Announcing the Gen Con 2015 Cosplay Contest Winner!

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Every year we run a Pathfinder themed costume contest for Gen Con attendees! This year we saw loads of fantastic costumes, props, and more. We're happy to announce that our grand prize winner truly impressed us with her detailed interpretation of the iconic barbarian, Amiri. Congratulations goes to Torie!

Let's also give a shout out to our next two contestants, who will each be receiving a runner up prize: Absolut-Aegis as Sajan the iconic monk and Phea as Lini the iconic druid!

Thank you to everyone who voted and stopped by the Paizo booth at Gen Con! We can't wait to see you all next year!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

8th Annual Gen Con Costume Contest Voting!

Thursday, August 13th, 2015

Time to flex your voting muscles with our annual Gen Con costume contest—are you ready to look at some amazing cosplay and help pick our winners?

Gen Con 2015 is only two weeks past, but we witnessed a lot of excellent cosplay (and yes, some were shiny and chrome), but more importantly, we also collected a handful of entries for our annual costume contest! Seeing art turned into real things is always an amazing experience, and this year, some entrants got to show off their costumes with artist Wayne Reynolds (who designed all of our Pathfinder iconic characters)!

Without further ado, here are our contestants!

Torie as Amiri the Iconic Barbarian	Kaitlynn as a follower of Calistria	cronjewel08 as Damiel the Iconic Alchemist	Romulan Sith as D'Cat the Ranger
Phea as Lini the Iconic Druid	JamesShade as a Red Mantis Assassin	Absolut-Aegis as Sajan the Iconic Monk

As a voter, your job is to simply pick which one you think is best, and the first place winner will get $75 in Paizo.com store credit! Two runner ups will also be selected, and they will be rewarded with $50 each! You can vote until noon on August 21st, 2015, and we'll be announcing the winners on August 22nd!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

Special thank you to Adam Daigle, Brandon Hodge, Erik Mona, and James Sutter for photos!

Another Year, Another Costume Contest!

Monday, July 13, 2015

We've made our Perception checks, and we see Gen Con sneaking up to us in just a few short weeks, and that means our 8th annual Gen Con cosplay contest is nearly upon us! Time to show off your Craft skills!

Every contest needs rules (or so our Friendly NPC with ranks in Profession [lawyer] tells us), and the rules this year are much the same as in previous years. In order to qualify for some super-sweet prizes, your costume has to be sourced and identifiable as from Pathfinder or the world of Golarion. Dressing up as an iconic? Sweet! Dare to be Squealy Nord? Fantastic—I hope there are no goblins around and you don't get pulled into a We Be Goblins! LARP!

Previous winners from 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2010!

Swing by the Paizo booth and seek me out (don't worry, my Stealth isn't that great), and we'll take a picture of you in your cosplay and share it on the Paizo blog! After Gen Con, we'll collect all of our photos and put them to the test by opening up voting to our fans, where they will select a first place winner and two runner-ups! The first place winner will receive $75 in store credit, and two runner ups will receive $50, which they can use on such new goodies like Occult Adventures and Hell Unleashed, or save up for upcoming releases like "In Hell's Bright Shadow" and Bestiary 5!

See you in Indianapolis!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

2014 Cosplay Contest Champions!

Friday, September 19, 2014

This years Gen Con cosplay turnout was the best we've seen yet, and its my great pleasure to announce this years contest winners!

Carly took a 5-foot step into first place with her iteration of Imrijka, truly bringing the half-orc heroine to life with her steadfast dedication to details.

Dustin's representation of Sajan received a flurry of commendations, earning him a solid second place in this years votes.

Levi's devotion to his work blessed him with third place in the contest, praise the sun goddess!

Thanks to everyone who swung by the booth to participate this year, your hard work is always one of the highlights my coworkers talk about when they get back from the convention. We hope to see you all next PaizoCon or Gen Con!

Erik Keith
Software Test Engineer

Gen Con 2014 Cosplay Contest!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

This year has truly proven to be the biggest turn out yet for Pathfinder cosplay, with an exceptional cast of exception cosplayers. There are plenty of faces both familiar and new in this years participants, and it is my pleasure to introduce the fine folks that make up this years contest.

Without further ado:

Ashley as Feiya, her attention to details is quite hexing!

Alex as Imrijka. She may be Half-Orc, but her costume is all awesome.

Angela as Seoni. Angela was one of the first cosplayers we saw at GenCon this year, amazing job!

Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shaine visited us at the booth as well!
Mark did an exceptional job of bringing the elven eccentric to life, we're just glad he didn't get *too* in character.

Lyz as Seoni. The attention to the tattoos from both Lyz and Angela are exceptional.
You could even say some of the runes on their arms look... familiar.

It's clear that Jessica's costume is not to be outfoxed. Knowing better than to split the party, the two arrived together in style.

Levi as Kyra. Many of you may recognize Levi's costume from a previous blog post earlier this year, Sarenrae would be proud!

Robert makes for a dead accurate Champion of Urgathoa.

Amy as a cleric of Pharasma. It's probably best that Robert didn't run into her.

