The biggest problem for us is logistics. Getting a booth and staff from Seattle to Ohio is VERY expensive. In the past, we've lost tens of thousands of dollars by attending Origins. Usually, you hope the sales in the booth will at least help you to break even, but Origins wasn't even close the last few times that we attended as a dealer. Most of the folks who attend as dealers are within driving distance of the show. You will notice, that there was not WotC. No Privateer Press. No AEG. All of those are West Coast companies who can't afford to send out a booth and staff for a convention the size of Origins. GenCon is 5 to 6 times bigger and it is the only one where it makes sense for us to send somebody. So I doubt that we will ever be a dealer again at Origins unless GAMA somehow subsidizes our costs.
Thanks for the response Lisa, it is much appreciated and one of the many reasons I am a Paizo fan. It is certainly easier for me to comment from my armchair than to be the one that needs to allocate the money to actually make it happen.
I do think many Paizo fans would be happy even if Paizo showed up at Origins with a booth much smaller than those of past. I don't even think it needs to be fully stocked with product or have the entire Paizo staff here. Send a couple of recognizable folks from Paizo and then supplement the booth staffing with volunteers to keep from wearing out the smaller number of Paizo employees.
The smaller booth would be more focused on being on hand to market Paizo products to a large populace of gamers than to necessarily sell a lot of product at the show. It gives folks curious about Pathfinder a chance to easily walk up and talk, ask questions and possibly become loyal customers later on down the line. So while Paizo may not pay for the travel, booth fees, etc from sales at the show the positive marketing done at the show would hopefully lead to more sales in the future.
Again, much easier for me to comment from the comfort of my armchair than the one that has to actually manage the finances. In either case, I am a big fan of Paizo and will continue to be regardless of your decision to attend Origins or not simply because of the quality of product Paizo puts out and the fact you and your employees are here on these message boards reading and posting. Those are the important things.
Sorry folks for drifting off-topic. To help keep on topic a bit, I am glad to hear the PFS games at Origins were awesome and that Doug Doug did such an excellent job pulling everything together.
|
According to Origins, they had a 5% increase in attendance this year.
10,669 attendees
I had a feeling this was a better year than '09...
...but that might be due to all of the awesome PFS gaming. I found myself wishing I had set aside more time for PFS this year. I don't have the numbers to back it up but the games I played had a lot of very excited-looking first timers (like myself...). A big thank you to Doug Doug for making the PFS experience awesome.
|
According to Origins, they had a 5% increase in attendance this year.
10,669 attendees
I had a feeling this was a better year than '09...
...but that might be due to all of the awesome PFS gaming. I found myself wishing I had set aside more time for PFS this year. I don't have the numbers to back it up but the games I played had a lot of very excited-looking first timers (like myself...). A big thank you to Doug Doug for making the PFS experience awesome.
You are very welcome Andrew. However, I did mess one thing up. If you contact me at dmiles@starems.com I can help fix your membership snafu. I'd like to get that straightened out so I can continue basking in the admiration of my peers ;)
|
|
Thanks for the expansive discussion, Lisa and Co. While I was sad not to see Paizo (and many of the bigger name gaming companies) I can only hope that one day soon it might be feasable for a double-slot booth simply for selling your products. We'd all be cheerleaders for it and many would happily volunteer to help out simply to talk to potential customers while your staff handled the actual sales and money.
PS: DougDoug rocks.
Will this success be repeated at GenCon? Only time will tell!
Thea - great job, you represented our little Midwest judge pool beautifully! You've set the bar for Hans and I at GenCon :)
Doug Doug will be there, too, so yeah. :-)
Venture-Agent, Ohio—Akron
|
With all of that said - I knew Paizo was not going to be there this year before I even attended. I hope at some point they reconsider realizing that there are a large number of Paizo fans that would support the booth - even if it was a booth that was reduced in scale compared to past Origin's booths. There are fans that would purchase product at the show and enjoy the opportunity to chat up the publishers, designers, authors, etc. I am sure there are some behind the scenes things that GAMA might be mis-managing things that make Origins less attractive, but there are still fans that would love to at least see some presence by Paizo in the dealer hall or at seminars.The biggest problem for us is logistics. Getting a booth and staff from Seattle to Ohio is VERY expensive. In the past, we've lost tens of thousands of dollars by attending Origins. Usually, you hope the sales in the booth will at least help you to break even, but Origins wasn't even close the last few times that we attended as a dealer. Most of the folks who attend as dealers are within driving distance of the show. You will notice, that there was not WotC. No Privateer Press. No AEG. All of those are West Coast companies who can't afford to send out a booth and staff for a convention the size of Origins. GenCon is 5 to 6 times bigger and it is the only one where it makes sense for us to send somebody. So I doubt that we will ever be a dealer again at Origins unless GAMA somehow subsidizes our costs.
