Gen Con 2012 and Official Call for Volunteers!

Monday, February 27, 2012


Illustration by Kevin Yan

For Gen Con 2012, we plan to make this the biggest and best Gen Con yet! I am scheduling 750 tables of Pathfinder Society over the four days. We are also bringing the GM 101 workshops that debuted at Paizo Con (and were discussed in last Monday’s blog) to Gen Con. They will hopefully be a hit and draw in new players and GMs to Pathfinder Society, as well as make active Pathfinder Society players take the next step and help to GM in their home regions.

We will be hosting Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box Introductions. During nine of the 10 slots at Gen Con, we are setting aside four tables at each slot for these events. These are scheduled with new players in mind. The first 45–60 minutes will be exploring the contents of the Beginner Box, explaining the rules, and reviewing the pregenerated characters. The final 4 hours of each slot will be playing through the four 1-hour adventures that were offered during the Beginner Box Bash.

In addition, we are adding a Pathfinder Kid’s Track to our gaming area. We are focusing on players aged 6–12 and we will be using the Beginner Box for this as well. Each Kid’s Track slot will be 2 hours long and each player will receive a check-off card, very similar to what was used at the Beginner Box Bash. The first hour teaches roleplaying and rules and reviews the pregenerated characters found in the Beginner Box. During the second hour, one of the four 1-hour adventures used during the Beginner Box Bash will be played. We will be restricting tables to four children players and are requiring a parent or guardian be present with each child (or multiple children if they have two or more interested in participating) for the entire 2 hours. The parent or guardian will assist the child when needed. But, we want to make this a good and memorable experience for the kids that attend Gen Con, who often find little they can participate in, especially with others their own age. We will be scheduling eight slots per day for the Kid’s Track. However, we are only scheduling one adventure each day. If a child comes back and plays a different adventure each of the 4 days, he will be able to present his check-off card and receive a special certificate. We may also have other giveaways or special prizes. I will be very picky when choosing volunteer GMs for the Kid’s Track. I prefer to have schoolteachers and other professionals with experience dealing with children, but I will consider GMs who are parents even if they do not deal with children regularly in their profession. If you are volunteering to GM the Kid’s Track, please make sure to include all of your credentials. Also, since these are scheduled as 2-hour blocks, a GM will be required to run two Kid’s Track slots back to back in a 4-hour block to count as one slot of credit toward GM rewards.

Finally, we are adding an invitation-only second round to the Gen Con Special: Race for the Runecarved Key! The first round will be what you have come to know and love as the Pathfinder Special. It will be 75 tables all working together to overcome some nasty problem the Decemvirate wants dealt with. However, the change this year is that we are adding a special, secret scoring system. The top three tables from each tier will advance to the invitation-only second round.

This second round will be one of the deadliest dungeons ever explored by the Pathfinder Society, and only the very best of the organization’s agents even have a chance of surviving. Again, let me emphasize—this will be a true and deadly test of the Pathfinder Society’s best teams. It is almost a guarantee some Pathfinders will die. Make sure to bring your A-game. The first round will be made available to qualifying conventions worldwide after Gen Con 2012 as it is every year. However, the second round is only being offered this once—at Gencon 2012.

At this point I am looking at restricting the GM pool to only 4- and 5-Star GMs. To top it off, the players that advance to the second round will trade in their Chronicle sheets received after the first round as their tickets to this invitation-only event. When they complete the second round, they will receive new Chronicle sheets with a very special boon. We haven’t forgotten about our volunteer GMs for the special either. We didn’t want them to miss out on the opportunity to play in the invitation-only second round. So, we will be entering all Round 1 GMs into a drawing, were we will pull six names. Those six GMs will then receive a seat at a 16th table of the second round.

The observant readers may have caught that I just mentioned 16 tables and are scratching their heads that three tables from each tier and the special GM table don’t add up to 16 tables. Well, you are right. Like last week’s blog that announced a special Tier 12+ event at Paizo Con, we are adding a Tier 12+ to both rounds of this year’s Gen Con special! The special will be written for Subtiers 1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 8–9, 10–11, and 12+, and we'll actually have 19 tables of round 2.

