The explosive growth of Pathfinder Society

Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 07:55 AM Pacific

As word of mouth spreads around Gen Con, Pathfinder Society continues to grow this weekend. We have issued more than 500 new PFS member cards. In this current slot on Saturday afternoon, we have 16 added tables in the Sagamore Ballroom, bringing the total tables currently running Pathfinder Society, Beginner Box Intros and Kid's Track session to a total of 91! We even added an extra, third table of a Kid's Track session and now have 15 kids under 11 playing Pathfinder! It is a good day!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

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Tags: Gen Con

Wow! Glad to hear it. I've been running a few tables online myself. I have to say, I do like the feel of it as well as some of the changes since I first read about a year and a half ago. Great job!!


This brings a warmth to my heart. :-)

Grand Lodge

Fantastic!

Liberty's Edge

This is good news indeed. Are Kids Track session materials available on the Pathfinder Society site? It might be a good idea for some of my fellow GMs to have introductory events for younger players.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

I would LOVE to see the Kids' Track stuff brought to PaizoCon next year.

The Exchange

thunderspirit wrote:
I would LOVE to see the Kids' Track stuff brought to PaizoCon next year.

Ditto for PaizoConUK.

Liberty's Edge

brock, no the other one... wrote:
thunderspirit wrote:
I would LOVE to see the Kids' Track stuff brought to PaizoCon next year.
Ditto for PaizoConUK.

Well, I have had some fairly young kids -- 11 and younger -- show up at some role playing events. So, maybe a Kids Track module for Pathfinder Society that will work with Basic Box characters might be a good idea.

Dark Archive

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I brought my 5 year old daughter to Gen Con for the first time this year and she played two of the kids track sessions. I had to help her with the math, but she definitely got the concept. She was so excited to get a set of dice and figs. The kids track sessions are very worthwhile. The beginner's box is a great product and this is exactly what you need to develop the next generation of gamers!

Shadow Lodge

I ran a "pick-up" game Saturday night at Gen Con with two "regulars" and four brand-new PFS players, including a dad and his ~12 year old son. At the end of it all the young lad could say was "this game is sooo fun, I want to keep playing!" and his dad seemed to really enjoy himself too - they said they were going to come back to play Sunday and then find local games back home!

One suggestion for Kids' Track - see if their tables can be in smaller rooms or along walls of game rooms where the ambient noise is a little less. At three tables at Gen Con there were 12-15 year old kids at the table and the noise of the surrounding tables seemed to bother them more than it did more regular gamers.

In any event, I love that PFS has the Kids' Track, and I love how the society keeps appealing to gamers all across the age spectrum! Well-done this weekend!

The Exchange

Pathfinder is my first table top RPG to play and I began about 3 years ago. My home group plays Pathfinder and occasionally there are PFS sessions at my local game store when I can get out to it.

My visit to GenCon was very last minute but it was awesomely fun to get to be at it (Thanks to my job for sending me to Indy for two weeks). I bought a goblin plushie, of course, and was excited to grab some Runelords starter boxes. They are just as great if not better than the Heroes beginners box. Oh and I *LOVE* the comic book and can't wait to get more in the series. I tried getting in a Steps part 1 (for General event ticket holders) on Saturday but there was not enough GMs so our table played the Beginner's Box since that had an available GM. Then I took the PFS GM 101 Parts 1 and 2 on Sunday... I highly recommend it for any con-goer interested or currently a GM that can get to it... even if you think you are experienced GM there is always something to learn. I did however think the tracks shouldn't be listed as "No experience required". That was a bit misleading and luckily I've GM enough to not have found myself completely lost in the sauce. By "enough" I mean only two sessions GMing of Pathfinder with no other GM experience but 3 years exp as player in Pathfinder.

All in all, it will be very hard for me to stop playing Pathfinder!

Liberty's Edge

And thanks to the Event Organizers for being so accommodating to generic ticket holders - I really wanted to play at least one of the Season 4 modules, and thanks to the absolutely unreal amount of love and care they gave everyone, I did get the chance to!

Applause all around. It's true, I still have the warm fuzzies from what was my first Gencon, but I don't think I'm wearing rose-colored glasses at all when I say that Paizo really distinguished themselves in the marketplace of gamer's hearts this weekend.

Sczarni RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32

There were so many people there that told me that they played pathfinder for the first time this weekend and loved it enough to keep playing it at home.

My favorite player had to be the little in girl in costume who kept spamming detect magic and asked tons of questions. Her father helped her play, but it was fun to see her excitement throughout the game.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

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I had a lot of great experiences at Gen Con. The very best, however, came on Sunday morning. I was in civilian clothes, lot looking like anything Pathfinder, as I was going back to the hotel room for another load for the car.

The elevators opened, and a man got out with his son, who was about 4. Maybe 3 and a half. He was carrying a little stuffed toy. He talked to me as he was following his dad.

"Hello. I'm going to play Paffinder. This is my friend. He's going to play, too. We're going to play, but we have to listen too, 'cause we're all a team in Paffinder, and we all have to listen to one another." And he skipped off to catch up with his dad.

(Obviously, he's too young for the messageboards.)

Dark Archive

The last 4th Ed. players in Florida have finally converted to PFS (rubs hands together), muahaha. Now Paizo's plan of ruling the world is almost complete. Wait, umm...

But, yeah, we're looking at a 11% constant growth Year over Year at MegaConvention for PFS. I'm looking to get a 10th, maybe even 11th table for PFS Interactive at MegaCon2013.


I was wondering what the minimum age would reasonably be for the kid's track. My son just turned 5 and I figured he'd be waaaay too young, but I saw some kids about his size, if not his age, playing. Next year maybe, 2014 definately.

Stroke of genius, Mr Brock!


Played my very first PFS game at Gencon on Friday. Really enjoyed myself and quickly realized how addictive the Chronicle sheets could become.


I played my first PFS game on Thursday at Gen Con. Had some free time on my hands and I had not signed up for anything, so I managed to pick-up a spot on the fly and lo and behold, who's at my table but the RPG SuperStar Winner of 2012: Mike Welham.

I ended up playing a stock 1st level Merisel. Who knew that goblins can be quite formidable at first level? At our second encountered pictured, I ended up being the first to die.

I'm still grumbling under my breath that it wasn't until later in that session (as I stuck around to watch) that one of the participants had a cure light wounds wand w/ 50 charges. I could've used that, bro.

Of the five participants remaining, two more ended up dying before the adventure had to conclude as it was nearing midnight. This is my second time I've played in a pick-up with Mike and both times I've died with fire being the cause to my demise. Here I was sharing my frustration with Mike.


The kids tables were a blast to run and every kid who came to play seemed to have a great time. I was able to give out 4 or 5 Pathfinder Diplomas and the kids who didn't get to finish I introduced to their local VCs so they could set up some kids track events.

@ Chris Mortica: That sounds like Tyson. He was a little young for the finer points of the game but really liked rolling dice and killing goblins.

@ Twowolves: I had Tyson play with his dad's help and he was 4 so 5 wouldn't be crazy. For the younger kids I usually gave them two options during combat like "Do you want to shot your bow or attack with you sword" and then pointed out which dice they needed to roll.

Grand Lodge

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Does any one know where to get a copy of the Kid's Track adventures? I was hoping to run something like that for my kids...

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