Paizo's Gen Con 2021 Update

Hazzah?

Sad. I get it but i was really hoping we could pull this off.

I'm glad to hear this! Looking forward to participating online, and hearing more details.

Honestly, I'm thrilled!

As someone who is "local" to the convention, I was scared for my friends who may have ended up going for positive reasons to help out etc.

Thank you for not risking it!

Another local checking in....I'm relieved. I already decided a few months ago I wasn't going to go regardless the current state of things. At least now I don't have to worry about FOMO ;)

On a more serious note-- Looking forward to more info on Paizo's virtual Gen Con participation!

While I know it will pinch the city financially (and I live not far from it), I do support this. I am glad that Paizo has made a decision early enough so that hopefully people wouldn't have already paid for flights and such.

Looking forward to Gen Con Online. I can't wait to see what happens this year!

On one hand, I am saddened by this. Was really looking forward to going. However, I can still understand... this event could have been a super spreader event even if all of possible precautions were taken.

So, I will still take part in the Online version, but it just won't be the same.

Oh thank goodness. I'll be a happy participant in the online version this year, and look forward to NEXT year in person!

Okay, I'll be the bad guy. I am disappointed in Paizo for this decision, but its theirs to make so it is what it is. Looking forward to org play online and any 'casts they offer. Thank you for the information early enough that it will inform our decisions about attending the live event.

I know Paizo had to weigh all their options before making a final decision, but it did kinda "screw" many Gen Con attendees. People who had floating badges had to notify Gen Con by the end of last Saturday if they intended to exercise their badge for this year or roll it over to next year. It is somewhat unclear what their options are, but this could hurt the ViG'ers most of all. If they didn't roll it over to next year and don't want to attend this year, it appears they will have to request a refund which may kick them from the ViG program and they may not be able to get back in next year because there is a waiting list. I know in the grand scheme this is not Paizo's problem, but given the timing, it would seem they could have made this announcement on Friday and save all those people the hassle of having to refund their badges or they could have just rolled them over to 2022.

Terrible decision by OPF not to go to Gen Con. It also comes two days after the deadline to rollover badges from last year too. I'd say more but I am just too mad to go on with my disappointment and would probably get banned for speaking what some nervous chickens don't want to hear.

Extremely sad news. Wish you would have made this announcement last week when I could have rolled my gencon badge over to next year.

Now I have to return it and pay the fee.

Grrrr. Not happy with you Paizo.

Like others I am very angry right now.

Tough news for some, but I support Paizo putting the well-being of their employees and customers above the many benefits of attending Gen Con.

Hopefully things will be better by September, but unlike for sporting venues I think requiring and verifying vaccinated status is too much to ask for Gen Con. Without that, large conventions could just cause renewed rising of cases.

As someone who lives here---thank you. I'm still worried about the rest of the in-person convention happening, but I appreciate this.

The decision itself is reasonable and I absolutely support it.

Failing to announce this with enough time for folks to roll their badge over before the May 16th deadline is insensitive to every player and volunteer relying on that input to determine whether they would attend or not. It is a breach of trust, and Paizo needs to address it with the community.

My gripe is that this decision was made AFTER the deadline to roll badges forward to 2022. If the decision had been announced by the end of the day on Friday, we would have had a day to think and decide. I'm basically committed to going.

Thank you for being responsible. I was waiting for this news before deciding if I wanted a badge or not.

I'm very glad I don't have to make the decision on whether to run games or not for Paizo live at GenCon this year. While there are events that are *safer* than others, I don't think sitting around tables in the Sagamore was on the list for me this year.

Good. The restrictions to the experience here at Disney World have dampened my enjoyment, so I would expect the restrictions required to successfully pull off a GenCon presence would do likewise to Paizo's offering.

[snip] If they didn't roll it over to next year and don't want to attend this year, it appears they will have to request a refund which may kick them from the ViG program and they may not be able to get back in next year because there is a waiting list. I know in the grand scheme this is not Paizo's problem, but given the timing, it would seem they could have made this announcement on Friday and save all those people the hassle of having to refund their badges or they could have just rolled them over to 2022.

Colour me a bit confused... couldn't folks have rolled over their badges to next year, and then bought new badges for this year if they changed their mind (if, say, Paizo had confirmed in-person attendance)?

