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PaizoCon also tickets their events, but doesn't charge for them. You sign up for things on the website ahead of time. For the really popular and limited events, they have the lottery, but even things not in the lottery (PFS) have signups on the website ahead of time. I believe this solves the problem of people knowing ahead of time what they're going to be able to do, and of getting tables seated, without the need for micropayments.
(People not showing up to ticketed events is a different issue. It's been said that once they started charging for events, people showed up much more often, and I can easily believe this)
Venture-Lieutenant, Indiana—Indianapolis
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PaizoCon also tickets their events, but doesn't charge for them. You sign up for things on the website ahead of time. For the really popular and limited events, they have the lottery, but even things not in the lottery (PFS) have signups on the website ahead of time. I believe this solves the problem of people knowing ahead of time what they're going to be able to do, and of getting tables seated, without the need for micropayments.
(People not showing up to ticketed events is a different issue. It's been said that once they started charging for events, people showed up much more often, and I can easily believe this)
Paizo makes all the rules for Paizo Con. Such is not the case with Gen Con.
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Well, sure. All I'm saying is how *I* feel about the whole thing. I'm not saying that Paizo is doing it wrong or anything like that. I'm just saying that paying for each event after you've paid for the Con is something that feels a bit off-putting to me. I understand from a Con organization point of view there are reasons for it, and I understand that Paizo has to do what the Con wants them to do. And, I know that the changes couldn't come from Pazio, so I'm not even giving feedback in the right place, were it to matter (which almost certainly it doesn't; I'm sure they've heard this before, and have decided on balance that even though some people won't like it, they're better off doing it that way).
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Well, I promised Painlord that I'd make a post sooner or later, so here we are (just a wee bit later than I originally planned)!
Gen Con is an amazing and exotic beast, and while I highly encourage everyone to schedule time to take it all in, I find that each year that I attend I spend more and more time in the Sagamore and less elsewhere! The ballroom this year for PFS was absolutely magnificent - the whole space, surrounded by Pathfinder banners, with the 3D Goblin Invasion smack in the middle!
Wednesday was all about getting stuff together and getting up to Indy (normally pretty easy from just ~ an hour away, but with a car full to the brim with maps, minis, books, and people...). Once we arrived, we got our badges and I was able to get a few maps to VOs who jumped on my almost last-second offer to get some of the maps for the Specials printed and distributed, followed by the VC dinner (which I'd jealously watched people head off to for the last few years and now could finally attend myself!) which was a heck of a great time - finally getting to put faces to names and online personas! I think Mike Brock only needed 1-2 assistants by this point in the convention to carry all of the tributes of alcohol that were piled at his altar (yes, Bloomington did contribute, why do you ask?).
For me, I find that Thursday is always the longest day of the con. Especially for those not used to waking up super early, getting up and out and ready to go by 7:45 (I especially feel for those who came in from other time zones!) can be grueling if you're not ready for it! Slot 1 can be rough in terms of player turnout, so we had a ton of GMs released. Thankfully, after learning from a certain very young Canadian GM from last year, I quickly wrangled some of my fellow GMs into a pickup game of the scenario most of us were running at some point during the weekend. It turned into a fun time and also a great workshop on potential issues our players might find later during the con.
My second table went off just fine with some Core players, and then my Thursday night special was pretty awesome! Every single player found an encounter during the event that they totally rocked almost singlehandedly. "Raegar" (hope I'm spelling it right) the Paladin of Iomedae talked down a kidnapper in such a bold and daring way that I wrote that he had gained a follower (perhaps even lover) on his chronicle sheet*, the party's Ranger singlehandedly calmed wooly rhinos, the Witch put out many fires and shut down enemy action, the Unchained Rogue was "off the chain" getting the drop on a few encounters, the Fighter beat down the final few encounters with several consecutive critical hits, and the party's Summoner (APG Summoner played *very* impressively almost more like an arcane version of a Druid) was on top of many social encounters and helped guide the whole party to success after success. All my players really seemed to love it!
* the player loved the story so much that he got the "defector" boon and was already working up the NPC he encountered in the special as his next character! I love when things that happen in-game spawn future RP and ideas from players!
As has become my late-night ritual, I rushed from the Sagamore over to Champions before last call - their soups and salads are always amazing and really refreshing after a long day.
Friday again kicked off with a no-fire table for me in the morning, and the afternoon had a bit of a comedy of errors that resulted in me again having no table, but I was able to take time to see some friends I hadn't seen in over 6 years while their son was playing Kid's Track (and subsequently got them interested in playing PFS themselves!), before grabbing a bite and getting ready for the Sky Key Solution. A group of players who had sat with me in 2014 asked if they could request me as a GM, and Tonya up at HQ graciously allowed it. Fortunately many of the players were really into the story and campaign setting of Golarion, so the moments I myself went "WHOA!" when reading the special hit them just as good. Everyone had a blast!
