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I found that there was a lot less information released at this banquet than last year. In previous years we had a bunch of info on the upcoming hard covers, Player's Companions, Campaign Setting stuff, AP details, etc. I'm not sure if this means Paizo is spending more time on the non-RPG stuff like the card game and PFS Online, so there is less to talk about, or if some of that just wasn't "banquet-worthy", or if it means that a lot of it relates to something they aren't ready to announce yet. Makes me wish I was going to GenCon this year...
To me, the "Pathfinder Unleashed" sounds like a work-up test case of out-of-the-box design space: what happens if we cut the 3.5 cord, "backwards compatibility be damned," as Jason said.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area South & West
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PaizoCon (AKA Sleepless in Seattle) is now over; I'm sitting in the hotel lobby waiting to ride to the airport, and grabbing a chance to post what I can remember of the last few days.
The low point, for me; the first slot of the scenario, where I was GMing "Assault on the Wound". I was not happy with my performance, to say the least.
The high point, 24 hours later; playing at GOH Frank Mentzer's "Back to 1974" table. If you ever get a chance to play in one of his games, grab it with both hands. Even though he had a full card of GOH activities, Frank somehow found time to wander around the convention stopping by the game tables to meet players. He also hung out in the bar, signing I don't know how many copies of the red box amongst other things (I had The Temple of Elemental Evil, The Book of Marvelous Magic, and The Egg of the Phoenix, as well as the new Emerald Spire hardback, now signed by Frank and eight other chapter authors, plus a guy who put a lot of it together).
I closed out my con GMing a second table of Assault on the Wound. Needless to say I was a little apprehensive, given the first run; the fact that there were two VCs at the table added to the stress. Fortunately a very helpful intro from one of the players from my first table, and a better understanding of the timing required, led to a much better experience; I think I'm getting the hang of it ...
In between I managed to put faces to a lot of the names I know from the forums (including TOZ - congratulations!), chat to some Paizo folks, and generally have a goodm albeit exhausting, time.
I wanted to meet Kyle Baird, but apparently he was too busy hiding from Painlord ...
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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What a great time! I got to introduce a couple people to their very first convention and they had an awesome experience.
I ran the new special and five slots of Vengeance at Sundered Crag for five fun tables. Among my players were a handful of VOs and internet personalities, too many to count really. I did get to run for Rusty Ironbeard, TOZ, and Majuba, though, to name a few. So that was pretty cool.
Aside from running PFS, some of my favorite moments this weekend were, in no particular order:
- The open bar during the special
- The fire pit at Big Kyle's
- The VO dinner
- The post-con festivities
- The annual trip to China Star
Thanks everybody!
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I want to second Drogon's endorsement of Logan's "Ye Ground-Hogg Inn". I didn't play it this year, but I played it last year, and it was loads of fun.
Sunday for me was all about "Find Jatembe!", my homebrew level 12 / mythic tier 4 scenario that I ran twice. I believe both went pretty well; players told me they enjoyed it. I had fun running it, in any event, and particularly enjoyed the first half of both sessions which was primarily roleplaying (indeed, early on, mostly the players with each other), and the players figuring out the very first puzzle that the game opened with. (Both groups figured out pretty quickly the nature of the puzzle-- which, honestly, wasn't too hard. However, it was one of those things that even once you've figured out, there's a bit involved in actually implementing a solution, and the two groups implemented entirely different solutions.)
The afternoon game started about 1.5 hours late, mostly because many of us were at the hotel restaurant for lunch, and it was very slow that afternoon. (It had been much snappier earlier in the weekend.) Somebody guessed that the Marriott staff was probably exhausted after a weekend of Paizocon congoers all over the place. I was never able to find the player who prompted me to create the afternoon game in the first place; I hope it wasn't a missed connection, and that he had decided after all not to play it. Two other people stepped in, but alas they had to duck out before we were done, and then we had to cut the last combat just a little bit short because the hotel needed to clean up the room we were in. Still fun, though.
I would love go go next year, but because I'm moving I will be very surprised if I'm able to....
The con was a blast, met quite a few new folks, hung out with those I knew, played in a couple of lottery events, and now crashed on my couch at home after my flight just landed about an hour ago.
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Friday PM:
-Completed the playtesting of Legacy of The Stonelords. I enjoyed it, and I wonder what the official will be like when it is done. I think I will play it the next go around so that I can be suprised as everyone else. When that will be? Who knows. :)-I additionally have to give it up to my awesome players at the special. I had a table of players who knew every in and out of their characters AND their companions. Them being able to know what their turns are as soon as their turns came up, made the game move at an impressively fast pace. Sorry guys you didn't get to fight the final boss, maybe next time. :)
As one of the players at your table for the special, no need to apologize. You did an awesome job!
