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Well, PaizoCon 2010 has come to a close. There were a lot of people there that I got to hang out with, and it was an overall amazing experience. Friends new and old came together and played games for the power of Pathfinder!
For those who were sadly unable to join us, I hereby present my catalogued journal of experiences for you, complete with accompanying pictures. Walk with me as I narrate my journey through the magic of PaizoCon 2010.
Public link to pictures on Facebook: Link
Although the 'official' date of PaizoCon was the next day, this was when PaizoCon began for me. I awoke early to the banging on my front door around 7 in the morning, a ruder start to the day than I had hoped for, having taken the day off. Thankfully, it was a package containing the last ingredient for my Nethys costume, the black latex facepaint and brushes. A bit happier that my excursion to the front door and away from sleep was not in vain, I yawned and promptly climbed back into the covers.
Around 11 I awoke again to take a shower and have some breakfast before heading out the door to pick up a very good friend of mine. Mr. Hugo Solis (also known as Butterfrog) was arriving in Seattle around noon:45 today, and I was to go collect him from the airport. I drove off with a whistle in my mouth and dreams in my head of the next few days of gaming (or at least, helping others to game) that was to follow. I say helping as I was not signed up for any actual games, but instead was going to man the Pathfinder Society HQ booth for all 3 days. Jason Bulmahn had requested my help on part of the first day for his Fight Club, that being the only change to my schedule, but that is for later.
After I arrived at SEATAC airport I parked and made my way to baggage, where Hugo was waiting with his gigantic suitcases. One of them was particularly large and heavy, containing the third issue of the Wayfinder! I entertained the thought of knocking him out and making away with the goods, but realized that there were few people that would want to buy a free product being given out the next day, even if paying meant they could get it 24 hours early. Philistines! Violence abated, I helped him with his suitcases to my car and we left the airport, catching up on various topics like Tacos, Tequila, and other Mexican desire stereotypes (I kid Hugo, I kid). On the way back I received a call from another good friend, Miss Sara Marie. I knew Sara a good time before she joined up at Paizo, back before last year's PaizoCon, and she had played in one of my Rise of the Runelords games. In any case, her call was to ask if Hugo and I would like to join us for lunch! As we were both hungry, we prompty agreed and negotiated a meeting at Herfys.
Upon arrival at the Redmond burger joint we found ourselves disappointed. No one else was there! Well, ok, that was only because we beat them by a few minutes. There was no real disappointment. I just punked you. HAH.
Sara showed up along with Gary Teter, Crystal Frasier, Ross Byers, Liz "Lilith" Courts, and Lissa Guillet. We hung out, ate delicious beef, and talked about the upcoming event.
See pictures 1-3.
After the eating was done, Hugo and I were invited to come to the Paizo offices. Hugo needed a tour and was to pick up some of his Pathfinder books. During our visit we ran into Sean Reynolds (who gave me the main body of my costume that his lady Jodi Lane had designed for me), Erik Mona, James Jacobs, Jason Bulmahn, and many many many others! I nearly got my head chopped off by a dog slicer, but recovered quickly enough to give Golarion a big hug.
See pictures 4-20.
When we left Paizo it was around 3-4 PM. We had an hour or two before we wanted to leave for the Meet and Eat, and so went back to my home were Hugo would crash for his first night. The rest of the nights Hugo and a friend of his had acquired a hotel, which they were willing to let me sleep at when PaizoCon started. For now though, Hugo had a fun surprise. See, over the last year Hugo has been ordering miniatures for a game called Confrontation. It's cheaper to send them to the US then to Mexico, so I had been accepting them until he was able to pick them up. Originally, I unpacked them, sent him a list of what I received, and put the minis in a large storage bin. Hugo's appetite could not be sated though, and like a blind man trying to fill a glass of water Hugo kept ordering and ordering more miniatures, not knowing when he should stop. Sure, he had a list on paper of what he had ordered, but that did not prepare him for the sheer volume of miniatures that awaited his arrival. Over the next weekend he would spend a great number of hours unpacking, sorting, and packing up these minis for transport back to Mexico.
