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Why would there be backlash? I'm nowhere near PAX or GenCon, so I can never get any of the awesome boons they hand out there during the big releases. My only opportunity is to get the not-as-good boons at my local, relatively small conventions or the online "conventions."
Getting a cool boon by supporting a Kickstarter seems like a good opportunity for people like me who can't otherwise get them.
Psst, the "not-as-good" boons handed out at local and online cons are the same ones that are handed out to players at Gencon/Paizocon/PAX, just divided up and spread out over the year. Race boons are given to GM's at local and online cons, the only really special race boon is handed at Gencon.
Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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Race boons are given to GM's at local and online cons...Not always. I GMed at Pacificon two years ago and I didn't get a boon because they said they ran out of copies. I then asked my local Venture Lieutenant if I could still get one post-con because they had ran out, and I was told, "No, it has to be dated and signed at the con."
At least my admission was free for GMing. :/
It may be too late, but I would kick it up the chain. Since the error was theirs, I would expect that the VL or VC should be able to make it happen. Your local VL may not be able to do anything, but at very least the VC for the area the con was in should be able to do something.
(As opposed to, for example, when I showed up to con, GMed 3 games, and went home and forgot to ask for mine... I am still kicking myself for that one. I probably could still have gotten one, but I just felt so stupid I didn't bother.)
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Race boons are given to GM's at local and online cons...Not always. I GMed at Pacificon two years ago and I didn't get a boon because they said they ran out of copies. I then asked my local Venture Lieutenant if I could still get one post-con because they had ran out, and I was told, "No, it has to be dated and signed at the con."
At least my admission was free for GMing. :/
It may be too late, but I would kick it up the chain. Since the error was theirs, I would expect that the VL or VC should be able to make it happen. Your local VL may not be able to do anything, but at very least the VC for the area the con was in should be able to do something.
(As opposed to, for example, when I showed up to con, GMed 3 games, and went home and forgot to ask for mine... I am still kicking myself for that one. I probably could still have gotten one, but I just felt so stupid I didn't bother.)
FLite, I dont see any reason you couldnt/shouldnt kick yours up the chain as well.
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I have attended 6 local cons, have several novels, and the goblin squad boon from PF online. I have yet to use any of them. The only boons that are really worthwhile are race boons, and those are niche.
If there is going to be any benefit to the Pathfinder Dice, I would like it to be another source for a reroll.
It wont effect me as I already have 3 PF shirts and a character folio, but it's a low powered option that is still nice.
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Apologies in advance if I sound irritated, but it's because I am. Seems like a lot of players who invest a lot of time and money in the game eventually get screwed because they can't afford $3000 in plane tickets and hotel.
Psst, the "not-as-good" boons handed out at local and online cons are the same ones that are handed out to players at Gencon/Paizocon/PAX, just divided up and spread out over the year.So if (never) I go to a major con, I potentially have access to all the boons. When I go to my local con, I may have access to one, and if I'm really lucky, it'll be one of the "good" boons.
Race boons are given to GM's at local and online cons...Not always. I GMed at Pacificon two years ago and I didn't get a boon because they said they ran out of copies. I then asked my local Venture Lieutenant if I could still get one post-con because they had ran out, and I was told, "No, it has to be dated and signed at the con."
At least my admission was free for GMing. :/
...the only really special race boon is handed at Gencon.Exactly.
Some people equated it to "selling boons."How is that any different than buying a convention ticket and getting a boon? Furthermore, unlike Gencon, it's relatively affordable to people living in the other 49 states in the U.S. and the other 180+ countries in the world.
Don't blame the system in place for a failure of your convention organizer to appropriately reward thier GMs.
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Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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Race boons are given to GM's at local and online cons...Not always. I GMed at Pacificon two years ago and I didn't get a boon because they said they ran out of copies. I then asked my local Venture Lieutenant if I could still get one post-con because they had ran out, and I was told, "No, it has to be dated and signed at the con."
