Pat at PAX

Hey everyone, Amanda here! As has become tradition, I’ve hijacked the blog to let you know about Pat’s schedule at a con, this time PAX West.

PAX West is one of the cons Pat almost always hits, primarily because there’s usually a live game of Acquisitions Incorporated, the D&D campaign run by Chris Perkins for Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik, Scott Kurtz, and Pat.

He’s also usually there because we’ve started making Pinny Arcade collectible pins, like the Eolian Talent Pipes, and the What Ho! pin.

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We’ve got folks selling these pins for us, but what I’m most excited for is that PAX is where we’ll be debuting our next Pinny pin, the Domesticated Owlbear.

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He was designed by the beloved John Kovalic, who also designed our Domesticated Owlbear plushie (which we’re very nearly out of, by the way).

It’s being released for the first time here, and we’ll have it (and our other pins) at a few different places:

  • The Cards Against Humanity Room, ACT Theater in the Convention Center. What Ho!, Talent Pipes, and Owlbear pins will all be at their table.
  • Table Titans Booth, 3rd Floor Lobby Atrium. What Ho! and Owlbear pins will all be at their table.

If you’re not familiar with the Pinny Arcade phenomenon, there’s a whole community aspect to it. You buy a few of your favorite pins. Grab yourself a Pinny Arcade trading lanyard, and walk around the con looking for other folks with lanyards. If they have pins on their lanyard, those pins are up for trade. Start talking. Trade pins. Profit.

It’s a seriously fun way to get to know some like-minded folks amid the whirlwind of PAX, and the Domesticated Owlbear pin is sure to catch some eyes. He’s just so CUTE.

There will also be some pins and copies of The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle available at Pat’s signing, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the very beginning:

Thursday, September 1st

PAX West doesn’t officially start until Friday, but PAX Dev, a bonus 2-day event for game developers, runs on Wednesday and Thursday, and Pat’s participating in one of the panels for that.

  • 5pm-6pm: Lightning Round: 15 Talks in 90 Minutes, Westin Grand III

A bunch of game designers (like Mike Selinker, Paul Peterson, and Liz Spain) and some special mystery guests are each going to be given 5 minutes to rant, pontificate, or otherwise expound on a subject of their choosing.

It’s going to be a whirlwind of information, and we all know that Pat is able to talk at length about almost anything, so it’s guaranteed to be interesting.

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Pat *may* be there. Maybe. It’s on his schedule, but it’s a couple blocks away from the convention center, so I’m worried he might get lost or distracted on the way there.

So you *might* see Pat assuming he isn’t wandering lost, confused, or supine in a chemical fug facedown in a ditch somewhere. But that’s hardly important because James Ernest *will* be there. And it’s a really awesome event for a great cause, the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

There will be a nice meal served, and you’ll get to play games with cool game designers like James, Mike Selinker, and Paul Peterson. There’ll even be a life-sized game of Tak to play, as well as one of Tsuro (one of my personal favorites).

There’s thousands of dollars of prizes up for grabs, and you’ll be able to spend the entire night gaming to your heart’s content.

If you’ve got the money to spare and want to do something fun before the con officially starts, you can pick up your tickets right here while they last.

Friday, September 2nd

The con itself starts on Friday, and all of the panels are going to be livestreamed over on the 3 different PAX twitch channels, so if there’s something you want to check out, be sure to mark it on your calendar, but remember that all times are in PACIFIC TIME when you do.

  • 7:30pm-8:30pm: An Evening with Pat Rothfuss, Wyvern Theater (Westin Level 4)

This will be an awesome event, so if you’ve got a badge to PAX you should swing by and check it out. Pat usually does a reading, takes a bunch of questions, and goofs off in whatever way he deems appropriate.

The livestream will be right here, and I won’t lie that I’ll be interested and nervous to see what Pat does for the world to see.

Saturday, September 3rd

  • 11am-1pm: Signing in the Autographing Area (Westin Level 2)

As I mentioned before, if you need something to get signed, you’ll be able to pick up the first Princess & Whiffle book at the signing, as well as the Talent Pipes or Domesticated Owlbear pins.

  • 5:30pm-6:30pm: Acquisitions Incorporated Cast Commentary, Wyvern Theater (Westin Level 4)

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The entire cast of Acquisitions Inc is getting together to talk about the game, and do some Acquisitions-specific Q&A. The whole crew will be there, including Chris Perkins, so if you love the series you can finally ask all of your burning questions here. This, again, will be livestreamed right here on Twitch.

