A Handful of Questions on Big Bad Con

This
is a VERY LONG interview, so it's behind a cut after the introductions.

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Tell
me a little about yourself and how you're involved with Big Bad Con. What's
your role? What's important to you?

SL: I’m
Sophie Lagacé and I’m the Event Coordinator. That means working with other
staff organizing specific event tracks like tabletop and live-action
role-playing (RPGs and LARPs), Games on Demand, workshops and panels, and this
year board games as well. I'm there to bridge the gaps and make sure the
convention events come together as one big well-timed volley of fireworks.

What’s important to me is to help support and improve our community, whether we
mean by that the gaming community or the local Bay Area community. I want more
new people to feel welcome, to try and enjoy our hobby; and I want gamers to
have an exceptional experience — as I do every time — at Big Bad Con.

I started gaming as a teen and I have the hobby to thank for some of the best
things in my life, starting with my friends and family but also extending to
practical skills as a facilitator, speaker, project manager, writer, and so
forth. I want others to reap the same joys and benefits I have.

KT: I’m
Karen Twelves, editor and marketing assistant. I review most of the
communications that Big Bad Con puts out on the blog, emails, and through
Kickstarter. I also do a lot of work on the convention programs--editing the
game descriptions down to size, cross-checking the schedule. Con-wise what’s
important to me is making sure that people get all the information they need,
clearly and concisely.

I’ve been gaming since high school and love that BBC makes it so easy to play a
variety of games and meet new people. Everyone’s just really excited to be
there and committed to having a good time.

ED: I’m
Ezra Denney, I am helping coordinate boardgames at BBC. I’m thrilled to be involved
with my favorite con, and psyched to be giving back to a con that has given me
so much. I really want to put boardgames on people’s calendar at BBC, and share
my love of all games with the attendees.

Table at Big Bad Con 2016

YK: I
am Yann Kherian, simple volunteer at BBC. I have been attending since the first
year. I now give a hand on the event, move tables, help people, smooth the
games-on-demand dispatching, make the participants feel good. I love BBC as it
has a different vibe than other cons, more indies games, and a very friendly
community.

SN: Sean
Nittner here. I wear a few hats for Big Bad Con. Last year we incorporated as a
non-profit organization and I became the president of the board, which means I
get cool moves like opening a board meeting and calling for votes (yes, our
board meetings are powered by the apocalypse as well). The boards primary
concern once the convention is underway, is the growth of our programs outside
the con, specifically our outreach program to run games in schools. At the con
itself, I work with all our coordinators to ensure we have a great list of
games and events, and a hotel to play them all in.

I started running one-day conventions for Good Omens over a decade ago. I
remember the first one felt like it was my birthday, Christmas, and
Thanksgiving all rolled up into one day. I love watching people game and enjoy
their time together. Over the years though, my focus has shifted from creating
a place where we play great games to creating a place where everyone feels
welcome and safe playing great games.

BH: I'm
Bryanna Hitchcock and I help run the Big Bad Gauntlet. BBG is a flagship event
with an interesting history. It started as a competitive event and has turned
into a multi-table, shared RPG experience. In addition to the gauntlet, BBC
always has an amazing schedule of excellent indie games run by designers and
great local GMs.

But beyond the games there is another layer to BBC. It's also a place where
queerness and gender variance are accepted and even welcomed. I love that the
community code of conduct is posted around the con. I feel safe there. I'm a
trans woman and the BBC community has given me a place where both my hobby and
identity feel welcome.

RO: My
name is Ryan Ossum, and I am your Reigning, Defending, and Undisputed Champion
of the Tell Me About Your Character Booth. Oh, I also run some games here, and
maybe play in some, and stuff. My role is... Honestly, insignificant. I (for
one shift or so a year since I learned of the Booth) stick myself in it and
raise money for Doctors Without Borders by being that ear that wishes to hear
your tales. The tales your friends are TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT. I haven't heard
them! I may... repurpose them... for nefarious plans later in games I'll run
elsewhere, but I want to know about it, and you. I want you to want to tell me
more, because it's $5 for 5 minutes of my therapy. Let me hear those tales of
your gaming, for good and for justice!

AM: I’m
Adrienne Mueller, Data Editor. For BBC 2016 I proofed and cross-referenced data
from BackerKit, the BBC website and other sources to make sure all the
information was accurate.

I offered to help out with BBC because I wanted to relieve some of the overhead
for my friends, who were already devoting a ton of time and effort to make the
con happen. It's important to me that the good people who organize the con have
support!