Lauren as Pharasma. While Pharasma may be a true neutral deity, Lauren's representation is most certainly good!

Dustin holds no punches with his Sajan cosplay.

Steve as High Shieldmarshal Armand, the best Shieldmarshal in all the land.

Here we have Carly as Imrijka, who's pursuit of the truth has brought her to GenCon.
If you're feeling inquisitive about her attention to detail just checkout the prosthetics and contacts she used!

Here we have Christine as a decapitating barbarian. In front of her is the most dedicated Ned Stark method actor to grace the convention.

Emmanuelle as Kyra. Who needs a buckler or scutum when your faith is your shield!

And for our honorable mention, Paizo's very own Ryan as... Ryan.

Due to the number of participants this year we're going to be using a tally system, and the voting thread can be found here. You can vote on any one person you'd like, so make sure your vote counts! We'll tally the results at 2:00 PM Pacific time on Wednesday, September 17th and declare this years fan favorites shortly afterwards.

Great work everyone!

Erik Keith
Software Test Engineer

6th Annual GenCon Costume Contest Winners

Thursday, September 19, 2013

The winners of this years Costume Contest have been tallied, with the fate of this years contest coming down to a matter of only a few votes between the top three contestants. Without further ado, I present this years top 3 rankings.

Temmith & Jay ranked in first place. Jay's work is golden while Temmith's costume looks good enough that one may question if sorcery was involved.

Seoni & Valeros (Temmith & Jay)

MetalMaiden ranked 2nd in the polls, doing a godly job of portraying Shelyn.

Shelyn (MetalMaiden)

Helene ranked in 3rd as Sheila Heidmarch. Her costume came out wonderfully, and I can only venture a guess as to how much time she spent on it.

Shiela Heidmarch (Helene)

Congratulations to Temmith and Jay on their $50.00 in Paizo Store Credit, and to everyone else thank you for dropping by the booth. Regardless to if you were in a costume or just your GenCon finest we loved seeing everyone!

Erik Keith
Customer Service Representative

6th Annual Gen Con Costume Contest Voting!

Friday, August 30, 2013

Over the course of the last two weeks most of the staff have trickled back into the offices from Ge Con, sharing tales of great times, great people, and in some cases also sharing the con crud. As an avid cosplayer I have a soft spot for the stories my coworkers tell of the cosplayers they meet at conventions, especially at Gen Con. Don't hesitate in knowing that we love the work you do as much as you love ours. Your costumes this year were incredible, and you'd be proud to hear just how excited some of the Paizo staff were when talking about meeting you.

For anyone who hasn't voted in the costume contest before, the rules are simple. We have pictures of the Pathfinder cosplayers who dropped by our booth presented below and its up to you, our fans, to decide a crowd favorite. Once you determine your favorite Pathfinder portrayal select them on the poll and click submit. Voting ends Tuesday at 1:00 PM Pacific time. At that point we'll tally up the results and determine this years winner and recipient of $50.00 in Paizo store credit!

We present to you this years participants!

Amiri (RedRoseNeko)

Cleric of Sarenrae, Evocation Wizard, Bard & Witch (Karmada, Rajamitsu & Aris)

Goblin (Art)	Seoni & Valeros (Temmith & Jay)	Shalelu Andosana (Kristen)
Shelyn (MetalMaiden)	Shiela Heidmarch (Helene)	Well Rounded Adventuring Party

And while he is not participating in this years contest, here is Kyle Elliot, Seattle Venture Captain and PaizoCon 2013 Volunteer of the Year as Hayato, our iconic samurai!

Congratulations to everyone participating, I really hope to see you all next year!

Erik Keith
Customer Service Representative

Kyra's Helmet

Saturday, June 8, 2013

At the conclusion of every costume production course at UWM, students are assigned a choice project that will fully illustrate the variety of techniques that they have learned throughout the semester, and explore techniques that they have not yet learned about in order to create a project that is uniquely tied to their interests. My interest in costuming is directly tied to my love of gaming and fantasy, so naturally I decided to build Kyra’s helmet.

Building the helm was a trial and error process, as I was trying to replicate a metal object using plastic, fabric, and acrylic paints. We had three weeks to work on the project, and I used every last second. The final process involved shaping foss-shape over a clay covered head block to provide the foundation (with some changes to the shape, as I liked the longer Persian helms better), painting several dozen layers of gesso and sculpt-or-coat, creating the headpiece by sculpting and casting it (with a couple of failed casts!), painting the helm after sanding it fairly smooth, and wrapping a dipped-down fabric filled with battering to make the turban.

While the result looks far more weathered than I originally planned, it was a favorite among my classmates and my teacher, so it was a huge success for me!

...Now I just have to make Kyra’s robes and I can show up to PaizoCon as everyone’s favorite cleric!

Levi Miles
Contributor

Gobloween is Coming!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Goblins trick and goblins treat,
Time to smell some goblin feet!

Ghosts and ghouls, nice and spooky,
Goblins like to dress up kooky!

Give us sweets, don't be a jerk,
If not have candy, pickles work!

Bar the windows, lock doors tight,
'Cause Gobloween is hallowed night!

