Here are some of my impressions of Paizo after I attended GenCon 2009.
Prestige Award: Pathfinder RPG game system. This is currently the ‘best’ version of Dungeons and Dragons that I’ve played since 1977. I love it. Paizo has spent the past two years developing, testing, fixing and playing Pathfinder and it shows. I highly recommend Pathfinder RPG and expect it to win gold at next year’s Ennie Awards!
We’ll Save: The Pathfinder Society volunteer organizers and judges. They all did a top notch job. I came to GenCon late and had generic tickets. I was seated at each of the games I wanted to play including Friday night’s packed interactive. I didn’t see a single person turned away. The HQ staff was very friendly and helpful.
The judges were great. Like the rest of us, they didn’t know all the rules and they freely admitted it. If we ran into a problem, we stopped and figured out what the rules said, fixed problems and moved on. Each of my judges knew the most important rule: It’s a game, keep it fun! The only distraction was that I thought a couple of the judges were a bit strict with their interpretation of the faction missions and stingy with the prestige award. That said, the bottom line, I enjoyed all my games.
Fumble: Paizo marketing. The one area that I’m really disappointed with Paizo is in their marketing. Starting with the GenCon coupon book, in the swag-bag, was a bust. Paizo had two coupons. One you can purchase the Pathfinder RPG PDF for $4.99 if you buy the $49.99 book. A second coupon let you purchase a Pathfinder Chronicles book for $14.99 if you bought the Pathfinder RPG book. I had higher expectations. Something like buy the book, get the PDF for free; or buy the book and the campaign setting, get a discount on both. That type of stuff.
The biggest area where Paizo dropped the ball in marketing was in the Pathfinder Society game rooms. Several of the adventures had maps based on Paizo’s Flip-Mats but I didn’t see any of them in the game rooms. If the adventure had a ship in it based on the ship Flip-Mat (one of them did), then every table that was running that adventure should have had a ship Flip-Mat. At every table, seven people could have been exposed to the benefits of using the Flip-Mat. That was a golden opportunity lost. At GenCon you are suppose to showcase your products. The game rooms should have been full of painted Pathfinder miniatures, Flip-Mats and other GameMaster products showcasing their uses.
In the end: Pathfinder RPG was the star of the show. Paizo staff and PFS volunteers did an excellent job of showing off this gem of a product. I had a great time at GenCon and I look forward to years of fun playing Pathfinder.
Other Impressions: I last attended GenCon two years ago. I could really feel the gaming/economic crunch this year. WotC booth in the dealer room was 1/4 the size of two years ago. For those that say WotC is doing well, it didn't feel that way. I didn't see a crush of people in the RPGA room (lots of empty tables), the line for the dungeon delve was short. Several of the vendors that I've visited and shopped at in years past were gone. The GenCon swag bag seemed almost empty and the coupon book had shrunk to half it's size. Worst of all, the price of parking doubled and it was much harder to find a spot. Still, all that said, I had fun. They must have all been in the PFS rooms :-).
Thanks for reading.
-Swiftbrook
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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A few comments on some of this. I played most of the PFS events, and did have flip mats used in 3 of 6 events I believe, plus in one that was run using a DM tool on the computer the flip mat was used for one of the maps there. I think the issue there was that PFS lets the GMs run the game the way they want to, so that people can experience that GM's unique style, and some prefer not to use the flip mat for whatever reason. I think that's fine.
The one thing I felt was missing from the PFS in terms of marketing was some of the new scenarios could have focused in areas that were changes to the rules - like having an opponent that grappled to show off the grapple rules for example. That's a pretty minor issue, and between the other players at my tables and myself, we did a good job using lots of new rules.
As for the economy impacting Gen Con, I agree 100%, but not with the conclusion that it means Wizards isn't doing well. The economy is affecting just about every company in the world, and they're all cutting back on spend to help ride out the recession. I work in the trade show industry, and we're seeing this across the board in all industries, no matter how strong the company is doing. There were smaller companies at Gen Con that cut their booth space also - Wizards was simply the most noticible since they normally have the largest booth by a long shot. This year they only tied for the biggest.
The economy also affected the swag bag and coupon book, as well as free handouts at the booths, and that's just companies being cost conscious. It sorta sucked as an attendee, but I wouldn't read too much into it. As for Paizo's moderate discount with their coupon, I think they did a good thing there. They didn't NEED to discount more, since the books were flying off the shelves. The demand was there, and there's not a reason to cut the price then. They also used the coupon to push the product that they wanted to most after the RPG, wich is the current AP that supports it. Plus, if someone buys the first part of the new AP, they'll likely to buy the rest. If someone buys the campaign setting or a stand alone module, etc. then they may or may not buy more, but being first in a series is a great way to get people to buy the rest if they like the first one.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I was a DM. All of us running PFS #29 ' "Shipyard Rats" ere given a free Flip-Mat for one of the encounters. That was unexpectedly generous. To Josh and whosever arms Josh had to twist for that, thanks.
