Tag Archives: gencon

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.

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.

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!