Catharsis Through Gaming: Empathy, Escapism, or Empowerment?
Summary:
Game design gives us many approaches to handle unique minority experiences. We can be empowered to fight, escape to worlds without stigma, or teach others to empathize with our unique challenges.
Character Creation – Who is that masked man anyway?
Summary:
Great stories need great characters. But how do you go about creating the backstory that will capture the reader's hearts and have them hoping that the characters succeed? Maxwell Drake helps!
How to design dynamic characters and creatures, with a focus on hand/rod puppetry.
Description:
Puppeteer, Noah Ginex, will guide you through designing a dynamic character. With a degree in animation and art, Ginex will teach you what makes a dynamic character/creature. While the focus is on hand/rod puppets, these techniques can be applied to glove puppets, marionettes, or illustrated characters.
Want to learn how to use your RPG experience in your work? We'll make character sheets for your clients & coworkers to help you communicate more effectively & design better software/solutions.
Description:
Imagine that you are a big hulking barbarian and you find and try to use a scroll of Cure Poison to save the king from death. -- Not going to happen. -- You needed a potion or something more aligned to your skills. This is the situation we are presenting to our clients and coworkers when we offer them solutions from our perspective. As gamers, we already know how to approach problems based on class, alignment, or anything else on our character sheets, why not leverage that experience in our jobs. This session will explore the how and why we can use character sheet personas in a meaningful way. We'll center the seminar around a fictitious software project with users as characters in an RPG. We'll have hands-on work and include take-home materials. At then end of the workshop you'll have new tools for how you can relate to clients and coworkers, making you more successful in your work.
Join us for a panel discussion with Q&A time on balancing faith & gaming, starting a gaming group at your church, & other topics on how to be both a Christian and a gamer.
How will people in the future address climate issues? What comes after global warming? Is climate a tool that can be controlled through science/magic? Scott Rice-Snow, Steven S. Long, Steven Diamond
Your brain is full of everything you've learned over the last four days. Now it's time for a little fun! Join us as we wrap up another successful year.
How can two (or more!) authors work together to create a cohesive work? Listen to James SA Corey (Daniel Abraham/Ty Franck) & Mercedes Lackey/Larry Dixon discuss the art and science of collaboration.
Comedy in Gaming Q&A with the Creators of the New Parody RPG, Beasties & Bygones!
Summary:
Meet the designers/writers of the new raunchy parody roleplaying game, Beasties & Bygones! Ask them questions! Gaze upon their countenances! Win fantastical door prizes!