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Hey All You Magnificent PFS Piddlespotters--
In the past, we've detailed our games, our meets, our greets, and our beerings. There are some good memories stored up in the threads of yesterPFS:
2011 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery
2012 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery (w/Grand Convocation and massive Banquet spoilers
2013 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery (w/GenCon Special)
2014 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery
This year is going to be different than past years. This year, PaizoCon is this weekend, on Memorial Day...the same date as many other PFS Conventions around the country (including my beloved Kublacon). As a result, there will be many new faces who can make it now (rather than around the July 4th weekend) and some familiar faces will be unable to attend. I already miss the Canadian contingent who won't be there. We were are merrier when they were there.
As most of you know, I believe PFS's core is a social community and so whether you can make it to Paizocon or not, I hope that you will participate.
For you attendees:
- Post about whom you've met and where they are from.
- Post about the games you're playing in, with whom, and fun details. (Avoid spoilers...and use spoiler tags if you're going to spoil!)
- Post about extraPFSular activities.
- Get others to share their feedback from PaizoCon.
- Post links to pictures and media.
- Post about neat characters you've played with.
- Post any cool 'tricks' you've learned.
- Post about the sessions and talks you've attended.
- Post about how awesome your judges have been and what things they did well. Heck, even thank them.
For you non-attendees:
- Tell us what sessions you want reports from;
- Questions you want us to ask and to whom;
- Things you want to know about;
- Give lip/guff/sass/snark to PFS board personalities you know (or don't...either way, sass is encouraged).
I, like usual, promise nothing...except that I'll be twisting some arms of people here to join me in describing their experience playing PFS this weekend and the people that make it happen.
-Pain
p.s. Ah man did I miss Kyle Baird last year. I can't wait to see who I will meet who is new this year.
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I have a lot to look forward this year at PaizoCon. However, my schedule isn't too full and will give me a chance to significantly goof off from my goofing off.
For those who haven't seen the PaizoCon Schedule (link). It's searchable, with PFS happening every morning and a few evening slots.
I hope to play both Specials (though they seem to have disappeared from my schedule). In addition, I was lucky enough to score a seat at Assault on Redlake Fort with Rob McCreary as GM on Friday afternoon.
The rest of the time, I'll be playing a fair bit of the Adventure Card Game, both the Skull and Shackles AP, and the newly released Reign of Winter Wrath of the Righteous Card guild.
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The rest of the time, I'll be playing a fair bit of the Adventure Card Game, both the Skull and Shackles AP, and the newly released Reign of Winter Card guild.
Actually, that would be Wrath of the Righteous.
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Canadian contingent, checking in. You do have some representatives arriving tomorrow, though - Winnipeg's V-C dynamic duo for sure, and of course the ubiquitous Thurston Hillman Esquire, who is too prestigious for Winnipeg to claim all to itself.
I'll be living vicariously through this thread all weekend, so please keep us up to date. Of course, the banquet reveals are important, but I'm also interested in who is newly able to attend given the new timing, and who isn't.
And of course, someone needs to live broadcast the Aspis scenario so I don't have to wait to see it!
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Oh my god its ali.. erm. Under.. erm.. talking again
Oh the buzzin' of the (zom)bees in the chronicle trees
The happy stick fountain where the XP springs
And the blue flumph sings in that PFS Sekrit Candy Boards
On a summer day
In the month of May
A fluffygnomebunny came a-hiking
Down a shady street
With a sword cane
She was looking for his liking
As she strolled along
She sang a song
Of the land of milk and honey
Where a murderhobo can stay
For many a day
And he won't lose any money.
In the PFS Sekrit Candy Boards there's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep safely night
Where the dungeons are all empty and the Sarenrae shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the happy stick trees
Where the XP springs where the blue flumph sings
In the PFS Sekrit Candy Boards
In the PFS Sekrit Candy Boards all the VCs have wooden legs
And the blink dogs all have rubber teeth and the dragons lay soft boiled eggs
The druid's trees are full of fey and the gods are full of pray
Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no trolls
Where the Dragnmoon don't post and the TwilightKnight stolls
In the PFS Sekrit Candy Boards
In the PFS Sekrit Candy Boards the bars are full of stout
And you can walk right in again as soon as you are out
There ain't no short handled swords, or axes saws or picks
I'm a goin to stay where you rest after every fight
Where KyleBaird still instills fright
In the PFS Sekrit Candy Boards...
