Emerald City Comic Con

Apparently I will be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend running 13th Age demos.

I haven't run an RPG demo at a convention in quite a long while - I've been running board game demos for a good long while.  But RPG demos are an entirely different animal.

There are a number of good points here:

1) It's a game I like.  A lot. I'm currently in a game that I'm very much enjoying.

2) I'm mostly familiar with it - obviously, I'll need to go over it and refresh myself on a few of the rules. But I'm mostly ready to go.

3) There is a scenario already set up and ready-to-go.  It's on Pelgrane's website. And I've already read through it a few times.  It's actually pretty basic - but it highlights the strengths of the game.

4) I'm already "in shape" with my GM skills.  I'm not the best GM - and I have no illusions about that - but I do enjoy it.

5) I enjoy introducing people to things I like.  Conventions are an excellent opportunity in which to do that.

So what do I dread?

1) RPG demos differ from board game demos in one significant way: they depend to a much greater extent on the people who are involved.  While one difficult person can make a board game demo difficult, it doesn't often color the perception of the game.  But one difficult person can utterly destroy an RPG demo.

2) I really really don't like crowds. GenCon is pretty difficult for me, believe it or not. Until after the first demo or two - I just need to remember that these are my people.  Because they really are. Even at a comic convention, the attendees are my people.  We are all geeks - and I'll admit to being a low-level comic book geek.

So we'll see how it shakes out.

I'll let you know, probably next week.

The following week, I'll have a character from my wife.

That should give me plenty of time to get a post or two together, despite the upcoming chaos at work.