Awesome to See one Convention Actively Supporting Another!

I'm regularly amazed at just how awesome our RPG community can be. We have some great people, some of which actively try to come off as assholes, but that's a discussion for another day. I can think of one guy who kind of is an asshole, but also a good guy....just don't be a fanboy grognard or a psuedo-intellectual rules-lawyer....

...anyway, again something for another day or for shit-talking at the bar after-hours at a con.

Speaking of cons, (and this wasn't an intentional bad attempt at a transition) I've stopped going to the big cons (Origins & GenCon) and made North Texas RPG Con my "home" convention. Already stocking up for next year's event (more than halfway there as far as whiskey aquisition) but I decided to branch out a bit and attend Long Con again. We're 129 days out from that convention and I did go once, but it was a bit of a drive. It's only five hours, but the one time I went it felt a LOT longer. Not something I'm looking forward to, but will just have to suck it up....

....unless I decide to get on the NTRPG party bus! Wait, what? Yep, NTRPG is helping support Long Con by making it easier for people to attend. How cool is that?!

From Facebook: "NTRPGCON will be sponsoring the NTX Express from Dallas to Longview for LongCon this year. We are leasing a 60 passenger bus with WiFi and BYOB party favors. Anyone flying into Dallas is welcome aboard. We will be departing from the Westin Hotel in Irving. The Westin has also agreed to let anyone who wants to park there, from our group, park for free. More details to come as we have them."

I have to assume this bus won't work out for me because of timing, or if I need/have to stay at a Marriott to maintain my status (it's important to me), but I have at least few days out of the 129 remaining to get that figured out.

Stuck at Home Working on Some Stuff (Totally My Fault!)

So this weekend was/is Long Con and you know who isn't attending? Yep, this guy. It's really frustrating because this convention is only about a 5 hour drive away...totally doable, if only I'd....I don't know....actually referenced a fricken calendar. I completely failed to realize that Veterans' Day (observed) was this Friday so I had a three day weekend!

The only way it could have been worse was if Long Con was held at a Marriott, since I could've stayed for free if I wanted (it'd cost, but no out-of-pocket cash).

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to stay at home and cook some BBQ. It's a small consolation for not having fun all weekend....but I was home to receive my Christmas gifts (bought/made) for my gaming group. I mean the packages would still be there when I got home later this afternoon, but clearly I had to be here to avoid porch pirates.....yeah, that's the reason I stayed home. Thanksgiving is next week, so it'll be the Christmas rush/season before you know it!

Well I am taking some of the unexpected free time to work on a thing or two for next year's NTRPG, allegedly clean my house (better luck next week!), and get my new "other" gaming toys (computer) prepped. After my trip to Alaska I had enough money saved up to pick up a new computer that is more portable for travelling and tableside use, but a bank canvas, er computer, needs a lot of work before it'll be ready to use.

Speaking of using a computer at the gaming table.....I'm looking for suggestions of needed software. I've been playing with Dungeon Alchemist for some map making. I'm also using a few table generator programs and another for playing sound effects/music, but I'm not sure if I want to stick with MapTools anymore. I don't need much more than pushing a map to a portable screen, but I also don't know what I don't know so......any suggestions for a tabletop computer program that makes GMing easier or the game a bit more immersive.....

.....send 'em my way.

It's All About the (Con) Prep

So it's the weekend before the 15th Annual North Texas RPG Con, and this would be my 6th year attending. This convention is literally the only vacation I schedule for myself each year.....don't get me wrong I do go on other trips/vacations, but I only keep one weekend blocked out on my calendar in advance.

Anyway,  like any good trip, NTRPG requires a little prep so I can max out my enjoyment. Usually the most important thing is to make sure I have enough money since I tend to over-indulge on my collecting (frugality only goes so far), and there is a lot of goodies to be had. Dealers, convention exclusives, the silent auction, ......the midnight auction, ......and the actual auction.... lots of goodies.

This year I was smart enough, well one of my dealers (and I am implying the drug usage analogy) was smart enough to ask me if there were any items I was looking for in particular. Of course he just so happens to have a little something something that is on my want list...and I'm likely to have to dig deep in one of the auctions if I want it.

Clearly I can't just go in throwing cash around, as much as my pushers dealers would like me to. I have to do my homework and go through my current stuff and see where my holes are. More than once I've bought something I didn't need because I already owned one (looking at you Hacklopedia of Beasts Vol II!) or because I ...I....face it, sometimes I have poor impulse control, especially when it comes to gaming stuff. No, I have to spend a hot minute going through my collection list and making sure I have an offline copy that has been updated.

My initial focus is clearly of the opportunity to pick up more stuff, but I think that's mostly because I finally picked up some specific acquisitions today...stuff I bought months ago that was awaiting pickup, and a HUGE item that needed a lot of manpower to load up. That'll probably be part of a future post, but not today.

My next focus has to be on the games/events I'm in. Have to make sure the dice, drinks, and game books are packed away. I'm looking at a couple of AD&D PHBs right now I only have because I forgot to bring one and had to visit the dealer hall to get another.....(see above). Rulebooks, pencils, dice.....especially the dice (I'm a bit of a dice snob, so I do better with my "good" dice), listed, packed, and checked....ideally.

