Norwescon 2011
There are many great things for me about having
moved back to the Seattle area. First of all, I've got a whole lot of friends
here that I'm able to see much more frequently. Secondarily, there are a lot of
really cool events that go on here that I now can (hopefully) attend at my
leisure. A few weeks ago there was the Emerald City
Comic Con, PaizoCon is in
June, and, of course, in late summer there's PAX Prime, but
next on the calendar is NorwesCon.In years past, when I lived in the area, I tried to get to NorwesCon as often as I could, but fate seemed to conspire against me. More often than not I was either out of town, had friends or relatives visiting, or seemed to get knocked off my feet by a spring head cold. So I was already looking forward to getting to go to NorwesCon 34 at the end of April ... and then the programming organizers did me the singular honor of contacting me to see if I'd be willing to be a guest of the show.
Willing? I was (and am) thrilled to do so.
So now I'm prepping myself for a busy weekend of seminars, readings, signings, and general hanging about with science fiction and fantasy fans and luminaries. So in case any of the Dungeonaday.com members live in the general area (and by that, I mean within a 4 hour drive ... the con is certainly worth that investment, I think) or are coming in from further away to attend Norwescon, I thought I'd just post up my schedule ahead of time. Because invariably you're going to have to make difficult choices regarding your time--the event programming is good enough to keep a person busy for TWO weekends.
Here is where you're sure to find me on the weekend of April 23rd.
FRIDAY
1pm Webcomics--A seminar about webcomics. Are they really a new form or just a new medium? Are they replacing the classic formats or enhancing them with something new? Other panelists include Roberta Gregory, Ashley Cook, and Phil Brucato.
9pm Hey, <insert series > Would Make A Great Game! --A panel discussion about why certain books, TV shows, movies, and other properties would make great (or terrible) games. We'll also talk more broadly about the value of licensing when it comes to game publishing. Other panelists include Rodney Thompson and Kate Marshall.
SATURDAY
11am Reading: The Littlest Shoggoth --A few years ago I wrote and illustrated a holiday tale of the Lovecraftian Mythos featuring Squammie, the littlest shoggoth of them all. Now I'm going to read it ... aloud. Heaven help us all.
Noon Crunch vs. Fluff --A panel examining one of the great debates on RPG forums, boards, and discussion groups. What's more important to a game, the "fluff" (story, background, social interaction) or the "crunch" (rules, game mechanics, tactical interaction). Other panelists include Jeff Grubb, Jonathan Tweet, Erik Mona, Bruce Cordell, and Jason Bulmahn.
3pm Autorgraph Session --They seem to be putting all the guests into one room so we can sign stuff at the same time. Maybe they want to prove that we're all real.
5pm Micropublishing and the New Games Renaissance --A panel talking about hows, whys, shoulds, should nots, innovations, pitfalls, and benefits of the technological advances that make it possible for almost anyone to publish and distribute their own game material. Other panelists include Liz Courts, Jeff Combos, Dustin Gross.
In addition to those events, I'm sure to be poking around the show as much as I can manage and sitting in on other seminars just to soak up the collective wisdom.
I hope that some of you are going to be attending Norwescon, and that I'll be able to see you there.
