So, this might have been asked already, as I haven't been keeping up with this thread or anything, but what will be in the Tabletop area, besides current WotC products and board games? In other words, are there going to be people running non-D&D tabletop RPGs? (I see the Alternate Paper RPGs thread, which is the only thing I have to go by.)
There might be, but there's no guarantees.
Generally there are three types of tabletop gameplay at PAX:
Vendor-sponsored gameplay involving vendors who paid to be at the show. Helping you have fun with their games sells more copies of their games. Or their game is brand new and kinda hard to understand, and game demos help seed word-of-mouth support for their game.
Tabletop gameplay using games checked out at Tabletop HQ. At PAX East, FatherFletch graciously allowed me to screen-scrape and post our game library from the inventory database, which I did here. You can browse that to get an idea of what we have available. We usually don't have rulebooks for roleplaying systems -- so you can't come check out my Paranoia XP hardcover books -- just boxed or bagged tabletop games with pieces and/or dice and/or a rule booklet.
Tabletop gameplay using games brought by random attendees or Enforcers. Someone who loves the same RPG you love might have brought their books and might be looking for a game. Or maybe not. At PAX 08 I ran a Paranoia XP game, as did some other folks. For example.
mspencer on
MEMBER OF THE PARANOIA GM GUILD
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
So, this might have been asked already, as I haven't been keeping up with this thread or anything, but what will be in the Tabletop area, besides current WotC products and board games? In other words, are there going to be people running non-D&D tabletop RPGs? (I see the Alternate Paper RPGs thread, which is the only thing I have to go by.)
Tabletop this year will have a number of publishers beyond WotC
Sandstorm Productions (CthulhuTech, Eclipse Phase)
Cryptozoic (WOW CCG)
Mayfair Games (Catan)
Days of Wonder (SmallWorld, Memoir '44)
SJ Games (Zombie Dice, Munchkin)
Privateer Press (Warmachine, Monsterpocalypse)
As well there will be local game stores with demos and lots of fun stuff for sale. Quite a few attendees arrange for side games through these forums.
CFK
FatherFletch on
Tabletop Manager
Rolling Old School Dice since '04
Any particular reason we have not had a keynote announcement yet? i mean we dont got long left and i need to start making plans as to what line i wanna be in... >.>
@Official_Pax twitter account stated yesterday that they're hoping to have the schedule out "in the next couple days". I would hope we know even more than the keynote very soon.
@Official_Pax twitter account stated yesterday that they're hoping to have the schedule out "in the next couple days". I would hope we know even more than the keynote very soon.
I'm making a landing page for PAX articles on my gaming community's blog and I'd like to give it a nice logo using the same font in the PAX logo.
Can anyone help me out with the name of the font or where I can find it?
As far as I can tell, it's not a standard font. It's far too blocky. I believe the letters were a creation from Kiko.
A common font that can be found on PAX signs and in the PAX schedules, however, is Joystix. It's a great 8-bit font that I use for a lot of different purposes and is easy to find.
dyaballikl on
a.k.a. dya
"Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
@Official_Pax twitter account stated yesterday that they're hoping to have the schedule out "in the next couple days". I would hope we know even more than the keynote very soon.
As we all know, there are tons of other events besides panels. I was curious if there will be a map or guide of some sort telling us where each booth is. I would like to visit a few specific ones and if anyone could give me or link me or tell me if there is a map or not for this type of thing that would be great
You'll receive a booklet with all the schedule and maps in it when you get in. In addition, maps are posted throughout the venue. You shouldn't get lost. If you do, ask an enforcer for help.
Other than between the keynote and Q&A, all theaters will be cleared in between panels.
edit: whoops, apparently I was mistaken. The theater won't be cleared before the Rooster Teeth panel
I just confirmed the following the Cheebus, the Main Theatre Manager:
Main Theatre will be cleared only when there's a technical setup before the next panel. When the schedule comes out, you'll see greater than 30 minutes of empty space before the panel starts if there is tech setup to do. The only times I'm currently sure this will happen are before the concerts (I haven't seen the final schedule, so there may be one or two other times over the weekend). If there is 30 or fewer minutes between Main Theatre events (this is the usual case), the room will not be cleared and it will work on a "as one person leaves, one person enters" system.
