PaizoCon Pathfinder Society Review

Monday, Febraury 13, 2012

I have never been to PaizoCon. I have heard many stories over a pint from friends who have been. I have wanted to go the past few years but it just never worked out, whether it was expenses or work related obligations. One of the perks of my job is now I get to go to PaizoCon every year. Of course, Erik has told me the only excuse for missing it is if I was dead and the body couldn’t be recovered. I promise, you don’t need to twist my arm to be there. I am excited to experience my first PaizoCon with many of you. Not only do I get to attend, I get to help plan the convention. I can’t begin to tell you how cool that is. Every week, I’m working on one preparation or another to help make this PaizoCon the best yet. With that in mind, I thought I would share some of what is being planned for Pathfinder Society. I need to share some of this excitement so I don’t explode.

We are scheduling 150 tables of Pathfinder Society scenarios over the three days. The response of volunteers to GM was overwhelming. We filled all 150 tables in 23 hours and we currently have 22 people on the waiting list to step in if someone has to cancel their trip. It looks like I’m not the only one excited about this year’s PaizoCon. We’re scheduling every Season 3 scenario for PaizoCon over multiple tables.

We’ll also be debuting the GM 101 Workshop. Georgia Venture-Officers took the initiative late last year to put together a program to inform prospective GMs of what they might expect while running a Pathfinder Society scenario or sanctioned module. They received excellent feedback from participants, shared it with several other Venture-Officers to run in their regions, and refined the program. They pitched the idea to me to run it at conventions and I thought it was a great idea. This 4- to 5-hour workshop will be broken into two parts.

The first half includes topics such as how to bring a 4- to 5-hour scenario to life, how to make rulings on the fly, how to manage a table of complete strangers, how to organize a game day, and how to adapt to players doing the unexpected. Participants will circulate between stations to learn and practice the skills involved. During the second half, Georgia Venture-Officers will reveal the Deck of Many Situations. They will lead a humorously instructive game that challenges its players to handle tough GMing situations based on real, in-game dilemmas. Participants will have the opportunity to play the parts of both the GM and the troublesome players. Judges will offer feedback for each round, giving everyone the opportunity to learn. Note that we will also be running GM 101 workshops at Gen Con. I prefer that anyone who wants to volunteer to help run them at Gen Con attend one of these workshops at PaizoCon.

Finally, we are returning the Grand Convocation to its rightful place at PaizoCon. There will be tiered mini-quests that take an hour or two to complete. There will be side events where special Chronicles can be earned. And, according to Major Maldris, the Blakros family is planning to make an appearance. It is unclear exactly what they want. Major Maldris seemed visibly upset (who can blame him when the Blakros are involved) when asked about it, as there have been whispers of bargains, deals, marriages and the like that the Blakros family is pursuing.

I hope to see many of you there and to match faces with messageboard names and avatars. I also hope that I can help provide all of you that are attending with your most memorable Pathfinder experience to date. I look forward to seeing you all in July.

Oh, I almost forgot one important note. It has been mentioned for several years that there would be occasional special events for retired, 12th level PCs. The Grand Convocation is the debut of these special, Tier 12+ events.

And one more thing: Check out the final cover art by Grafit for Pathfinder Module: The Midnight Mirror, an adventure by RPG Superstar 2011 winner Sam Zeitlin!

Mike Brock
Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

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Tags: PaizoCon Pathfinder Modules Pathfinder Society RPG Superstar
Grand Lodge 1/5

Awesome! This will be my first Paizocon as well! I am really looking forward to the GMing 101 workshop. I am always looking for ways to improve as a GM.

This sounds like it is going to be super fun! Thanks to you and all the Paizo staff for your hard work!

Dark Archive

Uh Is that not still the mock up image for midnight mirror? (picture being onr from Carrion hill.)

4/5 ****

Is The Grand Convocation for characters who have completed Eyes of the 10 (Who may be level 12 or 13 depending on when they played it) or for characters who have not completed it, or both?

