Paizo Update on COVID-19 from Lisa, Part 2

Very Sad. Our whole family is crying.

When Norwescon was canceled, they addressed what would happen with room block reservations. I can't recall off hand if I paid a deposit.

Can you speak to that?

Thank you.

Yes. The hotel will auto cancel all the rooms that were booked in the PaizoCon block sometime tomorrow morning. Unless you booked outside of the block for some special reason, you shouldn't have to do anything but sit back and wait for the cancellation email to come through.

This is sad news about PaizoCon, but clearly the right call.

The Freelance Forge folks are already talking about how we might host some remote/live stream panels about freelancing that weekend. Hopefully we can figure out something that makes sense!

The time that I dreaded has finally come....a year without a PaizoCon.

It is, of course, the call that needed to be made, but it stings just the same.

Take consolation that we still intend to release Wayfinder (I hope....probably should check on DaIn and see how he's doing).

Tim

While I am sad since this would've been my first PaizoCon, this is absolutely the right call to make, and I hope everyone continues to stay safe and healthy. :)

And bravo to Paizo for paying their employees during all this! Just more proof that Paizo is an awesome company.

Stay well, stay safe!

Smart move, stay safe.

For those of you who have to cancel airline flights, most US carriers are waiving cancellation fees or issuing travel vouchers.

Since they're pretty big I'll put the counterpoint to this up. ATM Travelocity is only refunding flights BEFORE April 30th. So nothing for any of us Paizocon people yet.

Jonathan Thompson wrote:

Will we be able to order printed material for shipping after yall get back to the warehouse? I typically order both the PDF and Print at the same time.

You can order it now and they're start fulfilling again when they return on the 9th.

Sadly, I wouldn't count on that. This looks like it's going to be a long haul.

Ezekieru wrote:

Be sure that everyone at Paizo stays safe during these troubling times!

If there were any planned announcements that were supposed to happen at PaizoCon, is it possible to still have those announcements happen via the Paizo Blog or a Twitch stream? If not, I completely understand.

These are among the topics we are currently discussing. Please stay tuned! We will not be shy about answering this question once we have an actual answer to provide. :)

Virtual Banquet! It is how I have attended the last several. Thanks to KD team.

Incredibly disappointing but not surprised. Next dreaded prognosis be is that GenCon will be cancelled. This year will go down as the worst...

We live in times that require for us to think of our fellow humans. This is as everyone says the right call. A pandemic that wipes out thousands removes potential gamers from the world.

I am always heartened when I see the same message over and over again. Stay safe, disappointed but peoples lives come first.

Im giving you all a +1 on your next social based skill check.

We will come through the other side of this and it will hopefully allow us to feel more connected in the future.

Gen Con being cancelled is not the worst thing that could happen.

The worst would be them insisting 'the show must go on' and a quarter million people bring home COVID (or something far worse) because of the exceptionally tight quarters at that convention to the entire world, even if things have calmed down.

...looks like I've got some work to do tomorrow reaching out to the airline.

Still taking vacation that week, even if things are in a mess. Being declared 'essential personnel', my effs-to-give meter is pegging in high negative numbers right now...

EDIT:

Paizo folks be safe and careful out there, maintain 6'+ from others, stay healthy as you can, and who knows, maybe I can swing over some other time if we get past this.

Stay well, Paizo people and the Pathfinder/Starfinder community.

FWIW, while we weren’t planning to go to Paizocon (three more years until our youngest is out of high school and Memorial Day weekend stops being Cramming for Finals Weekend), but my wife and I were just discussing last night whether to skip Gen Con this year even if it isn’t cancelled. I don’t think either of us will be ready to be around that many other people that quickly even if the most optimistic scenarios pan out.

I love GenCon, but I would not touch a convention that size this year. Remember what happened with the Florida beaches.

Actually, so far the pattern has been chillingly clear:

The influencer who did the 'coronavirus challenge' of licking a public toilet seat got... coronavirus.

The kid in Kentucky who attended a 'coronavirus party' got... coronavirus.

People who defied orders to gather in large groups Louisiana are now coming down with coronavirus.

Until we have a vaccine, let's assume large events are off. Stay home. Stay safe. Stay healthy, and let our hospitals have a chance to handle this crisis.

Hmm

PS Yay for retaining Kate as a Guest of Honor for 2021! Thank you Adam!

PPS Erik Mona, I am looking forward to seeing those virtual announcements for PaizoCon!

Stay safe, and best of luck to all.

By the way, will there be PDF subscriptions available during this time? I would love to subscribe to your PDFs!

Hmm

This might be a real good idea.

Just got laid off 3 hours ago. Hope y'all have some good bourbon like I do. You're making the right choice to keep everyone safe, hope y'all make it through safely. <3

Here's hoping that you get some remuneration for this time of being laid-off OmegaZ

Definitely the right move. Well done Paizo for making positive choices and decisions.

I'll second (or third or fourth) the idea of a virtual con, if something can be arranged.

