Official PaizoCon 2014 Feedback Thread


PaizoCon General Discussion

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Lantern Lodge Customer Service Dire Care Bear Manager

Another PaizoCon has finished and while I think it went pretty good, I'm interested in what you folks all thought!

Please feel free to leave feedback, things you liked or things you think could be better. We might not be able to change everything, but we will do our best to grow and improve where we can.

If you have feedback you do not wish to give publicly, you can email me directly at paizocon@paizo.com.

Thanks
Sara Marie

Sovereign Court

I already posted this on a thread about the PFS special, but I'll post it here as well: I gotta say that the music was a horrible addition to the Special. I LOVE Syrinscape, but in a room like that with that many gamers, it just made it harder to hear each other. And I swear it got LOUDER as the night went on. My head was throbbing by the end.

Sovereign Court

Oh, and it would help if the tickets for the special (and any Con schedules) stated that mustering for it starts at 6:45. A lot of us showed up at 7, only to realize that we were already late.

Liberty's Edge

Starfinder Superscriber

There was also a mixup about when the PFS games began on Sunday morning. Some places said 8, some said 9 (tickets, online schedule, book schedule). I believe this happened last year as well.

Just like last year, I was extremely impressed with how fast you moved everybody through the registration line. Seeing the length of the line at 7:15 (or whenever it was) was quite daunting; last year, I was worried about missing my 8AM game. This year, I was not, because I remembered last year, and once again you guys did a stellar job of efficiently getting us through and getting us our swag. (The only negative thing was the placement of a potted plant near the front of the swag line....)

Banquet food was good again, just like last year. It was soooo tempting to eat a million deserts, but I restrained myself and just had a piece of cake and a cupcake....

PFS room was extremely loud again. Anything that could be done to mitigate that would be good; of course, you'll be in a new hotel, so everything will be different. If there were soft walls, or baffles from the ceiling... there probably isn't much that PaizoCon can do about this, as it depends on the hotel and what they've got in the rooms. Still, it was workable, even though I was quite hoarse even by Saturday, and my voice was still shot Monday afternoon when I got home.


I thought mustering was 100% better than last year. Still not perfect, especially when people ticketed for the event show up late, but I have no idea how to improve it.

For the 2nd straight year I felt the need to drop a scheduled game because the sign-up didn't give what I thought was key info. Last year I hadn't heard of Bonekeep, so I didn't know what it really was. This year, John Compton came on the forums right before the con basically saying you don't want to play the scenario Assault on the Worldwound without having amassed boons from earlier scenarios. I'd rather be confident that I'm picking good events based on their description. Hopefully the PFS people can give you that info when you're populating the schedule.

Otherwise, I thought everything was great! As usual, I met a lot of great people. Every table I sat at included a diverse set of people. The banquet was well done, although I wish people would quit lining up so early. The hotel improved its performance incredibly compared to last year. They kept the bathrooms and trashcans in much better shape IMO.

Looking forward to 2015!


While I didn't have any problems requiring help by Paizo staff, I overheard a few things that were quickly, efficiently and courteously handled. I think the Paizo staff went out of their way to make this the best PaizoCon ever and succeeded.

I didn't get into many games, but those I did were an absolute blast. Kudos to Rob McCreary and Ash Law in running their respective and very different games. Thumbs up to my six playtesters, you guys were great players. Thanks for allowing me to test the difficulty of the final encounter upon your poor player characters and congratulations on avoiding a TPK.

Dark Archive

This was my first con and I went solo so some of these comments may be met with, take care of it yourself.

1. There should be some kind of newbie official gathering IMO. BGG Con does this and goes out of there way to make sure first timers feel comfortable.

2. For pretty much every game I had to enter a room and hunt for my session. Some kind of table sign with the game name or even the GM's actively asking people who are obviously looking around if they could help would make it easier.

3. For one session the runner didn't show up. 6 of us waited 30 minutes before someone went to registration and learned the person set up in the wrong room. A simple mistake but you would think the person seeing all 6 people not in attendance after 30 minutes would of took some initiative on their own.

Having said that, I had a great time. People were friendly and I didn't feel uncomfortable. I just felt out of the loop in several instances.