Now, let’s talk about the GMs and volunteers we need to pull all of the above off and make it an awesome Gen Con.

I need a minimum of 125 volunteer GMs for Pathfinder Society games, Beginner Box Introductions, and Kid’s Track events. I’ll continue taking volunteer GMs until the slots are filled, at which point I will create a waiting list in the event a scheduled GM has to cancel his or her Gen Con trip for whatever reason. I also need eight Volunteer Assistants for each slot of the show. These folks will not GM during their volunteer slots, but will instead help me run Pathfinder Society HQ—including marshalling, collecting tickets, distributing GM packs, and entering tracking sheets into the database—and will be our go-to guys and gals for all things Pathfinder Society.

Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering at Gen Con 2012. Keep in mind that you’re volunteering for slots, not a specific event. I will let you know the slots and scenarios you have been assigned as soon as possible. You may designate what tier scenarios you wish to GM but this is not guaranteed to be filled. I will do the best I can to accommodate your requests. My target date to get all GMs their assigned schedules is April 10. This should allow you plenty of time to plan a schedule, before the May 20 event registration, with your friends and family who are also attending Gen Con 2012. Please let me know via email which days you will be at the convention and how many slots you are volunteering for at Gen Con 2012.

Volunteer Tiers and Rewards

Tier 1 GM Volunteers
Tier 1 GM volunteers are my every day GMs. They are invaluable to making the show a success. Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 7 slots. Tier 1 GMs may feel free to volunteer for more than 7 slots if they so desire. Any slots over 7 will be used as overfill GMs. Overfill GMs are requested to show up for muster but will be free for the slot if a scenario has all of its assigned GMs present. I only have room for 80 Tier 1 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier. Volunteers will be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, though I reserve the right to select volunteers who have previously worked for Paizo over new volunteers. Please do not volunteer for Tier 1 if you have any doubts that you won't be able to attend the show. Tier 1 GMs receive:

  • A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2012 badge
  • A FREE 1/4 of a hotel room in the Hyatt Regency Hotel
  • A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
  • A FREE Bestiary Box (pawn set)
  • A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2012 T-Shirt

Tier 2 GM Volunteers
Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 6 slots. Tier 2 GMs receive:

  • A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2012 badge
  • A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
  • A FREE Bestiary Box (pawn set)
  • A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2012 T-Shirt

Tier 3 GM Volunteers
While the rewards for volunteering for this tier are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from Tier 3. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 5 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:

  • A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2012 badge
  • A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
  • A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2012 T-Shirt

Tier 4 GM Volunteers
This is the minimum volunteer level. Tier 4 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 3 slots. Tier 4 GMs receive:

  • A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
  • A FREE limited edition Paizo Publishing Gen Con 2012 T-Shirt

Volunteering for One or Two Slot
While we will gladly accept anyone who wants to run just one or two slots during the show, there are no rewards for doing so other than our thanks.

When Volunteering...

Please be specific about what days and how many slots you are volunteering for. I will assign folks to slots and scenarios on an as-needed basis. I will update the needs in the thread below as I receive volunteers, so you may look there to remain up to date on where we still need help. You must have a gencon.com account and you must include your gencon.com account number in your email or I won’t be able to get you a badge (obviously this is only for volunteers who are volunteering for 5 or more slots). Finally, include your Paizo.com email account so I can make sure you receive the scenarios in your downloads.

Slot 1: Thursday 8 A.M. to 1 P.M.
Slot 2: Thursday 1 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Slot 3: Thursday 7 P.M. to Midnight
Slot 4: Friday 8 A.M. to 1 P.M.
Slot 5: Friday 1 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Slot 6: Friday 7 P.M. to Midnight (Gen Con Special Round 1)
Slot 7: Saturday 8 A.M. to 1 P.M.
Slot 8: Saturday 1 P.M. to 6 P.M.
Slot 9: Saturday 7 P.M. to Midnight (Gen Con Special Round 2)
Slot 10: Sunday 9 A.M. to 2 P.M.

