Gen Con 50 Events

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Last week, I previewed some of the offerings in store for PaizoCon 2017 attendees. The lottery ran and we are in the open event selection period until next Monday. If you have May 26-29 free and want to travel to beautiful Seattle, you can still pick up a badge in-person at the PaizoCon Convention store.

While most of our focus is on PaizoCon, the Gen Con catalog of events went live on their website last Sunday. Attendees may browse the offerings and compile wish lists in preparation for ticket sales starting May 28. With so many games and events, I wanted to highlight some of the key Paizo offerings.

Starfinder Society

Starfinder is the buzzword for Gen Con, and the Sagamore Ballroom will buzz with sounds of the future all weekend. Events kick off with the Starfinder Quest: Into the Unknown. While we are running free quests throughout the convention, both in the Exhibition Hall and the Sagamore Ballroom, participation entails waiting in line, playing one of the six offerings, then returning to the line. During the first two slots of the convention, Thursday 8:00 AM-1:00 PM and 2:00 PM-7:00 PM, we offer a ticket version of the Quests, which eliminates the waiting in line and gives attendees the chance to finish the entire quest series in one sitting. These quests utilize 1st level pregenerated characters available onsite.

Thursday evening is the premier of the Starfinder Society Special #1-00: Claim to Salvation. This event uses 4th level versions of the Starfinder iconic characters, which James Sutter and the Starfinder team is currently previewing Friday's on this blog. The in-world Starfinder Society needs firepower to complete a mission and turn to the iconics to provide assistance. After Thursday evening's launch, the Gen Con schedule includes tables of this event most slots.

The schedule is set up so that an attendee may play Starfinder all Thursday with pregenerated characters, pick up a copy of the Starfinder Core Rulebook from the Paizo booth in the Exhibition Hall, then make their own character and return Friday ready to play Starfinder Society Scenarios #1-01: The Commencement, #1-02: Fugitive on the Red Planet, and #1-03: Yesteryear's Truth. Of these offerings, #1-01 is a replayable scenario and #1-02 and #1-03 are for 1st to 4th level characters. Product pages are not yet available on paizo.com, but will be posted soon.

Pathfinder Society

If Starfinder isn't your focus, there are plenty of Pathfinder Society offerings. Starting with Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-07: From the Tome of Righteous Repose, we offer every subsequent Season 8 scenario, including one table most sessions of Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-25: Unleashing the Untouchable a scenario for level 12-15 characters. We also have a few older scenarios, such as Pathfinder Society Scenario #01: Silent Tide and #7-99: Through Maelstrom Rift

Friday night is the debut of the Season 9 multi-table interactive special, Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom. This event takes over the Sagamore, with 160 tables of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild and 20 tables of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Guild playing the same scenario simultaneously. The Gen Con event system lists tickets for this event by sub-tier, so there are five different roleplaying event entries for the same event. We will monitor ticket sales and adjust the number of tables in each sub-tier as necessary, but at the event players will be required to play a character in the sub-tier for which they hold a ticket. As a note, 9th level is not listed for sale. This is the gap level and players of 9th level characters may purchase tickets for tier 7-8 or tier 10-11. We will have copies of the pregenerated iconic characters available for player use. The pregenerated characters only go to level 7, so there are no iconic pregenerated characters available for subtier 10-11. The Season 9 scenario offerings start Saturday morning at 8:00 AM. As with prior years, the first three scenarios of the season are on offer. We round out our special event offerings with the new multi-table modular special, Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-99: The Solstice Scar, scheduled for Saturday evening from 8:00 PM-1:00 AM.

The Adventure Card Guild has a full stock of events spanning all seasons of organized play, including Season of the Shackles, Season of the Righteous, and Season of the Runelords, Season of Plundered Tombs. We are putting final touches on the next season and hope to announce more information soon. As well as seasonal play and participating in the aforementioned Pathfinder Society Scenario #9-00: Assault on Absalom, Gen Con sees a return of the Open Tournament. Starting Thursday with qualifying rounds, the tournament event spans the entire convention, with finals on Sunday at noon. Gather your teammates and come reign victorious!