This time around I have to pack for not only the convention, but a work trip as well. This means like three checklists, one for each trip and then a third showing what goes on both trips.....

I'm also hosting an event and while the packing list for that isn't a lot, there is a lot of other prep work for that event. I think that'll be Thursday night and more than likely it'll be streamed to The Tavern's YouTube channel. No spoilers here......

Hopefully I'll be seeing some other Tavern Patrons at the con....

Thank You GM Gifts for Summer Cons.....

This is venturing a bit into self-promotion territory, but I promise you that isn't my intention....

We're a month away from the good times that is North Texas RPG, the "Unofficial Start to the summer convention season" (that's just a thing I'm making up here and now...), which means I'm deep into convention prep. I've got a Whiskey Tasting to get ready for (mostly making up the new tasting kits as the needs for the event have changed, and I knew if I gave away the old kits I'd have to make new ones instead of trying to get by.) and while I'm not running any games this year I am signed up for five.

I've mentioned, probably too often, that I have a decent amount of convention experience, playing, running tables, and even events (multiple tables at once/entire company's convention games). With very few exceptions, running a convention game is a bit of a PITA and definitely a fair amount of work. Conventions generally (I hope current trends prove me wrong!) don't do much at all for a table GM unless they run an obscene amount of games at the convention, like 8 hours a day every day. Don't even get me started on the headaches I had with GenCon......

The point is that running a convention game generally is a thankless task and that kind of rubs me the wrong way, and I'm fortunate enough to become cognizant of this and motivated to do something about it. The last few years I've made GM Thank You Gifts for NTRPG. Last year I kind of phoned it in and just gave some cools dice sets, but that was more about supporting my friends who commissioned the dice in the first place. The year before I made some (I think) nice dice trays, which I'd like to do again, but I don't have the necessary resources to do so. To be honest I also made those dice trays to try out a couple of new building techniques.

This year time was more of an issue than I'd like due to work & especially work trips. Shop tools don't travel well, for one, and I'm not paying extra to transport lumber....it's expensive enough as-is. So this year I'm going with some simple wooden coasters. This let me experiment with a particular wood-aging technique, as well as seeing if inking the "aged" wood works, and then what types of protecting works (I went with mineral oil followed by some wax polish/conditioner.)

I'm happy with the results and I have enough for my scheduled games and even a pick-up. One thing I also like to do is provide a card, and I've made up a GM Thank You Card and a DM Thank You Card. These two cards are PWYW over at DriveThruRPG, but if you're going to use them at a convention, please pick them up for free.....

Since there is a greater than 0% one or more of my NTRPG GMs will read this I'll not provide the maths for a set of coasters and a card. It'd be cheaper to pick up some Starbuck gift cards and simply say "thanks", and while that would be great and appreciated if I was GMing, that isn't my style.

I'm hoping that if you're going to a summer con that you'll think of doing something to express your appreciation to your table GM. How you do that is (obviously) up to you.....

Roughly Thinking of Stuff to Accommodate Some Inclusivity

This last week has pretty much sucked balls for me because my cold had lasted for more than a week and a half and then phased into a bad sinus infection. Yeah, yeah boo-hoo, sucks to be me.

I'm mentioning this because part of having a bad sinus infection is that my hearing had been degraded and my tinnitus has gone from a background ringing of the ears to a "who installed this infernal/internal dial-tone in my forehead"? 

I know, I know......wtf cares? Give me a hot second here......

....so I had game last night and I did inform my GM that I was having issues. The GM was accommodating but I realized that my (I hope) temporary disability impacted my ability to participate. There were times I missed my name being called, I know I missed some of the banter and at least one attempt at humor. Not that I'm big on trying to take a front-seat role at the virtual table (not the caller or trying to be the alpha player type), but I definitely felt like I more along-for-the-ride and a somewhere between a party member and a henchman. Now this latter bit is clearly just my internalization based on my physicality/emotions (medications a factor) and not how my fellow player were treating me.

I hadn't gamed since January and I enjoyed myself as best as I could even though I was clearly just "off". Now that it's the next day I'm really thinking about my average game, as a GM, probably isn't that inclusive to those with some hearing or vision problems. Now in my home game hasn't been an issue, that I'm aware of, but convention games.......I realize now there are some things that could be done a bit better since you don't know who might be showing up to play.

First off, I think making it easy to rearrange players...GM and/or other player willingness to relocate so someone who needs to be closer to see or hear, not too big of an ask, and I've seen this happen before. What I haven't seen, and this is probably beyond the individual GM's control, is a convention who reserves some smaller rooms for play where players/GM need a quieter room with little-to-no background noise, or where they can alter lighting as needed.

Having the ability to provide large-print format PC sheets, maybe printed as needed at the con, would be useful as well. Honestly it's seeming to me that what really is needed would be gaming conventions having some possible accommodations ready at the convention level. Having it known that players/GMs could put in requests easily.....as in no big deal to ask (I'm willing to bet that not everyone needing accommodations are quick to ask for them), and then being set up to do X, Y, and or Z as needed.

Clearly I'm NOT the person to come up with ideas on what could be done since I'm limited to my, well limited, experiences, but I do think going forward I'll be prepping a little extra to make things easier for certain types of players who want to play in my games.....just in case.

