Kingbeast's Lair

What Is It?

Big Bad Con is a tabletop gaming convention held in the East Bay.  For the past several years it has been held at the Walnut Creek Marriott in October.  Although billed as a tabletop gaming convention I think the focus is on small press role-playing game and LARP events.

Why Is It Special?

Big Bad Con takes the words acceptance and kindness to heart.  Every time you walk in the lobby or approach a Ranger, one of the yellow scarf wearing staff members, you are greeted with a smile and a hello.  They will then do everything in their power to make sure the con attendee is taken care of and having a good time.  This even happens during sessions!

Acceptance is paramount.  There are pronoun ribbons for your Big Bad Con lanyard and at seminars and panels there is a real focus on acceptance and embracing identity.  In conference rooms there are spaces marked off for people who have a special need of any kind.

The result is an atmosphere that encourages attendees to talk with each other openly.  Several times I got into fantastic conversations with complete strangers.  In every case I was more than pleasantly excited about it.  One example was before the sessions on Saturday morning.  I was in the lobby having a coffee and noticed that an attendee was reading Mouse Guard.  I plan to run Mouse Guard for this group so I asked him for some advice.  Turn out that the guy has run Mouse Guard for several years and it is his favorite RPG.  He went on to spend nearly an hour giving me pointers, cheat sheets, and other helpful advice.  It turned into just an encounter that I will never forget.

What Did I Play?

I played four role-playing games and a board game.  Every session went wonderfully.

I started with Bliss Stage.  This is a giant robot anime setting with a twist.  Carl Rigney was running the game which prompted me to sign up.  Carl never disappoints.  I had a blast smiting evil dream creatures with an amped up sonic cannon.  It was awesome!

Next I played The Watch with Anna Kreider the designer.  Before the session started I actual met Racerx who was also at the session.  Fun was had by all in an action packed emotional setting.  This is a little game with a lot of depth.

On Saturday I played in Mountain Witch again with Carl Rigney.  It was one of the highlights of my Big Bad Con 2018 visit.  Having six players really makes this game tick and Carl brought it as the GM.  Go fast!

I try to take it easy on Saturday night with a board game.  It works really for me to unwind and still have enough energy for Sunday.  I played a neat little co-op area control board game called Spirit Island.  It took some time to get warned up but the game certainly rolls along once it gets going.  Liked it so much that I bought a copy and pledged for an expansion they have currently on Kickstarter.

I wrapped up the con with a delightful session of Mermaid Adventures and the Pip System with the designer Eloy Lasanta.  The session itself was a blast and the rule system was exactly what I was looking for in a universal system…simple to learn, easy to customize, and enough crunch that my hardcore players will enjoy it.  He showed off a system called Infestation when the PC are bugs with newly acquired intelligence and I think it will be tons of fun to run with my boys.

What Is My Take?

I think Big Bad Con has become the premiere role-playing game convention in the Bay Area.  I think anyone in this humble group that focuses on Indie RPG titles should would hard pressed not to have a good time.  Highly recommended.

After hearing rave reports about the convention from many of my gaming compadres I decided to give Big Bad Con a try this year. Choosing a gaming convention is an important decision for me as now that I have kids I can only attend one overnight gaming convention a year. Spending time away from the family puts more pressure on my family and costs enough money that it is a decision that I make carefully. Big Bad Con is run by Sean Nittner, a local alpha gamer, and many local gamers act as volunteer staff.

There are several things that make Big Bad Con unique to Bay Area Cons. First off it is an RPG focused convention. You won’t be kicked out for playing a board game but literally every event and seminar is related to either RPGs or LARPs. As I am a primarily RPG gamer this was something that really attracted me to Big Bad Con. The selection of RPG events really focuses on indie games which is fine by me. Big Bad Con caters to an older crowd. They have a policy to admit only people of age 18 or older. This is again something that I appreciated. You knew you were going into a game with other adults. Big Bad Con also has one of the most open community standards that I have seen at a con. I thought it was a breath of fresh air. Signups for events (aka gaming sessions) is done online. In the first round you can register for 2 games then after 2 weeks you can register for any event that you want. I LOVED signing up for games early. I’ve heard this is a standard practice on the East Coast but out here in the Bay Area online game signups before you attend the event is a recent phenomenon. This signup process worked GREAT for me. I got literally every game I wanted to play and was able to nearly fill my schedule before actually attending the con. This also allowed me to purchase the RPGs beforehand if I did already own them and read up. If you did not get into a game then their awesome Wolf Pack took up the slack. They had several games on demand that looked great. Laminated sheets made it easy to sign up. 😉 Finally a portion of the registration fee goes to a charity. This year it was Doctors Without Borders. Just awesome. 🙂

When I showed up at Big Bad Con on Friday afternoon I was warmly greeted by Sean and the volunteer staff and picked up my badge. Along with the lanyard were some neat little pins that attendees seemed to wear like badges of honor. So very cool. 🙂 I also picked up my t-shirt that I got as part of the kickstarter. The Big Bad Con 2015 t-shirts were awesome and before I left I ended up with both the Wolf and Creepy Little Red Riding Hood designs. In the same room Endgame had a rack with some of their products on hand. I picked up a copy of Monster Of The Week that was on my want list.

