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So I had not yet seen a write-up on PaizoCon so thought I’d put one together. Thanks should go to Russ Taylor for sharing his notes to help augment my poor memory. Any misquotes in this are my own and permission is expressly given to Paizo to correct anything (or edit for spoilers) as they choose.
So Paizocon initially started as just an idea by a few folks on the messageboards to get together somewhere and play some Paizo. (Btw, I take no credit for the idea or implementation. Other fine folks get all that credit.) It was finally settled to hold it here in the Seattle region with the thought that maybe a few of the Paizo folks might stop by. (Maybe 1 or 2, you know, just to say howdy.)
After a bit we heard that Jason would stop in, and potentially James as well. Well after a bit more that turned into Jason might run a game and maybe James too. We also heard an e-mail had been sent out to the company about it. So some time was set aside in the morning to have a small panel so they might answer some questions by the attendees. I figured with 30 fans a couple folks might stop in for an hour or something. You know, make an appearance.
In the end, here’s what happened:
Jason, James, Wes, Erik, Mike, Josh, Corey, Cosmo, Vic, and Lisa all showed up. (If I forgot someone let me know!) Plus Wolfgang Baur of Kobold Quarterly (and various Paizo contributions). So nearly 1/2 of the 23 Paizo employees were there! At 10AM on a Saturday morning no less.
The day consisted of a morning and afternoon panel session followed by PFRPG and card/board games. Jason, James, Wolfgang, and Russ Taylor all ran tables during the first session. Mike was crazy with the card games. (What was the one with the skip/extra/stop cards?)
Having been to *a lot* of Cons, two things struck me the most: 1) Paizo really values their customers. That was really clear. 2) Some of the nicest people I’d met at such an event.
If you ever doubted that this is a customer-loving company, you were wrong. They collectively took many hours out of their Saturday to hang out with 30 fans. Very impressive. I believe Jason was there the longest (from about 10AM to midnight) doing Q&A and then running two back to back sessions using the Alpha 3 rules. Get some sleep good sir!
I wrote up some notes on the panels based on my memory and Russ's notes. None of this should be considered official Paizo information as it's quoted second hand.
The morning panel was a discussion of Paizo and their product lines. After lunch there was a panel on the industry in general.
RotRL: Erik stated that RotRL was iconic by intent, and they’re putting their stylistic mojo into the current and future AP’s. Second Darkness will be inventive as well, stepping aside from the “Age of Worms” style themes that were in Runelords.
Wolfgang Baur spoke on Fortress of the Stone Giants. Most other Giants had been given some amount of treatment already. Stone Giants just hadn’t really had a culture or an extended description in D&D previously. All one knew about Stone Giants is they were big and had bears. Also Fortress of the Stone Giants gave the Adventure path an opportunity to take a break from the “tone of overwhelming horror” and “Hillbilly Ogres”.
Commonalities between RL and CT are “save your homeland from a menace”.
CotCT: PF#11 Artwork – A skeletal rider on a skeletal horse. Very cool artwork! And the 4 iconics in the background battling away. There were some discussions regarding a haunted castle.
Second Darkness: The overarching theme of Second Darkness is back to “save the world”. “Oh shit the big bad is going down and you alone have the opportunity to stop it.” The AP will start in Riddleport but then travel into the Darklands. And they do mean travel, ultimately crossing half the continent -- Underground!
With the publication of the info on Riddleport in Second Darkness the major cities of Varisia will all have been detailed. This was part of their plan to have Varisia be a fleshed out area for GM’s to use fairly easily.
Drow are the bad guys of Second Darkness – not really news. Cool news is the just printed out artwork. As of PF#13 covers will be major NPC’s – the 12 Iconics will be completed. Passed around stunning artwork of an Elven General as well as a Drow Queen. Drow queen had a nice hand crossbow – good to see that.
Second Darkness has outer space elements. Movies that would fit in - Alien, Night of the Creeps, The Thing, Armageddon, Deep Impact.
