Category Archives: Conventions

Gen Con Insights

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Hey, the header is has a double-meaning, since this post is both insights into where to find and interact with me at Gen Con this weekend, and also part of what I’m doing there!

I’m honored to be speaking at the Gen Con Insights program this year, alongside Tanya DePasse. This year’s theme is “Diversity by Design” and you can either come and see me in person, if you’re at the convention, or watch the video online when Gen Con makes it available.

Photo of Tanya and me for the Insights program.

In addition, you can find me most mornings at the Green Ronin Publishing booth (929) where you can get brand new copies of the Mutants & Masterminds Deluxe Gamemaster’s Guide, Mutants & Masterminds Superteam Handbook, Fantasy AGE Campaign Builder’s Guide, and the all-new Threefold setting for Modern AGE. I wrote material in each of them and I’m excited for folks to see them! You can also get Aaron Rosenberg’s new M&M novel Height of the Storm from Nisaba Press and other Green Ronin swag.

I plan on taking part in seminars like Queering Your Campaign (from Tabletop Gaymers and Qd3) and Green Ronin’s All AGEs Panel, talking about AGE System games like The Expanse! Speaking of which, if you haven’t picked up a copy of The Expanse RPG, you can check it out at the show.

In and around that, I hope to find some time to walk the show floor and check out all of the new and exciting games (I particularly want to drop by Catalyst Game Labs to see how my old friend Shadowrun is doing in its new sixth edition) and maybe pick up a thing or two for my home games. Who knows? I might even find time to play a game!

As always, folks can follow me on Twitter at @SKenson. That’s where I’m most likely to post up-to-the-minute happenings at the show. I look forward to seeing a lot of folks there!

Finding Me at GenCon

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It’s GenCon week! Like much of the game industry, I will be in Indianapolis. Here’s my public schedule and where and when you can find me around the convention:

Thursday, August 2nd

10:00 am – 12:00 pm: In and out of the Green Ronin booth (#1321).

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Queer as a Three-Sided Die seminar

5:00 pm: Gaymer Gathering (I plan to at least try and stop by).

Friday, August 3rd

9:45 am – 12:00 pm: Green Ronin booth (#1321)

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Catharsis Through Gaming seminar

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Queering Your Setting seminar

5:00 pm: Gaymer Gathering (I plan to at least try and stop by).

Saturday, August 4th

9:45 am – 12:00 pm: Green Ronin booth (#1321)

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: What’s New With Green Ronin? seminar

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Queering Your Pantheon seminar

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Expanse panel

Sunday, August 5th

12:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Green Ronin booth (#1321)

Looking forward to seeing many of you there! Come by the booth and my events to say hello. If you’re looking to schedule or set-up specific time with me at the convention, please get in touch ASAP so we can do that.

See Me at GaymerX4!

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gaymerx_yearfour_logo_web-1024x912I am looking forward to being one of the Tabletop RPG Bosses of Honor at the upcoming GaymerX convention (or GX4 for short), this weekend in Santa Clara, CA.

GaymerX has been promoting an inclusive gaming environment since it began a few years ago and I’m really glad to see them continuing to expand their range of offerings to include more tabletop and “old school” stuff, including inviting me back!

While I’m at the con, here are the places where you can find me. You can also see the GaymerX online schedule: Continue reading →

Meet Me at GaymerX!

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gaymerx3I am looking forward to being one of the Tabletop RPG Bosses of Honor at the upcoming GaymerX convention (or GX3 for short), December 11–13 in San Jose, CA.

GaymerX has been promoting an inclusive gaming environment since it began a few years ago and I’m really glad to see them expanding their range of offerings to include more tabletop and “old school” stuff.

While I’m at the con, here are the places where you can find me: Continue reading →

Find Me at GenCon!

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Gen-Con-LogoIt’s that time of the year again, when everyone in the tabletop gaming industry tags everything on their to-do lists as “must be done before” or “can wait until after” – GenCon!

I’ll be in attendance for what will be my 25th GenCon, by my count (I’ve missed two since I first started attending in 1988). If you’ll also be at the “Best Four Days in Gaming” here’s where you are likely to run across me. (Note, this is my public schedule, not counting various social engagements and business-related meetings.)

