Gen Con Volunteer 2010 Questions re: lodging

[Stormtower]

Good morning, Paizo crew & boards:

I have been a 7-slot RPGA judge the past two GenCons (2008 and 2009), but I would rather support Paizo and the PFS going forward. To that end, I wish to volunteer at Gen Con 2010 as a Tier 1 8-slot judge, but I have a few questions before officially committing. I am aware that this forum is not the appropriate venue for signing up (my understanding is that I would email Josh directly for that)... but I thought I might get my outstanding questions answered faster here.

1. Regarding lodging at the Marriott -- I understand Paizo picks up a quarter of the room cost -- but what about booking the actual room? Do we have to handle this ourselves or does Paizo have a "block" of rooms set out for its GMs where they book it and we pay the difference?

2. I assume spouses are welcome in the rooms, and we will not be sharing them with another GM? In other words, we have our own room and privacy.

Thanks for any clarification that you can offer, Paizo staff. I only ask because I am used to the RPGA's way of doing it, and I want to know ahead of time what I need to be prepared for in terms of GenCon planning so I can run Pathfinder for you guys instead.

Nick Mancuso,
Charter Subscriber

[Chris Mortika]

Nope. That's a reasonable assumption, but not quite the way it works. Paizo buys rooms at the Marriott, and puts four judges in each room, covering their costs. So each GM gets "a quarter of the room".

[yoda8myhead]

Additionally, the rooms are divided by gender, so opposite sex partners are not permitted in shared rooms. There were, at last announcement, several spots available in the tier 1 female volunteer room, so both you and your wife could get free rooms by volunteering, they just wouldn't be the same room.

[Joshua J. Frost]

What they said.

[Chris Mortika]

I hope this doesn't bollix your participation, Nick. I'd love to see your table skills as a Pathfinder GM!

[Herald]

Not that this helps but I run 8 games a GenCon and don't take advantage of the 1/4 room as I make the trip with my wife and my son. Nothing is offered to replace it and honestly that's fine with me. I enjoy the privacy and quite. Honestly I have a lot of fun running the games and enjoyed the credit offered to me from Paizo as well as getting the PRPG last year for free.

I might be wrong, but I bet there are others like me. I to hope to see you at GenCon.

[Joshua J. Frost]

Yup, there are others like you and let me tell you, I appreciate you guys a lot. You allow me to have more Tier 1 GMs than I planned for which just overall improves the quality and value of our Organized Play experience.