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They do not have the GMs assigned yet, so I don't think they know how many tables they can support yet. The GM assignments for PaizoCon just came out last week.
IIRC, the GM assignments are not going to come out until late June/early July based on ticket sales.
Finally, we are looking to schedule tables bottom up, instead of top down. By starting off with a few tables of each scenario, then increasing based on ticket sales; we should be better poised to respond to player demand. Hopefully, this means that we will have fewer tables fail to make and fewer GMs released. Volunteers will have their block schedules before event registration opens, but may not have scenario list until late June/early July. We are still committed to getting scenarios into GMs hands at least 2 weeks before Gen Con starts. While this split schedule means more emails and paperwork, it should mean fewer changes at the last minute. Hopefully, a more streamlined system all around and more efficient use of our GM pool.
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FYI, the volunteer schedules have no connection to this process. AFAIK, some/most of the event schedule was entered into the GC catalog over the past week. It may have been completed, but I cannot say for sure. Either way, it is something that the volunteer organizing committee has no direct influence over. It has to be completed by Paizo. It is possible there is a "switch" or an approval process that Gen Con itself has to complete before the events are visible and that is the reason they are not there at this time. Anything we say about this is going to be speculation. I took a cursory view and didn't see any D&D AL either so draw your own conclusions. I did see some Shadowrun missions so its not specific to organized play communities.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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According to some posts from Gen Con staff in the forums, they are still working through an approval process with a lot of events. They wanted to get the events which are already approved up, but there were a lot submitted right at or after the deadline that they are still working on.
I wouldn't be concerned until we get a lot closer to event registration.
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FYI, the volunteer schedules have no connection to this process. AFAIK, some/most of the event schedule was entered into the GC catalog over the past week. It may have been completed, but I cannot say for sure. Either way, it is something that the volunteer organizing committee has no direct influence over. It has to be completed by Paizo. It is possible there is a "switch" or an approval process that Gen Con itself has to complete before the events are visible and that is the reason they are not there at this time. Anything we say about this is going to be speculation. I took a cursory view and didn't see any D&D AL either so draw your own conclusions. I did see some Shadowrun missions so its not specific to organized play communities.
The D&D AL events are up. If you look by Baldman Games and not by D&D AL. Overall the GenCon search functions are terrible. Look by Paizo and 3 seminars come up, look by PFS 1 event. If I remember correctly, last year the Paizo events were up about a week after the events were listed.
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The fact that PFS/SFS is not on the event listings right now is not uncommon.
Have we had a longer time in previous years to review the events list before registration? 2 weeks seems like a short window to get your wish list sorted out especially if the main thing you do doesn't have their events up yet.
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The fact that PFS/SFS is not on the event listings right now is not uncommon.Have we had a longer time in previous years to review the events list before registration? 2 weeks seems like a short window to get your wish list sorted out especially if the main thing you do doesn't have their events up yet.
Yes and No.
IIRC, through 2015, the list of scenarios running at GenCon (many with a brief description or link) was posted when the call for volunteers went up. In 2015, that was February 23. However, the exact schedule (which scenarios were running each slot) was not available until GenCon released the events, about two weeks before event registration opened.
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Related question, sort of: for GM volunteers who are receiving badges with the GM packets on August 1 in person at Sagamore Ballroom (at least that is how I understand it will go down), will we be able to register for events before we officially have our badges? And is that the time when we will know which scenarios that we are running, or will we know sooner than that?
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Related question, sort of: for GM volunteers who are receiving badges with the GM packets on August 1 in person at Sagamore Ballroom (at least that is how I understand it will go down), will we be able to register for events before we officially have our badges? And is that the time when we will know which scenarios that we are running, or will we know sooner than that?
Your badge will be "dropped" into your GenCon account. Thereafter you will be able to purchase event tickets. You should get your badge before registration begins. However, last year my badge was not dropped before registration day and I had to purchase a badge. I was given a full refund eventually.
You will pick up your physical badge at GenCon as you described.
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Swiftbrook is correct. We are hoping that the snafu last year was a on-time occurrence since having to buy a badge and get it refunded later is an inconvenience that our volunteers should not have to experience. However, Gen Con has not yet provided the badges to Paizo so they can drop them into your accounts. We are still expecting that to occur before registration opens on the 6th.
While volunteers will have their block schedule (which slots you are assigned and which you are off) before open registration, you will not have your specific scenario assignments until much later. This is largely due to the fact that we do not know what the final event schedule will look like. We have "seeded" the schedule with roughly 80% of our tables and left 20% unassigned. This is so we can more quickly and accurately respond to ticket demand. It reduces the amount of guesswork we have to do trying to figure out what people want to play. We don't know what the demand for SFS will be in its 2nd year, or for the 2E playtest material, etc.
We strongly encourage everyone to build their wishlists when the events appear in the catalog as it will give us insight into where the demand will be and we may be able to start allocating our unassigned tables before registration even opens.
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Related question, sort of: for GM volunteers who are receiving badges with the GM packets on August 1 in person at Sagamore Ballroom (at least that is how I understand it will go down), will we be able to register for events before we officially have our badges? And is that the time when we will know which scenarios that we are running, or will we know sooner than that?
Through 2015, Paizo PFS events were posted in the Gencon catalog/events listing when they went online. This is the third year in a row that the Paizo events have been posted late. Given the short window between when the events catalog is made public and registration, This has been incredibly inconvenient, especially when trying to coordinate for a group.
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| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Related question, sort of: for GM volunteers who are receiving badges with the GM packets on August 1 in person at Sagamore Ballroom (at least that is how I understand it will go down), will we be able to register for events before we officially have our badges? And is that the time when we will know which scenarios that we are running, or will we know sooner than that?Your badge will be "dropped" into your GenCon account. Thereafter you will be able to purchase event tickets. You should get your badge before registration begins. However, last year my badge was not dropped before registration day and I had to purchase a badge. I was given a full refund eventually.
You will pick up your physical badge at GenCon as you described.
To add on to this, for two years I volunteered enough to receive a badge. Both years I also purchased a badge so I could do housing and event registration. Both years I received a FULL refund of my badge.In fact, it was automatic.
Last year, the Paizo badge dropped in and the next day GenCon processed the credit.
Also, if you are on your own for housing, don't freak out when the Paizo badge hits your account. It will LOOK like you lost your housing but you have not. There are several on the boards that can confirm this. ;)
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Through 2015, Paizo PFS events were posted in the Gencon catalog/events listing when they went online. This is the third year in a row that the Paizo events have been posted late. Given the short window between when the events catalog is made public and registration, This has been incredibly inconvenient, especially when trying to coordinate for a group.
Yes, I'm trying to arrange tickets for 5 sessions for 6 people and it would be nice to have some time to peruse the available events and pick a sequence of scenarios (plus back-ups for each slot) that everyone will enjoy.
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For whatever reason, Paizo has not been on time getting their events up for the past few years. It could be as simple as a 'switch' in the event database hasn't been thrown. It could be that they simply are not done. Either way, another critical fail.
I wouldn't call it a critical fail or even a fail until Gen Con refuses to put them in the catalogue cause they are so late.
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Events seem to be up now.
Haven't decided on anything for this year's schedule yet. But I was just looking through the events and noticed that Paizo raised the ticket price for the multi-player specials. Regular PFS/SFS adventures are still $6, but Solstice Scar is $10, and the new PFS and SFS multi-tables are $12.
I doubt if that will affect my decisions as to what to play, it's worth noting.
Huh. So, there isn't a season 9 close scenario, but there is a season 10 open? Weird.
Bummer. Honestly not interested in SFS. Hopefully they do PSF group events next year - guessing they plan to wait until they can make them all 2nd edition.
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Sorry, its no different than Thursday or Friday night if you are not interested in PFS. Specials sell tickets and we have consistently sold these events out for a number of years. Since they have minimum requirements that a lot of areas struggle or simply cannot meet, Gen Con and other large venues are the only time they can play them. We want to provide as many opportunities to play the specials as possible.
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Yea, it is a surprise to see that Saturday is going to be Starfinder night.
If Starfinder is not your thing, which I can understand, it leaves you a Saturday night to do something else.
