Venture-Agent, Nebraska—Omaha
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I'm leaving now with great memories and renewed excitement for all things Pathfinder.
Highlights include:
Meeting up with GM Hmm and Bret, giving her a hug, and going on a watery adventure together.
Playing my half-dragon Scaled Monk/Draconic sorcerer and scaring the stripes off some Aspis agents.
An Intrigue-style Taldor AP. All the announcements were exciting, but this is my favorite. I can't wait for PFS season 9 to start the build up to this.
Providing my voice for Syrinscape. Gonna download and and try it out.
It is absolutely canon that wayang have seven sexes (take that Shirren, pathfinder is alien too)
Solstice Scar was a blast.
Met ultimagus and hung out with his group. I hope to come back and play with him again.
Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Wohoo! I am going to be a leshy this morning!
Ladies at the little kiosk are absoluut champs again.
It is notecably quiter. The realisation that paizocon is going to end is setting in. I dont want it to end.So, for those of you who are here Monday:
I want to either tour Seattle with some fun people (or have a great pick-up game if no one is interested in touring Seattle's underground or seeing Pike's Place.)
Who else is interested?
I have a midday game but my ebening is completely free.
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Jon Denning created some wonderful props for the house to use. It enhances the experience for the players. Thanks, Jon!
** spoiler omitted **
You are very welcome, Andrew. I was happy to create, cut, and fold over 40 origami swan for all the people who volunteered their time to make Paizo Con a great success.
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Neing a leshy is awesome. We all have unique abilities and personalities. We are at 8 players and apperantly we are so funny we have 2 onlookers.
Mike Welham is an exelent GM and our antics are causing a lot of happy facepalms. He has the hard task of keeping us on track.
Murderhobo leshies exist.
Ever wonder what happened to that pumpkin in we be goblins 2?
My leshy has cabbages for hands.
The thorn leshy and flytrap leshies are up to serious shenanigans with their abilities.
Some weird things happen with a chainsaw.
Leshy diplomacy is a fail.
Oh man this game is awesome.
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Having awoken fully rested Sunday morning and recovered of all my health, I got back to the con and just hung around the lobby meeting people, like:
- The lovely and talented Savannah Broadway, author of 4-18 The Veteran’s Vault and creator of that lovable otyugh, Togg. Hopefully she can join us later this week when I run Treacherous Waves again for some of our local PFS folks.
- Nethys, aka Blake Davis (no relation). I just wanted to thank him for what he does. But then later I pointed him out to HMM, who actually squee’d out loud upon meeting him.
Got invited to join HMM, Brett, and Andy for lunch at the Thai place, and the food was indeed excellent as Rob says.
Had Mark Seifter join me and Carri (sp?) on the couch in the lobby for 45 minutes. Man, that dude is smart! We chatted about several non-gaming topics, but then unsurprisingly, the talk did turn to game design. He held forth on the background mathematical framework differences behind Pathfinder and Starfinder, how accuracy versus defense drives the design process, and the way that the Alien Archive and SF classes are structured. I did understand it, but given that all I do is fly jets (“Grog make houses get small; sit and stare out window for looong time.”) I can’t even begin to repeat what Mark said in a comprehensible way. But it was very cool that he was willing to give so much time to just a couple people.
Went to the OPC panel of Tonya, Thursty, Compton, and Linda. Others have already covered that, and I’m certainly looking forward to Season 9. Now if we can just get the Exchange split back into its disparate parts and get rid of those mobsters from our mercantile union….
Then to the Special. This was my first time running a special, and admittedly, I feel like I did my players a slight disservice. I don’t mean that I messed anything significant up (tho they did point out my occasional mistakes, as they should.) I just felt overly rushed and behind and never really felt like I was in the groove. They got plenty of successes, and no one died, and I did feel like everyone had fun. Maybe it’s that the style of that scenario isn’t the style I particularly enjoy, so I wasn’t as into it as I would normally be. Food for thought and personal reflection.
Getting home so early in the wee hours, I wasn’t planning on bothering to go back Monday. I was only planning to attend the online-play panel featuring HMM and IronHelix, and well, sleep is important. But I woke up early, and so into the breaches!
Ran into Katina Davis (Mrs. Nethys) at the store again, and we chatted a bit, then met the Director of Technology (name-fail, sorry) and we talked about how bad point-of-sale computer systems are and how both of us had gotten back into gaming after multi-decade hiatuses.
Went to HMM’s panel, and learned quite a bit, including how the communities differ between the Flaxseed Lodge and the Mythweaver’s group, and about the coming licensing and availability of PFS scenarios on Fantasy Grounds. Tonya revealed that the Season 9 guide will remove the requirement that one have paper copies of chronicle sheets as long as you have scans that you can show should you be audited. That’s a huge boon to someone like me since I occasionally play with a local group somewhere in the world on a layover.