Artwork: Cover art of the arch at Riddleport. Includes a meteor streaking across the background – looks to be landing somewhere nearby – wonder what that could be? :-) A couple Iconics battling a variation on wererats (looks like they’re being PF reimaged ala Goblins and Ogres) as well as giant Cockroaches! Bugs! Including a “Cockroach Swarm”. Ick! Love it! (Everyone was excited about Cockroach swarms. What do you want from a room of geeks?)
Side trek adventures - Pathfinder will start having two adventures in Second Darkness. The main adventure as well as an 8-10 page piece that is a complimentary adventure. The first one in PF13 is a thieves’ guild. Not directly related to the main plot, so it can be used for extra xp, running it as a one-off, or as a setting piece as a drop in for later use. "Relevant but useful out of context"
Gazetteer: They had a copy of the Gazetteer on hand. Erik showed off the included poster (note: easily removable – no x-acto required.) It’s a four panel map. Varisia is very small relative to the rest of the map! Huge Tracts of Land!
The decision to stick with Varisia first was to free up the rest of the world for development at the same time. The Gazetteer is designed to support traditional adventuring as well as political and culture-based adventuring. They are specifically designing out areas of the world more than others to give GM’s both “ready to run” as well as “open for your development” areas.
Initially Erik drew the world map as T-shaped then realized that it wouldn’t fit well on a 4-panel poster so got some assistance. J
Various areas of the map are themed around common fantasy, historical, or geographical themes. Vikings in the north, the Arch of Eridan = Pillars of Hercules. Asia-themed lands are on the opposite side of the globe, beyond the ice cap. Mentioned briefly in the first AP, will be expanded later. There will be room for gothic horror, Arabian, oriental....just not in the initial Gazetteer. Sarusan - megafauna and the aboriginal dreamtime.
Great eye storm in the southern hemisphere. Permanent fixture from when the god died 100 years ago. The pirates use the great eye storm to flee pursuing ships.
Plans to introduce some “sword and planet” into PF as they move along. “John Carter”. Golarian is just one world – idea of the “red planet” and “green planet”. Even ruined wastelands like Dark Sun. Dark Sun might be on something like the red planet.
Into the Darklands: Paizo is looking for a fully fleshed underground setting. I.E. you go down and there is a full environment that includes multiple races and opportunities for adventure. Should include some original races. Various literary references included – including the concept of the land of the dead underground. Introduces the concept of “Vaults” – underground pockets created by sources unknown. Wolfgang has submitted an article on a Vault for inclusion in Second Darkness.
Erik: Sometimes the gaming industry kinds of sucks, but sometimes you get paid for an hour of talking about whether or not Golarion is hollow.
Pulp fantasy is the underpinnings of Golarian sayeth Erik. Pelludicar was pushed for being an influence, but the bad nasty science people said Impossible! You cannot have a hollow world! It will fall down, boom. But the English Major says “It is cool! Make me a hollow world!” Seems the Vaults were a compromise they reached – especially when a Dinosaur Vault was mentioned! Ala Voyage to the Center of the Earth. (Dinosaurs can apparently convince James to screw with science.)
The vaults are like time capsules from different times (or dimensions?) in Golarion history. They’ve left it unanswered on who created the Vaults. The Thassilonians? The Sky City guys? The Gods? People in the Ice? Wolfgang has one of the possibilities hinted at in his upcoming Vault article – at least what he thinks the answer is.
There are specific Vaults laid out in the world, but plenty of opportunity for you to create your own.
Chronicles and Companion: Companion is aimed at players as well as GM’s. It replaces the 16-page player guides. First installment is 32-pages and subscribers get that 1st volume free. Elves will be a companion issue as well as Osirion (Egypt).
PFRPG: More than 15,000 downloads of the PFRPG rules so far. (A number of folks pull out home printed out copies at this point) As long as Jason doesn’t write, he can keep up on the boards. As long as he ignores the boards, he can write. He looked tired. L Bummed the D8 Paladin change didn’t get caught, for example. Release 2 errata by next week with any luck. R3 is coming along, includes monk, ranger, and bards. Bard will be included in today’s playtest!
Well-versed is a new bard ability, as is “performance of death”? More combat feats for rangers. Animal companions are optional. Noted that most classes that have it are now are being given an option of animal companion or something else.
Monks receive upgrades here or there. Will be the masters of combat maneuvers – bonuses to those as they advance in level.
