For Gen Con 2012, I advised last year that we planned to make it the biggest and best Gen Con yet. And it certainly was. We scheduled 750 tables of Pathfinder Society over the four days. We showed the world our GM 101 workshops, Kids' Track, and Beginner Box Introductions. Gen Con was definitely a success and Paizo's biggest showing in history. But we can make it better!
As many already know, Paizo stepped up as a cosponsor at this year's show. What does that mean for Pathfinder Society? It means we move into the Sagamore Ballroom! We double in size, scheduling 150 tables per slot. Additionally, we also have two of the seven rooms that were used for Pathfinder Society last year. One of them will be used exclusively for Paizo seminars. The other room will have 10 tables and a mini-HQ that will allow us to schedule five tables of Beginner Box Introductions and five tables of the Kids' Track for all ten slots of Gen Con. This year, we will also be hosting a GM and volunteer briefing in the Sagamore Ballroom from 5-6 pm on Wednesday. If you are a volunteer of GM, please try to attend.
Doubling in size allows us to offer a much broader selection of scenarios for players to choose from. I also wanted this to serve as a celebration of Pathfinder Society history and have chosen several multipart series, as well as favorites from past seasons, in addition to the normal offerings of the previous season and the new season. We are planning to schedule 61 different scenarios, one Gen Con Special, two Gen Con Exclusives, and two modules! These include seven Season 0 scenarios, nine Season 1 scenarios, 13 Season 2 scenarios, 10 Season 3 scenarios, 19 Season 4 scenarios, and four Season 5 scenarios. We are also offereing a few tables of We Be Goblins! and We Be Goblins Too! throughout the course of the convention.
We are planning one or two tables of the three new Season 5 scenarios for each morning and afternoon slot throughout the convention, which will be GMed in French and Spanish languages. Paris Venture-Captain Karim Majeri, Quebec Venture-Captain Michel Lepage, and French GM Florent Fournol will be traveling to Gen Con from their countries and GMing a large share of the French-language tables, but I still have a few open tables if you are fluent in French. Every French-language GM that volunteers to GM six or more tables will receive a French-language Core Rulebook as a thank you! All of the Spanish-language tables need GMs. If you are fluent in either language, please consider GMing in some of these first time offerings at Gen Con.
The Season 5 Gen Con special, Siege of the Diamond City, scheduled for Friday night, will help us kickoff the new season near the Worldwound! The Special this year will be designed for levels 1—15, and include subtiers for levels 12—13 and 14—15. At 150 tables, it will be one of the single largest, collaborative roleplaying games ever hosted!
Season 0
- #1: Silent Tide (Tier 1—5)
- #5: Mists of Mwangi (Tier 1—5)
- #6: Black Waters (Tier 1—5)
- #7: Among the Living (Tier 1—7)
- #20: King Xeros of Old Azlant (Tier 7—11)
- #22: Fingerprints of the Fiend (Tier 7—11)
- #23: Tide of Morning (Tier 1—5)
Season 1
- #1—33: Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible (Tier 1—5)
- #1—35: Voice in the Void (Tier 1—7)
- #1—38: No Plunder, No Pay (Tier 7—11)
- #1—39: The Citadel of Flame (Tier 1—5)
- #1—40: Hall of Drunken Heroes (Tier 7—11)
- #1—46: Eyes of the Ten, Part 1: Requiem for the Red Raven (Tier 12)
- #1—49: Among the Dead (Tier 1—7)
- #1—54: Eyes of theTen, Part 2: Maze of the Open Road (Tier 12)
- #1—56: Jester's Fraud (Tier 5—9)
Season 2
- #2—01: Before the Dawn, Part 1: The Bloodcove Disguise (Tier 1—7)
- #2—02: Before the Dawn, Part 2: Rescue at Azlant Ridge (Tier 1—7)
