Fan Expo 2016 Schedule

It's that time of the year again. I'd like to thank Justin Mohareb for inviting me again to Fan Expo this year. My schedule is basically going to be panels and board games and ... maybe an RPG if I'm feeling up to it.

General Schedule is as follows though note I'm going to probably moderate more than I talk when it comes to panels and I'm not going to have a fixed OMG doing this game here schedule for game stuff.

Friday

Noon to 5:00 pm ish - Boardgame room running games!

5:45 pm - Publishing Your Own Tabletop Game
This is a fun one, lots of people with ideas that they want to talk about.

Saturday

11:15 pm - Writing Adventure Games
I haven't been on this one in a while, so it will be fun to talk about writing other game stuff!

12:15 pm to 4:00pm ish - Boardgame room!

4:45 pm - Board Game Design
It's going to be said with Eric Lang on this one, but there's going to be a couple of people here to talk about board game design! This one tends to be more full than the RPG one, but then again boardgames.

Sunday

12:15 pm - Getting Started in RPGs
Do you want to know how to get into playing RPGs? I'm sure there will be a lot of people here that will more than happy to share their knowledge about this!

1:45 pm - Promoting your game!
Now you have a game ... what does that mean? How do you get it into people's hands? How do you run demos and con games. This panels was really odd last year since we had lots of people attend and no one had a game they wanted to sell. Maybe this year will be different.

3:45 pm - The State of the Industry!
What horrifying tales can we tell you about the game design industry. Hellfire! Brimstone!
Actually, spoiler alert it's doing just fine.

Anyway, see you there soon!

Fan Expo 2015 - Panel Schedule

Wow, so Fan Expo this year is all full of panels which I really appreciate. I like con games, but sometimes in Toronto it feels like it's the same people playing the games at Fan Expo. I'll still be around, but not officially running any games. I will have games there though, in case anyone wants to see what's new and what's coming down the pipe.

Panel: Humour in Swords & Sorcery
Time: Friday, 4:45 PM
Location: 705
Description: Can mighty thews and sinister sorcerors be funny?  By
Crom, they certainly can!
Fellow Panelists: Jonathan Lavallee, Jim Zub, Jason Anarchy, Rachel Kahn.

I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS AND IT'S THE FIRST PANEL! Seriously you need to check out who is there. We've got a lot of people who have put time effort and energy into thinking about comedy and fantasy. Seriously, By Crom! is one of the best things I have ever read. Even checking out the panels on the site made me laugh and tear up at the same time.

Panel: Publishing your own tabletop game
Time: Friday, 5:45 PM
Location: 705
Description: Do you have a concept for publishing a game? How to get
your game into the hands of customers from prototyping to playtesting
to publishing and distribution.
Panelists: Phil Reed, Jonathan Lavallee, Jason Anarchy

This is one of those standard ones that we do every year. It's a good one to go if you're looking to ask questions about making a tabletop game. We do have all sorts of experience here for analog games, and a little bit on the video side but that's why it's called tabletop games in the panel title.. ^_^

Panel: Pathos and probability curves: Writing tabletop Games
Time: Saturday, 1:15 PM
Location: 703
Description: Do you want to create your own adventure games? Do you
want to help expand existing worlds and ways with your own unique
touches? These panelists will help you learn the secrets of great
game design
Panelists: Jonathan Lavallee, Malcolm Sheppard, Ed Greenwood, Andrew Valkauskas

This is another standard we do every year, it's a fun panel where we get to talk about the weird way we make stuff.

Panel: Getting Started with Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Time: Sunday, 12:15 PM
Location: 703
Description: Wait, do we all need to buy a player's guide? Do I need
miniatures? What's the deal with these dice?  You've wanted to try
tabletop RPGs but don't know where to start! Our panel of experts will
give you the guidance you need.
Panelists: Robin Laws, Jonathan Lavallee, Andrew Hackard, Sara McMillen

Sunday is the day where I don't shut up on panels, as opposed to the days where I just don't shut up in general. This is a good kind of intro panel, how do I deal with all this stuff going on with RPGs? I hope we get a chance to talk about the awesome stuff and the pitfalls that come with the social aspect of the hobby, because that's what it is.