Release 3 will include quick and easy character generation rules, includes NPC. Pre-made packages for the classes.
James thanked folks for all the valuable feedback. Results so far: No “new” new skill system. Sorcerer will be upgraded a bit more.
What isn’t in the Alpha (including the Alpha’s not out yet) is largely not changing. Jason has a prototype of a character sheet. There WILL be one with beta.
Beta book out in August. Free download of the PDF. Printed version will not be at much profit – 300+ page book would be expensive for regular folks to print, so they are offering it at near cost if you want a physical copy.
Final version in 2009 will not be free – download pdf or print. The year between beta and final is for quality reasons
Monsters are not in the PF RPG, although there are rules for adopting existing monsters. Expect some sort of Monster rules at some point.
Question: Final product for the Pathfinder RPG - how do you get the playtester names in them? A: 2 point type. Jokes about fitting the OGL on a playing card. They are not sure what it will take to get a playtest credit, it may be a signup process. If you recommend dropping or adding a class, you are OFF THE LIST :) They are improving the organization for playtest feedback as they go.
Pathfinder Society: All PCs in Pathfinder are members of the Pathfinder Society
Brought up for rewards for the living campaign - nothing solid yet, but under consideration. Pathfinder Society will be set in Absalom (previously announced), but it will go into neighboring countries
Five factions based on the neighboring countries, including Osirion and Cheliaxian. You chose your faction; it isn't based on your real-world location. You get faction prestige for meeting specific goals for your faction. Each adventure will include faction goals in addition to the primary group goal. There is talk of rotating out poor performing factions in favor of new factions.
Faction example: If the main adventure is escorting a caravan, you might get faction points for the Cheliax faction by stealing a specific item or getting information in the course of the adventure.
Special events are the larger cons which will have the most impact, but player actions will have some impact in general
GenCon: All the first-run authors for Pathfinder Society will be running their games at Gencon!
GenCon: Second Darkness will have a kickoff event too (that big Drow event that was mentioned)
Events will be orderable 2 a month (planned after Gencon)
"What RPGA lessons do you not want to repeat” Better way to Track Treasure. Make it fun and flexible but not easily abused, not too much time at the end of the table. LG had a bit of wasted resources due to regional adventures only hitting a few hundred instead of thousands. PF Society will use factions and allow adventures to be used anywhere.
The modules are in seasons, Gencon 2008 starts season 0.
Many had just returned from GAMA. Response to Paizo at GAMA was very positive. Game stores seem excited about product and running PF RPG. Feedback that many stores are happy to have alternative to 4E. Retailers on board for organized play.
Favorite part of Golarion:
Wes - The gothic horror nation of Golarion is his favorite area – still to be fully developed.
James - Likes the “underground area” :)
Vic likes Varisia.
Lisa - likes the River Kingdoms. A lot like the Bandit Kingdoms or factionalized dark ages Europe. Lisa also likes "Drenchport" near that hurricane coast.
Wolfgang wants to play around with the River Kingdoms, hard-bitten mercenaries, and people on the run, exiles and outcasts. A den for breeding adventurers!
Erik - Likes the work James is doing on the cosmology. Also in the southern continent, Nex and Geb. Geb has necromancers, Nex used to have arch mages. Geb blighted the land in Nex, so that the only useful land is in the cities. There is a palace that Nex the arch mage used to live in, and there is an extra planar dungeon within, he calls it “Castle Greyhawk” meets “Lost”. He also likes Numeria with the spaceship crashes.
Erik invented Cheliax. When he was younger Erik's family in Minnesota vacationed at Lake Chelan in Washington during the off season, and damn was it boring. So when he started to write fiction, the evil empire was called Chelan. As time passed the name was changed to something cooler and also less likely to offend people now that he lived in Washington State. :)
Used to be a good kingdom, but about a century ago their god died. Big shake-up. Ultimately the devil-worshipers “kept the trains running”. Not everyone worships them, but the leaders do, and have purged the nobility (some of whom wound up in the River Kingdoms rather than be executed.) Erik really enjoyed the image of Missionary diabolists :) Oppressive devil-worshipping colonists.
The 4th AP will be set in Cheliax!