It's drawing near to Halloween and that means it's pumpkin carving time! If you're looking for some inspiration, check out this pumpkin carved by Becky "Corvidimus" Barnes last year:

Didn't max out your ranks in pumpkin carving? That's okay! Here are some simpler designs to inspire you:

These pumpkins were carved using images from the community use packages (Runes and Faction Symbols).

Have your own Pathfinder Pumpkin? Or maybe a Golarion-inspired costume? Email pictures of pumpkins or costumes to cosplay@paizo.com. Include with your picture how you wish to be credited (username or real name) and description of your costume or pumpkin. We'll post pictures up on the Paizo Facebook page and do a follow up blog to show off the best ones.

Happy carving!

Sara Marie
Customer Carebear

Costume Contest Winner!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Admittedly casting a vote in this year's Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest made for a tough call, but I don't think any of us expected a tie! That's right, after tallying up the votes, we're pleased to announce that Rita as the Master Spy Prestige Class and Zach as Ezren can both be declared winners, and each will be awarded $50 in paizo.com store credit. Congrats, guys, and a big thank you to everyone who participated and voted! The costumes were all awesome this year, and we hope to see you in next year's contest!

Rita as the Master Spy Prestige Class.

Zach as Ezren.

Christopher Carey
Editor

Gen Con Costume Contest Voting!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Gen Con has come and gone, and with it the chance to enter the annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest! There were a number of fine entrants this year, so take a look at the photos below and then vote for who YOU think should win $50 in paizo.com store credit!

The clock's ticking, and voting will officially close as of 11pm next Tuesday. Cast your vote now!

Rita as the Master Spy Prestige Class.

Zach as Ezren.

Audrey and Emery as alchemist and rogue gnome sisters from their Jade Regent game. Check out the awesome starknife!

The three adventurers: Amy as a half-orc bard/Pathfinder Chronicler, Nicole as a human alchemist, and Natalie as a human paladin.

Vote now!

James L. Sutter
Senior Editor

PaizoCon Recap

Thursday July 12, 2012

The doors have closed on PaizoCon 2012, cementing its place as far and away the best PaizoCon on record. But even if you didn’t make it out to Redmond to hang out with the Paizo staff, all of our incredible guests, and a host of the greatest gamers in the world, all is not lost. Between constantly rolling cameras, thousands of snapshots, and dozens of blog posts, the show was phenomonally well documented. Check out the highlights compiled here for your viewing and reviewing pleasure.

Gamerati Seminar Videos & Interviews

Ed Healy from over at Gamerati.com managed to document PaizoCon 2012 from nearly every angle. Check out the 10 Voices from PaizoCon video below, with more (like the Secrets of TSR seminar and a bit from Ryan Dancey’s Pathfinder Online seminar) at Gamerati’s PaizoCon 2012 YouTube channel.

PaizoCon in Pictures

Dozens of Paizo staffers and gamers were snapping pictures all weekend long. Check out just a few of the highlights.

One of the hotel monitors made a fantastic high-tech greeter!	Will Chase at setup, pumped and ready to go!	One of the calmer slots’ adventures taking place in the Pathfinder Society hall.	Venture Captains Nani and Kyle Pratt giving Larry Wilhelm good marks during the hilarious GMing 101 seminar.	Mike Brock and Cosmo learning how to GM during the seminar.

Team Adventure Path getting ready to announce the new Reign of Winter Adventure Path.	James Jacobs gives away the secrets of great map design during the cartography seminar.	Sara Marie, and the littlest golem and attendee of PaizoCon, Mikey Teter.	This year's Pathfinder Society Special Event, the Grand Convocation, brought together players, NPCs, and Faction Heads for a night of costumes and some serious gaming and roleplaying. Here we have Amenopheus, the Osirion faction head!	One of the stars of the Grand Convocation: Michellia Blakros.

Paizo's very own Crystal Frasier and Liz Courts, who ran events during the Convocation.	All of the costumed NPCs, Faction Leaders, and players who participated in this year's Grand Convocation.	Goblins have never been so adorable thanks to Xanthestar Customs!	Editor Judy Bauer is all ready for the Reign of Winter Adventure Path with her cozy Dancing Hut mittens!	Developer Patrick Renie in his ADORWABLE goblin hat made by Jodi Lane Reynolds! (Don’t laugh, he got plenty of compliments from “The Ladies™.”)

Painters hard at work at the Reaper Miniatures table.	Lisa Stevens gets in on some of the action for Adam Daigle's Green Blood on a Black Rock game.	Each round pitted monster against monster to determine the ultimate winner!	There were bets on each monster, so things got a bit tense when the Shambling Mound and Blue Dragon were near the end of their round.	A sneak peek at Project Swallowtail, the new Pathfinder card game revealed at PaizoCon.

