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Hi everyone,
With the cancellation of GenCoOz 2010 Brisbane, I know you've all been waiting anxiously to hear what's happening with Pathfinder that weekend, as I know many of you already have flights and accommodation booked for Brisbane.
Well, I'm pleased to announce we've been working hard behind the scenes to bring you PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane!
Held over the same four-day weekend, during the Brisbane school holiday break, Thursday 23rd - Sunday 26th September at the Riverside Hotel Southbank conference room.
We currently have 8 GMs running 46 sessions of Pathfinder spread over four days. We have a great line-up of scenarios, including Season 1, some newly released Season 2, and several Season 0 classics for those who might have missed them first time around, all spread over a range of character levels to welcome both new players and support those wanting to advance their existing characters.
We're aiming for 5 tables per session, but are short on GMs for a couple of sessions. So if you'd like to help out, there are still a few GM spots that need filling - contact me via the event page. This event wouldn't be possible without a great team of volunteer GMs.
To help cover our venue hire costs, games will cost $10 per person/per session played. Being a volunteer effort, we have no credit card or EFTPOS facilities, so cash only, pay on arrival. There is no additional registration fee, just pay for the games you play.
Pre-register to choose which sessions you'd like to play and reserve your seat at the table: AON - online convention site.
Note: all of Melbourne's big game conventions - Arcanacon, Conquest, Unicon - use this system for player registration, and Pathfinder Society features at all of them. Unicon 2010 Melbourne is held the very next weekend after PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane, so maybe I'll see you at both?
Try to choose sessions that match your character level. It will help if you can provide your character level when you register for each session - remember to project for character advancement (your character gains a level for every three games played). While we've tried to provide a range of Tiers each session to suit a wide range of character levels, if I notice some Tiers booking out much faster than others, we may look at adjusting the schedule to meet public demand.
While we'll do our level best to provide the games you've signed up for, due to circumstances beyond our control it might be necessary to change a session without notice. Please bring a back-up character just in case a table for your preferred character level becomes unavailable for any reason.
The Pathfinder RPG Advanced Players Guide is a great opportunity to try a new character with some fresh options. Just a reminder to any player with playtest versions of the six new base classes, now is the time to update your character to the final published rules.
Pre-generated character sheets are also available for new players unfamiliar with the rules, or anyone who arrives unprepared.
The cancellation of GenConOz caught everyone by surprise, and many games organisers had to find alternate arrangements for their players. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the other game organisers for their effort and goodwill reaching out and helping each other under difficult circumstances.
I'd also like to remind all players that while PaizoConOz will be a Pathfinder event, there are many other games being held at other locations around Brisbane over these four days, and I'll be posting details of these event locations here over the coming weeks for those looking to enjoy a wider variety of games as information becomes available.
There's a lot of information to digest, and undoubtedly I've forgotten something, so if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll follow this post in a moment with a schedule of games.
Thanks for your patience with this. I'm really excited about running Pathfinder in Brisbane, and I hope you are too! Tell all your friends, and let's make this an event to remember!
