I went to the North Texas RPG Con last weekend and had a great time.

Rather than give a moment by moment run down, here are the highlights.

The Mundane

A convention like this is an enormous undertaking. There are hundreds of small details that need to be managed. At conventions, the mundane and boring logistics are only apparent when they are a problem.

I’m sure there were hiccups because there are always hiccups but I didn’t see them. Game conventions are chaotic events by nature. Managing a convention where everything runs smoothly is quite an achievement all by itself.

The convention staff were friendly, happy to answer questions and made adjustments whenever necessary.

The Food

Con-goers hate to stop gaming to go eat. You only have so much time to squeeze in as many games as you can. Going off site can take hours if you go for a sit down meal in a restaurant. NTRPG con set up special menus with the hotel and arranged for several food trucks in the parking lot.

One of the highlights for me was a food truck serving street tacos.

There were a group of young ladies who visited all the gaming tables, took orders, accepted payment and delivered the food without you needing to get up. The servers were very friendly and accommodating.

It was easy to get a good meal between game sessions or even while playing.

The Games

NTRPG con is primarily an old school RPG convention. Most of the games are classics from back in the TSR days though not all of the gaming is old timey D&D.

I managed to play B/X (twice), Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role Playing, Top Secret, Boot Hill as well as a tournament of the Avalon Hill game Gladiator and a round of Hero Quest. I left time in my schedule and didn’t have trouble filling it with socializing, shooting some videos, and shopping at the venders.

Almost every game I played was in the category of good to great. There was only one that wasn’t to my taste. One dud in four days of gaming is not so bad.

The Special Guests

One thing that makes NTRPG con unusual is the concentration of well known publishers, designers, writers, and artists. Without trying, I managed to schedule role-playing games refereed by James Raggi, Merle Rasmussen and Steve Winter. I played in a Hero Quest game with Jennell Jaquays.

I didn’t have to refresh my browser with my finger on the mouse button at the stroke of midnight to get into a game with one of the designers I admired.

Playing with James was a good time. He was animated and encouraged the messed up stuff we did as players. He offered lots of levers and opportunities for insanity that we were happy to accept. The highlight of that game for me was when we unchained and unleashed a god that had been bound. One player blinded it with by destroying a magic item we found earlier in the dungeon and then shoved the divine being out a door into a very deep pit.

I had a lot of fun playing Boot Hill with Steve Winter. He is an excellent referee. He created a scenario with NPCs that had what they felt were good reasons for doing ugly things. We faced some tense dilemmas that made for great role-playing. There was only one shoot out the whole game and it felt like a climatic showdown between gunfighters in a classic western.

Merle Rasmussen might be one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. The runs a game that’s whimsical and borrows genre tropes from Bond movies. He wore a tuxedo and had fun props.

I met and spoke to several other artists, designers, and publishers throughout the weekend.

There were a lot of other bloggers, podcasters, and YouTubers in the Old School Renaissance space. I played games with Joe the Lawyer, Erik Tenkar, Mike and Liz Stewart, and Richard LeBlanc.

The vendors

I’ve become picky about how I spend my money on game materials. I am content to come home empty handed. This con was the opposite. I bought some LotFP titles I had been eyeballing for a while.

I picked up the NTRPG special module designed by Dr J. Eric Holmes of Holmes Basic fame. Bill Barsh of Pacesetter games put the module into a usable form with the notes provided by Dr. Holmes’ son Chris. I found some Judges Guild books at Bad Mike’s table. Jacob Hurst’s illustrated edition of the Jack Vance novel Wyst Alastor 1716 was another purchase I was very happy about.

Several illustrators who worked for TSR in the 1980’s and 90’s were present selling prints and original art.

There was so much good stuff it was hard not to go nuts.

The Attendees

I have met many nice people at every game convention I’ve attended. NTRPG con takes it up a notch.

Every where I went in the convention space, someone would strike up a conversation. In line for the food truck, in the bar, between games, at vendors booths. It was infectious. By the time Sunday rolled around I felt a real sense of fellowship with the people at the con. We had all experienced something wonderful together and to have been a part of it was a real privilege.

The after con banter on the Facebook group is full of people expressing their love and appreciation the event, the staff, and fellow con attendees.

Con-clusion

My first North Texas Role-Playing Game Convention experience was tremendous. I had great time and plan on going back again next year.