Talked with Rob Knop afterwards and picked his brain about getting started in PbP, then with Jesse Davis (also no relation), and HoloGnome about VTT and the future of technology in both online and face-to-face gaming.
Did a Starfinder delve with James Sutter. Yeah, I like this new system. Simpler, cleaner, and easier, but not in a dumbed-down or underpowered way like DnD 4e or 5e. Maybe it’s because of that “background mathematical framework” they used. I even caught an error on the character card that Sutter was sure they had changed.
Rob, Brett, HMM, and I were discussing where to possibly go for an interesting dinner downtown. Yes, I live here, but I’m a very recent transplant, so I thought I’d just ask the next Staff member that walked by. Turns out Jessica Price is a foodie and is well-known among the staff for her knowledge of local restaurants, and as luck would have it, she was indeed the next victim, I mean, staff member to pass by. She and Adam Daigle gave us some great tips. (HMM, if you see this, sorry, but I’m going to have to bow out tonight.)
Finally got to meet Tineke, and thank her for how welcoming and accommodating Lau and everyone else was when I got a chance to play a couple times in the Netherlands 2 years ago.
And that’s it for this year. For a first PaizoCon, that was quite an experience. I’ll make some changes to how and what I do next year, but overall it was a great time. And the best part of it all was the awesome, cool, interesting, and friendly people I met. Thanks to all of you!
Out.
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After having a nice lunch with Thursty Kyle Nani Compton and Diego I am now on a plane.
Alaskas boarding seems a little strange. All 3 gates send you down the same ramp and then you have to get on the correct plane.
Several people passed me getting off the plane since they had gotten on the wrong plane.
I'm sad I missed the seminar on online play this morning but I did manage to teach some of the cpntingent from down under how to play organized play for the ACG so my time felt worthwile.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Hmm: Will racial stat arrays make it hard to play some classes? Will you be forced to play a race if you want to be good at a class?
Owen. No, we’ve made it possible for every race (at level one) to play every class.
Hmm's reaction: SQUEEEEEEE! Okay, I'm done now.
Very happy with that one.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Went to HMM’s panel, and learned quite a bit, including how the communities differ between the Flaxseed Lodge and the Mythweaver’s group, and about the coming licensing and availability of PFS scenarios on Fantasy Grounds. Tonya revealed that the Season 9 guide will remove the requirement that one have paper copies of chronicle sheets as long as you have scans that you can show should you be audited. That’s a huge boon to someone like me since I occasionally play with a local group somewhere in the world on a layover.
Very sensible change might require noting that player hast used a boon from Chronicle 12 in the session, on that sessions chronicle sheet or something similar.
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Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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Tonya revealed that the Season 9 guide will remove the requirement that one have paper copies of chronicle sheets as long as you have scans that you can show should you be audited. That’s a huge boon to someone like me since I occasionally play with a local group somewhere in the world on a layover.
It's going to be a huge boon to all travelers, actually. I was so excited when Tonya announced that. I'm sorry that we'll miss you tonight, Jim. You were a delight to meet.
Actually, everyone's been a delight all the way through. If you at home are wondering, "Should I go to PaizoCon?" The answer is "Yes!"
Hmm
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Central Europe
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Tonya revealed that the Season 9 guide will remove the requirement that one have paper copies of chronicle sheets as long as you have scans that you can show should you be audited. That’s a huge boon to someone like me since I occasionally play with a local group somewhere in the world on a layover.It's going to be a huge boon to all travelers, actually. I was so excited when Tonya announced that. I'm sorry that we'll miss you tonight, Jim. You were a delight to meet.
Actually, everyone's been a delight all the way through. If you at home are wondering, "Should I go to PaizoCon?" The answer is "Yes!"
Hmm
How does this work with all the boons that are crossed off after use or that have boxes to check?
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How does this work with all the boons that are crossed off after use or that have boxes to check?Tonya revealed that the Season 9 guide will remove the requirement that one have paper copies of chronicle sheets as long as you have scans that you can show should you be audited. That’s a huge boon to someone like me since I occasionally play with a local group somewhere in the world on a layover.It's going to be a huge boon to all travelers, actually. I was so excited when Tonya announced that. I'm sorry that we'll miss you tonight, Jim. You were a delight to meet.
Actually, everyone's been a delight all the way through. If you at home are wondering, "Should I go to PaizoCon?" The answer is "Yes!"
Hmm
Nils, no one asked. It was announced pretty close to the end of the seminar time, and none of the attendees thought quickly enough about the implications. I presume there will be paragraph text in the Guide explaining the accounting and tracking procedures beyond a quick panel announcement. You know, sometimes I think we don't play "Math-finder" as much as we play "Accountant: The RPG."