At least my admission was free for GMing. :/
It may be too late, but I would kick it up the chain. Since the error was theirs, I would expect that the VL or VC should be able to make it happen. Your local VL may not be able to do anything, but at very least the VC for the area the con was in should be able to do something.
(As opposed to, for example, when I showed up to con, GMed 3 games, and went home and forgot to ask for mine... I am still kicking myself for that one. I probably could still have gotten one, but I just felt so stupid I didn't bother.)
FLite, I dont see any reason you couldnt/shouldnt kick yours up the chain as well.
I could, but the person I would kick it up to is busy with other stuff that I care about more :) And I have no shortage of cool toys to play with. (I still have a banked Assimar, I have a grandfathered Teifling Early Entry Bloatmage, I have an Ifrit Gunsling/swashbucler/investigator that I am running into shield marshal, I have a wayang summoner, and I haven't even started my kitsune skald or my nagaji something or other (haven't decided yet) and I want to get both of those to level 2 before next gencon just in case...) I play 1 game a week, and GM one Con a year so each of those is going to give me ~2/3 of a year of gaming. So that is (not counting the year I already spent on just these) 3 years of gaming, during which I will earn 3 more boons and will not have played a single core race character. (More if I manage to get my Ifrit shield marshal into a wardens of the reborn forge retirement arc, and gm my bloatmage through an eyes of the ten retirement arc, and play my retired gnome barbarian through eyes... )
What the heck would I do with another boon?
ETA: I forgot my Tengu Tekko Kagi weilding War priest of sundering
So that is 4 years of gaming.
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Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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There is no plan to associate a boon with the dice Kickstarter. Were there one, I suspect it would have been included as a reward in one or more of their kickstarter options.
While we have you in the thread, can you confirm the correct sequence of events for someone in olePigeon's situation to get a con GM boon if they are entitled but the organizers run out of physical copies?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Wow, that got hostile quick.
I'd point out the Emerald Spire boon a) isn't a race boon and b) there was a lot of Pathfinder product offered I'm not sure that a PFS boon would incentivize additional donations to the dice.
And I'd hardly call "Only the good boons" at Gen Con. I've my oread (again) and an ifrit (somewhere) that were 'mere' con boons. Yes I'd like to play a changeling (and I'll trade my oread for it. ;-) But there's always home games.
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Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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Basically, what people forget is that there are free race boons available to everybody, even if you don't go to cons. This year there it is Kitsune, Wayang and Nagaji. Two years ago the free boons were Assimar and Teifling.
You don't even have to print them out and get them signed.
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$3000 to go to GenCon?
Tier 1 GMs get in for free (plus hotel).
I'm in the same area as olePigeon and can also attest that airplane tickets, if purchased appropriately early, can be as low as $500-$600.
Unless you're living a life of luxury (or overseas), $3000 should be way more than you'd ever need.
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People saying that "GenCon is the only place 'good boons' are handed out!" have no idea what they are talking about. Boons are introduced at GenCon due to it being the start of the new season of PFS. From there, the same boons are used at every con for the remainder of the year. The only 'special' boons given out at GenCon are the charity auction boons; of which there weren't any this year from my understanding. GMs still get GM boons at other cons, and players still get player boons. If you don't have the money to go to cons, there are the online ones that will allow you to get boons from time to time as well. Personally, I've done 7 cons this year including PAX Prime and Emerald City ComiCon, and the only one I paid for (besides gas) was PaizoCon. Con support is based upon number of tables that are run at the cons. You need a minimum number of tables to get con support. A larger con generally gets larger support, unless PF and PFS have only a small following during the con. Paizo takes care of it's volunteers and players at every venue I've been to.
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3000$ is what I'm trying to line up for budgeting this year (starting as of last week, going to be a lot of ramen for lunch the next ten months) to try and nab a *suite* for six days off the block, plus attendance costs. That way, if I *do* luck into the block, I have leeway, and if I don't, I'm covered.
