We'll be at PAX this weekend, but I don't suspect we're going to have time to sit down and play any adventures (even going all three days, time is at a premium.) Will there be any take-aways that we can pick up while we're there, though?
Awesome! I'm glad you guys are getting out to PAX! I'll definitely drop by.
Sigh. Another awesome west cost con I can't get to. :P Awesome that you guys are going to be there though. It would be sweet if you made it to Pax East in a year or two.
I didn't know about PAX until now, so I just looked at the 2001 PAX East gaming schedule and it fit onto 3 pages in Excel. Is that right? This convention sounds small.
I didn't know about PAX until now, so I just looked at the 2001 PAX East gaming schedule and it fit onto 3 pages in Excel.
I'm guessing you meant 2010 PAX East here.
Is that right? This convention sounds small.
PAX is a gaming convention (a very large gaming convention) that runs twice a year on opposite coasts and attracts about 70,000 gamers to each convention.
While its attendance numbers put Gen Con to shame, PAX is focused on all sorts of gaming, with a particularly heavy focus on the video games industry. Tabletop gaming has always been a part of the convention, and has become increasingly popular there, especially since the convention's founders (Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, the Penny Arcade guys) began to talk more about D&D, but it frankly plays second fiddle to the video games aspect of the con.
I was at the 2010 PAX East convention that you mention, and ran as many learn-to-play D&D games as I possibly could; they had overwhelming demand and hadn't anticipated needing as many DMs as they did. Lines to play were out the door and wrapped around corners.
WotC has historically been one of the biggest (if not the biggest) sponsors of the convention, and they see it as a golden opportunity to introduce new gamers to D&D. Paizo had a presence at PAX very early on, IIRC, but they've been absent for the last few years. I'm glad to see them returning.
Stuff
Thanks for the info. Yes, I meant PAX East.
Sounds like a good opportunity for both companies to expand.
Director of Brand Strategy
|
There generally aren't a lot of scheduled tabletop events, as it's largely a video gaming convention. What you don't see on the schedule, however, are the first-come, first-served demo games Scott mentioned. We're hoping PAX Prime offers the same chance for us to expose new players to the game, and maybe next year we'll have a large enough market to warrant putting specific adventures or events on the schedule.
On the other hand, if you released a Pathfinder NES game, that might get more PAX attention. ;)
Ok, these days it would have to be a Xbox Live/Steam game, but you get the idea.
one day. PAX sounds awesome.
|
I was at the 2010 PAX East convention that you mention, and ran as many learn-to-play D&D games as I possibly could; they had overwhelming demand and hadn't anticipated needing as many DMs as they did. Lines to play were out the door and wrapped around corners.
Hey Scott, I know you're more of a 4e kinda guy, but do you have any idea what the scene was like for PFS? I meant to check it out but I was too busy running the Barfleet party in the main hotel to even get down to see the expo.
I was at the 2010 PAX East convention that you mention, and ran as many learn-to-play D&D games as I possibly could; they had overwhelming demand and hadn't anticipated needing as many DMs as they did. Lines to play were out the door and wrapped around corners.
Hey Scott, I know you're more of a 4e kinda guy, but do you have any idea what the scene was like for PFS? I meant to check it out but I was too busy running the Barfleet party in the main hotel to even get down to see the expo.
I'm sorry, I don't. I didn't see any official presence - like I said, Paizo is returning to PAX this year after an absence. It may be that some ran PFS games in the free-play tabletop area, but I don't think there was a room for Pathfinder games or anything like that. If things turn out well for Paizo at Prime this weekend then hopefully we'll see them at PAX East as well going forward.
|
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
|
Paizo sort of abandoned PAX years ago, when it was a much smaller, very different show (and we were a much smaller, very different company, honestly).
So there hasn't been any formal PFS at PAX until this year. This year is a modest showing (we're running three tables of PFS every slot), with the main focus on first-come, first-served hour-long demos.
This convention attracts an enormous number of tabletop-curious young gamers. The way the hall works is that unless you want to stand in line for an hour or two to get some booth promo or play a demo of a not-yet-released video game, you can do the "hall" in about two hours, maybe less.
That means a lot of people, many of them teens and young adults dropped off for the whole day, have to spend their time doing _something_, and that something is often "try out a bunch of tabletop games."
WotC has got the formula mastered, and the lines of complete newbies lining up to throw dice are absolutely enormous.
So we're going to see how interested this crowd is in Pathfinder, and go from there.
I'm excited!