Cheers,
DarkWhite
Pathfinder Society GM
PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane
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Thursday 23rd September
Morning 9am-1pm (setup and registration)
Session A - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
#05 Mists of Mwangi (Tier 1-2)
#57 Before the Dawn Part I The Bloodcove Disguise (Tier 1-2)
#39 The Citadel of Flame (Tier 1-2)
#37 The Beggar's Pearl (Tier 3-4)
#47 The Darkest Vengeance (Tier 4-5)
Session B - Evening 7pm-11pm
#35 Voice in the Void (Tier 1-2)
#58 Before the Dawn Part II Rescue at Azlant Ridge (Tier 1-2)
#45 Delirium's Tangle (Tier 1-2)
#55 The Infernal Vault (Tier 3-4)
#16 To Scale the Dragon (Tier 5-6)
Friday 24th September
Session C - Morning 9am 1pm
#33 Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible (Tier 1-2)
#24 Decline of Glory (Tier 1-2)
#29 The Devil We Know Part I Shipyard Rats (Tier 3-4)
#49 Among the Dead (Tier 3-4)
#27 Our Lady of Silver (Tier 5-6)
Session D - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
#04 Frozen Fingers of Midnight (Tier 1-2)
#07 Among the Living (Tier 1-2)
#43 The Pallid Plague (Tier 3-4)
#51 The City of Strangers Part I Shadow Gambit (Tier 3-4)
#25 Hands of the Muted God (Tier 5-6)
Session E - Evening 7pm-11pm
#08 The Slave Pits of Absalom (Tier 1-2)
#49 Among the Dead (Tier 1-2)
#30 The Devil We Know Part II Cassomir's Locker (Tier 3-4)
#52 The City of Strangers Part II Twofold Demise (Tier 3-4)
#17 Perils of the Pirate Pact (Tier 3-4)
Saturday 25th September
Session F - Morning 9am-1pm
#43 The Pallid Plague (Tier 1-2)
#41 The Devil We Know Part III Crypt of Fools (Tier 3-4)
#31 Sniper in the Deep (Tier 5-6)
#28 Lyrics of Extinction (Tier 7-8)
Session G - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
#06 Black Waters (Tier 1-2)
#03 Murder on the Silken Caravan (Tier 1-2)
#48 The Devil We Know Part IV Rules of the Swift (Tier 3-4)
#50 Fortune's Blight (Tier 5-6)
#36 Echoes of the Everwar Part I The Prisoner of Skull Hill (Tier 7-8)
Session H - Evening 7pm-11pm
#11 The Third Riddle (Tier 1-2)
#35 Voices in the Void (Tier 3-4)
#24 Decline of Glory (Tier 3-4)
#39 The Citadel of Flame (Tier 4-5)
#42 Echoes of the Everwar Part II The Watcher of Ages (Tier 7-8)
Sunday 26th September
Session I - Morning 9am-1pm
#51 The City of Strangers Part I The Shadow Gambit (Tier 1-2)
#57 Before the Dawn Part I The Bloodcove Disguise (Tier 3-4)
#45 Delirium's Tangle (Tier 4-5)
#44 Echoes of the Everwar Part III Terror at Whistledown (Tier 7-8)
Session J - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
#52 The City of Strangers Part II The Twofold Demise (Tier 1-2)
#58 Before the Dawn Part II Rescue at Azlant Ridge (Tier 3-4)
#53 Echoes of the Everwar Part IV The Faithless Dead (Tier 7-8)
Evening 7pm-11pm (clean-up and social catch-up)
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Hi Charles,
You're right, it is a tight turn-around, you raise a good point. However, this is the same time-table we ran GenConOz by last year, and run most of our Pathfinder sessions at Melbourne conventions. It's also the timetable that Living Greyhawk / Arcanis have always run by and Living 4E Realms still runs by today. It makes the difference between three games per day run tightly back-to-back, or two games per day with longer breaks, not utilising the full day (morning/afternoon/evening).
Many sessions won't run within the four-hours allocated, and will run over-time, spilling into the breaks between sessions intended for meal-breaks. GMs and players should be made aware of this, and play their games accordingly in an effort to finish on time. This can be achieved if everyone focuses on the game, players plan their actions ahead of their turn, GMs reign in idle chatter or interruptive behaviour, players help by looking up rules so the GM can keep the game moving, etc. While you have to be disciplined, it can be done if everyone co-operates.
Some scenarios highlight an "optional" encounter only to be run if time remains. These "optional" encounters are often road-bumps, using minions that have appeared in previous encounters in a slightly different configuration, referring back to statblocks used in previous encounters. In a time-limited convention situation, GMs should absolutely heed this advice, and cut "optional" encounters where necessary.
To be quite frank, I was horrified when the recommended time to run Society games was raised from 4hrs to 5hrs, albeit including admin/paperwork time. I believe there should be four encounters per scenario, not five. I want to run by the same time-table as Living 4E Realms, so players are able to switch freely between both systems. I want to have guaranteed meal breaks between sessions. I want to encourage opportunities for roleplaying vs roll-playing. Five hour games also make it more difficult to schedule sessions in the evenings after work or on weekends at a store whose opening hours are noon-5pm.