The satellite theatres (there are 5, one in Sheraton and four in WSCC) will usually clear the room between every event.
Update 2010-08-13: The schedule is now online.
Other than when it closes for the night, Main Theatre will only be cleared after the following events:
Friday: Rooster Teeth
Saturday: Penny Arcade Make a Strip!
Saturday: Star Wars Games - REVEALED!
Sunday: Why Should Gamers Care About Kinect?
Sunday: Penny Arcade Q&A #2
Thank you for the information, but because I am slow on things like these, i just wanted to ask a question to see I understood correctly.
Three things I always try to catch are 1) Keynote 2) PA QA PT1 3) RoosterTeeth. Does this mean to see all three I would have to get in line for the Keynote and then I could stay in the main theater UNTIL 2:00pm which is when they clear the room.
If i have to choose I completely understand but if my previous PAX experience tells me if they dont clear the room each time between the presentation, there will be little or no room for us waiting outside.
Other than between the keynote and Q&A, all theaters will be cleared in between panels.
edit: whoops, apparently I was mistaken. The theater won't be cleared before the Rooster Teeth panel
I just confirmed the following the Cheebus, the Main Theatre Manager:
Main Theatre will be cleared only when there's a technical setup before the next panel. When the schedule comes out, you'll see greater than 30 minutes of empty space before the panel starts if there is tech setup to do. The only times I'm currently sure this will happen are before the concerts (I haven't seen the final schedule, so there may be one or two other times over the weekend). If there is 30 or fewer minutes between Main Theatre events (this is the usual case), the room will not be cleared and it will work on a "as one person leaves, one person enters" system.
The satellite theatres (there are 5, one in Sheraton and four in WSCC) will usually clear the room between every event.
Update 2010-08-13: The schedule is now online.
Other than when it closes for the night, Main Theatre will only be cleared after the following events:
Friday: Rooster Teeth
Saturday: Penny Arcade Make a Strip!
Saturday: Star Wars Games - REVEALED!
Sunday: Why Should Gamers Care About Kinect?
Sunday: Penny Arcade Q&A #2
Thank you for the information, but because I am slow on things like these, i just wanted to ask a question to see I understood correctly.
Three things I always try to catch are 1) Keynote 2) PA QA PT1 3) RoosterTeeth. Does this mean to see all three I would have to get in line for the Keynote and then I could stay in the main theater UNTIL 2:00pm which is when they clear the room.
If i have to choose I completely understand but if my previous PAX experience tells me if they dont clear the room each time between the presentation, there will be little or no room for us waiting outside.
Yup, that's what jaber said. I would queue up pretty early at the Benaroya, though, to make sure you have a good seat for the next 4+ hours.
dyaballikl on
a.k.a. dya
"Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
You'll receive a booklet with all the schedule and maps in it when you get in. In addition, maps are posted throughout the venue. You shouldn't get lost. If you do, ask an enforcer for help.
It's a shame that there isn't room for a film screening at this year's PAX... I enjoyed the hell out of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but I can only imagine how much better it would have been in a theater full of PAXgoers-- or, indeed, any group of people that didn't react with bafflement and confusion at every new development in the movie.
I realize there is a thread at the top about selling unused tickets, but that is not my question.
Question is that me and some friends all bought a 3 day pass when they first went on sale...we all gave our own names for the registration, but they were all bought under one person (using there Credit Card). Now, if one of those friends has decided they can no longer go, would it be possible to get the name changed on his ticket? Fortunately he wasn't the one who paid for them...so his name wasn't attached to them all.
If we found a replacement, we would like it if we could swap out the name. Now, if its not possible to do that, will we still be able to pick up his ticket if hes not there so we can give it to the new person coming? I'm under the impression that as long as we have the primary person who paid with the barcodes, we should be good. But past experiences with events like Blizzcon required everyone to have photo ID that matched the name on the individual tickets.
Were traveling from Canada, so we wont have them mailed to us...and we really don't want to bring this new guy only to have him NOT able to get a ticket (even if its not his name on it).