For VIGs, wouldn't that just mean that they might have 'risked' buying a badge this year that was a normal badge (like the rest of us plebs), with their VIG badge and status safely returning in 2022 and following years?

If you refuse to maintain your ViG status you lose the option of selecting it the following year. So the ViG people who roll it for next year are protected and the people who use it this year are also protected. However, if you are going primarily for Paizo and chose to exercise your badge this year, you now cannot roll it over to next year. It is not entirely clear, but it is likely that if you now change your mind and refund the badge for this year, you will lose your status with the program and have to try and get back in through the waitlist (which is considerable).

The point is, people with floating badges whether ViG or not, now have to take additional steps that could have been avoided had this decision been published by CoB on Friday. And it sounds like there is a fee associated with badge refunds that will occur now that the deadline for rolling the badges has passed.

I admit this does not affect me personally, so I am getting my information from those who are affected by it. So, it is possible, this is all just Chicken Little, but based on the rumormill, Paizo is not everyone's favorite at the moment.

Things are improving with increased vaccination %, but things are still a bit too early for in-person conventions of that size. So I'm very happy with Paizo's decision here.

I will make the same statement here that I have elsewhere - I think that there are factors outside of the control of the people making the decision that forced them to wait - as I don't think that Paizo would intentionally screw with people on this, and they were aware that people were hoping to get answers before that deadline. That being said, I feel for the people that are negatively affected by this, but even if I had personally been on the list to go, I think I would have rolled my badge forward and then bought one once I knew for sure if the thing I was most interested in was going to be there or not.

Although I do understand the frustration of those who want to attend in person this year, as another local chiming in - thank you, paizo, for making what had to have been an incredibly difficult decision to wait until things were safer in 2022.

Weighing in as another local(ish) venture officer who has been volunteering for Paizo at every Gen Con since 2012 (which was also my first time attending). I am extremely happy that Paizo made this decision, even though I do very much sympathize with people dealing with timing issues for rolling over badges.

Weighing in as a local, I'm very proud of Paizo's decision and happy to support the community in the manner that makes them feel safe, seen, and valued.

I'm a bit miffed over this as the special was going to be a highlight for me, but c'est la vie. Still going, still going to have a good time.

Given the state of affairs both politically and medically in the US, I doubt there will be a measurable difference between the conditions of September 2021 and August 2022. By then, anyone who wants the vaccine will have it and those who don't still won't. The only differences that can be reasonably predicted is, we'll have more time to see the after-effects (if any) of the current vaccines, the other two major vaccines being developed might be approved/implemented by then providing more options, and we'll know if there will be a system of annual boosters, similar to the Flu, that will account for mutations/variations in the strain.

This is disappointing. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case with all the vaccinations. I still have the badge I bought last year.

This was a very disappointing decision for me personally. Pathfinder 2e has been my favorite game through the pandemic but I guess it's time to look for a replacement from game companies that are interested in returning to some sense of normalcy.

SUPER DISAPPOINTED! This sucks so bad! I was already to attend and run more games than usual just to help out/take the place of people that would not be attending for various reasons. Can't even express how I hate this news! No reason to go to GENCON at all now and put up with whatever restrictions will still be in place if Paizo is not going to be in the Sagamore. Guess I should have seen this coming and not been as surprise as I was. Hopefully next year will be "safe".

As an 'essential' retail worker that has been going through nine levels of Hell and 664 levels of Customer Service Abyss, since before the pandemic kicked into high gear last year THANK YOU!

Seriously, it was weighing heavily on me if I'd be able to go and help out given the 'ideal' restrictions that nobody locally seems willing to enforce due to a lack of internal fortitude/desire to not lose profit$.

Colour me a bit confused... couldn't folks have rolled over their badges to next year, and then bought new badges for this year if they changed their mind (if, say, Paizo had confirmed in-person attendance)?

Paizo did confirm in-person attendance so why would anyone have rolled over the badges?

Add me to the not happy list.

Can you provide a source for Paizo confirming in-person attendance? All their communication to date has essentially been no comment, we'll let you know.

I'm not going to pull punches. I'm not just unhappy with this, I am disgusted with it. After months of isolation, this was supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. At this rate it's "Rocks fall people die."

I'm sick of the Zoom games and the VTTs. Sadly, most of the official games will be done on Roll20. It's a terrible clunky platform that you have to create custom macros to do mind numbingly stupid things like roll dice (whoever heard about that in a RPG right?). Or as of a few months ago couldn't get a grip on an easy way to import a character into the system using XML or HTML (or is HeroLab just wasting it's time with that one?)

