Chad
Any word yet what kind of presence WOTC, the RPGA, and LFR will have at PAX this year? I'm contemplating a trip out for it.
Chad
I don't know what event(s) will be at PAX, but I know the WotC convention calendar has PAX on it.
I hear the RPGA has had a strong presense there in years past, so it stands to reason they will again.
After all, it's a BIG gaming con in WotC "backyard" - how could they pass it up?
Personally, I really wish WotC would work with PAX to move the dates. If it has one terrible drawback it is that it has, for at least 3 years, been one or two weekends apart from Gen Con. That's too close for many gamers. Spacing it out would create more of a reason to visit both cons.
Well, to be fair, 90% of PAX has little or no crossover with Gen Con.
Not to mention being 2000 miles away from GenCon. While I'm sure there's a few people who attend both, I know that having an RPGA presence at PAX was seen as a logical "add" by the RPGA a couple of years ago (esp. given the close proximity to WotC / RPGA HQ), even though it's immediately after GenCon.
I'd bet that the RPGA would like it to not be the weekend after GenCon, either (two cons on consecutive weekends puts a strain on them, for sure), but, as Telvin notes, you're asking the tail to wag the dog if you're wanting PAX to move its date away from GenCon for the sake of RPGA players.
Its hard for West Coast folks to make it out to GenCon, so having a major convention in close physical and chronological proximity makes a lot of sense for promoting the game.
So then have them change the date of Gen Con. WotC has far more sway there than they do with PAX.
Well, GenCon recently announced their con dates in Indianapolis through 2015, and they're consistenly in the first half of August. If anything, they're trying to make sure that they're a little earlier in August, with more and more schools going back into session before Labor Day.
GenCon has been a summer convention for at least the past 25 years, and I strongly suspect that holding it while most schools are out of session is a help to their attendance. I don't even see them going much earlier in the summer, because then they get too close in time to Origins (end of June); since Origins' location is much closer to GenCon's than PAX is, I'd suspect that they'd see Origins as a bigger scheduling conflict to avoid than PAX is.
Also, in Indy, they face having to schedule around several other big events. Even if they were willing to go outside of the "summer vacation" timing, they really couldn't go to Memorial Day weekend or earlier, since the time trials and race for the Indy 500 take up most of the hotel space in Indy for the last half of May. And, in late July, they face the same problem with the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race (IIRC, a few years back, they wound up having to move GenCon's weekend, because NASCAR shifted the timing of the Brickyard 400 right on top of GenCon).
So then have them change the date of Gen Con. WotC has far more sway there than they do with PAX.
Yeah. PAX isn't a tabletop gaming convention.
It's a console/computer/general geekery convention that just happens to have card games and some tabletop RPGs.
But something I've always wondered...
Why does WotC limit itself to only one con run by them (DDXP)?
They can easily run another DDXP-sized con sometime in late Fall. PAX has proven that a Seattle game show can be well attended, so they can even hold it in their backyard. A WotC (or even Hasbro) show, with a focus on all their products (computer games, card, RPGs) sometime in late October/early November could be a good draw.
Oh and props to Robert Altomare. He runs a great show everytime and his moving away from the SF Bay Area was a big blow to con organization back here. We miss ya Robert!
Why does WotC limit itself to only one con run by them (DDXP)?
I suspect it's because WotC / Hasbro has decided that they're not in the convention-administration business (with the exception of DDXP, which is *far* smaller than cons like GenCon or PAX). They seem to be perfectly happy in being sponsors at other people's cons, and sending RPGA HQ staff to a few big ones.
Keep in mind that they *used* to own GenCon; it's something that they inherited when they bought TSR. They got out of the general gaming convention business by selling GenCon off to Peter Adkison; my suspicion is that it was a similar move to spinning their print magazines (Dragon and Dungeon) off to Paizo, and that Hasbro decided that being in the game business is fine, but being in the convention (or magazine) business wasn't part of their core business.
Keep in mind that they *used* to own GenCon; it's something that they inherited when they bought TSR. They got out of the general gaming convention business by selling GenCon off to Peter Adkison; my suspicion is that it was a similar move to spinning their print magazines
Didn't Adkison used to own WotC? He sold it off to Hasbro in 2005. So in essence, he sold himself GenCon to keep (in 2002), just before he sold WotC to Hasbro.
Sounds more like a man in love with the hobby and wanted to keep his toes in the industry rather than any sort of attempt to farm out Wotc's side projects to outsiders.