One of the two tables that were playing through Project Swallowtail on Saturday.	Artist Wayne Reynolds poses with phenomenal Valeros cosplayer (and Paizo Customer Service Specialist) Erik Keith.	Valeros will not be out-drunk! A lesson Jason Bulmahn learned the hard way.	A powerhouse of Adventure Path writers: Richard Pett, Nicolas Logue, Brandon Hodge, and Greg Vaughan.	This year during the Banquet, Lisa announced a new award to be given at each PaizoCon: Volunteer of the Year! Here are the winners for the first three years: Tim Nightengale, Liz Courts, and Mark Moreland. Congratulations and thank you!

Photographs by Chris Carey, Chris Lambertz, F. Wesley Schneider, and Sarah Robinson

Announcements

If you haven’t heard already, we announced quite a bit a PaizoCon. Click the links below for more details on some of the biggest news.

Paizo Volunteer of the Year Award

Pathfinder RPG: NPC Codex

Pathfinder RPG: Ultimate Campaign

Reign of Winter Adventure Path

Paizo Game Space Virtual Tabletop

Pathfinder Battles: Shattered Star

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (Project Swallowtail)

Pathfinder Player Companion Relaunch

With that, PaizoCon 2012 is pretty much a wrap. Thanks from everyone here at Paizo to the hundreds of gamers and guests who came, played, GMed, ran seminars, talked, laughed, and shared for making this PaizoCon so much fun. For those who didn’t get to make it, we’re already excited to do this all over again, so hopefully we’ll get to see you next year! And in the meantime, scroll down for an important announcment about Gen Con...

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

The Gen Con Costume Contest is Coming!

Check out these awesome costumes from last year!

Heads up, everyone! It's time to dust off those sewing machines and fabric paints and start getting ready for the Fifth Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest!

It's hard to believe that it's been five whole years since a priestess of Desna first showed us just how crafty our community could be (pun intended). In the years since, we've seen Pactmasters and witches, alchemists and Gray Maidens. But we know that there are more of you cosplayers out there, and we want to see you!

Here's the deal: At some point during Gen Con Indy this August, you show up to the Paizo booth dressed in your best Pathfinder costume—any monster, character, faction member, deity, or other figure from our world. In order to be eligible, your costume needs to be identifiably Pathfinder-related, not just generic fantasy—a knight isn't enough, but an Eagle Knight of Andoran is.

In addition to drawing a crowd of happy gawkers, you'll have your picture taken by a member of the Paizo staff. The best costumes—as decided by us—will end up on the Paizo blog once we return from Gen Con, at which point we'll allow the paizo.com messageboard community to pick their favorite. What criteria that mad and merry crew will use is anybody's guess, but whoever they select as the best Pathfinder cosplayer will walk away with 50 dollars in store credit! Even more importantly, the winner will go home knowing that he or she (or they—I'm still waiting for a life-sized Sandpoint Devil puppet) have entered the exclusive cadre of the Paizo Cosplay Winner's Circle.

The clock's ticking—will you be ready in time?

James Sutter
Senior Editor

And the Winner is...!

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Jessica as a Gray Maiden: winner of our Gen Con Pathfinder costume contest!

Over the last week, you’ve all had a chance to vote here on the forums for which Gen Con Pathfinder cosplay cosume is the best. Almost 200 of you cast your lots, and while every contestant got some votes, with many judges agonizing over their decisions, it quickly became a race for first between Jessica as the Gray Maiden and Bonnie as Feiya, our iconic witch. As the thread rolled on, however, a clear victor emerged. And the winner is... Jessica as the Gray Maiden!

For her sheer costuming awesomeness, Jessica will receive our eternal adoration and $50 in paizo.com store credit. The rest of the contestants will have to settle for just the adoration part.

Good work, everyone, and we hope to see you all dressed up again next year!

James Sutter
Fiction Editor

Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest Voting!

Friday, August 12th, 2011

It’s that time again! Though I failed in my sacred duty to announce the Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest well ahead of time, we still had a number of unbelievably strong contenders this year, and it would be a shame not to crown one of them as the winner—a title which, in addition to bragging rights, confers $50 in paizo.com store credit. So let’s get voting!

Here’s how it works: Presented below are the photographs (and names, where possible) of this year’s contestants. In the comments thread for this blog, you can pick the ONE winner who you think has the most awesome Pathfinder-related costume and shout out your vote. You have until next Thursday at noon to get in your choices, after which we’ll announce the winner.

Your options are:

Jessica as a Gray Maiden

Leslie as Seoni

Jean-Marc as a paladin of Sarenrae and Luc as a paladin of Iomedae

Eric as our Iconic Alchemist

Bonnie as our Iconic Witch (and Corey as kilted barbarian)

Nani as a Harrower

Natalie (with the metal plates), Nicole the alchemist, Amy the ranger, Megan the pregnant sorcerer, Mike the cleric.

James Sutter
Fiction Editor

Barbarian and iconic witch costumes

Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 09:58 AM Pacific

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Harrower costume

Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 09:46 AM Pacific

Nani as a harrower.

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Alchemist costume

Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 09:41 AM Pacific

I'm not sure if those flask contain reagents, or booze.

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Seoni

Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 10:52 AM Pacific

Seoni stopped by to say hi!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Paladins!

Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 10:46 AM Pacific

Paizo is under the watchful eye of two able and hearty paladins!