Pathfinder Society Academy is back this year, bigger and better than ever. Aimed at providing youth ages 6-17 a positive gaming experience, we set aside space specifically for them and their families. Programming includes the three modules of lessons: Beginner, Advanced, and Transitions, which introduce the game from the ground up and prepare the players for running characters in the Pathfinder Society, as well as Pathfinder Society Scenarios selected from prior season's catalogs. Adults are welcome at Pathfinder Society Academy tables as long as they accompany a youth. For their safety and enjoyment, children ages 6-12 must have a parent who remains at the Pathfinder Society Academy area. Youth ages 13-15 must have a parent in the Sagamore Ballroom and youth aged 16-17 need a way to contact a parent onsite in case of emergency.

If playing games doesn't pique your interest, consider attending one of the Paizo panels. The first seminar starts Thursday at 11:00 AM and run through Sunday at noon. Topics include returning favorites like Ask the Paizo GMs, Writing for Paizo, Pathfinder Rules Q&A, and Aunty Lisa's Story Hour. New offerings this year include Making your First Starfinder Character, Starfinder Rules Design Workshop, Secrets of the Pact Worlds, and Starfinder Adventure Path Q&A. Come learn all the secrets of your favorite games!

Whew! I knew we offered quite a few activities at Gen Con, but it wasn't until I was trying to select which to highlight in this blog that I realized how great programming is available. I couldn't touch on everything, so I urge you to check out the Gen Con catalog and search keyword Paizo.

Over the past couple of weeks, we had some changes in Sagamore Ballroom leadership. Jon Cary, a stalwart presence for many years, stepped back from the role and Bob Jonquet is spearheading efforts. We added Walter Sheppard to the team to make up for Jon's departure. Rounding out the executive team is Lucas Servideo and Todd Morgan. Thank you to Jon for his many years spent planning and executing Pathfinder Society events at Gen Con. Enjoy seeing the show this year!

For those whose travel plans are undecided, we still need GM assistance, including a handful of Tier 1 positions. The team and I spent the past weeks contacting those that already signed up and are working on scheduling those individuals for events. You should have schedule information before ticket sales go live on the 28th. Watch your inbox for correspondence. If you are interested in GMing at the event, complete the questionnaire and we will be in contact shortly.

Also for GMs, Origins Game Fair is also still looking for individuals to fill some slots at the convention held June 14 to 19 in Columbus, Ohio. Interested volunteers should sign up by sending Venture-Captain Michael McNerney an email at ohiopfs@gmail.com.

I look forward to seeing many of you at PaizoCon in just over a week. If you're attending, please stop by the Grand Ballroom and say hi! Just remember, there are few strangers in gaming, but many friends you haven't met yet!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Adventure Card Guild Conventions Gen Con Gen Con 2017 Pathfinder Society Starfinder Society
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Sovereign Court 4/5 * Organized Play Coordinator

It is a table designation. In slots 1 & 2, Starfinder Quests are on round tables. From slot 3 onward, they are on squares as we shift the rounds to scenarios.

Same for PFS #8-16: House of Harmonious Wisdom. There are some ticketed items that are at round tables and some 1 hour demo slots that are on squares.

You should prep the entire quest, as you need to be able to run the part the group needs to play. We may try to keep people on the same event for some ease of setup, but that is not always possible.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

Thank you Tonya!

Scarab Sages 4/5 5/55/5 *

The Commencement is The Confirmation but in space?

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

It is the SFS evergreen so pretty much

Contributor

Any chance another wave of volunteer assignments will go out before GenCon event registration this Sunday?

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

If you received a confirmation that you were accepted you should have received your assignments.

Suggest checking your spam or junk boxes.

Also, send an email to the genconleads@gmail.com ASAP.

