|
YES!
As part of this agreement, Paizo will increase their Exhibit Hall presence (Booth #203) by approximately 30% in 2013. Paizo also will expand their offering of supported events, hosted in the Sagamore Ballroom of the Indiana Convention Center. Paizo joins Mayfair Games as a Gen Con multi-year Co-Sponsor. Badges for this year’s show will become available for attendees on January 27 at noon (Eastern)
Way to go Paizo, Lisa, Mike and Mark!
Great Work. Looking forward to this.
Oh, think on more tables, more space, the high ceilings, less surround noise.
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
|
| 9 people marked this as a favorite. |
So after months of having to keep it a secret, I can finally confirm PFS is taking over the Sagamore Ballroom. Awesome job goes out to all PFS enthusiast for making this a reality! 150 tables per slot and a hell of a special incoming this August!
|
| 8 people marked this as a favorite. |
Actually this move to the Sagamore Ballroom was spurred by a single entity. Last year there were a lot of complaints about the size of Kyle Baird's ego. There were some kids that got blocked in on Friday. One of them had a panic attack and ended up missing a lot of the convention due to the ER visit. Several unattended iPads were crushed. The ego did apologize, but I'm not sure if I believe it was an accident. Guys, I'm afraid after the Special last year, Kyle's ego really let itself go. Since the Vendor Hall was out of the question, the only solution was the Sagamore Ballroom. Oddly, Kyle's ego qualifies for reasonable accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act so Kyle's ego would definitely sue if it weren't allowed into the PFS room to massacre PCs. Lisa has tried to keep this all low-key, but as a favor to Peter Adkison she's being a sport and budgeted the upgrade. So if you want to thank anyone for the Sagamore, thank Kyle's ego.
|
I'm happy to see the expansion of the PFS area but concerned about the 30% coverage of the exhibit hall. I can only assume they are going to squeeze out the small press gaming industries to make room for Paizo. Is this the case? or will the exhibit hall grow accordingly?
[edit] I suppose that the WoTC area is up for grabs in 2013 since they wont have any product but that may be different in 14 & 15.
|
|
I'm happy to see the expansion of the PFS area but concerned about the 30% coverage of the exhibit hall. I can only assume they are going to squeeze out the small press gaming industries to make room for Paizo. Is this the case? or will the exhibit hall grow accordingly?
A 30% increase over last year, not 30% of the total floor space.
|
|
I'm happy to see the expansion of the PFS area but concerned about the 30% coverage of the exhibit hall. I can only assume they are going to squeeze out the small press gaming industries to make room for Paizo. Is this the case? or will the exhibit hall grow accordingly?A 30% increase over last year, not 30% of the total floor space.
I feel MUCH better now. thanks for clarifying
Developer
|
Way to go Paizo, Lisa, Mike and Mark!
Credit where credit's due on this one. I'm not involved in the planning of the convention from a logistical point of view, so this one's all the management team (Lisa, Erik, Jeff, and Vic) and Mike for pushing to get such a large and notable space for the campaign. My job is to make sure the adventures being offered there are memorable and worthy of so many tables. I have good writers working for me, though, and a great network of volunteers off whom we bounce creative ideas, so that should be no problem. We'll have more info on what will actually be taking place in the Sagamore Ballroom soon, so stay tuned.
|
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm happy to see the expansion of the PFS area but concerned about the 30% coverage of the exhibit hall. I can only assume they are going to squeeze out the small press gaming industries to make room for Paizo. Is this the case? or will the exhibit hall grow accordingly?A 30% increase over last year, not 30% of the total floor space.
When they advise a 30% expansion in the Exhibit Hall, I believe they are referring to the Dealer Hall.
PFS will take up 2/3 of the Sagamore Ballroom this year. Last year in the seven rooms we occupied, it was just over 12,000 square feet. This year in the Sagamore, we will occupy more than 20,000 square feet.
As to where the small press game industries will be moved, I believe Derek and the Gen Con guys plan to take good care of them this year with another quality space which will hopefully have more visibility. That is specific info I do not have and it would be better if those questions were directed directly to Derek Guder.
In addition to the Sagamore Ballroom, I believe we will also have one of the smaller rooms that we occupied last year, just outside the dealer hall, devoted strictly for Beginner Box Intros and Kid's Track sessions.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Mike wanted me to hop in and clarify a couple things about placement and what might get shuffled around. I work in Gen Con's event department and help coordinate some of the details for Paizo's event schedule.
First, regarding the exhibit/dealers' hall, that has been expanded this year. I don't expect Paizo's placement per se to have a negative impact on anyone, though I do know that lots of other companies are expanding as well and we sold out early last year, so... My advice is if anyone wants to get a booth at Gen Con they should get their application in now.
I also want to make it clear that the exhibit hall isn't "my department," so I can't answer too many detailed questions about it. Anyone who does need specific detail should contact exhibitors@gencon.com.
As for any displacement their event space may cause, the reality is things get shuffled around (to some degree) every year. Events grow and shrink, and new space becomes available or old space isn't. Anyone who has been to Gen Con long enough has been with us as the exhibit hall grew and events move, and then when the new construction was done and everything pivoted.
