JP On Gaming

Monday, February 21, 2011

Thanks for Genghis

Thanks all of you for making Genghis the biggest PFS event EVER! Thanks go to the judges who helped me pull this off, and did a spectacular job of it (see later). Thanks to the players who showed up and participate in the many events we offered. Thanks to our Fiesta sponsors, Enchanted Grounds (note to self: ask to be sponsored with a bottomless cup… hummm bottomless cup *drools*)! Thanks to Linda Weygant, our brave RPG coordinator who allowed me to pretty much do as I pleased during the con! Finally, thanks to my beloved wife Julie for giving me a kitchen pass (I’m well-whipped).

As of Sunday morning, I had more tables than we ran at Tacticon last year and in a few instances, I believe we tied the number of tables LFR ran in a few instances (YEAH!) and received extremely positive feedback about the PFS judges (there were a few issues, but still overall, minor things). I do believe that an adventure contains three parts: first, there is the adventure itself; second, the GM; and finally the players. If you can get 2/3 you usually have something fun. But based on the feedback, we accomplished to get all 3 elements together. A rare and beautiful thing! (Yes I strongly disagree with some’s assessment that a good GM is 75% of a good table.)

Speaking about my own tables, I believe everyone up’d their game for the Venture Captain Special. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the sessions as each unfolded very differently, hallmark of the type of adventure I love to play and run… Although as some pointed out, the reward for judging is… more judging, I really had a great time.

We also ran 6 tables of Year of the Shadow Lodge! One of the biggest showing… a considerable achievement, especially considering this was a second run of the event here in the Mile High City! I thought Pfa! We have 4 judges… that should be enough… What a poor fool… what a fool!

I will be reporting the tables over the course of the week (and post the final number of tables and number of faction points here). Last night after eating, I crashed and slept after spending time with my lovely wife.

A special kudos to my fellow Iron men: Scott Crosson and Jeff Kokx who ran EVERY SLOT, and did so with great enthusiasm, great flair and who have run great games! Thanks guys! Your energy was so high throughout the con that it really forced me to up my game.

When I tell you PFS judges did an amazing job, I have numbers to prove it. This morning (Monday), I got the average scores for PFS judges at Genghis from Linda. More than 66% of our judges scored ABOVE a 9 on average! I have never seen this before, which really made my pride swell. So you know, I consider a score of 8 to be good (room for improvement, but good). I’m very happy to come in #5 with a 9.86! This has to be my own highest rating ever! But a very special kudos to everyone on this list, that’s quite an achievement!

DM NameAverage# of Tables
Phil McMahon102
Ken Rehor9.943
Jeff Kokx9.929
Derek Johnson9.882
JP Chapleau9.869
Scott Crosson9.679
Ryan Frederick9.444
Todd Lower9.445
Kerney Williams9.46
Kenton Larson9.23
Josh Burke9.172
Russ Brown9.034

Throughout the weekend, PFS players were very considerate and understanding. Those who sat at my tables had to wait a little to start while I made sure everyone was ready to go: every GM had his handouts, chronicles, rating sheet, registration form, PFS numbers or pre-gens. I half-expected to have a few people in my face demanding things. But no! Pat yourselves on the back for that one. You impressed me and REALLY made my job easier! (And I’m not easily positively impressed) Well done.

On to Tacticon…

Now some idiot went ahead and offered his name to help run PFS at Tacticon on Labor Day Weekend! Yeah, yeah I know. It was me… Dumbass couldn’t even wait a few days to make yourself desired… You had to go ahead and say you’d do it.

Genghis Con had a number of good things, and experience is valuable. Here are a few lessons I take from Genghis going forward.

First, running Pathfinder Society is too big an event to do by myself, especially if I am to run the PFS events and GM. It’s not too much. I need help for the logistics of the event – or not GM myself. While I can hop in and help with the occasional "overflow" doing the Iron Man and coordinating… Not anymore. This will allow me to focus on one task and really do it well giving you a better service and giving me a chance to unwind… a little.

Start locking your calendars for Tacticon and practice your GMing skills… I feel that 9 GMs per slots there might be an absolute minimum! Yes. I WILL NEED *YOU*.

Things not to say around JP

For some funnies, here are a few things that people ask me during the con that I had to fight very hard not to say the many things that immediately sprung to mind. I promised a few people that I would avoid cracks and tell the universe about LFR/4e. I somehow managed to it in spite of the following.

  • Can you point me to a good LFR game?
  • PFS? Wow that’s a new LFR region! I never played any of those! Are they new?
  • I just laughed when I saw someone holding a sign that read LFR-Generics.
  • Pathfinder, that’s just like a cheaper version of 4e right?
  • 4e is a better game because it requires a lot less brainpower to play.
  • I can’t start playing Pathfinder because I won’t have time to play LFR anymore.

I fought hard. I REALLY fought hard. Made nearly every Will save I had to make. Many because I told people DO NOT FEED ME THOSE LINES!.

RMPathfinder Dice

During the con, I announced which faction had the most points. Taldor led through Sunday morning… So I got to thinking… Why not create a Denver PFS dice (either a D20 or D6 dunno yet) with colors based on the faction that is more numerous… These would have a very limited run…

RMPathfinder Banners

Someone at the con asked about a Pathfinder banner. I told him I had not thought about that but that it would be a very good idea… To be able to have a large banner only for PFS – or Rocky Mountain Pathfinders would really be a good idea and give us great visibility. I am looking for someone with some Photoshop skills to assist me with creating a good design.

I am looking for a good price and something we can display… I will let you know!

JP

2 comments:

  1. PFS Dice: If you find a D20 vendor, pls let me know, I'm looking for possible swag for another City Wide Event. I found Chessex has D6 for 50 cents a piece when you order 200.
    http://www.chessex.com/Dice/Custom_Dice_Home.htm

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  2. JP, you did an awesome job, not just with coordinating and judging, but also with those Will saves. Thanks for ~ahem~ volunteering for Tacticon. Even though my method of asking was something like "so how many tables will you need at Tacticon?" Or something equally presumptive. I forget what.

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