Developer
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I originally had plans to go to Pike’s Market with Robyn, but on my way up to my room, I ran into Nani and Kyle Pratt once more. Running into them, turned into an impromptu game of Port Godless. With none other than John Compton as my GM. The table was Thomas LaBlanc, Kevin M, Nani, Kyle, me and Dave the VC of Georgia. I won’t spoil the game for anyone who has not played it. But needless to say, this was a game, that I was exhausted after playing. Not from fatigue of the convention, but from all the things that took place during the game. It was an incredibly complex plot, which had so many ways to get things done. I like to think of it as the “sandbox” of PFS Scenarios and that is a rare thing to accomplish. So props to the team for the most mentally and in some cases morally challenging adventure to date. I look forward to breaking this one down and reading more of it post-convention as well as taking a few brave souls through it.
Best. Game. Ever.
Best Quote from Game:
Thomas: So I am going to run and try to fight the baddie.
Kyle: Are you mad?
Thomas: No. I have balls.
John: The best feat one can have.
I had been itching to run this scenario since I developed it, and I'm glad you had fun. Having Kyra drop a holy smite in the middle of the party and vaporize the [redacted]s was a really neat moment! There were lots of other really great moments during that game, especially while everyone was wandering Azir.
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The convention was, as always, an amazing experience that I am honestly glad I set aside the time for the event.
I didn't push myself into the banquet but I had a number of games that I had fun playing in. I do wish I was better at names though. Everyone was so great this weekend and I wish I could remember everyone better than "that person who used mounted combat to decimate demons" or "that guy from Reaper miniatures for whom I demoed the S&S Pathfinder Adventure Card Game."
PFS
I was able to play my unhappy oracle of life in "The Wardstone Patrol." Unlike the last few scenarios she has been in, the party hasn't taken over a hundred points of damage over the course of the game, but a few of the other players complimented the way that the character played which made me happy.
There was one player who was new to Pathfinder Society that had thought that one just built a character of the level you were playing rather than starting at level 1. He grabbed a pregen, but a lower level Kyra in part because other party members recommended her and he didn't find the sheet for the 7th level Kyra. He was told he could get a 7th level of any tier he seemed to rather want to just start the game rather than hunt for pregen sheets (or else he really wanted to play Kyra).
Overall though I was concerned he didn't have as much fun as he could have at the event and I keep running through the various choices I made that would have hopefully made the event better for him.
I went into "The Stranger Within" with my gnome gunslinger and had a good time with the group. I think it was possible that I may have been the only person really familiar with the city of Kaer Maga and the various scenarios that visit it. It didn't ruin the experience though and I really enjoyed the memories it brought back, but I did stop myself a few times from just going over all the story behind everything. I had a good time with my gunslinger. It certainly wasn't the most powerful member of the party, but even where my character failed I it came as a surprise and, when playing this character, even those failures I my first thought was, "my character thought that was awesome!" That itself made the game that much more fun than me.
I went into the "The Horn of Aroden" with my Investigator and had a great time. I didn't do that much in combat, but I certainly did a lot of talking and roleplay. For most of the game I was being critical of the other characters decisions as my character was appalled at the way that everything was turning out. I had a great time playing that out and it felt, and I hope I'm right, that other people in the party had a good time poking at my character's irritation. It was definitely a memorable session.
After the convention proper ended I was still able to hop into a game of "Cairn of Shadows" with my my half-orc fighter with Brian Darnell running. Last time I got to player was at last PaizoCon and I was incredibly happy for the opportunity to play in the group. There were an incredible group of people in that game playing and running. It was a great game at a point in the weekend that I honestly thought I would be just relaxing until my flight out.
Other Games
I spent two and a half slots demoing the Skulls and Shackles Pathfinder Card Game and I spent several more hours just sticking around to play in the marathon. While the demo got repetitive mechanically, I was so happy every time a group gave a cheer with the beat the villain. It was a fun experience demoing for so many people and at times I was just finishing up one when another group came in. It felt like a blur and I would like to thank everyone for whom I demoed the game for; I hope you all had fun. I would also thank Vic, Tanis, other members of Card Game team, and the other volunteers. And Painlord, who over the course of the convention played the Card Game more than double the amount that I did even counting all the time I spent demoing and playing in the marathon.
Cards Against Humanity. Cosmo, Blake Davis, other Paizo staff, Cosmo, Palmer (a friend from college I still play games with online), Dennis and Char Baker, so many bloody other people, and Cosmo. We are all horrible people.
