PAX Unplugged 2024 Part 2: Saturday and Sunday Boogaloo
the exhibit floor on Saturday morning, picture taken by Ian while we checked out the media/creator area
Welcome to Part 2 of my PAX Unplugged write-up! Part 1 grew so unwieldy in word count and amount of links for TTRPGs that it felt best to split it in two. Saturday was hectic. There were still so many games and things to do and see. Missed Part 1? Go back and read it here.
Let’s get right into it because Saturday was the busiest day, and there’s lots to cover!
Day 2 – Saturday: Brunch, More Exhibit Wandering, and Panels!
Ian took a lot of pictures, but I also weirdly enjoy taking photos of him taking photos; he gets very focused, and it’s cute
I ate red velvet pancakes at Green Eggs Café that were like three tiny mattresses, perfectly square and delightful. I only consumed a tiny fraction at brunch, then proceeded to eat the rest for leftovers the rest of the weekend. Only finished them for dinner Sunday night with Ian helping out. It was decadent and lovely and yes I did eat cold pancakes as a snack on the car ride home, it’s fine, I regret nothing.
I tried my best to go back to the exhibit floor to find more games to showcase. I was gaining some confidence and urbanbohemian had given me a script to initiate asking about games at booths in a way that made it clear you were there to showcase their games potentially, not buy (and waste their time when there were other potential customers around).
But first, I met up with friends at the Yaniir booth. Because it’s Yaniir and I have been eyeing that beautiful dice jewelry for years.
behold! beautiful dangly dice earrings! and one (1) d6
I haven’t had nice dangly earrings in forever because I found out I have a metal allergy and just stopped bothering out of anxiety. But sterling silver doesn’t bother me, and I was celebrating my birthday. With delightful enabling from friends, I bought the pretty earrings and one d6.
Then I departed—after running into some more people by surprise on the floor, as one does at a convention like PAXU—to find more games of interest. And I did find more!
First was Tales From the Gods by Axo Stories. This was a solo journaling game amazingly up my alley. Play as a god and experience their lifetime, from new god to one that is attacked and dethroned, etc. Again, very on theme for me, I seem to really love circling around deities new, dead, and to-be-overthrown. The only reason I didn’t get it was because I had run out of budget with the earring indulgence. Forgive me, one day I will get the cool hardcover copy.
I was impressed by the booth overall as well, which was run by the Indie Game Developer Network (IGDN).
Then Ian and I wandered down each aisle of the exhibit floor—which, yes, was very overwhelming, but also so thrilling to see everything.
I stopped by the M. Allen Hall booth because I saw it mentioned in Exeunt Press’s Skeleton Code Machine newsletter (which is awesome). While I didn’t get any physical copies, I did end up backing ENDLING on Kickstarter right before it wrapped up—and added in a digital copy of all his solo TTRPGs.
This included Godspark, which caught my eye at the booth. Shoutout to the lady at the booth who informatively and kindly hyped that up because she did end up selling me on yet another attack and dethrone god game—but wait, unlike MIRU in Part 1 or Tales From the Gods, this time you use the fading power of an already-dead god to survive instead. Love it, can’t wait to play it.
what an endearing card game concept—try it on a creative friend with weighty imposter syndrome for maximum loving damage
I wandered more through the exhibit floor a little bit before I got too overwhelmed. I had been warned Saturday would be packed, and wow was it ever full of people. The sheer constant background rumble proved a lot after a couple hours.
But first! I found some fun card games from Pink Tiger Games. These were all (mostly) kind and wholesome games, gorgeously pastel and fun. The two that caught my eye:
The whole goal was to compliment each other. That’s it. How endearing is that? Also, bonus points for making any introvert and/or insecure, imposter syndrome riddled friend at the party squirm and blush (it me, but it also likely you or someone you know, too, so go compliment them).
This one had a nice whimsy to it. The deck had over 300 words for specific emotions like *checks notes* solivagant: to wander alone; or depaysement: the feeling when you’re in a new place, like when you’re traveling and everything feels new—even the way you think and act. I was absolutely feeling that at PAXU.