This is our first PAX...we don't want something silly like this to ruin it for us. ANY help or links to other threads would be appreciated! Thanks in advance everyone!
LegendofMyth on
0
Moe FwackyRight Here, Right NowDrives a BuickModeratormod
edited August 2010
Names on the PDF don't matter. The person who paid for the tickets online is the person who redeems them at Will Call with the PDF printout and Photo ID. The plastic passes you will receive at will call DO NOT have anybody's name on them at all.
This has been a problem in years past and I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions.
How do I make sure that I have cell/Internet signal?
Last year I had an iPhone on AT&T and literally could not make calls from inside the convention center (the exhibit hall was particularly bad). Texting was little better because the messages would end up being delayed for sometimes hours. The one saving grace was to turn off 3G and use the EDGE network which was oddly less crowded.
In addition, getting on the Internet was really damned hard. There was a PAX WiFi network but it was so overwhelmed that it barely worked. When I don't have Internet access it feels like someone cut off one of my arms. I feel helpless.
This year I have an HTC Evo running on Sprint's network. Can anyone speak to their experience with Sprint last year? One of the benefits of the Evo is the ability to access Sprint's 4G WiMax network which blankets Seattle. The biggest issue is that it doesn't penetrate the building very well. I'll need to be next to a window to get line-of-sight to a tower to make it useful. I'm hoping, however, that the relative newness of the 4G network will mean that it won't be overloaded like the 3G networks will be that weekend.
Additionally, the Evo has the ability to turn itself into a wireless hotspot and share its Internet connection out to 8 other devices. But, if the phone can't get on the Internet, there's no connection to share.
So, what plans should I make in advance to make sure that I can make calls, texts and get on the Internet?
I have to pick up my tickets at whatever the Will-Call is (like Tickitek?). I've gathered its at the Sheraton but what time does it close on Thursday (I arrive at the airport 5:50) ?
This is a once ever trip for me so i'd die if I missed the keynote and/or the live D&D session. Should I be lining up at 9am? remember international roaming costs more than something very expensive so i wont have that lines @ twitter going.
I have no idea what the things that arent on the schedule are like? Is there squillions of company booths that each have their own line kind of like how I would imagine E3?
Never been to a convention so dumb question.... Do the lines for scheduled events grow to X size and then after X people are turned away?
Please be kind as I am an international visitor who has never left my country and have absolutely no idea abiout PAX as i've never been to a convention in my life (which incidentally is longer than the average at PAX/er/ite/ee I'd imagine).
[*]I have to pick up my tickets at whatever the Will-Call is (like Tickitek?). I've gathered its at the Sheraton but what time does it close on Thursday (I arrive at the airport 5:50) ?
You should be fine, the last couple years it closed at 10:00 Thursday, that gives you 4 hours to get to the Sheraton and find Will-Call (it's just a desk manned by PAX people, not a business or anything). It could close earlier this year, but I doubt it would be that much earlier.
[*]This is a once ever trip for me so i'd die if I missed the keynote and/or the live D&D session. Should I be lining up at 9am? remember international roaming costs more than something very expensive so i wont have that lines @ twitter going.
If it's that important to you, for the keynote might want to get there at 7 just to be safe. At the main convention center, the doors open at 8 am, but the keynote is a few blocks away at Benaroya Hall, not sure how the lineups are going to happen there. If nothing else, just get up early and go check it out - if it looks like a small enough line, you can then go and get breakfast or something.
[*]I have no idea what the things that arent on the schedule are like? Is there squillions of company booths that each have their own line kind of like how I would imagine E3?
The exhibition hall is rather open - small lines may form behind playable games, and at the PAX/Penny Arcade merchandise booth, but for the most part there aren't lines to see anything, and nothing is scheduled. You just walk around and check out whatever interests you.
[*]Never been to a convention so dumb question.... Do the lines for scheduled events grow to X size and then after X people are turned away?
Yes, though I'm not sure what would happen with the keynote since it's different this year. But for the other panels and stuff, the lines that form outside the theaters tend to get closed when there are enough people to fill all the seats in the room.