* * *
Canadian contingent, checking in. You do have some representatives arriving tomorrow, though - Winnipeg's V-C dynamic duo for sure, and of course the ubiquitous Thurston Hillman Esquire, who is too prestigious for Winnipeg to claim all to itself.
Wow...you're going to want to claim ownership of Thursty? Hmmph. Are you sure you want to do that? ;)
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So instead of screaming *elvensies!* I think it be good I post an interesting tidbit.
PaizoCon this year, fell on a weekend, where there are a good amount of gaming conventions going on in many local provinces. But this means too, that there are many of us, who have to stay home, and tend to our local regions.
The last two years, I represented my region in the annual Grand Convocation. (which my notes are in the 2013 & 2014 threads) This year, due to the shortage of Clerics at KublaCon and at my work in real life, I had to stay behind while a good number of Northern California representatives will be going including Master Painlord & Mistress Verdgis. But there is a good contingency of us staying home and attending (or slaving away) at KublaCon such as Mazlith, Pirate Rob, Lord Sarta, Thistledown, Nefreet, and many others. So there is still much fun to be had here at home!
I think it’s only fitting, that this weekend, just be so named “Weekend of Awesome Convention Gaming” and not just PaizoCon. Cause this weekend, we are all gaming and having a great time. (And if you are not, you should be finding a game!)
So while I expect much posting concerning PaizoCon related things, if you are staying home and attending a local PFS convention, leave a message below and share with the entire community! I think we have a unique opportunity to not only share our PaizoCon experiences, but our other convention experiences as well on this, a "High Holy Weekend" of gaming.
More to report on the fun things to come from KublaCon soon! This is Lady Ophelia, wishing safe travels to all those whom have not yet traveled, and safe festivities to all who attend their festivals this weekend.
May the light of Sarenrae bless you always!
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Since PaizoCon has evolved to be so much more than PFS, this thread should totally be here now!
(especially with Sir Pain playing so much of the card game!)
I will admit, I was sorely tempted by KublaCon this year, but we do have GAMEX this weekend down here!
(I wonder what the odds are of PaizoCon 2016 being on a weekend that isn't the 4th of July or the same weekend as all the mega-cons)
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Nice. Made it safely to the hotel, even found people that I don't hate. Like Rusty Ironpants. And TetujiOni. And TOZ. And Preston the Spokane guy. And Andrew the Brit.
People are filtering in. A few PFS games have started, Verdigris (Andi from Modesto) clains she saw the first PFS game of PaizoCon.
@Wakedown: Wish you were here...but I'm sure GAMEX will be grand.
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Ah things are really beginning to roll...I'm getting crap for mistyping 'clains' above even while we have begun playing the Skull and Shackles AP in the hotel lobby.
Rich Flynn (VC Sacto) plays Jirelle, Andi (Verdigris) plays Oloch, Michael Thompson (VL Sacto) plays Lem, & I paly Damiel. I've only played the Rise of the Runelord ACG so there has been some getting used to the newer set. Stuff matters differently in this version, different item types have different usefulnesses. It takes a bit of getting used to.
And I'll have ot get used to it all...we intend to play the full AP in our free times over PCon. That may be a pipe dream, but we have the dream.
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Found long term PaizoConer Joshua, Alex Augunas (from the Private Sanctuary podcast) and various others come by to visit and watch.
I met Jim, the VL of Boston for the card game (First World Bard) as well. He stopped by to answer any questions we might have had. However, with the peanut gallery we have, every mistake we make is well pointed out and widely mocked.
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Here again for the fourth year in a row! Not staying in the event hotel this year, sadly. My usual bunk mates were unable to come this time around, so I'm staying at an AirBnB nearby.
