What do you like to see at conventions?

[Teflon Billy]

#1. Your favorite RPG's (besides D&D)

Champions, Hackmaster, Feng Shui and Ars Magica would do me fine, but in all honesty, RPG's at cons do not have a great history of quality for me. It's usually half-assed DM's running games for yahoos.

#2. Your favorite CCG's

Shadowfist is the only CCG I've ever had much affection for.

#3. Your favorite minature / wargames

Barbarian Kings is a ton of fun. I saw that they had re-relaeased it at Gen Con, and was so tempted to buy it

I'm pretty fond of an old TSR Microgame called Revolt on Antares.

I played a pretty fun game at CONspiracy that was a fantasy armies thing played with little blocks of wood. i thinkit was by Columbia Games. I forget what it was called, but it seemed really overpriced. It was fun as hell though.

#4. What kinds of programming do you attend at cons?

I used to attend panel discussions on differnent genres of game until I realized that they were, for the most part, just forums for people to bitch about inconsistencies in different published settings. If you are going to have panel discussions, make sure the panel are in fact more well-versed on the subject than the audience.

Westercon 44 had a Cyberpunk Genre in RPG's panel that included William Gibson, Nigel Findlay, and Steve Jackson...that panel had teeth.

#5. What topics would you be interested in?

Game Masters Only: plot development, creating / running NPC's, handling problem players, encouraging role playing, tips and tricks of the trade, etc. all sound good. They are exactly the kind of thing I would be tempoted to attend if the panelists sounded good to me.

Women in Gaming, Gamer Stereotypes, Gaming Advocacy, etc?

I'd pass. The attendees at cons are (generally) not the people I would want as Gaming's advocates or responsible for drawing Women to the Hobby...and they are walking, breathing stereotypes.

I wouldn't attend, and if I somehow wound up there, the first trenchcoated guy with a greasy ponytail and an anime shirt (and there would be more than one) would draw my ire.

#6. What kind of guests would you be interested in seeing?

Game designers and developers, Members of Gaming Companies, Organizations, Publications, or Online Communities are all good choices. These people would (in my opinion) make excellent panelists for the previously mentioned forums.

#7. Do you have any specific guests that you would like to see? If so, who?

Well, guests like they had at Gen Con are a total loss to me. The guy who plays the General on Stargate SG-1? Pass. Warwick "Willow" Davis? Pass.

The type of guests I like are industry stalwarts like Gary Gygax and Steve Jackson, Most any artists with name recognition (Wayne Reynolds, William O'Connor, or Sam wood for example) pretty much generate their own interest and discussions simply by having a display of their work.

Again, I ould rather see these people do panels on a subject than just a straight question and answer session ("Um...where do you get your awesome ideas?")

#8. Do you know anyone in the Long Island area that would be interested in helping us coordinate LARPs?

Nope. I'm Western Canadian.

#9. Any other comments or suggestions.

Be sure to include LARPS, but remove them from the continuity of existing local games. LARPS are a really fun, really visual occurence at a con, but if it's just "this Week's Game" for the local camarilla (or whatever), then it has almost no value to your non-insider attendees.

#10. Have you ever GMed at a con? If so, what did you get for doing it?

Free Admission and Food. There was often a t-shirt offered, but I usually just left it for soemone else.