Friday night at Champions I got to hang out with some GMs from Pennsylvania and elsewhere and shared stories until we were almost about to pass out (or, rather, when they kicked us out sometime around 3am). But I knew I had Saturday morning off, so I was okay with this.
Saturday was a fun and relaxing day - I had a nice family at my table in the afternoon (plus one slightly disruptive player, but he quickly found that his issues were with HQ, and then subsequently took his problems out of the ballroom altogether and left my table in peace), and then another table of players requesting me by name to run the Kobolds special. That one was a heap of fun! After taking some advice from other GMs on the boards, I put my players under the honor system and let the player with the most GM stars be in charge so they could set the [redacted] all over the place, so that when I came back I wouldn't know. All of a sudden it was 6 GMs vs 1 Player, and they *loved* the reversal - giving me DCs to roll for, rolling damage for the NPCs I was moving around. Apparently some of them had a rough game earlier in the day - by the time we wrapped up it had been completely forgotten and replaced by happy memories from Saturday night!
Sunday at Gen Con is always bittersweet. You're in your groove as a GM, on a good schedule, running games, and then you get some time after to just hang out with people you've met and made friends with...but then it's time for people to go back to the real world and it's over. Even on top of all of the great RP moments at my table earlier in the con, having a dad come up to me after the Sunday special to tell me that I "made" his son's convention for him was absolutely the best feeling!
In the last few years I got to meet a lot of people in passing (and nothing last year on Sunday since I threw my back out and was unable to make it out of the hotel at all). This year I got to spend lots of time with a bunch of people, and I feel that I made some really good friends in just a few days. Justin Peters, Tonya Woldridge, Jon Cary, Walter Shepard, Joe Gilbert, Jon "none of that stinkin' root beer" Dehning, Thurston (with and without his mouth full), and so many more that I'm going to stop with names lest I only forget a few and maybe make them feel left out!
Painlord stopping by my table to hang out for a bit was also a highlight - his icon on the boards is a really good resemblance! ;)
Of course, no Gen Con can be complete without a fail or two. My big one was Sunday right before I started to meander my way back to the hotel so I could drive my locals back home in time for them to get to their jobs/sleep. I had a guy come up to me wanting to introduce himself, and his name sounded awfully familiar...Andrew Hoskins...and I'm sitting there like "okay, I know that name, why do I know that name, why am I excited to meet him?" but I was so tired by then that I kinda just figured it was someone I'd had a good conversation with on the boards...I'm in the car driving home and it hits me: "Mike you dummy! That's the author of your favorite Season 6 scenario!!!"
So, Andrew, consider this me being honored and super stoked after-the-fact to have met you!
All in all, this was the best Gen Con I'd been to yet, and I spent 95% of it in the Sagamore Ballroom! Everyone in PFS is just plain awesome, and here's to another one next year and spending time making even more new friends and reuniting with old ones! :)
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Finally, as promised, I have uploaded for sharing with all of you, a photo of the intrepid adventurers (and their dubious GM) who had a (mostly) successful run through space and time (though mostly time) during the Sky Key Solution.
Thanks to all of you fine folk for such a fine time roleplaying at the table. The only way to do it is to the hilt! Talk smack to those bad guys, even if you really, really, really can't even hit the broad side of a barn. Bow down and worship Aroden reborn, even if you can't get his name right!
Disclaimer: While I did promise to upload the photo on that night and there were no objections, we were high on Aroden's blessings. If any pictured would like me to take it down, I will happily do so.
Also: Upon reflection, I'm clearly way more into it (the photo) than everyone else. Just goes to show that an Australian hopped up on caffeine and very little sleep does better at midnight after 16 hours of roleplaying than... well, anyone else.
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And I was trying to survive the awesome aura of Painlord standing there!
One can only come so close to True Power without getting burned. (still wish we would have had twenty minutes to do the final encounter. It would have been AWESOME! Maybe I should take it to PbP for fun?)
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And I was trying to survive the awesome aura of Painlord standing there!
One can only come so close to True Power without getting burned. (still wish we would have had twenty minutes to do the final encounter. It would have been AWESOME! Maybe I should take it to PbP for fun?)
Don't tease me man. You can't say it like that and then not do it! You just can't!
Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Finally, as promised, I have uploaded for sharing with all of you, a photo of the intrepid adventurers (and their dubious GM) who had a (mostly) successful run through space and time (though mostly time) during the Sky Key Solution.
I am somehow slightly disappointed that Pirate Rob isnt dressed as a pirate.
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I've got a bandanna at least!
Sorry to disapoint, here's a more piratey picture of me though. Hopefully that makes it up to you.