Also during the small time at my house, I tried on my Nethys outfit and let Hugo wear my wig. It was fun.
See pictures 21-24.
Around 4:45 PM we decided that we wanted to get to the Meet and Eat with time to spare and quickly left the house. We arrived more than early enough as only a few gamers were at one of the many tables reserved. Hugo and I sat with a few people there and chatted while waiting for others to arrive. When Tim, Liz, and a few others I knew showed up, I accidentally snubbed them by following Tim and joining them at another table. Tbug pointed out my faux-pau later, oops! Thankfully no hurt feelings, hooray!
And so it was that we ate at the Crab Shack. Large amounts of shrimp, fish, and other varities of sea food were consumed. Crabs were poured out onto the tables and diners rolled natural 20s to smash them open. Hooray! NOM NOM NOM.
See pictures 25-38.
After the delicious meal, Hugo and I said our goodbyes and made our way back to my home. Hugo worked on unpacking all of his minis from the shipping boxes to transport to the hotel, while I sat on the computer and surfed the Paizo boards.
See pictures 39-41.
I awoke early on Friday with a smile on my face. Christma-I mean PaizoCon-was here! I went to take a shower, shave, and prepare my costume for its initial reveal at PaizoCon. I had planned to wear it for a bit on Friday and at the banquet, so today was the first test. Applying the liquid latex was easier than I thought, and after a few coats half of my face was black and looking good! I put on the white dye for my eyebrows, added some eyeliner close to my eyes and lips where I didn't want to paint and then went to put on the costume.
It was then I realized that, thanks to not remembering I was looking in a mirror, I painted the wrong side of my face.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
I quickly rushed to correct the error, tearing the now dry latex off of one side of my face. I scrubbed away as much of the makeup as I could (the eyeliner on the eye would have to stay for now) and quickly applied three more coats to the proper side. Re-blackened and costumed, I made sure Hugo was ready and took off to PaizoCon!
We thankfully arrived around 10:30 AM, plenty of time for me to hang out before I ran one of the Fight Club tables at noon. I talked with Jason Bulmahn for a bit, said hi to people from last year's PaizoCon and local friends, and generally was social. It was fun to wear the costume, and I got a kick out of people taking a moment to recognize me underneath the face paint. Hugo was greatly welcomed as his Wayfinders were greatly desired (and I believe someone had left a voicemail on my phone, maybe Lisa? asking me when Hugo was coming. Sorry about that! Wrong side of face painted!).
When 11:30 rolled around I joined Jason as we made our way downstairs to the room where Fight Club would occur. Chris Jarvis, Jason Nelson, and another person whose name I cannot remember (oops!) joined me as fellow GMs for the sheer death that was about to occur. Jason explained the rules to us, answered a few questions, and then at noon opened the door for the masses. 8 unlucky individuals descened upon my table, eager to slay beasts and fight to survive! The evil side of my Nethys personality giggled.
Over the course of the next few hours the four of us GMs slaughtered 200 PCs. Wave after wave of respawning adventurers tried to topple orc barbarians, undead warriors, an Antipaladin, and an iron golem! While every table made it through to the final round and the golem, none could fell that great beast (which, considering they were level 3 characters, is no surprise). The players frantically made their actions, not knowing when Jason would descend upon our table and activate the monsters facing them. Great fun was had, criticals were rolled, and many a player died. In the end, I tallied the points for our table and presented Jason the results. As it turns out, one of the players at my table got 2nd place for the room! The table that got 1st place clearly cheated, as about half of them had just as much if not more points then the guy at my table (only the highest at each table counted for terms of victory order). My group was still entertained though, despite having suffered dozens of deaths, and posed for a picture. Jason, meanwhile, was devouring torn up character sheets and generally enjoying the suffering.
See pictures 42-49.