-Lisa
Would you be willing to staff your booth with volunteer Paizonians? This could help defray your staffing costs. I would gladly donate my time to help staff a Paizo booth at Origins next year, and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way...
|
|
If there isn't a suitable solution next year at Origins, there will be a Paizo booth out of the trunk of my Civic in the parking garage.We can see it now:
"Hey little girl, want to come over here and roll my dice!!"
Doug Doug with a winning grin, pointing at his trunk!
Wrong on so many levels yet hilarious at the same time
|
|
Would you be willing to staff your booth with volunteer Paizonians? This could help defray your staffing costs. I would gladly donate my time to help staff a Paizo booth at Origins next year, and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way...
I was talking to one of the Mayfair volunteers. Basically, for eight hours of work a day, Mayfair pays their badge for that day and gives some other perks. If Paizo wanted to offer something like that, I bet more than a few of us would gladly work to demo Paizo products and man a booth.
I was talking to one of the Mayfair volunteers. Basically, for eight hours of work a day, Mayfair pays their badge for that day and gives some other perks. If Paizo wanted to offer something like that, I bet more than a few of us would gladly work to demo Paizo products and man a booth.
Several years back I managed the convention booth for Fedora Project at the Ohio Linux Fest for a few years in a row. Volunteers can do amazing things given the opportunity. Being an open source operating system, we ran on a shoestring budget and relied on volunteers for the whole thing. But in the end we were able to provide a place for people interested to ask questions, have them answered and be directed to web based resources for any additional information or software they needed. It worked amazingly well and the booth frequently was well-regarded amongst convention attendees.
CEO
|
Would you be willing to staff your booth with volunteer Paizonians? This could help defray your staffing costs. I would gladly donate my time to help staff a Paizo booth at Origins next year, and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way...
Actually, there are a bunch of legal issues about having volunteers do a bunch of things in the booth. The number one is that only approved employees can handle the point of sale system and take credit cards. There are also insurance problems with having non-employees carry or build anything in the booth. So, that would obviously put a crimp in having volunteers. We do use volunteers to run games and to answer questions in the booth, but we still would need to send a bunch of employees to staff the booth for the above reasons.
-Lisa
|
|
Would you be willing to staff your booth with volunteer Paizonians? This could help defray your staffing costs. I would gladly donate my time to help staff a Paizo booth at Origins next year, and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way...Actually, there are a bunch of legal issues about having volunteers do a bunch of things in the booth. The number one is that only approved employees can handle the point of sale system and take credit cards. There are also insurance problems with having non-employees carry or build anything in the booth. So, that would obviously put a crimp in having volunteers. We do use volunteers to run games and to answer questions in the booth, but we still would need to send a bunch of employees to staff the booth for the above reasons.
-Lisa
Technically you also can't take volunteers for POS places as well because you aren't a non-profit/not for profit organization. You'd be forced to pay minimum-wage of the state and/or register for a license in that state (for state income tax purposes). It would be a major hassle to be honest. About the only "best" option would be to hire them as a contractor (which would force the "volunteer" to report their own income to the IRS and pay Social Security / Medicare taxes themselves) and pay them minimum wage. Not sure Paizo would want to go through that hassle.
|
|
What Paizo should do at Origins is offer an exchange program like the police do in high crime cities. Instead of trading gangsters concert tickets or sneakers for their handguns, Paizo could trade Core Rulebooks and APGs for 4E Player's Handbooks & PHB2s. Trade the Pathfinder Campaign Setting for the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. That way no money is changing hands and the world is being made a safer place for innocent RPG players. Win-win!
