I honestly do not know whether there is a perfect one size fits all solution to registration, but it definitely exacerbated the relatively limited sample size of TRPGs. Within minutes, all potential games I was interested in and could attend for were filled. This happened to solve the previous issues listed above, but led to one notable new one: that there was a mad rush to register for events the moment that they were unlocked at 8 AM the morning of. The new solution was to move all registration to the PAX Mobile App, which also functioned as the event schedule. However, there was a demand that outstripped the supply. Onyx Path Publishing and the local charter of the Winding Path Initiative hosted World of Darkness Games. Free League Publishing hosted a number of sessions of Blade Runner and The One Ring. That is not to say that there was zero push. In particular Fantasy Flight has had its RPG properties moved to EDGE Studios, who so far have been content to publish out the remainder of items in the pipeline and begin reprints. There are obviously contributing factors to this: COVID and the current economic climate has hit the industry like everyone else. I had hoped to try something like Seamus’ visit to the Helios Conspiracy, but there was nothing of the sort available. Games on Demand did exist, but I did not see the same variety available as previously. This time, there was nowhere near the same amount of organized and scheduled sessions. There was more, and some of it can be read in Seamus and I’s account of that visit. A lot has happened since then, most notably a worldwide pandemic and by extension what it has done to the gaming industry.Īt my last visit Fantasy Flight Gaming had a large enough presence that they had prepared modules for three separate systems (The new at the time Clone Wars era books, Path of Waves supplement for L5R and Shadow of the Beanstalk), and Magpie had a strong contingent of games available for sampling. This might have something to do with my last visit being (checks notes) back in the halcyon days of 2019. PAX Unplugged’s tabletop RPG presence appeared smaller than in previous interactions. With that said, I have a few observations I can get into: RPGs Recede As such, this is more of a “quick hits and observations” kind of article, rather than a daily log or the detailed dive I have previously done. My initial plan to have some level of presence over all three days hit a real world wall faster than I could have planned, and thus I was only able to attend in the afternoon of the first day. I will begin with a caveat that my window for observation was far shrunk as opposed to previous years. So I absolutely want this convention to keep going. This year, the team made sure that getting through the door was about as pain free as possible despite requiring proof of vaccination along with the necessary ticketing and security checks for entry. My GMing has increased since my last visit to the convention, and with it so has my appreciation for the work that it takes to get this rolling each year. Second, I want to thank them for the amount of logistics and cat wrangling it takes to get a group of tabletop gamers to do anything. Philadelphia has gotten some bad press as of late, but I never felt anything but safe and welcome as I walked through, to, and from the event space. I think that the area and community are an excellent fit with abundant transportation, housing, and food for a bunch of tabletop nerds, along with a city that prides itself on inclusivity. Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank the organizers for a few things: One, for continuing to choose Philadelphia as the site. I was fortunate enough to attend this year, making it the third year I’ve managed to go. PAX Unplugged returned to Philadelphia this year, marking the fifth time the convention has taken place.
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