The Fight Club complete and my bloodlust temporarily sated, I made my way to Hugo's room to quickly change out of my costume and report for duty to Joshua Frost, whose countenance I would be working under for the rest of the Con. Char Baker would be joining me as fellow Assistant for Friday and the first half of Saturday, so we sat at the table and began our arduous (well, not really, it was more relaxing and entertaining) work. For the rest of the day we guided people to Society games, helped with questions, and chatted with a LOT of people that came by. I helped Chris Mortika make an Inquisitor, was happy to hear someone say "Nethys, we have a rules question!" even when out of costume, and generally enjoyed the company of all who stopped by to say hello. Chris Jarvis was also extremely kind enough to bring me some BBQ Chicken from a nearby restaurant, and I nommed it down quickly. Passerbys could swear my gluttonous chompings were actually sounding as "OMGTHISISSOFREAKINGDELICIOUS" but likely attributed it to ghosts.
See pictures 50-53.
I had joined the PFS HQ for the second half of Friday and it wrapped up around 11 PM. I had been invited to join Sara and others at a room for drinks and fun. In the small room was Sara, Marta McCreary, Lissa, Crystal, Liz, and my friend Stan (for the early part). Also joining us in the later hour was Gary, Sebastian, and two others who I was too drunk to really remember names of at the time. Why was I drunk? Also joining us in that room was a large bottle of absinthe, some vodka, and a bottle of whiskey and tequila I brought (the tequila was given to be by Hugo, who said it was some of the best in Mexico! This tequila would come into play the next day). In the end, the absinthe was empty, my whiskey and tequila were a bit lower, and I was seeing double. I soon stumbled out of the room to return to Hugo's room and my currently charging phone.
And if anyone asks, I do not have pictures of the drinking that occurred in that room. In fact, I cannot say anything that occurred. For all purposes, that drinking did not happen. Despite me telling you we drank, we did not, in fact, drink. Nothing happened. Big brother is watching. ALL WORSHIP HYPNOTOAD.
I slid gracefully (read: not) into Hugo's room where Hugo was not and gathered my charging phone. On it was a text message from my friend Chuck, a player in my weekly Saturday game. In it was the command to go to another room. I had to be up at 7 AM for more Society work though, and was already pretty drunk.
Yeah, so I went.
Phone charged and ready for more pictures, I realized that Chuck was pointing me to Ted's (Zuxius) room! This scholar amongst men had a giant suite and brought plenty of his own specially brewed beer, along with a wide variety of other beers. I joined Chris Jarvis, Russ Taylor, Charles "Chuck" Cunningham, Jason Bulmahn, Ted the man himself, Tim Nightengale, Ashton Sperry, and many many many others. Though I am not a beer guy myself (preferring instead the harder of alcohols) I did choose wisely to nom on much bread and guzzle from a large bottle of water, much as a baby to his mother's teet. I did enjoy the company of the others for a good hour and a half before I and Hugo rock-paper-scissored for the bed on the first night. I won and would be taking it tonight, and take the floor the following night. So decided we stumbled back to the room, set the alarm, and crashed.
See pictures 54-65.
The next day I (surprisingly) awoke on time 10 minutes *before* my alarm and took a shower. I did my best not to fall out of it as I was still a tad out of it, then got dressed and made my way back to the Society HQ booth. Char and I helped Josh get people to their games, answer questions, and all the usual Society HQ stuff again. We then spent the next 5 hours chatting, hanging out with more people, and doing our own thing. Char was constantly working on sewing her Desna costume for the banquet while I spent my time playing Final Fantasy VI on my new Evo 4G phone. Only an hour in or so I was invited to breakfast by Gary, and joined him and Ashton for a delicious meal at Denny's. Despite Gary being upset that I 'made Hugo sleep on the floor' (it was not me, it was the scissors!) he was still awesome enough to buy myself and Ashton breakfast. What a good guy! Properly sated, I returned to my station for the next few hours, taking some time to snap pictures of the various rooms and Society play.
After the first block of the day was over, Char's time was out and she left for greener pastures. The good sir Paul Hedges was to join me for the duration, and he arrived very shortly after Char's departure. More questions were answered, more games setup, and more conversations created. I was doubly pleased when more people began to ask "Nethys" for rules help. The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully, more of the same enjoyment as the previous day occuring. Though I was not really 'gaming' with the rest, I still got to enjoy a *great* number of conversations with everyone else who played. Last year I did only GMing, but this year I was happy to be where I was. There is something to be said about socializing in this case, and I have no complaints about my post at the HQ station.
