It has been a few days since I have come back from a wonderfully weird trip to Game On Expo in Arizona and to Gary Con in Wisconsin. I never thought I would have the opportunity to go to both at these cons and visit these wonderful places, and I am incredibly grateful that I did. Thank you universe!
However, I also have to thank a few other people. First of all, thank you all for the incredible amounts of kindness and care for me and my work. If it wasn’t for you, the people in the community, who found my work, bought it, got it, engaged with it and talked about it with friends, families, pets, aliens, ghosts, and all sorts of other weirdos, this would bever have happened. A very very special thanks goes to Jim Miller, creator of Crit Hit AZ, co-director of Tabletop Games on Game On Expo, who since the very early days I have been doing this has noticed my work and has always been one of the biggest supporters I ever had. He was also responsible for inviting me to be a panelist on Game On Expo, allowing me to sit at the same table of some of the most accomplished professionals, and more importantly, artists in RPGs today: John Wick, Andrew Gaska, and Luke Stratton! And he even flew me all the way to Brazil. And with that amazing support, I was also able to stretch my trip another week to attend Gary Con, one of those conventions I have always dreamed about going to. So Jim, thank you very much! None of this would have been possible if it were not for you!
Oh, and another super special thanks for my dear wife, muse, best friend, and comrade, Raquel, who helped me with the trip, especially when the day before the trip a storm forced me to change flights and my anxiety and ASD almost paralyzed me. I might have missed my chance if it wasn’t for her constant love and support. I love you honey.
But let’s get back to business! First things first, the flight to Phoenix Arizona. Since a lot of people ask me how it is, how long it takes, here it goes. I live in Rio de Janeiro, a big and even famous city in Brazil, but which has been in decline for decades. We barely have any international flights here anymore. I think it’s because of the violence. 70% of the city territory is in the hands of militias. But to be fair, corruption is so rampant here, it’s hard to tell when you are really dealing with authorities, criminals, militias or whatever here. Anyway, I had to take a 1 hour flight to São Paulo to be able to fly to the US.
I waited 2 hours there and then took a 9 hours flight to Miami (we don’t have many directly flights to the West coast from Brazil), wait 3 more hours there, and then take a 5 and half hours flight to Phoenix, arriving there on the next day, about 20 hours of travel, but with a 4 hours difference in time zones. Needless to say, my sleep suffered quite a bit on this trip, but hey, it was well worth it. Entering the US was quite simple. This time I didn’t have my Brazilian passport which had expired, so I used my Portuguese one. They asked what I was doing in the US, I said gaming conventions, said I was a designer, they were “wow, I didn’t know people traveled for this”, I was like “right? Weird world!”, and I was in.
When I arrived in Arizona, however, I was quickly in Con mode. Jim drove me to the hotel, and soon enough I was meeting the other amazing guests who I would be hanging out with, sharing meals, and doing the quite cool panels we participated in, talking about working as game designers, world building, why designing using other systems besides D&D, and why we also like to play and explore other games. It was pretty cool. Besides me, on the Tabletop RPG side of the convention we had Andrew Gaska, the nth times (it’s hard to keep up, they just keep piling up!) award-winning game designer of the Alien RPG line by Free League; the incredible and super cool Luke Stratton, also known as Limithron, creator of the inspiring Pirate Borg RPG; and for a brief but amazing day, John Wick, the legendary game designer of Legend of the Five Rings, Seventh Sea, Cat, The Shotgun Diaries, House of the Blooded, and I could keep going for a few paragraphs here. To be completely honest, one of the highlights of the trip was me being momentarily inspired and saying “Rules are Toys” and having John Wick being impressed by that and saying he will be thinking about it for a while now. I’ve made it, baby! The panels were small but the people attending it were intended and asked very good questions. Luke recorded them, and I hope he releases them on his podcast or something. They had some good advice. My favorite moments were the times we were able to slow down and sit back and just talk to each other about games, ourselves and everything else.
After Game On Expo I spent a couple of days hanging around Phoenix, and Jim and his family welcomed into their home, for which I am immensely grateful as well. We had a couple of days of fun, talks, family dinners, and some trips around the region. I loved seeing the nearby desert landscape, the mountains, and I even went to an old west ghost town turned into tourist attraction. It was a couple of great days, and just what I needed before heading northeast to Gary Con. Thanks Jim, Krystal and their kids again for the hospitality and kindness!
I flew Wednesday to Chicago and my good friend Steve from the Epic Levels picked me up, and soon enough we were heading north to Wisconsin where we stayed with Andrew (also from Epic Levels), Jay Domingo, and Zach. It was a fun stay and we get to hang out a lot, visit the Gary Gygax plaque at town, roll a natural 20 there (Steve did this, but I was there dammit!), drink A LOT of Spotted Cow (their local beer), and game of course.
Well, to be honest, I did not game nearly as much as I think other people did. I was there more to hang out with people, and I confess I get a little intimidated to game with such amazing creators. Impostor Syndrome? I don’t know. But I did manage to play a round of Banana Chan’s new Board Game, which involves interpreting symbols and trying to convey them through small cards to other players. It’s a bit like Dixit, but you use other images and cards to convey your idea and everybody does it at the same time. It’s fun, and it’s wild to see how each individual tries to describe their image. I also played some OSE with Joel Hines, and Mystic Punks with the crew!
The past part was certainly to get to hangout with so many friends, old and new! I saw Gabriel from Uruguai again! We meet at our first Gen Con and we meet again at our first Gary Con! It’s #RPGLATAM destiny! I got to spend the day with Adam Muszkiewicz, one of the original Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, and one of the first people in the Indie TTRPG community to welcome. It was a blast to reconnect, talk about our lives, the stuff we make, our families, our kids, our journeys of self-discovery. I also hung out with Gavin Norman, and we had the most fun time when a small thread from his jacket got hooked by another attendee backpack zipper and we spent what felt like 10 minutes trying to untangle the two while uncontrollably laughing on the improbability of this happening! If that’s not a fumble or a Story Point well spent, I don’t know what is.
I also got to hang out with my DCC RPG family, hugged Jen and Bob Brinkman, talked with Doug Kovacs and Wayne Snider (and had a blast on their “Drawing Monsters while Listening to Heavy Metal” event where we all listening to music and drew on each others work), Tim Deschene, Jim Skach, Jim Wampler, Bruce Cunnington, DM Cojo, David Baity, Marc Bruner. Their after hours culture exchange was great and very relaxed!
I also got to chat and fan out a little bit with Matt Finch, Kelsey Dionne, Erol Otus, Elmore, Luke Stratton (I got to hang with him and his pirate crew), Tim Kask, Ben Milton, David Hoskin, Noah Green, Stephen Radney MacFarland, Jeff Jones, Trevor Stamper, John McGuire, and so many more people I can’t count, or name. I confess it’s all too much, and the 25 buck cup that gives you free unlimited beer for 2 hours everyday doesn’t help. So if I forgot to mention you by name, I am so sorry. I want you to know I am super glad for the time we had there, even if it was just a quick moment. It was some of the best times I ever had. Honestly, I wish I had taken more photos to remember everything and everyone I met, but I was trying to live in the moment and enjoy it as much as I could. That’s what I did!
Oh yeah, and I also bought a bunch of stuff. More than I should, less than I wanted to, and I got some presents too, for which I am truly grateful! Gamers and, especially other creators, are generous people!
I hope I get to do this all over again soon!
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