I played in a bit of an adventure titled "Tomb of Haggemoth" run by the author Robert Kendzie. I got to play my investigator and had a good bit of chaotic time running through the adventure. It was fun, hilarious, and it felt great. It is hard sometimes, but I'm glad I played in it despite it not giving me a shiny chronicle sheet. It was a fun game and I would encourage people to look at non-PFS games more as they search though the convention.
Just People
I got to chat a bit Kyle Elliot and told him about my good experience with Library of the Lion and Dennis Baker on Sewer Dragons of Absalom. I learned bits and things from both and I was happy to talk with both of them on their scenarios.
Then there are just too many people to list reasonably. I met again with many people from the Paizo Chat along with several people that recognized me from the forums, as well as the VC and VLs that run at my local conventions. Then there are the people from previous PaizoCons and played varying games with. Then there were people that recognized my from the few posts I had on the forums or actually remembered my submissions from the RPG Superstar from years ago. I can honestly say that I didn't spend nearly enough time talking to any of you and that is one of my biggest regrets that I have no idea how I would perform differently. As brief as it was, it was wonderful to see you all and this was one of the times I wish I was a more personable so I might have spoken more outside the context of games. You all made the Con for me.
Thank you and I hope to see you all next year.
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I had an awesome time… once I got there. Stupid hurricane and three airlines and a hotel room later… needless to say I got to Seattle much later than I had planned.
I had a great time running Merchant's Wake lots of times. There were serval right turns at Absalom that made the scenario go off the tracks but it was fun.
Best quote:
"Two wrongs do not make a right; sometimes they do make a stupid." -Skelt the Executioner
I did a little painting at the Reaper Paint & Take and ended up in a conversation about how appearance and age are not linked… and as a result ended up sitting with most of the folks that were there for that conversation for the banquet.
And while getting in line for the banquet I met Boomer from the D&D PSA videos. That was awesome. I loved that series!
The trivia contest was awesome and I was on the best team ever and gods do I need to read more to be better prepared for next time.
I don't know what was going on at the bar… but hanging out in the patio section outside of where the banquet was located for far too long was an absolute blast.
Hope to see everyone at GenCon!
One final observation: what's with Seattle and the phỡ obsession? Not just Vietnamese food, but phở specifically? Not that I'm actually complaining… yum.
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Good morning!
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Details from last night: After the PaizoCon Preview Banquet I wandered back to the marathon of the ACG game. There was already a table full and running (Lisa's table...she was there until 2amish) so we started a new table copying the marathoner's progress (end of Book 2). Lisa's table rocked for a long time.
With Feral from the L.A., GM Verdigris, Will J, Tanis O'Connor (Pathfinder Society: Adventure Card Game Organized Play Coordinator), and myself started up. We played and beat Adventure 2, Scenario 5, then Adv 3, Scenario 1. We finished those two scenarios at 3am. The other table is still going.
Sleep is good.
When I return at 8:30am, some of the yahoos from the other table are still here and still playing. They are finishing Adventure 3, Book 5. They are about to defeat the BBEG. I lurk, awaiting my chance to jump in and play, giving the all-night players a chance to go sleep.
What Sleep? We were rocking that game, and until I had to go to my scheduled game, a couple of us were running two characters to make it harder to beat. =D Marathon game was awesome, next year I may try that again if people are interested. 6 hours of sleep over 4 days really wears you out though...
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Additional notes from Post Convention:
So here are some of my randomly funny/inside jokes from PaizoCon that I am allowed to share:
"MAN BEAR PIG!" -- One of my players in the special, after I read a description of something, in a certain place in the adventure. (No spoilers!)
"Hi my name is Sheppard, and with my flock, I am a follower of Shelyn. I believe in everyone being awesome and we should all praise her for the beauty and love of the earth. Also, please don't mind these scars on my arm, as I was abducted by aliens." -- David Shaw, VC of Georgia during our game of Port Godless.
"Hail Narwahal!" -- Two of my players during Fate of the Fiend
"Stop being awesome!" Justin Sluder to Carlos Torresblanca at the sight of the handout cards from Wayfinder 11 at the Banquet.
@ AFK, drinking a pitcher of Guinness with WillJ & Bruce Higa
"Venus, you should drink some more."--WillJ
"Yeah, but I have to GM in the morning."-Me
"Venus, it's only like 9:30pm."-Bruce Higa who bought the Guinness pitcher.
"Wait really? Oh well then in that case, hell yeah! But I am not finishing the pitcher."--Me
Also, Hashtags commonly used by me as a phrase during games: (Yes, I know I am showing my age.) Feel free to use these for future tweets on Twitter concerning games.