See pictures 66-83.
Soon before the second block wrapped up for the day, I left Paul in charge to get my costume on a second and final time for the banquet. The supplies were in my room and I had plenty of time before the Banquet to get ready! As you may guess, disaster striked one more time. As I mentioned above, I was using a black colored liquid latex to cover half of my face. This stuff worked great on the first day, was not really hot, and came off really easily. It smelled pretty bad to put on initially, but once dried was odorless and awesome. This time though, I underestimated my own facial hair growth. I had shaved just before putting on the latex on Friday, and neglected to bring a razor with me to the Con. I shouldn't need it, I said to myself, not much will grow between now and Saturday. And not much did. Enough did, however, that my skin was a bit prickly. I use foam brushes to apply the latex, and the first coat went on great. I repeated the Friday process, letting it dry, then applied a second coat.
This is where disaster struck.
The bristles on my skin did not like the foam brush, and the brush (instead of applying a second layer of latex) was tearing apart some of the original layer on my neck, leaving holes! I panicked and tried again, dapping instead of brushing, but it was to no avail. I pulled apart some of the dried latex in frustation, then just jammed my hand into the bottle to slather on the rest without the brush.
Considering no one really commented on my neck (nor could I see the damage in photos) I am assuming it worked. Huzzah! Unfortunately, this just made me a bit later then I intended. Thankfully I costumed up and arrived in time to join my friends near the front of the line a little under an hour before the banquet began. This is when Ross Byers took my picture for a blog post (YAY).
I could go on for pages about the Banquet. The APG reveal, the food, the Quiz, the friends, the company, everything. I cannot begin to cover it, and it is better left for another thread. So instead, how about some more pictures?
See pictures 84-94.
The Banquet wrapped up around midnight, and most of the people had already retired for the night. Those of us still awake and up for more made our way down to the hotel bar/lounge, where we had some drinks and chatted more. I myself had a whiskey sour (my drink of choice) and some Jameson on the rocks, the latter bought for me by mister Chuck.
See pictures 95-101.
Only a little bit into the second drink was it suggested that we make our way over to one of the areas where Erik Mona was doing his music appreciation 'panel' (if one can call it that). This was done last year and since I did not see it then, I thought it would be fun to see it this time. It started off as expected. We listened to music, raised fingers to vote on its quality, and discussed. Only as the night progressed did normal go to CRAZY.
It began when Jason Bulmahn (who had been drinking with us) responded to a question I posed, that being "Hey Jason, should I get the tequila I mentioned?" Jason gave me an incredulous look and responded "I think that's a very bad idea." I agreed, and thought that was the end of it. Jason then made his mistake. "I didn't say NO, I just said it's a bad idea. I leave it to you to decide."
You can guess what I decided, right? Come on. It's me.
It was 2 AM when I got the bottle of nearly full Tequila. By 3 AM I had poured shots for most of the room, giving Jason the most, and the bottle was empty. A bottle of Bacardi was also broken out, and Rum and Cokes were made. Jason continually loudly regretting letting me fetch the first bottle, but to his credit, drank all that I put in front of him and STILL made it on time for his 10 AM game the next day (if only by a few minutes). I tried my best to put that man out and he stood (well, sat) strong. Well played sir, well played.
Around 3:30 I made my way back up to Hugo's room where it was my turn to sleep on the floor. I would need to wake up at 7 AM again for the next day's festivities, and so passed out.
See pictures 102-111.
Yes, I know that technically Sunday started after the Banquet last night, and Saturday started midway into drinking with Sara the night before. I don't care. This is how I'm grouping my post. Deal!
