Gen Con 2014 Recap

(I had started a blog earlier this year to get myself writing. I posted once. I'm moving this here and the original post date was 8/19/2014)

The words I keep hearing echoed across all my social media - I had the best time at Gen Con this year!

You will get nothing different from me. This was my second time attending the con and I had a blast. Here's what went down.

Thursday - Started out my day working the HQ table from IGDN. Next, was a slot at Games on Demand. I ran Monsterhearts and it was pretty much the best game I've ever ran. There were only 3 players, all new to the system and they totally gave their all. We had a Chosen, a Ghost and a Witch. The Ghost had died over summer break and didn't really know what to do with herself, so she ended up just going back to school like she was meant to be there. Only a few on her classmates could see her and it ended up being my favorite part of the entire game. Later in the story, the Witch really failed at casting a hex and it caused the entire lacrosse team to be able to see her. Everyone had a blast and it gave me a huge personal boost of confidence about my GM skills.

That evening, I went on to play a curse the darkness LARP that used a Fate deck to deal with confrontations. I played a 65 year old man named Warren. I was a citizen of a town that had a nuclear reactor that was still functional just outside of town, meaning we had *electricity*! We had invited a new set of people to move to our town in hopes of finding someone who could fix the reactor, as it was beginning to fail. It was really interesting seeing a system that I know well in RPG form shift into a LARP. All of the tension you expect from the game was still very much in tact and the conflict of interest that arrises naturally was a huge part of this game. Being a life long citizen, I didn't trust the new comers but knew that we needed to help the town in any way possible. It caused me to personally be a little too careful and wait a bit too long. This, of course, adds more tension and makes the game better. I really enjoyed the game. They could have used another GM to manage all the shit going down, but that's really my only nitpick about the game.

Friday - I ran a game of curse the darkness at the IGDN game room. If you know me, you know the kittens and rainbows that surround my existence. I was happy to take on the challenge of running a game as brutal as ctd. As the players began to come to the table, the last group was a father with two boys under the age of twelve. I made sure and spoke to the father about the themes in the game and he assured me the boys would be fine. This actually ended up make it a bit easier for me to get into the game. I would have been a bit more gonzo if the kids hadn't have been there. I really let them set how far things went. Both of them really just wanted to be helpful and figure things out before the adults and that was pretty fun to play with. I also managed to get one of the boys to not name his character his own name. There was not the high body count of PC's as per normal in the game (mostly in part to the players stacking the deck on their first removal challenge) but there were still many challenges and all players seemed to enjoy it.

Later that night, Matt had his 40th birthday party and it went off beautifully. Lots of awesome people, amazing cake and even a game of Channel A. I'm so glad to have been able to help organize it and loved seeing Matt so happy.

Saturday - First on the docket that day was the GMing as Women panel. I had never been asked to be on a panel before. The public speaking aspect of it didn't have me worried, the fact that I was the least experience member of the panel was my concern. However, it ended up being a really fun panel and the questions asked were wonderful. Even some advice was asked, which was really cool. I ended up talking to a Trans* women after the panel about how she attended to gain perspective on how her roll as a GM will shift as she navigates her transition. Another lady found me again in the expo hall and we chatted a bit more about online gaming. It was a huge honor to be asked to be on the panel and I really enjoyed the experience.

I worked the IGND table until 6 and then, out of curiosity, stuck around for the Indie Hack Night: Hacking as Women workshop. I am SO SO glad I stayed. They split us into small groups and had us work with mentors, using the FATE, Apocalypse World and Codex systems as the mechanics systems for the games. I was paired up with a lovely Canadian named Nicole and we decided to work with the FATE accelerated system. They put the two ladies with pink hair together and it totally worked. She had come with a specific idea and we both really connected on having an appreciation for the wacky. The game that came out of it sounds so cool to me - "It's about supernatural creatures coming to accept themselves and 'out of the closet', so to speak, by being on a reality show. It has mechanics to define your character's motivations, how living on TV will affect your life, and for players to manipulate production aspects like the confessional and editing." Our mentor really seemed to dig the idea and told us to clean it up a bit and set the aspects and then potentially submit the hack. I went to the evening with an open about thinking how hacks work and how the GM can learn from it and came out of the session with a really neat idea that I can't seem to stop thinking about. It's going to be awesome working with Nicole and seeing what comes of this.

I then dashed off to Games on Demand to run Monsterhearts again. This ended up being the most difficult game I've ever run. I had 6 players, 2 groups of 3 friends. One group were LARPers and loved indie narrative games. The other group had never played a storytelling game in their lives and once they found out about the "sex moves" in the game, knew what they wanted from the night. So, two VERY different groups. I gave a good bit of freedom to the group to accommodate the 3 well versed players with intentions to help when needed to the newer players. What ended up happening was the opposite. The newer players ran wild and it actually ended up stifling the veterans. Then one of the girls caused two NPC's to have non consensual sex. *sigh*

For reference, I'm in a monthly game of Monsterhearts and I completely adore it. Mainly, because I adore everyone I play with. This experience made me realize that I was taking for granted that my group with not allow non consensual sex. I ran into my first gaming "hard limit". There was an "X" card on the table and I had explained it before the game. It was not tapped.

We took a break shortly after and I heard two of the veterans talking in the bathroom. I approached them and we had a talk. I asked if they wanted to leave the game and neither wanted to, they were having fun but they needed issues of consent to be taken care of. I thanked them for their honesty and devised a plan how to work through it the rest of the game. One girl then tried a sex move on a PC. We stopped and had a talk about consent and the player agreed to it and they proceeded on. She then tried to do it again and I said NO. I gave a reason within the game why it wouldn't happen but that was absolutely the first time I've had to tell a player NO. 

So, this game was a GIANT learning experience. I don't ever want people triggers or limits to be blown over and I also now know that *I* have limits. Everyone who was at the table said they had a fun time playing but I had an issue with boundaries being pushed. After venting that evening after the game and a night's sleep, I can look at this a the learning experience it should me. If anyone has any words of advice or ways I can work past this in the future, feel free to message me privately and I will gladly talk about it.

Sunday was working at the IGDN table until it was time to leave. This con was pure magic in my mind. I met so many lovely people, finally got to put faces and voiced to names and felt like I was in the right place. I like venturing into this awesome world and seeing where it takes me. 

I call Gen Con my "magical fairy land" and this year upped the stakes. Thanks to everyone who made it great.