Pat Luther's page

Kyle Schmaing wrote:

Hello! My wife and I will be two of your players on Sunday. Super excited and looking forward to it, it is our first Con!

Oh wow. Awesome. Honored that you would be spending part of your first con with me. I hope you two have a good con.

Hey, thanks again for the special sneak preview, I had a great time!

Depends on where your interests lie, as there are usually a wide range of panels. I will say if you can get a spot at a Call of Cthulhu table run by James Jacobs you have scored a major win (the squirrel-killing albino deer image is still stuck with me three years later).

Here's my "things you should know", for what it's worth. I'm sure others will correct any misinformation below. This year will be my 6th PaizoCon.

1. You've already done the first thing I'd recommend: Join this forum. And just in time. Next week is when the lottery will open so you can sign up for special games. It'll be announced in this forum (and I guess various other means) once it is.

2. There are three kinds of games going on at the con, so it can be a little confusing if you're not familiar with the system:
A. The aforementioned lottery games. These are limited events including those run by highly desirable DMs (the James Jacobs Call of Cthulhu game mentioned above for example), and also things that other people just wanted to run, like my Call of Cthulhu game this year. If you enter the lottery, you've got a decent chance of getting into one of the games, and maybe even two. I've heard of people who've won three of their picks but I've never seen it first hand.
B. Pathfinder Society games. These are scheduled events that are not in the lottery, and are the primary focus of the convention. From what I understand, if this is the only only thing you're interested in, you will have no problem completely filling your time with them. (I don't actually do Pathfinder Society myself and yet the con devoted to it is still my favorite gaming con of all. That's how awesome these people are. :) So even if you're not interested in the lottery, keep an eye on the forums. They'll announce open sign up for these games after the lottery closes. Even if you don't manage to fill your card with PFS games, you can probably get into as many as you'd like just by dropping by the room and asking to be mustered into any open slots they have available.
C. Open or Ad-hoc games. Some of these will be announced during or shortly before the con on these forums, and some people will just grab a table and start setting up and other players can drop in as they do so.
D. There are also tons of other things to do besides gaming - lots of panels on tons of different topics - like DMing 101, or Auntie Lisa's Story Hour, or Miniatures Painting Workshops. The schedule for these should be out next week some time as well.

3. Hotel and food: There are no fridges in the room, so if you want to bring your own food you'll need your own ice chest as well. There are tons of dining options in the new hotel (I was just there for Norwescon). There's a bar (that also serves food) in the hotel, as well as its own restaurant. There's a Denny's across the street and also half a dozen other places - including a Thai place, a diner, a steak house, a Subway, a Hawaiian Food chain, and a couple of others I don't remember. Also, a liquor store that also sells very expensive cigarettes.

4. Have fun. You're in for a hell of a con, including awesome games and some of the friendliest people in gaming. :)

Hey, I'm in that same one! :)
Friday night's good for me. I think there's a panel I was signed up for, but I can switch it out.

Absolutely!

The crew may be a might cantankerous, and undisciplined, and maybe occasionally incompetent, and lazy, and... uh, wait, I was going somewhere with this...

Anyway treat us well, and pay us occasionally, and we'll come through in a pinch.

Usually.

Welcome aboard, Captain!

Sara Marie wrote:

We didn't really do any sort of open call for events this year. The schedule is absolutely jam packed as is and at this point pretty final. There is definitely dedicated space for open gaming.

Um, why not? That's what a lot of us were waiting for. I had an event to enter for the lottery, with prizes from LPJ Design and Fire Mountain Games for players.

I'm a little curious, too.

I don't have anything specific to promote or anything, and I know that the main focus is Pathfinder Society, but for the last three PaizoCons, I've taken the time to create one or two new scenarios for more unusual systems, specifically to run at PaizoCon.

I thought I was, in my own little way, actually contributing something that at least a dozen or so people enjoyed and making a great convention just that tiniest bit better.

And honestly, in terms of disasters in my life, this doesn't make the top 20, but I am feeling a little unappreciated here. :(

I haven't seen an official response here yet, so I'll toss my couple of cents in:

It depends on what kind of event you want to run. For Pathfinder Society events, check out the announcement from a few weeks ago: http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lef2?Official-Call-for-PaizoCon-2013-V olunteers.

If it's any other kind of RPG, then watch this space. Sometime in the next few months, there'll be a call for non-PS events (aka, the "lottery" games, so-called because there's always more players than slots available for them.) Instructions will be in the post. A list of questions, and either an invitation to answer them in the thread, or send an email to somebody.

But, it hasn't happened yet, so no rush.

If you mean some other kind of non-RPG event, I'd recommend posting a description of some sort here and some official type Paizo person will probably eventually see it and respond.

I love the idea of PFS, but keep running into complications that have kept me from actually playing it. So, now that I've already booked my flight/hotel/badge, I realized I was assuming PaizoCon would be a great way to introduce myself to the Society.

Is there going to be some newbie tables I can get into, and actually get to start the career of one or more of my character ideas?

I've seen posts referring to lottery and non-lottery games. Should I be trying to network with folks before the con to make sure I can play (1) at all, or (2) with a character of my own design and not just pregens?

I was just planning on showing up and finding the n00b train to ride through the weekend, but just realized I might have to be a bit more proactive than that instead.

Hi! I haven't seen anyone official answer your questions, so I'll jump in.

1. Yes, PaizoCon is absolutely a good introduction to PFS. It's actually the only place I've been in PFS games so far. There will be many tables of all levels, so there will be many chances to start your own character's career (as I intend to do this year), or play higher-level games with a pre-gen character (as I have done a couple of times in the past).

2. It looks like there will be three categories of games this year:

Pathfinder Society Games: Lots and lots of these. As I understand it, you sign up at the con. Or, just show up at the beginning of a time slot and they'll find you a table.

Lottery Games: There will be a lottery *before* the con. Game submissions are done through this message board, and eventually (a month or so) they will be assorted, assigned timeslots, and a lottery will be announced. You can enter the lottery and may or may not get into one or more games. (If you don't, don't worry too much about it, there's plenty more to do - especially if you like PFS.) These games are of many different systems, not just Pathfinder. To sign up, check in here every few days between now and July.

Non-Lottery games: Games that people are running that aren't PFS or in the lottery. Some will be announced here, some won't. (I think a couple already have been :) Sometimes people will show up and not decide to run a game until they're there. Some people might decide they're going to run a game then change their mind after they get there. So, these are informal games. Watch this space, or wander around the gaming rooms to find them.