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I was wondering if there will be any PFS running at Phantasm in September? If we can get some tables I would be willing to make the trip from Ottawa to GM or play some slots.
Just wondering if anyone had already looked into this?I know there were full tables when my brother ran it last year but I wasn't sure if anyone was already organizing something this time around and/or planning to be there?
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Spellstorm is late February and located near 427 and QEW in Mississauga/Toronto. It featured "Year of the Shadow Lodge" last year.
www.warhorn.net/spellstorm-2012/
Then there's Hammercon in November 2-4, in Hamilton.
Gryphcon is probably the best and it's in Guelph in early March. It featured "Blood Under Absalom" last year.
Fan Expo was last weekend, Aug 23-26.
Cangames in Ottawa didn't have any PFS this year I think.
And Phantasm in Peterborough.
That's pretty much what we have regarding gaming conventions in Ontario.
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We have no plans to run events at Phantasm. We just finished events this past 4 day weekend at FanExpo. These are the upcoming conventions we will be supporting:
AARG Game Day - October TBA, Toronto (Ryerson)
Gryphcon Shadow - October 20, 2012, Guelph
Hammercon V - November 2-4, Hamilton
GenreCon - November 16-18, Guelph
Spellstorm III - February, Toronto
Gryphcon 2013 - February, Guelph,
If you were wondering which of those cons would be the best to make a trip from Ottawa? That's easy: Gryphcon in February is the one you do not want to miss. It's the best regional convention we have in Ontario, IMO. Hammercon is also a lot of fun...
I also expect that we will be running the Gencon Special at Gryphcon in Feb, 2013 on the Saturday night of the con.
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Ive been to Gryphcon with Neil a couple of years ago and would be happy to go back. I actually did Spellstorm too just couldn't remember the timing.
One where there is tremendous potential is Game Summit in February here in Ottawa. The opportunity to do that one came up right around the time Neil had to drop out of organizing due to work insanity but it's a good sized con and I think they would be open to it if approached. They are known for their big Catan tournament but do have RPGs as well and are a lot more forward thinking than "one table is all we will ever provide" at Cangames, which I do every year.
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We have no plans to run events at Phantasm. We just finished events this past 4 day weekend at FanExpo. These are the upcoming conventions we will be supporting:
AARG Game Day - October TBA, Toronto (Ryerson)
Gryphcon Shadow - October 20, 2012, Guelph
Hammercon V - November 2-4, Hamilton
GenreCon - November 16-18, Guelph
Spellstorm III - February, Toronto
Gryphcon 2013 - February, Guelph,If you were wondering which of those cons would be the best to make a trip from Ottawa? That's easy: Gryphcon in February is the one you do not want to miss. It's the best regional convention we have in Ontario, IMO. Hammercon is also a lot of fun...
I also expect that we will be running the Gencon Special at Gryphcon in Feb, 2013 on the Saturday night of the con.
Any idea of the events you'll be running at Gryphcon Shadow or GenreCon?
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I'm working at putting together the list for GenreCon at the moment. For now, all I can commit to is that we're going to try to have a good variety of scenarios, focused on the lower-level tiers (1-5 and 3-7) but with a few 5-9s and maybe a 7-11. If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them - GenreCon is a new con for us (though it's in Guelph, of course) and I'm not sure what to expect in terms of attendance of character level.
It's also problematic because I don't know many of the locals and I'm not sure who I can tap locally to help out with GMing a session or two. I can try to convince some Toronto GMs to make the trip, but it's a harder sell.
Email me at jeff@ontariopathfinders.com if you'd like to offer suggestions on planning; especially if you're local to Guelph or K/W.
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Jeff, I'll GM one session at Genrecon, and maybe one at Gryphcon shadow, depending on the schedule.
I plan on staying over at least one night at Genrecon, so if anyone wants to split a hotel room let me know. I might be into car pooling too, if anyone doesn't mind being picked up / dropped off in Mississauga.
In my experience almost everyone is new at these events, meaning mostly pregens. How many pregens compared to real PCs did you have at Fan Expo? I'm guessing you'll have the same # at Genrecon (or maybe more pregens).
My table at Fan Expo (subtier 7-8) was 4 pregens and 2 PCs (Gar and myself). Luckily Gar was on his game and the other players had a lot of 3.5 experience and were good (especially the cleric), although I'm not sure the experience of being placed in a meat grinder was ideal.
If there were three tables per slot, I think a classic scenario that's good for new players should always be done. For example, Frostfur Captives.
New players don't particularily care if the scenario is from season 4 or 0, they just care if it's fun. Probably not a good idea to kill their pregens either, scenarios like Temple of EE are bad for new players if you ask me.
