Recapping SpaceCityCon 2013
I took a Saturday to make a trip out to SSC 2013 to run a session of The Tomb of Athganazar.
The adventure went well — even had a few folks playing who expressed interest in seeing our other adventures, so I’ve pointed them to this site. If you, dear reader, are one of them, thanks for the kindly-worded validation. The adventuring party found a very creative solution to the wizard’s challenge, different than those at the last con, but just as off-the-wall and fun for all. This seems to be the norm for games I run at cons, which is very encouraging, both in the flexibility of the adventure as well as the creativity of the players at Texas gaming cons. Excessive hack-n-slash isn’t as fun for me as a storyteller, as it too often turns adventures into glorified calculators. The question for me has always been whether players enjoy this outside-the-lines style of session, and it seems they do. Again, thank you all players who roll with these adventures. I am grateful for your participation and positivity.
On the floor, I met a visual artist, Joey Blackard, with an intriguing, yet simple style, and picked up one of his framed originals. I’d love to use more of his work in our adventures; more on that in time. Then, after running the session, happened upon Diesel on the vendor’s floor, and though I usually don’t approach such luminaries in the history of role playing, he seemed very approachable, so I decided I’d say hi. Thirty minutes into our discussion of role playing, scoping projects, the experience of working at TSR, then WoTC, and finally life in Austin, I realized that we had a lot of common ground. He was so down to earth and genuinely interested that I had to cut myself short or I would have kept talking with him all evening. I’ll definitely look him up at other Texas cons; he tends to make the rounds each year. One of my favorite con experiences ever.
As usual, the Houston hospitality was second to none, the organizers, gamers, and other locals taking care of me as they always do. Special shout out to Leo and Phil for the discussions and good times on Saturday night after we’d packed out of the con. Always great to hear about your campaigns and story ideas and to meet more of your friends and colleagues in adventurecraft.
More to come as we are already hard at work on an adventure to run atOwlCon in early 2014. This one will showcase the Dungeonstone Caves and Caverns Set that recently closed on Kickstarter. Odds are they’ll have some sets available for purchase at the con. So in six months, come check out the booth; the adventure will be run in multiple sessions at the neighboring table.
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