We may also notice the crunch more this year, as the campaign develops, characters are advancing and we're running higher level encounters which can take longer to resolve.
But it is what it is.
I'm happy if a game actually plays for four full hours, but paperwork/admin time fall into break-time. Players can wait around for their chronicle sheet and then disperse while their GM packs up and prepares for his next game.
I might add that the hotel imposes a no food or drink to be taken into the conference room rule, which is going to impact impromptu snack runs.
Last year I had Deluge bring back Indian take-away each night that went cold and had to eat back at my hotel room after midnight because there simply wasn't time to eat during breaks.
I found last year a 9am start gave us time for a relaxed breakfast to gather our calm and strength before the madness that lay ahead. And a good buffet or cooked breakfast is a good start to the day when you don't know when your next meal opportunity will be.
The unlimited gaming "get wrecked" entry has always defined the convention experience for me. The schedule is brutal, but no-where else can you cram as much gaming into four days than at a convention.
I've even had players ask if I'm up for a "midnight madness" session back in their hotel room, to which I've looked at them incredulously and politely declined, but such is the frenzy that many gamers expect of a convention.
It's much like the thrill of attending an international film festival, planning your schedule to within an inch of it's life to maximise the movies you want to catch - no sooner have the closing credits started rolling, and you're out the door, ticket in hand, to join the line queuing into the very same theatre to see your next movie. You live on bad cinema snack food for four days, and never see the light of day.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
Darkwhite, well done on getting this up and running. Your providing a fantastic survice to gamers that otherwise would have been stuck with wasted trips.
I have a question regarding session D. My character is projected to be lvl 2 and one session short of level 3 at that time and I'd like to play in #51 The City of Strangers Part I Shadow Gambit (Tier 3-4) because part 2 is the next session and my character should be level 3 then. Is it fine to sign up for a tier higher than your character level ie; play up?
On another topic you ask for players availability to GM sessions. Are you just looking to fill the 5 table per session gap or are you open for more than 5 tables at a time? Also will gm's be expected to also pay the $10 per session fee.
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Hi Bacchreus,
It's okay to play 1 level above or below the advertised Tier. It's the average of all character levels at the table that determines the Tier at which the adventure is played. You'll be at a slight disadvantage if you play below tier, but played with a little caution, you should do okay.
I'd recommend signing up for your sessions as soon as you can, as some tables are already filling up.
We're keen to fill those sessions in which we're running less than 5 tables, particularly Sunday. We're finding several new players signing up for Tier (1-2) sessions early on, then moving onto Tier (3-4) sessions as their characters hit 3rd level on Saturday or Sunday. As a result, our Tier (3-4) double on Sunday has already booked out, and we may run the Sunday Tier (1-2) double at Tier (3-4) instead, depending on the average level of chracters at the table. Though if another GM were available on Sunday, we'd definitely schedule another Tier (3-4) double to help players out.
If you wanted to GM in a session already with 5 tables, we wouldn't turn down the offer. There are a few options here:
1) Many of our current GMs have had to sacrifice their own play sessions to provide the games you see on the schedule. One or more may raise their hand if you'd like to run their table for them.
2) We could probably make room for a sixth table (?)
3) There are several other locations running games over this GenConOz weekend, it might be possible to run any extra Pathfinder sessions for players at one of these other venues. The organisers I've spoken to have been extremely warm to Pathfinder, and while we're running games at various locations, we're still part of one big gaming weekend.
Feel free to email me directly if you wish to discuss GMing, and I'll include you in on any GM discussion emails.
GMs don't pay for sessions they run.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
well, got my sessions booked in and looking forward to taking my Taldor rogue up to level 4 if the stars align. I'll finally be able to finish the Devil we know series with parts 3 and 4. booked into the first season 2 mods (before the dawn) and city of strangers series. can't wait. And so happy as my APG hardcover arrived today.
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Hi all,
PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane is only a month away, and is shaping up to be a great event!
With a quarter of all tables already booked out, I'd recommend booking your sessions as soon as possible to guarantee a seat at your character level.
Sunday in particular booked out fast, but one of our GMs volunteered to sacrifice his Sunday player sessions to run another table of Before the Dawn Parts I and II, which should suit low-level characters leveling up to level 3 or 4 by Sunday.