Grand Lodge 5/5

Sounds fantastic. Wish I could make it, but Gencon is closer.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Sounds great. I really think the GM 101 workshop should be spiffed up and placed in the PFS section of the site. The better the GMs the better the experience for everyone.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Pirate Rob wrote:
Is The Grand Convocation for characters who have completed Eyes of the 10 (Who may be level 12 or 13 depending on when they played it) or for characters who have not completed it, or both?

The Grand Convocation can be played by any level of character. However, if the character is in the midst of Eyes of Ten, he can't be used. You will need to complete the four module arc before July.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Kevin Mack wrote:
Uh Is that not still the mock up image for midnight mirror? (picture being onr from Carrion hill.)

Yep, we're getting the correct image up as soon as possible.

Paizo Employee 5/5 Canadian Maplecakes

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Sounds like it will be one heck of a time! I'm really looking forward to this year's convention season.

Now if only time would somehow move faster...

4/5 ****

Michael Brock wrote:
The Grand Convocation can be played by any level of character. However, if the character is in the midst of Eyes of Ten, he can't be used. You will need to complete the four module arc before July.

Thanks for the quick response, I don't think I was as clear as I wanted to be, also I didn't even think about being in the middle of the Eyes of the Ten.

Here are the situations that are slightly strange that I was trying to figure out:

1: Are level 12 but have not played any retirement scenarios.
2: Have completed Eyes of the Ten before the recent rules change and are level 12 (Or does Eyes of the Ten retroactively give XP?)
etc.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Eyes of Ten gives retroactive XP. If you have finished the entire arc, you will be level 13 with 2 XPs.

Levels 12 who has not played Eyes of Ten may also play. Essentially, the only restriction to the Grand Convocation is if you are in the middle of the four scenarios. As long as you have not started or have finished, you are good to go.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

To add to Mike's response, just beware that the highest tier of encounters for this event will be designed for all characters of 12th level or higher, meaning the CRs are likely to be well above what a 12th-level PC is intended to face, since they also need to challenge PCs that get to 14th, 15th, or even 16th level by that point.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Mark Moreland wrote:
To add to Mike's response, just beware that the highest tier of encounters for this event will be designed for all characters of 12th level or higher, meaning the CRs are likely to be well above what a 12th-level PC is intended to face, since they also need to challenge PCs that get to 14th, 15th, or even 16th level by that point.

We should call it the recycler tour. Recycle all of those retired Pathfinders so we don't have to pay them a pension any longer.

As Mark warned, if you play a 12th level character, it will be a very tough challenge and there is a very strong possibility you will die. Please consider carefully before you enter your 12th level character. However, people have been clamoring for more challenge so this is your first opportunity. Good luck retired Pathfinders.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

The image has now been updated and reflects the final cover of The Midnight Mirror.

The Exchange 5/5

It will be interesting to see what the difference in PC spread is between PaizoCon 2011 & PaizoCon 2012. Last year all 4 parts of the Eyes of the Ten arc were offered. IIRC four players signed up for Part 1, two players signed up for Part 2, one player signed up for Part 3 and zero players signed up for Part 4. When Part 1 began we discovered that two players didn't even have 12th level PCs, they thought you got a pre-gen for the game. I think it will be really cool if there is a Tier 12 table or tables at PaizoCon. Maybe since it will be an exclusive event (vs Eyes of the Ten) it will garner more high-level players. Or will the theory that most players PFS enjoy mid-level play rather than high-level prove true? We will know on July 7th. I hope Mark doesn't do a bunch of work for nothing!

4/5 ****

Thanks for clarifying.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Doug Miles wrote:
I hope Mark doesn't do a bunch of work for nothing!

I never do the work for nothing! Not only do I get paid to do it, but I love it! Also, we're outsourcing a lot of the work for this event, so if no one plays the highest tier, it won't be me who's slaved away creating that content.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Michael Brock wrote:

Eyes of Ten gives retroactive XP. If you have finished the entire arc, you will be level 13 with 2 XPs.

Levels 12 who has not played Eyes of Ten may also play. Essentially, the only restriction to the Grand Convocation is if you are in the middle of the four scenarios. As long as you have not started or have finished, you are good to go.

The other situation, of course, is a 13th-level PC who has not done Eyes of the Ten but played Ruby Phoenix Tournament when they got to 12th. I'll be in that situation.