Didn't Adkison used to own WotC? He sold it off to Hasbro in 2005. So in essence, he sold himself GenCon to keep (in 2002), just before he sold WotC to Hasbro.
He did, but you've got the timing off.
He sold WotC to Hasbro in January of 2001, and then took a little over a year off from the hobby before returning to purchase GenCon in mid-2002.
I suspect it's because WotC / Hasbro has decided that they're not in the convention-administration business (with the exception of DDXP, which is *far* smaller than cons like GenCon or PAX). They seem to be perfectly happy in being sponsors at other people's cons, and sending RPGA HQ staff to a few big ones.
I'm not clear on the details, but I'm pretty sure that - on paper at the very least - WotC doesn't run DDXP anymore either.
I suspect it's now officially Dave's (or at least, Bald Man Games') show to run - though it remains heavily influenced by WotC (from the name, to where the show runs, etc).
We will be at PAX, and you can expect a similar schedule to last year's. We'll have a few premiere events there in addition to some of the special stuff from Gen Con Indy.
Premier events? Sweet!
Last year my sons and I turned up at PAX and wanted to get in on some LFR. We were told that all the slots were full. So, where and how do we sign up for games at PAX this year?
Thanks,
Pat
PS We did get to play a delve and have fun though so it wasn't a complete loss!
http://www.warhorn.org/PAX2009/
The schedule will be similar to Gen Con but with a few changes. I think the schedule should be out in mid-July, based on activity on the judges list.
How do you get on that?
Robert Altomare is the fantastic cat herder and judge rewarder. He is on that list and can answer questions regarding judging. (I can try to help, but I'm not anyone official. I'm likely just to show up to judge the Paragon core 1-14 if it runs at the con).
Here is the Yahoo group.
Robert Altomare is the fantastic cat herder and judge rewarder. He is on that list and can answer questions regarding judging. (I can try to help, but I'm not anyone official. I'm likely just to show up to judge the Paragon core 1-14 if it runs at the con).
I was there last year - he was giving stuff away hand-over-fist. I want to hitch my cart to that gravy train...I'll also be going to GenCon, so I won't likely need a Slot 0 for the Paragon mods, unless for some reason I can't get my primary character to Paragon tier in time.
Sign-up is free. Games are free.
http://www.warhorn.org/PAX2009/
List of Events
Delves:
Dungeon Delve: Descent Into Vile Darkness (45 minutes, 3rd level Quick Play PCs)
Ultimate: Fall of the Tower at Windrock (4h 30m torture test, 6th level player created PCs)
Living Forgotten Realms:
MINI1-1 Stirring the Embers (2-Round Mini-Campaign, lvl 1-4)
ADCP1-1 Jungle Hunt (Adventuring Company, all tiers)
SPEC1-3 Ghosts of the Past (Special Event from GenCon Indy, all tiers)
PREMIER - CORM1-5 In the Bleak Midwinter (lvl 1-4)
PREMIER - MOON1-5 Lost Love (lvl 7-10)
Living Forgotten Realms Open Play - Play Anything!
Card Games:
Three Dragon Ante Tournament & Open Play
Inn-Fighting Open Play
** JUDGES **
We need judges. Rewards include shirts, free admission, the latest Wizards of the Coast LFR-related product, and hotel crash space.
Email me at [email]comixguru@yahoo.com[/email] or request membership at:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/PAXRPGAJudges/
Living Forgotten Realms:
MINI1-1 Stirring the Embers (2-Round Mini-Campaign, lvl 7-10)
I think that MINI1-1 Stirring the Embers is supposed to be for 1st to 4th level PCs, not 7th to 10th.
MINI1-1 Stirring the Embers
All is not well in the Great Port of Tarmalune and no one speaks of it. People are disappearing toward some fell purpose, and you are next. A two-round Living Forgotten Realms Adventure that is Part 1 of the Embers of Dawn mini-campaign, set in Tarmalune for characters levels 1-4. It is recommended that you play the Embers of Dawn mini-campaign adventures in sequential order with one character for the best enjoyment and play possibilities within the mini-campaign, but it is not required.
I think that MINI1-1 Stirring the Embers is supposed to be for 1st to 4th level PCs, not 7th to 10th.
Thanks! I had the wrong info from somewhere. Fixed.
PAX is almost here! If you have a badge and have not registered on Warhorn, please do so!
Note: slot times on Saturday and Sunday have changed. The Warhorn link below is now updated with the correct times.