The way the hall works is that unless you want to stand in line for an hour or two to get some booth promo or play a demo of a not-yet-released video game, you can do the "hall" in about two hours, maybe less.
That means a lot of people, many of them teens and young adults dropped off for the whole day, have to spend their time doing _something_, and that something is often "try out a bunch of tabletop games."
I need to make sure I have enough Hastes memorized; we're always there for all three days and it never seems to work out the way you describe, much less if we only had one day. Even without standing in line for demos, we're always short of time.
Nevertheless, I think it will be great to see Paizo there. Since we converted to Pathfinder late last year, this will also be our first year taking a serious look at some other booths, such as the metal-die people (I forget their names) and Geek Chic (even though I could never afford their gorgeous gaming furniture.)
*snip* such as the metal-die people (I forget their names) *snip*
IronDie, right here.
*snip* such as the metal-die people (I forget their names) *snip*IronDie, right here.
Those are absolutely cool (and I'd be tempted by some of them at the con), but the folks I was thinking of actually make dice that look similar to the standard polyhedrals we all know and love, but in brushed steel and (I think) chrome. Could be the same folks, but either way, it'll be exciting.
|
Director of Sales
|
Those are absolutely cool (and I'd be tempted by some of them at the con), but the folks I was thinking of actually make dice that look similar to the standard polyhedrals we all know and love, but in brushed steel and (I think) chrome. Could be the same folks, but either way, it'll be exciting.*snip* such as the metal-die people (I forget their names) *snip*IronDie, right here.
Crystal Caste used to offer metal dice in their Dwarven Metal line, but these have been backordered/unavailable for quite some time now. I have one of their giant, metal D20's. It's awesome.
On topic: I'm excited to go to PAX. :)
I would like to know which Paizo staffers are going to be there, if it would be possible.
Those are absolutely cool (and I'd be tempted by some of them at the con), but the folks I was thinking of actually make dice that look similar to the standard polyhedrals we all know and love, but in brushed steel and (I think) chrome. Could be the same folks, but either way, it'll be exciting.*snip* such as the metal-die people (I forget their names) *snip*IronDie, right here.Crystal Caste used to offer metal dice in their Dwarven Metal line, but these have been backordered/unavailable for quite some time now. I have one of their giant, metal D20's. It's awesome.
On topic: I'm excited to go to PAX. :)
I believe their vendor at Gencon had the metal dice line, as well as their gem dice.
I wish I could go to PAX. perhapse next year you guys will come to PAX East :)
hope it went well!
The Paizo section of PAX was a blast. Though I'm not a member of the Society, I undertook two of the one-shot adventures they had going on, he first to get a coin and try to open the treasure chest (had my eye on that module) and the second because the first was so much. I was actually spoiling for more gameplay Saturday night but by the time I arrived, they weren't taking any more players (the room had to close down at 9PM - tragedy!)
We played the Mwanda Expanse (Jungle) and Ustalav adventures. In the jungle, we lightheartedly tested our GM's end-of-the-day patience, almost using our one-time-use return totem to make sure it worked before we were sent off. That could explain why we were teleported a mile off target in the jungle, had no survival skills in our group and began taking non-lethal damage from heatstroke and exertion before we could finally muddle our way to the objective.
Thereupon, our party split up for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. When our (somewhat impatient) rogue stirred up the denizens, our ninja, who had gone off of his own accord to scout, was surprised and disabled by two charging monkeys. Trying to get away, he took an AoO, dropped to dying but stabilized, and spent the entire rest of the adventure in the negatives since we couldn't get to him. We eventually triumphed, but not without two characters in negative hp and others on the verge (with some unlucky rolls even the 17 hp fighter was only conscious due to healing.)
For Ustalav, our six players were divded, personality-wise into two groups of three, who, outside of combat, didn't seem to agree on too much. One group included a rogue who stole everything he could (including the bloody hat of a peasant who was run over by our carriage, etched coins thrown into a town fountain in order to bless those families, and the bones of an animated skeletal cat that he was forced to throttle after failing to sneak up on it), a cleric who tried to browbeat a church's caretaker into giving us holy water (when the caretaker refused, the rogue tried unsuccessfully to steal the water by using the church's font to fill an urn he had stolen) and a fighter who went along for the ride; and a ninja, alchemist and gunslinger who decided to head to the inn instead of the church.