Gen Con being cancelled is not the worst thing that could happen.

The worst would be them insisting 'the show must go on' and a quarter million people bring home COVID (or something far worse) because of the exceptionally tight quarters at that convention to the entire world, even if things have calmed down.

...looks like I've got some work to do tomorrow reaching out to the airline.

Still taking vacation that week, even if things are in a mess. Being declared 'essential personnel', my effs-to-give meter is pegging in high negative numbers right now...

EDIT:

Paizo folks be safe and careful out there, maintain 6'+ from others, stay healthy as you can, and who knows, maybe I can swing over some other time if we get past this.

He has the right of it.

Con plague takes on a new meaning this year. The best thing to do is not to go.

While I am certainly sad about cancelling the con, this is exactly the right decision.

Thank you for being forthright with your customers and putting your employees' well-being first! I join everyone else in saying I'm sad things have come to this, but I support your decisions to respond as you have. Please stay safe.

Time to really learn how to run a VTT!

Sad news but certainly the right decision in the circumstances. Hope you all stay safe in these difficult days.

Just to add I would be more than happy to be charged for subscription orders in usual time frames and wait for shipment when the warehouse is back up and running. Appreciate Erik's post earlier that this is a decision for later but just wanted to put that out here.

This also seems like the right time to round out my PFS Scenario collection. Think I'm missing a couple of seasons.

Just to add I would be more than happy to be charged for subscription orders in usual time frames and wait for shipment when the warehouse is back up and running. Appreciate Erik's post earlier that this is a decision for later but just wanted to put that out here.

Same here. Some people may well be okay with this, especially if they still get PDFs on schedule, so maybe that could be an option?

To be frank, I’d prefer for the subscription charges to tick over monthly, rather than wait for a big “catchup” charge. I appreciate it’ll be different for everyone, but if that’s an option it will be great.

Granted, we can replicate that by buying ourselves gift certificates, but it would be nice if it were automated.

I'm with that too. I'd be happy to have subscriptions charged each moth, get access to the PDFs each month, and then, once the Warehouse folks can go back to work, have stuff shipped over however many months it takes them to catch up with the backlog.

To be frank, I’d prefer for the subscription charges to tick over monthly, rather than wait for a big “catchup” charge. I appreciate it’ll be different for everyone, but if that’s an option it will be great.

Granted, we can replicate that by buying ourselves gift certificates, but it would be nice if it were automated.

Our current plan is to have the warehouse folks back in and shipping in time for the April sub run so if everything goes as planned, there won't be an interruption in sub services. However, as the warehouse folks will still be practicing social distancing as much as possible, subs will take longer to fulfill than usual.

No rush on my behalf, but to echo the others for the safety of the warehouse workers if the warehouse can’t safely be worked in I’m fine with getting charged for my subs even if they don’t ship. Heck, donate my physical ones afterwards.

Of course this isn’t likely viable, since I’m pretty sure someone/s would have to still go into the warehouse to get this done.

Echoing exactly what others have said: I'd prefer if my subscriptions were charged as normal even if they're not going to ship for a while. If I can be given the PDF access once charged (as if they had shipped) that'd be great.

Steve Geddes wrote:

To be frank, I’d prefer for the subscription charges to tick over monthly, rather than wait for a big “catchup” charge. I appreciate it’ll be different for everyone, but if that’s an option it will be great.

Granted, we can replicate that by buying ourselves gift certificates, but it would be nice if it were automated.

Our current plan is to have the warehouse folks back in and shipping in time for the April sub run so if everything goes as planned, there won't be an interruption in sub services. However, as the warehouse folks will still be practicing social distancing as much as possible, subs will take longer to fulfill than usual.

Yeah, I'm going to echo the sentiment that staff safety - by far - overrides any desire for any shipment from you.

I don't seriously doubt that Lisa will ignore the math, but... please don't ignore the math. I get very nervous when anyone starts saying "we hope/plan to be open by X".

Yep, I'm in the "charge me, give me the pdfs, and ship the physical items at some safe time in the future" club.

I agree with Steve: I'd really rather pay monthly than have a big slam all at once.

Count me in on the 'charge me monthly, send me PDFs club.' Keep your staff safe!

Hmm

Steve Geddes wrote:

To be frank, I’d prefer for the subscription charges to tick over monthly, rather than wait for a big “catchup” charge. I appreciate it’ll be different for everyone, but if that’s an option it will be great.

Granted, we can replicate that by buying ourselves gift certificates, but it would be nice if it were automated.

Our current plan is to have the warehouse folks back in and shipping in time for the April sub run so if everything goes as planned, there won't be an interruption in sub services. However, as the warehouse folks will still be practicing social distancing as much as possible, subs will take longer to fulfill than usual.

Cheers, Jeff. I really hope you’re right.

My wife is coordinating the coronavirus response for her region (of about eight small to tiny hospitals) and we’ve been talking about nothing else really since January. It does mean I’m focussed somewhat on the worst case scenario - until there’s a vaccine it’s going to be very hard to return to anything approaching normal.