Support Your Local Game Convention

Here I am, sitting at home instead of attending a "local" game convention: LongCon. Unfortunately I had to be in wonderful Fayetteville NC, home or Fort Bragg and the XVIII Airborne Corps and I wouldn't get back in time to attend.

Work does come before play after all, which sucks 'cause I could've gotten a free room and maybe even a free badge. On the plus side I was able to do a little back-door support by picking up an unsold copy of the convention module.....well it might have been reserved instead of unsold stock. Not sure, don't care 'cause I get to donate AND get a module, so...win/win?

I like it when a small convention puts out a module. Even better if they do a two-part printing. 1st is a limited run & numbered version for the collectors and/or "deep pockets" that want to toss a few extra bucks to the convention. 2nd is a larger run that is more affordable and still supports the convention. Now if I can afford it I'll get one of both, but that's largely due to the "influence" of an old gamer buddy of mine who passed away a few years ago.

Steve "Stevil"  Johansson, one of the D-Team for KenzerCo was a hoot to play with or under. He'd go off of these tangents, almost rants, that were just EPIC. One time I was on vacation and spending the day at the KenzerCo warehouse/office when Stevil launched into this slightly heated "discussion" regarding printed adventures. I really wish I had recorded this for posterity as ...it.....was...AWESOME. The gist of it was that there should be absolutely no such thing as a pristine copy of a published adventure. Adventures should be dog-eared, marked up, and generally abused by the GM....as they are used at the table. In short, an archived adventure is an unloved, and failed, adventure.

With two copies you can collect one, and play one. I don't run enough these days to really play one and when I do run some games I tend to not use printed adventures as-is, but often rather close to as-is. A few tweaks here & there go a long, long way.

I know I've always been a fan of the local game convention, and even some of the "Big Cons"....but not GenCon. Too expensive and way...way too crowded for me. I'm getting a few heebie-jeebies thinking about the crowds. The Origins Game Fair can be crowded, but not nearly at the same level for most of the event. Anyway, a big problem with these smaller game conventions is just the opposite: they are, pretty much by definition, small.

Just finding out about conventions in the first place is probably the largest hurdle. Small conventions have small budgets and commensurate small outreach. Hell, there is a small comic convention in my town this weekend, and I only found out about it this morning...... So what to do? For the real small cons....tiny even, you might find out from your FLGS, but you generally have to be very active in looking for these events. Don't expect their marketing to jump out at you.....

Now for the smaller, regional conventions, a better source might be TableTop Events, assuming they're using this popular service. You can search by location and try to be a bit generic. Search for "TX" or "Texas" instead of "Dallas", but don't expect to always find events on the 1st try. Here's a quick search for "Texas":

You'll note that Long Con is listed on there, but you know what isn't listed? North Texas RPG 2023....and I've already registered for this event....through this website!

If you're lucky, there might be a "local/regional" website. Here in Oklahoma we have OKGamers.com, but you'll probably have to look around a bit to find your state/regions alternative.

When is it Too Early to Plan for a Con (213 Days until NTRPG)?

Today a buddy of mine who is coming to NTRPG '23 reached out for advice on travelling to the convention. Unfortunately I'm working on far too little sleep so I was just like, "Dude, just check out the scheduling website and plan accordingly."

Not my finest moment, especially with a friend, but he did actually have a valid point. Sure....the schedule is...well the schedule, but there's a LOT that you don't see in the simple black & white listing of times:

Wed, May 31 2023, 6:00pm - 12:00am

Thu, Jun 1 2023, 12:00am - 8:00am

Thu, Jun 1 2023, 8:00am - 12:00pm

Thu, Jun 1 2023, 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Thu, Jun 1 2023, 6:00pm - 12:00am

Fri, Jun 2 2023, 12:00am - 8:00am

Fri, Jun 2 2023, 8:00am - 12:00pm

Fri, Jun 2 2023, 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Fri, Jun 2 2023, 6:00pm - 12:00am

Sat, Jun 3 2023, 12:00am - 8:00am

Sat, Jun 3 2023, 8:00am - 12:00pm

Sat, Jun 3 2023, 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Sat, Jun 3 2023, 6:00pm - 12:00am

Sun, Jun 4 2023, 12:00am - 8:00am

Sun, Jun 4 2023, 8:00am - 12:00pm

Sun, Jun 4 2023, 12:00pm - 5:00pm

So....if you were having to fly in to the con, when would you want to get there? Well my answer is either Tuesday night or 1st thing Wednesday morning. Sure....technically the con doesn't kick off until 6PM, and realistically not until Thursday morning...BUT and this is a huge BUT....even with Dallas being an American Airlines hub, you want....no, YOU NEED to make sure you get there at a decent hour. My advice is usually to take the 1st flight out of the day so if there are any eff-ups (last year American had about a bazillion of them at the beginning of the con....) you have all day to get there.

That's just one aspect of trying to come to the con "on time". On paper the con starts Wednesday at 6PM, but many cons have an informal/soft start time. I remember at the Origins Game Fair I was regularly able to get my badges and last-minute registrations on Wednesday evening when they had a soft-start to field test any changes before things got hairy on Thursday. Being there on Wednesday not only made sure I got my Thursday gaming in, but it saved a metric butt-load of time and frustration.