I've compiled a list of tables with seats remaining. The first number on the left of each line is how may players already signed up to play - note that Before the Dawn on Sunday can accommodate up to 12 players each (two tables of 6 each session). Sessions not appearing on the list below have already booked out.
11 tables have booked out (6 players).
24 tables have 4-6 players and ready to go!
24 tables have 0-3 players and need more players if they're to run.
If you're finding your options are limited because there are no tables of your character level remaining in a particular session - eg, Saturday morning's low Tier scenarios have booked out - please speak up, because we may have some flexibility to adjust the schedule, as we have with extra Before the Dawn tables on Sunday. Tables remaining with one or two players aren't likely to run on the day, so if there is enough demand for a different scenario, it might be possible to negotiate a more popular scenario in those sessions if we know in advance.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
Thursday 23rd September
Morning 9am-1pm (for setup and registration)
Session A - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
3 - #05 Mists of Mwangi (Tier 1-2)
3 - #37 The Beggar's Pearl (Tier 3-4)
0 - #47 The Darkest Vengeance (Tier 4-5)
Session B - Evening 7pm-11pm
5 - #35 Voice in the Void (Tier 1-2)
3 - #45 Delirium's Tangle (Tier 1-2)
1 - #55 The Infernal Vault (Tier 3-4)
2 - #16 To Scale the Dragon (Tier 5-6)
Friday 24th September
Session C - Morning 9am 1pm
3 - #33 Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible (Tier 1-2)
3 - #29 The Devil We Know Part I Shipyard Rats (Tier 3-4)
1 - #49 Among the Dead (Tier 3-4)
Session D - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
5 - #04 Frozen Fingers of Midnight (Tier 1-2)
3 - #43 The Pallid Plague (Tier 3-4)
3 - #51 The City of Strangers Part I Shadow Gambit (Tier 3-4)
4 - #25 Hands of the Muted God (Tier 5-6)
Session E - Evening 7pm-11pm
4 - #49 Among the Dead (Tier 1-2)
3 - #30 The Devil We Know Part II Cassomir's Locker (Tier 3-4)
3 - #52 The City of Strangers Part II Twofold Demise (Tier 3-4)
0 - #17 Perils of the Pirate Pact (Tier 3-4)
Saturday 25th September
Session F - Morning 9am-1pm
4 - #31 Sniper in the Deep (Tier 5-6)
1 - #28 Lyrics of Extinction (Tier 7-8)
Session G - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
2 - #06 Black Waters (Tier 1-2)
5 - #48 The Devil We Know Part IV Rules of the Swift (Tier 3-4)
2 - #50 Fortune's Blight (Tier 5-6)
4 - #36 Echoes of the Everwar Part I The Prisoner of Skull Hill (Tier 7-8)
Session H - Evening 7pm-11pm
3 - #35 Voice in the Void (Tier 3-4)
2 - #24 Decline of Glory (Tier 3-4)
2 - #39 The Citadel of Flame (Tier 4-5)
5 - #42 Echoes of the Everwar Part II The Watcher of Ages (Tier 7-8)
Sunday 26th September
Session I - Morning 9am-1pm
5 - #51 The City of Strangers Part I The Shadow Gambit (Tier 1-2)
8 - #57 Before the Dawn Part I The Bloodcove Disguise (Tier 3-4)
1 - #45 Delirium's Tangle (Tier 4-5)
3 - #44 Echoes of the Everwar Part III Terror at Whistledown (Tier 7-8)
Session J - Afternoon 2pm-6pm
5 - #52 The City of Strangers Part II The Twofold Demise (Tier 1-2)
7 - #58 Before the Dawn Part II Rescue at Azlant Ridge (Tier 3-4)
3 - #53 Echoes of the Everwar Part IV The Faithless Dead (Tier 7-8)
Evening 7pm-11pm (for clean-up and social catch-up)
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Hey, just wondering if there was still any call for volunteer GM'S? I would be available pretty much all day Friday/Saturday.
Hi Talonas81,
Have you already emailed me directly? If so, I suspect we've already been chatting about this via email this afternoon.
