The event process is handled by a lottery. I'm sure we'll get a notice later this month about the entire event list.
The lottery will begin on Friday. :) That's your first chance to sign up for events. Once the lottery is finished we'll have one last round of event signup before the show.
Hyrum.
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Friday?? But but but, I have not yet figured out if I can go yet!!!
So will this be the initial posting of events and then a period of time to put in their preferences before the drawing occurs or will the drawing be on Friday? If it is not on Friday, when will the actual drawing occur?
Sorry about pinning you down to specifics, but I need to know how badly I need to freak out. ;)
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Friday?? But but but, I have not yet figured out if I can go yet!!!
So will this be the initial posting of events and then a period of time to put in their preferences before the drawing occurs or will the drawing be on Friday? If it is not on Friday, when will the actual drawing occur?
Sorry about pinning you down to specifics, but I need to know how badly I need to freak out. ;)
Great question! In years past, the event list wad posted a few days before people could start actually picking just so you could take some time looking over the choices ...
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How does this lottery work?
This is how I recall it happening last year:
You rate events based on how much you want to go to them. When rating, you assume that you may or may not get any particular event. You give each event you want to/maybe want to attend a score from 1-5, I think.
You only enter your lottery choices once, but it actually goes through many "passes."
Everyone will get at least one event from their top scores. Then the list will be passed again, and again, giving people other events high on their list until the events are full and people's slots are full.
This way everyone gets something that they want and that way it's fair. I found the system to work out very well if you rated right. (I considered every event and rated them based on that event alone - not on if it coincided with something else I wanted - this way I had enough things I wanted and didn't end up with anything I wouldn't have had fun in.)
Historically, how has the event lottery worked out for people who just want to play PFS and really don't care for anything else?
-Matt
Historically, how has the event lottery worked out for people who just want to play PFS and really don't care for anything else?
-Matt
As far as I remember, there wasn't much issue getting in at PFS tables. Of course last year I ran 4 tables and played once, so it's not the greatest perspective.
You should have absolutely no problem finding a PFS game.
I think he was referring to PLAYING in a PFS game, not simply finding onem, Jason. I expect better out of you!
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Last year, I entered the shuffle and none of my 7 gazillion first choices.
Instead I was 'stuck' at some game lead by some yahoo named "Hyrum".
I enjoyed the game, but still wonder what ever happened to that guy.
-Pain
p.s. I got into and played a lot of PFS including a game with Doug Miles (name drop). That was pretty cool. Back then, Doug Miles (name drop) would actually talk to guy like me. Now Doug Miles (name drop) struts around with 5 stars and doesn't deign to acknowledge PFS peasantry like myself.
Last year, I entered the shuffle and none of my 7 gazillion first choices.
This is accurate - you're not guaranteed one of your top choices (it's simply not possible... if 7 people put down *only* a single game that had 6 slots, someone wouldn't get it). It gives you a random game from among your highest remaining 'level' of choices.
For instance, I could rate things as follows:
2 games @ 5
10 games @ 4
4 games @ 3
3 games @ 2
All the attendees get randomly shuffled, and when my turn comes up, there are still open slots in:
1 game @ 5
0 games @ 4
4 games @ 3
1 games @ 2
I would get the 5. If instead it was like this:
0 games @ 5
5 games @ 4
2 games @ 3
I would get a random one of the 5 games at my "level 4" choices.
After everyone gets one pick, it shuffled again, and went through the cycle again, picking another random from the top remaining tier of choices.
Since some games are 5's for a lot of people, and other games are off the radar for most, what you get really depends on what sort of thing you really want to get in.
Both years I've gone I have gotten into at least one game that I really wanted to play, and then plenty of events I was happy with. Usually it's easy to sign up for additional PFS scenarios after the lottery.
Majuba has been FLAGGED.
But then I saw there was no option for 'awesomeness', so I had to let it go.
Very, very helpful, your Majubasty.
Here's the inside scoop:
Tomorrow the blog will announce the start of the lottery and the events you'll be able to sign up for, along with times. Next week the lottery will begin and like last year, you'll need to enter the lottery to play in fan-run game sessions, staff-run game sessions, limited-slot seminars, and PaizoCon exhibitor-tun games. PFS games, general seminars and panels will be open to anyone that wants to come.
Hyrum.
Here's the inside scoop:
Tomorrow the blog will announce the start of the lottery and the events you'll be able to sign up for, along with times. Next week the lottery will begin and like last year, you'll need to enter the lottery to play in fan-run game sessions, staff-run game sessions, limited-slot seminars, and PaizoCon exhibitor-tun games. PFS games, general seminars and panels will be open to anyone that wants to come.
