

We've increased Masks of the Living God and The City of Golden Death to three slots each to ensure that there will be plenty of time to complete those modules.
We've switched From Shore to Sea to Carrion Hill and have changed several of the other scenarios to create more seats for oversubscribed scenarios and to offer more low-tier options across the board. So there are now two tables of The Godsmouth Heresy and Crypt of the Everflame which have proven, amongst several others, to be very popular. So if you were wait-listed for those, you're now playing! And if you'd missed out, you've got another chance to grab a seat. So go and sign up!

If you were affected by any of the changes we’ve made, then we have ensured that you remain registered in a new option at the same tier but please check and update your registration as soon as you can to ensure that you're playing what you want to.

When signing up, make sure that you're also staying aware of how you will level and thus qualify or disqualify for a later adventure. For example, if you intend to play The Godsmouth Heresy with a 2nd-level character, you will be 3rd-level at the end if you survive. This means that you could not then take that same character into Crypt of the Everflame, which is for 1st and 2nd-level characters only.

Any questions, let me know. See you soon!

Grand Lodge 1/5

Just warhorned in for 2 sessions on Sat... I'll have someone take the kids to net ball that day.

Anyone from the Guildford/Merrylands/Parramatta regions attending?

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Not that I'm aware of, Helaman. You could try the Shadow Lodge page. The venue is just minutes walk from the station though, if training it is an option.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

One and a half weeks to go until Ruby Phoenix and 56 of the 66 tables are running, an increase of 6 tables from last week, with:

  • 23 sessions now booked out,
  • 7 with 1 seat left,
  • 11 with 2 seats left, and
  • 15 with 3 seats left.

Of the 10 tables still to reach minimum numbers:

  • 9 need only 1 more player, and
  • 1 needs 2 more players.

The latest batch of schedule changes have been updated in the registration system so head back to the Ruby Phoenix Warhorn site to check and update where desired. The changes made this time were once again to create more tables for adventures that were oversubscribed. With Crypt of the Everflame proving to be very popular, we have added an extra table of Masks of the Living God, and City of Golden Death to permit continued play through the entire Price of Immortality trilogy. As always, if your registration was affected by any of the changes we’ve made, then we have tried to ensure that you remain registered in a new option at the same tier but go and check to ensure that option is OK.

The final batches of schedule changes will be made towards the end of next week so, if you're very keen to play something that has booked out and there's nothing else you can play in that time slot, then join the wait-list to let us know what is in demand and we'll do our best to accommodate.

Finally, I'm pleased to announce that Good Games have made a special offer to Ruby Phoenix attendees. If any of you would like to purchase any Pathfinder products, they will provide a 10% discount, and deliver them to Ruby Phoenix for you pick up when you arrive. To take advantage of this offer, email me with your order asap. Con delivery is, of course, limited to items in stock before Easter.

Any questions, let me know. See you soon!

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Four days to go until Ruby Phoenix! Not much movement from a week ago on registrations: 57 of the 66 tables are running so far.

The final batch of schedule changes have been updated in the registration system so head back to the Ruby Phoenix Warhorn site to check and update where desired. The main changes made this time were to convert tables that have failed to reach minimum numbers to "Players' Choice" sessions. Sign up to this session if there is nothing you can play in that slot, or if the only adventures you could play are sold out. If a Players' Choice table reaches at least three players, then your GM will be in touch to work out what to run. As always, if your registration was affected by any of the changes we’ve made, then we have tried to ensure that you remain registered in a new option at the same tier but go and check to ensure everything is OK.

Young Henrys are doing us proud with a fine spread of Golarion fare so, as they're providing us with the venue for free, make sure you bring plenty of gold coins to buy food and drink. Cash only, please (there are plenty of cashpoints along Enmore Road and King Street).

The venue will open at around 8am each morning, so make sure to turn up in good time for your first game and please bring correct cash payment for all your registered sessions on your first day. Each session is $2.

A reminder that Good Games have made a special offer to Ruby Phoenix attendees. If any of you would like to purchase any Pathfinder products, they will provide a 10% discount, and deliver them to Ruby Phoenix for you pick up when you arrive. To take advantage of this offer, email me with your order asap. Con delivery is, of course, limited to items in stock before Easter.