This is also why I'll be skipping some of the 'local' conventions I normally go to, because of trying to save money.
As far as Boons go, I've gotten (with the exception of Expedition Manager and trades with cool people) my 'better' Boons at local conventions or via PbP. GenCon's been a pile of 'one-offs' for me, otherwise.
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To be fair, if you do a tier 1-2 GM at Gencon, you're pretty much living out of the ballroom that weekend. You earn that sucker and you dropped some serious dough to get there to basically work crazy hours, so it makes sense to me to save the shiniest of the chrome for those willing to do all that. My buddy who did it this last year had something like 4 hours to himself at the con. He ran around like a madman at the dealers room, and was running games or sleeping the rest of the time.
All the other boons are available at local cons (or should be, work with your local VO!). There are some GenCon specific boons you can get with those coins, but those boons are also handed out sporadically at local cons anyway (usually through lottery or sometimes contest around here). Contact con organizers to ask if they can offer opportunities for boons you're interested in. Last year you could get any of the elemental races by GMing at cons (or winning lotteries). This year I think the first quarter GM boons are an Aasimar or a GM star refresh boon (both crazy nice). No clue what the rest will be.
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There is no plan to associate a boon with the dice Kickstarter. Were there one, I suspect it would have been included as a reward in one or more of their kickstarter options.While we have you in the thread, can you confirm the correct sequence of events for someone in olePigeon's situation to get a con GM boon if they are entitled but the organizers run out of physical copies?
Organizers who do thier due diligence and ask for support with enough lead time, get digital copies of the boons they are allowed to hand out.
If they didn't make enough copies of the GM boon so each of thier GMs get one, then they are not precluded from printing more out.
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To be fair, if you do a tier 1-2 GM at Gencon, you're pretty much living out of the ballroom that weekend.
As a Tier 1 GM at last GenCon, I can tell you that this is pretty accurate. I enjoyed my time there, but I was awake at 7am, had an hour for lunch, and was out by 12 midnight. I was able to be sure I was free for two of the four specials, so I was able to play a couple times, but the GMs and the HQ people definitely earned their keep (and I'm willing to bet the HQ people worked even harder than many of the GMs there. They were an awesome group of dedicated people.).
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There is no plan to associate a boon with the dice Kickstarter. Were there one, I suspect it would have been included as a reward in one or more of their kickstarter options.While we have you in the thread, can you confirm the correct sequence of events for someone in olePigeon's situation to get a con GM boon if they are entitled but the organizers run out of physical copies?Organizers who do thier due diligence and ask for support with enough lead time, get digital copies of the boons they are allowed to hand out.
If they didn't make enough copies of the GM boon so each of thier GMs get one, then they are not precluded from printing more out.
It would be great if there was a digital version of the GM boons that you can turn in your PFS Number and it could be added to your account to print once. I've stepped up now for three conventions at the last minute because of canceled GM's (one of which being Origins) and this being the case of they did not have enough boons for the people who stepped up at the last minute to fill in so players would have a table.
Over time I've noticed these are the GMs most likely hit with this are the ones that step up to help promote PFS for new players wanting to try things out at a convention. Most of us are doing this more just to help out, but with all the discussions on it is nice to support our GMs so we keep them, especially for those giving up on other plans to fill in for areas where something happened.
It's so common of an issue at this point, it would be nice to have a solution.
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There is no plan to associate a boon with the dice Kickstarter. Were there one, I suspect it would have been included as a reward in one or more of their kickstarter options.While we have you in the thread, can you confirm the correct sequence of events for someone in olePigeon's situation to get a con GM boon if they are entitled but the organizers run out of physical copies?Organizers who do thier due diligence and ask for support with enough lead time, get digital copies of the boons they are allowed to hand out.
If they didn't make enough copies of the GM boon so each of thier GMs get one, then they are not precluded from printing more out.