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Something else that I left out was Linda Zayas-Palmer's announcement at a panel yesterday that there will be NO race additions or subtractions for Season 9.
Nixie pulls her head out of the water and splashes happily. "Undines forever! My tribe and I will still get to explore everywhere!"
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I don't really have time to blog during Paizocon due to being a Paizo staffer at Paizocon full time. Now that I'm home, though, I wanted to say it was great to meet so many of you at the con and stop to talk for a while. I hope everyone had a great con!
I miss our online rules discussions prior to you having to worry about every word you used being taken as gossepel somewhere.
I really do appreciate all the work you've done to help make Pathfinder and now Starfinder awesome.
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Monday update: wow, that was a great con. Lots of yahoos still collapsed on lobby chairs, but most folks seem to have headed home. I ran game 7 of the con this morning, and I'm pretty tired, in that "joyful-exhausted" way. Still have a voice, though!
So many highlights today and yesterday. Thanks to Painlord and Pirate Rob and everyone for covering the banquet; I did the same on our local Lodge's Facebook page. Before that I ran a table of Amber Scott's upcoming module for the Aethera campaign setting. I love Aethera more every time I run it, and the group seemed to really get both the darker tone and alternate viewpoints compared to Golarion.
Chatted with Kate Baker every day of the con. What a great person. Reacquainted with Pirate Rob, and he showed me pics of our game at PaizoCon 2012 when I wore the Red Shirt. It really brings out the red in my eyes. (Credit to Myron Paul's for that one.)
The special was great, although I may have missed some furs or something, as I never deployed the wonderful prop Jon Denning handed out. Alas, will have to take it home. Had a table of PbP superstars (listed in Hmm's post above) - wow, what a great group. They easily handled every every numeric challenge which left more space for RP and kibitzing. Half of them came back the next morning for more.
Missed the OP session because I was running, but saw pics online. There's something pretty cool about seeing local yahoo Thursty sitting up there with John and Tonya. He gave me my start in freelancing and that has grown into a bunch of projects I've worked on now. I guess the Goergia and Boston and U.K. Folks know the feeling as well.
Passed Al Riggs a few times, latest member of the Order of the Wayfinder. He hadn't been to sleep yet.
Now, thinking about evening plans... might find a game, or just hit the hotel bar. Not energetic enough to head into Seattle with the Minnesota crowd.
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How does this work with all the boons that are crossed off after use or that have boxes to check?Nils, no one asked. It was announced pretty close to the end of the seminar time, and none of the attendees thought quickly enough about the implications. I presume there will be paragraph text in the Guide explaining the accounting and tracking procedures beyond a quick panel announcement. You know, sometimes I think we don't play "Math-finder" as much as we play "Accountant: The RPG."
The Inventory Tracking Sheet is already used to annotate retraining and other character changes. Notating boon use is not unreasonable. Plus, even if you are entirely digital, you should be getting a chronicle at the end of the session you use the boon. The use can be notated there.
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and cries from the crowd of "Brown-noser" and "Teacher's Pet" abound :-PJon Denning created some wonderful props for the house to use. It enhances the experience for the players. Thanks, Jon!
** spoiler omitted **
Jon,
It has been brought to my attention that you did not take kindly to my comment. It was just meant to be a little friendly low-brow ribbing. I even added an emoji to the end to reinforce that intent. However, if I offended you, I am truly sorry. That is as far from my intent as possible. I both respect and admire the the work you have done and continue to do with the PFS community. I only wish I were in attendance at PaizoCon this year so I could apologize in person as I do not want there to be any hurt feelings between us. I hope we can meet up at some future event where I can express my regret again in person. I am sorry.
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Two events really stood out for me this con.
First, playing in Amber Scott's The Sewers of Death. The story was simple but there was a great energy in the room ("gnolls killed my family!!") and my only regret is that we ran out of time for the big boss battle.
Second, playing in the PFS special. The dim caveman shaman I've been running all weekend really got a chance to shine. Mark ("the 'ei' is like in eidolon") Seifter and Linda from PFS were both super nice and fun. But I have to give special thanks to our GM (Stephen, I think) for handling a difficult and stressful event with aplomb.
My lessons from the con are twofold.
First, I really appreciate now just how good my players and GMs in my home games are. The ordinary PFS scenarios I played this weekend were okay, but I definitely missed the quality RP and GMing from back home.
Second, I really shouldn't schedule morning events. I'm a night person, and 8 am games make me cranky (sorry to those I played with!). Instead, I want to see more of this awesome city if I come back some other year.
Well, some long flights back to Oz and back to reality, but I'm fortunate to like my fantasy and reality in equal measure. Thanks everyone!
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I am now GMing for the minnesota crew. Please send help.