If you can't make it to Ruby Phoenix, but you can make it to an event in Canberra, then why not join the Ruby Phoenix Canberra Enclave! ANURPS are running Masks of the Living God, City of Golden Death, and the Quest for Perfection on the 6th and 7th of April. Register here to secure your seat.

And if you're heading to Eyecon, then there are still a few seats left in the Pathfinder Society games on offer there. Eyecon registration closes today so sign up on the day.

Four days to go. Get plenty of sleep!

Al

The Exchange 4/5 5/55/55/55/5

Day 1 report:

Awesome stuf; well put together, great venue, sign-up admin took all of two minutes, boons to be had, raffle tickets aplenty, free stuff, awesome food (as promised) and some fantastic Pathfinder inspired beers and ales on tap right next to the tables...

For the price? It's a deal, it's a steal, it's the sale of the bleedin' century!

PS: Top props to our great GM (LP) who took us through Edge of Heaven, 9am-Midnight, what a trooper :) The players at the table were also a great bunch.

Here's to the next event!

Grand Lodge 1/5

Gotta say I have loved my experience.

It is perhaps a uniquely Australian experience to hold an RPG tournament in a brewery.

I have had a lot of fun and over 2 days have taken my FIRST ever PFS character concept from 1st to 3rd level (strangely other characters got played first before this one).

My thanks to Alistair, the other GMs and the chaps at Young Henry's, as well as my fellow players. A lot of fun had by all I think.

I won't make it for Sunday or Monday but even so the two days have been great.

The Exchange 4/5 5/55/55/55/5

Shame we didn't end up on the same table Hela, but there will be more events no doubt, and this particular 'honest businessman' looks forward to those endeavours :)

May I also recommend the Chelish Blood Ale...?

I would have taken home a 6 pack, too bad they weren't selling take homes.

Shadow Lodge

I want to play some more.

Dark Archive 3/5

I had a great time at the con. It was a boatload of fun and I want to thank everyone who made it an awesome experience, from players to our 'runs on rage and V' VC Al Rigg.

4/5 5/55/55/55/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So....whens the next Con? :p

The Exchange 1/5

Thanks to all who supported Young Henrys in fledgling half finished mode. We look forward to seeing you again when we officially open.

4/5 5/55/55/55/5

I would have supported Young Henrys even further by buying a mixed case of those fine brews you had on tap had you guys been selling them :P

On a side note, will YH be selling the same sort of food once they open? That smoked chicken was awesome.

Dark Archive 1/5

I had a great time, both playing and as GM. I think I left some memorable moments in God's Market Gamble when parties watched their prize get shrunken and stolen.

Good times, great place (with great food and beer) and great people, Players and GMs alike.

Cheers

The Exchange 1/5

Hey Shifty - Yes, the smoker will be in full force when we are open. It will be all about slow cooked chicken, pork, beef brisket etc. We will be bottling beer soon as well!

4/5

Pathfinder Adventure, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Fun was had!

Great energy, good vibe at Young Henry's - will have to be there for the official opening!

Thanks to the GM's and everyone who made their way to the Tournament.

The Exchange

Had an absolute blast all weekend.

Many thanks go out to my Game Masters, who put up with either an annoying half-orc Paladin of Iomedae with his grating accent or a culturally confused dwarven Cleric of Sarenrae.

Thanks also goes to my fellow players and those who played in my games for facilitating a lot of fun.

A thanks to the hosts for providing a wonderful gaming environment and plenty great food.

Finally a thanks to the organisers, in particular our VC Al Rigg, who did all the hard work getting everything put together and organising one of the most fun weekends I have ever had.

Shadow Lodge

Young Henry's food was maaaad. I like the hours-long cooked Pork.

I hope this happens again soon! I'm gonna bring people!

3/5

The food was amazing!

Thanks to all who attended, biggest thanks for all to Al. Incredible organisation mate!

(Given I've only got a very few mods I can play for credit, he got me a spot every session.)

Dark Archive 3/5

Food surely was awesome.