RPG Superstar #2 will definitely happen. It will be smaller and tighter though – the 3 judges had to pull multiple all-nighters on the 1st one. Probably 1 fewer round.
Q: What is the future for Kobold Quarterly in terms of 3rd, 4th, PF
A: Wolfgang would love to have some PF content. Wolfgang has not seen 4th, he needs to make a call once he sees the GSL and the games.
Industry Discussion:
Company Philosophy: Lisa Stevens told of being with Wizards back when they first purchased TSR. Took a group down to Disney for training on the “magic moments” concept. Every employee is customer facing – make the most of every opportunity with a customer. Treat the customers with respect. Hire people who are passionate about gaming and enjoy interacting with customers. The message boards, blogs, et al are not a “secondary task” but seen as an important part of the job. Building customer loyalty is a strong corporate culture.
Erik states that answering customer questions is treated as a normal part of the job, so if you're doing it you're not "wasting company time" unlike at some companies. Erik says his job is unfortunately moving from fire to fire, and pretty much everyone's is, so there's not much point in complaining about being busy because they all and always are :) Paizo is now almost 6 years old!
Adopting their product to feedback is a big part of their model, because it is the best way to gauge what will drive sales long-term "We are all super geeks", "We gamed before we drove" - Erik
Lisa talked about the best years of WotC were when they all gamed, that the company lost some focus when people lost time to game (she had a 6-7 year break with no games.) Part of that though is just becoming a larger company. There are now 23 employees at Paizo.
WotC: Fallacies: Erik says they are not trying to beat D&D's brand, they are not going to. WOTC has a 2.5M marketing budget. So WotC D&D is going to continue to drive new player growth. In the world as a whole, Paizo grows out of people who move on or want to expand from D&D.
Erik compared the GSL situation to a contractor who says your remodel will be done in “two more weeks”. Two weeks later he says “not done, but just two more weeks”. It’s been like that for some time. Can’t base company decisions on things that haven’t showed up yet. Stake in the ground.
Erik met with Scott Rouse a few days ago, along with other publishers. He believe the exclusivity is real - no OGL + 4th E. Scott Rouse may be trying to push for some wiggle room with non-fantasy games and the OGL/4th E.
Question: Chris Mortika - New Game masters coming in over the next year or so, but with no 3.5E on the chain bookshelves what do they do?
Lisa pointed out there is 3.0 product (even the core rulebooks) in the channels, even now, so expects there to be 3.5E product available for some time. Discussion of the potential to offer SRD materials as well. James stated there is thought to including SRD stats (for monsters, etc.) but it eats up space.
Talking about the worst part of the job:
Lisa - paying bills on Fridays
Vic - sorting the spam folder
Erik - paying bills & work interfering with game time :)
Wolfgang - Freelancing is always positive, but at Kobold Quarterly....headaches dealing with contracts and not getting them done in a timely fashion at his end, not the freelancer's end :)
James - Getting a good submission, and finding he can't use it. Picking Nick Logue, PF #3, a castle article. Due to various reasons, it came in and was short, and was not on the right topic, so he couldn't use it even though it was obviously hard work. It happens to all authors, new to veteran. It’s hard.
Erik - They've even had cover art orders that they could not use. That’s really hard. Always an expensive decision to can a cover, due to needing to get a replacement fast. He’s found that if you as the publisher think the cover isn’t good, the cover probably isn’t good, and you should kill it even if it upsets people, because you will see the hit on sales down the road.
Wes - least favorite part of the job is contracts :) (Because it is like work)
Q: Do you fear the graying of the fan base? A: Absolutely. But we were worried about this 25 years ago. It’s always been a worry. Lisa - retail stores are a dying breed. 8-10,000 stores 25 years ago, she estimates < 2,000 now. Now online sales replace that, but that doesn't bring in new blood quite as well. You can't walk into a store and find the bulletin board saying "looking for players"
WotC's obviously got big efforts to expand marketing. Ultimately WotC D&D is the gateway to Paizo. To spread the brand, go out and get people to play and try it. The free period is partially to give folks a taste.
Writing for Paizo: For AP #4, there may be a closed call for authors. Pathfinder Society will have open call adventures in the future. Those will probably the best way to get your foot in the door going forward.
