>p>I’m back from a whirlwind vacation at GenCon, where I served as an Industry Insider Guest of Honor. I served on some great panels, and ran two games, one of which was a pick-up game of Rogue Mage with several Open Design fans. My favorite panel was called How to Get a Woman (to Play your Game). Jess Hartley, Michelle Lyons-McFarland, Susan Morris, and Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat discussed things that gaming groups should do to cultivate a welcoming atmosphere for women gamers. It was an historic moment at GenCon, for there have never been as many women game designer guests of honor at the show before. I had someone snap the following picture of us all to commemorate it.
Jess Hartley, Christina Stiles, Michelle Lyons-McFarland, Susan Morris (standing), and Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat–Panelists for How to Get a Woman (to Play your Game) at GenCon 2012
Also, like Steven (Congrats, buddy!!!), I ended up winning a gold Ennie at the show for Best Adventure for Streets of Zobeck for Open Design (Wolfgang Baur’s publishing company, also called Kobold Press now). My co-authors on the project included: Ben McFarland (lead designer), Mike Franke, and Richard Pett, Matt Stinson. I’m very proud of the job we did, and Ben proved to be a wonderful leader. I’m elated about the win!
As to the Rogue Mage pick-up game, I ran “Supply Dump,” the adventure going in the Rogue Mage RPG Game Master’s Guide. Each crew I’ve run this for does things a little differently. Matt Stinson, Michael Wice, William Senn, and Aaron Phelps had me laughing my head off at their antics. Here’s a picture of Matt (Jesse Holder) Stinson popping off two grenades to take out lesser dragonettes.
Matt (Jesse Holder) Stinson dropping grenades on lesser dragonnettes