Contributor

Gary Bush wrote:

If you received a confirmation that you were accepted you should have received your assignments.

Suggest checking your spam or junk boxes.

Also, send an email to the genconleads@gmail.com ASAP.

Yep, did the above!

I submitted the questionnaire a few hours before the assignments went out, however, and I figured my information didn't get processed in time. (I also had to make some corrections to the submission, which I emailed to the two email addresses provided)

This is my first go at volunteering and organized play and I don't know how things usually work. I wasn't sure if there'd be a second wave of assignments and thought others might have the same question, so a forum post seemed appropriate.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

Bob and team are working hard. I am sure you will get your assignments before events open.

Contributor

Gary Bush wrote:
Bob and team are working hard. I am sure you will get your assignments before events open.

Even if I don't that's alright - I know it's gotta be hard organizing all this!


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Blog wrote:

If playing games doesn't pique your interest, consider attending one of the Paizo panels. The first seminar starts Thursday at 11:00 AM and run through Sunday at noon. Topics include returning favorites like Ask the Paizo GMs, Writing for Paizo, Pathfinder Rules Q&A, and Aunty Lisa's Story Hour. New offerings this year include Making your First Starfinder Character, Starfinder Rules Design Workshop, Secrets of the Pact Worlds, and Starfinder Adventure Path Q&A. Come learn all the secrets of your favorite games!

Whew! I knew we offered quite a few activities at Gen Con, but it wasn't until I was trying to select which to highlight in this blog that I realized how great programming is available. I couldn't touch on everything, so I urge you to check out the Gen Con catalog and search keyword Paizo.

I'm hoping that this is already a known issue, and I mention it only because I don't see it already in the comments: none of the Paizo panels are on the Gen Con online catalog linked.

Is this going to be fixed before Wishlists get processed on Sunday? (Or is the seminar schedule a week-of surprise?)

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

Andrew Mullen wrote:
Gary Bush wrote:
Bob and team are working hard. I am sure you will get your assignments before events open.
Even if I don't that's alright - I know it's gotta be hard organizing all this!

Bob posted that all schedules are out. Hope you got yours!

5/5 5/5 ***

Still waiting on seminar schedule, and with everyone at PaizoCon, I don't know that we'll get it.

Contributor

Gary Bush wrote:


Bob posted that all schedules are out. Hope you got yours!

Yep, the Starfinder quest pack Thursday morning and evening! Real excited!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

I cant find any of the seminars listed on Gen Con - am I missing something here?

Contributor

You are not but GenCon is! There was a post in another thread a day or two ago saying they were looking into it. Hopefully it's sorted out by tomorrow!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Update: seminars are up now.

Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I updated my unattractive but functional planning spreadsheet to include the panels, should it be helpful for others. It's also got the Starfinder tables, but the PFS stuff was way too much for me to feasibly include.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Do we know when badges will drop? As a tier 2 GM, I won't have a lot of free time, but it would be nice to buy tickets for the few events I get to be a player for. I already got my GM assignments, so I know I'm on the list, but nothing in my GenCon account yet.

Also, while I've seen many people squee over the idea of the incentive gift for GMing tier 1 & 2 be something Starfinder, let me be the one person to say not to make everybody's free book a Starfinder book. I know it's got a lot of interest from some, and I'm glad people are excited about a new game coming out, but I have zero interest in anything Starfinder.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

We know that some Gen Con GM badges have not yet dropped. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have a timeline when the remainder will drop. Sorry for any inconvenience. Some "work arounds" include:

--buy a badge to get access to the event tickets and request a refund from Gen Con when the free one drops into your account. This process is routine for them and what the volunteers who earn a badge but not a room had to do back in February to get into the hotel room lottery

--reach out to your friends who are going and already have a badge. They can request additional tickets on their account

Certainly not the ideal situation, but workable options nonetheless

Which HC book will be awarded at Gen Con is undecided. There will always be people for whom the choice is not ideal.