Those are some great points Danimal!

The Meet & Eat event helps with #1, but that can only do so much and for so many (due to timing). Perhaps an "Information Booth" type thing. #2 was an issue - maybe just a sign for each game located in the room that could be placed on the table by the GM.

I had a great time myself. Nothing to be fixed that will necessarily apply to the new location, except please, please, consider taking action on the noise level in the PFS room. It seemed a little better this year, but I was in the corners every time. I promise we're smart enough to muster into smaller rooms.. really!

RPG Superstar 2009, Contributor

Danimal66 wrote:
1. There should be some kind of newbie official gathering IMO.

This might be something interesting to pursue. As Tom (Majuba) indicated, there has always been a Meet-and-Eat event at every PaizoCon the day before the official convention gets underway. It's usually held off-site...i.e., away from the hotel. But, as the convention has grown over time, the Meet-and-Eat event has grown along with it, and essentially outgrown any single venue (though the AFK Elixirs and Eatery sure gave it a try this year).

But the Meet-and-Eat has traditionally been for everyone...not just the newbies to PaizoCon. As such, it might warrant setting aside the very first track of the convention as something which the brand new attendees could add to their schedule. Then, someone knowledgeable about "all things related to PaizoCon" could give them the full rundown. Someone to go over the schedule, the hotel layout, the PFS gaming process, expectations for the various panels and the preview banquet, and so on. Newcomers could elect to attend this track or simply bypass it and navigate the con on their own. Meanwhile, those who elected to attend that first session would also have an opportunity for their own little pre-con meet-and-greet.

Food for thought,
--Neil

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

It was also really crowded in the ballroom during PFS play and the preview banquet. Getting around was a real task, and while I know it is a balancing act between seating every ticket and having space between tables, I hope the new location improves this ratio.


The music was more of a hindrance then an asset. the I loved the plot line and the players reactions. As a whole it was fun. I guess sitting under a speaker did not help.


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I had a fantastic time, as did my son. It was our second PaizoCon, and we'll definitely keep coming back.

I'd agree with Rob's comment above about the start time for the Sunday games being unclear (and costing me an hour of precious sleep!). This did happen last year also, and it would be really great if someone could stick a big post-it on their desk to remind them to cross-check the times on the tickets and the programs before going to print for next year.

Many of the comments I'd make (mostly about noise/crowding/madness in the PFS room) should be addressed by the move to a new venue, but please don't just try to cram as many PFS tables in as possible, or we'll just have the same problems to a greater degree.

Went to the banquet for the first time, sat with Rob McCreary and some folks I had played with earlier in the weekend, and had a very nice time. Rob stuck by the agreement he had made with Paizo not to divulge anything about the new Giant Slayer AP, as much as we poked and prodded him, but he still got us excited about it. The food was good, desserts were great and the service was good and friendly from the hotel staff.

Finally, I wanted to say thanks to John Compton and the team that won the trivia contest! My team didn't win, but got 14 points or so out of 25, and my son supplied about 10 of them - the winning team and John decided my kid should get the same gift certificate that the winners got, and my boy was absolutely thrilled! It was a kind, classy thing to do, and confirmed once again my view that the people who go to PaizoCon, staff and attendees, are a wonderful group of folks.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Majuba wrote:
I promise we're smart enough to muster into smaller rooms.. really!

We are. I'd love to see PFS games moved to smaller rooms.

However, I think the idea of the Special is the sensation of the entire room working together toward the same goal, and that sensation would be admittedly lost by breaking into smaller rooms.

It's a conundrum, to be sure.

I missed last year, but was certain not to make that mistake again this year. My wife and I both had a good time.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16

I had a lot of fun at Paizo Con. My only request for next year is if there's any way to get more non-PFS events, I'd love that. Even if it meant having additional slots of them run by other GMs (maybe tapping into the volunteer pool?) I'd love the chance to play more of the super cool events that are in the schedule every year, even if it's a session that's not run by the author or by someone like Jason or James.

Scarab Sages

JoelF847 wrote:
I had a lot of fun at Paizo Con. My only request for next year is if there's any way to get more non-PFS events, I'd love that.