Getting into the industry: Go into RPGs for fun, not money.
Cultivate a pleasant board’s persona, flamers might get blacklisted. Being a local helps :) James jumped into a game advertised on Usenet with Jim Butler back in the 90s.
Lisa got her start by being a big RPG player in the 80s. She got roped into a new game company via her groups. Lisa says it took 6 years to get paid, and even then it was $100 a week :) Part of why Wolfgang left WotC was the conflict between work on gaming and actually gaming.
Some comments on play testing not being that much fun. Erik got his start by being a voice on the Greyhawk list; Lisa recruited him because she was the brand manager.
Nick Logue (not present) got on board at Paizo by being chummy and bringing chocolate macadamia nuts from Hawaii :) “That guy that brings chocolate” to “Nick” to “Nick that writes some good stuff” to “Nick that writes a lot of good stuff” to “Nick, we should really hire that guy”.
So the note is making yourself known :) And go to big cons, go to panels. And Erik says sell articles to Kobold! So the lesson is finding a venue to get noticed. PDFS, boards, cons, KQ, etc.
Plans to introduce some “sword and planet” into PF as they move along. “John Carter”. Golarian is just one world – idea of the “red planet” and “green planet”. Even ruined wastelands like Dark Sun. Dark Sun might be on something like the red planet.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Thanks for posting the report - makes for great reading, shame I wasn't there!
tfad
Outstanding post, Pete. Thanks for all of the well-written, detailed news.
It's much appreciated.
Plans to introduce some “sword and planet” into PF as they move along. “John Carter”. Golarian is just one world – idea of the “red planet” and “green planet”. Even ruined wastelands like Dark Sun. Dark Sun might be on something like the red planet.Yes! Yes! Yes!
I had the same response. Paizo Dark Sun. Wow.
Pete, thank you for the excellent write-up!
Awesome writeup Pete. Well done. Maybe next year I'll remember to record the panels. D'oh! :P
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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How were the adventures James and Jason ran?
I played Lem the 7th Level Halfling Bard in a party of 6 iconics, run by James.
An elderly merchant asked us to walk him down to the village he grew up in, so that he might die there. And, as things went, it looked like we might join him.
We fought a couple of hill giants on the road, whose loot suggested they'd been raiding thw town we were heading towards.
When we got there, the town was deserted. Body parts were discretely scattered about. A couple of hill giants had been desanguinated through gaping holes in their chests.
And when we approached the tavern, where the town's traditional "stone to placate the mysterious horror" was kept, we found a lot of bodies, no stone, and a lilting sing-song coming from somewhere close by.
So, of course, we split up to investigate. Merriment ensued.
Lem learned that it's a good idea to give Harsk the dwarf ranger cure moderate wounds before he's eviscerated and raised back to a mockery of life, but it's almost as good to give him cure moderate wounds afterwards.
Contributor
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You guys completely rock! Just so you know. Thanks everyone who attended and thanks to those who put it on and those who reported on it. We had a great time and were very flattered, and we look forward to next year. :)
Tomorrow's blog will be about PaizoCon08 and will even have pictures (courtesy of Cosmo). :)
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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You guys completely rock! Just so you know. Thanks everyone who attended and thanks to those who put it on and those who reported on it. We had a great time and were very flattered, and we look forward to next year. :)
Tomorrow's blog will be about PaizoCon08 and will even have pictures (courtesy of Cosmo). :)
You can use my pictures as well, shown up on the Meetup page...
I think you know how to contact me... ;-)
One year at a time, Lilith...one year at a time. ;-)
Oh totally. I'm still trying to recover from the drive home! :O
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Thanks Pete, I was hoping someone would break it down for us. I second the request for info on the adventures that were run. :)
I played in Jason's game so can pass along some info. We all played 6th level PFRPG characters in a one-shot adventure. I’ll say this, if Jason gets the die out of the bag he keeps around his neck, you best look out. He uses it to confirm criticals and it is deadly!
[WARNING: If during the telling of this tale you start to experience a slight "tingling" in the ears, pay no attention to that, or any, say, bleeding you might notice.. It's nothing really and will soon pass.]