Hey there, surg3on! Thanks for coming all the way from... wherever you are... in order to attend PAX! Regardless of where you're from, that's a long way to travel. Hopefully your PAX experience will be good enough to justify the trip-- but then, if you have as much fun as we usually do, that shouldn't be a problem.
This is a once ever trip for me so i'd die if I missed the keynote and/or the live D&D session. Should I be lining up at 9am?
PAX East 2010 was, for me, the most crowded event I'd attended since PAX 2006. At PAX East, I got in line for the keynote at 10:00 a.m. and had no problem getting a seat. You're going to want to line up early not only to guarantee yourself a spot at the keynote / Q&A panel, but also to ensure that you get a wristband for the Friday night concerts.
I have no idea what the things that arent on the schedule are like? Is there squillions of company booths that each have their own line kind of like how I would imagine E3?
You're referring to the Expo Hall here. That's a separate area-- a giant room filled with booths. Some booths are selling merchandise, others are displaying games for the public to enjoy. In each case there are lines, and yes, each booth has its own line. The longest lines I've waited in at any PAX are usually for: 1) The Penny Arcade merchandise booth, usually because it is featuring a limited-edition item that is only available at that year's PAX. At PAX East, it was a scarf, and they sold out on the first day. At PAX 2008, it was a mouse developed by Razer. 2) Harmonix's new product, whatever that may be. This year, though, I think they have a separate room entirely for Rock Band 3 and Dance Central.
Never been to a convention so dumb question.... Do the lines for scheduled events grow to X size and then after X people are turned away?
Yes, this does happen.
PAX East featured bigger crowds than anything I saw at PAX 2008, and I think we can expect similar crowds at PAX Prime this year. At PAX East, you had to get in line for most panels at least one hour before it began in order to get into it. If there's a particular panel you're interested in, ask about that one-- chances are, that panel has been at PAX before, and someone can tell you how popular it usually is.
The good news is that at PAX, waiting in line can actually be really awesome. Comfortable Sumo chairs are everywhere, and almost everyone you'll encounter has a DS or PSP. At PAX East, while waiting in line for an event, I held up a DS and called, "Let's play some Bomberman!". Within seconds I had eight players available for Bomberman Download Play.
Your PAX experience can include much more than what you see on the schedule alone. You're here on the forums, so you've already seen some of the community event threads; but there are also rooms at PAX that "rent" console and board games until two in the morning, games that you're free to play with friends in conveniently-provided freeplay rooms.
Uh i think there was a map of the expo hall last year that came out a week or two before pax but i haven't seen one yet this year.
Is that one that tells you where certian booths are? I'm gonna have a freakin end table to carry so I'd like to just be able to plot a course to the Harmonix booth.:P
Please be kind as I am an international visitor who has never left my country and have absolutely no idea abiout PAX as i've never been to a convention in my life (which incidentally is longer than the average at PAX/er/ite/ee I'd imagine).
No need to worry. There are tons of us that will be are first time and I know of a lot of others that are international too. Maybe I will see you around in pax myself.
Please be kind as I am an international visitor who has never left my country and have absolutely no idea abiout PAX as i've never been to a convention in my life (which incidentally is longer than the average at PAX/er/ite/ee I'd imagine).
No need to worry. There are tons of us that will be are first time and I know of a lot of others that are international too. Maybe I will see you around in pax myself.
And it really is the definition of an all-ages event, starting with (pre)teens and going well up into people in their 40's and 50's
I think the average age on the forums is something like 25, so gaming really isn't restrictive at all!
Usagi on
0
EscoBladesProduct Marketing Manager at UbisoftRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
Not really a question, more a discovery.
I booked my 3 day pass a while back, and paid the extra $15 for International Fedex shipping. A friend of mine (who is a PAX veteran) told me i had wasted the $15 as they wouldn't send the tickets outside the US, and i'd have to go to the will call to pick them up.
However, i received an email notification today from PAX (Reed Exhibitions to be precise) with regards to a Fedex delivery, stating that it was my 3 day pass being sent out. I was pleasantly surprised
Has this happened to anyone else from outside the US?