Well, I've decided to definitely return to official schedule next year with my Call of Cthulhu and Metamorphosis Alpha games, so there'll be that :)

But, yeah, I agree it would be cool to see even more non-PFS. Not that there's anything wrong with PFS - and I realize that the con is run by the company that makes most of its money from Pathfinder. I'm in two regular Pathfinder games at home, and I love seeing other systems at cons. Since PaizoCon is the only gaming convention I go to anymore, it would be awesome if there was even more choice. Maybe with the extra day in the schedule there'll be more room for them!

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

I will also be working up a little non-PFS offering for people who enjoyed the Dungeon APs. :)

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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I must say that I'm excited that the change of venue should help to address a lot of the concerns posted here. It's safe to expect a less crowded PFS room (and thus a quieter room as well) AND room for more non-PFS games with the change in venue.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

I was not present in 2013, but I was an attendee in 2012. I'd like to compliment the Banquet organizers for very balanced length of the banquet. We had plenty of time to talk and eat. The speeches, thank you's, announcements, and everything were just the right length. It didn't feel short but it didn't drag on too long either. I say this not just from my own point of view, but also my wife's—who is not as invested as I am. She was interested and entertained which indicates to me the balance was perfect.

I am hoping the new hotel has better food options (primarily price, I didn't have any bad meals at the hotel). This was not a problem for me this year because I drove and went off-site for some meals.. But I feel bad for the attendees who fly in and sometimes don't have a choice. I am optimistic though! This can only get better.

Liberty's Edge

Erik Mona wrote:

I must say that I'm excited that the change of venue should help to address a lot of the concerns posted here. It's safe to expect a less crowded PFS room (and thus a quieter room as well) AND room for more non-PFS games with the change in venue.

I'm hoping I can get a conference room like the Olympia Room at the Marriot for the games I'll be running. It was fantastic, particularly since it also had a whiteboard for sketching a highly visible map onto.

Liberty's Edge

Erik Mona wrote:

I must say that I'm excited that the change of venue should help to address a lot of the concerns posted here. It's safe to expect a less crowded PFS room (and thus a quieter room as well) AND room for more non-PFS games with the change in venue.

That is awesome to hear! Combined with the move to 4 days instead of 3 and PaizoCon 2015 sounds fantastic!!!

Dark Archive

My wife and I were first time attendees and we had a blast. Everyone was really friendly and helpful. A special thanks to WIll from paizo. We bought the last copy of a book only to get back to our room and discover it was defective, will had us a replacement before we headed home so thanks again! We both played in the delves and thought the syrinscape stuff was cool enough to buy it when we got home. Now I will admit we didn't play Pfs so I can see how it was maybe too much in there. Dinner was great the venue good and the after trade party was particularly good for me, thanks Eric. My only complaint would be the Green ronin and Pathfinder seminar on Sunday was pretty slapdash. If seemed to both of us like they didn't expect anyone to show up and didn't prepare. For a lottery event it was kind of disappointing. Wolfgangs seminars were top notch please be sure to include him again next year, who knows we may find a way to travel again in 2015. All in all we could not have asked for a better time so thank you to all involved.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Jim Groves wrote:

I was not present in 2013, but I was an attendee in 2012. I'd like to compliment the Banquet organizers for very balanced length of the banquet. We had plenty of time to talk and eat. The speeches, thank you's, announcements, and everything were just the right length. It didn't feel short but it didn't drag on too long either. I say this not just from my own point of view, but also my wife's—who is not as invested as I am. She was interested and entertained which indicates to me the balance was perfect.

I am hoping the new hotel has better food options (primarily price, I didn't have any bad meals at the hotel). This was not a problem for me this year because I drove and went off-site for some meals.. But I feel bad for the attendees who fly in and sometimes don't have a choice. I am optimistic though! This can only get better.

Fromm what I remember from last year/google mapping the new location the doubletree is closer to other food options. I suspect the Double Tree's resteraunts will be just as expensive (certainly the breakfast, which is the only menu giving prices), but being close toothed places (I can see a Denny's, Taco Bell & a few other resteraunts by there, and can also remember a Subway in that direction)


First- I had a great time; it fun to see folks again this year.