It would be great if there was a digital version of the GM boons that you can turn in your PFS Number and it could be added to your account to print once. I've stepped up now for three conventions at the last minute because of canceled GM's (one of which being Origins) and this being the case of they did not have enough boons for the people who stepped up at the last minute to fill in so players would have a table.
Over time I've noticed these are the GMs most likely hit with this are the ones that step up to help promote PFS for new players wanting to try things out at a convention. Most of us are doing this more just to help out, but with all the discussions on it is nice to support our GMs so we keep them, especially for those giving up on other plans to fill in for areas where something happened.
It's so common of an issue at this point, it would be nice to have a solution.
There is a solution.
The Convention Coordinator can print out another boon for you. If they don't have access to do that during the convention, they can get your information, and email you a copy of the boon. Of course trusting that you won't take advantage of having the digital copy yourself.
Or they can get your snail mail address, and can mail you a signed copy.
Most hotels have a business center too, where you can print things for free.
I just don't see why any organizer is limiting themselves to what they have printed. That's a good way to not get GMs to step up to help out like that.
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Unless you're living a life of luxury (or overseas), $3000 should be way more than you'd ever need.I was budgeting for being sued by Nintendo. ;) You're right, though. I found tickets for $358 on United, round trip (not including hotel, rental, taxi, etc.)
In any event, $500-$600 is not chump change for most people, especially if you're on a fixed income, young, or in school. It just seems that the barrier is unreasonably big to get an exclusive boon.
Also, just because the start of the season coincides with GenCon, why are other conventions that start at the same time left out? If all these boons are supposed to be so easily distributed to event organizers, then why have GenCon exclusive boons in the first place?
Anyway, I got my answer to the question, and this is better suited for a different thread.
If you think hard enough, you can find a way to Gen Con without paying more than about $200.00 total.
Carpooling splits the cost of gas. And if you live contiguously with the US, then there is no excuse why you can't drive. I've seen folks drive 27 hours to get to Gen Con. And if you share driving duties, then you don't have to stop for a hotel. You just drive straight through.
If you Tier 1 or 2 GM, you get the hotel for free.
If you bring your own food. Then you won't have that expense either.
There are ways to get to a convention without having to pay lots and lots.
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There are ways to get to a convention without having to pay lots and lots.
Part of the reason I budget so high is that I can control who I have in my room. The other part is so I can actually enjoy at least part of my weekend.
This means I avoid the health issues of rooming with: Smokers; People who don't bathe regularly; People who don't bring enough clothing for the weekend; People who come in to the room at 3AM and bang around for two hours when I need to be up at 7AM (to get ready to judge or play); People who have some horrible death-plague; People who get drunk and do obscene things to my hotel-room restroom, etc.
This does not preclude the possibility of me stepping up to help out in the future, nor has it in the past, but it has been my 'vacation' for the year the past 21 years...
Back on track and more to the topic at hand:
There was no mention of a boon for the Kickstarter, so why would one be retroactively grafted to it?
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And for what it's worth, I live 9 to 11 hour drive from Indy, and can/have gone on a shoestring budget. Just gotta be willing to work most of the convention to get a free hotel room.
I payed about $100 in gas and maybe $40 at the convention cause I brought my own food.
Shoot, this is what me and my friends do every year for Gencon. It's about a ten hour drive from Omaha to Indy. Splitting gas three ways makes for about $50, and I ended up just bringing a loaf of bread and sandwich meat for food and some granola bars while in the Sag (about $20 total). The most expensive part of Gencon for us last year was the parking, we settled for parking at the hotel, definitely will go back to Mall parking in the future to save that $10-15/day. I did spend about an extra $60-80 for better meals at restaurants and food trucks over the con.
All tols, GM'ing at Gencon usually costs me about $150 for the basics (though if I really scrimp I could probably get it down to about $100) plus about that much again for extras like shinies at the con. Though this year I only spent about $250 on frivolous stuff like picking up Tony Diterlizzi's art book and a playmat from his booth (that dude is pretty nice!), and various other things.
