And Miles to Go

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Six years ago, Paizo welcomed prolific Pathfinder super-fan, PaizoCon and Wayfinder co-champion, and overall badass Liz Courts to our offices. Today, Liz treks on to her next adventure—pursuing her creative passions and leaving her trademark gninja style on whatever she sets her mind to. We are so proud to have been able to work side-by-side with her, and are just as excited to see what she does next. Because while in that blog post all that time ago, she hoped that the "awesomeness" would rub off on her, her "awesomness" has more than made it's mark on everyone in our office, our conventions, and the community.

Left to Right: Liz, Lisa, and Adam at Gen Con 2012; Tim Nightengale, Liz, and Mark receive their Paizo Volunteer of the Year awards at PaizoCon 2012; The illustration by Liz (@lilith-darkmoon) outside of her and Sara's office

Liz is one of the reasons that I'm here at Paizo. We had been friends online since the magazine days and way back then I proposed the idea of making a chat room for a group of fans to be able to chat off the messageboards, which we were on all the time anyway. After making the post, Liz stepped up and built it. Back in the early days of the chatroom she, along with a few other folks, first encouraged me to get into freelancing. After I decided to do so, I booked a trip to GenCon where I'd finally meet Liz and a couple other close friends in person for the first time. Liz didn't just make a chatroom for Paizo fans and make the messageboards a fun place, she also started Wayfinder with Hugo Solis. I was happy to be around for that magazine's infancy and help out with editing for the first half-dozen issues. Liz is also responsible for wrangling me into the secret project where she and I and a couple of other Werecabbages got a credit in the Core Rulebook! With such a commitment to the community, it's no surprise that six years ago, Liz got picked up by the big purple golem. We were so happy for her and knew that she would kick ass there and it was great to see her making a positive change in her life exploring a new career. Starting off in Customer Service, she went to Webstore Specialist to Community Manager (and wore a bunch of other hats along the way). A few years later, Liz was one of the first people I got in touch with when I was offered a job here, because I knew that she'd give it to me straight about what it was like at Paizo. Even though we don't work in the same department, I've greatly enjoyed working with Liz. We get to work side by side at conventions (where she has frequently taken pictures of me in boxes and posted them to the blog). Liz has always been a hard worker who gives a damn about what she's doing. I'm going to miss having her here as someone to talk to and rely on for a solid opinion on something. She always has a level head and makes good calls. It's going to be tough to fill her shoes. I'm gonna miss you, Liz! Adam Daigle Developer It's hard to imagine the Paizo office without Liz because she was already such an integral part of it by the time I showed up. Her influence in the Pathfinder community stretches so far and wide, that I admit I was a bit intimidated when I first met her. I had heard tales of her fiercely loyal friendship and delicious baked goods, and Liz wasted no time in extending that sense of community and family to me when I stepped in the door. Since that day she has been a fount of knowledge, advice, creativity, inspiration, and encouragement. She's not one to sit idly by and watch a peer suffer. She'll give you all the tricks she has up her sleeve to help, and if that doesn't do it she'll know which direction to point you. She spreads such joy and enthusiasm about the game, about art, and about life, and has always been the first to encourage those around her to do what they love. I know that I'm not alone in feeling that the time I've been honored to work with her has had a deep impact on me, both personally and professionally. As selfishly sad as I am that I won't be able to see her every day at work, I am beyond thrilled for the future that lies in pursuing her craft. I know that wherever there are rooms full of gamers sharing laughs and rolling dice, Liz won't ever be too far away. Katina Davis Customer Service Representative Liz was my friend before I ever started at Paizo, and was the bedrock of the Paizo fan community when I first started getting into Golarion. She was also a kickass roommate for many years, even if we did argue constantly over cat-rearing philosophies. It was amazing when we ended up coworkers. She's been so smart and passionate and friendly at every turn. The office is going to feel a lot emptier without her here, but I'm thrilled that she's moving on to bigger and better things! Crystal Frasier Developer

