First, get yourself to Firefly Toys & Games in Columbia, SC. See the map, above, or click here.

Phase I: Generating Your PC

Find a table, grab a copy of these rules and the appropriate Pathfinder references, and make a character. Alternately, read these rules and then grab a pre-gen from the stacks nearby. Pre-gens are solid but not super-cheesy.

Phase II: Hero Lab and the Queue

Once you've built your PC, take it to our Fromagier, the guy at the laptop who isn't currently running the tournament. Say hello. The Fromagier will ask if you've read the rules and remind you that, by entering the Grinder, you agree to play by them. He'll input your character into Hero Lab and place you in the Queue. If you've already built your character in Hero Lab, bring the .por file so the Fromagier can import you.

 You can't take up or claim multiple spots in the Queue, although players who wish to try going in together may enter the Queue simultaneously and cross their fingers.

 If you ask nicely, the Fromagier will print your character for the price of $1. [Note: All sales are final in the Cheese Wedge.]

Phase III: Entering the Grinder

When a PC dies, listen for the death bell. The Fromagier will call out the name at the top of the Queue. If that person does not answer, he'll take that name off the list and call the next. Please speak quietly and listen for your name.

 Once your name is called, take the empty seat at the table and hand the GM $1 to pay for your life. You never knew life was so cheap, eh? [Note: All sales are final in the Cheese Wedge.] The GM will import your Hero Lab character into d20Pro. Please wait patiently.

 When you enter the Grinder, you may purchase up to three Cheese Points from the GM for $1 apiece. [Note: All sales are final in the Cheese Wedge.] These tiny morsels of cheese float around your head in the manner of ioun stones (though they may not be stolen) and may be used as an immediate mental action. You can't have more than three Cheese Points at a time, and they must be kept on the table in plain view at all times so they remain obvious to everyone. Should you die without using all of your Cheese Points, you can keep them for your next life or give them to another player.

Phase IV: In the Grinder

You'll play in the Grinder as long as you survive. The usual routine is:

1. The GM determines the next room and places your d20Pro figures on the map.

2. New players introduce and describe themselves (or their character).

3. New characters and those who solved the previous room before the first timer went off have one round of prep before entering the room.

4. The GM reads a brief description of the room and starts the timer.

5. Play begins.

Room Difficulty, Scenery, and Effects

The majority of the rooms have reasonable Challenge Ratings. If the encounter seems too hard or too easy, you probably need to think your way out of it.

Most rooms have walls, floors, items, or the like which are indestructible. When they aren't, rendering the room insoluble (e.g. by destroying the key to the door) will probably spell death for you and the other remaining PCs.

Rarely, a room's effects don't quite fit the Pathfinder RPG mechanics. These breaks in the rules are meant to enhance the room's theme (or joke), not to hose the players. The GM can invent a justification if you like, but regardless: just go with it.

Time Limits

Every room has a time limit, usually 30 minutes for combat rooms and 15 minutes for non-combat rooms. When the timer goes off, all friendly healing effects cease to function. The GM will restart the timer to about half its previous value and play will continue. Should the timer run out again, all remaining characters receive punishment in the form of hit point damage. Those who survive count the room as a failure and move on to the next.

If the entire party agrees, they may choose to fail a non-combat room before time runs out. This causes the party to take the above punishment and move on.

If a player is taking too long, any other player (or the GM) can "put the clock" on her. If she has not finished her turn when one minute has elapsed, her turn ends. Should a player not be at the table when it's her turn, the GM may put the clock on that player. (Don't worry – there are bathroom breaks.)

Dying

Your PC is considered dead when any of the following conditions are met:

• Hit points at or below the PC's negative Constitution.

• Hit points below 0, unconscious, and not stable at the end of the PC's turn.

• Petrified (or a similar status) at the end of your turn.

• The PC leaves the room while unconscious.

• The PC's body, spirit, soul, etc. leaves the current room for more than an instant before achieving the victory condition. (Teleport and dimension door are okay; plane shift is not.)

When your PC dies, all equipment you brought with you vanishes with your body.

Time Between Rooms

Characters enter magical stasis between rooms, during which five minutes pass. Spell effect durations continue while metabolic processes are frozen (so the duration of a regenerate spell would keep running, but you won't regain hit points while it does).

Phase V: Cheese Requiem

When you die, clean up your space at the table and give up your seat to the next player. You may then re-enter the Queue if you like. If you played a pre-gen and you don't plan to go right back in with that same pre-gen, please replace it in the appropriate stack.

Disqualification

I hope this doesn't come up, but breaking the rules or arguing with the staff gets you disqualified. Your character dies immediately and you must surrender your seat. You will not be refunded any money you spent (as all sales are final in the Cheese Wedge), even if you didn't survive a single round. You may refresh yourself with the rules and re-register with the Fromagier when you're ready. No hard feelings.

The Finals

However you get to the finals, you have to play the character with which you qualified. We'll try to announce finalists around 8:00 PM. If a finalist is not present, an alternate will be selected. If no alternates are present, the seat will be given to a player who is!

1. Create a new hero using File->New Portfolio

2. Put the character name in Hero Name

3. Put your name in Player Name

4. Type: Hero (PC)

5. Choose Point Buy: High Fantasy, 20 (you will spend 40 when you set attributes.  Go to overspent by 20)

6. Starting Level set to 7

7. Starting cash set to 30,000gp

8. Alliance: Ally of Party

9. Configure your Hero Settings (the checkboxes on the right)  Select only the following:

   1. Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Equipment (optional)

   2. Core Rulebook Deities

   3. Medium Advancement

   4. Max HPs at New Levels

   5. Hide Ammo

   6. Hide Validation Messages

   7. Show Feat/Ability Descriptions

10. Build your character!

11. Select a portrait for your PC under the Personal tab (this will be imported automatically into d20Pro). If you input your character at the tournament, the Fromagier should be able to help you with this.