Philcon 2007

Spent the weekend geekin' out at Philcon, a big science fiction convention held in Philadelphia. I spoke on three panels; one about creating characters in role-playing games (RPGs) and fiction, one about creating worlds in RPGs and fiction, and one about designing and selling RPGs. The panelists and questions were interesting and I brought a rough copy of The Ravaged Earth Society, my pulp game from Double G Press. I enjoyed myself at the con, picking up some classic pulp (Operator #5) and meeting author C.J. Henderson and getting a few books from him, notably his Kolchak: The Night Stalker fiction anthology and an anthonlogy of stories about The Phantom. Henderson signed all of his books, including one called Breaking into Fiction Writing, a good resource for writers like me who want their novels published. I also served on a panel with game designer Tony DiGerolamo, who autographed his fantastic Mafia RPG.
One of the highlights was a party thrown by the Science Fiction Writers of America, where I met several wonderful people and got tips on the publishing industry from professional science fiction writers.
The big event for me was actually running a demo of the Ravaged Earth Society! My slot was for Sunday morning and I had three people play and they had fun tracking down an Anasazi prayer stick and a Navajo shaman before a greedy archeologist did. The pulp adventure's players consisted of a gadgeteer, a private investigator and a masked avenger and the group had fun turning a Las Vegas casino upside down in pursuit of the artifact. It's exciting when people like your game. I want to give them a really fun and memorable gaming experience with TRES. As a game designer and writer, that's the ultimate goal - tell a great story and have the participating heroes enjoy themselves.



"Game with the Designer" I finally arrived!