Big Bad Con
OK, so this is two months old. Can I blame it on the Russian elections?
Big Bad Con was October 7-9 at the Oakland Airport Hilton. Even though it was only its first year, Big Bad Con was the best-organized game con I've ever been to.
There were around 220 players and 75 games on the schedule, all of which ran (except one D&D game whose players were folded into a Pathfinder game I hear). It was an all-RPG (and LARP) schedule, although there were card games and boardgames in open gaming. Open gaming also had a table with lots of indie games for people who wanted to check one out to play or read. I never saw a line at Registration, it was that quick.
I had a ton of fun running Monsterhearts twice, Saturday afternoon and evening, with thanks to Joe McD for getting me an updated edition with some new Skins in time for the con. The rest of the time I hung out and talked and had fun, although if I'd wanted more gaming I easily could have.
The Dealer's Room was excellent, and very conveniently located! It consisted of Chris Hanrahan of Endgame, and some tables to hang out at.
Excellent venue except for food options, although there was a good Italian place (Francesco's) across the street (closed Sunday) and lots of fast food options a mile away. The hotel restaurant and bar were... not very good. The staff were fine, the rooms were large and clean and had safes, and all the gaming was located conveniently close together, with plenty of water to stay hydrated. The curtains hung to divide the conference rooms into quarters were very nice. Parking was free and plentiful. There was a Gazebo. A Gazebo!
The Imperial Academy Dropouts played Friday night, and the Teenagers From Outer Space LARP boogied there.
Most SF bay area cons use a hideous shuffler system because they feed on the pain of their attendees, but Big Bad Con had signups on the web in advance, with some games holding slots open for additional first come first serve signups at the con. Everyone's badge had a list of their games, starting times, room number, and table number on the back, plus the entrance to each room had a list of all the games for that room, plus there was a huge color-coded chart showing all the games on the wall across from registration, PLUS the convention book also listed everything.
Rooms were numbered 1-5 and tables 1-20, so room 1 had tables 1-4, room 2 tables 5-8, etc. That was a really nice bit of labelling cleverness. Each table had a little stand with its number on it.
I'm definitely going back next year.
Oh, and how did my Monsterhearts games go? I think this quote from Colin J about his vampire nicely captures it: "If eating your brother and then having a threesome by his corpse is wrong then I don't want to be right!"
Big Bad Con was October 7-9 at the Oakland Airport Hilton. Even though it was only its first year, Big Bad Con was the best-organized game con I've ever been to.
There were around 220 players and 75 games on the schedule, all of which ran (except one D&D game whose players were folded into a Pathfinder game I hear). It was an all-RPG (and LARP) schedule, although there were card games and boardgames in open gaming. Open gaming also had a table with lots of indie games for people who wanted to check one out to play or read. I never saw a line at Registration, it was that quick.
I had a ton of fun running Monsterhearts twice, Saturday afternoon and evening, with thanks to Joe McD for getting me an updated edition with some new Skins in time for the con. The rest of the time I hung out and talked and had fun, although if I'd wanted more gaming I easily could have.
The Dealer's Room was excellent, and very conveniently located! It consisted of Chris Hanrahan of Endgame, and some tables to hang out at.
Excellent venue except for food options, although there was a good Italian place (Francesco's) across the street (closed Sunday) and lots of fast food options a mile away. The hotel restaurant and bar were... not very good. The staff were fine, the rooms were large and clean and had safes, and all the gaming was located conveniently close together, with plenty of water to stay hydrated. The curtains hung to divide the conference rooms into quarters were very nice. Parking was free and plentiful. There was a Gazebo. A Gazebo!
The Imperial Academy Dropouts played Friday night, and the Teenagers From Outer Space LARP boogied there.
Most SF bay area cons use a hideous shuffler system because they feed on the pain of their attendees, but Big Bad Con had signups on the web in advance, with some games holding slots open for additional first come first serve signups at the con. Everyone's badge had a list of their games, starting times, room number, and table number on the back, plus the entrance to each room had a list of all the games for that room, plus there was a huge color-coded chart showing all the games on the wall across from registration, PLUS the convention book also listed everything.
Rooms were numbered 1-5 and tables 1-20, so room 1 had tables 1-4, room 2 tables 5-8, etc. That was a really nice bit of labelling cleverness. Each table had a little stand with its number on it.
I'm definitely going back next year.
Oh, and how did my Monsterhearts games go? I think this quote from Colin J about his vampire nicely captures it: "If eating your brother and then having a threesome by his corpse is wrong then I don't want to be right!"