Hyrum.
Woot!
Here's the inside scoop:
Tomorrow the blog will announce the start of the lottery and the events you'll be able to sign up for, along with times. Next week the lottery will begin and like last year, you'll need to enter the lottery to play in fan-run game sessions, staff-run game sessions, limited-slot seminars, and PaizoCon exhibitor-tun games. PFS games, general seminars and panels will be open to anyone that wants to come.
Hyrum.
Is there going to be a signup at all for PFS, so we can know in advance about how many people of which character levels will be at a given slot, whether a given table will make, what the Tier will be for that table, etc?
Since players don't have to register a specific character for an event, even knowing who'll be in what slots won't necessarily tell anyone what class and level spread there will be.So they'll be space open for all the PFS events? Just wondering...
Mike
Most likely! Last year most of the rooms with PFS had a couple of extra tables even.
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Here's the inside scoop:
Tomorrow the blog will announce the start of the lottery and the events you'll be able to sign up for, along with times. Next week the lottery will begin and like last year, you'll need to enter the lottery to play in fan-run game sessions, staff-run game sessions, limited-slot seminars, and PaizoCon exhibitor-tun games. PFS games, general seminars and panels will be open to anyone that wants to come.
Hyrum.
It's tomorrow! Is the lottery and events blog post ready yet?????? :)
It's tomorrow! Is the lottery and events blog post ready yet?????? :)Here's the inside scoop:
Tomorrow the blog will announce the start of the lottery and the events you'll be able to sign up for, along with times. Next week the lottery will begin and like last year, you'll need to enter the lottery to play in fan-run game sessions, staff-run game sessions, limited-slot seminars, and PaizoCon exhibitor-tun games. PFS games, general seminars and panels will be open to anyone that wants to come.
Hyrum.
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
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Hyrum, can you guys at least give us an idea when this will be going up?
For those of us on the East Coast, the work day is almost over - is this goig to be more of and end of day thing (Paizo time), meaning those of us on the West Coast should plan on checking back later this evening?
Thanks!!!
Last year you had a week to sign up and nothing is first come first serve.
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Last year you had a week to sign up and nothing is first come first serve.Hyrum, can you guys at least give us an idea when this will be going up?
For those of us on the East Coast, the work day is almost over - is this goig to be more of and end of day thing (Paizo time), meaning those of us on the West Coast should plan on checking back later this evening?
Thanks!!!
Thanks Ogre!
I actually wasn't worried about that, though. I'm just anxious to check out the list of lottery games and events :) I was hoping to check them out while it's slow here at work ... but, the work day is just about over.
Looks like I'll be checking back later this evening :)
Director of Narrative
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Well, keep in mind the actually rating things for the lottery doesn't go live until Tuesday, and then you'll have a couple days to look everything over and make your selections before the final lottery calculations happen Friday. At least that's my understanding of it. Since the list went up late, I'm guessing not everything is fully put together and will be either Monday or Tuesday.
At least that reasonably seems like the case to me.
I am glad to hear that the event schedule isn't actually live yet, since Ive been assigned to a time in which I am not available (posted later my scheduled availability is late Friday 6-11 PM slot or any time on Saturday).
While the PFS events aren't included in the lottery I've added all of the volunteer information so the lottery will take into account your volunteer schedule and compare it to the master schedule of events. If you've volunteered to run an event you can check out your schedule via the GM/Events tab in the PFS section of the site.
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While the PFS events aren't included in the lottery I've added all of the volunteer information so the lottery will take into account your volunteer schedule and compare it to the master schedule of events. If you've volunteered to run an event you can check out your schedule via the GM/Events tab in the PFS section of the site.
Now that's an awesome little feature.
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While the PFS events aren't included in the lottery I've added all of the volunteer information so the lottery will take into account your volunteer schedule and compare it to the master schedule of events. If you've volunteered to run an event you can check out your schedule via the GM/Events tab in the PFS section of the site.
Cool...
I am assuming that you did not need me for the Friday 9-12 event since I am not on the Schedule..
Need any other GMs for other slots?
Cool...
I am assuming that you did not need me for the Friday 9-12 event since I am not on the Schedule..
Need any other GMs for other slots?
We pared back the 9am-noon slots and didn't need as many people as we thought we would, thanks for offering though and we might need fill-ins if people drop out. :)
Sorry, but where do we find out PFS volunteer schedule?
Then click the "Show My Schedule" button.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Did you send Hyrum and email to volunteer for PFS?Ah, so they should be showing up on that page.