If you're not the same guy, then welcome aboard. There may be some opportunity to GM if you're interested, I'll be having another look through the sessions and emailing my GMs tonight to see how things are going. Eg, as mentioned up-thread, some tables are booked out, while others still need a few players. So there appears to be opportunity to GM, but also opportunity to play. It might be that we need to shuffle a few players between tables if they don't have enough players sitting with them, and that could affect the number of tables or which scenarios we run to cover everyone's needs in a couple of instances.
Send me an email - contact me via the PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane event page - and we'll sort out which sessions you'd like to play and/or GM.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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I just wanted to pop in and say a few quick things:
1) The registration system may have been down over the last few days/weekend due to new server hardware. If you tried to register, but couldn't, try again now.
2) We are aware that Thursday Tier 1-2 sessions have all booked out. We're currently re-negotiating our GM sessions, and should have another Tier 1-2 table available for both Thursday sessions within the next day or two, so check the registration again in the coming days, we should have you covered.
3) If you're trying to book a session, and find there are no tables available for your character level, please post a message here on the boards or direct to me via email, and we'll see what we can do. You might not be the only person seeking a table at that level. If we know about it, we might be able to do something about it - but it would be a shame to miss out because you didn't speak up.
Oh, and Two weeks to go!
Cheers,
DarkWhite
Hi Darkwhite. I was wondering if you had put any thought into maybe running the shadow lodge interactive. I know this may be late notice but with the chatter on the forums about it you may find its doable with people willing to change over. i know I for one would love to have the chance to play it as I can't see it happening in Bris anytime soon with the three table requirement being a large stumbling block around here.
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Hi Bacchreus,
I have put some serious thought to running the Shadow Lodge special at PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane.
You're right, it is going to be difficult to offer the Shadow Lodge special at this late notice, as it would require displacing at least three tables of players who have pre-registered their sessions. Many players would probably be okay with this, though I want to avoid disrupting multi-part scenarios, and we have at least one multi-part scenario scheduled in every session throughout the weekend, so no matter which session we schedule it, we're going to face problems.
- Replace all tables in one session with Shadow Lodge, and some players are going to miss a multi-part session;
- Run Shadow Lodge but exclude players at a multi-part table, and those players may feel they unfairly missed out;
- Allow player choice whether to abandon their table or not, and some tables may no longer have enough players to run.
I suspect we'll discuss the options above with players on the day. If we do offer it, I doubt we'll be running it on Sunday, as every table has scheduled multi-part scenarios on Sunday.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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Heya Darkwhite,
I just had to pull out of the Con sorry. My family and I are heading out of Brisbane on holidays now so I won't be able to get to the games.
I pulled out of sessions on Thursday and Friday just to let you know, so some openings are there now. (T1-2, and T3-4)
Sorry for the late notice and inability to attend.
Cheers
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Hi Wrath,
I'm Sorry you'll be missing the event, but thanks for letting us know. As you said, a couple of the sessions you were booked to play were full tables, so hopefully you've given someone else the opportunity to jump into your seat while it's still warm.
noting that several low-tier sessions had booked out, we've broadened the Tier range of a few Tier 3-4 scenarios to Tier 1-4 to give new players a few more sessions they're now able to join. The actual Tier these scenarios will be run at will be determined by the average level of characters at the table, so they could run at Tier 1-2 or 3-4 on the day, but that's fine.
Also, if you notice any scenario titled: "#00 To Be Announced", then we've added a table to a session that had previously booked out. We have a GM to run it, and wanted players to be able to sign up, even though we haven't announced the title yet. note that while we have a few scenarios in mind to run at these new tables, one reason for not announcing them yet, is just in case we use one of these tables to run the Shadow Lodge special.
As always, we're monitoring table numbers and trying to keep tables open for new players - but if you find there are no seats remaining in a session you wish to sign up for, please notify us your intention to play, and we'll see what we can do ...
Cheers,
DarkWhite
Hi DarkWhite,
As we're only a few days away from paizoconOZ 2010 I was just hoping you could post an update on table numbers so we can see which sessions are looking short on numbers so players can think about alternative scenarios. And to hear how things are tracking from your end. I'm really looking forward to meeting up with everyone and having a great time.