KS: I’m
Kristin Sullivan and I am Present at the convention. I’d like to think I’m the
back-up jack of all trades to the powerhouse that is Sean Nittner, but that’s
giving myself way too much credit. Beforehand I bake for Little Red’s Basket.
During the convention you can find me loitering behind or near the reg desk,
heading up Games on Demand, or bopping between game rooms. I’m the person who
can solve your problem and if I’m not, I’ll know just who can help us.

I love what Big Bad has become without sacrificing what it set out to do. From
the beginning, we’ve been home to primarily indie and small press games, those
games we collect and fall in love with but can’t get the damn home group to
play. There’s no lack of confidence when I say Big Bad offers the best spread
of RPGs on the west coast. Couple that with the welcoming atmosphere the con
provides, arms outstretched to welcome every flavor of participant, and it’s a
premiere convention, unmatched by any other I’ve attended.

Also, see Ryan in the booth. He truly is legendary. Is it even braggadocio if
it’s so damn true?

NB: Hello,
I’m Nathan Black. I’m the Community Coordinator for Big Bad Con. I wrote the
Community Standards under Sean’s careful supervision. Big Bad Con 2015 was my
first trip to BBC, and I fell in love immediately. Everyone was kind and
welcoming and playing weird and interesting games. My role on site is more of a
support role, checking with people and making sure that everyone is doing ok.

It is very important to me to protect and nurture our community. We have a
great cross section of people at Big Bad. Our diversity and inclusiveness is
our strength.

Ryan may be the champion of the booth, but Nathan sure as heck makes it look good.

SM: I
am Shantih Moriarty, the chick who wanted board games. I harassed Sean earlier
this year about having a proper board game track, and he said that would be
great if someone would organise it.. And I grabbed Ezra :D.

CF: I’m
Colin Fahrion, a graphic designer, gamer, immersive performance artist, experience
designer, and royal portrait photographer for Prince Wrinkles Nonesuch (my cat
who has way more my Instagram followers than I do). I have since I was young
loved games, art, and design, and I am fascinated by those places where they
all intersect.

I’ve been going to Big Bad Con for five years both as a player and a GM running
games. Last year, I joined on as the head of marketing and the website —
bringing my design, front-end web, and communications skills to the team. I
decided to join on as I really love the Big Bad Con community, the staff, and
all that they do to create a welcoming event that encourages creative play!

What
are you most looking forward to about Big Bad Con? Is there anything that's
happened before or that's new that's really piqued your enthusiasm?

SL: Big
Bad Con is my favourite weekend of the year, it’s my Christmas. I have been
there since the first edition in 2011. Some of the best memories I have over
its six years of existence include exciting adventures with excellent people —
in the Asteroid Belt, near Loch Ness, in the ‘Verse, in Aldea, on Coruscant, or
above Stalingrad — and shared meals and drinks, peppered with gaming tales. The
player caliber is amazing. The people who come to Big Bad Con are there to try
new things and they are so enthusiastic about jumping into the story!

KT: I
love seeing what larps are going on; there’s always something cool and fun that
I’ve never heard of before. It’s really exciting to try out new RPGs—sometimes
run by the designers!—or see a well-loved classic get some attention.

Editing the schedule can be so hard sometimes because after reading each and
every game description, I have such a hard time deciding what to sign up for!

ED: I
think the renewed focus on boardgames at BBC is pretty exciting. We have more
gaming space than ever before, great games that you can play to win, and 2
staff people focused on making your time in the boardgame room awesome.

YK: With
the time we know the participants and shared many adventures. Nowadays at each
table there is always someone I played with in the past. I also love the public
here, they are very eager to try new stuff, I use BBC to bring strange games,
and run some europeans game RPG gems. Maybe one day will I wake up early to run
with the wolf.

SN: This
year we're moving Games on Demand and improving our staffing level there. I'm
also encouraging more GMs to submit games and I hope to have a really robust
track. We're adding board games as well. I have so many good friends who love
their Thurn & Taxis more than their Dungeons & Dragons, so I'm really
happy to be adding that to! But most excited...seeing old friends and welcoming
new peeps to the con, it's the best part every year!

BH: I'm
always really excited for the Big Bad Gauntlet. I love playing and running
games, especially Fate and Monster of the Week. At BBC I get to do that with a
bunch of brilliant, open-minded people.