Some support for levels 3+ or 7+ is nice, I guess it just depends on how many people from TO want to attend and how many tables we can get.
So in a typical slot: Two scenarios for tier 1-5 to introduce people to the game (Frostfur Captives, maybe Quest for Perfection), and something 3+/7+.
I guess you have to decide why you're going, to support the current people or develop new fans. If I was being selfish I'd say lots of support for levels 3+ because I like playing at Cons so much better than game nights. Less noisy, more relaxed, and I can do more gaming with minimal travel. But really, unless lots of people from TO want to attend, you're better off preparing for all new players.
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If we can wrangle enough tables, I'm hoping for boon support; I'm in a conversation with one of the GenreCon organizers as we speak to try and figure out how many tables we can have. I will also be staying over in Guelph, but I'm not sure who else will be.
Looking back at GryphCon last winter, many of the attendees for PFS were existing players; I'm trying to encourage the GenreCon locals to include notes in their advertising about welcoming new players.
I am going to weigh the scenarios more towards the "Hey, you've never played before. Welcome!" variety, but I do want to have a few higher-level ones because I know there are existing players in that region who don't get to play that often.
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If we can wrangle enough tables, I'm hoping for boon support; I'm in a conversation with one of the GenreCon organizers as we speak to try and figure out how many tables we can have. I will also be staying over in Guelph, but I'm not sure who else will be.
Looking back at GryphCon last winter, many of the attendees for PFS were existing players; I'm trying to encourage the GenreCon locals to include notes in their advertising about welcoming new players.
I am going to weigh the scenarios more towards the "Hey, you've never played before. Welcome!" variety, but I do want to have a few higher-level ones because I know there are existing players in that region who don't get to play that often.
Those existing players would be mostly my group. We have a bunch of 5-6 lvl guys we'd like the opportunity to play, though we do also have lower level characters as well.
I'll ask around in my group and see what kind of numbers we might be able to have for GenreCon, and Gryphcon's shadow.
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Cool, knowing there are lots of level 5+ PCs in Guelph is encouraging.
So I've been thinking about it and if we're going to have high tier scenarios, I think it would be best if they were tier 5-9 scenarios (as opposed to 7-11), at least for Gryphcon Shadow and Genrecon.
1) It would allow the level 5/6 PCs to play, which include a lot of the Toronto and Guelph players.
2) Pregens seem to be a lot better in tier 5-9 compared to 7-11.
The Immortal Conundrum: Most TO people have played this, but I wouldn't mind playing it in a quiet venue with more time.
Jester's Fraud: Roleplaying scenario. Perfect for a more quiet venue.
Heresy of Man: Is this good? Too hard? Would it kill people playing up? Mixed reviews.
Rebel's Ransom: Would probably kill us if we played up, but... I would still like to play it. Maybe at the end of Genrecon after people have leveled a bit.
If tier 7-11 is run, the following scenarios would be amazing to play: Wrath of the Accursed, Forbidden Furnace of Forgotten Koor, Shadows Fall on Absalom, Fury of the Fiend, Hall of Drunken Heroes, Red Harvest, No Plunder no Pay, Portal at the Sacred Rune, Sarkorian Prophecy, Below the Silver Tarn.
Wow, it's exciting just writing that list out.
What does everyone else think?
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Does anyone know how many events you have to GM to get in for reduced cost/free? This is a seriously expensive con ($60 for weekend pass, 35/40 per day).
I think a mix of low and mid would work best. The lower level pre-gens are just not as complicated as the mid-level. If someone's never played before, a 5th level character is going to have a big learning curve.
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I think a mix of low and mid would work best. The lower level pre-gens are just not as complicated as the mid-level. If someone's never played before, a 5th level character is going to have a big learning curve.
I'm thinking that if you get a few of your home group and even 1-2 people from Toronto attend, the tier 5-9 table won't have any pregens at all.
Having said that, at Fan Expo the players handling the level 7 pregens did well, it seems many people trying PFS have prior RPG experience or 3.5 experience. One player (3.5 player) re-selected all of Kyra's spells.
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I think a mix of low and mid would work best. The lower level pre-gens are just not as complicated as the mid-level. If someone's never played before, a 5th level character is going to have a big learning curve.I'm thinking that if you get a few of your home group and even 1-2 people from Toronto attend, the tier 5-9 table won't have any pregens at all.
Having said that, at Fan Expo the players handling the level 7 pregens did well, it seems many people trying PFS have prior RPG experience or 3.5 experience. One player (3.5 player) re-selected all of Kyra's spells.
I'm not saying lets not do a 5-9, I'm pretty sure I could get 3-4 people for it.
I was just saying we should have a bunch of lower level ones as well. Though you all probably knew that.