Currently in Capitol Hill downtown getting some work and light tourist things out of the way. And then, I'll begin filling in a character sheet (as well as a couple of backup concepts) for A Song of Silver. Then I'll be updating my PFS characters to make sure they a ready to go for their sessions this weekend.
And Painlord: I promise I'll do feedback on the specials this year! I was working on things for a conference I manage volunteers for that was flying out to directly from PaizoCon last year, so was not able to get around to it.
Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds
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Very excited to see what's in store for the coming year. Hope we get a good batch of updates during the weekend (and some fun new directions for the campaign to go; I did a fair bit of "checking out" this past season).
PS - Sorry I couldn't be there again. I am in the process of opening the second Enchanted Grounds, and that has consumed me this past month or more.
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PS - Sorry I couldn't be there again. I am in the process of opening the second Enchanted Grounds, and that has consumed me this past month or more.
You are missed, Drogon. Mostly because we need extra targets for snarkery...*sigh*.
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Going on our 4th scenario of the S&S ACG box set. We are doing fine and have introduced several new players to the ACG.
Davey, a semi-local Bay Area player, has joined us and we go through the quasi-learning process with him. I hope to get him to post about his learning experience. New players are important.
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Eat24 is pretty cool. Ordered a pizza and meatball sammich to be delivered. I am confident that the pizza will be cheesy and full of goodness.
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Had a Mr. Slanky sighting, for the first time in years. He and Denning (yahoos - MN) are here and only mostly drunk. If any of youse have history on these boards know and understand how much I miss Mr. Slanky.
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I'm here. A year ago, I didn't expect to be here now. A year ago, I drove down from BC, just north of Vancouver. Now I live in Pittsburgh, so it's more expensive to come, but I decided to splurge anyway.
Arrived at 11:30ish. Ran a game of "The Wardstone Patrol" with four players (APL 5.5, so we played high subtier... but they did fine). Went well, was jolly.
Tomorrow morning the full-bore chaos begins!
Came to the convention knowing absolutely no one and got invited into some Skull and Shackles ACG play.
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Sweet. Some FaceTime with John Compton. And then met Jesse (online VL).
John, Jesse Davis, Nick Louie, and Verdigris are putting on one of the seminars that I am most looking forward to: Running Online Campaigns (Saturday, 12-1). As I grown more as a Pathfinder player, the opportunities and role playing that comes with online play (especially Play by Post) appeals to me more and more.
Their seminar deals with running PbPs and online gaming (virtual tabletops and what not). I'm excited as heck for it.
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(Terminology Update: Volunteers staff at PaizoCon are all either wearing cool purple Paizo shirts or orange (if they are working HQ). For the point of ease of use, I'm going with Grapies and Orangies to describe them.)
Morning Stuff:
Firstly, I have learned over time to *not* schedule first-in-the-morning slots at conventions, especially PaizoCon. I usually (read:almost always) stay up too late at these things and it's always a chore to wake up for first slot.
My new usual schedule would be to sleep in, roll on down, get coffee and food and avoid the Sadness of the Underslept first slot. Today, however, I was abed early and was able to make my 8am slot.
Playing the first demo of Wrath of Righteous card guild. My team consists of grapies Preston W from Spokane, Brad from Seattle, and Laura from Seattle. They are all training and learning the set of RotW. There are a slew of new mechanics and cards. Preston plays Bekah (the Bard), Laura plays Zarlova (the cleric), Preston plays Valeros, and I play Merisiel.
I'm trying to get a few snapshots of RoW cards. Is there someone out there that wants to post the card shots here if I email them? PM me if you can help.
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Getting owned by a Barrier:
Bilious Bottle: Display this barrier faceup next to your location. (No check to defeat!) The first time each turn that a character explores this location, each character at that location rolls a 1d4:
- 1: You are dealt 1d4+1 Poison damage
- 2: You are dealt 1d4+1 fire damage.
- 3: Bury the top card of your deck.
- 4: Discard a card and banish this barrier.
