Full disclosure: I did not have three and a half hours in the pool.
That's all it took for Paizo to sell out all of its stock of our new Pathfinder Adventure Card Game's base set at the Gen Con Game Fair. In fact, an hour before the hall opened to the public, hundreds of "Very Important Gamers" had queued up to buy their copies. I tried to shake all of their hands. Well, one hand per person. So half their hands.
It often took an hour to get a demo. That is something I've never experienced outside of a video game convention. The Pathfinder Society demoers, plus my developers Chad, Paul, Gaby, and Tanis, ran tables all weekend, but there just wasn't room for everyone. If you tried to get a peek, I hope you got in.
I had to tell most of my friends that no, they could not expect a copy from me. I didn't have any copies under the table. Everything went to a fan. We were in uncharted waters here.
Mike demos the game to Aubrey Webber of the nerd folk duo The Doubleclicks. Photo by the other Doubleclick, Angela Webber.
The coolest thing is that we saw people playing the game all over the con. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. They also seemed to be trying to grasp exactly what kind of game it was they were playing. The card gamers suddenly felt like they were doing something more personal than just managing card combos. The RPGers found themselves in an environment where the game was trying to kill them, and nobody was there to save them. Eventually, they all seemed to get it. This was something familiar, but also something very different.
I got asked a lot of questions. Did a lot of interviews. For example, there were these Orrises.
We were asked over and over whether or not we would make more Adventure Paths after Rise of the Runelords. This seemed a little premature to me. Weren't you more interested in playing this one than thinking about the next one, I asked. But it dawned on me why they were asking. They wanted to know whether we were committed to following this out, to making the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game more than just a distraction, more of a lifestyle choice. They wanted to know if we embraced it as much as they wanted us to.
I'm pretty sure we'll keep doing this as long as folks want. I'm not sure what's next, but it sure seems like something's next.
Meanwhile, let's get to playing. A year into the development, I'm ready to open my box and take it for a spin. If you're at PAX Prime, let me know if you're playing. I'll try to come by and see.
And thanks again, Gen Con. It was a heck of a show.
Mike Selinker
Designer, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