3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Daniel Knipfer wrote:
Also, while I've seen many people squee over the idea of the incentive gift for GMing tier 1 & 2 be something Starfinder, let me be the one person to say not to make everybody's free book a Starfinder book. I know it's got a lot of interest from some, and I'm glad people are excited about a new game coming out, but I have zero interest in anything Starfinder.

Here is a plan B if you do get a Starfinder book. Sell it at the con. It's a $59.99 book. The past two years I have received Occult Adventures and Horror Adventures (both $44.99) and have sold them at GenCon. I have zero interest in the occult or horror adventures but I needed the hotel room.

Who knows, if Starfinder is as popular as it appears, and Paizo sells out of their stock by Saturday, you might even be able to sell it for more.


So just to clarify: I see that the Starfinder adventures are running around the clock, is the same true for the 1 hour intro mods? Will I be able to walk into the sagamore at 3am, get in line, and play a 1 hour Starfinder adventure?

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

No. At this time, we are not offering the Walkup quest tables during the overnight slot and the demos are only offered in the exhibit hall during open hours.


Ok, good to know. So the walk up quests will be offered in the sagamore from 8am till midnight?

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

1 person marked this as a favorite.

At this time the walk-up Starfinder Quest: Into the Unknown are scheduled to run in the following slots:

Slot 1, Thursday 0800-1300
Slot 2, Thursday 1400-1900
Slot 3, Thursday 2000-0100
Slot 5, Friday 0800-1300
Slot 6, Friday 1400-1900
Slot 9, Saturday 0800-1300
Slot 10, Saturday 1400-1900
Slot 13, Sunday 0900-1400

Keep in mind that we will probably stop seating players about an hour before the end of the last slot each day to prevent running over.

Silver Crusade 3/5

So I submitted my application yesterday. How long should I expect it to be before I get an E-Mail, or is there a significant chance I won't since I waited so long?

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

After registration opens, we process new volunteer applicants on an irregular schedule depending on available time and coordinating our needs taking into account cancellations, change requests, etc. You should hear something soon, worst case a week or so.

Generally speaking, it is never too late to join our team for Gen Con. Depending on your level of commitment and our needs, you could be confirmed almost immediately, or you might have to waitlist pending cancellations. We are often adding names and making changes right up to the event.

Silver Crusade 3/5

Bob Jonquet wrote:

After registration opens, we process new volunteer applicants on an irregular schedule depending on available time and coordinating our needs taking into account cancellations, change requests, etc. You should hear something soon, worst case a week or so.

Generally speaking, it is never too late to join our team for Gen Con. Depending on your level of commitment and our needs, you could be confirmed almost immediately, or you might have to waitlist pending cancellations. We are often adding names and making changes right up to the event.

Thanks. Is there a risk of them running out of badges or housing while I wait? If I buy a badge now, will I get a refund once I get the E-Mail? (I was at a high enough tier to get a badge.)

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East

Will you be shifting more games over to Starfinder so that the volunteers who go this refund route will actually have something to sign up for?

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

ThePuppyTurtle wrote:
...If I buy a badge now, will I get a refund once I get the E-Mail? (I was at a high enough tier to get a badge.)

If you have paid for a badge and then get a GM badge, you will get a full refund (no admin fee). The timing may mean you have to wait until after the con for the refund. And the refund will go back to the card used to purchase the badge, no Gencon credit.

I have already received an email from Gencon telling me that the badge I purchased was going to be refunded because of the Paizo badge being placed on my account.

Grand Lodge 5/5

Gary Bush wrote:
ThePuppyTurtle wrote:
...If I buy a badge now, will I get a refund once I get the E-Mail? (I was at a high enough tier to get a badge.)

If you have paid for a badge and then get a GM badge, you will get a full refund (no admin fee). The timing may mean you have to wait until after the con for the refund. And the refund will go back to the card used to purchase the badge, no Gencon credit.

I have already received an email from Gencon telling me that the badge I purchased was going to be refunded because of the Paizo badge being placed on my account.

