Per the FAQ: Can I buy a badge for just 1 day?
Only 3-day badges at the 3-day badge rate are available for PaizoCon 2013. However, you can come for any or all of the days with a 3-day badge.
My apologies, I'm rather a newb to Paizo Con, and to such things in general. My context for 'cons' in general is something like the Emerald City ComiCon, ticket prices as follows:
Ticket Prices
3-Day Pass $65.00
Friday Only $25.00
Saturday Only $35.00
Sunday Only $25.00
Child (3-10) $10.00
Not trying to start a war or anything, but I have to 'sell' Paizo Con to my wife. She can only handle one day. For that matter, we both work nights, so it will be much more a 'half' day one-day than a full day there. So we are looking at $70 for two tickets for one day at the ECCC vs. $100 for two tickets for three days at Paizo Con, and either event we can only practically be there for half the day's event. Yes, it's "only" $30's difference, but this is my wife, and we run a tight budget. $30 is a nice meal for two.
Does Paizo Con come with steep discounts on products? How late do events normally go? Spending $100 on more of a 'full days' worth of events that go into the evening is better than showing up at 2pm and only getting four hours of actual con event time, such as we have with the ECCC. And with the ECCC, the expectation is that we'll be throwing money at the exhibitors, as we are fans of the artists who show up and it is my one time of the year to pay back artists who's work I have been enjoying all year. Am I spending $100 for four hours of time for opportunity to buy stuff from Paizo? It would be cool to meet the authors of the few books we have bought so far, but... we have not had time to become fans on that kind of level just yet.
Someone please fill me in on how Paizo Con is different from the ECCC, and how I should think of it and 'sell' the ticket price both to myself and to my wife. I mean, this may be a fantastic deal and all for some people, but from where I'm sitting and the hours I will actually be able to attend, this doesn't look so good. :(
I attended Paizocon two years ago. Though I don't know if this was true last year or will be in the coming year, I received a nice "swag bag" filled with Paizo products which would retail for about $50 if put together: a copy of one of the Legacy of Fire APs (I think #5), the Legacy of Fire map folio, Map Pack Farmstead, the Curse of the Crimson Throne item cards, a limited edition lead miniature from Reaper, and I think a few buttons.
So if your wife and you pool your bags, you'll have a number of items, and you'll likely be able to buy a few more. It's a different environment than a comic convention, and while both are enjoyable, I can't say for certain. If you're more into gaming than your wife, you might be better off budgeting extra money from your private budget to cover the difference in a show that you'll get more out of than her. But the only way to say for certain is to attend Paizocon, then compare it afterwards, and choose which of the two you'd rather do the year after.
Thank you for your kind response! It would be helpful to know how the 'swag bag' works. On the face of it, it looks like my wife and I would be better off planning on PAX. Tickets for Saturday Only $35 for Pax Prime, and our GM and his fiance are planning to be there.
So as a general question based on Kevin Andrew Murphy's response, is the $50 for 3 day only tickets because of a $50 retail swag-bag? That would make sense, and would be part of the 'sell' as far as trying to 'sell' this to my wife. Well, and to me also. Would we still get the swag bag showing up after noon on Saturday? This is a detail that does matter, because $100 in tickets does in fact go a long way towards buying Pathfinder stuff from our local game shop. So... yeah. :) I'd like to go, especially as a new player, and I would like to show my wife what Pathfinder Society games are like vs. normal Pathfinder. I just need some help on the 'sales and marketing' aspect of this.
Swag bags at conventions are filled with freebies and goodies from the various publishers attending the show. They're not part of the purchase price so much as a "gift with purchase." If you go to World Fantasy, for example, you get a fancy canvas tote bag commemorating the convention filled with books from various publishers--recently including Paizo. At San Diego Comicon, the bag is a giant orange-picker size bag emblazoned with some Warner Brothers television or movie property but pretty much empty except for the program guide and show schedule, though you'll get plenty of freebies on the floor from the various booths. At Paizocon two years ago, it was a sturdy purple plastic bag marked with PAIZO filled with various gaming products. People who got them traded them with each other, because some items may end up being some you already own or might interest you more than others. And while swag bags in theory can run out, in practice they generally don't, though if you come later in a show there might be slightly less in them if, for example, a publisher sent one case of books which were split among the first bags created.
Hey Romaq,
If you're not 100% sure on the value of attending PaizoCon this year (since we don't have 1-day tickets) you and your wife can always drop in and wander about to get a feel for the event. You won't be able to take part in any of the seminars or activities (and won't get a swag bag) but you'll be able to meet some folks and see what PaizoCon is really about.
Then you'll be better armed to make a decision about future PaizoCons.
I live 'close', but not *that* close. When we have to get up relatively early (for us) and do the two hour drive just to be there, there is no 'drop-in'. There is 'we go' or 'we do not go'. If we are going, we are paying. Making the drive, then spending $100 JUST for the opportunity to spend more money is pretty weak. If it's all about spending money, we can do that in support of our local game store saving the time, gasoline, and $100 in tickets.
So I would need to know more about the seminars, activities, and the swag-bag, as far as what we can get by Saturday afternoon that makes sense at $50/ head. Perhaps it only makes sense if we lived directly in the Seattle Metro area and planned to be there for all three days. If that's more the case, we'll have to pass on this one.
Since it would just be my wife and I, I do not like the idea of trying to find someone to trade stuff to avoid duplicates. So... yeah. So far, not so much.
The "trading stuff" is fairly simple. At a con, everyone looks in their swag bag and acts like kids checking out the candies in their trick-or-treat bags, offering to trade with everyone else.
It can get crazier than that too. At Comicon, I got a Big Bang Theory bag, but traded it for a Hobbit bag to one of the dealers who begged me for the BBT bag because he was also the costume designer who'd made Raj's jacket from the picture on the bag. I can understand an artist wanting to have copies of their work, so it was an easy sell--even more so because I wanted the Hobbit bag.
Thank you Kevin for taking the time. At the moment, it looks like I would be better off to spend $100 ordering stuff through our local game shop rather than spend it on tickets for a half-day event for random swag and *still* want to spend money I would not really have at the event.
So far, it looks like PAX would be the better deal in our case. *IF* we didn't work nights, *IF* we were to afford the hotel stay, *IF* we were already at the point of having giggly-wigglies over artists and authors that produce for Paizo, I can see it being a better deal. But we are not those people at this time. :( Thank you for investing the time answering my questions, Kevin, and perhaps we'll meet somewhere down the line. :) I look forward to that day.
Chief Technical Officer
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Romaq, there's always plenty of open gaming as well as PFS. I'd suggest you keep an eye out in the coming months for announcements about guests and event schedules. As far as the swag bag goes, we don't decide what's going in there until the last minute; we do try to pack in a ton of value. (Last year, it's where we debuted an exclusive mini, free to PaizoCon guests, along with piles of other stuff.)
Thank you. My wife and I have decided to set out the Emerald City Comicon to consider *either* PaizoCon *or* PAX-Prime this year. At the moment, it looks like PAX-Prime is the win, but we have time to decide.
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This is my first PaizoCon, but not my first Con. I feel the $$ I spent to get in is for the 3 days of gaming I'm going to be doing. All the extras like the Swag Bag are just that, extras.
I'm assuming there will be some form of Dealer's Room, sometimes those are open to those who havn't paid for the event.
I'm not paying to go to Norwescon this year but I may swing by (I only live a couple miles away) to check out the Art Show and Dealer's Room. (Both are open to anyone, not just those with badges.) The Art Show HAS to be open to the public due to the fact it's also an Art Auction. (There are some rules stating it has to be open to the public.)