I was in the game with the people I will now forever, affectionately call the "Minnesota morons". The game was fantastic and Tineke was a champ. You guys rock and next year I'll be ready with my "A-game". :-D
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Just made it home from my first PaizoCon. I had the pleasure to play at Tineke's confirmation table, and truly enjoyed meeting and playing with all involved.
A few of the amazing people I met from these boards include: Tineke, Terry(Hawkshaw), Hilary(Hmm), Kevin Willis, Bret Indrelee, Andrew Hoskins, Guy Martelle, Rob Knop, and Kate Baker.... and that was just Thursday night!
I had a blast playing lots of Kobold adventures with Tyler Beck. May he receive all the blessings of Aspu.
The Starfinder Delve was a lot of fun, and I am more excited than ever for the game to release! I ran it four times throughout the day in order to try all the available pre-gens. Thanks to James Sutter, John Compton, Amanda Hammon Kunz, and Logan Bonner for making it such a great experience.
Mark Seifter stopped by several of my tables to comment, and seemed like a really great guy. By the way Mark the Balrog(and friends) dominated that encounter.
Thanks to Majuba for the Goblin Brain, and Jon Denning for enhancing my table of Solstice Scar with his paper crane.
But I think the greatest thing I saw at the Con was Andrew Hoskins trolling Terry during House of Harmonious Wisdom. The look on Terry's face was priceless!!!
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Pfew. What to say. After being a leshy a whole afternoon, I did some last minute shopping and then a quick lunch at Dennys.
And then it happened. My 150th game.
And I got the whole crazy minesota crew.
Bears were punned, arsony, montages, weird acrobatics, near pvp and other crazyness happened.
I laughed my butt off. And I think I got permanent sanity damage.
After that we went for dinner at the roast house. Good food. But expensive.
Andre had a late game for us after that where we fought a whole room of shamazain demons. It did not make sense, but itnwas fun.
We ended up hanging around and talking after that Jon. Untikl I finally did have to go to bed.
I am going to miss everybody.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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I really haven't blogged enough about this convention.
This was my first PaizoCon and I thought it was great! Thanks everyone!
As others mentioned above, GM Lamplighter ran our table of the special. It was the best experience I've had with a special so far. Thank you GM Lamplighter, Feral, Pirate Rob, Khelreddin and Simon (sorry, I don't know his forum handle) for making it so.
One of things that really made this awesome was having the author of the special, Andrew Hoskins, wandering the floor as we played it. I look forward to seeing what he writes next.
It was fun meeting Tineke and Therry. Hopefully someday they will forgive my fumbling their names...
It was also great meeting and talking with rknop. Was a little embarrassing realizing that he was the nice guy who had helped me with my first table of PSA when his fell through. Yes, I can be that terrible with matching names and faces...
In any event, I hope to be able to do this again next year.
Thanks Painlord and everyone else for the play by play. I once again lived vicariously through your updates. Hope you all had a great weekend.
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Andrew Hoskins is running some kind of high-level insane scenario where people can bring anything they want. There's a 20th level psychic, and THUNDERLIPS! is here. We killed seven shemazian demons in two rounds. Things are going south quickly.
Oh my, wasn't that insane? I should have made all the Pathfinders one troop. Next year I will bring more preparation than: "Jon (Denning), you want me to run a game for 20 people?! Ok, I can do that."
I apologise for crashing after that first area. I think I had expended literally every point of burn I could. Now I know how kineticists feel.
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And then it happened. My 150th game.
And I got the whole crazy minesota crew.
Bears were punned, arsony, montages, weird acrobatics, near pvp and other crazyness happened.
I laughed my butt off. And I think I got permanent sanity damage.---
I am going to miss everybody.
Congratulations, again, on getting your 5th star. You certainly earned it by trying to wrangle the Minnesota crew. Herding cats, indeed.
I hope to see you again when you can come out to the US.
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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And then it happened. My 150th game.
And I got the whole crazy minesota crew.
Bears were punned, arsony, montages, weird acrobatics, near pvp and other crazyness happened.
I laughed my butt off. And I think I got permanent sanity damage.---
I am going to miss everybody.
Congratulations, again, on getting your 5th star. You certainly earned it by trying to wrangle the Minnesota crew. Herding cats, indeed.
I hope to see you again when you can come out to the US.
You all made me qualify as my 6th star :P
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Last game of PaizoCon! Icebound Outpost in the lobby! 2 seats open. Also, Tineke, if you see this, stop by cause we have stuff for you.
You people are certifiably insane. And if I were still in Seattle instead of currently recuperating on my couch back in good 'ol DC, I'd be there.
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Paizocon might be over, but we are not!
Wait. That came out wrong.
Some yahoos are still here. We met up with Hillary, Bret, Andrew and James.
Had good breakfast and good talk. Had to say goodbye to Andrew. Will miss him.
Now we currently in the lobby playing icebound outpost. Jack is a champ running this for us.