That said... I agree that the music during the special just added to the noise level in the room. Also, the room was overly crowded- why 10 chairs at each table instead of 8 (max 7 PCs plus GM)?

For the Saturday afternoon session- it was first announced right at the beginning of the session that it would need to end early, at 4:30 to allow for banquet set-up. Then about a half-hour later it was announced that we would need to clear the room by 4. This same thing happened last year (although even later in the game session) and I added a note about it in the 2013 feedback thread as soon as this year's slot times were announced. The issue of how long the hotel (a new one, I know, but the same idea applies) needs to set up for the banquet ought to be hammered out with the hotel staff early- before the schedule is set and announced.

Finally, it's not 2014 feedback, but I prefer the con be in the summer rather than the Memorial Day weekend.

Thanks, again!


First of all, as I have said in other threads.. I had a blast! My first con outside of the town I am living in when some occur (hardly counts) and I hope I can make it next year.

1. As I told him at the table.. Owens game of Emerald Spire should be expanded to multiple tables, and several repeat GMs. It was a fantastic run to play in Lisa's Goblin infested first level.. and be run through it by a newly minted Paizo Dev! (And great GM).. it was highly effective as a marketing tactic as well. I bought the hardback as well as the maps and it was not on my "to buy list" by a long shot.

2. I would love to see more 3pp games/content. I understand that PFS is a big deal.. and that's awesome. As a graduate with a business degree, I totally understand how you want to support that.. but perhaps we could see some modules being run over the course of the weekend, or even just basic one shot runs in fun scenarios. Basically.. more things for the players that don't crowd into the PFS room would be great.. I was at the table of Rappan Athuk with Skeeter.. and that was a blast! But I wish there could have been more options like that.

3. I had hoped to pick up the misc bases pack for my wrath minis.. but alas its one of the things that was not packed along with everything else. Not a major thing, but a point. Along with that.. I loved seeing so much variety in the store room, but with the new hotel will there be space for vendors as well?

4. I know that GMs are asked how big of a block they would want to run.. but if its at all possible, it would be fantastic to see the day blocked out similar to how PFS does it.. say in 2 hour blocks. Thus, a GM could ask for one, two, or three blocks.. and signing up for that event wouldn't blow an attendees entire day if there where blocks at both ends of the event.

5. Some sort of counter balance for events that have not been given a very good time window. A friend and I went to the Create Your Own Character Adventure with Necromancers of the NW. A great experience, and interesting. But we done far, far short of the estimated time.. as was about 90% of the group.. despite learning a new system and getting to play with it.

6. Last but not least.. whats the plan for the extra day?

Sovereign Court

with as late as the special runs, Saturdays games could really use a lil later start time, by like an hour maybe. i enjoy running for the con but i was exhausted friday night and got very lil sleep which i can actually handle but my girlfriend could not. maybe switch the banquet and special around in the future. also the last minute change in gaming schedule to meet the needs off the banquet was aggravating. i was running merchant wake and as with all roleplay scenarios i play curtailing the roleplay to just dice rolls makes it very boring

Dark Archive

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This is my second time attending PaizoCon and I had a wonderful time at this years convention. Listed below are some of the Pros and Cons of PaizoCon as well as some suggestions for PaizoCons in the future.

Pros:

  • Excellent Registration process as it was very swift, organized, and complete
  • The Banquet Line involved very little waiting (even being placed towards the end of the line), and the food was good
  • The lottery games I played in were awesome and full of wonderful memories (The Red Bishop, Ryan Macklins Beginner Box game)
  • The PFS Hall was not quite as loud as last year given that the boon table was not placed outside in the hall on the opposite side of the seminar rooms

Cons:

  • Swag Bag- Going from the canvas bag last year to the Vendor Hall bag this year was unexpected and a little disappointing. Also as a side note it was a small letdown not seeing the Paizo lanyard included as well.
  • PaizoCon Product- No matter how small, seeing the new GM Screen last year was a small treat to going to the con. Not having a special product for the con was a sad to see.
  • Banquet Reveals-I was expecting to see more product reveals at the Banquet, especially with regards to the Campaign Setting Line and Companion line. I felt that there were very few reveals at the banquet that were not already on the message boards already.