Somewhere in there, I also walked by Previously Pluto’s booth for Magusha: Clash of the Commanders. It’s listed as an “Afro-fantasy 1v1 tactics card game” and frankly I will always happily yell about any fantasy game or story not set in medieval Europe. Magusha looks to be launching their Kickstarter soon, so go click that notify on launch button (or, if you’re reading this far after the fact, go check it out overall).
look how cooool Illimat is! prettyyyy! in need of far more table space than I have in my tiny apartment, but I loved the vibes of it so much
Oh! And again somewhere in there wandering around urbanbohemian and I came across Illimat. The only reason I didn’t pick this game up was because a) I have no space and b) I have no one local to play with in that many numbers and again with no space to do so in my tiny apartment. But I loved the demo the booth attendee gave us, and this would be a really fun tarot inspired board game to dive into someday. If you have the space and the local friends, Illimat seems like a great time (they didn’t pay me or anything, I was just that impressed by the game).
Before long, the chaos of the crowds became too much to deal with, and I fled back to hotel. On the way back, we had some of the best donuts I’ve ever had at a place near the convention center we randomly stopped by. From there, we met up with one PaintingPirate at the big holiday market Philadephia sets up in December.
it was a big tree
The three of us made our way back to the convention and Pirate kindly showed me some secret, such as this one upper section that had chairs. Best part? There was an escalator away from the crowds, making things quieter. People were also playing games up there! I plan to make good use of it next time I attend.
He also gifted me a physical copy of Viva la QueerBar for my birthday. It’s a 1-5 player game that uses a playing deck of cards rather than dice and is about running a queer bar or queer café. This is another game I absolutely plan on running on stream with my chat. I think a lot of these GMless or 1-5 player style games would be good for that!
pictured above: the moment OboeLauren was still hung up on urbanbohemian’s comment on werewolves or what if “were-Wawa”s; still lives rent free in my brain too, it was ridiculous and fun
From there, we met back up with a larger group of friends to go watch the “Is It Ethical To Keep Your Friend As A Pet If They Turn To A Werewolf, And Other Queries” panel.
The moderator: ladyluck34
The panelists: urbanbohemian, TheOperaGeek, LaTia Jacquise, TaruHunter, and OboeLauren.
It was pretty hilarious, with added amusement of debating extra queries after the panel. If you keep your werewolf friend as a pet, for example, do they have to pay rent? The answer was no, but they would have to pay the pet fee and deposit (which, I guess, is rent…???).
A revisit of this panel next year for PAXU 2025 would be excellent, and I hope that happens! It was the perfect Saturday night chaos panel. There might be a recording somewhere eventually, and I’ll add a link if that ever sprouts up!
After fleeing people again to eat leftover pancakes for dinner, I went back to socialize with friends a bit more and just hang out and enjoy the Saturday. It was nice, and I forgot how much my introverted, immunocompromised self hasn’t gotten to be around people too often.
Note: I think there was a concert Saturday night and/or a big Daggerheart panel? But there were frankly so many people that the thought of attending proved too daunting. Maybe I will try next year for the bigger events. Maybe (likely not; unless… I make it as a writer and am a panelists at a big event, wouldn’t that be something).
I went to bed Saturday feeling so glad I fought the social anxiety, the intense urge to avoid everything all the way up until Thursday night. I’m glad I stayed at PAXU instead of running away in panic because I had a great time.
Day 3 – Sunday: Seeing Friends Before Heading Home Early
a picture of city hall Ian took on Sunday morning while we got coffee; we walked up that median and my anxious self tried not to be stressed while my New Yorker partner was like “it’s fine there’s no cars and some of the streets are closed off.”
I wasn’t sure what my energy levels would be by Sunday, and maybe it was for the best that I chose to go home early. My voice was gone from yelling through a mask all weekend. Like, truly gone, could barely get whole words out without my voice quitting entirely. And I missed my cat.
I think going home early was the right call for my first big convention. When I get too stressed, as a chronically ill person I also get sick easier, and it was better not to push that too far. Going forward I’m not sure if I’ll ever stay through until Monday like many do! Sunday certainly feels like it’s the best day to unwind and slow down. But that’s a future Val problem.
Again, I can’t stress how little I managed to do by the end of it all, despite running around nearly non-stop. PAXU has so much to do.
Also, I didn’t take nearly proper enough notes to accurately retell everything in the right order. For example, at some point in there I waited 40 minutes in line for PAXU merch. Could not tell you where precisely at this point, between being nearly in my mid-thirties and also constantly overstimulated all weekend-long, so nothing properly stuck in my brain longterm.