And Matt; I've never seen someone cast so many Glitterdusts (SPARKLE PARTY) in my PFS career. :P

Game highlights for me (spoilers for mods):

Ruby Phoenix Tournament:
  • The cheesy faux asian accent supplied by Metz, THE WHOLE MOD. Dear god.
  • Getting dominated like 3 times and killing the same poor bugger again and again. There was Baleful Polymorph too.
  • Animating the brine dragon, taking 10 mins to stat him up, scaring the hell out of random peasants then getting dragon killed in first round of combat.
  • Chained to an Animal Growth'd Tiger as a Wizard. And living.

The Harrowing:
  • SPARKLE PARTY
  • Getting a Paladin to agree with an Imp familiar belonging to a Chelaxian Necromancer.
  • Turning Storykin into bunnykin and weaselkin.
  • Surviving (barely) two empowered cone of cold spells as an unbuffed, surprised Wizard, courtesy of aforementioned Paladin.
  • Surviving a Wish [Destruction] spell (barely).
  • Allowing party to smite down Imp who agreed to Wish spell to kill master.
  • SPARKLE PARTY

Dark Archive 4/5

I must admit it truely was a fun con, with amazing food, players and GMs to liven up the table

My highlights would have to be

Gods Mouth Heresy:
1 shotting the Alchemist NPC with 8d6+8 damage as a level 1 Sorcerer, and watching all but 2 players fail a fairly easy will save (note my sorcerer was one of the ones that failed) vs colour spray in our last combat forcing us to negotiate

Kortoss Envoy:
Team Killzone (my rogue and a trip fighter) clearing 4 large minotaurs in 2 rounds 3 in the first round and 2 in the second round, after Matts obligatory SPARKLE PARTY!!

Wonders of the Weave:
This one has to go out to the Magnificent Magicians who made the game an all around amusing experience, with bonethralling mummies, acid balls and sparkle party galore

Cult of the Ebon Destroyers:
Hardest mod I have ever played, gave me a new appreciation for optimised NPC archers, apparently waiting for them to run out of ammo is not an ideal plan. It also reinforced that every skill is useful, with calling for many more rolls during the investigation part than I have ever made before.

The Harrowing:
Killing the imp familiar was enjoyable, getting beaten up by flowers, and turned to stone by cockatrices was quite enjoyable, Jumping in the pool with the succubi and losing more than half my hp to the lightning damage was hilarious, watching the bunny prince fighting the sythesist was also a highlight, Amazing NPC's as always Al even though I wanted to hit half of them with my newly bought Sap

Shadow Lodge

Most memorable characters:

- Dahjee Ling and his pet, Oolong: Fights like a barbarian, talks like a mamasan from Thailand

- Blackington: Most sophisticated Barbarian I've ever met... until he rages, which then he suddenly sounds like he lives in Penrith.

- Steggo Roarus: "Stegosauruses love [insert random thing]!"

Grand Lodge 1/5

RizzotheRat wrote:
Thanks to all who supported Young Henrys in fledgling half finished mode. We look forward to seeing you again when we officially open.

I'm in China atm but did you guys at YH's find a set of rimless black glasses? I left a message on your phone and asked Al via Facebook if anyone found a set.

Sadly China does not allow access to FB. Let me know and I'll arrange for a pickup etc.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

As I think was obvious to all who attended, our second Shadow Lodge convention was a huge success! We had 60 players filling 375 seats over 64 sessions which, I'm fairly sure, makes Ruby Phoenix the largest Pathfinder gathering in the southern hemisphere to date! That's an increase of 30 players, 203 seats, and 38 sessions over our Pathfinder event last Easter. And we're just getting started.

A big thank you to our wonderful hosts, Richard and his crew at Young Henrys, who provided excellent food and drink in a great venue! It was a privilege to be at Australia's first tasting of Caydenbrew! ;-) If you’d like to thank them directly, you can do so on their Facebook page. Thanks also to Silverbean and Black Star Pastry for supporting Young Henrys with breakfasts, coffee, pies, and pastries. Gamers like pies (as long as they're not 'Winter Surprise').