Game sessions were held in either a larger conference room with 4 tables or in a private room with a single table. I played several games in both environments and frankly never had an issue. Sometimes the single rooms would get hot but opening a window did the trick.

During the con food was provided by either the local hotel restaurant or by food trucks. The food trucks were frankly awesome! I tried lots of different food including eggs benedict, gyros, wraps, pad thai, and crepes. I think the lamb gyros were my favorite of the weekend. The only complaint that I heard very strongly was related to a burger truck that came on Saturday night. In my session it took almost an HOUR for folks to get their food and return. I did not try the burger truck so I don’t know the reason. I guess the staff should consider multiple trucks on Saturday night for dinner. The local hotel restaurant is fine but a bit expensive. I enjoyed the Sunday brunch a lot but it was a bit expensive. Big Bad Con often had coffee available which was appreciated. I also found it interesting the two of my GMs actually brought food to the games. NEAT! 😀

I played in four convention events and one game run by a friend. I started on Friday with a rip roaring game Of War Of Ashes by the author of the book, Sophe Legace. It was a blast. My second game was Motobushido. It was epic samurai goodness! Godlike started off Saturday. The GM was from Double Exposure and did a nice job with it. I then rounded out my Saturday evening with a game of Champions that was tons of fun. On Sunday I played a game of Kerberos Club (FATE) run by Craig Robertson. I actually met Craig on the board game front (aka Tide Of Iron and 1AGames) but I had never played an RPG with him. Fun game! I was so tired that I did not attend my last scheduled event and that was a shame as it was the game I signed up for first. Carl Rigney was running Golden Sky Stories. I had seen Carl at several seminars at DunDraCon and really wanted to game with him. Next year Carl! 🙂

I have been attending gaming conventions for over 30 years. My first convention was DunDraCon IV. I have been to probably 40 gaming conventions over the years including GenCon, Origins, DunDraCon, Pacificaon, KublaCon, PolyCon, and others. Out of all that con going Big Bad Con stands out as my favorite gaming convention after only attending one time. If you live in the Bay Area and play role-playing games you should make Big Bad Con a destination. To get more information just head over to BigBadCon.com.

Summary

I really excited that my two boys are now old enough to start playing games that are much more sophisticated. I am having a blast teaching them about a hobby that I adore. During this time I have seen them improve in many areas. While they have been improving I have been carefully following their progress. This list is my fun way to track our progress. I call it John’s Gamer Dad Level Up List. The ones we have completed are in gold. I added a computer knowledge list because it is important to me even though it is not really game related. 🙂

Board Games

• Play hide & seek
• Play simple kids board games
• Play a more complicated Euro style board game
• Play a simple wargame
• Reference rules from one game while playing another game
• Save money to buy games at a game store
• Kid beats me regularly at a board game
• Makes a reference to a board game in an unrelated conversation

My Comments
Right now my boys are playing many different board games with various mechanics and difficulty levels. Probably the most complicated might be our favorite, Memoir 44. The piggy bank to save money for games was actually their Mom’s idea. It is a great one that they have literally bought into.

RPGs

• Play pretend
• Play kid focused rpg
• Go to first gaming com
• Play a more advanced rpg
• Refer to dice as “d[number of sides]”
• GM an RPG
• Teach an RPG to someone else
• Makes a reference to an RPG in an unrelated conversation

My Comments
We started with Hero Kids and it has worked great. It is simple and really fun. Having Don present at the first session and some that follow has been wonderful. He is teaching them by example that the best way to solve issues is with your brains not at the tip of a sword. Evan has asked to try Dungeons & Dragons so he may get that as a gift at some point. SHHH!!! 😉

Video Games

• Play video games with me
• Play video game alone
• Beat bosses alone
• Beat an entire game alone
• Buy a video game with their own money.
• Makes a reference to a video game in an unrelated conversation

My Comments
At first the boys and I started playing simple games like Monkey Island, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart. We then moved to the Zelda games and really enjoyed it. We finished Skyward Sword and nearly finished Twilight Princess…I cannot beat Gannondorf at the end. 🙁 Recently we started playing Fire Emblem which is a turn based strategy game. The boys loved it and actually finished it during the summer on their own. Hot darn! 😀

Computer Knowledge

• Feel comfortable playing on a tablet
• Know how to turn on the PC and play with simple software
• Know how to search for something on the internet
• Can create documents
• Know the various parts of a computer
• Help Grandpa and Grandma with their computer

My Comments
I am really proud of how my guys are taking to the computers and tablet. Josh is especially great at finding stuff on Google. He found tons of games with police officers, pictures of tanks, etc. Just awesome. Next I need to get a PC I can pull apart to show them.

Did I miss anything? 😀