The latter group didn't save the world on their own, but on the other hand, they didn't get thrown out of a church with the door locked, barred and wizard locked behind them, either. Eventually after regrouping, we hit the graveyard and later the mausoleum, whereupon we battled four skeletons and some manner of skeleton lord. You wouldn't think this much of a problem, but (except for the ninja's measly 1d3 kusarigama) every party member was using non-bludgeoning weapons (against DR 5/bludgeoning) and landing low damage rolls; they entirely soaked probably half a dozen attacks. Finally, hemming in the BBEG from four sides and flanking, the rogue got a sneak attack that was able to bring down the whittled down skeleton lord. With all of our characters looking directly at a magical item discovered in its wake, the rogue attempted to steal it from us.
Ultimately, I had a ton of fun and am even considering looking up some Pathfinder Society action in our area as a result. I hope Paizo is back next year, for sure.
Also, Reaper was there and had an awesome swag giveaway where PAX attendees could get a free miniature and paint it right there. Unfortunately, by the time I went to check it out on Sunday, there was a two hour wait and I couldn't swing it, but I think it was cool anyway.
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
It was a great time at PAX, I played the Cheliax game and liked it so much I mentioned it to my wife. She and I met playing 3rd edition D&D but she hasn't really liked D&D since she found other RPGs. She played Varisia and liked it so much she went back and played Mwangi, now shes planing to run Counsel of Thieves for our gaming group. So I call that a win for Paizo as I am sure we will be buying more books, minis, and maps soon.
That's a great thing to hear!
It was a great time at PAX, I played the Cheliax game and liked it so much I mentioned it to my wife. She and I met playing 3rd edition D&D but she hasn't really liked D&D since she found other RPGs. She played Varisia and liked it so much she went back and played Mwangi, now shes planing to run Counsel of Thieves for our gaming group. So I call that a win for Paizo as I am sure we will be buying more books, minis, and maps soon.
Woo hoo! Glad to hear you guys had a great time!
|
It was a great time at PAX, I played the Cheliax game and liked it so much I mentioned it to my wife. She and I met playing 3rd edition D&D but she hasn't really liked D&D since she found other RPGs. She played Varisia and liked it so much she went back and played Mwangi, now shes planing to run Counsel of Thieves for our gaming group. So I call that a win for Paizo as I am sure we will be buying more books, minis, and maps soon.
Glad you enjoyed them all! Welcome to the PFS!
My boyfriend and I got through all 5 adventures. We also won the Core rulebook, a poster, and a book! :) It was really fun, especially hearing the different interpretations of the samurai's accent! What I'm curious about is whether you can only make 1 character with the special races on the card, or if the card unlocks making characters of those races in general.
The Pathfinder Society chronicle that you received for completing the PAXPort only unlocks one race for one character.
|
The Paizo section of PAX was a blast. Though I'm not a member of the Society, I undertook two of the one-shot adventures they had going on, he first to get a coin and try to open the treasure chest (had my eye on that module) and the second because the first was so much. I was actually spoiling for more gameplay Saturday night but by the time I arrived, they weren't taking any more players (the room had to close down at 9PM - tragedy!)
We played the Mwanda Expanse (Jungle) and Ustalav adventures.
I agree with Ultrace that having to close down at 9pm was a tragedy. I would have been willing to run scenarios for all the people coming in the doors until 1am or later, if the Paizo guys would have allowed it. I ended up going 8 hours in a row on both Friday and Saturday (start around 10am, break for lunch at 6pm). 5 scenarios on Friday, 4 on Satutday. The lines were CRAZY. After awhile, it was like Liz was seating people in a fine dining restaurant. "Cheliax? Table for six? Cheliax?"
I don't know if I've ever had such fun GMing in my life. I know for a fact that I've never laughed so hard while running a game. The standouts of the weekend for me were:
- Running a game to a guy (Brad Mays) who told me before the game that he hadn't played a roleplaying game for years, picked up 4th ed and brought it back to the game store the same day after reading the rules. "Hopefully this'll be different."
After the adventure, he shook my hand with a big grin and said, "You, my friend, just sold a lotta books. These guys are getting all my money."
And then he autographed my core rulebook with the words "As a cancer survivor, I'd rather go through chemotherapy again than play 4th ed."
- GMing a three gunslinger (and one washout) party that was pure, uncontrolled chaos. It was like being the gamemaster for an improv troupe, and it was AWESOME.
With gunslingers "Original Recipe," "Spicy Cajun," and "Extra Tasty Crispy," (who spent the entire scenario begging Kyra the cleric - who had apparently washed out of"gunslinger camp" to eventually settle for becoming a cleric - to cast Armor of Faith on him, I could barely stop laughing long enough to run them through their monkey fight in the Mwangi Expanse.