Knowing the unofficial schedule helps not only on the front-end, but the back end. A lot of cons have plenty of events scheduled on the last day, but often at least that last time block is near empty or prone to last-minute cancellations. Normally you'll be lucky to get in a quick morning session, but things are winding down fast, and folks tend to be conventioned-out.

So while the actual game schedule for NTRPG isn't out yet (why would it be?), it really isn't too late to be looking at travel options, even though we're only 213 days away....

....Long Con is only two weeks away. if you haven't bought plane tickets to that one (assuming you'd need to), prices are going up now.....they tend to have a price jump about two weeks out (among a few others).

End of the Game Year 2022 (Long Live 2023!)

Now I do not know about your neck of the woods, but where I am school started last week. GenCon was last weekend (quick aside, I really haven't seen any post GenCon drama this year...am I blind, or was it all just front-loaded this time?) which, to me, means that this year's Convention Season is officially over for 2022.

Yes, we do have gaming conventions still for this calendar year (Long Con anyone?), but I relate the gaming calendar a lot like the school year or the government's fiscal year in that they don't line up with the calendar year.....any convention happening for the rest of the calendar year occurs in next year's gaming year.

OK, so opinions and semantics aside, the end of the year should require end of the year type...."stuff". Last year I posted about post-convention letdown. Last year I was an unemployed "bum" who had been hired for the job I'd been fired from before I'd been fired and I was just waiting to start (same job, new employer and the old employer was fighting the handover......long, not-a-Tavern-story). Now that I'm gainfully employed, and into an appropriate, if not fully-set-up-space, it is time to do my personal end of year gaming review and start my plans for next, er this, gaming year.

Right now I'm only planning on attending one convention next year, North Texas RPG Con (link to the FB group). I might be able to squeeze in Long Con, but it's not something I can plan for yet until my work calendar has been finalized, which won't happen until October. I've already got my vacation request in for that con and I have my ticket purchased....so it's a done-deal in my book.

Right now my big plans for NTRPG is to remake my Whiskey Tasting Kits because I gave my old boxes away last year. I have my plans drawn out and *almost* all my components secured (I need to purchase new vials still) and I'm way ahead of schedule on purchasing the whiskey already. I have my 6 bottles already acquired, but until the kits are produced, I don't know if I can squeeze in a couple more bottles. My goal is to hopefully add another 1 or 2 vials and another kit or three to my larger tasting kit box. Last year the event was more popular than the first year's tasting and if I can make it a little bigger & better, well that's my goal.

I also have a few more projects planned, but most of those are not something I want to share 'cause I don't want to spoil the possible surprises. Some are personal pet projects and some are.... "professional"? 

Although I'm keeping most of these projects secret, I will probably share as they come along...within reason. I'm not going to post the Whiskey/Whisky being tasted next year because that'd ruin things. Also, I have a special work trip to another country coming up and if I manage to find enough "drink" from said country I might do a last minute swap....

Anyway, it's the end of the gaming year and I'm encouraging YOU to take stock of the last year and at least make some loose plans for next year. Remember the 6P's: prior proper planning prevents poor performance.

Dealing with Post-Con Let-Down

So last weekend was North Texas RPG Con and this weekend was Origins. GenCon is still a couple months away, but odds are unless you are in the industry you attend maybe one of these cons. If you're lucky (which I was for a few years) maybe you get to go to two. My experience is even those that attend a lot of cons, often only go to one "big" con......and to those, if they have to travel far any con is a "big" con!

Regardless of how many cons you are lucky enough to attend, a common after-affect of the con is...well often some Con-Crud (for NTRPG 2022 it seems like it's Covid), but that's not my point today. Instead, what I'm talking about is post-con letdown. For many it's the simple result of days of fun with friends slinging dice, having fun, and generally being "on" possibly for days at a time.

I'm sure there are distinct differences based on how introverted or extroverted a gamer is, but every year I hear about, and personally experience post-con letdown.

What can you/we do about this?

The best thing I've figured out, at least for me, is a three-fold approach:

1. I do a quick AAR (After-Action Review....I am a vet, so this is a learned thing)
2. I figure out what I want to do at next year's con
3. I start making my plans for next year (start implementing crap from #2)

The biggest thing for me is that AAR. I do a rather quick assessment of the con. Taking inventory of the new crap, er "collectibles" I picked up comes first. Then I look at everything I actually brought to the con, including my packing list, and evaluate what I could do without the next year. I'm kind of bad about over-packing, so any good chance to see what I can pare-down really should be taken. I also like to go over the games I played or ran, and make notes about what I could've changed or done better. For example I should've brought my external battery and a different notepad. Also, more disposable shot glasses.

Looking ahead to next year's con is pretty easy, and I'll admit that I come up with too many ideas/plans for the next con. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because I come up with many things and not everything is feasible. Honestly, I'm still trying to do shit I thought up years ago.

Lastly I start making the appropriate plans for next year, and by plans I mean I actually start doing stuff. I put in my vacation request for next year as soon as I can. If needed I figure up what my budget is going to be and the saving plan needed to get the $$$ for the next con. If you are thinking of running an event the next year, are there any embellishments you'd like to use. Might sound dumb, but if you want to use some cool minis in your game (for example) do you already have the minis you need....are they even painted? What about terrain?

Post-con letdown is a thing and it doesn't have to last for long. This approach has helped me and maybe it can work for you as well......