- #2—03: The Rebel's Ransom (Tier 5—9)
- #2—05: Eyes of the Ten, Part 3: Red Revolution (Tier 12)
- #2—06: The Heresy of Man, Part 1: The First Heresy (Tier 5—9)
- #2—07: The Heresy of Man, Part 2: Where Dark Things Sleep (Tier 5—9)
- #2—08: The Sarkorian Prophecy (Tier 7—11)
- #2—09: The Heresy of Man, Part 3: Beneath Forgotten Sands (Tier 5—9)
- #2—10: Fury of the Fiend (Tier 7—11)
- #2—11: The Penumbral Accords (Tier 1—5)
- #2—12: Below the Silver Tarn (Tier 7—11)
- #2—22: Eyes of the Ten, Part 4: Nothing Ventures, Nothing Gained (Tier 12)
- #2—25: You Only Die Twice (Tier 5—9)
Season 3
- #3—05: Tide of Twilight (Tier 1—5)
- #3—07: Echoes of the Overwatched (Tier 1—5)
- #3—08: Among the Gods (Tier 3—7)
- #3—10: The Immortal Conundrum (Tier 5—9)
- #3—12: Wonders in the Weave, Part 1: The Dog Pharoah's Tomb (Tier 5—9)
- #3—14: Wonders in the Weave, Part 2: Snakes in the Fold (Tier 5—9)
- #3—15: The Haunting of Hinojai (Tier 5—9)
- #3—18: The God's Market Gamble (Tier 1—5)
- #3—20: Rats of Round Mountain, Part 1: The Sundered Path (Tier 7—11)
- #3—22: Rats of Round Mountain, Part 2: Pagoda of the Rat (Tier 7—11)
Season 4
- #4—EX: Day of the Demon (Tier 3—7)
- #4—04: King of the Storval Stairs (Tier 7—11)
- #4—05: The Sanos Abduction (Tier 3—7)
- #4—07: Severing Ties (Tier 1—5)
- #4—08: The Cultist's Kiss (Tier 7—11)
- #4—10: Feasts of Sigils (Tier 7—11)
- #4—11: The Disappeared (Tier 1—5)
- #4—12: Refuge of Time (Tier 7—11)
- #4—13: Fortress of the Nail (Tier 5—9)
- #4—14: My Enemy's Enemy (Tier 3—7)
- #4—17: Tower of the Ironwood Watch (Tier 5—9)
- #4—18: The Veteran's Vault (Tier 1—5)
- #4—19: The Night March of Kalkamedes (Tier 1—5)
- #4—20: Words of the Ancient (Tier 7—11)
- #4—22: Halls of Dwarven Lore (Tier 5—9)
- #4—23: Rivalry's End (Tier 3—7)
- #4—24: The Price of Friendship (Tier 5—9)
- #4—25: The Secrets Stones Keep (Tier 5—9)
- #4—26: The Waking Rune (Tier 7—11)
Season 5
- #5—00: Siege of the Diamond City (Gen Con Special, Tier 1—15)
- #5—01: Title TBD (Tier 1—5) (English, French, and Spanish language)
- #5—02: Title TBD (Tier 3—7) (English, French, and Spanish language)
- #5—03: Title TBD (Tier 5—9) (English, French, and Spanish language)
We will be offering two exclusives this year at Gen Con, one on Thursday night and one on Saturday night. On Thursday evening, we'll be running a particularly challenging (and lethal) Tier 3—7 scenario, the Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 1: The Silent Grave, written by Jason Bulhman, Lead Designer at Paizo Publishing. This is the first of a series of special events designed to test your character to its limits. It debuted at Winter Fantasy this past January and will make a few limited appearances throughout the spring and summer convention season leading up to Gen Con. On Saturday night, we will follow up Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 1 with Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 2, also written by Jason. It is also being designed for Tier 3—7 characters, and again, will be particularly challenging and lethal. Ruins of Bonekeep, Level 2 will make its debut at Gen Con. For both of the exclusives, the threat of character death is very real, but the potential rewards are greater as a result. You will be able to, as a table, decide to leave the event at any time should it become too deadly for you, except when engaged in combat. If this is not the type of event for you, please look for other options during Slots 3 and 9. We will only run each level one time at Gen Con so both will be limited, exclusive events. On a side note, we will have a few limited tables running all three of the new Season 5 scenarios if you would rather not participate in either of the exclusives.