Come then! Hear the Epic Tale of the Cursed Lot as told by Oglam Death-Drum, Half-Orc Bard!
The "Cursed Lot", as we came to be known, were a band of adventurers brought together by common luck, or lack thereof, it would seem. Each possessed some unique quality, a Je ne sais quoi, really, that set them apart from more common adventurers. Oh yes, those uncursed adventurers, with their fine armor and accolades. Bah! What do they know of overcoming challenges!
Our band of hearty folk included:
I, Oglam Death-Drum, Half-Orc Bard and my Drums of Doom! Our Enemies did quake in fear and hold their hands over their ears when I played my drums! (Sometimes my allies as well.)
Hammerson, Narcoleptic Dwarven Cleric. He was a stout warrior, when awake, and his healing skills did aid us many a time in the heat of battle, after a swift kick to rouse him.
Iros Kinslayer, Elven Ranger. His mighty bow took down many a foe. And many an innocent bystander. And occasionally his foot.
Kardaz, Barbarian Warrior of the Bear Clan. When he fought even Rovagug himself could not still Kardaz’s Rage! Or much of anything, really. And I have the scars to show for it.
Longbeard, Wizard. Longbeard claims that he is only 24 years old. Yet he appears 74. Or is it 75 today? He does seem a bit older then yesterday. We think he does become addled as he ages.
Ilian, Human(?) Rogue. Ilian has a bad habit of turning into a Rat during the heat of battle. I’ve told her I’m likely to put her on a spit and roast her by accident if she isn’t careful. Har!
We set out on an epic journey (after a bit of a misunderstanding on a boat involving Iros doing some target practice.) We sought a cure for our afflictions and I had heard of a tale regarding an ancient site that might aid us in our quests. We found a ranger who did give us council as well as warning of our certain doom. DOOM! HA! He does not know the word.
Traveling through the forests to the west, we were set upon by Trolls! I played my drums to shake their resolve and our party set upon them with all their skills. For once things seemed to go our way and we made quick work of the trolls with hardly a self-inflicted wound among us.
Locating the hills of the 5 dwarves (whose stony countenance doth look down upon you from above – tis odd to have Dwarves looking down, actually) we headed to the north into the hills.
While negotiating our way up a steep hillside we were set upon by a pack of Gargoyles. We managed to battle them without anyone falling off the mountainside, although Iros did manage to kill my horse. Kardaz got a bit over exuberant but I was able to calm him with my drums before he could cause too much damage.
We continued our journey and made our way to an ancient temple which tales said contained a creature that could free one from curses with only its tears.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the creature was guarded by all manner of foul monsters! An Epic battle ensued with flaming skeletons and foul demons known as Dretch and Vrock. Tis a sad end to our tale for some, for Hammerson doth sleep the eternal rest after the Vrock made dwarf mincemeat of him and tossed him into a flaming pit. Kardaz (who was by this time a large angry Bear) was apt to join him but for the healing wand I used (repeatedly) to keep him in the battle until he could send the Vrock back to his abysmal plane with a mighty blow!
By this time Ilian and Longbeard had managed to dispense the Dretches and free the winged serpent trapped in a ball of energy on the foul altar. A single teardrop fell into the chalice that lay below.
But at that very moment, Iros let lose 3 arrows and killed the flying snake! Villiany! With that Kardaz the Bear of Very Little Patience tore into Iros and sent him to the great beyond – or so he thought, for as I played my drum I pulled the soul of Iros as well as the winged creature into my Drum of Doom! More souls for Rovagug!
Ilian and Longbeard scrambled for the chalice and its single curse-removing tear. Ilian being quicker (it's handy not being 76 years old...) she managed to grab the chalice. She drank the single tear and turned... back into a rat!
And so ends the Epic tale of the Cursed Lot!
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Selk:
We held it at the La Quinta in Kirkland/Bellevue, which is near the 405/520 interchange. To prevent missing it next year, join the Meetup site NOW....www.paizocon.com.
Herald:
Paizocon was, by my count, 43 people strong, with 32 attendees and 11 guests (i.e., Paizo staff and contributors).
How big for next year?
