Also, Birmingham New Street station has a new concourse.
Nice. Especially happy to see that Andrew Shelton's opinion is highlighted. I always value his contributions to station redesigns. And such insight too!
;->
I should be going in later this week to have a look around. From a practical point of view I don't care too much what it looks like; I'm more interested in ease of platform access, and escalators are Asmodeus designed bottlenecks in rush-hours - especially if they've reduced the total amount of access to platforms. Lifts aside, the old platform design had multiple staircases available and one escalator (the latter invariably going up) from each platform, with most of the access concentrated in the middle. If they've moved all the access to one end due to the ongoing rebuilding work (as I suspect) and it's escalators-only, New Street Station is *not* going to be a nice place to be, if you end up on the wrong end of a platform getting on/off a train, in peak-travel hours.
I live in the hope of being pleasantly surprised, but experience inclines me towards pessimism...
Thanks Charles, I too incline towards pessimism for most things - hard to be disappointed then :-)
According to the PDF there are 7 escalators now, 10 staircases, 7 lifts and a negative zone matter disincorporation transmitter.
Outside we have three external entrances, a taxi rank and one roof-side starship docking bay, large enough for a YT-1300 light freighter.
And there's the usual Chemist, Bookshop and eateries inside, and for some reason a Funky Pigeon.
Lovely - I may have made some of that up...
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I...myself...me...and Auke will be attending! Yaaay! Last year was terrible for me, but I promise I'll make it up and liven up your PaizoCon UK this year with my ever insane personality!
Guard your alcohol!
Which reminds me, I wonder if the local pub will be running their rather splendid mini beer festival again?
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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Which reminds me, I wonder if the local pub will be running their rather splendid mini beer festival again?I...myself...me...and Auke will be attending! Yaaay! Last year was terrible for me, but I promise I'll make it up and liven up your PaizoCon UK this year with my ever insane personality!
Guard your alcohol!
I hope so!
Can I ask if anyone is thinking of saving their Kickstarter Backer Emerald Elixir at Paizocon this year? I need to use mine and would rather choose than roll :-) Bob - I guess that you won't have an opportunity to use it before then? Is that what you were asking last Thursday?
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Can I ask if anyone is thinking of saving their Kickstarter Backer Emerald Elixir at Paizocon this year? I need to use mine and would rather choose than roll :-) Bob - I guess that you won't have an opportunity to use it before then? Is that what you were asking last Thursday?
It looks like I'll still have mine unused by then, and I believe we're playing together on Saturday afternoon.
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I hope to be chugging it down, in concert with others, so as to pick the effect. I assume everyone can pick their own effect, so I don't have to go with the consensus of the meatshields?
The bonus to pass myself off as another race could be useful, since the lack of good gnomish art means I've had to settle for a halfling avatar and mini...
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Bob - I guess that you won't have an opportunity to use it before then? Is that what you were asking last Thursday?
There was that, and also the MMO 'friend bonus' (I forget the official name).
I thought you'd committed to a higher pledge level than you had, and we could tag-team our rewards for greater gain.Also, the pdf pack had been released, and since you aren't a subber, you may not have seen them drop into your downloads. There was a lot in there, and I have a numb wrist.
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Traveling plans from people abroad remind me:
The Sunrise Lodge UK is perfectly situated for traveling from the continent via Dover.
If you travel that way - we do have spaces on Thursday night or Sunday/Monday night if you don't do the whole distance in a single day. We are 15 minutes from the ferry in Dover.
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Hi everyone! With just four weeks to go, we've been hard at work drafting table allocations for the various slots, and our first ultra-secret draft is now completed. Obviously it's going to keep changing right up to the actual weekend as more people sign up, but we at least have a good idea where we're going.
Why am I telling you this, you ask? Because in our drafting, we've noticed that a considerable number of people still haven't provided us with a character role and level for their slots. I really can't stress how vital this information is to us, especially for the Special event, where the tiers are very tight.
So please, if you haven't done this yet, log into Warhorn and update your details. It only takes a minute, and it'd be an immense help - not only to us, the organisers, but to all your fellow players. The more players that give us this information, the easier it is for us to provide an appropriately balanced and tiered table for each and every character to play at.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all at Paizocon UK!