All Gen Con 2012 volunteers please email me at mike.brock@paizo.com with the subject line Gen Con Volunteer.

Thanks in advance for volunteering, good luck, and have a great spring and summer convention season!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Conventions Gen Con Kevin Yan Pathfinder Society
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Dark Archive 4/5 5/55/55/5 Venture-Agent, Indiana—Lafayette

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Berselius wrote:
So, um, any chance of previews for Advanced Race Guide coming soon?

Game Trade Magazine #145 has a two page excerpt on the Duergar. Your friendly Neighborhood game store should have a copy.

Dark Archive 4/5

I just volunteered for Tier 1. Let's hope I was quick enough to get in.

Dark Archive 4/5

Dan Luckett wrote:
Better than mine! Mine was "You can go, but you pay for it out of your own money."

And mine said "I want to go too!" So I think I might win here.

3/5

Email sent ....
... email failed ....(Word pasted to Hotmail sent to IPad = no text)
Email resent

Crossing fingers and waiting for Mike to sort through all his emails.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Swiftbrook wrote:

Email sent ....

... email failed ....(Word pasted to Hotmail sent to IPad = no text)
Email resent

Crossing fingers and waiting for Mike to sort through all his emails.

Received and schedule sent to you.

51 Tier 1 GM spots are gone. Only 29 more remain.

1/5

Pathfinder Adventure Subscriber

Quick Question: How does the 1/4th a free hotel work, and how many days is it?

Silver Crusade 5/5

That's a great question...Do I have a room Wednesday night before the con since I start at 8am?

I assume Paizo sticks 4 of us together and we get to know each other real well.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Dan Luckett wrote:

That's a great question...Do I have a room Wednesday night before the con since I start at 8am?

I assume Paizo sticks 4 of us together and we get to know each other real well.

Yes and yes.

1/5

Pathfinder Adventure Subscriber

And the room is for all four nights?

Silver Crusade 5/5

SImRobert2001 wrote:
And the room is for all four nights?

I'm going to say, "yes."

5/5

Dan Luckett wrote:
SImRobert2001 wrote:
And the room is for all four nights?
I'm going to say, "yes."

No. You get a free nights for Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Friday, you're required to sleep out on the street or at a local brewery until they too kick you out on the street. The alternative is to make your stealth check and slip under one of the tables in the PFS room. There are *only* 75 tables this year, so the first 75 tier 1 GM's get a free table to sleep under.

Grand Lodge 4/5

SImRobert2001 wrote:
And the room is for all four nights?

Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat nights are covered under tier 1 status. We will be housing four people per room.

As soon as all the tables are full, I will start asking for roommate requests. If you already know who the other 3 people in your room will be, please go ahead and email me with all four names and emails of the Tier 1 GMs. I will need an email from each person confirming they want to share the room with you.

Anyone who doesn't find 3 other room mates will be randomly assigned among other Tier 1 GMs.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I have volunteered. Looking forward to going.

Grand Lodge 4/5

For two couples, where all four are Tier 1 volunteers or GMs and who wish to share a room, we have no problem with this and in fact encourage it...the only caveat is that both couples agree to room together. I will not arrange this, however, and both couples will need to coordinate and send me an email.

Dark Archive 1/5

Kyle Baird wrote:
Can I get a free booster of Pathfinder Battles minis for each PC I kill?

Three full cases of minis will cost a lot in airline luggage Kyle.

5/5

baron arem heshvaun wrote:
Kyle Baird wrote:
Can I get a free booster of Pathfinder Battles minis for each PC I kill?
Three full cases of minis will cost a lot in airline luggage Kyle.

I'll rent a moving van!

Dark Archive 1/5

And let's give credit where credit is due.

Kudos, bravissimo, and light lashes from the Paracountess for Mike Brock! Its not an easy task to get this kind of prep work done for Gencon so far ahead of the scheduled dates and he's pulling it off nicely.

An upraised Cheliax salute to you sir.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

Michael Brock wrote:
Anyone who doesn't find 3 other room mates will be randomly assigned among other Tier 1 GMs.

