Hello Pathfinders and Starfinders! 2025 is going to be an incredibly exciting year for Paizo. This year we’re releasing major Pathfinder rulebooks, including Lost Omens: Shining Kingdoms, as well as launching Starfinder’s new edition!
We’d like to invite you to be part of the excitement by volunteering as an Organized Play GM! Our volunteer GMs are the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the most helpful skittermanders in the galaxy. Last year, our volunteers ran over 1000 games online and in person, and we’re looking to exceed that in 2025!
If you love our games so much that you want to introduce new players to them, and you’re ready to GM on the biggest stages we can offer, then we want you to join the team! Even if you’ve never run Pathfinder or Starfinder Society before, our support team will make sure you have everything you need to run your best games ever.
All GMs who run games at Premier or Premier Plus events will receive a $15 paizo.com voucher per block, which can also be spent in the Paizo booth at Gen Con in Indianapolis. Those who volunteer for more blocks may receive badges to the show, PDF or print products, or hotel rooms based on their commitment.
At this time, we’re accepting GMs for Gen Con Indianapolis. We’ve also included information from our friends at Origins; while Paizo won’t have an official presence there, we’re recognizing them as a Premier event, which means additional rewards for GMs and players. Who knows, maybe you’ll even see some Paizo staff at the event!
Gen Con Indy 2025
Gen Con Indianapolis will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana from July 31-August 3, 2025. New content at this show includes the launch of Pathfinder Society Year 7, the new Pathfinder Society Special and, of course, the global launch of Starfinder Second Edition!
We are currently seeking volunteers for the following roles:
- Game Master: Run tables of Organized Play Scenarios and Quests.
- Headquarters (HQ): Answer player and GM questions, seat players, handle conflicts and disputes, and report games after completion.
- Demo GM: Run quick demos for new players, giving them a short Pathfinder/Starfinder experience before quickly turning the table over for the next group. Our Demo GMs may receive an Exhibitor badge in compensation for the fast and furious nature of the position, subject to availability.
- Board Game Demo GM: Run demo tables for Goblin Firework Fight and Elemental Stones. Applicants should have strong board game knowledge (both our games and general board games) and preferably have related demo experience.
- Academy GM: Run games for young children (under 18) and their families and provide a safe, welcoming environment for our youngest gamers. This position requires proof of a completed background check (employment in education, public service, or similar may be accepted as verification that you have completed a background check).
Please read this important information before applying:
- Volunteer applications will be reviewed and accepted or rejected by the Gen Con Organizing Committee. Filling this form out does not guarantee acceptance; you will receive an email with further information from the Gen Con committee.
- Gen Con Indy schedules will be assigned by the committee. You will be asked for your preference of system and level, but you will not necessarily be able to choose the specific scenario(s) you run. The committee’s intention is to assign people to run the same scenario multiple times during the weekend, to minimize the amount of preparation required. There is a free-form field at the end of the form to enter specific requests, though there’s no guarantee they will be honored.
- Reward information is listed in the table below. GMs who don’t qualify for a badge will still need to purchase one.
- Volunteers will be accepted on a rolling basis, and schedules should be assigned within two weeks of your application. Once your schedule is assigned and you confirm, you are considered to be committed to attending the event.
- Adventure authors interested in running tables of scenarios they have written should fill out the volunteer form and then follow up by emailing genconleads@gmail.com. Please note we have a limited number of tables, and the schedule is fairly locked-in at this stage, but we’ll do our best to get you slotted into your scenario if it’s on the schedule.
- Any questions about the GM signup process should be sent to the committee at genconleads@gmail.com.
A Note on Starfinder Second Edition
We’re very excited to begin rolling out information about Starfinder Society for Second Edition! We have blogs planned in future weeks to discuss some of the particulars of the program, but in order to effectively recruit GMs for Gen Con, we’d like to share the following information with all of you now.
- Starfinder Society scenarios for Second Edition will be 2-3 hours long, and will cover a two-level range. All scenarios releasing at Gen Con will be for 1st-2nd level characters.
- We will also release a special scenario, #1-00, at Gen Con. This will be a four-hour adventure for pregenerated third-level characters only. This adventure is a prequel to the first year’s metaplot, and will be run on Thursday night only.
- Our intention is to release two scenarios per month, for a total of 26 scenarios released in Year 1 of Starfinder Society.
GMs should be aware that we will be scheduling SFS2 scenarios in back-to-back three hour blocks at Gen Con. The expectation is that GMs will finish their tables in 2-2.5 hours; any time before the next game starts is your break time. If you are not confident in your time management skills, we invite you to join us for PFS2 scenarios or the SFS2 special on Thursday night!
Gen Con Rewards Table
Blocks
Housing
Product
Player Badge
Volunteer Attire
In-Game Reward
Voucher
7+ blocks
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
6 blocks
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
5 blocks
✓
✓
✓
✓
4 blocks
✓
✓
✓
✓
3 blocks
✓
✓
✓
✓
2 blocks
✓
✓
✓
1 block
✓
✓
✓
Reward Details:
- Housing: GMs will be housed at 2-4 volunteers per room. More information is available on the application form.