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Hi Bacchreus,
Yup, PaizoConOz is almost upon us, and I'm frantically busy with final preparations for the event - there seriously aren't enough hours in the day!
At this late stage, I think we'll keep table numbers as they are, and do any table swaps that might be necessary on the day of the event. A couple of us will be appearing on Zed Games, a 4ZZZFM Brisbane radio show about gaming at 6pm on Wednesday evening, and this could attract additional players that may not have previously heard about the event. I don't want a situation where someone swaps out of a 3-player table, because they don't think it will run, leaving the other two players without a game, when a fourth player could arrive looking for something to play on the day. It's difficult to predict how much influence the radio interview will have on our table numbers, but we have a few GMs prepared to run extra tables if needed.
I thought it worth mentioning - PaizoConOz will be the first major event where you can playtest the new Magus base class - check the Paizo site tomorrow!
I'm really looking forward to the event and meeting everyone too. It's been a long time in the planning, but it's finally here! Hope to see you all on Thursday :-)
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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Thanks Masika,
It was certainly a great start to the event. As you said, great to see so many players, both local to Brisbane and flown in from all over Australia. Great to recognise some familiar faces from last year, as well as plenty of new ones. Four tables per session, should increase to five tomorrow. Lots of fun all round!
If you're in Brisbane perhaps heard about the event for the first time on the radio show last night, but haven't pre-registered, come in even if it looked like sessions had booked out, we'll find a spot for you to play.
Also note there is free parking on-site for PaizoConOz attendees, just enquire at the reception desk when you arrive.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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Hi everyone,
I just wanted to say a HUUUGE thank you to everyone who participated in PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane this weekend, and I mean EVERYONE!
Extra special thanks goes out to everyone who GMed over the weekend - Al, Ben, Deluge, Matt, Owen, Rich, Seb and Simon.
I'd like to apologise for not being able to say proper thanks and farewell to all the GMs and players personally, as fate would have it my table was running overtime (organiser's curse) while many couldn't hang around due to flights to catch.
Last year's GenConOz was a great event, Pathfinder's first national gathering of players, and I do hope that GenConOz is back up and running in Brisbane next year so that Pathfinder can be a part of that experience again. But for me, PaizoConOz was an amazing event.
Despite some noise issues, I think the Riverside was a great venue for the number of players we had - central location and so convenient for interstate GMs and players who were staying there.
Despite any inconvenience caused by GenConOz's cancellation this year, it was great to be able to hold a national gathering of Pathfinders, and we should all feel proud of what we have accomplished together.
Of course it wouldn't have been possible at all without a great turn-out of players! We had 39 players - half Brisbane locals, the other half flown in from all over Australia, including Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne, Rockhampton and Sydney.
I have so many good memories of this weekend, and met a great bunch of people who I hope to meet playing Pathfinder again in the not too distant future.
Thank you all!
DarkWhite
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Missed the opportunity to join us at PaizoConOz in Brisbane? Or maybe four days of Pathfinder wasn't enough and left you hungering for more? Never fear, as Pathfinder Society lodges in both Melbourne and Sydney have missions this coming weekend for any adventurers brave enough to take them!
Unicon - Friday 1st through Sunday 3rd October 2010
Sydcon - Saturday 2nd through Monday 4th October 2010
For those in the area, we hope to see you at either of these events!
Cheers,
DarkWhite
I'd just like to add my thanks also to all the gm's and players and especially to stephen for organising a great event. I had a blast from start to finish and my Taldoran Duelist Fop Faren is eager for more Society action in the future, hopefully at the next PaizoconOz wherever it may be.
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Thanks to all for turning up and making it a success. My credit card was sweating a little bit given the room was booked without any guarantees we would cover costs but, with all your support, we made it.
I really enjoyed the mix and GMing and Playing this year and there were some great characters to challenge and join forces with.
Special thanks to Dark White for his organisation, many pages of printing, patience and humility.
Four days of Pathfinder madness wouldn't be complete without the Leaving Con Curse. Last year we almost missed our flight due to a lost rookie cab driver, so this year a bunch of us got to stay another night courtesy of Virgin's booking system crisis.