And this was a FIGHT. With Ezren the wizard bleeding out at -7HP at the cleric's feet while he healed pretty much everyone else, "You? How's that scab coming along? Good? Good. And Ezren? Oh, that's right... heretic! And you, how are you doing over there?" With Valeros nearly getting his brains bashed out by two monkey rocks to the head, with Original Recipe racing to get the idol and then sprinting back to snap the medallion's chain and teleport the entire fight back into the Pathfinder Society's grand library, screaming baboons, wizard's arterial spray and more, that right there was the most perfect ending to the scenario ever.
- Getting the finest, most touching compliment I've ever received about my GMing. The next day, Liz went over to Eric (Extra Tasty Crispy) and Justin (Kyra, cleric, monkey HATER and gunslinger camp washout) to ask them what scenario they were waiting for. I was stunned to see two fingers point my way and hear, "Him. We're waiting for whatever he's running."
- When the final encounter in a mausoleum in Ustalav began, it went something like this:
Characters spot skeleton minions hiding behind pillars. Sarcophagus lid slides back to reveal the Skeletal Champion, and swinging up onto its shoulder, a skeletal...
"MONKEY!" shouts Kyra.
Round 1:
Initiative 20: Monkeyhatin' Kyra channels positive energy, instantly destroys all the skeleton minions in the room.
Initiative 18: Extra Tasty Crispy fires her pistol, crits, blows the head off the skeletal champion, the big bad guy of the scenario.
I look around at 4 other players who haven't even gotten a chance to move yet, and the fight is now completely over, since I only added the skeletal monkey as an in-joke.
Initiative 17: I reach for my Bestiary, turn to "Familiars: Monkey," combine the stats with those of the skeletal champion, jack his hit points to 40, and let loose.
Initiative 16: the real fight commences.
All in all, the best weekend I've ever spent gaming.
I will always be indebted to Dane, Liz and Erik for that.
Thank you so much.
- Rich
|
|
IronDie, right here.
The IronDice folks are located at Greenlake Games on Aurora here in Seattle. Back in June, I believe, they shipped a literal TON of them around the United States to game stores and dealers all over. Dan (the store's owner) gets to go to Milan to work out new designs with the creator. He's living his dream. And Christie gets to mind the store most of the time. She's going to be playing Poog in my upcoming all-goblin campaign.
I've seen some of the designs for the new IronDice they've got planned, and they're awesome. I can't wait to see the d20's, d'12 (especially the gear one) and the rest.I got to watch Christie sell an entire case of them to a guy at PAX yesterday ($400, plus the cost of the case). I wish I had the money.
|
|
So, I've got a question...
People enjoyed the 1 hour PAXport sessions so much over the weekend that I was wondering, since I plan on trying to get a Pathfinder Society going at DTwenty games in the near future, would it be allowable to run those 5 scenarios for players with the same benefit(getting access to play Aasimar, Tieflings or Tengu)? I'm sure that would bring a few people through the doors that might not otherwise show up, and could fit nicely into beginning their PFS play.
I understand if you guys had it set up as a PAX only kind of thing. But this way, people who couldn't make it could benefit from it, and if you've got any more of those PAXport cards, you could get rid of them.
We eventually triumphed, but not without two characters in negative hp and others on the verge
..their monkey fight in the Mwangi Expanse. And this was a FIGHT.
Sounds like the Mwangi adventure was quite the challenge! Fear the evil monkeys!
You are awesome Rich.
~CJ
I was wondering, since I plan on trying to get a Pathfinder Society going at DTwenty games in the near future, would it be allowable to run those 5 scenarios for players with the same benefit(getting access to play Aasimar, Tieflings or Tengu)?
I'm going to come out and recommend trying to go for this even if the access to the special classes is cut off as a reward. That didn't even figure into it for me--and as I watched groups exit from the room (while waiting to play) it seemed like everyone I saw had enough reward just from playing the game itself (although I did see at least one person cash in their completed PAXPort for the special character form.)
We eventually triumphed, but not without two characters in negative hp and others on the verge..their monkey fight in the Mwangi Expanse. And this was a FIGHT.Sounds like the Mwangi adventure was quite the challenge! Fear the evil monkeys!
It's a very important lesson about not splitting up the party unless you're confident. We had 5 people, split into groups of 2/2/1. It's very easy, especially at 1st level, for a single character to get overwhelmed... And yes, those monkeys can be rough.
I had a great time at PAX GMing, Liz knows the exact number but I think I ran ~12 tables of Mwangi Expanse (anyone who played after about noon on saturday I was the GM who had no voice left).