I don't know. It was tough getting the 30 attendees we got...truly tough. Of course, now that everyone has seen what can be done, and with Pathfinder Society coming online at Gen Con, we could be larger for Paizocon II in 2009. Estimates for next year's limit would be 50-60, but if the interest (genuine interest, here, not fleeting) was big enough, we may even consider more (100?). It really depends on how much input we get early on as we begin planning for 2009.
The issue is whether Paizocon should be:
(a) smaller and maintain that intimacy, a "meeting" or "mini-con" where everyone meets everyone and has a good chance at meeting whatever guest they want to meet, OR
(b) striving to grow BIG into a true "convention" that follows in the footsteps of Gen Con or Dragonflight or PAX, with vendors and guests of honor and so on.
The initial discussion about Paizocon pretty much broke down into those two camps. Several people dismissed the whole thing when they found out it wasn't going to be a big gaming event.
And you know, I keep hearing the "Gen Con started out that small" comment, but frankly, that is just crazy talk. If it happens, then "WOW!", but the true goal of Paizocon is, and always should be, to bring Paizo and its fans and customers together for a day of fun, food, and gaming. Whether we can do that, and grow bigger at the same time, will be the real challenge.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Lem learned that it's a good idea to give Harsk the dwarf ranger cure moderate wounds before he's eviscerated and raised back to a mockery of life, but it's almost as good to give him cure moderate wounds afterwards.
Hahahaha! This comment has made my day so far.
Paizocon was a blast. I hope to be able to attend more than half of it next time, but it really was a great chance to get to meet up with some great folks!
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Kardaz, Barbarian Warrior of the Bear Clan. When he fought even Rovagug himself could not still Kardaz’s Rage! Or much of anything, really. And I have the scars to show for it.
Awesome again, Pete!
I played in Jason's second running of this one-shot, as Kardaz. It was the first time I played the barbarian class, and it was...great! It's an inadequate word for it, but it was! Kardaz routinely failed his Will save DC 20 when starting his rage, to resist his cursed armor's compulsion to attack the nearest living creature, both friend and foe alike. Not that he really cared to...I mean, killing things is what Kardaz likes best in life! The Rage point system worked well. I didn't test-drive it that hard, but Jason's build of the character alloted me 32 points which I never really came close to spending out.
Oh, and knitting. He likes to knit. But WOE! to those who may suggest that they know this dark secret! It may just give him the excuse to, well, try out a few CMB actions. Longbeard and Oglam were both bullrushed to silence their tongues!
But, alas! After some truly gorey displays of battle in the initial fight, in the final battle Kardaz took the full brunt of the vrock's four attacks, followed by an attack from the burning undead, which left him utterly dead, and deep fried in the pool of flaming oil.
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Lem learned that it's a good idea to give Harsk the dwarf ranger cure moderate wounds before he's eviscerated and raised back to a mockery of life, but it's almost as good to give him cure moderate wounds afterwards.Hahahaha! This comment has made my day so far.
Paizocon was a blast. I hope to be able to attend more than half of it next time, but it really was a great chance to get to meet up with some great folks!
I live down in Florida, but my wive and I like cool little events like this and we've never made it out to that part of the coast so it might be pretty cool. Saddly we just do have the cool little gaming con around here.
Thanks for the write-up, Pete!
Talking about the worst part of the job:Vic - sorting the spam folder
Try using gmail as a "filter" - it works wonders.
Gmail (www.gmail.com) has about the best spam filtering I have seen. Very little gets through to clog up your inbox.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Mike was crazy with the card games. (What was the one with the skip/extra/stop cards?)
That's Falling: The Goblin Edition—available for preorder now!
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Chief Technical Officer
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Favorite part of Golarion:
Vic likes Varisia.
Actually, what I was trying to say is that you'll all be pleased to find that, although everyone likes Varisia, it is—in my opinion—one of the less interesting places on the map. As in, "if you like Varisia, wait until you see... EVERYTHING ELSE!"
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Chief Technical Officer
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Talking about the worst part of the job:Vic - sorting the spam folder
Try using gmail as a "filter" - it works wonders.
Gmail (www.gmail.com) has about the best spam filtering I have seen. Very little gets through to clog up your inbox.