I first interacted with Liz as a third-party publisher of Pathfinder-compatible material. I wasn't joking when I dubbed her Paizo's Patron Saint of 3PP. Her professionalism, vast knowledge base, and friendly assistance with any issue or question I had as publisher of Rogue Genius Games had a major impact on our success, and on the success of Pathfinder-compatible third-party efforts in general. A endless round of thanks and applause, Liz! Owen K.C. Stephens Developer LIZ! Thank you so much for helping keep Paizo fans happy, and for keeping Paizo employees happy! You will be missed, but hopefully this means you'll have LOTS of free time now to draw me LOTS more Merisiel pictures, right? Well... even if you don't, have fun and good luck and keep gaming! James Jacobs Creative Director My very first experience with Liz was at Gen Con 2014. It was my first Gen Con and I was a bit starstruck seeing all these people who make the game I love. I went to the Paizo booth a few times, and ended up at the register Liz was running more than once. When I went to pickup my subscription was one of those times. I told her I was picking up my subs and gave her my name. She then, without looking anything up, said my email address and asked if that was me. Liz Courts liked my email address and had remembered it! LIZ COURTS liked my email address and remembered it! I spent what was probably a few hours making starstruck fanboy squeals at my friends. There were even more of those squeals this past Christmas. I love Star Wars. I love Pathfinder. Amiri is my favorite iconic. On my desk right now is a wonderful piece of Liz art (Liz is a wonderful artist!) of Amiri as an X-Wing pilot that she gave me for Christmas! Liz, I feel very fortunate for having been able to work with you, and more importantly be friends with you. It has always amazed me how much information you have hanging out in your head. That you remember every single item on our website is amazing. That you remember every single fandom of everyone around you is also amazing (and it makes every wallet attack you make a critical hit!)! I would wish you luck with your future endeavors but you are such a talented writer and artist that I know you don't need luck. The work you have put in to your craft will take you wherever you want to go. I will miss talking about Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and all of the fandoms. Thank you for everything, Liz! Peace and long life! Diego Valdez Customer Service Representative When I think of Liz, I immediately think of the Gen Con many years ago when she somehow got a hold of a creepy dolphin puppet, which she proceeded to wield like Pam from the cartoon Archer. A whole crew of us spent that last night of the show hanging around someone's hotel room, shooting the breeze while she made the dolphin puppet leer at us, turning every innocent comment into innuendo by virtue of its smarmy, knows-too-much smile. So while I could say all sorts of things about how awesome Liz has been for the company and the community, or how talented she is in a variety of fields, I'd be lying if I didn't say my first association with the name Liz Courts is "raunchy dolphin puppet." And I think that, in itself, may be the greatest praise. James L. Sutter Creative Director I met Liz for the first time at PaizoCon 2009 where she GM'd my very first convention game. Since then she has been an enthusiastic, supportive and amazing coworker, officemate and friend. I've been lucky enough to get to witness her growth as an artist and author and while I'm excited to see where her talent and dedication and love of gaming leads her, I'm going to miss the heck out of seeing her smile every time I peak over my computer. Sara Marie Customer Service Manager I will miss that Liz always has a relevant gif handy to help bring humor or sympathy to situations. And will I miss things like delicious brownies from the Department of Morale Adjustment. However, my wallet will NOT miss sneaky wallet gninja attacks, that are perfectly relevant-to-interests™. Sharaya Customer Service Representative

Left to Right: Crystal and Liz at the PaizoCon 2012 Grand Convocation; Liz sharing her signature cackle with the rest of the world at PaizoCon 2016; Liz, champion of plushies, at PaizoCon 2013

Liz was a guide when I first began at Paizo—sharing her fervor for Pathfinder, Paizo, the greater hobby of tabletop gaming, and helping me grow to truly care about and champion for our community. Over the last two years, our combined hopes to be the best Community Team we can be have driven us forward, and what is public-facing hasn't even scratched the surface of the passion behind the team and the ideas we've come up with together. I've learned professional and life lessons from Liz, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity I had to be her manager for this short while. She is a force, and I know whatever she does after today will be just as amazing as she is.

Please join us as we applaud Liz Courts and wish her luck on the next great unknown!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director