James Jacobs
Creative Director

An alchemist comes to visit Paizo!

Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 10:25 AM Pacific

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Gray Maiden

Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 10:25 AM Pacific

So awesome! Words fail.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Costume Contest Results

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Let me start this off by saying that our fans and friends are freakin' amazing. Seriously, folks—when Tiffany started this whole costume contest thing two years ago by showing up at the Gen Con booth dressed as a cleric of Desna, we were flat-out flabbergasted. The fact that Pathfinder cosplay has grown by leaps and bounds since then—enough to justify a full-fledged costume contest—is one of the greatest compliments our game could receive. If you've never seen what goes on in our hotel rooms after a long day of working the Gen Con booth (and I sincerely hope you haven't, as we were told those door locks were secure), there's a whole lot of summer-camp-style giggling that goes on late into the night as we marvel at all the folks we've met that day. The costume contest only compounds that.

This year we had a number of strong contenders. In fourth place, Kelly's amazing Harsk outfit (complete with badger and authentic handmade crossbow!) tied with Blake's fabulous depiction of Nethys, the two-faced god of magic. In third, Tiffany's Harrower costume was a spot-on recreation of the art from the campaign setting hardcover, while Jason's potion-covered homage to the iconic alchemist exploded into second place.

Yet there can be only one winner of the Third Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest, and this year the landslide victory went to Lora as the iconic witch. The level of detail on this costume was simply stunning. As art director Sarah Robinson pointed out, given the number of illustrators who complain about having to draw all the little pouches, fetishes, and other bits and pieces Wayne Reynolds likes to load up the iconics with, seeing someone actually make them to this level of detail is amazing. For her dedication, Lora receives the grand prize of $50 in Paizo store credit, as well as bragging rights until next year, when she'll have to defend her title.

When the time comes, will you be the one to take it from her?

James Sutter
Fiction Editor

Vote on the Costume Contest!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

We’re back from Gen Con, and in addition to the usual scramble to meet deadlines and recovery from horrifying illnesses contracted by shaking hands with approximately ten bajillion people, that means it’s time for everyone to vote on the contestants in the Third Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest!

We had an extraordinary number of contestants this year, and all of them did bang-up jobs! Yet only one can be the official winner of the grand prize (both a pile of Paizo store credit and bragging rights), which is where you come in. At the bottom of this blog, you’ll see a link for comments. Sound off and place your vote for the best costume in that thread. You have until the end of the weekend to make your selection. On Monday morning, we’ll tally all the votes, and announce the official winner in a blog post next week.

Ready? Here are this year’s fine contestants, in no particular order:

Lora as Feiya, the iconic witch.	Jason as Damiel, the iconic alchemist.
2009 contest champion Kelly as Harsk, the iconic ranger. (Maybe he’s a little tall for a dwarf, but how can you say no to a hand-made crossbow and his adorable animal companion, Biter?)	Blake as Nethys.
David as a paladin of Iomedae.	Corienne as a Tien monk.
2008 contest champion Tiffany as the Harrower from the campaign setting hardcover. (You can’t see her wayfinder here, but it came with its own ioun stone!)	Jean-Marc with his adventurer’s sash from Seekers of Secrets.
Noel as Trifaccia from Pathfinder Adventure Path #12. Look out, he's got a whip!	Honorable Mention: Jodi as Amiri, the iconic barbarian, who despite her amazing costume has removed herself from the running, on account of already being Sean Reynolds' girlfriend (and isn't that prize enough?).

So what are you waiting for? Cast your votes now!

James L. Sutter
Fiction Editor

Knitted Linnorm hat!

Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 10:44 PM Pacific

thanks to Judy's plans :-)

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Famous author and two icons

Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 03:30 PM Pacific

Dave Gross of Prince of Wolves fame with Amiri and Feiya.

Pierce Watters
Sales Director

Christian and the Icons

Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 02:15 PM Pacific

Pathfinder fun at Gen Con

Pierce Watters
Sales Director

... and Nethys.

Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 12:34 PM Pacific

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Nunununununu BATMAN!

Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 11:10 AM Pacific

I'm a huge Batman fan, so I approve.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Greg Vaughan and his ENnies dates.

Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 04:56 PM Pacific

Greg says, "No cameras!"

Chris Self
Sales Manager

Excellent.

Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 04:36 PM Pacific

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Another shot of the alchemist

Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 04:12 PM Pacific

Chris Self
Sales Manager

The Alchemist arrives!

Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 04:11 PM Pacific

Another great iconic costume!

Chris Self
Sales Manager

Harsk the ranger!

Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 03:48 PM Pacific

Getting some really great costumes this year!

Chris Self
Sales Manager

Snake Spotting

Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 07:11 AM Pacific

It was my understanding Snake was supposed to hide UNDER the box.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Amiri! With an iPad for comparison.

Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 03:17 PM Pacific

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Amiri draws a crowd

Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 01:14 PM Pacific

true, true

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Amiri is here!

Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 01:07 PM Pacific

with Monte Cook!