I Think GenCon is Not Worth It (Attend Your Local Con!)

 

If you didn't already know, this weekend is GenCon 2021..and Origins 2021 is (roughly) in a couple weeks. Now I've been seeing pictures and gamer observations on Facebook and the like and it seems a bit like GenCon 2021 is a bit of a ghost town. Evidently attendance is capped at "half".....never felt like there was an attendance limit in the past, so half of "standing room only" is still a metric-buttload of people walking around.

I know that COVID-19/20/21D or whatever the current flu-scare is puts a dent in attendance, but moving the convention out of the summer (technically it is still summer...for like 3 days) and very much into the school year can't help with attendance either. It'll be harder for families to attend and moving this big con hurts other conventions. It's pretty obvious that Origins is trying to work around GenCon, and surely there are other conventions that are getting screwed over by the "Big Boys" moving their dates around.

Yes, I know that GenCon is a business and needs to make money, but it feels like...to me...that they are pushing their weight around a bit, to the detriment of others, something they've done for years to a lesser extent.

Now clearly I'm kind of biased against GenCon here, so I'm certain that I see a bit of the negative aspects of this move, but this bias has been earned, so bear with me.

Having spent a few years as a convention tournament organizer for both Origins and GenCon who also volunteered at a exhibitor booth, I got to see a little bit behind the curtain. From my experience, and perspective, Origins cares about gamers and GenCon cares about making money. 

Origins: Every year I'd have Origins staff check in on my group and make sure everything was going well. They helped me treat GMs a a valuable resource and the staff seemed to be passionate volunteers. Plenty of hotel space available unless you just had to have a room in one of the attached hotels, which I wouldn't recommend unless you want to wait forever on/in elevators for just an "ok" room.

GenCon: Having our tables double-booked was a regular event. The staff seemed to be employees and if I saw them it was for them to verify we all had badges and event tickets. Tickets and badges were all the seemed to care about. Good luck getting lodging at any nearby hotel and registering for games is an exercise in frustration.

As the years ticked by working the booth and talking to other vendors I saw a disturbing trend: many publishers have to make a decision between attending GenCon or Origins. Some of this was due to shifting dates, but lot was due to the expense of attending GenCon and since it was growing every year if you had to pick one, GenCon seemed to be it.

Now as far as the "big" cons go I'm clearly a fan of Origins, but really it's the smaller local conventions that have my attention these days. I'd rather spend a $1000 at North Texas RPG and have a great weekend experience than spend $1000 at GenCon which maybe gets me to Indy and a night or two of hotel (but no badge or event tickets!)

This year there are like 16 September conventions, not counting GenCon & Origins. Two events that would have been during GenCon were cancelled. In 2017 there were 21 conventions during Spetember. In 2018 & 2019 there were 27 conventions during September. Now some of the difference could be COVID related, but there were more cancelled events this year. Looking back over the last several years, no table-top gaming conventions shared time with GenCon.....until this year where there were two, with one being cancelled.

I know it isn't a deep-delve in the data and just a high-level pass, but anecdotally it seemed that GenCon moving to a later date is affecting smaller gaming conventions, and not for the better. Not a fan.....

GenCon 2021 had 1312 RPG games listed, while Origins 2021 has roughly half that at 616 RPG games listed. Now both sound like a lot, but in GenCon's case it looks like roughly half of those RPG events are D&D 5th Edition (Origins far less as a percentage). Since I'm guessing that the majority of the Tavern patrons are OSR fans, this info might be relevant.

TL;DR- If you "have" to attend a big con, check out Origins, but I'd rather go to a smaller local convention.

GMs Don't Get Enough Love

 

North Texas RPG Con is just a couple weeks away and since Erik is attending, and likes to do the video/podcast thing with Bad Mike, you might have reached your fill about the event already.

Maybe not.

Don't worry, this isn't a post so much about the convention so my 12 13 readers can read on if not interested in this convention, but I will add my 2cp and simply say that if you are in a position to attend this convention and you aren't....your loss. Small con, big guests....I bet that NTRPG is like what the first handful of GenCons were like....well as close at it could be in this day and age.

Anyway, my point that I'm laboring to get to, evidently, is that I know I'm going to a convention in a couple of weeks, as a player, and I still have a lot of prep to do. Realistically I know all I need to do is pack my tablet, computer, RPG HDD, and my dice box and I'll be good to go.....10' packing tops. Maybe toss in some game books if I'm feeling froggy........even though I have PDFs of everything I need, I keep buying or printing out rulebooks 'because evidently I prefer the physicality of them at the table. Maybe I just like having multiple books "open" and that's harder to do on a tablet?

No, my big prep for the convention is trying to figure out, and then make, some GM "Thank You" gifts. Most of my convention experience is still as a GM and tournament organizer, not as a player. I can most definitely tell you that being a GM at a convention is largely a thankless task. Sure most players will express a simple "thanks" at the table, and a couple might shake your hand.

Now, there is nothing wrong with this, BUT.....there is a lot more to GMing that simply leading a table game for three or four hours. The average GM, well the average GM that cares about having a good game, easily puts in at least three or four hours for every hour at the table, even if they are running a pre-printed adventure. Conventions and game companies are quite a bit hit or miss in showing GMs any love as well.