Thanks to Brian and Finn who provide Warhorn, the gamer event management service, for free. $60 has been donated on your behalves from Ruby Phoenix session fees representing $1 per attendee. If you’d like to show your appreciation directly, here is their Facebook page and you can make an individual donation here.

Thanks to Eliza from Good Games who supported us with promotion and prize donations. Please support Good Games in return. Don't forget to visit Good Games at Burwood or the City to use your 10% discount voucher.

Thanks, of course, also to Mike Brock and Paizo Publishing for the incredible prize support. All attendees received a Pathfinder Tales novel, most won a Ruby Phoenix token and boon, and we had 15 very happy product prize winners.

Thank you to our amazing artist, Pete Fairfax, who stunned many of us with his superb sketches of our characters. It was absolutely fantastic to finally see the characters that many of us have been travelling with, sometimes for years: Suttung, Zaheeda, Zaiku, Safeword, Raaa!, Cap'n Salty, Stegoraurus, Failin' and Bailin', Jarek, Keleth, and Elsbeth to name a few. Pete told me he had a great time and is happy to now be "our man" so expect to see him at our future events where he'll continue to document our alter egos. In the mean time, if you didn't get the chance to get a character done, you can always contact him through his website, or his Facebook page where you'll see he's posted a few of the sketches he did for us. Just be patient as he's prepping for Supanova! Amazing stuff, Pete. I'll be in touch!

Our Ruby Phoenix game masters were: Adam L, Adam M, Andy, Ben, Brad, Brendan, Briallen, Metz, James, John, Luke, Matt, Max, Neil, Phil, Rich, Sean, Seb, Tris, and Wes. Thank you each and every one. This couldn't happen without you. Organisation only goes so far: it's what each of you did at your tables that made the Con a success. And yes, that includes all the ludicrous accents...

Finally, I’d like to thank all of you who came to play. I said after our first Shadow Lodge convention that, due to your enthusiasm and encouragement, I was sure it would be the first of many. Ruby Phoenix was even bigger than I hoped it could be and with your continuing support and participation, we'll keep going from strength to strength. All the sessions for Ruby Phoenix have now been reported so please take a moment to check that everything is in order. If any of your sessions have been reported incorrectly, please let me know and I'll fix them up.

With a growing player base comes the need for more GMs so if you've played for a while now and you'd like to get involved in running games, let me know and we'll get you a table or two to try your hand at for an upcoming game day. You can see our event calendar at our Facebook page. Coming up this month we have:

  • Sat 21st at Good Games City
  • Sat 28th at Good Games Burwood

I'm also pleased to announce that a new Pathfinder game day will soon be launching at Tin Soldier Penrith. More details soon! There are also ongoing game days in Canberra and Wollongong so if you need those details, let me know. As always, if you're interested in joining our team of game day organisers, especially if you have a new venue in mind, get in touch.

The next Sydney convention is Winterfest on the 11th and 12th of August (note the website's dates are wrong) at Blacktown North Public School. Get it in your diaries.

Once again, thanks for coming and for your continuing support.

Al

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Thanks all. I had a blast and am only just recovering. The glasses haven't turned up, I'm afraid, Helaman. Hopefully you'll find them amongst your gaming stuff somewhere. There were many highlights for me but a few in particular spring to mind:

Highlights:

  • overhearing Metz' outrageous Gokan accent all through Ruby Phoenix Tournament, including the instant classic from Chung Po: "I came here to eat noodle and kick ass!" <slams table> "And I just finish my noodle!";
  • hearing that the party ran away from the final encounter in Cult;
  • Essessol the Marid's granting of Dezhem's imp's wish for his Master to die and be sent to Hell: cue destruction;
  • player outrage at the Mute Hag's not one, not two, but three empowered cones of cold: cue mass whinging and rules negotiation;
  • discovering a new insult for Jebediah Heliotrope;
  • Orcland's kiwi accent and just not knowing when to stop, eh, bro;
  • Pete Fairfax's awesome character sketches;
  • Caydenbrew, Chelish Blood, and Cheerful Delver stout.

Here's to the next one!

Grand Lodge 1/5

Thanks for looking. I'm in the land of cheap opticals so I'll be fine :)

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