Illustration by Michal Ivan
In regard to the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box Introductions, we have two different offerings this year. During all 10 slots at Gen Con, we are setting aside five tables during each slot for these Beginner Box Introduction events. Both parts are scheduled with new players in mind. For Beginner Box Introductions, Part 1, it is the same as last year in that we will allow for the first 45—60 minutes to be an exploration of the contents of the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, explaining the rules, and reviewing the pregenerated characters. The final four hours of each slot will be playing through the four, one-hour adventures that were offered last year. For Beginner Box Introductions, Part 2, the GM will assist players in advancing their character to 3rd level. The Beginner Box Transitions, Player Pack, and GM Kit will be reviewed. Once those three free documents have been covered, we will be offering up five brand-new, one-hour adventures as time permits. Much like the four adventures in Part 1, these will be utilizing only the Beginner Box rules.
We'll also be expanding the Pathfinder Kids' Track this year! We will be setting aside five tables at each slot for all 10 slots of the convention. We are focusing on players aged 6—12 and we will be using the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box for this as well. The Kids' Track is divided into two parts—the Beginner Track and the Advanced Track. Each kids' Beginner Track slot will be two hours long and each player will receive a check-off card, similar to what was used last year and at the Beginner Box Bash in 2011. The first hour of each of the 10 kids' Beginner Track sessions teaches roleplaying and rules, and reviews the pregenerated characters found in the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box. During the second hour, one of the four, one-hour adventures used during the Beginner Box Bash will be played.
For the kids' Advanced Track, we are focusing on children who participated in last year's kids' Beginner Track, at a local kids' Beginner Track session near their home, or for older children that have prior experience with Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The GM at each of the two-hour slots will help the children level-up their chosen character to third level. After leveling is complete, the GM will run one of five new adventures designed using the Beginner Box rules.
We will be running each of the nine different adventures multiple times throughout the convention to allow flexible scheduling for children and parents. We will be restricting tables to four children players and are requiring a parent or guardian be present with the child (or multiple children if two or more are interested in participating) for the entire two hours. The parent or guardian will assist the child when needed. 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 30, two-hour tables per day on Thursday through Saturday, and 20, two-hour tables on Sunday, for the Kids' Track, divided between the Beginner Track and Advanced Track.
If a child plays all four different adventures in the Beginner Track, he will be able to present his check-off card to HQ and receive a special certificate that celebrates his accomplishments. If a child plays all five different adventures in the Advanced Track, she will be able to present her check-off card to HQ and receive a second, different special certificate. Each of the certificates has a different boon that can be applied to a new Pathfinder Society character if the child finishes both Kids' Tracks and wants to advance from the Beginner Box and participate in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. We may also have other giveaways or special prizes, such as dice and minaitures, similar to last year. I will be very picky when choosing volunteer GMs for the Kids' Track. I prefer to have school teachers and other professionals with experience dealing with children. 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 Kids' Track, please make sure to include all of your credentials. Also, since these are scheduled as two-hour blocks, a GM will be required to run two Kids' Track slots back to back in a four-hour block to count as 1 slot of credit toward GM rewards.
We are bringing back GM 101 in both of its parts—the breakout sessions and the Deck of Many Situations. In addition to GM 101, we will be showing off GM 201, which will debut at PaizoCon and build on the lessons learned from the GM 101 course. On a side note, the last draft I saw circulating around the office had 22 other seminars scheduled besides just the two GM classes!
Finally, I need volunteers who have experience with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (“Project Swallowtail”) playtest to run demos in the Dealer Hall next to Paizo's booth. You can volunteer to work one or two five-hour blocks each day from 9 AM to 6 PM (Sunday ends at 4 PM). Volunteering for any demo time will count toward your GM reward credit below.
Now, let's talk about the GMs and volunteers we need to pull all of the above off and make it the biggest and best Gen Con ever.
I need a minimum of 300 volunteer GMs for Pathfinder Society games, Beginner Box Introductions, Kids' Track events, GM 101 and 201, and Pathfinder Adventure Card Game demos. I'll continue taking volunteer GMs until the slots are filled, at which point I will create a waiting list in the event that a scheduled GM has to cancel their Gen Con trip for whatever reason. I also need a few 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 marshaling, collecting tickets, distributing GM packs, entering tracking sheets into the database, and they will be our go-to guys and gals for all things Pathfinder Society. Keep in mind these positions are very limited and likely to fill up in the first few hours after the blog goes live.