An off-kilter table at Big Bad Con 2016. ;)

RO: What
am I most looking forward to? Honestly, it's two things equally. First is the
Tell Me About Your Character Booth, because I bought myself a championship belt
I plan on wearing during my shift to hopefully draw more attention to the booth
and what it's there for in general. Second, and again, equally important to me,
is that I'm running three games this year at Big Bad Con. Each of these games I
am planning on running have the same THEME, but do not have the same setting. I
want to see just how differently my groups of players play the same scenario
(which can be explained upon request) but in three wildly different settings.
Those settings are 1) A Sailor Moon-esque high school, 2) A Star Wars Padawan
Training Facility, and 3) Xavier's School For The Gifted from the X-Men
universe. Those two sets of activities combined are what I'm more excited
about.

AM: Playing
new games and meeting new people! BBC always offers a huge range of games, and
I love getting to try out new systems and settings. Also, BBC has been
expanding a lot and I think it will have even higher attendance in 2017. I love
gaming with friends I seldom get to see, but I also love getting to play with
amazing strangers. The caliber of BBC attendees is really high, and some of my
favourite games have been one-shots with people I've never met before.

Games on Demand is being expanded! The first BBC I attended I hadn't signed up
for any games and GoD games were the only games I got to play. They're one of
my favourite parts of gaming conventions and I'm really happy that BBC's GoD is
getting even bigger and better.

Honestly, I love the people. Now, if you know me, you’ll cough obscene words
behind your hand when I say that, mostly referencing the waste of a male
bovine, but it’s still true. Big Bad provides my favorite injection of
beautiful humanity every single year. I find it invigorating. The vast majority
of these attendees I only see once a year, in October, at the convention, and
the truth of that is that it’s a shame. But if that’s what I can get, I’ll take
it.

I think that’s why I love being at or near the reg desk. I love watching
everybody come through, being the first to greet return attendees and meet
newcomers. It’s like keeping two fingers on the pulse of the con and finding
comfort in the steady flow.

This year, I think I’d like to actually sign up for a game. That’d be a
first...ha!

NB: Of
course Ryan has a championship belt. HE IS A CHAMPION.

I’m looking forward to seeing friends old and new.

Last year we introduced a convention-wide game reinforcing our shared values
called Big Bad World. Everyone gets to pick a playbook when they get to the
convention and gets experience points for doing nice things for each other.
It’s a fun way to remind people that we are all together in this and playing to
make a better community. I am really proud of what we are doing at BBC and it
is totally a highlight of the year.

SM: BBC
is so fun because you get an INCREDIBLE amount of systems, and people who are
excited about them. They invite you into their worlds, and you get to play in
them. I am also a HUGE fan of the sign up system, and am excited about some of
the possible changes to make it better this year. I am also looking forward to
having the snot beat out of me in terraforming Mars.

CF: My
staff role with Big Bad Con is mostly all pre-con, so once the con starts it’s
time to get my game on! Every year, I look forward to seeing what unique and
interesting games people run. And every year, I look forward to running games
myself because there are so many amazing creative people bringing their all to
the table!

Last year, I co-produced and co-ran a “wide-con” game of the Warren with Jason
Morningstar, Steve Segey, and Jeese Coombs — 4 GMs, 4 tables, 4 players per
table all “playing to see what happens” in their Grand Warren rabbit society. I
was thrilled see all the individual stories at each table of each rabbit clan
and I was riveted by the larger Grand Warren story that was shaped as the
action spilled out to the other tables! It was certainly an intense game with
so much going on and honestly afterwards I was exhausted, but happily so!
Unique play experiences such as this are what makes me keep coming back to Big
Bad Con.

tiny kitties!

For
coordinators:

What
challenges do you encounter arranging the games, events, and overall setup of
the con, and what do you find exciting about making them happen?

SL: I
work with GMs to schedule solid events which we hope will interest players, and
with event coordinators to arrange this into a coherent whole. I love the
feeling I get when I can help find effective solutions for problems (I usually
exclaim to myself: “Zoidberg helped!”), when I have a good idea for a special
event, and when I manage to make someone’s job easier.

KT: We
always have a badge-stuffing party with some of the volunteers (and people who
got into town early and are crashing at our place) the night before the con. We
order a ton of yummy food and put badges into badge-holders, fold and staple
programs, and tackle any other last-minute tasks that might need doing. It can
be a little hectic but with friends there it’s so much fun.

SN: Getting
everyone into as many games as they want is always the great tetris game we
play. First it’s a matter of making sure we have the games available. We do a
lot of GM recruiting up front and then when a game fills up quickly we’ll often
ask the GM if they want to run another session, or find other GMs who are known
for running the same system. We also have the Games on Demand Track that’s
specifically meant for folks who don’t want to plan out their games before the
con, or who have an open slot they want to fill when they arrive.