Yes, many conventions do give free badges to GMs, but they usually make you work for it. That $50 badge, well maybe $85 or so now (depending on the convention) usually want a good 12-16 hours of GMing to qualify. Sixteen hours of table-time for an $50 badge, or twelve hours for an $85 badge makes that work worth $3.12 to $7.08 an hour, $0.78 to $2.36 an hour if you factor in non-table time. 

78¢ and hour and a couple handshakes, sign my ass up! Seriously though it isn't about money, but really the resources of time and energy. Twelve to Sixteen hours of time at a convention is a HUGE resource suck.

Don't even get me started about volunteering at a higher level than just a table GM as that involved me paying for the privilege of working.....again not to mention the time and energy suck.

No, in my experience (and I'm not just talking about my personal experience) GMs don't get enough love period. I really doubt that anything I can post will change that, but I will add a tiny bit of self-promotion in that I did make a couple of free "Thank You" cards that are available on DriveThuRPG.

• GM Thank You Card
• DM Thank You Card

What I can do, have done (although I totally dropped the ball last year), and will do, is make some small GM thank you gifts, along with the thank you card. A couple years ago I did some small boxes (that could double as a dice tray) and some coasters.  Both were just purchased from the hobby store and tweaked. I like the idea of something small and useful.

This year I'm thinking of some handmade wooden/leather dice trays and/or die rolling tower. Now I'm not much of a wood worker, but I'm learning, so the die rolling tower will probably be a bit much for me to pull off. Actually I could easily make some dice towers, but I mean dice towers in the style I want to make them, not what I can manage.

I've got a couple of weeks to get these GM Thank You's squared away, but I'll have to get started this week for certain, unless someone here at the Tavern has a better idea....and no, drinks at/after the game don't count because I'm already down for that (I tend to bring drinks to the game already).

Finding Some RPG Art (Attend a Con!)

 

One thing I like to do when travelling, more travelling for fun than for work, is to bring home some artwork. Since a lot of my "fun" trips are gaming/convention related, I tend to pick up RPG art.

Now I've been really lucky over the years......helps that one con I went to every year had a huge art auction for their charity efforts. Mostly smaller local/regional artists that you wouldn't know (but should.....if they still painted)

My whopping three visits to North Texas has gotten me some larger or better known artists. I was able to pick up an original Doug Kovacs ink used in the original Dungeon Crawl Classics book (and all subsequent reprints IIRC). I've managed to pick up some Diesel prints which are simply HUGE. I will have to re-do the matboard for one of the prints as the upper left corner is messed up a bit. 

On a side-note, if you can cut mat board well (I've done ok up to that one attempt), you can either cut plexiglass with a fine-tooth table saw blade or even have the big-box home supply store cut glass/plexi for you. Couple with some reasonably priced frame pieces ("chops") and you can frame your own art for probably less than a 1/4 of the price of getting it done "professionally".

Special note/plea: I was going to my favorite frame supply place online so I could provide link to you fine folks, only to discover that they've closed up shop/retired after 48 years in business. They literally closed up shop last Friday. If you have a good alternative please, leave me a comment so I can check them out.....I still have stuff to finish framing!

I also managed to pick up a Jeff Easley artist proof last year, which I'm going to hang by the trio of Elmore prints I picked up years ago at GenCon.

Now I've clearly thrown around a few big names who might very well be on people's wish-lists. I've got some pieces by some "big names" that might not be so big to other people, namely Jolly Blackburn and the Fraim Brothers. Now I've "showed off" Jolly's print (it is still one of my most prized possessions) and I know if talked about the Fraim Brothers, but probably on one of my other blogs.

I really do want to sing the Fraim Bros praises for a hot minute here, if not for the reason that they were the inspiration for todays post in the first place. Now if you read The Knights of the Dinner Table you've undoubtedly seen their work. The thing is these two brothers are.....prolific, AND they take reasonable commissions. I've commissioned them I think four times now to do character portraits for me and my (ex) wife's PCs, and I've been blown away. At $50 a pop, so worth it! Turn-around on their website is listed as 2-4 weeks, but every time for me was less than a week. The picture on the right was off their old website.....and one of my ex's PCs. It's subtle, but you can actually tell she's missing a finger on her right hand!

Now they only take commissions that "interest them", but what I think helps is to just let them go nuts. What I did was describe each PC in detail, but only a paragraph or so and made it clear that I'm looking for their take on what I gave them and not a graphical representation of what's in my head. I think giving the artist carte blanche and letting them know I'm not expecting a bunch of approvals and revisions is important. First, they are more likely to accept the commission, and second......well let's face it: You're hiring them for their expertise! There is no way I could have envisioned a better "picture" of Arainell (pictured here) that what they came up with.

Now I have smaller pieces from even smaller artists that I got here & there for a buck or five. I like the tables at the "Artist Alley", assuming the con has one, and if they're offering a small print for a few bucks or even some on-the-spot "Draw your PC for (usually $1-$5)".....I'm down. I'll pick up a badly printed piece of decent art or commission a cheap PC portrait in a heartbeat. I might only use the portrait for one game, but it's all good. This piece on the Left was a $1/60 second art piece of my Dwarven PC. All I said was "Male Dwarf with a big-assed hammer". I think she actually took about two and a half minutes, but who am I to complain. BTW you can find the artist (Tina Bongomo) here.