I mention to Tanis how awful (-ly good/diabolical) this card is...and she laughs evilly. I mention that I'm a rogue variant and, in theory, I 'should' be able to avoid this using some of my mad skillz. She laughs even more evilly and says..."But you can't."
This is going to be a long game. ;)
Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic
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(Terminology Update: Volunteers staff at PaizoCon are all either wearing cool purple Paizo shirts or orange (if they are working HQ). For the point of ease of use, I'm going with Grapies and Orangies to describe them.)
So what do you call the Blue Paizo Employees, the Red Venture Captains and the Green Venture Lieutenants?
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(Terminology Update: Volunteers staff at PaizoCon are all either wearing cool purple Paizo shirts or orange (if they are working HQ). For the point of ease of use, I'm going with Grapies and Orangies to describe them.)So what do you call the Blue Paizo Employees, the Red Venture Captains and the Green Venture Lieutenants?
You tell me. If I come up with the names, they might not be appropriate for posting.
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Wow. My crack well-trained elite team new newbie mcnewbersons of ACGers got our butts handed to us in the first scenario of RotW. We failed, not because we all died, but because we ran out of time before we would surely all die.
The Bilious Bottle ate my soul once before it self dispatched, but our Cleric was bogged down by endless combats and was on the verge of becoming undead herself.
Since we only had 2 hours to play, and we were learning the decks and the cards, and it was new and what, and, uh, the sun was in our eyes, and goblins ate our homework, we ran out of time.
I expect that things will go faster as we learn the cards and what our cards can do, however, that learning requires time and effort.
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We did much better in the second scenario of WotR (sheesh), the Adventure Card Game. I switched tables and played with Anja (?the bard), Darago (the necro wiz), Valeros, and I played Merisiel.
We finished this game much more quickly, ending in under an hour. We didn't hit any of the vile barriers that I hit in the last game.
The highlight of the game is when one of the allies that Darago played turned into a demon and attacked him...which didn't go well for the wizard. Of course, we laughed at his pain...it's part of the game.
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Afternoon Slot: Assault on Redlake Fort (with Rob McCreary). Rob worked on Giantslayer, and this encounter is his running of something he wrote from Book 2. I luckily won the lottery to get a seat at this table.
We had the option to bring lvl 6 yahoos, and the entire table brought their own. Mine is my PbP Giantslayer yahoo that is currently 1/2way through book 1 lvl'd to 6 for this event.
Parva - frontliner
Wren - archeryahoo
Orchal - elf wizard
Hank - frontliner half orc
Aiyanda - pacificist
Kethry - human arcany yahoo blaster
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The Morning:
Welcome to Paizocon: Erik Mona is funny! I guess I should have known that, but I didn't really realize it before now. He and Sara Marie went through the schedule, expanding on the offerings a little bit and taking a few questions.
Some guy that looked just like Brent Holtsberry sat right in front of me, but of course it couldn't be him because he told us all he wasn't coming.OH, but it WAS him! He's tricky, that Brent!
Spent most of the hour I had off talking with him in one of the many small chat circles the hotel has built in everywhere (I *LOVE* these!) then it was off to my next thing: Editing RPGs.
I'll be honest, I have this soft spot for editors. They have a hard job and catch a lot of flak when things go wrong, but are mostly ignored when things are right. The panel: Judy Bauer, Christopher Carey, Jason Keeley, and Joe Homes. The room had about 12 or 13 attendees in total, with most people there to find out more about the editing process, whether they were freelancers, or beginning third party publishers, or just interested in the way things work in general.
I enjoyed the time immensely, but then who doesn't enjoy discussions on kerning, layout idiosyncrasies, and style guides?
It was a good morning, one of those starts that just eases you into an optimistic frame of mind.
It continued through a nice lunch with one of my favorite yahoos, then it was time to settle in and get a blog post up.
I meant to, honestly, but I was nicely sidetracked by some welcome visitations with various people.
John B (ever patient spouse) joined me, giving me an update on his morning lottery game with Mark Seifter, Anagnorisis. It sounded like a lot of fun; hopefully M.S. will publish it so John can run it at home some time.