Thursday, July 30th

  • 2:00 PM: AGE (Adventure Gaming Engine) News & Updates seminar
  • 5:00 PM: GamersTable Awards Dinner

Friday, July 31st

  • 10:00 AM: What’s New With Green Ronin seminar

Saturday, August 1st

  • 6:00 PM: Queer as a Three-Sided Die seminar (LGBT gamers)

Otherwise, I am likely to be found at the Green Ronin Publishing booth, hawking copies of Fantasy Age, Titansgrave: Ashes of Valkana, Mutants & Masterminds, A Song of Ice & Fire Roleplaying, my own Icons Superpowered Roleplaying, and other fine Green Ronin products. If you have a specific need to meet or talk with me, you can drop me a line about setting up a time or come by the booth and take you chances.

ChupacabraCon!

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This weekend I’ll be guesting for the second year at the second annual ChupacabraCon in Austin, TX. It’s a great local game convention and well worth checking out — this year they have a truly star-studded guest-list from the industry! I’ll be giving seminars and running a couple of games, along with catching up with some of my colleagues as we do at these things, and maybe enjoying some Texas barbecue while I’m there. Here’s where and when you’ll be able to find me at the ‘con:

Friday, Jan. 9

2 pm – 6 pm – Icons Assemble!
6 pm – 7 pm – Opening Ceremonies
7 pm – 8:30 pm – VIP Meet and Greet

Saturday, Jan. 10

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm – What’s new at Green Ronin seminar
2 pm – 3:30 pm – Super Hero Strike Force! seminar
4:30 pm – 6 pm – What Aaron Allston Meant to Us seminar
7 pm – 11 pm – DC Adventures: Long Live the Legion! (classic Legion of Super-Heroes)

Sunday, Jan. 11th

10 am – 11:30 am – VIP Brunch

Queer as a Three-Sided Die

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GenConGaymerOne of the things I very much looked forward to at GenCon this year (after a year away in 2013) was the third-annual “Queer as a Three-Sided Die” seminar. It got started, as such things often do, to address a need that the initial panelists and I perceived — it is, in many ways, the seminar I wish I’d had during my early years at GenCon, when the notion that there were other “gaymers” was completely foreign (I didn’t meet any until around my sixth or seventh year of attending).

We looked to expand the panel this year, and did in an unexpected way. Matt Conn (founder of MidBoss and GaymerX) and Philip Jones (co-director of Gaming in Color) contacted me just days before the con to say they were attending and were interested in the seminar. They joined me and our other panelists from prior years:

The Know Direction podcast was also kind enough to create a video recording of the panel, so I’ll direct you there if you want to see and hear everything that was discussed. Topics ranged across the queer spectrum from the light-hearted and celebratory to quite serious and emotional, and Qd3 (as I abbreviate it) was by far the most well-attended seminar I experienced at GenCon.

We also had the benefit of “GAYMER” badge ribbons from Tabletop Gaymers again this year. Feel free to check out their consolidated reference links, and to register or donate to the covering the cost of the ribbons this year and for next year, as they were quite popular!

Members of the gaymer community are already talking about adding to the slate of offerings for next year’s GenCon—social events, seminars, gaming events, and so forth—and I’m already looking forward to the potential for next year’s panel. If you are interested in joining us as a panelist, or know someone you think would make an ideal panelist, please email me and let me know!

If you have ever considered the possibility of offering something queer-related or more inclusive at a convention (GenCon or any other)—do it! Like I said, these things get started because we see a need and look to fill it and, let me tell you, the need is there. I’m already looking forward to all the amazing things our community is going to do in the years to come.

