Over Memorial Day Weekend, Adam Daigle, John Compton, and I went to MisCon 27, in Missoula, Montana. Without a doubt, it's one of the finest and most fun regional conventions I've been to. There were around 1,200 attendees, but you wouldn't know it—the way the con organizers use the space makes it feel pretty intimate.
Venture Captain Kyle Elliot was there, as a madman running Pathfinder constantly for longtime fans and enthusiastic new players. Here's what he had to say about that"
"Pathfinder Society is soon to be a growing trend in the great state of Montana. Muse: Comics and Games is the newest hotspot for PFS in the city of Missoula, hosting games every Sunday. MisCon 27 was a great starting point to meet fans of the game and get them involved in a local community. I ran across several gaming clubs that connect gamers to one another across this spread out state. From Hamilton Gamers Guild or the crew at Black Shield Productions these folks were great examples of what type of amazing community that is waiting for more to join. I've already set my travel plans for MisCon next year, and I hope to see y'all there too."
Dave Gross, author of the Pathfinder Tales novels Prince of Wolves, Master of Devils, and Queen of Thorns, joined our happy quartet for the Paizo Ask Us Anything panel, where we talked about upcoming books, rules questions, life cycle of products, things like that. It was a good crowd, and because it was such a nice day, the convention staff held that panel outdoors.
Photos Courtesy of the Gamerati
We each have particular convention highlights. From Adam:
"I had such a great time talking to people during the weekend, especially all the people that came to my panels and stuck around to talk when they were over. I think we all came up with some fun ideas during the monster design panel, and though Monday was a bit slower as people went back to their normal lives. We had some good talks with people about writing for publication. I was most touched when Erik Evjen found me on Friday and presented me with a sweet thank you card, on behalf of all Montana gamers, to bring back to the office and share with my coworkers (along with a bottle of booze!)."
From John:
"MisCon 27 was my first opportunity to represent Paizo while wearing the blue shirt, and I enjoyed the experience immensely. All of the panels that I participated in were lively, informative, and well attended. Of particular note were the monster design panel that I ran with Adam, a "how to make paladins fun" panel, and the ever-infamous Deck of Many Situations exercise that concluded an expanded series of GM 101 seminars. Missoula was an excellent host, and I look forward to returning in the future."
And I personally had a lot of fun during my two-hour Improvisational GMing seminar. That's always a blast, but the crowd at MisCon was especially fun to work with, because they jumped right in with the improv exercises. There were also a few people running The Dresden Files RPG non-stop over the convention, so I stopped by at the end of the show and high-fived them. Finally, I got to meet and talk with Jim Butcher, which was a real treat after reading his books for years and working on the game about his world.
And, of course, we all enjoyed the after-hours shindigs, sitting around and chatting with fans and newfound friends.
If you get a chance to go to MisCon, we cannot recommend it enough.
Ryan Macklin,
Developer
