PAX was a blast! I was just there as a fan this year (although Eric from Gamma Ray Games was kind enough to stock my books in the Games on Demand room and even sell a few copies). Video game highlights included discovering a kind of Gauntletesque Adventure Time game which I can’t believe I haven’t bought yet, and Crypt of the Necrodancer, a roguelike RPG that controls with a… dancepad? YES, YES, 1000x YES. I also swung by and chatted a little with some of the Strip Search folks (and picked up a rad Pineapple Maki T-shirt), which made me feel all warm and fuzzy.
As usual, though, the highlight for me was playing new stuff in the tabletop rooms. I learned to play Kingdom with my friend Ashley and a couple of other hilarious gamers (whose names I don’t remember because I am terrible). It’s a story game, and ours took place in the Puritan colony of Chastity Rock (but, like a funny Puritan colony? It’s hard to explain). I also played another storytelling game with a really cool map-drawing theme called The Quiet Year. We built an undersea community of scientists studying an active volcano who just about managed to completely destroy themselves before the Frost Shepherds even SHOWED UP. We had an amazing time with this one (thanks Ed!), and if you’re interested you can either buy the full version or just download the rules and use regular playing cards (you can even pay with good deeds instead of cash, which is possibly the best thing I’ve ever heard).
I also had the chance to learn how to play 13th Age with Ashley and an awesome, riotously funny GM named Ash. It’s kind of an old-school D20 fantasy tabletop rpg with some storytelling elements built in (you might be sensing a pattern here) that really encourages players to take the game in whatever direction they want. (In my second effort I played a dark elf who was raised by a community of Smurf-like fae, with his trusty familiar Smelfbro, the lone male denizen of Smelf Village).
So to sum up, PAX is kind of the best. Extra megathanks to Kevin for hooking me up with a pass, and to everyone we played games with. I’m going to sleep for a year now! Thanks, bye!
(* image above is someone else’s PAX experience, since I completely forgot to take any picture, as per usual. Boo, me.)