Sean K Reynolds
Developer

Gen Con Costume Contest Reminder!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Just a quick reminder that this is your last chance to start getting things ready for the Third Annual Paizo Gen Con Costume Contest! For more details, you can always refer back to the official announcement, but the short version is that if you come by the booth during Gen Con wearing quality Pathfinder cosplay, you've got the chance to win both cash and cred from the Paizo staff. So bust out those sewing machines and start working!

Now, since no blog would be complete without art, here's Jenny Poussin as Seoni, her costume courtesy of Paizo messageboard regular Laithoron. It's unclear whether their powerhouse partnership will actually be competing this year, but at the very least they should give you some inspiration.

James L. Sutter
Fiction Editor

(And yes, you've seen this picture before—the question is, have you seen it enough?)

Mammoth Mitts

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

When an early draft of the Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer crossed my desk, I remembered that it's time for another Golarion-themed knitting pattern!

What’s that you say? It's too hot to knit with wool at this time of year? Nonsense! Summer lasted only 2 days this year, and it was only 50 degrees Fahrenheit when I biked in this morning—practically mitten weather already! And if you don't live in frigid Seattle, remember that it's never too early to start making Crystalhue gifts... such as Mammoth Mitts!

These mittens feature a mammoth motif¹, spiraled ribbing and decreases, and colors that echo the Realm of the Mammoth Lords art from the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting. (Players who knit their mittens from qiviut earn 1 PA. Players who gather their own qiviut gain a bonus PA, but must make a DC 25 Reflex save to avoid being trampled.)

Mammoth Mitts
Materials: worsted weight yarn: 1 skein MC (moorit/red-brown), 1 skein CC1 (cream), 1 skein CC2 (purple); 1 yard of thinner black yarn
1 set US 4/3.5mm double-point needles, embroidery needle
Gauge: 24 sts/29 rows = 4 inches/10 cm
Directions for larger size are in brackets.

Directions:
Using MC, cast on 36 [44] sts.

Right cuff (ribbing spirals to the left):
Rows 1–2: (k2, p2)*
Rows 3–4: (p1, k2, p1)*
Rows 5–6: (p2, k2)*
Rows 7–8: (k1, p2, k1)*
Repeat these rows until cuff is desired length.

Left cuff (ribbing spirals to the right):
Rows 1–2: (k2, p2)*
Rows 3–4: (k1, p2, k1)* (p1, k2, p1)*
Rows 5–6: (p2, k2)*
Rows 7–8: (p1, k2, p1)*
Repeat these rows until the left cuff is the same length as the right cuff.

Mitten body²:
Rows 1–4: Knit (36 stitches).
Row 5: Place marker, make 1, knit 1, make 1, place marker, knit to end (38 [46] stitches).
Even rows 6–18: Knit.
Odd rows 7–19: Slip marker, make 1, knit to marker, make 1, slip marker.
Continue until mitten has 52 [64] stitches.
Rows 20–26: Knit. (Knitting should reach just above the join of your thumb and index finger when you put your hand inside.)
Slip the 16 [20] thumb stitches onto a piece of waste yarn.
M2 stitches, join the live stitches (38 [46] stitches).
Rows 27–29: Knit 3 rows.
Work Chart A [B] (2 repeats per row).
Rows 40–53: Resume MC; knit. (When you put your hand inside, knitting should just cover your pinkie, about 5.5 [6] inches from base of palm.)

Right Mitten Decrease (decreases slant to the left):
Row 1 (Medium): (k16, ssk)* (36 stitches)
Row 1 (Large): k44, ssk (45 stitches)
Rows 2–14: Knit.
Row 3: (k7, ssk)* (32 [40] stitches)
Row 5: (k6, ssk)* (28 [35] stitches)
Row 7: (k5, ssk)* (24 [30] stitches)
Row 9: (k4, ssk)* (20 [25] stitches)
Row 11: (k3, ssk)* (16 [20] stitches)
Row 13: (k2, ssk)* (12 [15] stitches)
Row 15: (k1, ssk)* (8 [10] stitches)
Bind off.

Left Mitten Decrease (decreases slant to the right):
Row 1 (Medium): (k16, k2tog)* (36 stitches)
Row 1 (Large): k44, k2tog (45 stitches)
Rows 2–14: Knit.
Row 3: (k7, k2tog)* (32 [40] stitches)
Row 5: (k6, k2tog)* (28 [35] stitches)
Row 7: (k5, k2tog)* (24 [30] stitches)
Row 9: (k4, k2tog)* (20 [25] stitches)
Row 11: (k3, k2tog)* (16 [20] stitches)
Row 13: (k2, k2tog)* (12 [15] stitches)
Row 15: (k1, k2tog)* (8 [10] stitches)
Bind off.

Thumb:
Pick up the 16 [20] stitches, plus 2 more from around top of thumb.
Rows 1–16: Knit. (Until just past the end of your thumb, about 2 [2.5] inches.)
Row 17: K2tog*.
Bind off.

Finishing:
Weave in all ends.
Using thin black yarn, embroider the eye and tusk details (feel free to go crazy making your mammoth look shaggy!).

Chart A (19 stitches × 11 rows):

Chart B (13 stitches × 11 rows):

1. The motif used in this pattern is based on a motif used in Kathleen Tayor's "Elephant Hats".
2. Row numbers will be a bit higher on the mitten body for the larger size, since it has more increase rows. I've included notes about fit, so you can gauge more precisely how to adjust the pattern to your own (or your recipient's) hands.

Judy Bauer
Editor

Reporting for Duty

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 at 07:58 AM Pacific

Kelly Gragg reports for his Pathfinder Society GM duties.

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Two brewers

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 at 12:11 AM Pacific

An Alchemist and a Priest of Cayden Cailean recline at the banquet.

Ross Byers
Assistant Software Developer

And the backs

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 07:14 PM Pacific

The reverse of the costumes, with holy symbol and sidhedron rune.

Ross Byers
Assistant Software Developer

Da 0gre and Fiona

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 07:12 PM Pacific

Dennis da 0gre and his wife at the preview banquet, in Desnan and Thassillonian garb.

Ross Byers
Assistant Software Developer

More Pathfinder Cosplay

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 06:37 PM Pacific

A Cleric of Asmodeus, Paladin of Iomedae, and a Barbarian warrior wait for the APG Preview banquet.

Ross Byers
Assistant Software Developer

Nethys, God of Knowledge

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 06:28 PM Pacific

Forum regular Karui_Kage as Nethys.

Ross Byers
Assistant Software Developer

The Gen Con Costume Contest is Coming!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

With PaizoCon just a few days away, some of you reading this blog may be thinking, "Man, I can't believe I can't make it to Gen Con and PaizoCon this year. The world is so unfair!"

While that is undoubtedly true, never fear, gentle GenConian! Because this is your official reminder that the Third Annual Pathfinder Gen Con Cosplay Contest is less than 2 months away at this point! (Shock! Gasp!)

Here's the deal: At some point during Gen Con, you show up to the Paizo booth dressed in your best Pathfinder costume. (That means monsters and characters with obvious ties to Golarion itself, not generic cosplay—that wizard hat could be from anywhere.) In addition to drawing a crowd of happy gawkers, the contestants will have their pictures taken by whatever staff members are handy. Those folks with the best costumes, as decided by us, will end up on the Paizo blog once we return from Gen Con, at which point we'll allow the posters on the messageboards to pick their favorite. What criteria that mad and merry crew will use is anybody's guess—creativity? recognizability? skin-to-clothing ratio?—but whoever they select as the best Pathfinder cosplayer will walk away with 50 dollars in store credit! But more importantly, the winner will go home knowing that he or she (or they, if folks want to team up to make a life-sized linnorm) have entered the exclusive cadre of the Paizo Cosplay Winner's Circle.

And now ('cause you knew it was coming), a note for PaizoCon attendees: While there's no official costume contest at PaizoCon this year, folks attending both cons are encouraged to bust out their costumes early and show the colors this weekend, to give the competition a taste of what they're up against. (And, of course, to get as much fun as possible out of that Hellknight armor you spent all winter forging.)

So what are you waiting for? Fire up that old sewing machine and see if you have what it takes to compete with folks like the already announced model-and-designer team of Jenny Poussin and Laithoron from the Paizo messageboards, whose amazing realization of Seoni (pictured above) is bound to set the bar high this year. But forewarned is also forearmed, and there's still time to get in on the game...

James L. Sutter
Fiction Editor and General Rabble-Rouser

Linnorm Helm

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Some people paint minis; others sketch their characters or scenes from their adventures. Me, I knit—tentacled beasties, piratical or tentacled hats, fingerless gloves with guild names embroidered across the knuckles.

Being between projects at the moment, I was browsing knitting patterns online and was disappointed to note that although there are some amazing fantasy knitting patterns, I couldn't find any Pathfinder-related patterns! That must be remedied!

As this realization coincided with the first set of pages from the World Guide: The Inner Sea hitting my desk, I thought it only fitting to create a pattern that represents one of the Inner Sea peoples. Thus, I present to you the Linnorm Helm^{1, 2}!

Linnorm Helm
Materials: worsted weight yarn: 1 skein MC (dark red; use 2 skeins for Large version), 1 skein CC1 (dark green), 1 skein CC2 (yellow-green)
1 set US 4/ 3.5 mm double-point needles
Gauge: 24 sts/29 rows = 4 inches/10 cm
Directions for larger version are in parentheses.

Directions:
Using MC, cast on 112 (128) stitches.
From bottom to top, work 2 repeats of the chart A (B).
Using MC, knit for 2 (3) more inches or 5 (7.5) cm.
To decrease for the top:
Row 1: (k6, k2tog)* [98 (112) stitches]
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: (k5, k2tog)* [84 (96) stitches]
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: (k4, k2tog)* [70 (80) stitches]
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: (k3, k2tog)* [56 (64) stitches]
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: (k2, k2tog)* [42 (48)stitches]
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: (k1, k2tog)* [28 (32) stitches]
Continue working k1, k2tog until 8–10 stitches remain, then bind off. Weave in all yarn tails.