All in all, a great start to PaizoCon OZ which I'm sure will become an annual event.
Cheers,
Rich (the bearded, hatted one).
"Its Jango!"
Oddmund's favourite inspire courage rhyme (from Sniper In The Deep):
"I met a lass at the local jig, she gave me crabs but they weren't THAT big!"
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Hi Rizzo,
Sorry to hear you and the Sydney guys got caught up in all that Virgin Blue flight fiasco. We had scheduled the evening for an after-con social opportunity, but I guess everyone was keen to fly home so they could start work on Monday. Had you all known you'd be staying the extra night, you could have joined us for a relaxed dinner, coffee and good conversation after the event.
Ken hung back with Deluge, Simon and I, after we'd cleaned up the conference room, and recommended a Chinese restaurant which was rather nice - thanks Ken, we really enjoyed winding down with you after the con.
Deluge and I returned to the Chinese restaurant for lunch the next day. I thought I'd tried a pretty wide range of Yumcha/Dimsum in my life, but it wasn't until I bit into a steamed pork dumplings and felt the soup burst free of it's dumpling enclosure that I realised this was the first time I'd tried one of these famed juicy dumplings! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! How could I have missed these all my life?
Gamer highlights for me were:
1) when Matt (RPG Superstar) Goodall's Barbarian character Kregor swaggers into a tavern proclaiming in his rough gravelly voice "now this is my kind of bar!", only to watch him squirm uncomfortably in his seat moments later as the curtain raises and Miss Feathers performs a brief cabaret of "Shiver" to the tune of "Fever" in an equally deep voice, and turns her attentions to him.
2) Echoes of the Everwar is a great four-parter to run as back-to-back sessions, and I hope I get more opportunity to run that series again at cons.
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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And the phoenix soared! Great inaugural event, everyone. Thanks to all who turned up and to all the other GMs and organisers.
Some highlights that jump to mind for me were, in no particular order:
1) Poe the Witch summoning an uncontrolled bat swarm into Targos Min-Katheer's home in Murder on the Silken Caravan which proceeded to rip into the party. Chaos ensued.
2) Matt Goodall's crazed Qadiran cultist in Our Lady of Silver screaming at Adom who'd just slipped in the burning blood, "GET UP! I KILL YOU!"
3) After a tip from DarkWhite, successfully freaking out all my players by describing the opening of the shaft in Voice in the Void as a suppurating, slimy sphincter.
4) Vaarden the Elf Nazi: "Ja, it looks dangerous. Send in ze humans."
5) Jarek the spiked-chain specialist continuously disarming and tripping all my bosses.
6) RizzotheRat's feral dog Jango's call-sign: the bodies of dead bosses being left with their middle fingers stuck up their noses. "You've been Jango'd."
There are many more. Here's to PaizoConOz 2011!
Cheers,
Al / Suttung / Vel "Don't hate me because your girlfriend loves me. Hate me because I keep saving your miserable life."
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Sorry to hear you and the Sydney guys got caught up in all that Virgin Blue flight fiasco. We had scheduled the evening for an after-con social opportunity, but I guess everyone was keen to fly home so they could start work on Monday. Had you all known you'd be staying the extra night, you could have joined us for a relaxed dinner, coffee and good conversation after the event.
Sorry we made the quick exit. Once news of the Virgin delays reached us there were a few panicked people. We made a mad dash to the airport and JUST got 3 of our group on the plane. By the time the rest of us got back into Brisbane is was pretty late so we grabbed a curry and beers and hit the hay.
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Hi Drew,
Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. We hope last weekend will be the first of many annual PaizoConOz events and will start planning toward next year's event as soon as I've caught my breath after having run PaizoConOz and Unicon in back-to-back weekends.
There's a free utility called Posterazor which you can find easily with a Google search. It's purpose is to slice poster-sized images into A4 PDF pages.
Step 1 - drag/drop a map from a Pathfinder PDF into a folder on your desktop.
Step 2 - crop the bmp map image to form a suitable working image - Picasa (also free) can do this - keep in mind, you're trying to produce a canvas that can be easily divided into A4 pages of 7x11 inch grid squares.
