OPC Log—14 Kuthona 4715

Monday, December 14, 2015

Where has the time gone? It feels like I started at Paizo yesterday, but looking at the calendar I've worked here 11 weeks. What a busy time! Lots of things going on! Thought I would take a moment and give a status update on several of the projects I've worked on over the past three months.

The Venture-Officer team saw reorganization with the addition of the Regional Venture-Coordinators and Venture-Agents. While I've been posting about the promotions and resignations of Venture-Captains and Venture-Lieutenants, I haven't said much about the others. The Regional Venture-Coordinators' jumped in with both feet and are working hard to get a handle on PFS in their areas and increase communication with the Venture Team. Positives in my book!

So far, I've processed the applications of 66 new Venture-Agents and have another 60ish to process early this week. If the stars align and the winds are right, the 120ish new agents will join the team at the New Year. Their main task involves bringing events to venues near you, spreading the goodness that is PFS. If you know of a venue that could host PFS, but isn't, find your local Venture Officer on our roster and let them know!

Besides the Venture-Officer reorganization, I'm working with the team on another initiative. Charity resides near and dear to my heart. While a Venture-Lieutenant, I co-founded CrispyCon, with Venture-Lieutenant Carol Tierney. All of the profits from CrispyCon went to charity. Over the years, we supported the British Polio Foundation, the Peterborough Neo-Natal Unit, and Sarcoma UK, to name a few. When I left the UK, Carol and Venture-Captain Chris Brockley Blatt morphed CrispyCon into 3XP and continued the charity tradition. This November, they raised £1295 for the Red Cross, SANE, and TOFS. In this spirit of charity, in 2016, we are adding two boons to the rotation. These boons are specifically to aid in raising funds for established charities. There are a few criteria, of course, that the Venture-Officers will confirm before submitting their convention information. If you feel your convention qualifies, contact your local Venture-Officer to participate.

Speaking of boons. Currently, most boons reach players hands at conventions. The PFS team discussed the forum posts where players noted they couldn't always attend cons, put our heads together, and came up with a few new programs. The first is a Welcome to the Society boon for new players and is for a person's XXXXX-1 character. We designed the boon with an eye to surviving those first scenarios while learning the ropes. We also added GameDay boons to the mix, designed to bridge the gap between weekly sessions and conventions. Right now, I tasked the Regional Venture-Coordinators to identify GameDays in their regions, so that we can distribute support worldwide. I'll publish more information on the GameDay program in the upcoming weeks.

Boons are to the Roleplay Guild as Rewards are to the Adventure Card Guild. I'm working with Tanis on similar benefits for new Card Guildies. Several Convention Rewards exist and will make their way to Conventions and GameDays near you offering Adventure Card Guild play.

These aren't the only tasks I've worked on over the past 11 weeks, but I need to keep something up my sleeve for future blogs. One hint—get your paintbrushes and glue guns ready!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator