Open Gaming

[TriOmegaZero]

So I have a couple tables of pickup games that will be looking for space Friday and Sunday afternoon. Will the PFS hall have room?

[keerawa]

Based on what I've seen in past years, the PFS hall is full. However, there are always pick-up games in some of the Evergreen rooms one floor up, and there are other tables in public areas you could use. I don't know what the procedure would be if you wanted to reserve an Evergreen room.

[Ninjamancer]

Historically I've never been able to do a pickup game in that hall till late late at night, but there's a handful of "hallway" table/chairs as well as the various evergreen/etc rooms. One set of those is dedicated to freeplay, but there's usually some other free rooms too - even if it's just one of the lottery rooms that finished early/ didn't fire/ moved/ etc (tho you want to be sure to be able to pack up before the next people show up).

[Azothath]

last year PaizoCon took reservations for the second floor areas that were not in use. I would say it's a bit late for that now but you can write and ask. The main hall will likely have room BUT running on a table in the main room can be an issue. Again, check with PaizoCon customer service, they are great and will do what they can. You can ask at the HQ desk in the main ballroom.

IF you plan to run a game in a room bring a magnet with a small 4x6" note to give notice while you are in session (people will be wandering about opening doors all the time). Be cognizant of Paizo's schedule and clear out of a room early as people WILL show up early for their conference or seminar. It is their room after all.

Historically have been two rooms on the second floor for open gaming with about 3-4 tables per room, check the schedule/floor plan when you get your badge. Squatters tend to hang out on tables to claim them for later games. It's a bad habit.
Be aware that a room with open tables may be rented by a vendor to run their games in that room. It should be clear and hopefully it is.

There are alternative areas. Wander about the hotel and find them. I always see people trying to use the coffee tables (low tables) and mini-tables to run on.

There is a schedule on warhorn for games outside of PaizoCon. Another group had arranged a managed session during paizocon with signups on a different warhorn page.

[Sara Marie]

Evergreen 4 is dedicated as the open gaming room. There will be some scheduled organized play games in the Grand Ballroom during the afternoon. If there are open tables that are not in use, you can join them in there.

Olympic 1, 2 & 3 are gaming rooms this year as well.
Saturday and Sunday Steve Jackson Games has Olympic 2 for Munchkin Pathfinder and Starfinder
Saturday and Sunday Legendary Games is in Olympic 3 running their Legendary Planet Special, but there may be an empty table in there.
Friday & Saturday Iron GM is running Grimmerspace tables in Olympic 1, but there should be 1-2 open tables in there. They are using all the tables on Sunday.
Additionally, there are two games that I placed in one of the Olympic rooms by themselves (Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, I think) as the notes said there would be sound effects. While you are welcome to use any open tables during these times, the games that were scheduled and are using sound effects are not obligated to turn them off if pick up games come in.

Each table & Cascade room will have sheets that show when they are reserved for scheduled games. Folks are always welcome to use gaming event spaces, Cascade 1-7, Evergreen 1-4, Olympic 1-3 anytime they are not being used, as long as you clean up and vacate the space before the time of a scheduled event.

[TriOmegaZero]

Sara, do you know if the rooms are open today? Also, thank you for that comprehensive explanation!

[Haladir]

Sara Marie wrote:

Additionally, there are two games that I placed in one of the Olympic rooms by themselves (Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, I think) as the notes said there would be sound effects. While you are welcome to use any open tables during these times, the games that were scheduled and are using sound effects are not obligated to turn them off if pick up games come in.

Those are the two games I'm running. Both have dedicated soundtracks (Thanks, Spotify!) and I'll also be using Syrinscape for one of them.

[TriOmegaZero]

We got some good gaming in Evergreen 2 yesterday, we'll see if we can get through All For Immortality II this afternoon!

[Haladir]

Haladir wrote:

Sara Marie wrote:

Additionally, there are two games that I placed in one of the Olympic rooms by themselves (Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, I think) as the notes said there would be sound effects. While you are welcome to use any open tables during these times, the games that were scheduled and are using sound effects are not obligated to turn them off if pick up games come in.

Those are the two games I'm running. Both have dedicated soundtracks (Thanks, Spotify!) and I'll also be using Syrinscape for one of them.

Typing from the Philadelphia Airport while waiting for my connection home...

Both games went amazingly well!!!

I was blessed with fantastic players who really got nontraditional RPGs and how to take narrative control as a player.

We crafted some fantastic stories together!

I had no idea how the Spirit of '77 game was going to end up, and I could never have planned a more epic finale!

Thanks everyone!