Looks like my schedule is empty then. :/
Yeah, I volunteered for three slots. I did do it kind of late, but from his first response it sounded like he still needed volunteers.
I'm not too worried about it really (more time to play PFS :D) I just wanted to make sure I was looking in the right place for my schedule.
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Question -
The Friday 9-1 slots conflict with the Friday 12-5 slots.
I want to sign up for both, because I want the chance to get my 3 or 4 ratings in either slot. I won't keep both, but I want the chance to get them.
How does this work? It won't let me sign up for both slots, and I don't want to have to choose between the chance of getting 8 Kender or the chance of getting Kings of Absalom.
Help?
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Last year, after PaizoCon, people asked how the event could be improved. In response I wrote about a frustrating aspect of the convention:
My personal experience: I signed up to judge a PFS adventure on Friday. Josh overbooked the session (perfectly reasonable) and three of us DMs ended up with nothing to do. If we had known sooner, we could have found other games to play in. (Since we didn't get to actually GM, I don't think we even got the PFS OP GM rewards for running a table...)[/smaller]
- While PFS needs a full muster to determine how many tables get slotted with which tiers and sub-tiers, we shouldn't need to go through the muster to determine that there's only enough players for three or four tables.
On Saturday morning, I'd set up to run my "Pathfinder Academy" adventure. Seven people had entered the lottery and won chairs at my table. Only two showed up.Now, as it turns out, that was sort of okay, because I was able to scrounge around and find some terrific players to join the game. (Some other people had won seats at a session where it was the GM who hadn't shown up.) Now, even so, it was far from ideal; they didn't get to play in the game they really wanted, and some people who would have liked to play in my game, but didn't make the lottery cut, didn't know to show up. Also, starting 45 minutes late was one of the things that kept us from finishing the adventure.
Scuttlebutt around the convention suggested that this problem was rampant. Two GMs just kind of gave up when their players didn't show, and two others managed to scramble to find fresh players.
I've been a fan of gaming conventions for years, and I've never seen this kind of problem: not at big shows, and not at small local cons. I'm sure that it's the lottery aspect of PaizoCon game seating, combined with the free game tickets, that's causing these difficulties.
- The lottery procedure places an undue value on winning table spots. People win their third and fourth choices, which they're sort of ambivalent about attending, but don't want to just release them without some compensation. There's no price to pay for requesting a seat, and no penalty at all for failing to show up.
- It would be nice for Paizo to emphasize that it's not cool to win a seat at a gaming table and then just not show up. It keeps other interested parties from playing games according to their interests.
So, my advice: treat the lottery as a series of commitments. Don't sign up for something you're not sure you'd find interesting. And if you don't get into something you signed up for, show up at the table anyways, to see if one of the people who won space decided to drop out.
Question -
The Friday 9-1 slots conflict with the Friday 12-5 slots.
I want to sign up for both, because I want the chance to get my 3 or 4 ratings in either slot. I won't keep both, but I want the chance to get them.
How does this work? It won't let me sign up for both slots, and I don't want to have to choose between the chance of getting 8 Kender or the chance of getting Kings of Absalom.
Help?
Deidre: It looks like one of our events had a stop date set in 2012, which was causing it to conflict with one of your PFS games. You should be able to enter lottery preference for overlapping events without a problem.
While the PFS events aren't included in the lottery I've added all of the volunteer information so the lottery will take into account your volunteer schedule and compare it to the master schedule of events. If you've volunteered to run an event you can check out your schedule via the GM/Events tab in the PFS section of the site.
The non-PFS game I am running does not show up on my schedule. Also it is scheduled until 1 (as Deidre pointed out) though the next set of things (including lots of my 4's :) begin at 12. Is that correct? I really will have room for a 5 hour lunch :)
Should I sign up or not for any of the cool stuff starting at noon?
While the PFS events aren't included in the lottery I've added all of the volunteer information so the lottery will take into account your volunteer schedule and compare it to the master schedule of events. If you've volunteered to run an event you can check out your schedule via the GM/Events tab in the PFS section of the site.
The non-PFS game I am running does not show up on my schedule. Also it is scheduled until 1 (as Deidre pointed out) though the next set of things (including lots of my 4's :) begin at 12. Is that correct? I really will have room for a 5 hour lunch :)
Should I sign up or not for any of the cool stuff starting at noon?
I'll prod Hyrum about getting events added to the GM's schedule for the fan-run events. In the meantime, please don't enter lottery picks for events you know you won't be able to attend.