#personalproblems
#GMproblems
#thatscute
#notourproblemnpc
#partyproblems
#spellcastingproblems
#summonerproblems
#hightierproblems
#pregensucks
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One final observation: what's with Seattle and the phỡ obsession? Not just Vietnamese food, but phở specifically? Not that I'm actually complaining… yum.
Pho is very nearly the perfect food.
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One final observation: what's with Seattle and the phỡ obsession? Not just Vietnamese food, but phở specifically? Not that I'm actually complaining… yum.Pho is very nearly the perfect food.
Oh I agree. It was the best thing to have after the OMGs insanity of my flight out to Seattle. Comfort food FTW. I just didn't expect so many phở joints in one place... like two or more in the same plaza block (even if not technically in the same plaza).
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I originally had plans to go to Pike’s Market with Robyn, but on my way up to my room, I ran into Nani and Kyle Pratt once more. Running into them, turned into an impromptu game of Port Godless. With none other than John Compton as my GM. The table was Thomas LaBlanc, Kevin M, Nani, Kyle, me and Dave the VC of Georgia. I won’t spoil the game for anyone who has not played it. But needless to say, this was a game, that I was exhausted after playing. Not from fatigue of the convention, but from all the things that took place during the game. It was an incredibly complex plot, which had so many ways to get things done. I like to think of it as the “sandbox” of PFS Scenarios and that is a rare thing to accomplish. So props to the team for the most mentally and in some cases morally challenging adventure to date. I look forward to breaking this one down and reading more of it post-convention as well as taking a few brave souls through it.
Best. Game. Ever.
Best Quote from Game:
Thomas: So I am going to run and try to fight the baddie.
Kyle: Are you mad?
Thomas: No. I have balls.
John: The best feat one can have.
Someone had to run past the enemy to try and prevent the alarm from being sounded and hold the stairs. It was only 1 AoO and I was only a little more than 100 ft from the party.
I really enjoyed you and Dave's reaction to the talking intestines! Unfortunately, my character had seen worse...
It was great to finally meet you. Maybe we will finally see each other locally (darn schedules!), instead of traveling to another state to do so.
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I was able to get into Adam Daigle's game of Green Blood on the Black Rock for Friday morning. It was exciting to choose some beasties for myself. I need to think of a better pirate name if I play again!
My Ochre Jelly won against an owlbear but lost to the elephant that went on to take the title. Caeliat was awesome though and being an ochre jelly means it has poor decision making abilities. My saltwater merrow thought he was being clever when he grappled a hoadag, but alas, all those claws, teeth, and tail sure beat a guy up!
Then I went to run demos of the Skulls and Shackles adventure card game for the next 5 slots. The card game is very fun, very easy to catch on to, and fun to demo to people. i got to meet lots of people in the process including Tanis, Vic, Brian, and Chad Brown who all worked on the card game itself! Not to mention getting pulled into playing the Rise of the Runelords Marathon every once in awhile, to help complete the table, of course!
I met Lisa Stevens, Painlord, Sarah (VL from Idaho), Blazej, Preston Hudson, and a bunch of others who rotated in to play the game all weekend. I also went to the preview banquet and sat with Andrew Christiansen, Jon Dehning, Mark Moreland and his family, and friends who went to PaizoCon with me.
The con was a blast, even though I didn't play any PFS. I did play a 13th Age pickup game with Ash Law, Adam Roy and his kids, Savannah Broadway, and Ben from Syrinscape.
Thanks to everyone who made PaizoCon possible!
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So many good times, so many people to mention, so much fun!
I met Majuba, his wife, TriOmegaZero, his wife, RustyIronPants, Tom Martin, Kristina Wang, The Winnipeg Crew, The Louisiana Crew, Brian Darnel some of whom I'd already met.
I got to play at Walter Sheppard's table, and that dude is an awesome GM. I really enjoy how he makes an epic roll feel like I did something epic and that everyone had an epic moment at his table.
I got to run a slot-0 of Sundered Crag for an bunch of VOs including Mike Brock.
I mostly played this weekend, and had fun at all my tables.
My epic, "DOH!" moment was:
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A few housekeeping items:
It's kind of funny, because I thought I saw Baird...but it was just some foam in my latte. I was so grateful to my latte that it was foam and not Kyle Baird, I said "Thanks a latte".
I can't believe no one laughed at this. It might not have been funny, but I'm sure it made up for it by being painful/awful.
Playing the marathon of the AdvCardGame, we (others, really) intend to play through all 33 Scenarios of RotRunelords over the weekend. Just started scenario 2 of 33.