I think the modules were indeed written to showcase the new Pathfinder rules: poison and disease, clerical energy channelling, sneak-attackable undead, a room where everybody can fly... all of those use the new rules.
As for Paizo's moderate discount with their coupon, I think they did a good thing there. They didn't NEED to discount more, since the books were flying off the shelves. The demand was there, and there's not a reason to cut the price then.
I always appriciate an insiders view. It helps balance the observations of people like me. I was around the Paizo booth at least four times over two day, several hours appart, twice Friday & twice Saturday, and sadly, I didn't see a line of people making purchases. I heard there were lines most of the day on Thursday though. Other game companies seemed to have more people at there demos, but I have know idea on their sales.
I was a DM. All of us running PFS #29 ' "Shipyard Rats" ere given a free Flip-Mat for one of the encounters.
Then my DM chose not use it :-( . He had two of the maps based on the Flip-Mat printed out in B&W. I believe he said he took the map out of the pdf and printed it to the right scale.
-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I was a DM. All of us running PFS #29 ' "Shipyard Rats" were given a free Flip-Mat for one of the encounters.
Then my DM chose not use it :-( . He had two of the maps based on the Flip-Mat printed out in B&W. I believe he said he took the map out of the pdf and printed it to the right scale.
We didn't know about the free Flip Mat until we arrived on Thursday morning. (Indeed, if I had known, I probably wouldn't have bought one, Tuesday evening!) There were a few DMs who'd printed out enlarged black-and-white maps. They looked to be pretty handy, and one of the DMs lent me his map of the third location, which I really appreciated..
We didn't know about the free Flip Mat until we arrived on Thursday morning. (Indeed, if I had known, I probably wouldn't have bought one, Tuesday evening!)
Yup. I was in the same boat, so I gave my extra Flip-Mat:Waterfront Tavern to someone during the slot 1 character creation session. Unexpectedly, the recipient then gave me a Flip Mat:Basic (he had two in his bag) which I didn't yet have! Rock. :)
I chaulked this up to birthing a new game: One of my DMs was still learning the adventure as we played. Some didn't have mini's at all - that was just disappointing, the games still ran fine.
-Swiftbrook
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I was a DM. All of us running PFS #29 ' "Shipyard Rats" ere given a free Flip-Mat for one of the encounters. That was unexpectedly generous. To Josh and whosever arms Josh had to twist for that, thanks.
I think the modules were indeed written to showcase the new Pathfinder rules: poison and disease, clerical energy channelling, sneak-attackable undead, a room where everybody can fly... all of those use the new rules.
Also some of the Factions missions required the bad guys be alive, So I saw alot of use of Grappling and Trip.
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I chaulked this up to birthing a new game: One of my DMs was still learning the adventure as we played. Some didn't have mini's at all - that was just disappointing, the games still ran fine.
-Swiftbrook
In my own personal opnion GMs shuold bring the Minis for thier adventure for what the PCs are facing, But Players should bring thier own mintaures for thier character, I was disapointed that the majority of players did not have thier own minis, luckily I had extra.
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In my own personal opnion GMs shuold bring the Minis for thier adventure for what the PCs are facing, But Players should bring thier own mintaures for thier character, I was disapointed that the majority of players did not have thier own minis, luckily I had extra.I chaulked this up to birthing a new game: One of my DMs was still learning the adventure as we played. Some didn't have mini's at all - that was just disappointing, the games still ran fine.
-Swiftbrook
I think that it's actually in the guide to org play to bring a mini to represent your character - at least it was in version 1... Dragnmoon thanks again for the run through of #29 Thursday's last slot!
I was around the Paizo booth at least four times over two day, several hours appart, twice Friday & twice Saturday, and sadly, I didn't see a line of people making purchases. I heard there were lines most of the day on Thursday though. Other game companies seemed to have more people at there demos, but I have know idea on their sales.
I'm with you there Swiftbrook. I was at GenCon and purchased the Core book Thursday. I had to wait in line like 30 minutes to buy it that day. The rest of the week there was no line at all and I could just walk up and buy the book. It didn't seem to me like anyone was the star of GenCon, in fact everyone was about equal. All that being said, I have really been enjoying this game and I agree it is the best 3.5 mod I have seen and is what 4th edition should have tried to mimic (or at least 3.75).
