Conventions

TL;DR: Best RPG convention I’ve attended so far! Three weeks ago, I attended Big Bad Con in Walnut Creek, California. Last year, I had a chance to attend for a single day. This year, I was able to attend from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. During that time, I played seven four-hour RPG sessions, totaling a massive 28 hours of gaming in a single weekend! Unlike most RPG cons, Big Bad Con has a strong emphasis on indie and story games. You’ll find many PbtA or Fate powered games, for example, but also many fairly obscure indie titles. No D&D Adventurer’s League or Pathfinder Society here (not that there’s anything wrong with either of these; other cons just cater more towards these games and experiences). ...

I attended my second KublaCon last weekend. Like last year, I had a fun time overall. Most of what I wrote last year still holds true (including the frustrating Shuffler), so I won’t repeat it here. It felt like the results were posted sooner this time, which helped. Then again, the website was virtually unusable (it kept timing out) for most of the con… They really need a new system! Aside from that, KublaCon is well organized, with friendly volunteering staff, a great crowd, and a large dealer hall. ...

Last weekend, I attended my first KublaCon. This was only the second gaming convention I attended in the US, the first one being last year’s DunDraCon. The Good The mix of events was great. I mainly played RPGs, but there were tons of options for board games, elaborate war games, collectible card games, LARPs, and more. They also had a dedicated kids and teens room. My home group mainly plays D&D, so conventions are a great way for me to try out some other systems. In this case, I had a chance to play two Fate games - a game I’m currently learning, with the goal of running a one-shot for my group at some point, but haven’t had a chance to actually play yet. It’s a really good opportunity to get a feel for new systems or settings, or just different techniques that other GMs use. ...