I don't want to room with Dragnmoon. If someone references Play! Play! Play! or 8-man tables, I don't want to be in the gray-matter blast radius :-)

5/5

baron arem heshvaun wrote:

And let's give credit where credit is due.

Kudos, bravissimo, and light lashes from the Paracountess for Mike Brock! Its not an easy task to get this kind of prep work done for Gencon so far ahead of the scheduled dates and he's pulling it off nicely.

An upraised Cheliax salute to you sir.

HUZZAH!

Liberty's Edge 4/5

Just sent email for tier 1 volunteer. Hopeful.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Bob Jonquet wrote:
I don't want to room with Dragnmoon. If someone references Play! Play! Play! or 8-man tables, I don't want to be in the gray-matter blast radius :-)

Your in Luck for a few reasons..

Not a Tier 1 GM this year
I never take Paizo's offer of a hotel room
I have a personal policy against being roomies with Venture-Captains
and people named Kyle

;)

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

Works for me...but I'm still willing to buy you a beer :-)

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Bob Jonquet wrote:
Works for me...but I'm still willing to buy you a beer :-)

But are you willing to buy me good beer?

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

Dragnmoon wrote:
But are you willing to buy me good beer?

As long as that isn't some euphemism that my linguistics is failing to decipher, sure.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Michael Brock wrote:
SImRobert2001 wrote:
And the room is for all four nights?

Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat nights are covered under tier 1 status. We will be housing four people per room.

As soon as all the tables are full, I will start asking for roommate requests. If you already know who the other 3 people in your room will be, please go ahead and email me with all four names and emails of the Tier 1 GMs. I will need an email from each person confirming they want to share the room with you.

Anyone who doesn't find 3 other room mates will be randomly assigned among other Tier 1 GMs.

A correction to my above post. I've just been informed that Tier 1 GMs will have rooms covered for 5 nights! That would be Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun nights!

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

Michael Brock wrote:
A correction to my above post. I've just been informed that Tier 1 GMs will have rooms covered for 5 nights! That would be Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun nights!

Rockin' awesome! Thanks Mike

Dark Archive 4/5

Most excellent. An evening of R&R after a good convention. I will take Monday off to travel back and am willing to run Cyphermage Dilemma for my bunk mates and a few others if other peeps are staying. Otherwise I will just get drunk at Hooters.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

OMG, turning the Purple Worm loose in a Hooters?!?
I hope someone has a video camera and 911 on speed dial :-)

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Michael Brock wrote:
A correction to my above post. I've just been informed that Tier 1 GMs will have rooms covered for 5 nights! That would be Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun nights!

This highlights my previous post even more, and I would like to Thank Mike and Paizo for investing so much into PFS! So I am assuming this is coming out of Mark's Pay?... ;)

Dragnmoon wrote:

Just realized Mike is looking for 80 Tier 1 GMs, that is 48 more then last year, and 20 Hotel rooms. That is a Major investment by Paizo!

To give you an Idea on How major that is... I am assuming the Paizo is getting some kind of discount on Hotel Rooms but a Hotel can run upwards of over $1000+ for Wednesday through Monday, which would mean around $20,000!

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Mike does the GM 101 class include Coordinator Advice?

If not have you thought of setting up a Coordinator 101 course for the future?

Also will any kind of Documents be coming out of the GM 101 Course?

Silver Crusade 5/5

How many slots of GM 101 are being held, and at what times? I'd like to attend one just to see what's up. Alternatively, will it also be held at DragonCon, since I'll be attending that a couple weeks later?

The Exchange 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Dragnmoon wrote:

I have a personal policy against being roomies with Venture-Captains

and people named Kyle

Ouch. 0 for 2 for me I guess.

5/5

Kyle Pratt wrote:
Dragnmoon wrote:

I have a personal policy against being roomies with Venture-Captains

and people named Kyle
Ouch. 0 for 2 for me I guess.

ROFL! Take that Pratt!

The Exchange 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
Dan Luckett wrote:
How many slots of GM 101 are being held, and at what times? I'd like to attend one just to see what's up. Alternatively, will it also be held at DragonCon, since I'll be attending that a couple weeks later?

