OPC Musings
After the longest January in memory (seriously, I swear it was eight weeks long), it’s now the shortest month of the year! Before you know it, it’ll be March, then May… and then PaizoCon… and Gen Con… oh no, I have so much to do. Can I have some of January back?!
We’re currently recruiting GMs for PaizoCon Online and Gen Con Indy! Find more on that later in the blog. As convention season begins to rev up its engines, we’re all very excited for what’s in store!
In personal news, last weekend my husband and I welcomed two darling kitties, Mochi and Sasha, into our home! They’re still getting settled but we’re in love with them already. Sorry in advance for becoming an Insufferable Cat Dad, it’s who I am now.
Digital Adventure Releases
These adventures will be available on February 28, 2024.
Pathfinder Society
Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-11: Equal Exchanges – The Hidden Current*
Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #17: Escorting a Mirage
Starfinder Society
Starfinder Society Scenario #6-13: Beginning of the End*
Starfinder Society Scenario #6-14: The Missing*
*part of a subscription
2024 Premier Conventions
Convention Recruitment
2024 is going to be an incredibly exciting year for Paizo. Be part of the excitement by volunteering as an Organized Play GM at our Premier Conventions! Our volunteer GMs are the best of the best, the cream of the crop, and the most helpful skittermanders in the galaxy. Last year, our volunteers ran over 1,000 games online and in person, and we’re looking to exceed that in 2024!
We are currently seeking volunteers for our two Premier Plus conventions: PaizoCon Online and Gen Con Indianapolis. Our friends in Columbus are also recruiting GMs for Origins, which I’m thrilled to announce I’ll be returning to this year!
You can get all the information in this blog post. Spots are going fast, so don’t delay, apply today!
PaizoCon @ Your FLGS
We’ve also announced the locations for this year’s pilot PaizoCon @ program! Nine game stores, as well as KublaCon in California, will be hosting PaizoCon events concurrent with the online show. Check out this blog post for the locations, an interactive map and more!
Interactive Special Presentation Survey
As we start to build out the presentations for our interactive specials, we wanted to take the community’s temperature on how they’re working and what improvements can be made. If you’ve played in any of our multi-table specials over the past few years, and especially if you’ve been a House GM, we’d love to hear your thoughts in this brief survey!
2024 GM Boons
With the recent influx of new players, Paizo Organized Play’s biggest problem is that we simply don’t have enough GMs to run games all the time. We’re always looking for ways to incentivize people into the GM chair, and we’ve got a new one this year!
Below are download links for two brand-new boons. These boons will unlock character options as you GM games. While you can run games with your friends and complete the boons that way, they will unlock faster if you GM at RSP-supported locations like your local game store, or at conventions (like, perhaps…Gen Con or PaizoCon).
We hope that those of you who have yet to take the plunge into GMing find this a great incentive to start, and that our long-time GMs are able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Make sure to tell your friends about the rewards of GMing games for Organized Play!
Download the boons here:
Sanctioning Updates
New Content
New year, new sanctioning! We’re pleased to announce that sanctioning for our latest two adventure paths has been posted: Season of Ghosts for Pathfinder, and Scoured Stars for Starfinder. Long-time players may notice that the chronicle sheets for the Scoured Stars AP look familiar; in most cases, we took the original scenario chronicles and updated them based on the new content. We’ve also posted boons and sanctioning for the two Dynamite comics: Pathfinder: Wake the Dead and Starfinder: Angels of the Drift.
Updates
We’ve also made a couple of updates to the Character Options pages based on the Remaster and new errata.
For Pathfinder Society, we clarified that legacy bards can still use the Remastered feats in Player Core with bothinspire courage and courageous anthem, to clear up that final bit of confusion. We also added a clarification to the Curse Maelstrom archetype for those who have unlocked it via the GM boons. Finally, it was brought to our attention that a number of 5th-level [Ancestry] Weapon Innovator feats have been included in the 1st-level [Ancestry] Weapon Familiarity feats in Player Core. Any character who has been affected by this may freely retrain their 5th-level ancestry feat out of the Weapon Innovator feat into something else!
On the Starfinder Society side, the recent Starfinder errata allowed us to make a couple of changes. The chlorophyll infusion serum from StarfinderPorts of Call and the Forced Deconstruction mechanic trick from Starfinder Enhancedare now permitted for use with the design team’s changes.
GM Recognition
Campaign Service Coins
This month, a new Campaign Service Coins was awarded! We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay[at]paizo[dot]com with their name and reasons.
Congratulations to:
Marc Daoust, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #874
GM Ranks
Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!
This month, we had two GMs earn their 5th rank!
5th Glyph (PFS2): Federico Grecuccio (who is the first GM I’m aware of to do their three evaluation games in three different languages)
5th Nova (SFS1): Jake Rennels
That’s all from me this month, folks! Until next time—Explore! Report! Cooperate! And stick around for a big announcement later today!
Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator
February 2024 Organized Play Monthly Update
Thursday, February 1, 2024