Chart A

Chart B

Errata: If you find that the bottom of the hat tends to roll up on you, start with a 1" ribbed brim, and then begin the chart. Just be sure to take this added length into account in determining when to start decreasing! For the medium size, knit around for 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the end of the chart, then decrease; for the large size, knit around for 2 inches (5 cm) above the end of the chart, then decrease.

¹ The charted motifs are based on a motif from Nancy Spies' wonderful book Here Be Wyverns.

² If you're wearing an actual helm, this hat works well as a liner. It's no fun to have your helm freeze to your ears in winter, believe me!

Judy Bauer
Editor

Tiffany as Cleric of Desna	Kelly as Pactmaster of Katapesh

And the winner is...!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The votes for the First Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest are in, and after a hard battle, the winner is... both of them!

Yes, it seems that our messageboard horde saw too much merit in Tiffany's fantastic starknife and Kelly's unnerving Pactmaster mask to let either of them go unrewarded. (And in a way, Tiffany started this whole idea with her costume last year, so perhaps we should consider this the 2008 and 2009 awards.) Regardless of how you parse it, the result is that both Kelly and Tiffany will be receiving $50 in Paizo store credit. Congratulations to them both, and special thanks to messageboard poster Taig who offered to foot the bill for the second prize—we may not have taken him up on it, but we always love seeing the generosity of our community.

As for all of you who didn't have time to compete this year: there's always time to start preparing for next year's contest! Time to start collecting those giant crab legs for your Rovagug suit, hitting the gym in preparation for the Merisiel outfit, or shaving the family dog and training it to carry your goblins—I mean "beautiful children"—on its back. The possibilities are endless!

(P.S: I'm ashamed to admit that Tiffany's contact information was lost in the shuffle of Gen Con. Tiffany, if you're reading this, please email me at james.sutter@paizo.com to claim your prize!)

James Sutter
Editor

Cosplay Contest Part Deux: Choose Your Champion!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Another Gen Con has come and gone, and as all the editors crawl out from where we've been hiding in fetal positions beneath our desks, recovering from the exhaustion and excitement, we're forced to conclude that this was the best convention yet. The release of the Core Rulebook was a rousing success, the ENnies were kind, the community was more welcoming than ever, and our favorite industry professionals were just as zany and fun as last year. Yet all that in no way lessened the excitement of...

PATHFINDER COSPLAY!

Despite the relatively late warning (next year's contestants: consider this your starting gun), we doubled our Pathfinder cosplay turnout this year. That's right: two intrepid individuals spent portions of their con wandering around in full Pathfinder regalia, forever winning our hearts (and potentially $50 dollars in store credit). This year's contestants were Tiffany as a cleric of Desna (whose same costume last year inspired the contest, and hence is allowed to compete this year as well—unfortunately, only last year's photo is available) and new challenger Kelly, who wowed us all with his incredible rendition of a Pactmaster of Katapesh.

Tiffany as Cleric of Desna	Kelly as Pactmaster of Katapesh

Which costume is the best, and most deserving of reward? It's a tough question, but it's up to you to decide. If you want to weigh in on the matter, or just congratulate them both on their amazing costumes, head over to the Pathfinder Cosplay Contest thread on our messageboards and make your voice heard. Votes will be collected for roughly 48 hours, at which point we'll announce the winner here on the blog. So what are you waiting for? Let the voting begin!

James Sutter
Editor

Pathfinder Costume Contest at Gen Con!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Here at Paizo, we have many different levels of experience with cosplay, from Art Director Sarah Robinson's complete disdain for anything other than the latest trendy fashions (seriously, the woman has every purse in the western hemisphere) to Jason Bulmahn's days playing a lumbering oaf at midwestern renaissance fairs (how little things change!), to Wes Schneider who may, in fact, be a Pokémon. But the one thing we all have in common is that we love the idea of people dressing up as Pathfinder characters.

We never thought such things were possible until we met Tiffany, a real-life cleric of Desna, at last year's Gen Con, and thanks to her we're now convinced that anything is possible. Which is why I'm filled with glee to announce the First Annual Pathfinder Gen Con Cosplay Contest!

Here's the deal: At some point during Gen Con, you show up to the Paizo booth dressed in your best Pathfinder costume (faction shirts and other official Paizo merch don't count). We should stress that we're looking for monsters and characters with obvious ties to our world itself, not generic cosplayers (that wizard hat could be from anywhere), or people dressed up like actual Pathfinder books (very clever) or members of the Pathfinder staff (the world already has one James Jacobs, and one is enough for everybody). In addition to drawing a crowd of happy Paizoites, the contestants will have their pictures taken. Those folks with the best costumes, as decided by us, will end up on the Paizo blog once we return from Gen Con, at which point we'll allow the posters on our messageboards to pick their favorite. What criteria that mad and merry crew will use is anybody's guess—creativity? recognizability? skin-to-clothing ratio?—but whoever they select as the best Pathfinder cosplayer will walk away with fifty dollars in store credit!

So what are you waiting for? Get out that sewing machine and hot glue gun, send your party members on a run for foam rubber and acrylics, and show us what you're made of!

James Sutter
Editor