Moe FwackyRight Here, Right NowDrives a BuickModeratormod
edited August 2010
The FedEx shipping options is specifically for people outside the US who don't want to pick up their passes at will call. PAX passes aren't mailed outside of the US due to the inability to make sure everybody around the world gets them on time. That's why they added the FedEx option a couple of years ago.
Posts
Generally there are three types of tabletop gameplay at PAX:
XBL Michael Spencer || Wii 6007 6812 1605 7315 || PSN MichaelSpencerJr || Steam Michael_Spencer || Ham NOØK
QRZ || My last known GPS coordinates: FindU or APRS.fi (Car antenna feed line busted -- no ham radio for me X__X )
Tabletop this year will have a number of publishers beyond WotC
Sandstorm Productions (CthulhuTech, Eclipse Phase)
Cryptozoic (WOW CCG)
Mayfair Games (Catan)
Days of Wonder (SmallWorld, Memoir '44)
SJ Games (Zombie Dice, Munchkin)
Privateer Press (Warmachine, Monsterpocalypse)
As well there will be local game stores with demos and lots of fun stuff for sale. Quite a few attendees arrange for side games through these forums.
CFK
Rolling Old School Dice since '04
*grumbles about twitter...*
The schedule is up.
Can anyone help me out with the name of the font or where I can find it?
A common font that can be found on PAX signs and in the PAX schedules, however, is Joystix. It's a great 8-bit font that I use for a lot of different purposes and is easy to find.
about the schedule...did anybody else notice the morse code? It translates to
Thanks!
Thank you for the information, but because I am slow on things like these, i just wanted to ask a question to see I understood correctly.
Three things I always try to catch are 1) Keynote 2) PA QA PT1 3) RoosterTeeth. Does this mean to see all three I would have to get in line for the Keynote and then I could stay in the main theater UNTIL 2:00pm which is when they clear the room.
If i have to choose I completely understand but if my previous PAX experience tells me if they dont clear the room each time between the presentation, there will be little or no room for us waiting outside.
yeah, I saw that too. But PAX doesn't have
The convention center does have numbers posted on the rooms.
http://www.wsctc.com/pdfs/floor_plans/FloorPlansCapacitiesDimensions-APRIL2010.pdf
Hopefully it is a room of free treasures, but with my luck, it'll be the den of the dickwolves.
Question is that me and some friends all bought a 3 day pass when they first went on sale...we all gave our own names for the registration, but they were all bought under one person (using there Credit Card). Now, if one of those friends has decided they can no longer go, would it be possible to get the name changed on his ticket? Fortunately he wasn't the one who paid for them...so his name wasn't attached to them all.
If we found a replacement, we would like it if we could swap out the name. Now, if its not possible to do that, will we still be able to pick up his ticket if hes not there so we can give it to the new person coming? I'm under the impression that as long as we have the primary person who paid with the barcodes, we should be good. But past experiences with events like Blizzcon required everyone to have photo ID that matched the name on the individual tickets.
Were traveling from Canada, so we wont have them mailed to us...and we really don't want to bring this new guy only to have him NOT able to get a ticket (even if its not his name on it).
This is our first PAX...we don't want something silly like this to ruin it for us. ANY help or links to other threads would be appreciated! Thanks in advance everyone!
Thx
How do I make sure that I have cell/Internet signal?
Last year I had an iPhone on AT&T and literally could not make calls from inside the convention center (the exhibit hall was particularly bad). Texting was little better because the messages would end up being delayed for sometimes hours. The one saving grace was to turn off 3G and use the EDGE network which was oddly less crowded.
In addition, getting on the Internet was really damned hard. There was a PAX WiFi network but it was so overwhelmed that it barely worked. When I don't have Internet access it feels like someone cut off one of my arms. I feel helpless.
This year I have an HTC Evo running on Sprint's network. Can anyone speak to their experience with Sprint last year? One of the benefits of the Evo is the ability to access Sprint's 4G WiMax network which blankets Seattle. The biggest issue is that it doesn't penetrate the building very well. I'll need to be next to a window to get line-of-sight to a tower to make it useful. I'm hoping, however, that the relative newness of the 4G network will mean that it won't be overloaded like the 3G networks will be that weekend.