Thing is that this is not a viable alternative for some people. I'm really curious to know what is going to be done for those who can't use it.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Gary Bush wrote:
ThePuppyTurtle wrote:
...If I buy a badge now, will I get a refund once I get the E-Mail? (I was at a high enough tier to get a badge.)

...

I have already received an email from Gencon telling me that the badge I purchased was going to be refunded because of the Paizo badge being placed on my account.

Just my luck. They're processing the badges alphabetically. Thank goddess my last name doesn't begin with a Z.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East

Daniel Knipfer wrote:
Gary Bush wrote:
ThePuppyTurtle wrote:
...If I buy a badge now, will I get a refund once I get the E-Mail? (I was at a high enough tier to get a badge.)

...

I have already received an email from Gencon telling me that the badge I purchased was going to be refunded because of the Paizo badge being placed on my account.

Just my luck. They're processing the badges alphabetically. Thank goddess my last name doesn't begin with a Z.

This doesn't seem to be the case. I'm an Anderson and haven't gotten a GM badge. I bought a player badge for now, but the best I can do is hit refresh every 10 minutes to see if a slot has opened up.

Silver Crusade 4/5

James Anderson wrote:
Will you be shifting more games over to Starfinder

Second this, Paizo please do so if possible I know the demand is great out there!

1/5 5/5

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

This year has been *odd* for GenCon.

Thanks to some cool folks, I'm in an unusual position... typically I have a scramble until sometime deep in June for a hotel room, but the room and the badge are taken care of..

Typically there's events I'm looking for available up to the day of the convention... and this year they went so fast when I was out of town supporting PFS in another state that I never even got a whiff of a Starfinder ticket...

Of course, my schedule is limited because of volunteering, but it's okay, I'm sure it'll work out, right?

EDIT: And no, I have no regrets about volunteering, and I am looking forward to providing support for Society events at GenCon.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Is there any known delay at GenCon for getting our GM tickets processed? I haven't received mine yet and I've had my GM event schedule for about a month now.

Silver Crusade 2/5 5/5

I'm in the same boat as Wei Ji, though I'm still waiting on my badge so I can waitlist... even if that does put me at 5,678 in line for the Starfinder special :-P

We should get an email from GenCon once we get a badge, right?

Grand Lodge 5/5

Sometimes the badge comes before the e-mail. But yes, still waiting for badge here too.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Does your badge show up under packets or transactions? Can't remember from last year.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

Packets

Grand Lodge 4/5

Just received my badge. Now to get a refund for the other one.

Edit: I should read all my emails. Looks like they will be automatically refunding the purchased one.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:

Just received my badge. Now to get a refund for the other one.

Edit: I should read all my emails. Looks like they will be automatically refunding the purchased one.

That is what they did for me! But when they refunded it, they also refunded the priority mail so if you have event tickets, you will have to reset your selection from Will Call. That can be done on the Packets page as well.

Or just pickup at Will Call and save $10 bucks.

Grand Lodge 3/5

Still haven't got my badge yet

Grand Lodge 4/5

Gary Bush wrote:
That is what they did for me! But when they refunded it, they also refunded the priority mail so if you have event tickets, you will have to reset your selection from Will Call. That can be done on the Packets page as well.

Thanks for the heads up. I left them at Will Call since they are Saturday and Sunday tickets anyway.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/55/5 ****

Yea, I plan to go get my tickets Thursday night after the Starfinder special.

Grand Lodge 5/5

Still no badge here either.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ***

Gary Bush wrote:
Yea, I plan to go get my tickets Thursday night after the Starfinder special.

That event goes til 1am. I do not believe the registration desks are open all night

Grand Lodge 5/5

Bob is correct. They shut down ~midnight. Of you have Thursday plans, get them mailed.

Contributor

Are you not able to pick up tickets/badges on Wednesday? My Thursday is packed to the gills from 8AM - 1AM Friday.

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