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Pete puts it so nicely. Actually, anyone who doesn't choose their games and indicate their combat role and level on Warhorn PDQ will be allocated to a table of five high level squeaky voiced halfling bards with a deathwish.
But seriously, if anyone is having trouble logging into Warhorn they can just email me their choices and I will do it all for them. So no excuses. Please make sure your character's level conforms to the Tier range. Thanks one and all.
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Typical - give Pete a rank and he thinks he's Major Maldris :-)
What's that, Terry? You want your tables to have all the other players using Str 5 halfling monks? Can do!
All done, my awesome VL - we look forward to basking in your brilliance at Paizocon
Oh, alright then, no halfling monks just yet.
;)
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The thing is that many people like to choose the character they play at the table dependent on who is at the table, what they feel like playing at the time and what type of character the other players are playing.
Case in point you could have a table of the following:
Fighter 2
Rogue 3
Wizard 2
Cleric 4
Gunslinger 1
Cleric 2
But that tells you nothing other than class and level. That could be a highly dysfunctional group depending on what choices players have made in both roleplaying and mechanics. I have characters that I only play if people are cool with them. I have a Paladin, Oracle and Cavalier all of whom I wouldn't play at certain tables dependent on what the makeup of the table is.
I prefer to sit at a table and then decide what I am playing for the most part. OK on 5-9's and 7-11's that's a bit more difficult but for a 1-5 I have half a dozen choices and I'd rather decide what I fancy playing on the day than set my choices in stone a month early.
That said I will set my choices now but I honestly would prefer to just decide on the day and I reckon that's why you are not getting a response here.
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The thing is that many people like to choose the character they play at the table dependent on who is at the table, what they feel like playing at the time and what type of character the other players are playing.
Case in point you could have a table of the following:
Fighter 2
Rogue 3
Wizard 2
Cleric 4
Gunslinger 1
Cleric 2But that tells you nothing other than class and level. That could be a highly dysfunctional group depending on what choices players have made in both roleplaying and mechanics. I have characters that I only play if people are cool with them. I have a Paladin, Oracle and Cavalier all of whom I wouldn't play at certain tables dependent on what the makeup of the table is.
I prefer to sit at a table and then decide what I am playing for the most part. OK on 5-9's and 7-11's that's a bit more difficult but for a 1-5 I have half a dozen choices and I'd rather decide what I fancy playing on the day than set my choices in stone a month early.
That said I will set my choices now but I honestly would prefer to just decide on the day and I reckon that's why you are not getting a response here.
In terms of making decisions based on class, I think you're absolutely right - the class/role of a character isn't good for anything more than a very rough judgement. I know I'm not tabling people going 'oh, a cleric, they'll be good for buffing and such.' I'm thinking 'oh, a cleric. They will be able to activate healing wands, probably. Should try to have someone with that capability on each table, if we can.'
I disagree in terms of the level. We want to try and avoid people needing to play up or down as much as possible. People mostly don't have fun playing down, because they feel like they're getting ripped off. And while some people enjoy playing up, others don't, and they shouldn't be made to do so if there's another option. It's more pronounced at lower levels, of course - a level 1 playing Tier 4-5, especially in season 4, is unlikely to have a positive mod experience.
So I'm trying to table people to fall inside subtiers as much as I can. As to which character you actually play when you sit down, that's up to you. We want to use the details on Warhorn to help people have a smooth experience, not to straitjacket them. If you want to play a different character when you actually reach the table, please do. I'd just ask that, if possible, the new character be sub-tier appropriate.
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Re scenarios for GMs, there was tell of these getting added to our downloads (a very kind offer). If this is true when is it likely to happen? I ask because I usually need a week or two to read through the scenario twice and create rules booklets (for feat, class and spell lookups).
In addition for PaizoCon UK, my running one scenario will allow me to level up a PC of mine so I want the chronicle sheet to be able to do that in advance.
If getting the scenarios added to Downloads is not going to happen soon I will buy the scenario - so no worries either way, I just wanted to check on timings.