Additionally, the Evo has the ability to turn itself into a wireless hotspot and share its Internet connection out to 8 other devices. But, if the phone can't get on the Internet, there's no connection to share.
So, what plans should I make in advance to make sure that I can make calls, texts and get on the Internet?
Please be kind as I am an international visitor who has never left my country and have absolutely no idea abiout PAX as i've never been to a convention in my life (which incidentally is longer than the average at PAX/er/ite/ee I'd imagine).
If it's that important to you, for the keynote might want to get there at 7 just to be safe. At the main convention center, the doors open at 8 am, but the keynote is a few blocks away at Benaroya Hall, not sure how the lineups are going to happen there. If nothing else, just get up early and go check it out - if it looks like a small enough line, you can then go and get breakfast or something.
The exhibition hall is rather open - small lines may form behind playable games, and at the PAX/Penny Arcade merchandise booth, but for the most part there aren't lines to see anything, and nothing is scheduled. You just walk around and check out whatever interests you.
Yes, though I'm not sure what would happen with the keynote since it's different this year. But for the other panels and stuff, the lines that form outside the theaters tend to get closed when there are enough people to fill all the seats in the room.
PAX East 2010 was, for me, the most crowded event I'd attended since PAX 2006. At PAX East, I got in line for the keynote at 10:00 a.m. and had no problem getting a seat. You're going to want to line up early not only to guarantee yourself a spot at the keynote / Q&A panel, but also to ensure that you get a wristband for the Friday night concerts.
You're referring to the Expo Hall here. That's a separate area-- a giant room filled with booths. Some booths are selling merchandise, others are displaying games for the public to enjoy. In each case there are lines, and yes, each booth has its own line. The longest lines I've waited in at any PAX are usually for:
1) The Penny Arcade merchandise booth, usually because it is featuring a limited-edition item that is only available at that year's PAX. At PAX East, it was a scarf, and they sold out on the first day. At PAX 2008, it was a mouse developed by Razer.
2) Harmonix's new product, whatever that may be. This year, though, I think they have a separate room entirely for Rock Band 3 and Dance Central.
Yes, this does happen.
PAX East featured bigger crowds than anything I saw at PAX 2008, and I think we can expect similar crowds at PAX Prime this year. At PAX East, you had to get in line for most panels at least one hour before it began in order to get into it. If there's a particular panel you're interested in, ask about that one-- chances are, that panel has been at PAX before, and someone can tell you how popular it usually is.
The good news is that at PAX, waiting in line can actually be really awesome. Comfortable Sumo chairs are everywhere, and almost everyone you'll encounter has a DS or PSP. At PAX East, while waiting in line for an event, I held up a DS and called, "Let's play some Bomberman!". Within seconds I had eight players available for Bomberman Download Play.
Your PAX experience can include much more than what you see on the schedule alone. You're here on the forums, so you've already seen some of the community event threads; but there are also rooms at PAX that "rent" console and board games until two in the morning, games that you're free to play with friends in conveniently-provided freeplay rooms.
Is that one that tells you where certian booths are? I'm gonna have a freakin end table to carry so I'd like to just be able to plot a course to the Harmonix booth.:P
No need to worry. There are tons of us that will be are first time and I know of a lot of others that are international too. Maybe I will see you around in pax myself.
Australia BTW. Just to be annoying, America got put as far away as freaking possible from it.
And it really is the definition of an all-ages event, starting with (pre)teens and going well up into people in their 40's and 50's
I think the average age on the forums is something like 25, so gaming really isn't restrictive at all!
I booked my 3 day pass a while back, and paid the extra $15 for International Fedex shipping. A friend of mine (who is a PAX veteran) told me i had wasted the $15 as they wouldn't send the tickets outside the US, and i'd have to go to the will call to pick them up.
However, i received an email notification today from PAX (Reed Exhibitions to be precise) with regards to a Fedex delivery, stating that it was my 3 day pass being sent out. I was pleasantly surprised
Has this happened to anyone else from outside the US?
Product Marketing Manager on Watch Dogs: Legion
Youtube | Twitter