We hadn't planned on running it for Dragon*Con... but that's a really good idea. I'll begin looking into what we need to do to run it there. If we do run it, note that it'll probably only be one, maybe two sessions... considering we'll already have run it in Atlanta a few times by next D*Con :)

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

Even 5-stars can learn new things. I have some open slots and assuming that (1) no wants to play with me :-( and (2) they are available, I think I'll sit in on a GM101 class, seminar, thing...

Silver Crusade 5/5

I'll play a session with you Bob. I enjoy your company. I think it would also be entertaining/informative to sit at this seminar with you and hear your comments during the course.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Dan Luckett wrote:
How many slots of GM 101 are being held, and at what times? I'd like to attend one just to see what's up. Alternatively, will it also be held at DragonCon, since I'll be attending that a couple weeks later?

GM 101 Sessions are scheduled for Thurs, Fri and Sat mornings from 8 am -1 pm and on Sunday morning from 9 am - 2 pm.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Dragnmoon wrote:

Mike does the GM 101 class include Coordinator Advice?

If not have you thought of setting up a Coordinator 101 course for the future?

Also will any kind of Documents be coming out of the GM 101 Course?

I have considered a Coordinator 101 course but simply have no time to put one together for this year. Possibly for Gen Con 2013!

Also, I am still undecided about the documents for GM 101 sessions. I want to see how they go at Paizo Con before I decide if we need to provide documents or not.

Silver Crusade 5/5

Doesn't look like I'll be able to attend GM 101 then. I have GM slots during each of those times.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Ok, update for end of Day 2.

I currently have 75 Tier 1 GMs assigned slots. That means I only have 5 Tier 1 GM positions available on a first come, first served basis.

I have approx. 6 Tier 2 positions available.

I have approx. 8 Tier 3 and 4 positions available (most on Saturday and Sunday).

Dark Archive 4/5 5/55/55/5 Venture-Agent, Indiana—Lafayette

Michael Brock wrote:

Ok, update for end of Day 2.

I currently have 75 Tier 1 GMs assigned slots. That means I only have 5 Tier 1 GM positions available on a first come, first served basis.

I have approx. 6 Tier 2 positions available.

I have approx. 8 Tier 3 and 4 positions available (most on Saturday and Sunday).

Awesome!!!

Grand Lodge 4/5

620 of the 750 tables and volunteer spots are now filled. The good news is that I have been authorized an additional 5 hotel rooms to bring the total to 25! So, I now have space for up to 20 more Tier 1 GMs.

Slots are going very fast so if you are on the fence, now is the time to decide if you want to receive a share of a hotel room.

Liberty's Edge *

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

There seems to be a problem with this thread. On the main page it shows Mr. Brock as having posted a few hours ago, but here it only shows yesterday's post...

Grand Lodge 4/5

End of day 3 report.

81 tables left to fill.

By the way, we have added 5 more rooms to the Tier 1 structure for a total of 25. A handful of Tier 1 GM positions remain.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Also, anyone who wants to offer to run just one or two games during the weekend is certainly welcome to. We like all of our GMs :-)

We especially need several of these one or two game GMs on Saturday night in slot 9 and Sunday morning in slot 10.

Shadow Lodge 5/5

Michael Brock wrote:
We like all of our GMs :-)

Really?

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Michael Brock wrote:

End of day 3 report.

81 tables left to fill.

By the way, we have added 5 more rooms to the Tier 1 structure for a total of 25. A handful of Tier 1 GM positions remain.

Stop Tempting me!! This is my down year damn it! ;)

By the way, I like your new Tier 2. As someone who never takes up the offer for the Tier 1 Hotel though still volunteers as a Tier 1 it is nice to see an option that offers all tier 1 minus the hotel.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Care Baird wrote:
Michael Brock wrote:
We like all of our GMs :-)
Really?

Well he has to say that on the boards... but we all know the truth...;)

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

One good thing about me running less games this year... Less chance something controversial happening because of a game I ran causing this again!

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