Suggestions:

  • Special Signing Seminar- I know for me I do not want to bother any professionals who are eating or at the bar for the sake of a signature as everyone deserves to have some personal time to themselves. My suggestion to this may be to have a special seminar specifically designed for signatures. You could limit it to a time frame of 2 hours and/or up to 3 items per person for this specific seminar. This seminar may also be useful for attendees who are helping run PFS events as well as the upcoming PACG Society.
  • Stronger PACG Presence- I would like to see a stronger PACG presence for next year especially given the launch of Society play come this August. My wife is VERY interested in playing the game and plans to attend the con specifically for the PACG game next year and seeing a stronger presence of the game would be wonderful.
  • Auction for Charity- Having specific product packages and PFS rewards up for auction with the money going to a charity of Paizo's choosing would be interesting to see given the expanded hotel size and attendance scheduled for next year.

I hope this feedback helps and I wish to thank you all for the amount of time, effort, and personal sacrifice that you all endure to make this con such an amazing time.


Thanks for the early registration for the Friday morning presenters. I hope it worked at Paizo's end as well and that it can be expanded. This was the first year I checked in before starting my event :) If it did work it would be a great place for a [poster presentation? info booth?] for newcomers as suggested above.

Thanks again

Sovereign Court

I'm glad someone mentioned it 'cuz I'd forgotten: in the PFS room, it felt awfully crowded only because there were soooo many chairs. Each table had 9 or 10 usually, when we really only need 6 or 7 for PFS. Oftimes, we ended up stacking them in the corner to make room, but it would be really nice if the hotel set the room up this way to begin with. A few extra chairs along the walls, if needed, but otherwise 7 at each table is enough.

Oh, and I was disappointed about one thing from the banquet: I heard that the previous 2 years, those who bought tickets for it got early access to the Paizo Game Space. No mention of that at all this year, though. That made me a sad panda.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
James Krolak wrote:

I'm glad someone mentioned it 'cuz I'd forgotten: in the PFS room, it felt awfully crowded only because there were soooo many chairs. Each table had 9 or 10 usually, when we really only need 6 or 7 for PFS. Oftimes, we ended up stacking them in the corner to make room, but it would be really nice if the hotel set the room up this way to begin with. A few extra chairs along the walls, if needed, but otherwise 7 at each table is enough.

Oh, and I was disappointed about one thing from the banquet: I heard that the previous 2 years, those who bought tickets for it got early access to the Paizo Game Space. No mention of that at all this year, though. That made me a sad panda.

If I remember correctly from lasst year, the extra chairs were in place to cover the Banquet, which needed sufficent chairs to be in place to maximise the peopel in there.

As for Gamespace, I believe that the fact that it was covered at last banquet (the year before was a case of "we've got this developing, we'll need you to test " and it taking a year to get to that testing bit) was due to the amount of beta testers that they though reasonable.

However, check your PMs!


Just want to echo the point about the change from the canvas bag to the Giant Purple Bag of Crinkling and Crackling. The swag bag went from being something I carried throughout the Con and then happily brought home and gave as a gift to a friend who couldn't attend PaizoCon to being something too awkward to usefully use during the weekend then that got left in my hotel room when I left.

Liberty's Edge

Starfinder Superscriber

I would be shocked if the bag change wasn't a financial decision....

But, yes, the canvas bag from last year was awesome, and the bag from this year was a grocery bag. It served the purpose of allowing you to get away from registration with all your swag, but that's about it. That may have been all the more purpose that it was intended to serve.

The swag at PaizoCon is awesome. It was more awesome last year than this year. Last year, in addition to the Wayfinder, minis, button, and such we got this year, we got a novel ("Master of Devils" was the one I got, and I enjoyed it when also I read it), as well as the excellent canvas bag. Those were perques of PaizoCon 2013 that alas we didn't have at PaizoCon 2014.

(I brought my PaizoCon 2013 bag back to PaizoCon 2014; it's what I use nowadays to carry around boxes of pawns, as well as flip maps, map packs, dice, pens, etc., to all of my games.)


rknop wrote:
I would be shocked if the bag change wasn't a financial decision....