Do you have good resources/information on cleaning surfaces and so on and the virus’s ability to live outside the body (for over a day on some surfaces)?

Hello and well met.

I am Founder of FGC (Fantasy Grounds College) and would like you to forward or CC this letter to Lisa and the gang about potentially sponsoring an all online Virtual PaizoCon this spring? We already have a wordpress calendar that can handle the bookings, sign ups, and we have the indirect support for the Fantasy Grounds Platform using and playing with Paizo products.

We have a handful of people already using the VTT version of FG and our Discord community is more of an 'educational' and learning environment. We do not have much support or such to offer in other VTT Formats such as Roll20.

We are big fans of Fantasy Grounds and Paizo. We would be willing to help host or help train GM's and players prior to such a need. Our popular Rulesets are PF2, and Starfinder. With the agreement that Paizo & Smiteworks have already, this would be a great opportunity to feature this partnership with them and the community as a whole.

Website, https://www.fantasygroundscollege.net

Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/Ew6nYyw

Sincerely,
Founder Laerun

Do you have good resources/information on cleaning surfaces and so on and the virus’s ability to live outside the body (for over a day on some surfaces)?

The CDC has info on this.

Do you have good resources/information on cleaning surfaces and so on and the virus’s ability to live outside the body (for over a day on some surfaces)?

There are a few claims that corona remains viable on surfaces for up to as many as 17 days, but that is a bit misleading and certainly under ideal conditions. The general consensus is up to 72 hours on hard surfaces, less for others. The virus is not considered airborne, but when you speak, sneeze, cough, etc. you expel droplet of moisture into the air which can spread it through direct contact. This is the reason for the six foot separation rule and why coughing into your elbow is generally effective at reducing exposure.

Link to the actual research
Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1

Readable explanation
How long can the virus that causes COVID-19 survive on surfaces?

And yes, the "17 days" is not actual research. It's not clear whether what was found was fragments or actual 'live' virus.

*"live" virus

Biologically, there's a debate about whether or not you can call a virus "alive"

"It's more of a philosophical question," said Ryan Relich, a medical microbiologist at Indiana University's School of Medicine, of whether viruses are alive or not.

"What's more important is that they're winning," he said.

This company continues to impress.

I will enjoy my PDFs as they release, and I will save space on my shelf for the books whenever they ship.

Good looking out for your employees, Lisa.

Jack Squared wrote:

Very Sad. Our whole family is crying.

When Norwescon was canceled, they addressed what would happen with room block reservations. I can't recall off hand if I paid a deposit.

Can you speak to that?

Thank you.

Yes. The hotel will auto cancel all the rooms that were booked in the PaizoCon block sometime tomorrow morning. Unless you booked outside of the block for some special reason, you shouldn't have to do anything but sit back and wait for the cancellation email to come through.

I havent recieved an email about this yet.

Nothing in spam either.

Jeff Alvarez wrote:

Jack Squared wrote:

Very Sad. Our whole family is crying.

When Norwescon was canceled, they addressed what would happen with room block reservations. I can't recall off hand if I paid a deposit.

Can you speak to that?

Thank you.

Yes. The hotel will auto cancel all the rooms that were booked in the PaizoCon block sometime tomorrow morning. Unless you booked outside of the block for some special reason, you shouldn't have to do anything but sit back and wait for the cancellation email to come through.

I havent recieved an email about this yet.

Nothing in spam either.

Hey Woran. I've clipped the quote from the hotel below, which should answer your questions.

"Yes we completed this Friday. We’re only able to cancel those rooms that are actually within the group block. If someone went through Expedia or used Honors points to book their room we wouldn’t necessarily know they were with PaizoCon and would not cancel their room. But all others were cancelled."

I will do my part by running all of The Fall of Plaguestone online with an isolation party!

I hope everyone makes it through this safely.

One game of Strange Aeons, one game of Hell's Rebels and one game of Age of Ashes done using roll20 + Discord/Google Hangouts. Quite smooth so far, looks like the new normal is manageable as far as RPGs go :)

One game of Strange Aeons, one game of Hell's Rebels and one game of Age of Ashes done using roll20 + Discord/Google Hangouts. Quite smooth so far, looks like the new normal is manageable as far as RPGs go :)

We're trying a group-skype and fantasy grounds game on Monday. Wish us luck (this is a big step for me!)

Gorbacz wrote:

One game of Strange Aeons, one game of Hell's Rebels and one game of Age of Ashes done using roll20 + Discord/Google Hangouts. Quite smooth so far, looks like the new normal is manageable as far as RPGs go :)

We're trying a group-skype and fantasy grounds game on Monday. Wish us luck (this is a big step for me!)

Good luck! ^w^

I switched my Stafinder game to Maptools and Discord, and after a brief period of getting everybody logged in and used to the software, the first session went quite well.