In my brief stint handling both development and campaign coordination duties, I've had a chance to interact with many of the venture-captains and venture-lieutenants while fulfilling convention support requests. One of the most surprising was for PbP Gameday IV from Jesse Davis, venture-captain of online play (PbP stands for play-by-post, explained more below). To give you a sense of perspective, some of our larger regional conventions over the summer run about 120 sessions of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild; this request had 149 sessions with 81 GMs—and that wasn't counting any of the ones who already had their scenario PDFs. I was very excited to share the news of how strong the online play community is and the wealth of gaming opportunities available for anyone with an internet connection.
I'll let Jesse take it from there.
A few weeks ago John mentioned 25 great new reasons to attend a convention this season. But sometimes—for a variety of reasons—you just can't always attend a convention in person. Are you doomed to miss out on those 25 great reasons? Hardly! Online Play is here to give you a shot at those prizes and opportunity to play those special events without having to leave the comfort of your home.
We have two perfect events coming up to give two great aspects of online play a try.
The first is the Play-by-Post event starting September 19th. Play-by-Post is an asynchronous, text-based form of online play that allows for more time to explore role-play and story, and it is a terrific way for new GMs and players still learning the rules to experience Pathfinder in a slower, more deliberate form of gameplay. And for more experienced players, it is a chance to explore roleplaying opportunities not always available at a real-time table with a tighter schedule.
Check out the PbP Gameday IV event as well as its list of games. There are over 170 PbP games to choose from, including many tables of the interactive Special, #6–97: Siege of Serpents and the 4-Star exclusive, #6–98: Serpents Rise.
If you are more interested in Real-Time Virtual Tabletop play, our next opportunity is AetherCon IV, coming up November 13th–15th. AetherCon is a terrific online convention offering panels and many games, including panels with Paizo staff and other industry favorites, for the low, low price of FREE. There will be over a hundred tables of Pathfinder Society Organized Play at AetherCon, including the interactive Special #7–00: The Sky Key Solution and the 4- and 5-Star exclusives #6–98: Serpents Rise.and #6–99: True Dragons of Absalom.
Collectively, there are 300+ tables of roleplaying possibility online—and just as many chances to win prizes and boons usually only seen at local and regional gaming conventions. So don't miss out! Give online play events a try! You don't have to wait for an event to experience the great gaming opportunities that online play has to offer; check out the Grand Lodge for Online Play on Paizo.com to find a VTT game that interests you, or check out the PbP forums on Paizo.com and get in a game there. We hope to see you at a virtual table soon.
If you have any questions about online play, you can contact the venture-officers for online play at PFSOnlineVOs@GMail.com.
Jesse Davis
Venture Captain—Online Play
I'm really excited to see so many opportunities for online play, and I encourage you to give both play-by-post and virtual tabletop formats a try. Thank you, Jesse, for providing this update.
John Compton
Developer