Convention Season

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Summertime means convention season, and I have the good fortune to be guesting at a couple of cons in the coming weeks…

ConnectiCon

I am again a guest this year at ConnectiCon in Hartford, CT, this weekend from July 11–13, where I’ll be running games and speaking at seminars. Here’s currently where you can expect to find me there:

  • Writer, Designer, Publisher, Creator (seminar), July 11, 2–3:30 PM
  • Icons Assemble! The Zodiac Quest (Icons Superpowered Roleplaying), July 11, 8–midnight
  • Gaymers Unite! (seminar), July 12, 8:30–11 AM
  • Super-Powered Showdown! (Mutants & Masterminds game), July 12, 3–7 PM
  • Somebody Else’s Sandbox: Creating for Licensed Properties (seminar), July 13, 10–11:30 AM

GenCon

This year I also return to GenCon after a year away, and I am again on the Industry Insider guest track. Apart from the Green Ronin booth and the nearest Starbucks, places where you can find me include:

  • Return to the Castle of Gender Representation (seminar), Thursday, August 14, 3–4 PM
  • The State of Superheroes at Green Ronin Publishing (seminar), Friday, August 15, 10–11 AM
  • How to Run a Successful Tabletop RPG Kickstarter (seminar), Friday, August 15, 2-3 PM
  • Playing God (seminar), Friday, August 15, 4–5 PM
  • Cross-Media Chaos: Working With Media Properties (seminar), Saturday, August 16, 10–11 AM
  • What’s Up at Green Ronin Publishing? (seminar), Saturday, August 16, 1–2 PM
  • Superhero Summit (seminar), Saturday, August 16, 4–5 PM
  • Queer as a Three-Sided Die (seminar), Saturday, August 16, 6 PM

Should you plan to be at either convention, please do check out my various events, or just take the opportunity to say hello. I look forward to seeing many of you there!

Guerrilla Seminars and Great Power Giveaway at Origins

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Sometimes I can be a bit too accommodating. Case in point: When arranging  my upcoming Guest of Honor stint at Origins this weekend, I offered a list of various topics I would be happy to build and host seminars around, rather than saying “I want to do these seminars. Make it so!” Which apparently led to all of my seminar slots at Origins being billed as “Q&A with Steve Kenson: An hour with Steve Kenson.”

Three slots. All the same:

  • Thursday at 3:00 p.m. (GCCC – C214)
  • Friday at 3:00 p.m. (GCCC – C214)
  • Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (just to mix it up, but still in GCCC – C214)

I only learned this myself upon reading the Origins Master Event Grid. Now, I’m not inclined to think the promise of just spending an hour with me is enough to fill seats, especially given all the other things folks could be doing with their time at Origins, so I’m going to see if I can sweeten the deal a bit, and turn my accommodating nature to my advantage, with two offers:

First, since the seminar slots are now “whatever Steve wants to talk about” I’m going to choose a lucky winner from the audience (present by the start-time of the seminar) to pick the topic and tell me what the seminar should be about. If, for some reason, we exhaust that topic in less than an hour’s time, I’ll pick another audience member at random to give us a topic, and so forth. It can be comic books, superheroes, game design, freelancing, what it was like to work on Mutants & Masterminds, Shadowrun, Earthdawn, ICONS (or any of the numerous other RPGs I’ve written for), when I’m going to do another Kickstarter, queer issues in the gaming community … whatever you want!

Second, at the end of each seminar session, I’ll choose one lucky attendee who has gone the distance to win a free print copy of Great Power for ICONS. I should have a limited number of copies with me; if, for some reason, the shipping gets screwed up, winners will get their free copy shipped to them gratis via RPGNow. Limit one winner per seminar and one book per winner (even if, thank you, you attend all of the seminars).

Plus! Dan “The Man” Houser, ICONS artist extraordinaire, has offered to sweeten the deal: One lucky winner at one of my seminars will also be chosen to have a character of their creation illustrated by Dan and published in the upcoming Hero Pack 5! Plus you get a nemesis custom-designed for your hero (or villain)!

So, if you have a subject you’ve always wanted to hear me expound upon, or a question you’re dying to have answered, or you’d just like a shot at winning some gaming swag, come by and check out my seminars. I have no idea what they’ll be about yet, but I promise I’ll do my best to keep them interesting!

Please feel free to “like” and share this post widely and get the word out. If you’re going to Origins, I hope to see you sitting in one of my seminars!