I'd like to add my thanks to Doug for managing to get me into a part 1 of a story that I had signed up for a part 2 on. Since I go to Origins to try new games, or games I don't get to play much, I only scheduled one slot for PFS. I believe when I was on the GAMA site, either part 1 didn't show up for me in that time slot or it showed up as being full. Doug parted the waters, and got me into a great session where Kyle ran with the assistance of a lovely and enthusiastic young lady whose name escapes me now. It was my first PFS game with my first registered character (I never registered the premade Doug gave me for the one I sat in on at last year's Origins). I had a great time playing Arcovel the (Celestial Sorcerer) Cleric of Aroden with a fun group of players, and an excellent GM'ing team. Now I just gotta find a way to play part 2.
Thanks, Doug, thanks, Kyle, and thanks, Thea!
ETA: Thea identified
|
|
I'd like to add my thanks to Doug for managing to get me into a part 1 of a story that I had signed up for a part 2 on. Since I go to Origins to try new games, or games I don't get to play much, I only scheduled one slot for PFS. I believe when I was on the GAMA site, either part 1 didn't show up for me in that time slot or it showed up as being full. Doug parted the waters, and got me into a great session where Kyle ran with the assistance of a lovely and enthusiastic young lady whose name escapes me now. It was my first PFS game with my first registered character (I never registered the premade Doug gave me for the one I sat in on at last year's Origins). I had a great time playing Arcovel the (Celestial Sorcerer) Cleric of Aroden with a fun group of players, and an excellent GM'ing team. Now I just gotta find a way to play part 2.
Thanks, Doug, thanks, Kyle, and thanks, Kyle's assistant!
You are very welcome! We really appreciate the feedback. Kyle & Thea worked together on two scenarios, and it seems to have made an impression.
Now you need to link up with Andrew (Face_P0lluti0n) and get a Columbus Pathfinder Society group going. I know there're other Pathfinder players in Columbus. It just takes one motivated individual to start shaking the bushes and flush them into the open. There's another thread about forming a local group. It's not that hard once you start the ball rolling. Strike while the iron is hot :)
Now you need to link up with Andrew (Face_P0lluti0n) and get a Columbus Pathfinder Society group going.
I was only in OH for the con, I'm actually in the Baltimore/DC area. I've seen some references to games, I'll have to search for those threads again.
|
|
I was only in OH for the con, I'm actually in the Baltimore/DC area. I've seen some references to games, I'll have to search for those threads again.
Chris, glad you had fun on that table :) always good to hear .. was going to say come to Iowa for Gamicon in Feb and I'll run a table specially for you.. long way to travel for a smaller con tho .. hrmm ... if you don't get it before next year .. tag me at Origins and I'll make sure I get a table going .. even if it's after hours .. at that point may want to redo part 1.. (epic gaming session anyone?) to refresh your memory...
|
Now you need to link up with Andrew (Face_P0lluti0n) and get a Columbus Pathfinder Society group going. I know there're other Pathfinder players in Columbus. It just takes one motivated individual to start shaking the bushes and flush them into the open. There's another thread about forming a local group. It's not that hard once you start the ball rolling. Strike while the iron is hot :)
There is a Pathfinder Society event in Columbus. Perhaps more than one, if they are still running it at the Guardtower. I organize one at Armoury Games in Pickerington, which is just outside Columbus. We have anywhere from 8-10 players. We have plenty of room for new players and anyone in the area is welcome to join. We are a pretty vibrant and productive group who are always looking to network with other Pathfinder fans.
The information in the game finder section is a mess, as I was slightly confused the first few times I reported sessions. The event also switched hands so there are still some listings in the game finder that were created by the original organizer.
|
|
Would you be willing to staff your booth with volunteer Paizonians? This could help defray your staffing costs. I would gladly donate my time to help staff a Paizo booth at Origins next year, and I'm sure there are others who feel the same way...Actually, there are a bunch of legal issues about having volunteers do a bunch of things in the booth. The number one is that only approved employees can handle the point of sale system and take credit cards. There are also insurance problems with having non-employees carry or build anything in the booth. So, that would obviously put a crimp in having volunteers. We do use volunteers to run games and to answer questions in the booth, but we still would need to send a bunch of employees to staff the booth for the above reasons.