Next year, I will take better notes, more pictures. It’ll be a whole thing. More than this two-part write-up already is… It’s fine!
taken right before we went to go check out of our hotel and head home; it was a nice, quiet Sunday morning with no one around in this empty plaza so we took a selfie masks off, and I think it’s a favorite of mine
I did manage to get one more coffee and then a final farewell to many friends. I met new folks, got to say hi to friends like cypheroftyr I had known for nearly a decade but never managed to meet up at a convention or event before. And fierceaxolotl and other amazing folks from Twitch’s Latin Guild! That was such a fun (but too-brief because I had to run) time.
I learned a bit about Magic the Gathering and also had far more coffee than I am typically allowed to have these days (I regret nothing; the caffeine withdrawal brain fog afterward was rude though). Then it was back home we went!
I’m so glad I got to meet and hang out with these goobers, and so many others I didn’t think to get pictures with—next time, next time I will absolutely ask for more selfies with folks~
All The Things I Remembered After the Fact
the Gay Breakfast pins made me feel so powerful; no ambiguity as to my gaymer status or my pronouns
I don’t remember what day we went to Gay Breakfast’s booth—I want to say Friday, but frankly the blog post for Friday is too big so it gets a mention here. (Though by the time I finish this one, I think Part 2 will be longer.)
Seriously go buy all the Gay Breakfast pins. It took a lot of self-control not to buy more.
I bought the…
Crownoun Pronoun pins (the she/they variant)
A starry rainbow space dragon that doesn’t seem to be on the website currently but I will link when I find it. Here is the Kickstarter (already finished and fully funded) for the Celestial Pride pin set which has a bunch of the stuff I saw available at the booth.
when you spot your friend’s TTRPG at a convention you are legally obligated to take a picture and report back to them about it, it’s the rules
Oh! And it was awesome to see Natalie Pudim’s Sapphic Space Pirates at the Indie Press Revolution booth. I don’t remember which day this was, and I ended up letting other folks buy print copies of the game as I already have a digital version.
I had the joy and honor of writing some snippets of narrative backstory and lore for Luck of the Harbor’s upcoming game Warrenguard, a dragonrider TTRPG about found family. I got to be part of a 6-episode actual play campaign promoting Warrenguard during its crowdfunding campaign and it continues to be one of the highlights of my actual play experience to date. So go support Natalie’s work.
And last but certainly not least, the last solo TTRPG I really wanted to buy was Thousand Year Old Vampire. However, I couldn’t afford the fancy hardcover version after everything else and instead opted for a digital copy for now. Someday though, someday.
this Spheal has nothing to do with anything but I just needed to share it somewhere in this massive write-up because it was apparently hand crocheted (according to the person yelling information at us as we passed, thank you person for this information)
And that’s it! I promise! We’ve made it to the end.
Like I said in Part 1, PAX Unplugged was a magical experience. My one wish was that masking was required or at least more encouraged, bare minimum—though thankfully most of the people I hung out with masked most of the time. And happily, because my partner and I are so diligent with masking, neither of us got sick or got covid (something I do not compromise on for my own mask usage because I’m a cancer survivor).
Basically I want to make PAXU a regular event I attend, ideally yearly but we’ll see. Here’s hoping these two write-ups help with that, as I’d love to keep getting to cover TTRPGs with a media badge at PAXU. I will do write-ups of my experiences with all the games I bought as well once I play them! Like with indie video games, I find myself drawn to indie TTRPGs. I just want to help the little guys and support where I can and highlight them even a little bit.
There might be a bonus Part 3 to this, mostly where I talk about my friends being kind to me in relation to making me sign anthologies and such, but I didn’t feel comfortable promoting my own work when the whole point of these write-ups were to showcase all the PAXU things. But please know, if you brought one or both of the two anthologies my short stories are currently available in? I still think about it, it meant the world to me, and it still brings me joy.
And now we are really, truly, actually done.
For now. There’s always next year.
If you want to reach out to me to point out any games I should check out (especially solo/GMless/duo to play with partner or stream chat), I do have a contact form. Also if you just want to tell me you liked this write-up and it wasn’t a total waste of time! Very good feedback for me too.
If you enjoyed this post, consider becoming a free or $1 patron on Patreon (you’ll get paying patron only microfic and behind the scenes posts on novel progress) or tip me on Ko-fi.
