Wandering Monsters — Convention Hall

Greetings from PaizoCon! This weekend is sure to have its fair share of interesting tales, exciting reveals, and, of course, gaming! Some of my favorite PaizoCon memories are from playing the Pathfinder Society specials. My first PaizoCon was in 2013 and that year we were in the super-secret early run of Siege of the Diamond City. I had only played three sessions of PFS prior and this event blew my mind! The entire room was packed with everyone sharing a super cool adventure and it was unlike any RPG experience I’ve had before. Here we are five years later and I figured it would only be right to try to bring a little of that experience back to the table. This week, as my tribute to PaizoCon (ten years!), I present the convention hall!

As always, many thanks to the Pyromancers dungeon painter tool for helping me create this week’s map.

Convention Hall

This enormous room is filled with large tables, each surrounded by numerous chairs. An arrangement of smaller tables one side of the room is covered with various notes on legendary heroes and tales from faraway lands.

Click on the map for a full-size version.

The convention hall is a large room that can be connected to any sizable location. Guild halls, castles, and arcane universities are all suitable homes for the hall. The hall is typically arranged for meetings of shared interests between small groups of about 4 to 6 individuals with an additional individual set to coordinate interactions at a given table. The arrangement at the end of the hall serves as a staging area for those in charge of the overall event. Anyone in the hall that has questions or is new to the process is free to ask questions of the volunteers at the staging area. All manner of treasure and goodies are found here.

Convention Hall Features

The ceiling of the large hall is 20 feet high. Each large round table has a set of simple chairs and a tablecloth. When the convention hall is full, the deafening sounds of everyone conversing imposes a –4 penalty to auditory Perception checks and requires everyone at their table to yell to get any information across.

Encounters

The following encounters can take place here.

Encounter Challenge Rating Creatures Treasure
Goblin Squad CR 7 3 goblin troopsB6 1d4 stuffed goblin dolls worth 18gp each
Officer Crew CR 10 3 outlaw troopsB6 2d4 shirts each bearing imagery of unique factions worth 20gp each
High Coordinator CR 13 Daemonic agentVC 3d6 documents describing various one-time use abilities and different races worth 100gp (though may be worth more to the right buyer)
This week’s Wandering Monsters makes use of Bestiary 6 and Villain Codex.

Goblin Squad (CR 7)

A number of goblins, having heard that the convention hall is place that honors them, breaks in to cause havoc. Cries of horror, confusion, and delight fill the hall as the goblins roam around, singing their goblin songs. If there is any goblin imagery in the hall (there is a 90% chance this is the case), the goblins are confused for the first round of combat. PCs that attack the goblins gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls against the goblins due to the inherent familiarity with the creatures.

Officer Crew (CR 10)

The various officers that serve the high coordinator are individuals from all over who received authority from the coordinator. They are in charge of overseeing gatherings such as the one in the convention hall and are currently all gathered in one of the yearly meetings. The crew keeps an eye out for troublemakers and rulebreakers. They move throughout the hall with a tenacity that bring respect from many.  Characters attacking the officers must succeed on a DC 20 Will save or become shaken by their might.

High Coordinator (CR 13)

The high coordinator hails from a far off, ridge-marked moor and oversees the entire gathering within the convention hall. Her knowledge is vast and her power far-reaching. Tales tell that she is capable of stretching time to complete all her tasks, seemingly never faltering or falling behind. She employs a number of powerful creatures to assist with her duties. These include the demon lord C’omp-Tuhn, aa powerful leshy hailing from a land of palms named Zay-Ya, and a mysterious creature simply known as the Thirst. Together, they wield unlimited power and those who dare cross the coordinator are quick to learn of her wrath. Otherwise, she’s really nice.

That’s it for this week! If you use the convention hall in your game, let me know!  If you have any request for a future Wandering Monsters, please drop me a line at KnowDirection@hotmail.com. Also, Ryan and I will be at PaizoCon so feel free to say hi!

Luis Loza

Luis Loza is a developer at Paizo, working on the Pathfinder Lost Omens line and formerly on Campaign Setting and Player Companion lines. He's done freelance for Paizo Inc, Legendary Games, Rogue Genius Games, and more third-party publishers. His hobbies include gaming both tabletop and video, making jokes, obsessing over time travel, taking naps with Nova his cat, and walks with his wife. He is eternally plagued with a hunger for tacos. Consider checking his material on his Patreon at patreon.com/luisloza