Panel: Step Right Up: Promoting your game
Time: Sunday, 1:45 PM
Location: 705
Description: Making games is fun, but a huge part of games is selling
them to other people. From game publishers to the general public how
do you get people interested in the fun times that you've created.
We'll discuss things from elevator pitches, to demos, to various tools
that you can use to help make sure you generate excitement for your
game.
Fellow Panelists: Jonathan Lavallee, Jason Anarchy

This one was one of the panels that I requested. We haven't had a "business" panel at Fan Expo yet and after some conversations with some people at some local events I think having a discussion about sales and demo work. Making people excited about your product is just as important as being able to make the product itself. Anyway, it's just Jason and me so it should have plenty of opportunities for people to bring up their questions.

Panel: State of the Game Industry
Time: Sunday, 3:45 PM
Location: 705
Description: Another year has passed, and the industry remains. What
new releases wowed the market? Are stores & distributors still
relevant in the age of Print on Demand and PDF sales?
Panelists: Robin Laws, Jonathan Lavallee, Phil Reed, Kate Bullock

This is the panel we have at the end of the con every year. I'll give the same spoiler alert. It's both going really well, and at the same time still has plenty of places that it needs to improve in order to grow and be even better than it is.

Fan Expo 2014 - Panels and Game a Go Go

Gen Con is behind us, and Fax Expo is in front of us. If you're going to be in the downtown Toronto area next weekend you'll be able to hang out and talk about things because there are plenty of panels here.

Friday
11:00 am - Room 709 - Finding Your RPG Style Panel
12:00 pm - Room 709 - Kicking Off your Campaign Panel
03:00 pm - Room 703 - Publishing your RPG

07:00 pm - Room 709 - Geasa: An Evening of Curses

Saturday
11:00 am - Room 709 - Finding Your RPG Style Workshop
12:00 pm - Room 709 - Kicking Off your Campaign Workshop
12:45 pm - Room 705 - In the Game of Boards you roll or you lose

02:00 pm - Room 709 - Gaming by Storm (1 hour blocks, I'm running 2 games of Critical! and 2 games of Marvel)

Sunday
11:00 am - Room 703 - Pathos and Probability Curves: Writing Adventures
04:45 pm - Room 705 - State of the Industry

01:00 pm - Room 709 - Critical!: Go Westerly: Growling Door Gates

Fan Expo 2012 - The Post Con Recap

Fan Expo happened, and while there was the usual snafus with badges and stuff it was the best run one I've been at, which isn't saying all that much.  While I love the man who runs the gaming section, the convention as a whole has frequently left me feeling that this is the Red Headed Stepchild of the convention. Yeah, sure you're there and yeah it might be a draw but whatever really.

That being said, there was still plenty of good times to be had. The RPG room was full and always jumping.  The Board game area didn't have a moment that I looked in where it wasn't full of people doing stuff. It's good to see it growing.

I did some awesome panels, which I'll probably steal a page out of Malcolm's book and do them one at a time. I did a panel on doing your own game, the state of the industry, and board game design with some awesome people.

However, the games.

I ran one game of Critical!: Go Westerly and another of Geasa.

Geasa was amazing, I was a little nervous because there were some younger players who first asked me, "Okay, so like what level do we start at" which is usually the sign of death. Not that they can't be great players, but when you fall asleep at the table during the creation part of the game ... usually that's a giant flashing neon sign that just says, "Oh shit."

The game set up ended up being a space exploration unit. The explorer, the captain, the medic, the engineer and the science officer all go down to this planet, after some hiccups on the way which caused the explorer to yell at the rest of the crew, putting him on the wrong foot. Eventually they hit the surface of the planet and after one crew member dies exploring a lake they find this fish. With some Fae shenanigans in the way they end up plugging the fish into their engine, which powers the entire ship better than what was already there. Of course, this meant that they needed to control the fish because the captain saw it as his way to owning his ship and being filthy rich, the scientist saw it as her ultimate discovery, the explorer saw fame and fortune, the engineer saw it as an opportunity, and the doctor had a mission to discover some new life.  They killed many people to secure the fish, to the point where they couldn't really trust each other and were waiting for everyone else to make their move to eliminate the competition.

After all, those who control the fish ... controls the universe.

Critical! was our adventure You All Meet In a Tavern and it's always funny to see how different players react to playing this game.

No one killed any kobolds, though the wizard was chomping at the bit to do so.
Angelique managed to kill two Fairies with one blow by throwing them into each other, which then covered the Dwarf with Fairy dust ... so he began to float. They tied a piece of rope around his foot while he was screaming "Nobody drags the dwarf!" at them.

We even had a musical number ... or two. I got the player playing Mabel to write them down because sharing really is caring.

