Things I Am Doing At GenCon, UPDATED

So GenCon is August 15-18th. It's a big deal in the gaming community, a chance for relatively disparate elements and people to convene for a week in the middle of the US and hang out, reconnect, connect for the first time and play great games together.

My first GenCon was last year. And OH WOW was it amazing. All my friends were there, I got to see my friends' successes, I got to share some of my own successes with others.

Of interest to me were the panels, where loads of people would come hang out and talk about whatever the topic was for an hour or two. I went to some great ones (Phil Menard's panel on depression was intense, but wonderful), I went to some not-great ones (there was a panel that was so disorganized I can't even recall what it was about for the whole hour I sat in the room), and I thought to myself "I'm going to run a panel at GenCon some year."

"Some year" is THIS year.

UPDATE!! All the panels I submitted have been approved.  Here are all the details.

UPDATE AGAIN!! You can help make these great panels even better by supporting my GoFundMe campaign.

SEM1345150 Depression, Anxiety, Treatment and the Gamer
Thursday  4pm - 6pm
Crowne Plaza : Victoria Stn C/D

This seminar is more a conversation between people who are struggling with mental illness (and are now in various stages of treatment), yet don't let their illness(es) define them or stop them from producing the material they love. Come hang out with us and let's talk openly about how not to let the monsters win while we make awesome games.


SEM1341483 Writing Effective Scenarios & Settings 
Friday 11am - 1pm
Crowne Plaza Grand Ballroom D

Learn what it takes to write the best scenarios and settings you can, regardless of the system used or your experience level.
This seminar will be universal in scope - not focusing on solely one system over others, but looking rather at successful components found in MANY systems that you can take advantage of when writing your own.

SEM1345042 The Writer/Editor Relationship **
Friday 2pm - 4pm
Embassy Suites : Coronation 1

Learn from Brian Engard (writer, Bulldogs! Fate Core) and John Adamus, (editor Evil Hat Productions, Margaret Weis Productions) about the relationship between writer and editor.

** aka John and Brian Talk About Shit 

SEM1341489 Writing Q&A

Saturday 11am - 1pm

UPDATE! Crowne Plaza : Hay Market B

No matter what you're writing (a game, a novel, a movie, etc) you've no doubt got questions. This seminar is the place to get answers to whatever writing-related quandaries you have.
This seminar is driven by your questions, whether they're questions about writing a good sentence, a good story, getting an agent, getting published, editing your RPG, tweaking your LARP or whatever -- if you have questions about something you're writing, this is the place to get answers and help. If you're familiar with Dreamation, Metatopia and DexCon, this is a Gen Con-sized version of the Writing Workshop held there.

Wow. Just, wow, this is amazing, and I want to just encourage everyone to drop in, say hi, hang out and have some great discussions.

I am incredibly grateful, humbled and excited to have the chance to present not only a new workshop on scenarios and settings, but also do my more traditional Q&A on a much bigger scale.

See you in Indianapolis. 

GenCon Schedule

This is the first year I'll be attending GenCon. For years, it was an event that seemed to happen a world away that I'd never have the means or the reason to actually attend - it was more about wishing and opining for "one day" to come so that some future version of me would be there.

Well, I guess the future is now, because in 19 days (at least according to the countdown timer on the website as I write this post) I'll be there. So let's go through my schedule, day by day.

Wednesday

The Diana Jones Awards - I'm going to this. I don't know what it is or how this works, but apparently this not a black-tie sort of event.

Thursday

Okay, before I get into the schedule, I have to throw a flag on the play. I was NOT pleased with the seminar selection for Writing. I'm a little biased, sure, as seminars about writing are one of my sources of income, but I was really disappointed in both the segmentation of the process (one whole panel about plot, one whole panel on characters), as well as this weird assumption I've seen crop up lately that you're either a total rookie when it comes to writing or you're currently cranking out your thirtieth novel.

There does exist a middle of the road, and there is a better way to do things - which is why Thursday is going to be John's Bootleg Seminar Day. Bootleg because it's not an official thing you sign up for, and it'll be very much like the informal seminars I give at DexCon, Dreamation and Metatopia (in other words, awesome). While I still have to sort out the details (like time and place), you can get in the loop on this by following me on Twitter, and sending me an email.

There's also the GenCon Social. Admittedly, I haven't really been paying attention when Jenn has been talking about this, but it sounds kinda like you put gamers and food in a room and then they hang out. Usually I just call that "work". Or "what I do at conventions". It'll be cool either way.

Friday

[SEM1238034 Editing and Indie Games] I edit indie games. And any chance I can hang out with other editors, it's nice.

[SEM1238035 12 for '12: Writing A Dozen Novels In A Year] Because...c'mon, it's Matt Forbeck. Also, I promised him I'd go.

[SEM1237839 The Inner-Demons And the Tribe: Dealing with Depression As A Gamer]  I am a gamer with depression. A panel like this sounds actually helpful, especially with the treatment I'm going through now.

[SEM1238038 Freelancing In The Game Industry] Because I freelance in the game industry. For other thoughts about freelancing, you should track down Brian Engard's podcasts on Jennisodes and Dice Food Lodging. And then you should follow him on Twitter and tell him his voice may or may not sound annoying. You know, if you have nothing else to do. Or just want to make his Twitter follower number rise so his OCD kicks in. (I am a weird friend.)

Friday night is also when the ENnies are awarded. I'm going, because I voted for stuff, and because my way awesome friends are nominated.

Saturday

[SEM1238042 Doing Kickstarter Right] Because Kickstarter is a thing I use, something that my clients use and crowd-funding should be talked about often.

[SEM1234371 Investigative RPGs and the GUMSHOE System] This is basically my chance to hear Ken and Robin pick on Simon in person. Also, GUMSHOE is awesome, and I promised Ken earlier this month I'd be there.
* Also, I bought Beth Lewis a cupcake.

[SEM1238046 Getting the Most Out Of Working With Editors] Because I'm an editor, and people should come meet me so that they can see editors aren't the boogeyman of publishing anything.


My apologies for not knowing when these awards things are happening - I'm a little too fussy about time and have elected to just let the people around me prod me about them. I have enough things in my head at the moment, so I'm trusting other people to get me to where I need to be, whenever I need to be there.

There's a LOT of downtime in this schedule, and I plan on making frequent ventures out to whatever Halls and Game Areas there are. So if you're coming to GenCon and want to say hello, please do so.

Enjoy your weekend.