graphic design and book layout
Went to PAX Unplugged. Came home. Ate a turkey. Thought about the show.
It was odd. Thousands of people showed up for the show and it seems to have been a success. But there were some strange things that don’t seem to be similar to other gaming conventions. As an exhibitor, I found the convention to be strange. As a gamer, I thought it was fun. As a professional attempting to network, I thought it was fantastic.
There’s this “12 RPGs for the 12th Month” thing that’s going on G+Â right now, where there’s twelve writing prompts about games, one for every two days in December. This co-incidentally winds up ending on December 24th, and feels a bit 12 Days of Christmas-y without dropping the word “Christmas” in anywhere. ((And also, let’s not forget that the 12 Days of Christmas actually start on Christmas Day, running through Three Kings Day/Epiphany.))
It’s a bit like the #RPGaDAY thing that happens in August. Writing prompts about gaming. Paul Mitchner started the thing with a graphic. Below I’ve written them out (and cleaned up the prompts a touch) for use of cutting and pasting into future writings.
I’ve been looking forward to attending PAX Unplugged for a while. My major client, John Wick Presents, will be taking me to the convention to help sell 7th Sea games and related coolness. (I’ve got a two-minute demo down cold, which could expand to a five-minute demo with interest, and can talk about the game for as little or as long as interest remains.) While there are several things I want to see and do, I think this will be a rather laid-back event for me.
The show is in Philadelphia, and while it’s a bit lighter on the roleplaying side of things than say, Gen Con is, there are still a lot of people and colleagues I’d like to meet up with (and merchandise to check out). With the number of events scheduled, this feels like a larger RinCon, mainly by having a huge open gaming library (the no pre-registration for events is odd), and RinCon was only up to 800+ attendees. It appears PAX Unplugged is simply taking that small convention idea and upscaling it. Saturday tickets are sold out, but I really have no idea what number “sold out” translates to. Signups for tournaments and events are anywhere from 16 players to a few dozen. Smaller than PAX East? That’s the impression I’m getting.