- Product: A physical copy of a Paizo product, chosen from a list of recent releases prior to the convention.
- Player Badge: A badge for the duration of the event. GMs must have a Player badge before registering to play games. Demo GMs may receive an Exhibitor badge if our allotment allows.
- Volunteer Attire: One shirt per day of volunteering.
- In-game reward: A reward for characters based on the current organized play program GM reward programs. Pathfinder Society (first edition)/Pathfinder Adventure Card Society are paper boons, Pathfinder Society (second edition)/Starfinder Society are Achievement Point rewards at the Premier Plus (2.0x) level.
- Voucher: Earn one voucher for $15 spendable on paizo.com or at the Paizo booth for every block run.
Important Dates
Note that these dates are from Gen Con directly; other dates specifically relevant to us may be added.
- February 9: Indy badge registration begins
- TBA: Indy housing portal opens
- TBA (May): Indy event catalog goes live
- May 18: Indy event registration begins
- July 31-August 3: Gen Con Indy!
Origins 2025
Ohio Org Play would love for you to join us at Origins Game Fair from June 18-22, 2025 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
For those who have not been to Origins in the past, the convention runs from mid-day Wednesday to mid-day Sunday, for a total of 12 slots of events. We set our scenario-length slots up as 5 hours of gaming with 1 hour meal breaks to give our GMs plenty of time between sessions to eat and re-energize. More about Origins can be found here: https://www.originsgamefair.com/
We are currently seeking volunteers for the following roles:
- Game Master: Run tables of Organized Play Scenarios, Bounties, and Quests.
- Headquarters (HQ): Answer player and GM questions, seat players, handle conflicts and disputes, and report games after completion.
Volunteer applications will be reviewed by the organizing committee. Filling the volunteer form out does not guarantee acceptance. As this is a large con with many moving parts, GM schedules will be assigned by the committee and sent out in order of volunteering. Volunteer early to lock in your preferences! Once your schedule is assigned and you confirm, you are considered to be committed to attending the event.
We value each of our volunteers who help to make this event happen. As a reward, we have Ohio Org Play shirts, bags, badges, accommodation for you or your vehicle, and bonus Achievement Points to send your way. But, wait, there’s more! Paizo has generously stepped in to provide voucher rewards to our GM volunteers this year, and free product for those who volunteer for more slots. Here’s a grid to keep track of everything:
Origins Rewards Table
Blocks
Ohio Org Play Tote Bag
¼ Hotel or Parking Pass
PDF Product
Origins Badge *
Ohio Org Play T-Shirt
Paizo Vouchers
In-Game Reward
10
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
9
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
8
X
X
X
X
X
X
7
X
X
X
X
X
X
6
X
X
X
X
X
5
X
X
X
X
4
X
X
X
X
3
X
X
X
2
X
X
X
1
X
X
Reward Details:
*Origins Badge: A weekend badge for the event. All attendees and GMs must have a badge. Those volunteering for 4 or more slots will receive a free badge. All others must purchase a badge on their own. Most Origins events are included in the base badge price.
- Tote Bag: Volunteers for 9 or more slots will also receive a Custom Ohio Org Play canvas tote bag to haul your dice (and maybe even books) around.
- Hotel/Parking: Volunteers for 7 or more slots will have the option of shared hotel space or a weekend parking pass. Hotel space is Wednesday night to Sunday Morning. We will work with volunteers who select this option to arrange rooming assignments.
- PDF Product: a PDF of any Paizo product valued at $29.99 or less.
- T-Shirt: All volunteers for 2 or more slots will receive 1 Ohio Org Play 2025 t-shirt to wear on Saturday.
- Paizo Vouchers: $15 Paizo voucher for each GM slot completed.
- In-Game Reward: A reward for characters based on the current organized play program GM reward programs. Pathfinder Society (first edition)/Pathfinder Adventure Card Society is paper boons, Pathfinder Society (second edition)/Starfinder Society is Achievement Point rewards with a 1.75 multiplier.
Important Dates
- Volunteer ASAP to lock in your scenario/slot preferences!
- February 15: Volunteer deadline
- March 15: Event registration opens
- June 18-22: Origins Game Fair!
Please contact OhioOrgPlay@gmail.com with any questions.
>>Origins 2025 Volunteer Application<<
Premier Conventions Planning Server
Anybody interested in volunteering at Gen Con should join the Premier Conventions planning server by clicking the image below. Follow the instructions in #welcome to get access to the relevant channels. All important information will be conveyed on this server as well as via email, so please join the server!
Thank you all so much for volunteering! These events can’t happen without our volunteer GMs and organizers, and we’re so lucky to have you all. We’re looking forward to another fantastic year of conventions!
Alex Speidel
Organized Play CoordinatorHeather Vigil, Rebecca Fehn and bigrin42
Gen Con Indy CommitteeJanice Piette
Venture Captain–Ohio
Read more at this site