GASPcon 10 - Trying to bring indie games to Pittsburgh, PA

[jefgodesky]

GASPcon 10
Best Western Parkway Center Mall
875 Greentree Rd
Pittsburgh, PA
Friday, November 13 - Sunday, November 15

This year, GASPcon's organizers have asked me to try to help build a greater indie and story game presence at the con. I accepted for entirely selfish reasons. I feel terrible, bitter envy towards the great centers of indie gaming like those in the Pacific Northwest or western Massachusetts. Great things come from these places because they've got people there playing together, talking to each other, sharing ideas and playing each other's games. In Pittsburgh--well, not so much. But we could! We could! I want that here! A con with a healthy indie presence seems like a great way to make that happen. And if, along the way, I can help pull together a fun con full of indie games that can attract people from the surrounding area, so much the better.

So, even if you wouldn't consider Pittsburgh exactly "nearby," I hope if you live only a few hours away you'll still consider the possibility that this might make the trip worthwhile. We already have signed up:

• Bill White running Ganakagok
  
• Game Chef winner and local gamer, "Mr. Teapot" Nick Wedig, running Bloody Forks of the Ohio, Jason Morningstar's adaptation of Lady Blackbird> using a bit of local history involving the intrigues of a young George Washington; Department Nine, a diceless, GMless roleplaying game about fighting the future; and Executive Decision, where you play the President of the United States and cabinet in the midst of a national crisis.
  
• A game from midnight to 4 AM of Don't Rest Your Head
  
• Mouse Guard, using the "Black Forest" setting you might hear about on my AP podcast, the Myth Weavers, drifting from David Peterson's beloved Michigan wilderness to my beloved Pennsylvania old growth Cook Forest
  
• A con-long In a Wicked Age anthology, using "the Three Rivers Oracle," set a thousand years ago in the Pittsburgh area, at the height of the power of the Sun King ruling from the Mound City we now call Cahokia, populated with local legends like the Allegwi, a dying tribe of giants unmatched in war or magic.
  
• 3:16 - Carnage Among the Stars
  
• Og
  
• AssassinX - Basically, think of "the Aristocrats" with violence instead of sex.
  
• Barbarians of Lemuria
  
• And playtests of my own game, The Fifth World, set in a post-apocalyptic, ecotopian future.
  

The schedule will also have a wide variety of traditional RPG's, with even more of the con dedicated to miniatures games and board games.

You still have time to sign up to run other games, so if you live anywhere near Pittsburgh, consider running your game here!