1/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Will the materials from the GM 101 Workshop be made available to those unlucky souls who can't make it?

Grand Lodge 4/5

Alistair Rigg wrote:
Michael Brock wrote:

Eyes of Ten gives retroactive XP. If you have finished the entire arc, you will be level 13 with 2 XPs.

Levels 12 who has not played Eyes of Ten may also play. Essentially, the only restriction to the Grand Convocation is if you are in the middle of the four scenarios. As long as you have not started or have finished, you are good to go.

The other situation, of course, is a 13th-level PC who has not done Eyes of the Ten but played Ruby Phoenix Tournament when they got to 12th. I'll be in that situation.

And since you are not in the middle of the eyes of ten, you will be able to play with your 13th level PC.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Randilin wrote:
Will the materials from the GM 101 Workshop be made available to those unlucky souls who can't make it?

No guarantees but we will consider it. Let use get through PaizoCon and Gen Con and take a look at where we are at and if it is possible to provide it in a professional manner.


My wife and I are super excited. This will be our first Paizocon. Stuff sounds super exciting. Can't wait to experience all the fun.

Sovereign Court

What is the expected attendance for 2012?

Paizo Employee Chief Creative Officer, Publisher

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Probably around 500 souls.

As for people, maybe six or seven more than that...

Silver Crusade 3/5

I'm really looking forward to my first PaizoCon, and helping to vonlunteer! Sounds like there is a lot of exciting stuff going on this year with things like the Grand Convocation.

We had a lot of fun, and helped a lot of new GMs get their legs under them with the GM 101 we ran down in Georgia, and we hope to do that same at PaizoCon and GenCon. We had a blast with it last time, and hope to do so again!

The Exchange 4/5

Boise PFS is coming in Force! expect 15+ of us up there!

Grand Lodge 1/5

4 of us coming from Kauai! Relative newbs in terms of PFS, but long time players!

1/5

Michael Brock wrote:
Randilin wrote:
Will the materials from the GM 101 Workshop be made available to those unlucky souls who can't make it?
No guarantees but we will consider it. Let use get through PaizoCon and Gen Con and take a look at where we are at and if it is possible to provide it in a professional manner.

Thanks, as a long time DM but a new GM I'm always interested in ideas and tips. Hopefully they get out to the GMs that can't make it.

Scarab Sages

Erik Mona wrote:

Probably around 500 souls.

As for people, maybe six or seven more than that...

I laughed and laughed. The only question that I have is whether that's because there's always bound to be some souless bast**ds at every convention, or because some of y'all had to sell your souls trying to startup Paizo? <impish grin>

Seriously, though ... Erik, you've come a long way since the AOL Greyhawk boards back in '96 (Iquander!). You are to be commended.

The Exchange 4/5

Anyone considering playing the Grand Convocation with a 12+ character? I'm curious to see how many folks will do this.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Me too, honestly, cause if there's no interest in it, we might be better served not wasting time generating a whole set of encounters and content for the event if no one's going to use it.

Grand Lodge 1/5

I don't think we'll have our characters up to that level by the time Paizocon rolls around... but I sure am going to try!

Dark Archive

Joseph Caubo wrote:
Anyone considering playing the Grand Convocation with a 12+ character? I'm curious to see how many folks will do this.

I hope to get eyes of the 10 in at Gencon 2013 or Paizocon 2013, After the showing at the last Gencon/Paizo con I am not sure it will happen.

How many Con players are level 13+, Last year the high table at the Paizo special there was only 2 level 11 a 10 and a 9 at the only high level table.

Silver Crusade 3/5

I'm planning on bringing my 12+ character to the Grand Convocation if possible.

Paizo Employee 5/5 Canadian Maplecakes

I for one, look forward to the pain that 12+ events bring! :D

Grand Lodge 4/5

Thursty wrote:
I for one, look forward to the pain that 12+ events bring! :D

Me too

5/5

If I don't get enlisted to help, I will have a level 13 for the GC.

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

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Kyle Baird wrote:
If I don't get enlisted to help

Does PFS have a Draft?

If I move to Canada can I get out of it?... ;)

The Exchange 4/5

I will have a level 14/15 character to potentially add to the mix. :)

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