-Lisa
Bummer. Well, if there is anything we can do to help out or promote Paizo at Origins next year, just let us know.
Alizor, as I stated in my earlier post, I suggested the volunteers just prosthelytize for Paizo, and let the Paizo employees take care of the business side. That way they would not be technically working/handling money, etc.
|
|
I'd like to add my thanks to Doug for managing to get me into a part 1 of a story that I had signed up for a part 2 on. Since I go to Origins to try new games, or games I don't get to play much, I only scheduled one slot for PFS. I believe when I was on the GAMA site, either part 1 didn't show up for me in that time slot or it showed up as being full. Doug parted the waters, and got me into a great session where Kyle ran with the assistance of a lovely and enthusiastic young lady whose name escapes me now. It was my first PFS game with my first registered character (I never registered the premade Doug gave me for the one I sat in on at last year's Origins). I had a great time playing Arcovel the (Celestial Sorcerer) Cleric of Aroden with a fun group of players, and an excellent GM'ing team. Now I just gotta find a way to play part 2.
Thanks, Doug, thanks, Kyle, and thanks, Kyle's assistant!
You are very welcome! We really appreciate the feedback. Kyle & Thea worked together on two scenarios, and it seems to have made an impression.
Now you need to link up with Andrew (Face_P0lluti0n) and get a Columbus Pathfinder Society group going. I know there're other Pathfinder players in Columbus. It just takes one motivated individual to start shaking the bushes and flush them into the open. There's another thread about forming a local group. It's not that hard once you start the ball rolling. Strike while the iron is hot :)
One of my friends who was attending the con with me dropped in on the end of one of the games I was in and is now interested in playing and GMing as well. We won over at least one other player when we got home and ranted about how cool the con, and PFS in particular, was...and then we mentioned the possibility of PFS to the owner of our FLGS and he jumped on the idea right away - he's already promised us at least two game days a month and, I can say this from knowing the guy personally, he promotes the heck outta any event or product he and his store gets behind. All we need is one more player to make the table legal, and we're kinda counting on a snowball effect from there...but I'd say right now the chances of us getting our PFS group off the ground are pretty high, and there are two willing GMs to boot, meaning two tables if things get really big, and if not, GM burnout is still mitigated.
The only issue is, as of August, our hometown is Yellow Springs, Ohio, which is kind of a trek from Columbus, but I don't know of much PFRPG anything going on in the YS/Dayton area, so I'm hoping that 4E being the only game in town until now means there are a lot of PFRPG hopefuls and 3.5 loyalists waiting to pop out of the woodwork, given the excuse.
|
|
One of my friends who was attending the con with me dropped in on the end of one of the games I was in and is now interested in playing and GMing as well. We won over at least one other player when we got home and ranted about how cool the con, and PFS in particular, was...and then we mentioned the possibility of PFS to the owner of our FLGS and he jumped on the idea right away - he's already promised us at least two game days a month and, I can say this from knowing the guy personally, he promotes the heck outta...I'd like to add my thanks to Doug for managing to get me into a part 1 of a story that I had signed up for a part 2 on. Since I go to Origins to try new games, or games I don't get to play much, I only scheduled one slot for PFS. I believe when I was on the GAMA site, either part 1 didn't show up for me in that time slot or it showed up as being full. Doug parted the waters, and got me into a great session where Kyle ran with the assistance of a lovely and enthusiastic young lady whose name escapes me now. It was my first PFS game with my first registered character (I never registered the premade Doug gave me for the one I sat in on at last year's Origins). I had a great time playing Arcovel the (Celestial Sorcerer) Cleric of Aroden with a fun group of players, and an excellent GM'ing team. Now I just gotta find a way to play part 2.
Thanks, Doug, thanks, Kyle, and thanks, Kyle's assistant!
You are very welcome! We really appreciate the feedback. Kyle & Thea worked together on two scenarios, and it seems to have made an impression.