Cheers!
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Pete: Many thanks for taking on this huge task! I've just checked my information and it was all correct already.
Are GMs likely to get advance notice of what subtier we'll be running, especially for the special? While I'm happy to prepare for every tier (as I did at UK Games Expo and Crisypcon), players are likely to get the best game possible if I can concentrate on one (or two).
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Pete: Many thanks for taking on this huge task! I've just checked my information and it was all correct already.
Are GMs likely to get advance notice of what subtier we'll be running, especially for the special? While I'm happy to prepare for every tier (as I did at UK Games Expo and Crisypcon), players are likely to get the best game possible if I can concentrate on one (or two).
I'm afraid the best answer I can give to you is 'if possible.' As I mentioned upthread, we're still short on player levels for a considerable number of people, and this is even more pronounced for the special. On a number of tables, we simply don't know what the sub-tier is going to be yet.
We're also going to go through at least one more draft before we sign off on the tables as confirmed. We're planning to have another draft done by the end of the month, though I suspect the final draft may have to allow a little longer to give those people who are dragging their feet a chance to sign up.
As a GM I know how helpful foreknowledge of the sub-tier is in terms of preparation, and we will absolutely provide this information to all our GMs when (and if) we have it.
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Re scenarios for GMs, there was tell of these getting added to our downloads (a very kind offer). If this is true when is it likely to happen? I ask because I usually need a week or two to read through the scenario twice and create rules booklets (for feat, class and spell lookups).
In addition for PaizoCon UK, my running one scenario will allow me to level up a PC of mine so I want the chronicle sheet to be able to do that in advance.
If getting the scenarios added to Downloads is not going to happen soon I will buy the scenario - so no worries either way, I just wanted to check on timings.
Cheers!
I believe that the plan is still for GMs to get the scenarios in advance. I don't think we were able to request these from Paizo until we had confirmed our final GM roster, which did only happen this weekend. So if I understand things correctly, the request has been sent, and it's going to take time to process.
Dave and Rob know more about this though, so it may be one of them will swoop in here and correct me.
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Thanks, I will wait to hear from Dave or Rob. Cheers!So if I understand things correctly, the request has been sent, and it's going to take time to process.
Dave and Rob know more about this though, so it may be one of them will swoop in here and correct me.
Random thought : could Paizo implement a system where an account that had a free download download of a convention scenario authorised, but had already purchased it, gained that amount in store credit? That way folks could just go ahead and buy the scenarios and prep well in advance, but not be out financially?
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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We have put in the request for the scenarios to be added to accounts. Be aware though that some of the scenarios we will be running won't be available until July. And with the special we are getting access well in advance of the public. So please be patient. Feel free to contact me via the paizoconuk hotmail account if you wish to discuss this further.
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Random thought : could Paizo implement a system where an account that had a free download download of a convention scenario authorised, but had already purchased it, gained that amount in store credit? That way folks could just go ahead and buy the scenarios and prep well in advance, but not be out financially?
The problem with this idea is that PFS Organised Play doesn't exactly make Paizo money at the moment. Something which makes PFS more costly for Paizo isn't something that's likely to happen. (And store credit is a cost to Paizo just as much as 'real' money is, make no mistake about that.)
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GMs can also get a head start by checking out the GM shared prep area on Google docs. This typically contains useful prep within a week or so of a scenario being published. It already contains useful prep for all scenarios published up to now (eg Veterans Vault, Night March of Kalkamedes, Halls of Dwarven Lore, Words of the Ancients, Way of the Kirin).
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Random thought : could Paizo implement a system where an account that had a free download download of a convention scenario authorised, but had already purchased it, gained that amount in store credit? That way folks could just go ahead and buy the scenarios and prep well in advance, but not be out financially?The problem with this idea is that PFS Organised Play doesn't exactly make Paizo money at the moment. Something which makes PFS more costly for Paizo isn't something that's likely to happen. (And store credit is a cost to Paizo just as much as 'real' money is, make no mistake about that.)