We finished through Chapter/Book 4 over the weekend. With one more day or one less Banquet+GenCon Special we might have easily finished Book 5 and would be a bit less sleep away from finishing Book 6.
If next year's PaizoCon is 4 days as planned, we might make it happen. Let a gauntlet be tossed.
We played all of Book 4 on Sunday, starting at 3pmish and ending a bit before midnight. While we were all tired and sleepy on Sunday, our play and speed increased as we achieved some levels of deck and game mastery. Near the end, there were times when we were really cooking and teamworking nicely.
For the 5 scenarios of Book 4 we had:
Feral/Nick as Harsk
Verdigris as Lini
Aethelwulf as Sajan
WillJ as Kyra
Painlord as Seelah
Yep...arcane is for chumps. I loved playing Seelah; she's a smiting beat stick who digs well. I loved Lini for her versatility (seems like she could do anything with her AC). Harsk is a sniping god. Sajan was a supernova or explorer supreme. Kyra owned the undead and her fire was awesome against <the blank> from the later scenarios.
Neat! Ask them if they saw my Thornkeep mini-path p1
I fail at this. I asked Tanis O. if I could PM her the link, but my Paizo search-fu is weak. I can't find her Paizo alias. Can someone find her alias? Or get her to post here so we can get this to her?
Found and sent. Thank you, SearchingGnome!
@Painlord
Great to see you posting here again. It isn't the same without you. You are top on my list of people from PFS that I would like to meet - shame you are at PaizoCon and I will be a GenCon this year.
It really intrigues me that you went 100% to the Adventure Card Game. I was already on the brink to test it out - seems I really need to give it a try now.
...
This leaves one question - I haven't heard anything in this bloggery yet about PFO online which apparently can be tested at PaizoCon. Anyone here who could give a report about PFO at PaizoCon.
I offer a reward of a pint of beer if the person posting here also volunteers to place an advert for our settlement close to the PFO booth.
Doesn't need to look great - just in big letters the following text - The Emerald Lodge needs you (A PFS aligned Settlement).
Failure #2. I never really got into the PFO room. Sorry Thod. But you'll enjoy the AdvCardGame. You'll be a great PathCarder, I'm sure.
Thanks for the mention and the praise! I had a great time with the Pathfinder Adventurers Guild. Since this was a trivia contest, I should mention this is my second Paizocon and my dad's name is Khelreddin. Still, thanks for the acknowledgement and it was great fun!
Apologies! In my defense, I'm a yahoo who should not be trusted with accuracy. It was nice to meet you (again) and you completely rock. I only mostly promise not to screw up on anyone's name again ever.
And again: thanks to all the volunteers and staff that made PaizoCon happen. You rock.
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I am home. I haven't unpacked, but I'm already trying to figure out how to get more card game in, and who I'm going to get to play it with me.
To put this in perspective, I was just short of having never touched my nearly year old card game when we got to Paizocon on Wednesday. That all changed the next day.
We played most of Thursday in the bar, though I felt lost through most of it. Still, it was fun because I was playing with people that I liked. Friday was incredibly busy, so I missed out on that part of the game.
Then Saturday happened. After the Trivia game, we started playing. And playing. And playing. And somewhere along the way, it was as much fun playing to play as it was to be playing with my friends. People only had to remind me of stuff about half the time. Then a quarter.
Distraction was an issue for a bit, then faded with a quick chair switch. Finally, at the end of book 4, I'm listening and watching as we close in on the BBEG. Painlord/Seelah is sure he's got this. We're at the same location and my turn follows his. He's certain he has it, and I'm looking at my cards thinking, "damnit. I could totally clean this up and he's going to take it just because he goes first. Danged "collaborative spirit".
But Pain has a mind like a machine, a focused laser of gameplay. He's been into this game ALL weekend and played all through Kublacon. He's probably right. Damnit.
But Seelah FAILS!
The dice roll is bad, but she's got a reroll. She takes it, and it's STILL bad. Then she tries the second check, and... fails.
Pain immediately reassures me that I can just move to a different spot, that he's "got this" on the next go round. There's enough cards left.
It's ok.
But I play it instead. First check sets up one, two, three, dice, plus a snipe from Harsk. No problem. Then the second check. What? All these cards left. One, two, three of them. A blessing from the other side of the table.*(Thank you!) It is...
Spectacular!
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I am home. I haven't unpacked, but I'm already trying to figure out how to get more card game in, and who I'm going to get to play it with me.I'm in!
What he said. Also, I got a little time with the ACG for Skull and Shackles and so I am totally down with playing some of that as well as Wrath of the Righteous as well.