I'm sure you're right, but it seems that with PaizoCon getting bigger and presumably more successful and lucrative each year, they don't necessarily need to make such cuts to still have it work out. I know Paizo is a business, and exists to make money as well as provide their customers with lots of fun, but I wanted to note that I felt this decision was a bad one. If nothing else, last year's bag got re-used by lots of people, and seen by lots of people outside of PaizoCon, and may have sparked a couple of "What's Pathfinder? It looks cool!" kind of conversations. This year's bag sure didn't do that.

Having said all that, I agree, the PaizoCon swag is great, as is PaizoCon as a whole - it's a highlight of my year every time.


On a related sidenote, if there is a return to the cloth bags, then a tag with washing instructions should probably be included. Washed my swag bag in a load of laundry and it shrunk. What was a tote is now pretty much a handbag. The iconics look like they were the subjects of a mass reduce person spell.


Khelreddin wrote:
rknop wrote:
I would be shocked if the bag change wasn't a financial decision....
I'm sure you're right, but it seems that with PaizoCon getting bigger and presumably more successful and lucrative each year, they don't necessarily need to make such cuts to still have it work out.

I have no direct insight into the financials, but if Paizo makes a direct profit from PaizoCon, I imagine it would have to be from the Store. Between the convention costs, materials costs (badges/PFS, etc.), and swag, I'm rather certain that at least past years were run more as promotional than profitable.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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Bag change wasn't really financial. We'll consider doing something cooler next year.

Paizo Employee CEO

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Majuba wrote:
I imagine it would have to be from the Store. Between the convention costs, materials costs (badges/PFS, etc.), and swag, I'm rather certain that at least past years were run more as promotional than profitable.

Smart man! Must be all those goblin brains! :)

-Lisa

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

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First, the convention was great. It was my first ever out-of-state convention, and I enjoyed seeing many of the people I interact with here on the boards. I didn't get to talk as much as I would have liked (I felt like I was bothering people if I did, so didn't start a lot of conversations that I wanted to start), but I still liked having faces to put with names and avatars.

Not wanting to "bother" people is likely what leads me to the following: New attendees need either a list of instructions/expectations or an orientation.

I am used to how game slots are run in my home town (duh), and had been warned by a past attendee that game slots were slightly different at Paizocon. I was told that the time slot listed included mustering, play, and post-game paperwork, and that you would need to hustle to get to your next slot in order to be there for mustering if your GM went the full five hours. So, I planned carefully around that expectation, and things went reasonably smoothly on Friday (I avoided ever putting PFS games back-to-back with each other, essentially).

Then, on Saturday, I showed up for my morning PFS game about 5 minutes early (thinking I was being very good - and sneaky - by asking Mike where it was going to be the night before) only to find my table already full with six players and a GM. I tried to figure it out for a couple minutes on my own, then went to ask the musterers where I was supposed to be. They confirmed it was the table I was looking at and said they had seated it 10 minutes prior to that (so 15 prior to the start of the slot). I was dismayed, of course, particularly seeing as that was the only table for that game. They offered to punt someone who wasn't ticketed for that game, but I told them that was needlessly cruel and wouldn't win me any friends, so found a different game. Flustered by the experience, I didn't really have much fun and wasn't very good during my game.

I think how mustering works, and how the slot times work, needs to be stated pretty clearly somewhere. Also, a quick run-down of various options should be posted/printed somewhere (things like the Delve should be called out, and how registration will work, or the banquet tables being a free-for-all). Obviously, I now know, so next year will run much more smoothly for me. But there will be others who are new and unused to simply asking people, and they will appreciate this information.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

If there is one thing on my schedule for next year, it's making sure to track down Drogon at some point. I've harassed him enough on the forums that he at least deserves an opportunity to punch me in the face. (I wonder if SKR would like another opportunity now that he's no longer an employee...) :)

Shadow Lodge

Hmmm...when will they be mustering for that?