Lisa Stevens stopped by for a great conversation regarding the card game. I'm even more psyched for the later chapter of our Skull and Shakles card game, and then on to WotR when I get home.
Next, Char and Dennis Baker came by. It was great catching up with them, and getting a quick update on their sessions so far. Apparently, Char's morning session filled her full of evil plans for our game back home. I'm looking forward to it, though her evil cackle gives me pause.
Now I await the arrival of Euan, awesome Bay Area friend and Play by Post GM and player, and the continuation of the card game. Last night saw a (relatively) early turn in by most people and I feel the weight of the six chapters upon my soul.
Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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Paizocon Morning or Trial By Fire:
Wrath of the Righteous Card Game Organized Play - Season of the Shackles Kick Off
Adventure 1 Scenario 1A
Played 2 Successes 0
One brutal scenario but I am not giving up on.
Adventure 1 Scenario 1B
Played 1 Successes 1
Great scenario
Three great tables and three great sets of players. Thanks for some awesome and diabolical games.
Fun morning and now to get ready for tonight.
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Whew, already busy. Flight was good, walking from the airport to the hotel was marvelous - great location!
Dinner across the street at Mango Thai was wonderfully tasty, and relatively inexpensive all things considered.
Already hanging out with Painlord, Andi, John, and Rich. Even got to say hello to Mike Brock (more to say to him later... but I know where his room is so I'll track him down like a big game hunter at my leisure).
All in all, a great start. Now time to put down the keyboard and startup the card game!
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PaizoCon Special: They turned away about 30 people who didn't have tickets, proving again how popular the Special is. We have 38 full tables (and Brock mentions that 4 years ago at GenCon the special had 35 tables) and...
...Syrinscape plays the music for the event. This room is significantly less loud than previous Specials at PaizoCon so the music is adding a nice but not overbearing air to things.
The Table of Chaos:
Nani Pratt: Crusader V
Kyle Pratt: Sakura
Martin Blake: Rascon
Matt Goodall: Tobias & Starwyn
Alistar: Drusilla (some sort of Vamp, I think)
Crusader V is freakin' nuts. Iomedae this and Iomedae that. I need an earplug for my left ear. We play tier 10-11, but Nani only plays on 11, as in extremely freakin' loud. :)
The mod starts with a social occasion. We discuss and have fun. There are things that happen and checks to be made and so far Alistair has yet to spill a 2nd beer.
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John Compton headlines and hosts at the mic. There are 3 big screens that show the overall map. In a moment of levity, JC points out that there is a bar within the ballroom which leads to a ministampede during a break.
Quotes:
"Absalom must be pissed at us now."
"Why do we have Convocations when people are just going to die."
"No one could have forseen this happening."
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+1 to TetsujinOni for positively GMing a table of new players at the Special. And when I say 'new', I mean young...two players are very 7ish, and GM Oni is doing a bang up job keeping the game moving and interesting.
We murderhoboish noble Pathfinders continue to fight on in the Special. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's likely that I wouldn't be able to as there is so much to do and so many areas to cover. Piddlespot is happening and, lead by the pious Crusader V, we follow in a very wide (and loud) path of destruction. No doubt that we are scaring more away than the rest of the tables are killing in total.
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At the bar after the Special, recounting our victory. We (Darren from Cameron Park), Andrew Christian, Ben from Sacto, & Rich from Sacto) discuss our experiences.
I enjoyed the thing, but that's a much a function of the table make up.
Pros:
More RP than most Specials.
Had opportunities to avoid/solve encounters.
Lots of paths, different ways to do stuff.
Was done in 4.5 hours. Pretty impressive.
Good call backs to previous seasons. (tapestry)
Beer and Bar was available.
Fun RP moments with NPCs. Ample opportunities for ham.
Cons:
High tier combats ran out of time.
Pacing was wonky.
Formulatic.
Some GM prep time was limited. Needed more prep time.
Lots and lots and lots of maps. (if your GM doesn't lead you around, with so many locations, it can be hard to have maps ready.)
Table to table Aid thingies were hard to use (and weren't clearly explained at my table).