I actually have all of my RPG art, save one huge HackMaster Poster framed and up on my walls or on my bookcases. I'd guesstimate that it's a good 50/50 split between larger and smaller pieces. I've run into a bunch of folks that have said something to the effect of "I'd love to get some RPG art....but..."

....but nothing. I originally started this post with the intent of highlighting a single commission artist (well a pair of brothers, but still), but it got me thinking about RPG artists in general. I can tell you that outside of the rare piece at a FLGS (which is almost never for sale), you generally have to go somewhere the artist has the opportunity to reach a large audience....like a convention. If you can pry yourself away from the gaming table, and away from the dealer room, visit the Artist Alley. Smaller cons tend to put the Artist Alley in with the dealers and if you can find an artist self-publishing some RPG material you might find they have original art as well, though that's more a side thing for their table. 

News - Lets Get Physical - Gen Con Plans Return to "Meat-Space" in 2021 / PAX East Likely Returns in 2021 Too (Covid Willing)

It appears that Gen Con and PAX are working on the assumption that the current "State of the Pandemic" will be under control by the summer of 2021. That being said, they are still hedging their bets and leaving the door open to closing their doors if Covid fails to cooperate with their hopeful plans. 

It takes a lot of time - and money - to put together a convention, and the larger the convention, the more lead time one needs, and these are huge conventions.

My fear is if certain conventions are cancelled two years in a row, there may be a lack of funds to bring them back later, although that may be more of an issue for the relatively smaller conventions.

From the Gen Con website:

Holiday 2020 Message and Looking Ahead to 2021

As we approach the winter holidays and the end of the (let’s say less-than-ideal) year, we’re looking ahead to the future and know you have some of the same questions that we do about our plans for 2021.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is certain, and that our lives are even more interconnected than ever before. We don’t take for granted the magic of gathering en masse with all of you in Indianapolis each summer, and we can’t wait to do it again. Will that happen this August? In all honesty, we don’t know yet, but we really hope so.

Our goal for the new year is to hold Gen Con 2021 as planned, in person in Indianapolis from August 5-8. We’re working towards that objective with health and safety as our top priority. A variety of factors need to come together for a physical convention to be feasible, and we’re carefully monitoring local and national safety and travel guidelines, health data, resource availability, and the advice of our finest sages, scientists, and sorcerers.

Considering this uncertainty, we’re postponing badge registration and event submission until we have a better idea of what the year will hold. We’ll announce new dates as soon we can, and you should expect more updates from us in the next couple of months. To keep up on the latest news, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.

We appreciate your continued support, and we miss you, our Gen Con family all across the world. Please take care of each other and have a safe and happy holiday season!

Happy Holidays,

Your Friends at Gen Con

 And from the PAX East website:

DECEMBER 4TH, 2020

PAX 2021 Dates

Hello PAX Universe,

We’d like to take this opportunity to announce our prospective show dates for the 2021 calendar, and before we do, we want to be completely clear about why we’re announcing them now, and how the global COVID-19 situation impacts our plans in the coming year.

We’re announcing our dates now to help partners plan for the upcoming year on how they might attend as well as provide a chance to start conversations about how to bring attendees, panelists, exhibitors, and our broader community together with these events that are 7 months away. Safety is always our highest priority, and we want to put these shows on for you and in a way that still feels like a PAX, but these things require runway. Our rationale: with things being this complicated, why not tell everyone all at once?

Let’s just say the quiet part out loud: if COVID-19 remains a major barrier to safely gathering at one of our shows, we won’t do it or we will take it virtual. As much as we miss, even crave, the togetherness and magic of a PAX, we will not put attendees, exhibitors, or our guests at risk for the sake of an event if things aren’t on the up and up.

Now, on to the good news! If things progress positively then there’s a good chance that we would be able to put on live events in the summer and later half of the year.

In that optimistic scenario our new event calendar for 2021 will be:

PAX East will take place June 3 - 6, 2021

PAX West will take place September 3 - 6, 2021

PAX Aus will have more info coming soon

PAX Unplugged will take place December 10 - 12, 2021

Unfortunately, because of what would have been the prospective timeline in early next year we won’t be able to put together a PAX South in 2021, but we look forward to bringing it back for you in 2022. We are also working with our team in Australia and the Australian government and will have more updates on PAX Aus’s 2021 show date in the next few weeks.

Expect badges, panel announcements, exhibitor updates, and the like to arrive in the new year, generally closer to the respective shows - and you can always follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more regular updates.

Whatever form PAX East, West, and Unplugged take in 2021, please know that we are dedicated to bringing you all the community, content, and competition we’ve become known for, while continuing to create space for new, up-and-coming, and marginalized voices in gaming. “Welcome Home” isn’t just a slogan to us; we make our home every year in Boston, Seattle, Melbourne, San Antonio, and Philly - and it’s our job to make sure that we make that home safe.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are the affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, 

or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.

   Don't forget to subscribe to The Tavern's weekly Newsletter! We currently have 162 subscribers.              

Tabletop.Events acquired by BoardGameGeek

Full announcement below:

Link to the original post

So many of you helped to bring us back from the brink via the Con of Champions. Thank you! Without your support Tabletop.Events would have gone dark at the end of April.