Sunday started out much like Saturday did, thankfully. Despite my drunkeness before, I awoke after a few hours of sleep. I showered, dressed, and made my way back to the HQ booth where I set things up and started checking people off. Paul joined me once more, and Josh came by to direct those without tickets to available games as per use. I played more FFVI, Paul played with his laptop, and we talked to others and answered questions again. Chris Mortika regailed us with tales of the old days of TSR and Gary Gygax, and we had a good time. A couple of hours in, Chris Jarvis came by to take me to Dennys, and I went to get some well-needed breakfast. Before I left I took some pictures of gaming, then some more upon my return.
See pictures 112-123.
There was only one slot today, and it was over soon enough. One thing I can say was different from last year's PaizoCon, this Sunday was PACKED. I recall last year the Society rooms with hardly a person in them, but this year there was a TON of gaming still going on. Goes to show how many people came by this year! Hooray! Mid-way through the slot Char came back and offered me some delicious dim sum, which I quickly nommed. Mmmm so good.
Once the slot was over I began to pack. I was a bit misty-eyed, I did not want PaizoCon to end. I hung out with Josh Frost and Doug-Doug for a bit, then helped clean up the HQ and tried to decide what to do next. Hearing that the Burnt Offerings play was being showed again, I decided to finally see it. I sat by Doug-Doug and Mark Moreland and we watched. It was a bit hard to hear at times, but overall entertaining. Well done middle school actors.
As I had the days before, I then went down to the bar/lounge. People were there. We talked. We laughed. We had fun.
See pictures 124-129.
In the end, I was hanging out with Chris Self and Mark Moreland. Hugo had retired to the room to finish packing his miniatures, and I had just finished telling Chris and Mark about them. Tired of describing the sheer number of them, I decided to surprise Hugo with visitors and show Chris and Mark the sheer madness for full effect.
The pictures below are what we saw in the room (in addition to the blog post that Chris quickly made).
See pictures 130-131.
We hung out with Hugo and his friend for a time, talking about Society, rules questions, Campaign Setting questions, and other topics we were on. We poked fun at Hugo and his HUGE collection of minis while secretly being envious of such a feast of pewter. Soon the others decided that they were hungry and I, despite having had some pizza at the bar area, tagged along. We went to Jimmy Johns, where we chatted some more and tried to hang onto the last remaining threads of PaizoCon. Sadly, they would soon be gone from our grasp.
We returned to the hotel where Mark, Hugo, and I sat with some other Paizonians still present in the main lobby and chatted for a bit. It was not long before tiredness overcame me, and I decided it was time to leave. I would then head back home to get one last package that had arrived for Hugo (surprisingly, not more minis), return to the Hotel to give it to him, and say my farewells.
Epilogue
PaizoCon 2010 was an experience. It may have been the 6 hours of sleep over the whole weekend, but it felt like one amazing, incredibly, exciting long day of sheer awesome. I cannot describe everything I did, there was just so much. Those of you who hung out with me, you know who you are. I cannot thank Tim, Liz, and Paizo enough for this event. It was a much needed vacation.
Now all I need to do is wait for GenCon, where I shall resume my post at the Society HQ booth in Indianopolis! Six weeks and counting before Nethys returns!
(Irony: Leaving PaizoCon because of how tired you are then staying up a couple hours to tag photos and type a long summary.)
Good night sweet PaizoCon. See you next year.
See picture 132.
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Also, I meant to add this last night, but a special thank you to everyone who came to ask "Nethys" a rules question or complimented the costume. You all made me feel warm and fuzzy for the whole convention!
A huge thanks to Liz for the vast amount of cookies as well. So delicious.
I will think of more to thank later as I recall certain things.
Latex? That's hard core, man, well done. :)
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The latex was an interesting thing to work with. On Friday, it was great. I was very freshly shaven so the coats went on really well. After some trial and error (and the accidental 'test' on the wrong side of my face) I figured out a pretty good pattern for what I was using. I would use the eyeliner pencil to blacken around areas I didn't want the latex close to (around the eye, nose, and lips) first. Then I did a simple coat with mostly an outline where I didn't want to go past, trying not to get my eyebrows or other hair caught in the latex.
Had I only done one coat it would have looked horrible, a thin layer of latex does not look 'pure' black enough. Two coats total may have been fine, it looked good after the second one, but I did the third just to be safe.