Ultrace's game sounds familiar, but I found a lot of groups split up there for some reason or another. Rogues and Ninjas wanting to be sneaking probably.
I think everyone had fun at my tables I know I had fun running them.
|
Director of Brand Strategy
|
Thx for the info guys! I got another question. What's a Chronicle sheet and how do we get one for the PAXport? I don't think we were told to pick one up. The PAXport also doesn't say you need one.
A Chronicle is an official record sheet for the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, which tracks a character's progress through the campaign. Players at PAX who completed all five demos and got their PAXport stamped could exchange it for a Chronicle granting access to the three special races at HQ. If you don't play Pathfinder Society or didn't play all 5 demos, then it's not something you need worry about.
I had a great time at PAX GMing, Liz knows the exact number but I think I ran ~12 tables of Mwangi Expanse (anyone who played after about noon on saturday I was the GM who had no voice left).
Ultrace's game sounds familiar, but I found a lot of groups split up there for some reason or another. Rogues and Ninjas wanting to be sneaking probably.
I think everyone had fun at my tables I know I had fun running them.
That was us! We did indeed come by on Saturday afternoon and you were having trouble with your voice. We split up, our ninja decided he was going to be all awesome and go ninja'ing and got surprised by two charging monkeys. You did a great job running that, which was what led to me coming back later for Ustalav (would have done more, but time is so limited at PAX!)
|
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
|
We are looking to expand the "PAXPort" demo program so it can be run in other locations in the future, but it will probably be at least October (and maybe later) before we can do so. So while there is no opportunity to play these events outside of PAX currently, they will likely be available to a wider audience in the relatively near future (in some form).
|
|
We are looking to expand the "PAXPort" demo program so it can be run in other locations in the future, but it will probably be at least October (and maybe later) before we can do so. So while there is no opportunity to play these events outside of PAX currently, they will likely be available to a wider audience in the relatively near future (in some form).
That's a fantastic idea. I'd love to get a crack at playing one of the races that were released for PFS play during Gen Con, but I'd also like to just be able to run some more of those short scenarios at my FLGS, DTwenty Games. I'm picturing something like advertising the hell out of a Saturday and then trying to get a few GM's to assist me in running the 5 PAXport demos to draw interest, and then starting PFS in the following weeks. I think a reward of a new playable character race, while it shouldn't be necessary as a reward, certainly is an attractive draw.
It was good hearing so many people, either at the tables or walking out the doors, asking about how they could become involved in Pathfinder Society play.I guess I'm still on a GM's high from the weekend.
|
|
I understand that I'm going to be putting my greenhorn status out there for all to see, but I have a question.
What are GM stars? I keep reading about 5-star GM's on the messageboards, but where can I find more information on the system? And how can I convert my general awesomesauceness into a 3 or 4 star headstart?
I understand that I'm going to be putting my greenhorn status out there for all to see, but I have a question.
What are GM stars? I keep reading about 5-star GM's on the messageboards, but where can I find more information on the system? And how can I convert my general awesomesauceness into a 3 or 4 star headstart?
Having 5 stars does not automatically mean awesomesauce. (Just look at Todd!)
I understand that I'm going to be putting my greenhorn status out there for all to see, but I have a question.
What are GM stars? I keep reading about 5-star GM's on the messageboards, but where can I find more information on the system? And how can I convert my general awesomesauceness into a 3 or 4 star headstart?
The answers you seek can be found in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play on page 29. After you get some stars, they show up on your profile (just click my name to see an example).
WotC has got the formula mastered, and the lines of complete newbies lining up to throw dice are absolutely enormous.
I wouldn't say mastered. I worked the WotC events this year and the past two. While this year saw enormous growth over previous years, the organizers, volunteers, and WotC staff have been tweaking the model each year. It can still be refined further, and I'm sure we will see that. Things that were amazing at PAX East were less so at PAX Prime and vice-versa, so it is always a moving target and a guessing game. I suspect your short demo games were a really good fit for PAX.
Both WotC and Tabletop/Paizo were a bit too hidden for my tastes. I agree completely that there are many players looking to try out RPGs and it is a shame that they are all so hard to find. This is truly a great con for all RPGs to bring in new players... if they can afford the cost (competing against video game budgets can't be easy). It would be nice if all of tabletop could be in one easily accessible area. My Pathfinder friends that also play 4E had real trouble finding everything and getting from one place to another between events.
Social media and being organized ahead of time may be a key to the success of future PAX conventions, assuming the Penny Arcade guys can't be convinced to give better placement to Tabletop.