Hypericon 2018 in Nashville AAR Part 1

On July 6-8, I was a Featured Guest at this year's Hypericon and as far as I know, the one gaming guest. I was contacted by my friend Alison-R with whom I worked on products long, long ago. Products that never made it to print for many bad reasons. Regardless, we both kept in touch and when I moved to Nashville, we kept meeting each other at writers and cons. It was really cool to be invited and I created two adventures for the Akhamet setting.

I had plans to take Jojo one day and ActionMan the next. My schedule was tightened by the fact that we had been invited to a massive Fourth Of July event on the event. But Alison and Miranda (the gaming overseeress) created a schedule that allowed me to attend all my events, and run a few games.

Friday evening, I had Jojo with me. I was due to run games that night. When I asked her whether she wanted to play D&D or go about and check out the many cosplayers and shop... well she disappeared I did not see her again until much later that evening.

I had planned short 2 hour adventures back to back, making a 4h block if I had people. One thing I learned is that when going to convention where you are unfamiliar with the attendance and are not certain of what is happening, create short events that you can expand.

So I ran a short adventure called "The Lost Temple of Seth" which served to introduce concepts of Akhamet to the players. We played for all 4h, with one player swapping out at the mid-point to attend a performance. Great tables of guys!

During that second slot, Jojo returned and was ready to do. My phone was also filled with selfies and pictures of cosplayers. Talking to her, she had a great time and was sad when I told her ActionMan would be coming the next day.

Saturday morning, ActionMan and I left for the con early, had some mcmuffins and from 9-11, we played at the video arcade. Classic games like the Simpsons fighting game and Double Dragon. Games that were awesome when I was 12-13 (for Double Dragon).

At 11, the guys returned and we played another adventure. This one had more lore about the setting. But in 2h, I kept it short and sweet. ActionMan kept warning the guys of the type of evil person I was and I felt awesome. That my kids become suspicious of a man who smiles too much...

At 1pm, I participated in a panel about "Encounters to scare your PCs" where Art and I provided a number to tricks to would-be GMs on how to scare their players. This was a very interesting panel in that since there were two of us, we got to bounce ideas off each other in a dynamic I thought was really entertaining. Heck! I was on the panel and thought it was awesome to listen to!

My 2pm panel was "Self-Publishing for Authers and Gamers". Now I do not remember the names of all the people on the panel, there was Louisville's own Lydia Sherrer and a lady who wrote some steampunk. This was another interesting dynamic where we shared our path to publishing. I got a few really good ideas that I will be implementing in the coming months. Although publishing for gaming and publishing for RPGs is different, there are still a lot of similarities. For example, taking writing classes has improved the quality of my writing of RPG material I know for sure. I don't look at written material the same way I did.

After that panel, we headed back home to get ready for some BBQ (my friend Hope and her husband Russel were grilling and bbqing). The massive potluck left my belt tight and wondering why I did not come wearing stretch pants or shorts... The hour-long fireworks display to patriotic music was just awesome. A great time was had by everyone in the family.

BiggestRayRay was there and filmed it all. His quality is amazing! And I even get a talking part, next to my lovely wife... find us at the 1:38 mark! That will give you an overview of the awesomeness of the event.

However, check the fireworks that span the final 5 minutes of his vid. Sensational!