#INDIEGAMEaDAY2016
“What kind of shit-fit did you throw the last time someone tried to schedule your convention game in a ballroom like you’re playing fucking Pathfinder or something?”
Ha!
I’m not sure I’ve ever not played a con event in a big, open room. Even times when we were the only game, we were in some big, echo-y space that made understanding other people nigh-impossible for me.
I think, unfortunately, “convention locale” and “ideal roleplaying environment” are inherently at odds with each other. If someone has a counter-example, I’d love to hear about it.
I’m also sure that Paul Beakley will post an answer to this that reveals the true nature of what he’s getting at, which may be about expected levels of intimacy, or the difference between tournament play and something else. /sits and waits
The List: https://plus.google.com/+PaulBeakley/posts/SCyvyFEEbsv
We here in italy have a few small-ish (20-50 people) CONs. In one for example a group can play in a room separated from the others, if they want (I played Kagematsu there, for example)
I’ve walked through giant rooms like that, but never played in one. The worst I ever had was the big room at Double Exposure conventions.
RPG cons here tend to be held in school buildings. Classrooms make excellent game rooms.
Don’t even start with me about con scheduling.
Is it Big Bad Con where at least some of the games are played in private rooms?
Double Exposure has that, too.
A lot of the indie-friendly cons are offering private space. BBC is all private rooms this year! Amazing.
all private rooms this year! Amazing.]]>
Like most things, the West is more civilized in this regard.
We’ve got BBC and also we’ve got Go Play NW (horns emoji) which is held in a dorm during a slack quarter at Seattle U. There’s an enormous amount of common-but-secluded space in the dorm in addition to the ballroom where they hold the Friday night dinner and the game planning donut and the giveaway tables. Games at GPNW can have exactly the level of isolation they desire.
This year I played one game in the ballroom, and that’s where we played tony dowler’s awesome hoot-and-holler AW / Car Wars hybrid, and the ballroom setting was great because passers-by were really taken with all the cool game bits that Tony kitbashed.
My FB community in South Korea holds our annual mini-con* at a large cabin in the countryside. Traditionally, it has been held in November, making it pretty chilly outdoors. This year, however, we are moving it to mid-October, so hopefully a number of the games will take place out-of-doors, making for a much more intimate atmosphere.
*Our mini-cons attract between 30-50 players every year. It’s enough to make for a fun event! Our community is over 600 members strong, but those players are scattered all across the country.