Maybe get some sleep and come back at 2:00am and finish the con with 3 straight tables?
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Sorry, its no different than Thursday or Friday night if you are not interested in PFS. Specials sell tickets and we have consistently sold these events out for a number of years. Since they have minimum requirements that a lot of areas struggle or simply cannot meet, Gen Con and other large venues are the only time they can play them. We want to provide as many opportunities to play the specials as possible.
It's a pretty big bummer to have ZERO offerings from the flagship game on the last night of the con. It's not very fun to be force fed Starfinder as the only Paizo offering that night. Especially two years in a row. My two cents.
Saying it's like Thursday or Friday is like saying that McDonalds could reasonably tell everyone to not eat hamburgers for a day; they must eat McPizza. That doesn't make sense.
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Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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The only GenCon ticket I bought was for the SFS special on Saturday night. (Granted, my schedule in the demo hall means that evenings are the only time I have to play, and most evenings I want real food or sleep. But I’m forgoing that real meal and sleep in order to do the SFS special!)
So things you can do on Saturday Night:
- Get a real meal
- Get sleep
- Get exercise — take a walk and see all the costumes
- Try out a Non-Paizo game
- Try out another GenCon event or panel
- Organize your own PFS game on Warhorn, and take it to one of the tables at one of the hotels.
Hmm
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Venture-Lieutenant, Ohio—Dayton
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Sorry, its no different than Thursday or Friday night if you are not interested in PFS. Specials sell tickets and we have consistently sold these events out for a number of years. Since they have minimum requirements that a lot of areas struggle or simply cannot meet, Gen Con and other large venues are the only time they can play them. We want to provide as many opportunities to play the specials as possible.It's a pretty big bummer to have ZERO offerings from the flagship game on the last night of the con. It's not very fun to be force fed Starfinder as the only Paizo offering that night. Especially two years in a row. My two cents.
Saying it's like Thursday or Friday is like saying that McDonalds could reasonably tell everyone to not eat hamburgers for a day; they must eat McPizza. That doesn't make sense.
Oh cool, you posted the same thing in this thread.
I'm not sure what you mean by 2 years in a row.
Last year the SFS Special was on Thursday. I played 8-25 Unleashing the Untouchable during that time slot after the SFS sold out before I could get through my wish list.
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The only GenCon ticket I bought was for the SFS special on Saturday night. (Granted, my schedule in the demo hall means that evenings are the only time I have to play, and most evenings I want real food or sleep. But I’m forgoing that real meal and sleep in order to do the SFS special!)
So things you can do on Saturday Night:
There’s lots of things to do on a Saturday night!
- Get a real meal
- Get sleep
- Get exercise — take a walk and see all the costumes
- Try out a Non-Paizo game
- Try out another GenCon event or panel
- Organize your own PFS game on Warhorn, and take it to one of the tables at one of the hotels.
Hmm
My plan for Saturday night is to actually check out the vendor/exhibitors hall since nearly all of my other time at the con is going to be spent with PFS or sleeping.
SIDETRACK - Is cosplay popular at GenCon? I might have to pack one or two if it is...
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Venture-Captain, North Carolina—Central Region
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The only GenCon ticket I bought was for the SFS special on Saturday night. (Granted, my schedule in the demo hall means that evenings are the only time I have to play, and most evenings I want real food or sleep. But I’m forgoing that real meal and sleep in order to do the SFS special!)
So things you can do on Saturday Night:
There’s lots of things to do on a Saturday night!
- Get a real meal
- Get sleep
- Get exercise — take a walk and see all the costumes
- Try out a Non-Paizo game
- Try out another GenCon event or panel
- Organize your own PFS game on Warhorn, and take it to one of the tables at one of the hotels.
Hmm
My plan for Saturday night is to actually check out the vendor/exhibitors hall since nearly all of my other time at the con is going to be spent with PFS or sleeping.
SIDETRACK - Is cosplay popular at GenCon? I might have to pack one or two if it is...
Cosplay is quite popular. Keep in mind though that the vendor\exhibitor hall closes at 6 on Thursday-Saturday, and 4 on Sunday.