Con of Champions allowed us to keep Tabletop.Events online, albeit at a severely reduced budget, until the end of 2020. Beyond 2020 though was always still up in the air. So much depends upon what happens with COVID-19 and the rise of virtual conventions.

All along we said we would continue to look for alternative sources of revenue, and we have. We’ve considered over a dozen different options, but found that one option made the most sense. We should hand the reigns of Tabletop.Events over to a larger entity in the tabletop world; someone who has the resources to ensure a very bright future, and BoardGameGeek (BGG) has exactly those means.

Effective immediately, BGG will assume control of Tabletop.Events. However, the Tabletop.Events staff will remain on board helping TTE to grow under new leadership. We will spend the remainder of the year transitioning technology, adding features, fixing bugs, answering questions, and hosting conventions, just like we always planned to do. But with BGG’s support, we can now confidently say that we can continue to do those things into 2021 and beyond as well!

If you run conventions using Tabletop.Events, you can now proceed with your planning knowing that TTE will be here to serve you no matter what.

If you attend conventions using Tabletop.Events, you can sign up knowing that the conventions you attend have a strong and stable platform from which to grow.

Thank you for allowing us to serve you. Thank you for loving what we created. We look forward to serving you far into a very bright future.

Frank-Con in July?

What do you get the man who no longer has cons to got to?

Thursday thru Monday. Five days. New unnamed con.

I have lots of questions. What about you?

Edit - I received this screenshot from multiple trusted sources. Looks like the joke is on me apparently. DNC weekend I’ve been told. Ah well.

Gary Con Wrap Up - 2019

When I was packing for Gary Con I realized I never brought anything with me to have members of the gaming community sign. It didn't take long to realize that my AD&D Player's Handbook from 1980 (one of my first two RPG books - the DMG being the other) was the perfect book to bring. Thanks to all that signed it. I'll track down more folk at NTRPG Con. (Beware Tom Tullis)

I ran the last (convention) session of Rappan Athuk: Mouth of Doom today. I must say, not having to assemble the dungeon at every con going forward is a blessing, but not running it again is a shame. There will be another level of Rappan Athuk in 3d terrain up and running by Gamehole, or so I've been told. Leaner, more deadly and possibly cavelike ;)

It was great meeting folks from the gaming community. I'd name you all but I'm sure I'd forget to mention more than would get shout outs. I appreciate every kind word said.

Gary Con was a blast. Hopefully, Rach and I will get the opportunity again next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. And...

TotalCon Day 3 With the Real Wives of the OSR :)

The ladies have taken over the Frog God table at TotalCon. I've been blessed with meeting and talking with a number of Taverners at the convention and I'm having a blast.

Our neighbor Jeff. We try to keep him well fed and happy. You won't like Jeff if he's angry... ;P

Stefan Pokorny is all his glory.

The Tavern Chat Podcast - Episode 100 - Need I say More?

I'm not sure whether to curse or bless Hobbs, Tim, Matt and the others that got me into this "Anchor Podcasting" thing (whether they knew they were an influence at the time I do not know). Here I am posting up the 100th episode of that became a daily podcast right out of the box. Damn!

Woot! 100 episodes in 100 days. I never expected that when I kicked off this little podcast. We also hit some other milestones this week. September 22, 2018 is Shire Con. Guess who is a "notable industry guest"? Really. Guess ;)

Link to Episode 100 - https://anchor.fm/tavernchat/episodes/Episode-100---Need-I-say-More-e23b0d

Link to Shire Con - http://throwigames.com/shirecon.html

The Tavern Chat Podcast - Episode #45 - Answering Comments and ShireCon in the Fall

The past few days I've had a number of listeners reach out to me with comments about recent episodes. I always appreciate the feedback and interaction and spend the first part of today's episode answering some of there.

ShireCon is in NW Connecticut on September 22, 2018. Its a one-day gaming con with emphasis on old-school gaming. I'll be there and so should you. :

Link to Episode #45: 
https://anchor.fm/tavernchat/episodes/Episode-45---Answering-Comments-and-ShireCon-in-the-Fall-e1nune

Manhattan Mini Con III - We played Swords & Wizardry Continual Light

This afternoon Rach and I played in a session of Swords & Wizardry Continual Light run by +Denis McCarthy at the Manhattan Mini Con III. Its the first time I've actually played (not run) SWL / SWCL.

I had a blast. It was great to see Rach really getting into her character and grasping the rules. Ranger was a good choice for her. She likes to hit things - in game ;)

It was great to see faces I hadn't seen in a bit (Miguel & Noah), put a face to a person I've gotten to know online (Denis) and meet a new face (damn but we need name tags - doh)

We played in Denis' soon to be released for SWL / SWCL Beneath the Fallen Tower scenario. We barely scratched the surface in the session of play but Denis let us peek behind the screen afterwards. There is a whole lot of adventuring for a party in this package. I'm going to guess at least 2 to 3 sessions, but with the hooks and setting bits you could build a whole campaign around it. Denis should have a hit here.

I really don't want to give away any spoilers. It was a quest to find a missing son (not a child - though we found a child - but not child sized) with enough hooks and shiny parts we could have caused trouble for many levels. Heck, I even played a combat mage (15s in Strength and Dexterity)

Oh, and as I told Rach over dinner tonight. Its recharged my batteries. Woot!