Signed up to be a DM...

dm_magic

Hey all! Last year, at PAX Prime 2013, on the last day, a gentleman in the D&D area was taking e-mails from folks who were interested in being a DM for PAX Prime 2014. Of course I put my e-mail down because that would be amazing! Does anyone have any experience with this, being a DM during PAX? And also, around when should I hope to receive an e-mail? One of the compensations was a free four-day pass, and if I'm going to be accepted into the ranks of PAX DM's with a free pass, it would be great to work that into my PAX budget sooner rather than later.

zerzhul

I think you'd have to contact whoever was taking your name. If you didn't get contact info from them reciprocally... not sure what to tell you.

dm_magic

zerzhul wrote: »

I think you'd have to contact whoever was taking your name. If you didn't get contact info from them reciprocally... not sure what to tell you.

Thanks for the reply! Maybe someone else who has done it in the past will be able to provide personal experience on the process.

Poseidon88

I've volunteered to DM since 2010. The person you gave your contact info to was probably Robert Altomare, who runs the D&D/RPGA section. He usually gets things rolling around late June or early July. Communication is via a closed Yahoo group, so you might get an invite around that time. Keep in mind that he has a limited number of passes available, and if you want one you must commit to volunteer for a certain number of hours. It used to be 12 hours, but with the move to 4 days last year, he bumped it up to 20 hours. That was more than I was willing to commit to, so I didn't go to PAX last year. This year I'll probably be buying my own badge and volunteering for less hours.

dm_magic

Awesome! That was exactly the kind of info I was hoping for! Thanks so much!

Poseidon88

So apparently you can void everything I told you. Just got this from Robert:

This is for everyone on this list.

Wizards of the Coast did not hire me this year to run D&D events at PAX Prime. Wizards will still be running a number of D&D events at PAX Prime and will need a great number of volunteers again to make it all come together. I urge everyone to hang tight and wait for details to be provided. I will pass them along on this yahoo group and in a mass mail when I have them. I expect to be involved and help out along side all the helpful GMs and volunteers.

The one detail I know for sure is who will be running the show for Wizards of the Coast. The new volunteer coordinator is Dave Christ at Baldman Games. For those that don't know, Dave is the amazing D&D organizer for GenCon for Wizards of the Coast. He's been running D&D events at Origins and GenCon and other events for many, many years and keeping hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers happy, swagged, and in-line all along the way. Much of what I do right in running PAX comes from the way Dave runs his conventions.

Information and sign-ups to volunteer for PAX Prime will likely be handled on the Baldman Games website.

http://www.baldmangames.com/

I do not know Dave's plans so I can not speak to any other details.

-Robert
Senior PAX GM 2006-2013

emarecksaykay

I probably will never DM at PAX, but I am very grateful for everyone who volunteers their time to do so. I've spent many hours over many PAXes with D&D and Pathfinder, and for the most part the DMs are excellent and I've learned techniques from many of them to add to my own DMing outside of PAX. Those volunteers really do make a large part of what makes PAX so wonderful for me and my friends. So thanks, dm_magic, Poseidon88, and everyone else volunteering at PAX in the past or future. Maybe I'll end up in one of your groups sometime.

Jeff Yaskus

this is good to know ... I played through all the D&D next games last year @ PAX (2013) ... and had signed up for this year to DM as well.

Now it seems the old yahoo group was disbanded... and the above details likely explains why.


The baldman games website makes no mention of PAX (yet) ... only Origins and Gen-Con.

dardor

I asked Baldman Games earlier about a timeline for sign-ups. The reply I got said to continue watching their site/Facebook/Twitter for updates after Origins. Origins has come and gone for a few weeks now, so I'm assuming it'll be "soon." This feels like "PAX tickets-soon," not "we actually have a time in mind-soon."

Jeff Yaskus

Nothing like waiting until the last minute to organize stuff right ?! well, I have a ticket for Friday now ... so much for volunteering

PhoenixInferno

The Baldman was busy working Origins and now GenCon. PAX is not a priority for him - and rightly so, since this is the year D&D Next/5th Edition is being released and GenCon has to be #1.

I can say that the volunteer team is being assembled and we intend to bring the best D&D experience that we can.

Jeff Yaskus

PhoenixInferno@ Thanks for the update, but what we've seen so far doesn't inspire much confidence for this years PAX (DnD) experience. Is the BG site going to open up for volunteers or is Baldman bringing all his own DMs for the event ? Last year, many of the volunteers were from out of town (one was from Canada), so needed advance notice to plan for travel, etc ... and of course to read up on the adventures for the event. Will it be the same modules they used last year as well ? Mines of Madness,etc ...

PhoenixInferno

Dave cannot bring his entire apparatus to PAX - he is relying on judges that have worked for Robert Altomare in the past. I, myself, have had the luxury and pleasure of working with both.

Jeff Yaskus

Good news -- looks like they had it all covered, already -- so won't be needing any (new) volunteers. Will have to swing by and check it out -- even if just to sign up for next years volunteer list.

"We sent out calls for volunteers in waves this year through direct invites. Starting with our prime judge list and then branching out to those that helped judge last year. Those two groups were more then enough to cover all of our needs this year and we will not be having an open call for judge this year. Hopefully next year we expand our offerings again and will need more help.

Dave C
Baldman Games"