It just sucks because once the splat books start coming out, it will become broken too. Metamagic and Multiple Prestige classes have to go.
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I was around the Paizo booth at least four times over two day, several hours appart, twice Friday & twice Saturday, and sadly, I didn't see a line of people making purchases. I heard there were lines most of the day on Thursday though.I'm with you there Swiftbrook. I was at GenCon and purchased the Core book Thursday. I had to wait in line like 30 minutes to buy it that day. The rest of the week there was no line at all and I could just walk up and buy the book.
Most of the 4 day badge owners were in line 10AM thursday morning, when the line was all the way around the perimeter of the booth, took a right all the way to the entrance of the hall, and then was along the wall for about 25-30 feet. once they caught up in that line, it was mostly the one day badgeholders, or those who weren't playing a thursday PFS slot who were picking it up.throughout the day thurdsday and Friday, they had a steady enough stream of people to keep 2-3 registers open (most booths only had one). Also when the inital line was formed, Lisa and Josh went around offering those paying cash to pay $60 (50+tax) to skip waiting for registers. This helped tremendously.
Director of Games
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Hey there all,
Just a couple of notes...
The line on Thursday was huge, wrapping around the booth and out into the hall. After that, we had 3 registers going for the whole con, so it kept our lines to no more than about 5 deep at any one time.
The PFS scenarios were designed to showcase some of the rules and I think they did a pretty fine job of it. Most of the changes are on the character side of things, making them less obvious unless your character is high enough level to take advantage of them.
Glad folks had a good show. It was fantastic for us and a real thrill to meet so many fans, playtesters, and new converts.
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing
Personally I did use the Flip maps for the areas in Scenarios that matched what I was running. Areas that didn't have flip maps, I pre drew them on 1" graph paper (weren't as nice as I would have liked but oh well). As for mins I don't bring them to Cons, for space reason and to keep them from getting broken. I used flat counters with magnet bases to go with my Alea tools.
The one thing I felt was missing from the PFS in terms of marketing was some of the new scenarios could have focused in areas that were changes to the rules - like having an opponent that grappled to show off the grapple rules for example. That's a pretty minor issue, and between the other players at my tables and myself, we did a good job using lots of new rules.
Well, I did write #29 and #30 to showcase the rules in several encounters and I know Sean did the same with #32. There were...
I'm not quite sure how we could have crammed more into those scenarios to show off aspects of the new rules. :-)
I'm not familiar with each and every flip map available, but I know of the two games I played the first used I believe two of them, and the second might have used one...though maybe not.
As stated, I think just about everyone and their dog got their copy of the core rulebook on thursday...I know I was inline for well over an hour...After that it was pretty steady. I bought stuff thursday, friday, and saturday, and was in line each time (only two or three people deep friday and saturday).
In our first game, the shipyard rats...there was a lot of con checks, I presume for disease, as it was always with the dire rats...and there was some evil cleric on undead action...also, badguys were bull rushed off boats...I think a lot of why it might not have felt like they didn't emphasise the rules is it was either behind the scenes (the poison and disease, which we cept making the save) or it was up to the players to try the manuvers out (the DM didn't want to kill party members by bullrushing us off the boat).
Second game there was poisoned bolts, and quite a few acrobatics checks to manuver through combat and get to spell casters.
Oh yeah, we also did a fair bit of grapling in the first adventure, as we wanted to take people alive...With one particularly hillarious event...The fighter tried to graple a half orc monk and couldn't roll well enough, where next round the wizard rushes in and takes him down by rolling a natural twenty. The rest of the party dog piles on the bad guy, who rolls a natural 18 to break free (no clue what his mod was, other than it was enough) and throws everyone off with a mighty roar! Next round the fighter got his crap together and we brough him down with another combined graple check and some rope...but that was one memorable encounter!
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Oh yeah, we also did a fair bit of grapling in the first adventure, as we wanted to take people alive...With one particularly hillarious event...The fighter tried to graple a half orc monk and couldn't roll well enough, where next round the wizard rushes in and takes him down by rolling a natural twenty. The rest of the party dog piles on the bad guy, who rolls a natural 18 to break free (no clue what his mod was, other than it was enough) and throws everyone off with a mighty roar! Next round the fighter got his crap together and we brough him down with another combined graple check and some rope...but that was one memorable encounter!
Hey that was my Game!! That was a memorable encounter ;).