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Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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Apparently ~8 people down here drove up to last gen con in 2 cars (about a 16 hour trip.) They set up video chat between the cars using phones / tablets, and everyone (except the two drivers, I hope) played a mod on the way up.
They called it caravan-con
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I have an advantage of living close, but total this year in spending was probably $150 including gas and doing the Scotty's pre-con event. I brought most of my own food (bagels, peanut butter, granola bars, jerky and a refillable water bottle), I did supplement this with the occasional hot meal - definitely worth it. Found a parking lot about 5 blocks away that was $12/day (same lot I think is now $20/day - changed in August it has a 24 hour limit, but one could go in and out everyday to change the ticket around), bought some dice and traded away a mini I painted for 1 boon that I really wanted. Even GenCon is doable on a manageable budget, but depends on how much work you put into it (both in saving money and GMing).
Also, I know a lot of GMs request rooms with people, our locals all shared a room. I didn't and commuted across Indy to stay with family - not that I saw them from Thursday through Sunday afternoon.
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Having an exclusive boon at GenCon just seems silly to me. It feels like you're pissing on players because they can't afford to go. Why make boons exclusive at all?
That is a very good question, but I'm sure part of it relates to wanting to reward the people who make the Society work from the admin side?
Developer
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There is no plan to associate a boon with the dice Kickstarter. Were there one, I suspect it would have been included as a reward in one or more of their kickstarter options.Is there a plan to add these to the list of items that allow a reroll when used? Like a shirt?
I'm willing to discuss this with the full organized play team at our next meeting. As of now, there is no plan for these to integrate into the system of re-rolls.
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Just my two coppers, I'd prefer the dice to not grant a reroll boon. The dice are not instantly recognizable as Pathfinder merchandise, and while they are cool, I don't think they would serve the purpose of a character folio, shirt, or messenger bag.
Have you seen the dice? They have the Pathfinder P as the highest number on the die. To me, that's instantly recognizable if one is familiar with the game, which I would hope the GM is. It would be nice to get some small benefit, since this is marketed as a Paizo partnership.
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Just my two coppers, I'd prefer the dice to not grant a reroll boon. The dice are not instantly recognizable as Pathfinder merchandise, and while they are cool, I don't think they would serve the purpose of a character folio, shirt, or messenger bag.Have you seen the dice? They have the Pathfinder P as the highest number on the die. To me, that's instantly recognizable if one is familiar with the game, which I would hope the GM is. It would be nice to get some small benefit, since this is marketed as a Paizo partnership.
Yes, I'm backing for a copper set. They are still just a dice set, with the Pathfinder P being easy to overlook from across the table.
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Remember, PFS is a marketing tool for Paizo to sell more product. One of the main reasons the re-roll was created was to "reward" players who bought the faction shirts. Since then more items have been added to the "grants a reroll" list, but the majority of them are product you have to purchase from Paizo (shirts, portfolio, etc). The dice are a licensed product and if Paizo plans to sell them retail after the kickstarter is fulfilled, perhaps granting a re-roll would encourage players to by them. However, if Paizo is not going to sell them, there is no reason for them to offer an incentive to those of us that already have bought them. I would guess they have a licensing agreement with Q-workshop. If that is a flat-fee, again there is no incentive to further enhance the dice, but if its based on units sold, a re-roll could encourage more sales. Something to think about anyway.
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Developer
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I'm willing to discuss this with the full organized play team at our next meeting. As of now, there is no plan for these to integrate into the system of re-rolls.There is no plan to associate a boon with the dice Kickstarter. Were there one, I suspect it would have been included as a reward in one or more of their kickstarter options.Is there a plan to add these to the list of items that allow a reroll when used? Like a shirt?
Following our meeting, I can confirm that we are not planning to add these to the roster of products that grant a re-roll during Pathfinder Society events.