On the first day I didn't feel any discomfort. It was a bit hard to talk and maneuver at first, but after running the game in Jason's Fight Club I got more used to it and didn't even notice it near the end. Taking it off was remarkably easy, just grab and peel. Getting the eyeliner off... less easy. As some who saw me later could tell. Note to self: bring makeup remover next time.
The Saturday wearing was annoying. I screwed up big time by forgetting my razor. My cheek/chin didn't move around enough for the hairs there to be a problem, but the neck was already under some stress from moving my head around, so painting the latex on top of prickly hairs just made it worse. So far I haven't noticed the problem in any pictures yet, which is nice. I don't think it was ever able to fully dry though, because of the hair and movement. The latex smells *really* bad and can make your eyes sting when first putting it on. On Friday it dried and I didn't smell it again, but on Saturday something was different and the odor stuck with me a bit during the banquet. It was to the point where my head was spinning a bit, but I didn't want to leave until after the APG preview.
I was very happy when they announced a break and I was able to change out of it. :) The wig was a bit too tight too, may need to get a more comfortable one before GenCon. *AND* get it properly styled. Stupid hair getting in my eyes!
Also next time I think I will get some red/orange paint too, for a cool 'flame' effect on the second layer. It'll look more like the picture of Nethys does then.
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When 11:30 rolled around I joined Jason as we made our way downstairs to the room where Fight Club would occur. Chris Jarvis, Jason Nelson, and another person whose name I cannot remember (oops!) joined me as fellow GMs for the sheer death that was about to occur.
No worries, Divine Nethys, your omniscience can only be expected to go so far. Maybe next year we'll up the ante to 300 PCs, my fellow merciless GM. :)
Dustin Archer
Thanks for the recap of Paizo Con 2010, Karui Kage. I for one enjoyed reading about it. ~sighs~ Maybe next year I will be able to go.
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I kid I kid. My table was very speedy too, I don't think we got to seven rotations but did hit five or six at one point (where Nani racked up a HUGE number of points since she was able to sit in the middle of the undead and spam channel energy every round). It would have likely been more if I didn't shout for Jason to activate me already! Haha
Lots of fun though. Part of me wishes I ran more games this year, but the other part did enjoy being able to just relax and help out with all the other participants.
Going easy? LOL! My group did seven entire cycles around the table at one point before Jason activated the monsters. They were all veteran players, and *crazy fast*! I take no credit for their amazing success.
Pikers! I chewed through my 50 in record time, and killed the final characters with the Anti-Paladin and Skeletal Warrior. The iron golem never made it into the arena at my table.
CJ
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Going easy? LOL! My group did seven entire cycles around the table at one point before Jason activated the monsters. They were all veteran players, and *crazy fast*! I take no credit for their amazing success.Pikers! I chewed through my 50 in record time, and killed the final characters with the Anti-Paladin and Skeletal Warrior. The iron golem never made it into the arena at my table.
CJ
I think you must have been using loaded dice old man! You just wanted that beer! ;)
I think you must have been using loaded dice old man! You just wanted that beer! ;)
Hey, the hotel bar had Manny's on tap...you better believe I wanted that beer!!
CJ
Great recap! Thank you! And thanks for all the great photos. Let me know if I should post any passed-out Sebastian pics. ;-)
Um, yes!
Nice pictures Nethys, thanks!
Seeing you among several others in costume was a really great thing to see. Than and being as much of a dork that I am, and proud to say it, reconized it off the bat..yay me.
Thinking on it makes me want to make a costume for Echos-of-Lost-Divinity. And if your a Pharasma nut, like I am, you know who Im talking about.
Hearing the sounds of Final Fantasy and tracking down the source was fun. :)
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It was fun and it was really nice to work with ya! I think next year we should both get laptops with extension cords and play a networked game.
Haha, the extension cords are definitely needed. I'd be happy to own you in any game of your choosing! ;)
Hearing the sounds of Final Fantasy and tracking down the source was fun. :)
So glad I could be of help! I was only enjoying the best game EVAR. :D