Last year, we had a number of different groups in different sections of the Sagamore Ballroom and while they will all need to move this year, we will find suitable space for them. Some of them might return to where they were previously, others will find new homes to try out for 2013. Whenever we place events, our priority is to find the location that we think will make for the best experience for players (since that's what it's all about, really).
If anyone has any questions (or concerns or suggestions) about events or event space, you can email at events@gencon.com and I'll answer them as best I can.
|
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I have a suggestion about that, ShadowShackleton.
I understand that there a reasons for Paizo to run a "super-humongous number of tables" Special. "600 players, all playing one adventure" makes for a great visual and captures the imagination.
But I'm hoping that we don't see another super-huge Special in 2013. I'd like to see a Special where 3 - 6 tables all cooperate in real time. I'd like to see 20 of those smaller specials going on at the same time, occupying 60 - 120 tables. This season, a thread of high-tier adventures is leading up to Runelord Krune's return. Cool; have that be the focus of the high-tier Special. Let the low-tier Special deal with the cult of Lissala, or Canayven's betrayal of the Society to the Aspis Consortium.
Why do I ask this? Because it's becoming clear to me that small groups of tables can have just as epic an adventure, with more buy-in from the individual players. If there's 90 tables all working in tandem, then any given PC is 1 guy in 540. And most of those are below the average level of the 540.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I really want a special like the first one, Year of the Shadow Lodge. The work between tables was the best then. I feel the cooperative elements having been lacking in the more recent specials. Its possibly the best part of the GenCon experience, knowing everyone else in the room is working together to overcome this massive challenge. And it's going to be even greater this year with the new room.
EDIT: I agree with Chris in some regards. The different tiers should have different tasks that all relate to the central plot, and each tier's significance becomes revealed in the final encounter.
Venture-Captain, New Zealand—Dunedin
|
This season, a thread of high-tier adventures is leading up to XXXXXXXX XXXXX's return. Cool; have that be the focus of the high-tier Special. Let the low-tier Special deal with the cult of Lissala, or XXXXXXX's betrayal of the Society to the Aspis Consortium.
I agree with this, but perhaps we should move this conversation to a private area to avoid spoilers.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
My wife doesn't GM but we would love to find some way for her to volunteer as well so that she can basically count as a Tier 1 volunteer. We are poor and the only way we would be able to afford to go to GenCon together is if we were both Tier 1.
Maybe she can knit special GM hats for everyone? Though... 150 hats would take a long time!
|
|
My wife doesn't GM but we would love to find some way for her to volunteer as well so that she can basically count as a Tier 1 volunteer. We are poor and the only way we would be able to afford to go to GenCon together is if we were both Tier 1.
Maybe she can knit special GM hats for everyone? Though... 150 hats would take a long time!
while I won't speak for what specifically is needed, I know some non-gaming spouses have volunteered for the hq desk in the past ... does she at least have a working knowledge of the game? If so, then I would have her email (once the call goes out)to be an hq person.
Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
|
Yeah, I agree with what PFCBG said. That's what my wife is planning on doing this year (though I've heard you have to be quick as HQ slots fill up fast). And with having double the number of tables, they'll most likely need about double the number of HQ workers as they had last year.
|
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
|
I am thinking about running this year as well, I hope I can run a game during the Wen's event at Scotty's as the rest of the week is rather busy for me and my friends.
Wed. events are private events that do not count towards the GM rewards we offer, such as a free badge, hotel room, etc... I encourage you to participate in those Wed. events. I just didnt want anyone to have any wrong perceptions.
|
Yeah, I agree with what PFCBG said. That's what my wife is planning on doing this year (though I've heard you have to be quick as HQ slots fill up fast). And with having double the number of tables, they'll most likely need about double the number of HQ workers as they had last year.
Double the number of tables doesn't mean double the number of HQ workers lol.
It will mean more work in HQ, and maybe a couple of extra peeps, but not double
|
A thought ocurred. Not sure if this was covered in the post gencon replays, so I will say it now/again.
Instead of having one event/number, have multiple events/numbers, that way we can have multiple monkeys reporting at HQ instead of us replacing each others reports because the system didn't allow for simultaneous entries.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A thought ocurred. Not sure if this was covered in the post gencon replays, so I will say it now/again.
Instead of having one event/number, have multiple events/numbers, that way we can have multiple monkeys reporting at HQ instead of us replacing each others reports because the system didn't allow for simultaneous entries.
I know Mike has been working with IT to get a solution for us. Implementing multiple user login and simultaneous update of the same event would have benefits that reach beyond GenCon, as would implementing the ability to delegate reporting rights to specific individuals.
Having multiple event IDs would be a human hack to get around a system limitation, but it's an option if we can't get anything better.
Based on some rough calculations I did a couple of months ago, I'm pretty sure that one person can't enter all the reports for a slot in 5 hours.
|
|
A thought ocurred. Not sure if this was covered in the post gencon replays, so I will say it now/again.
Instead of having one event/number, have multiple events/numbers, that way we can have multiple monkeys reporting at HQ instead of us replacing each others reports because the system didn't allow for simultaneous entries.
I thought we'd just chain you to the data entry terminal and throw you food every so often lol
In case you couldn't be at Gen Con, here's some video from inside the Sagamore.