Understood - but Paizo should have factored in the expense when they came up with the idea of giving out free PDFs for convention use. At present, people who can't afford the scenario may have to wait until the last minute to prep. It would be nice if they were in the same position as people who can afford to buy the scenarios.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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Understood - but Paizo should have factored in the expense when they came up with the idea of giving out free PDFs for convention use. At present, people who can't afford the scenario may have to wait until the last minute to prep. It would be nice if they were in the same position as people who can afford to buy the scenarios.
We make sure that the scenarios get to GMs as soon as they are available. The problem is that particularly with wanting to run the latest scenarios at a convention, they are not scheduled to be released until close to the date. (In fact, we take a bit of a risk as it is around this time of year that Paizo are busy preparing for GenCon etc so it is possible that scenarios will be delayed!) So being able to afford the scenario gives no time advantage.
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We have put in the request for the scenarios to be added to accounts. Be aware though that some of the scenarios we will be running won't be available until July. And with the special we are getting access well in advance of the public. So please be patient. Feel free to contact me via the paizoconuk hotmail account if you wish to discuss this further.
I just wanted to report that the normal scenario I'm due to GM has appeared in my downloads, and the special is there but marked as 'not currently available for download' (as expected).
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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We have put in the request for the scenarios to be added to accounts. Be aware though that some of the scenarios we will be running won't be available until July. And with the special we are getting access well in advance of the public. So please be patient. Feel free to contact me via the paizoconuk hotmail account if you wish to discuss this further.I just wanted to report that the normal scenario I'm due to GM has appeared in my downloads, and the special is there but marked as 'not currently available for download' (as expected).
Thanks Paz. Everybody should now have the scenarios in their downloads, but some will not be available for download yet. If anybody is expecting scenarios but hasn't received them yet then let us know.
Bob - I guess that you won't have an opportunity to use it before then? Is that what you were asking last Thursday?There was that, and also the MMO 'friend bonus' (I forget the official name).
I thought you'd committed to a higher pledge level than you had, and we could tag-team our rewards for greater gain.
Also, the pdf pack had been released, and since you aren't a subber, you may not have seen them drop into your downloads. There was a lot in there, and I have a numb wrist.
Numb wrist?
I put down extra money, but it wasn't to increase my tier, it was for extra rewards in game I think (can't remember now).
I've got the pdf pack (which is basically the core rulebook for me, until the superdungeon comes out). Oh, and the elixir thing. Must print that out. I get emails when I have new downloads available.
I'm getting excited now - 3 weeks!
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I'm getting excited now - 3 weeks!
Me too! I finally got round to booking my accommodation last night; ebookers.com had a great price on single rooms.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean
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On the topic of GM's not needed:
I'm still offering to GM a game if a GM drops out due to whatever reason. Dunno who's supposed to know about this...and maybe I already told the person who's supposed to know this that I am willing to do this...but hey, I'm doing it again! I wanna GM if you need a GM! Yes! Very much even.
(No, this has nothing to do with my insatiable bloodlust for killing characters on an international scale and as such make them phearz teh Dutch GM'z! Really, it doesn't! Oh, and I'm not a vampire either...)
-Mark
Cheers Mark.
I have put all Venture Officers on the reserve GM list, but as you've (foolishly) said this I will move you to the top! We are finalising GMing duties and tables so I will let you know very soon if you will get your chance to inflict, er I mean to GM some players.
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So very much looking forward to this, especially "Siege of the Diamond City" - got a Paladin level 8 waiting to kick some demon ass :-).
The only regret is that my flight back to Frankfurt leaves at 6:30pm on Sunday so I won't be able to play/finish "Rivalry's End" which would have been really awesome (got a lot of Shadow Lodge player's at home waiting for his one and the player insight before running it would have been nice). Anyone up for a special session on Friday maybe? My flight arrives in Birmingham at 9am and there's plenty of time until the Balti...just saying.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic
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Anyone up for a special session on Friday maybe? My flight arrives in Birmingham at 9am and there's plenty of time until the Balti...just saying.
Mark L. and myself also arrive quite early Friday morning and als have to leave before the final slot, so that's three players for Rivalry's End. We just need someone to GM... :-)