Below you will find the reward structure for volunteering at Gen Con 2013. Keep in mind that you're volunteering for slots, not a specific event. You can request a special event if you like, but it will not be guaranteed. Those who are able to spice up their event by adding 3D terrain, props that stand out, and the like will be given first consideration for specific events. I will let you know the slots and scenarios you have been assigned as soon as possible. You may designate what tier of scenarios you wish to GM but fulfilling this request is not guaranteed. I will, however, do the best I can to accommodate your requests. My target date to have all GMs their assigned schedules is April 19. This should allow you plenty of time to plan a schedule, before the May 19 event registration, with your friends and family who are also attending Gen Con 2013. 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 2013.
When you email me, I need you to include the following information in your email:
- The email address that is tied to your Gen Con account.
- The email address that is tied to your Paizo.com account.
- I need to know if you have received the purple goblin Pathfinder Society volunteer shirts at a previous show. If not, I need to know what size you wear.
Volunteer Tiers and Rewards
Tier 1 GM Volunteers
Tier 1 GM volunteers are invaluable to making the show a success. Tier 1 GMs must select and volunteer for a MINIMUM of 8 slots. Tier 1 GMs may feel free to volunteer for more than 8 slots if they so desire. I only have room for 116 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 about being able to attend the show. Tier 1 GMs receive:
- A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 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 Mythic Adventures hardcover
- Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
- A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option of choosing a one-time complete rebuild of any level character OR the choice to create a character from one of the following races: grippli, ifrit, oread, suli, sylph, undine, or vishkanya.
Tier 2 GM Volunteers
Tier 2 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 7 slots. I only have room for 44 Tier 2 GM volunteers so don't delay in volunteering for this tier—it fills up very quickly. Tier 2 GMs receive:
- A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 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 Mythic Adventures hardcover
- Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
- A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, suli, sylph, undine, or vishkanya.
Tier 3 GM Volunteers
While the rewards for volunteering for Tier 3 are smaller, the majority of my volunteers will come from this tier. Tier 3 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 6 slots. Tier 3 GMs receive:
- A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 badge
- A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
- A FREE Mythic Adventures hardcover
- Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
- A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, suli, sylph, or undine.
Tier 4 GM Volunteers
Tier 4 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 5 slots. Tier 4 GMs receive:
- A FREE 4-day Gen Con 2013 badge
- A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
- Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
- A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, sylph, or undine.
Tier 5 GM Volunteers
This is the minimum volunteer level to receive shirts. Tier 5 GMs must volunteer for a MINIMUM of 4 slots. Tier 5 GMs receive:
- A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
- Four FREE limited edition purple goblin Paizo Publishing Pathfinder Society Volunteer T-Shirts (if not previously received)
- A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the option to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, sylph, or undine.
Volunteering for 1, 2, or 3 Slots
- A $10 per slot voucher for Paizo.com credit, useable at the show or anytime after, including with your subscriptions
- A special Pathfinder Society boon that gives you the choice to create a character from one of the following races: ifrit, oread, sylph, or undine.
When Volunteering...
Again, 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 email address tied to your Gen Con account 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). Include the email address tied to your Paizo.com account so I can make sure you receive the scenarios in your downloads. Finally, I need to know if you have received the purple goblin Pathfinder Society volunteer shirts in the past. If not, I need to know what size you need.
The time slots are as follows:
Slot 1: Thursday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 2: Thursday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 3: Thursday 7 PM to Midnight (Gen Con Exclusive #1 and three new Season 5 scenarios)
Slot 4: Friday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 5: Friday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 6: Friday 7 PM to Midnight (Gen Con Special)
Slot 7: Saturday 8 AM to 1 PM
Slot 8: Saturday 1 PM to 6 PM
Slot 9: Saturday 7 PM to Midnight (Gen Con Exclusive #2 and three new Season 5 scenarios)
Slot 10: Sunday 9 AM to 2 PM
All Gen Con 2013 volunteers please email me at mike.brock@paizo.com with the following subject line: Gen Con Volunteer—Tier X (X being the tier you wish to volunteer for).
Thanks in advance for volunteering and have a great spring and summer convention season!
Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