The other side of making our games run smoothly is addressing cancellations.
When game cancellations happen, especially last minute, we look for replacement
options for the players. Either other games they can get into, or replacement
GMs to run the game (or something similar). We’re so fortunate to have a host
of great GMs, many of which have stepped up in the last minute to run a game.
And when players aren’t able to make a game, we post the opening to try and
find another person to take their place. In the past that has been through a
manual sign up sheet on the wall, but we’ve always found those sheets hard to
navigate. Too many games, too small font, and no way to guarantee that if
someone cancelled a game online, we’d update the sheets in time for someone
else to see the opening. This year we’re going to keep open our digital sign
ups throughout the con so players can see what’s open real time and sign up for
games either from their mobile devices or from Kiosks at the registration desk.

For
marketing:

How
do you market a con that's got so much energy, so much going on, and capture it
all - both word of mouth and official communication?

KT: We
do a lot of word of mouth marketing for sure. We’ve got a lot of supporters who
volunteer to promote it while at other conventions, or pass out fliers where
appropriate. What’s very touching for me is the praise for the con I see on
social media that’s completely unsolicited--people really love Big Bad Con and
want to spread the word!

CF: The
plethora of games themselves do a lot to promote the con. Big Bad Con attracts
a lot of really creative people running great games. As a result, a lot of our
promotion of the con is actually promotion of the game masters and designers
themselves. The list of games for Big Bad Con has just started to fill in as
people submit their games. But already it is filled with some really unique and
interesting games including some playtests. Once the games list fills up there
with be something for everybody. Actually, one of the common “complaints” from
people is that there are so many great games that they wish they had a clone so
that they can play all the games they want to play. It’s a good problem to
have!

Specifically
for those coordinating games:

How
do you filter or choose what games get scheduled? Do you have criteria, and if
so, what?

SL: Because
Big Bad Con places its priorities on creating an amazing, welcoming experience
at the individual level rather than based on number of attendees, it requires
tasks that resemble more a game day event than a typical game convention. In
particular, we actively recruit GMs who we know are particularly good, and we
work with them individually to present their game in the most attractive
fashion we can. Since we’ve been inviting attendee feedback since year one, we
now have a pretty solid roster of people who return to run excellent games that
receive player acclaim.

As far as criteria, we mostly leave it to what GMs feel like running; however,
we also create our own wish list of hot new games and perennial favourite
titles, and if people ask us for suggestions, we draw from it. If there is
something that really seems to be missing by the time we’re approaching online
game signups, we recruit among a pool of GMs who are often willing to pitch in
to run something new.

SN: Sophie
has it all!

Fall of Magic in action.

For
anyone:

What
excites you about Big Bad Teens and Outreach? How do you get involved?

KT: When
promoting Big Bad Teens for its first run 2016, we reached out to a lot of
gaming clubs at local middle schools and high schools to let them know about
the con. I enjoyed connecting with Bay Area teachers and am really excited
about our plans to bring more games to young players outside of the convention
weekend.

SN: Outreach
is our chance to introduce locals both to Big Bad Con and to tabletop gaming!
We’re still developing the curriculum, but I’m very excited about running games
for teens in the Bay Area, and hopefully having some of them out at Big Bad Con
after that!

How
does the scholarship program work?

KT: The
Scholarship Fund supports women, people of color, and disabled or lgbtqia+
individuals in need of a little extra assistance to attend the con. It goes
towards travel, hotel, and badge fees, for as many applicants as we have the
funds for. The application for the Scholarship Fund is over on our website (http://www.bigbadcon.com/big-bad-con-scholarship-fund/)
and people can contribute to the Fund through the Kickstarter!

What
are bonus things — rewards, recognition — that people can take away from the
con?

SL: On
the tangible side, there are the various pins you can collect for the various
to pitch in — GMing, volunteering, chipping in on the Kickstarter campaign,
donating to the food bank or to Doctors Without Borders, and so forth. You can
also collect playbooks for our meta-game, Big Bad World. Some game companies
also provide prizes for those who try their games at the convention.

But to me the real reward that stays with me the rest of the year is playing
and hanging out with great people and, the next time I see them, thinking “Oh,
I know them, they’re so great to play with!” I keep relationships online, at
game day events, at other conventions, and in regular campaigns.

--

Thanks
so much to everyone for participating in the interview! It was great to hear
about the con and everything involved. The Big Bad Con Kickstarter still
has a little longer to go - don't miss out on backing if it sounds like a good
time to you!

Note: I don't currently have notes for who took these photos, but I will check with Sean to see if I can update this with those names!