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

TriOmegaZero wrote:
If there is one thing on my schedule for next year, it's making sure to track down Drogon at some point. I've harassed him enough on the forums that he at least deserves an opportunity to punch me in the face. (I wonder if SKR would like another opportunity now that he's no longer an employee...) :)

I did that for Walter Shephard this year. He graciously declined, leaving my face intact. I'd have to pay that forward. (-;


Lisa Stevens wrote:
Smart man! Must be all those goblin brains! :)

But of course! Goblin Brains are a highly nutritious brainfood! With over 12 vitamins and minerals, high in both magnesium and potassium, they are ranked at a full six blueberries on the GIB Scale(*). Also contains large quantities of anti-oxidants!

Drogon wrote:
Obviously, I now know, so next year will run much more smoothly for me.

That's the absolute best thing to hear from a first-timer :) See you in May!

(*): Golarion Index of Brainfoods

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
Drogon wrote:
I did that for Walter Shephard this year. He graciously declined, leaving my face intact. I'd have to pay that forward. (-;

Excellent. Walter, the check is in the mail. :D

Liberty's Edge

Starfinder Superscriber
Drogon wrote:
Then, on Saturday, I showed up for my morning PFS game about 5 minutes early (thinking I was being very good - and sneaky - by asking Mike where it was going to be the night before) only to find my table already full with six players and a GM.

This same sort of thing happened to me at PaizoCon 2013. There was confusion in the various places the schedule was posted about when the PFS games began on Sunday morning; some places said 8AM, some said 9AM. The result was people showing up at different times, and ticketed slots being given away before the time on the ticket.

After Friday, when we all got yelled at for asking questions too soon and were told to be patient, I made a point of not showing up too early to games on subsequent days... only to discover that I was too late.

For new and returning people alike, clarity on when you need to be in place for a muster is essential. Stick to the announced times, and don't give away ticketed slots early. Be very clear to people when they will lose their spot if they're not there, and then stick to what you've said. The current uncertainty and variability of it all makes it quite frustrating for those who register ahead of time for events but don't manage to keep their finger on the day-to-day changes of how things are done.

Lantern Lodge Customer Service Dire Care Bear Manager

And thus the usefulness of the feedback thread! I will make sure to coordinate with Mike Brock next year to make sure expectations on when to show up for PFS games are consistent and included in the on-site program book.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

Just a question here: is next year's hotel the Doubletree on International Drive, or the one near Southcenter? (The Doubletree site itself refers to both as "DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport", hence my question.)

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

thunderspirit wrote:
Just a question here: is next year's hotel the Doubletree on International Drive, or the one near Southcenter? (The Doubletree site itself refers to both as "DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport", hence my question.)

It's the one on International.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

Thanks, Jason! That's what I figured, but I thought it best to be certain. :-)


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Sara Marie wrote:

And thus the usefulness of the feedback thread! I will make sure to coordinate with Mike Brock next year to make sure expectations on when to show up for PFS games are consistent and included in the on-site program book.

Another PFS mustering suggestion- when there is more than one table offering the same scenario, either the tables should be adjacent or the players mustered away from the tables to allow the PCs to be grouped in the proper tiers.

Sovereign Court Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

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Sara Marie wrote:

And thus the usefulness of the feedback thread! I will make sure to coordinate with Mike Brock next year to make sure expectations on when to show up for PFS games are consistent and included in the on-site program book.

For what it's worth, I don't think Mike was the one switching around times. He told me that the time on the ticket would be fine when I asked him what table, so I think he would have been in the same boat I was if he had been wanting to play that table.

What you need is a hard and fast rule on when mustering starts, and when it is assumed a ticketed player will not be showing up. It's all well and good to start mustering as early as possible, as that will get tables started more promptly. But seeing as my table was Table #1, I'm assuming that those guys were wanting to get started and, when a sixth man showed up and asked if he could get in (and I still hadn't showed up) the people doing the mustering said to start. When I was trying to figure things out they were still trying to seat other tables (the largest numbered tables, of course).

Ticketed people should be given until the start of the slot, at the very least.

If I may be so bold: a sign should be posted at the muster location saying when mustering will start for the next slot, and another sign stating when un-ticketed players will be seated. Communication can't be screwed up, that way.

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