Mutiny
When the first mate
Throws you overboard
To the sharks. (Oh Lord!)
That's caaaaaaalled a mutiny.

When the bilge rats
Try to tie you down,
When you've run aground
That's aaaaaalso a mutiny.

If you hate your crew
And they hate you too
They might hatch a plan
And try to M-U-erder you!

But if you take the time,
To keep your crew in line
With a keelhaul now and then,
You ... will ... be ... fiiiiiiiiin!

Needless to say he convinced Ailee that she needed to take her skeletons, her organ, and her story to the theatres of Westerly. It took some convincing, but it ended up being hilariously awesome.  So, after poking the dwarf balloon a couple of times she made her way, with Mabel, to begin discussing plans for the musical.

Fun times had by all really.

Fan Expo - 2012 Schedule

Hey folks,

While Gen Con is just around the corner you can't forget that Fan Expo is just around, just around that corner.  Like someone with a club ready to take your money after you deal with the first mugger.

That said, I'll be on a couple of panels and have a game to run, which will be fun.

To be fair, my panels are mostly me going to be sitting there and being very quiet since I'm going to be on some panels with @RobinDLaws and @montejcook, mainly because they use their middle initials in their twitter profiles but also because they're rather large luminaries in the industry.

Here are the panels and the times that they're going to be:

I wrote the narrative backstory of an Orc!, Saturday 4 pm room 715
Reflections on the gaming industry, Saturday  6 pm room  707
Board Game Design, sunday 1 pm room 715

I'm also going to run an undisclosed game of Critical!: Go Westerly at the follow time:

Friday, 3:00 pm room 706

Fun times will be had, and apparently I'm going to be doing a lot of sitting there and saying not much.

UPDATE: note that I'm not on the kickstarter panel and my game is earlier in the day. I think it's at 3:00 pm but I can be wrong at that.  It's just earlier in the afternoon, or whatever the afternoon slot is.

I gots Interviewed! - RPGamer.com

One of the fun things that happened was an interview with Scott Wachter at Fan Expo 2011. We talk about the pun that is my company name, CyberGeneration, Geasa and Critical!: Go Westerly and some future projects!

You can listen to it here!

Fan Expo 2011 - The Wrap Up

Ah ... Fan Expo. What can I say about Fan Expo? I enjoy the person who runs the gaming section, I enjoy sitting down and playing games. I enjoy waiting for that shoe to drop that makes us all look at each other and go, "Uh-oh ... here we go again."

This year that was the fact that all the gaming panels but one, the GM Masterclass one, got canceled for lack of space. Not that we were picky, basically the Gaming Track got to pick at the bottom of the barrel. Okay, that's not fair ... the Tabletop Gaming track got to try to scrape something together and in the end there was nothing left for us.

That said, there was a lot of good stuff going about. The Catalyst Folk were in force and doing what they do best which is running Battletech and Leviathans all day, every day of the con. Snakes and Lattes had a presence there, where you could just sit down and they would teach you boardgames. It's impressive when you consider that the place is usually full whenever I walk by, so the fact they where there was nice. Managed to play some Lemming Mafia and Hey! That's My Fish (and they were my fish damn it!).

The people who make Dungeon Crawler, Jay from Gifted Visions, was there and they were busy demoing their game. Malcolm showed up, and we had a good chat. Then Mikael showed up and he played some stuff with Justin, Amber and me. Brought out Blood Bowl: Team Manager and had a blast with it.

I think maybe I should have done more stuff at the con, but I'm glad I just got to sit back and relax. I didn't expect much of the con, it's the con that usually has then "when something goes wrong" feel rather than the "if something goes wrong" feel.

Next stop, Hammercon. I was going to go to Metatopia (and if you are in the area you should, it's going to be a developer gold mine) but I just can't afford another large trip. Gotta pay off the trips from this past year before I can start going off again on others.

Fan Expo - 2011 - What's going on?

People might be wondering where I am going to be this weekend, that will be at Fan Expo happening at the MTCC, which is right smack in the middle of downtown Toronto right next to the CN tower.

What am I scheduled to do there? Nothing! I haven't got any games, and the panels we were supposed to do got kneecapped. However, we're working on something where we can have a little impromptu-kind of sit down conversation thingy with some of the guests. I'm not 100% sure where, or what's going on but you can check here, the Facebook Page, or more likely the twitter account for updates as to what's going on.

I'll be bringing games, lots of them, and I hope that folks want to sit down and have a good time playing. I'll be in the gaming area, which is I think the 701 room.