What: The Pathfinder Lodge of Missouri – Columbia
When: The second Saturday of every month barring holidays. Tables generally fire up around 12:00 Noon..
Where: Valhalla’s Gate at 2525 Bernadette Drive, Columbia MO 65203 (573)442-9909
Who: Venture-Captain – Jimmy Dick E-mail: leagueofaroden@gmail.com
Venture-Lieutenant – Open Position
Venture-Agent – Andrew Taylor E-mail: game1watch@gmail.com
Missouri’s original Pathfinder Society lodge was created way back in either 2009 or 2010. The lodge’s original founders are now inactive, but the Facebook page dates back to May 18, 2010 and based on its wording, indicates that Society play was already taking place prior to that. The Warhorn page for the Valhalla’s Gate PFS Smackdown began in 2013. I know Jason Roeder was the original Venture-Captain for the lodge as well as the Regional Venture-Officer for the area. Keep in mind that Pathfinder Society was evolving and expanding rapidly in those early days. Much of the organization from that period has been completely replaced as a result.
Over time the lodge spun off the various lodges that make up Missouri’s Organized Play lodges, and eventually slowed down operations in 2016 as the existing leadership moved away or into other fields of interest (i.e., life changes!). Bill McQuegge and Jimmy Dick were running a Pathfinder homebrew campaign at the Gate, but were struggling for players. Bill made the suggestion that the pair begin to run PFS scenarios as a way to find some more players (yes, I blame all of this on Bill!), so in March of 2017 the duo began to do just that. The former leadership offered to let the duo assume leadership of the lodge which they did. A few years later, here we are!
The Pathfinder Lodge of Missouri assembles for its traditional monthly PFS Smackdown at Valhalla’s Gate in Columbia, Missouri on the second Saturday of the month. The schedule changes a bit for holidays and schedule conflicts with the Gate occasionally.
Here are some of the benefits you get to enjoy because the Pathfinder Lodge of Missouri is part of the League of Aroden:
- AWESOME PLAYER EXPERIENCE – We seek to deliver as awesome a player experience as we can at every table. This is our hobby and we enjoy it. We want you to enjoy it just as much as we do. The best way for that to happen is to make having fun our main goal.
- NO TABLE FEES – The League of Aroden never charges a table fee for any of our events. The venue may charge a fee and some do, but we ourselves do not.
- GM TRAINING PROGRAM – We have a GM Academy program which we offer annually to train our GMs to be better at what they do. Our League officers are required to GM regularly to hone their craft and have the opportunity to consult with a 5-Star/Glyph GM privately. Two of our Venture-Officers have extensive experience in GMing and have earned multiple Stars, Novas, and Glyphs. They too are available to consulting our GMs. Several of our GMs have already earned their first 2e Glyph and are working steadily toward their second one.
- VENTURE-OFFICER CADRE – Every lodge has a Venture-Officer with a higher ranking VO to report to in the chain of command in order to resolve any issues that come up. The VOs are tasked with following the rules of the Organized Play program so that your gaming experience is consistent throughout the League, and therefore throughout Organized Play itself globally.
- COMMUNICATIONS – We maintain this blog, several Facebook pages, Warhorn sign-up pages, and e-mail lists for each lodge. We try to notify players well in advance of our events and offerings. We make the rules and information available to everyone so that they can learn about the game and participate at the level they prefer.
The League of Aroden 