And lastly, thanks for letting us know. Now if we're gonna skip this year we're gonna have to wrestle with them to roll it over or get a refund. Who knows? Maybe I'll go this year and maybe find a different game.

Can you provide a source for Paizo confirming in-person attendance? All their communication to date has essentially been no comment, we'll let you know.

April 2021 Organized Play Update:

April 2021 Convention Update:
While we wait for details from Gen Con on the full plan for this event, the organizing committee are busy making plans behind the scenes and the organized play developers are full steam ahead on shenanigans. Gen Con and Gen Con Online will see the premiere of our new interactive specials for the year, PFS2 3-99 and SFS 3-99, a set of interconnected specials where the actions taken in one affect the outcome of the other. More details on these specials will be released soon!

More as I find it.

That doesn't confirm in-person attendance, as interactives can be run online. (Implies, but does not confirm.)

That doesn't confirm in-person attendance, as interactives can be run online.

April 2021 Organized Play Update: at Gen Con. Not online. At.

The April 2021 Convention Update says Gen Con and Gen Con Online, two distinct things/locations.

As a volunteer for a corporate business, I understand that sometimes there must be an over-abundance of cation and risk avoidance.

As a Venture Agent, I'm deeply saddened by this news. BUt perhaps it's an opportunity to promote Family Time Games on the north side as part of Pop-Up Gencon.

As an Indianapolis local VA, I'm terribly disappointed that once again I will not be seeing Paizo friends from across the country and around the world. Handing out VO Dice in person will have to wait another year. This absolutely sucks.

On the personal side... As someone who nearly died from Covid back in March of 2020, I was REALLY looking forward to returning to a semblance of normalcy. Even if we had a fraction of the in-person games offered, I would have been willing to GM a VTT from the Sagamore. I'm still willing to do this, and I might just make a few phone calls and emails.

Hopefully things will be better by September, but unlike for sporting venues I think requiring and verifying vaccinated status is too much to ask for Gen Con. Without that, large conventions could just cause renewed rising of cases.

This is exactly what I was thinking.

Thank you for making this decision for everyone's safety, I definitely look forward to the online event.

TriOmegaZero wrote:

That doesn't confirm in-person attendance, as interactives can be run online.

April 2021 Organized Play Update: at Gen Con. Not online. At.

The April 2021 Convention Update says Gen Con and Gen Con Online, two distinct things/locations.

Organized Play staff do not make the decision to attend GenCon. Paizo leadership does.

TriOmegaZero wrote:

That doesn't confirm in-person attendance, as interactives can be run online.

April 2021 Organized Play Update: at Gen Con. Not online. At.

The April 2021 Convention Update says Gen Con and Gen Con Online, two distinct things/locations.

Maybe they meant at when they used the word at. Maybe that was their intention at the time. And maybe something changed between then and now. Cut them some slack.

I live across the county line from Indy. I work downtown 1 block from the convention center. And because of work, I cannot attend Gen Con this year. I’m not disappointed in missing in-person gaming, I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see the folks that I look forward to seeing every year.

And I get that, for each of us, our threshold of what upsets us is different. Well, when the world went the way of the Nine Hells last year, we had to expect it would be some time before we could get back to things as we had been accustomed.

As for me, and I say this as a long time player/GM and the former VC for Indianapolis, I am glad that Paizo made the decision that seems designed to protect as many people as possible, given a lot of uncertainty today. It was the reasonable and sensible decision, given the unknown facing them in September.

And, I would add, Marion County (where Indianapolis is) and the city of Indianapolis itself, are still under a mask mandate and I don’t expect that to change any time soon (maybe it will change by September, but I don’t know.). It’s possible that gamers are going to find themselves required to wear masks.

I, too, am tired of online gaming. I’d much rather play in person. But above that, I’d rather people be safe. And I think that’s what Paizo is trying to address.

let me join my voices to the rest telling you that your timing is absolutely terrible

So do I. That may not match what Paizo and GenCon were able to work out.

Remember that Paizo's presence is not just in the Sagamore.

Adding to the majority that say while the timing sucks, I applaud this decision. When we go to GenCon, we spend 80% of our time in society play. It's the whole reason we go, but we can all wait one more year and do it right.