I’m swimming in a hazy mixture of post-con-blues and invigorating enthusiasm after coming home from Big Bad Con. This was my second RPG con, and first “big” RPG con, and it was awesome. This post is a recap of what I did for my own memory, with a few thoughts at the end.
Games Played
- A Blade Breaks (playtest): had a blast narrating rad fight scenes. All those years of binge watching kung-fu movies paid off in this game.
- Old School Essentials: lovely dungeon crawling shenanigans. The GM was great at encouraging and rewarding creative problem solving. Descending AC is silly, but I enjoyed experiencing it for historical purposes.
- 2 LARPs from the Golden Cobras: my first LARPs! I got to be a duck and a child who didn’t want to go to bed. I’m excited to bring my burgeoning clown practice and LARPs together. I think this is rich territory to explore.
- Thirsty Sword Lesbians: smooched a witch. It was fun to play a romance game coming hot on the heels of a panel about romance in RPGs.
Panels and Workshops
- Rise and Design with the Bakers: freeform Q&A with Meguey Baker.
- Roll to Kiss: romance in RPGs. I think my biggest takeaway was the comment to check in with yourself, in addition to checking in with your fellow players.
- Shitpost TTRPG Design Workshop: a lovely encouragement to abandon caution and poop out a game, which I did!
- The Play’s the Thing: RPG designers and dramaturgs talk about RPG design and dramaturgy.
Small Press Showcase
Kate and my first time tabling. We had a ton of fun sharing, selling, and trading our games:
- FOLK
- Everything You Are Must Be Found
- Word Wizards
- Advanced Lasers & Feelings
- Can We Keep It? - Created at the Shitpost TTRPG Design Workshop and printed on the hotel printer!
Conversations and Community!
This was the best part. Being immersed in the collective enthusiasm for play and games was cozy and inspiring. It felt like home. So many good ideas, bad ideas, good bad ideas, and so so many laughs. A heartfelt thank you to everyone I chatted with!
I’m looking forward to next year, looking forward to playing more games, running some games, and helping out with what will hopefully be the inaugural Big Bad Press zine tools corner so the person trimming their beautiful risograph zine doesn’t have to use the tiny, shitty scissors I happened to have in my first aid kit!