Now you need to link up with Andrew (Face_P0lluti0n) and get a Columbus Pathfinder Society group going. I know there're other Pathfinder players in Columbus. It just takes one motivated individual to start shaking the bushes and flush them into the open. There's another thread about forming a local group. It's not that hard once you start the ball rolling. Strike while the iron is hot :)
Which store will this event take place? As a organizer of a local event I like to know where and when the other events take place so as not to conflict. Additionally, I get a ton of requests for information from people that live a good distance from Armoury Games and I like to be able to refer them to a more local venue if I can.
|
|
I do know there are some serious Pathfinder fans in Dayton. So, starting an event there would not be hard at all.
I am sorry I didn't say this before, but good luck and I hope you have fun. If you have any questions you can feel free to ask. I am happy to help out if you are interested and need assistance.
|
Thanks, Doug, thanks, Kyle, and thanks, Thea!
Glad you enjoyed it. It's always a good time when the GM has to ask around for the range increment on a Halfling. :)
And I do have to agree that Thea did a great job as my little initiative monkey ;-)
Oh, I feel terrible! In thanking you and Doug Doug earlier, I had forgotten that Thea was the initiative monkey on the table you ran for me! Thanks, Thea!
Hm, my gnome barbarian I started is considering multi-classing, and might have a level of sorcerer such that he could get a familiar -- if I get a monkey, would you be upset if I named him Thea? :-)
|
|
Thanks, Doug, thanks, Kyle, and thanks, Thea!
Glad you enjoyed it. It's always a good time when the GM has to ask around for the range increment on a Halfling. :)
And I do have to agree that Thea did a great job as my little initiative monkey ;-)
Oh, I feel terrible! In thanking you and Doug Doug earlier, I had forgotten that Thea was the initiative monkey on the table you ran for me! Thanks, Thea!
Hm, my gnome barbarian I started is considering multi-classing, and might have a level of sorcerer such that he could get a familiar -- if I get a monkey, would you be upset if I named him Thea? :-)
You can only have the monkey if it's named "Origins Initiative Monkey Thea" that is my condition.
|
|
I would also like to extend my thanks to Doug - Played 3 slots of PFS, Doug GM'd two of them and all 3 games were very enjoyable. Further, all my slots were done with generic tokens (I came to Origins primarily to play Arcanis) and Doug was very accommodating to those of us who didn't have "real" tickets.
Thanks Doug
|
|
I would also like to extend my thanks to Doug - Played 3 slots of PFS, Doug GM'd two of them and all 3 games were very enjoyable. Further, all my slots were done with generic tokens (I came to Origins primarily to play Arcanis) and Doug was very accommodating to those of us who didn't have "real" tickets.
Thanks Doug
Bill, you are very welcome on behalf of all the GMs at Origins, without whom I wouldn't have been able to be so accomodating. I am proud that we almost never turned anyone away anyone eligible to play. We did have to turn away some higher-level players (Tier 7-11) when we couldn't fill their table :(
|
|
Which store will this event take place? As a organizer of a local event I like to know where and when the other events take place so as not to conflict. Additionally, I get a ton of requests for information from people that live a good distance from Armoury Games and I like to be able to refer them to a more local venue if I can.
It's not official just yet, but I and my fellow soon-to-be-GM are talking to one of the owners of Superfly Comics in Yellow Springs, OH, a good hour outside of Columbus in the opposite direction, and we're on our way to having an official PFS game day at least twice a month. I think we'll be starting in late July or early August, depending on how complicated moving from Columbus to YS gets.
|
What Paizo should do at Origins is offer an exchange program like the police do in high crime cities. Instead of trading gangsters concert tickets or sneakers for their handguns, Paizo could trade Core Rulebooks and APGs for 4E Player's Handbooks & PHB2s. Trade the Pathfinder Campaign Setting for the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. That way no money is changing hands and the world is being made a safer place for innocent RPG players. Win-win!
The street value on all that stuff has dropped substantially in the last few months. Why, I saw some guy trade his entire 4E stash for a copy of the Society Guide to Organized Play. When I caught up with him and told him he could have downloaded it for free, he shrugged and said, "Yeah, but then I'd still have to pay someone to haul all of this stuff away."