I'm working the opposite end, actually—the unfiltering of that which has been wrongly filtered. We have several levels of spam filtering, but one of my jobs is to sort through the stuff that the lowest level of filter thinks is *probably* spam, but isn't sure. It's right 99% of the time, but every day I catch a few genuine e-mails written to customer service by people who think that sending a message with the subject "DICE ORDER" and the body "CANCEL IT" is a good idea.
Great write up... really wish I could have been there. Would have been great to meet the Paizo guys and gals.
Thank you for the write up. I'm glad to hear everything went well, and I hope this is a start of something!
Gosh. I suppose next time one happens, I should go somehow.
It was a pleasure to be at Paizocon the First. Even though there were only a few D&D sessions going on, I think everybody got a chance to play in one. Plus with the card games and boardgames, everybody was busy. I don't think anybody got left out. I was lucky enough to play in Jason's game, but sadly as Iros the Archer. It sucks to have a 15% chance for a critical fumble when using rapid shot!
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Director of Games
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It was a pleasure to be at Paizocon the First. Even though there were only a few D&D sessions going on, I think everybody got a chance to play in one. Plus with the card games and boardgames, everybody was busy. I don't think anybody got left out. I was lucky enough to play in Jason's game, but sadly as Iros the Archer. It sucks to have a 15% chance for a critical fumble when using rapid shot!
What are you talking about. Iros was my favorite character. He is like having an extra bad guy, on your side of the screen. :-)
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Cruel GM
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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I had a blast too, on both sides of the screen. I look forward to running folks through some Pathfinder Society at next year's con!
And Pete, I'm thrilled the notes were useful. Terrific writeup, and far more fleshed out than I what I had entered during the con. Great job!
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Director of Games
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I just put up a short summary of my time at the con. You can find it, with some photos here.
Enjoy
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
I just put up a short summary of my time at the con. You can find it, with some photos here.
Enjoy
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
Damn...no way I could make it to Washington.
I doubt their will be much in the south either.
Any chance something like this might happen in Milwaukee? I could make it back up to Milwaukee.
Gencon lost it's soul when it moved from Milwaukee...the city could use a bit of gameage, and I could use an excuse to go bum around the east side again and play bumper pool.
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It was a pleasure to be at Paizocon the First. Even though there were only a few D&D sessions going on, I think everybody got a chance to play in one. Plus with the card games and boardgames, everybody was busy. I don't think anybody got left out. I was lucky enough to play in Jason's game, but sadly as Iros the Archer. It sucks to have a 15% chance for a critical fumble when using rapid shot!What are you talking about. Iros was my favorite character. He is like having an extra bad guy, on your side of the screen. :-)
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Cruel GM
Isn't it cute to watch Jason's cherubic face light up while gleefully describing your character deaths?
B@st@rdo! ;)
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Thanks, for the report, Pete! I was wanting to do something similar, but you did it better than I would have.
But let's not forget the prizes! There were enough to go around so that every attendee got something.
I won a copy of the print eddition of Kobold Quarterly #4 [Donated by Wolfgang Baur. Micro Review: It rocks!] & a Dungeon Magazine poster signed by Wayne Reynolds. I think 8 of us attendees got that.
Other lucky attendees won:
GM Gems from Goodman Games and the WereCabbages. Donated by Daigle.
Key Largo boardgame.
Stonehenge boardgame AND it's expansion.
A complete set of the Planet Stories line.
The Secrets of Pact Magic. Written and donated by Dario Nardi.
A print copy of The Kobold's Guide to Game Design. Donated by Wolfgang Baur.
The Pathfinder Chronicles Gazetteer
The black & white Pathfinder Goblin T-shirt. I think 3 attendees won this one.
A complete set of Item cards. Not sure which set.
A handmade giant miniature of a runegiant. Crafted and donated by Lilith.
I'm doing this from memory and I can't remember everything. Was there a Kill Doctor Lucky boardgame in there? I think there was. Maybe the rest of you can help me out here. Sound off and tell us what you won! (Wether I already mentioned it or not.)
Also, every attendee recieved three packs of Hero's Hoard Item Cards
Thanks to everyone for the generous gifts!
Trent