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Finally, as promised, I have uploaded for sharing with all of you, a photo of the intrepid adventurers (and their dubious GM) who had a (mostly) successful run through space and time (though mostly time) during the Sky Key Solution.
Okayyyy...
So.
Does it count as a 'photobomb' if it is completely and utterly unintentional?
Between Painlord's and Silberg's elbows there's a partial view of a fellow wearing a tropical shirt covering his eyes sitting down.
That's me. The pre-flash caused some splotchies in my vision (that I usually get RIGHT before a migraine hits) so I was trying to mitigate the impact with hand-shielding.
If I had but known that you were that close... Argh!
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Classic, Wei Ji! Well, next time. We'll down some drinks at O'Reilly's and talk about that time that Painlord actually came to GenCon. ;-)Fixed that for you, Damien.
Wei Ji if we had only known....
If only *I* had known! I ended up skipping dinner after the con and going to bed because I didn't know anyone was there to hang out with!
Next year. This will change. So mote it be done.
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Sorry Wei Jin... GenCon is dying down in my thoughts and memories. Some kind of buzz remains though, and after vowing I'd reduce my PbP post GenCon, I've gone from 2 active to 6 active games! I blame thee, Painlord! You too, Silbeg. Most of all, though, I blame you Wilmannator! You foul, weak-willed, over excited fool.
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And it's Wei Ji, not Jin.
Whoops. Sorry man, I usually do better.
Well, looks like this thread's on the way out. I'd like to say a fond farewell to all those who PbP and those who don't but who've taken the time to share experiences. I've really enjoyed reading along. I've loved sharing my thoughts and experiences also. It was awesome to meet so many of you in person. Can't wait to hit it at Scotty's O'Reilly's with you next year.
Finally, a big thank you to Painlord for starting this thread and strong-arming me to post on it in the first place! Well, my arm never needs that much twisting to post on these forums. ;-)
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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I've got a bandanna at least!
Sorry to disapoint, here's a more piratey picture of me though. Hopefully that makes it up to you.
Oh, fancy smancy!
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With the second special, I had an amazing table, the (Ad)Venture Capitalists. If anyone else played with them or has any idea who they are, let me know. We were trying to get together again for the Sunday slot, but it wasn't meant to be.
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Keith, I was the Paladin of Abadar at that table. The entire crew was talking about that game all weekend and we are very happy to see you enjoyed it as well.
Thank you for giving our Cleric of Asmodeus an undead copy of the iconic rogue to order around using Command Undead. I'd also like to thank you for your incredible portrayal of an annoyed Gelugon who was evidently not interested in stopping a world-ending time-paradox cataclysm.
We will endeavour to prevent the disruption of lawful and wholesome commerce wherever it is threatened. Maybe we can meet up next year?
Blessings of Abadar be with you!
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Andrew Christain (I love this guy more every time I meet him)Who doesn't? He seems to be everyone's nemesis? For me, I find him to be an awesomely fun GM. My group first had him at Hell Knight's Feast a few years back and loved him. This year we got him for the kobold special. Awesome role playing scenario with an awesome role playing GM.
Are you the one who spilled coffee on my map? ;)
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Are you the one who spilled coffee on my map? ;)Andrew Christain (I love this guy more every time I meet him)Who doesn't? He seems to be everyone's nemesis? For me, I find him to be an awesomely fun GM. My group first had him at Hell Knight's Feast a few years back and loved him. This year we got him for the kobold special. Awesome role playing scenario with an awesome role playing GM.
Same crew, but they are five. The guy who spilled was a random sixth they grabbed.
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Same crew, but they are five. The guy who spilled was a random sixth they grabbed.Are you the one who spilled coffee on my map? ;)Andrew Christain (I love this guy more every time I meet him)Who doesn't? He seems to be everyone's nemesis? For me, I find him to be an awesomely fun GM. My group first had him at Hell Knight's Feast a few years back and loved him. This year we got him for the kobold special. Awesome role playing scenario with an awesome role playing GM.
This is why we can't have nice things.
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Thanks to Andrew, Quinn, Dave, David and our witch and GM for having me along during the Sky Key Solution, and thanks again to those who could make it (and our GM [I believe] Nathan King) for bringing me in with them during the Serpents Rise special. Those were the best games of the con for me, and it is wildly fun playing with you guys. I hope to see you again next year!
My brawler will carry around that achievement for as long as I play him. It's not every day you suplex a triceratops.
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I also realized as I got home that my copy of Occult Adventures ended up sprouting legs from our hotel room and walking away
I think we ended up with it. I know we ended up with an extra copy, but I thought it was Corwin's. Zach messaged me the other day to let me know you lost yours. I sent you a PM. Let me know how I can get it back to you. :)
