OPC Wants You for PaizoCon 2017!

Monday, February 27, 2017

Writing this blog made me reflect upon last year and trying to plan a convention I hadn't had the fortune to attend. Fortunately, I had two leads, Bob Jonquet and Todd Morgan, who knew the ropes and helped me out. Alas, this year Bob is not part of the team. But in this case, despair is fleeting, as we recruited Walter Sheppard to be co-lead with Todd. Walter brings enthusiasm, energy, and new eyes to PaizoCon 2017. And since this is the 10th PaizoCon, the pressue is on to make it bigger and shinier than ever. We've got industry superstars, we've got leadership, and now we need you, the volunteers, to help make the event a success!

While there's more events and exciting PaizoCon happenings up our sleeves, I'll leave that to Sara Marie to announce as we get closer to the show. For now, I'll give you a hint of what's in store for Pathfinder Society events run out of the HUGE ballroom on the main floor, full of gaming goodness.

The Roleplaying Guild tables will be offering the later portion of Season 8 Year of the Stolen Storm scenarios, starting with #8-06: Reaping What You Sow (and maybe we can even tempt Linda into offering a table or two of this adventure she wrote). When scheduling games, we try to balance the focus on the season's metaplot while also offering a variety of games for our players. Sunday evening, we'll be debuting a new special: #8-99: The Solstice Star. This news is so new, that there isn't even a product page ready for it yet!

Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild returns with Season of Plundered Tombs. We will start at the beginning and offer all published scenarios, which should take you most of the way through the series. We will also offer back seasons, such as Season of the Runelords, available on demand. We still have a few weeks to finalize the schedule, so expect to hear more about ACG offerings.

One big change this year is the handling of games in the midday slot. In the past, this slot was unofficially overseen by Venture-Captain Louis Manko Levite (yep, he got promoted!). Unfortunately, this caused some logistical issues as well as confusion for attendees, and this year we will be closing the ballroom during this slot. Instead of unofficial games and paper-based signups at the show, if a GM wants to run a game in this slot, they will need to submit the information to our open call for events. Submitted events will be put up as part of our overall event schedule so that PaizoCon attendees may sign up as they would any other during event registration. Keep an eye out on the blog, as Sara Marie will be putting the call out for event submission soon!

Additionally, we will not be scheduling separate Core Roleplaying Guild tables. If you wish to play a Core session, find a table of like-minded friends and sign up during event registration. When you sit down to play, let your GM know that you wish the play a Core game.

We estimate needing over fifty GMs and Card Guild volunteers to ensure Pathfinder Society at PaizoCon runs smoothly. We also have a very limited number of HQ slots available. Due to the limited number of places, space fills up quickly, so I recommend signing up as soon as you know you can commit to the event.

Volunteer slots are scheduled as follows:

Slot	RPG/ACG GMs	HQ
Friday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Friday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
Saturday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM
Sunday Evening	6:45 PM to Midnight	6:30 PM to Midnight
Monday Morning	7:45 AM to 1:00 PM	7:30 AM to 1:00 PM

The breakdown of what benefits are available for each tier are:

Tier	Badge	Print Product	T-Shirts	Store Credit	Boon/Reward
Tier 1 (6 slots)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Tier 2 (5 slots)	✔	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 3 (3 slots)	—	—	✔	✔	✔
Tier 4 (1 slot)	—	—	—	✔	—

The details of each benefit are as follows:

• Badge—A free 4-Day PaizoCon 2017 badge
• Print Product—A FREE copy of one Paizo print product of your choice valued at $59.99 or less (excludes preorders or backorders).
• T-Shirts—Limited release t-shirts given every other year.
• Store Credit—Paizo.com store credit at $10 per slot
• Boon/Reward—An PaizoCon exclusive boon (RPG) or reward (ACG)

Those interested in volunteering, please complete the PaizoCon 2017 volunteer questionnaire. My plan is to review the emails around March 6th, and begin responding then. I will consider every email, but reserve the right to select volunteers who have worked at PaizoCon in prior years.

Thanks to all who give of their time and resources to help make Pathfinder Society the largest organized play program in the world. You rock!

For now, I'm off to Emerald City Comic Con this weekend here in Seattle. Anyone else headed out to a convention or got a game planned? Tell me about them!

Until next week—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator