Playtesters & designers: learn how to productively playtest games & improve feedback. Get advice on the fundamentals from expert designers, followed by Q & A. Precedes ConTessa’s Playtestalooza!
Get Paid To Make Belief: A How To Guide To TRPG Freelancing
Summary:
Freelancing in the tabletop roleplaying game industry has never been easier. This panel outlines steps & guidelines to getting freelance work writing, editing, laying out, & illustrating games.
Description:
How to break into the tabletop game industry as a freelancer. Panelists share their stories and experiences working in this ever-changing industry, offering concrete advice to people looking to pursue freelancing as a writer, editor, producer, and/or artist. How much can you expect to make? What are the best practices when it comes to contacting publishers? Which publishers should you avoid? How to make the best first impression. All of these questions and more will be answered.
Getting Attention: Publicity for Game Designers, Companies & Stores
Summary:
Learn how to get attention for your game business. With years of journalism & publicity experience, Beth Rimmels & Christopher Helton will teach you how to draw an audience.
Description:
Creating a great game or running a successful store is only half the battle. People have to know about it but cutting through the noise to get attention is getting harder and harder. Beth Rimmels and Christopher Helton have been on both sides of a publicity pitch due to their backgrounds in journalism and the game industry. Learn what to do and what not to do while promoting your business or product.
Paladins in Petticoats: Lolita Fashion in Nerd Spaces
Summary:
Lolita is a popular, extremely feminine Japanese fashion that evokes the Rococo era. It's often misunderstood in the West, especially when one is both a Lolita & a nerd. So what is it, exactly?
Description:
A mix of "what is lolita" and "how does it apply to me", this seminar will cover lolita 101, the history of the fashion, the different substyles, and why you probably shouldn't treat your local lolita like your personal paper doll (though you should definitely make friends with us). There will be ample time for questions and exploration of an outfit, or coordinate, at the end.
Safety & Calibration tools help players establish boundaries during a larp. Participants will learn about several techniques, then practice them in short role-play scenarios, ending with a debrief.
Description:
Players in larps have varying experience, abilities, triggers, and comfort zones, both physical and emotional. Trigger and content warnings help, but how do you ensure players feel safe and are able to consent to the roleplay they want and opt-out of what they don’t? What do you do when a boundary is crossed, or a player becomes overwhelmed during play? Safety and Calibration Mechanics are tools designed to help players feel comfortable with each other and with their own needs and boundaries. We will introduce and model the system of safety and calibration mechanics we designed for New World Magischola, some of which have been adopted at End of the Line, Convention of Thorns, and Dystopia Rising, among others. You’ll learn about the techniques, what they are designed to do, the assumptions and research behind them, as well as why they are important.
How do I find a group? How do I keep my group together? What game do I want to play? Answer these & more with our panel of experts!
Description:
Join author and gamer Teri Litorco and others in learning how to get yourself into tabletop gaming! Maybe you have a passion for it but no one to play with yet. Maybe you can't seem to keep a steady group together. Maybe you have no idea where to start in gaming. This panel will give you tips and tricks on how to get a group going and keep it running smoothly.