Hey, while I was down at PAX AUS I got a chance to play Ivan Nevills food-themed games in the Arcanacon roleplaying area, and they got me thinking about ways to adapt gaming style to fit PAXs format. Has anyone got any thoughts or commentary on things that would work well in this space? For reference, the unique features of the gaming space at PAX are: (a) Its compartively noisy - not so you have to shout, but you certainly cant speak quietly; (b) Its public, and spectators will regularly wander up to see whats going on; (c) Players will quite often be interrupted by friends or family who need to ask a question or check in; (d) Players may be reluctant to commit to long games because of the nature of the convention; (e) Theres really no structural investment or buy-in to stop players getting up and leaving if theyre not immediately engaged by the game or it starts dragging. I was impressed by the way Ivans game, and his presentation of it, used the space on a few levels: (a) It was immediately visually intriguing to spectators - the game was made out of food; (b) He engaged spectators by asking them to perform trivial gameplay tasks like resolving disputes or distributing obstacles; (c) The game was receptive to being sped up or slowed down to meet the interests of its players, and likewise the rules could be simplified or complexified on the fly to player taste; (d) Its made-out-of-food theme offered a unique experience, only available at the convention, that countered the argument of, Well, I could roleplay outside the convention, why would I use convention time to roleplay?
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 00:41:06 +0000