Step 3 - open image in Posterazor.
Step 4 - using the options in Posterazor, define a brief overlap so you can see where the slices will divide your map into A4 pages.
Step 5 - scale your image until 7x11 inch grid squares fit per A4 page.
Step 6 - align your image top/centre/bottom and left/center/right until the slices line up nicely with your map grid.
note: you'll also want to try position your slices along walls, so you can drop A4 sheets on the table during play without giving away too much of what might be in an adjacent room - you may need to go back over previous steps, trial and error, to get the best fit - yes, this can be frustrating! very frustrating!
Step 7 - save as PDF and print the pages you require onto 200 gsm cardstock.
Despite the frustration, especially when your slices almost but not quite line up where you want them, Posterazor seems to be the best technique anyone has found for the purpose so far.
Hope this helps :-)
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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Hi all,
I've just finished session reporting for PaizoConOz 2010 Brisbane and Unicon 2010 Melbourne.
You know, I thought Pathfinder run at GenConOz last year was a pretty awesome event. I met a lot of great gamers, we played a lot of fun sessions, Jason Bulmahn made a guest appearance with seminars about the new Core Rulebook and a sneak preview of the Oracle class from the upcoming Advanced Players Guide, and there was the entire extravaganza that GenCon is known for happening all around us, including exhibitor hall, cosplay wandering around everywhere, and countless other distractions.
Though I have to say, I didn't realise until I completed session reporting just now, that despite GenConOz's cancellation this year, just how amazing our PaizoConOz event was! Last year we ran 28 tables of Pathfinder at GenConOz. This year we ran 45 tables at PaizoConOz! How good is that? A huge increase over last year. Easily the largest gathering of Pathfinder players anywhere in Australia ever!
I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I have all of you to thank for that success. All of you players who came along to enjoy the event, Brisbane players who made us feel especially welcome to their city, and interstate players who made the effort to fly in for the occasion, and of course an amazing team of GMs - Al, Ben, John, Matt, Rich, Seb, Simon - thank you all!
I'm already seeing discussion on the boards about Brisbane players getting together to organise some regular in-store game days, so this is a great result. Keep it going guys :-)
Makes me wonder what's possible for next year?
Cheers,
DarkWhite
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Hi Drew,
We have had discussions regarding PaizoConOz 2011, and I expect preparations for the event to get underway after the Easter games conventions [ Conquest in Melbourne ] and [ EyeCon in Sydney ] preparations for which are currently keeping us busy.
We've had a few locations in mind for PaizoConOz 2011, but Brisbane is currently at the top of our list.
While I would like to introduce PaizoConOz to other locations, and to be fair, Brisbane has already enjoyed PaizoConOz last year, there are a few factors swaying our decision:
- GenConOz withdrawing leaves Brisbane without it's own games convention
(Melbourne and Sydney already have two or three annual cons featuring Pathfinder); - Brisbane has the gamer population to support the event;
- We've run PaizoConOz in Brisbane previously, so we're familiar with the format and know it works;
- We'd like to bring some tourist dollars back to Brisbane to help the economic recovery after the recent floods.
Cheers,
Stephen (DarkWhite)
Pathfinder Society 4-Star GM
Venture-Captain Australia
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Hi Drew,
I'm very conscious of the fact that we haven't said much publicly about PaizoConOz as yet, and every week our September target is advancing closer, but I don't want to make any announcements until we have the venue booked. Once that's done, I think things will move very fast.
We're working very hard to bring PaizoConOz to Brisbane. Watch this space in the coming weeks.
I think it's great that a new Good Games store has opened in Brisbane. Cetainly Good Games stores in Melbourne and Sydney have been very supportive of Pathfinder, with regular weekly or monthly Pathfinder sessions, and/or the Free RPG Day "We Be Goblins!" last weekend, helping to grow local Pathfinder communities.
I'll shoot you an email to discuss how they might get involved, even if just to promote PaizoConOz with flyers in store, as we'll need to get word around once we have everything ready to go.
Cheers,
Stephen (DarkWhite)
Pathfinder Society 4-Star GM
Venture-Captain Australia