Sunday, September 4th

  • 12pm-1pm: Tak Talk with James and Pat, Wyvern Theatre (Westin Level 4)

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Pat and James Ernest are going to get together and talk about all things Tak. It’s a great opportunity to hear about its origin, history, and how things went behind the curtain.

The livestream for this panel will be here, and you’ll be able to listen in and hear all the fun stories from Tak’s storied life. It really is a beautiful game with a fascinating history.

  • 6:00pm: Acquisitions Inc Gameplay, Main Theater (Benaroya Hall)

Acquisitions inc preview2

And, last but not least, will be the live game of Acquisitions Inc. I have no idea what’s going to happen here, but you can probably bet that there will be a chandelier or two and a couple of shouts of WHAT HO.

* * *

There you have it, guys. Have fun finding Pat wherever he is, and if you’re stuck at home like me, make sure to catch a livestream or two. We can commiserate together if he says something particularly egregious.

Amanda

This entry was posted in appearances, conventions. By Amanda13 Responses

13 Comments

  1. blueyedsoul
    Posted September 1, 2016 at 7:02 AM | Permalink

    Any chance drunk Pat will make an appearance? I hear he’s super frambly!

    • Posted September 2, 2016 at 1:50 PM | Permalink

      Whoo boy. I don’t know about that.

      I mean, the world can only handle so much frambling….

  2. toddcmz
    Posted September 1, 2016 at 12:56 PM | Permalink

    Pat’s been pretty busy the last year or two. It’s really great. As a dedicated fan of TKKC (I made a string-art picture of Auri’s Gear and recommend the series to nearly every person I meet), I couldn’t be happier that Pat’s into all these amazing things. Tak, conferences, charity events, talks, collaborations, other assorted nerd things that don’t fit into the previous categories…it’s all incredible and he richly deserves the success.

    It’s also extremely important that his fanbase is able to keep track of events and announcements, new products, promotions, and all of the aforementioned.

    I’d like to humbly submit that you guys have reached a point where there needs to be an events/announcements/promotions etc section of the website, separate from the blog. Such posts like this one would go there.

    While I absolutely want to know about the content that has taken over the blog during the last year or so, I want something very specific from the blog itself: posts from Pat where he writes and talks about Things. I gather that recently, he’s not had the time to write such posts, and so we get these other (important and interesting and good) event/promo posts instead. When he does have time to write something, more often than not it’s a promotion or recommendation. That’s great, too, because he has excellent taste and everything he promotes is either fantastic or for a cause I can really get behind, but again, at least in my very biased and selfish opinion, these aren’t the kinds of posts I’m looking for in the blog.

    I understand that putting this response out there is opening myself up to a great deal of criticism, so I want to make it very clear that I am 100% in support of the content that has been taking over the blog; I’d just prefer for it to have its own space. I also freely acknowledge that this is solely my opinion, and that the way you guys currently do things might really be the best for everyone and I should just suck it up. Which, naturally, I’ll absolutely be willing to do.

    However.

    • 1999Brock
      Posted September 1, 2016 at 3:34 PM | Permalink

      This is, without a doubt, the most polite complaint I’ve ever heard, on or off the internet. Bravo! We need more people like you.

      • Posted September 2, 2016 at 2:57 PM | Permalink

        Agreed. This is probably one of the most genial, civilized, and articulate requests I’ve seen. Bravo. (That is said with absolute earnestness, by the way. No snark or sarcasm.)

        I thought about this for a little bit. But even despite the politeness of the request, what it kinda boils down to it you asking if I could please create a different blog and put all the stuff you don’t want to read over there so *this* blog just has what you like in it.

        The problem becomes kind of apparent when we break it down like that.

        While the blog is, in some ways, for you. The truth is, it’s not *just* for you. And right now, this is the place where everyone comes to get all the information about what’s going on with me. That includes stories. Announcements. Convention stuff. And charity.

        When we re-vamp the website, hopefully soon, we’ll be instituting a notification system so that people can get pinged when blogs or announcements go live. People who sign up for that will be able to choose what they’re interested in hearing about.

        However, until then, the blog is kinda one-stop-shopping. Breaking things up into multiple blogs would just make a lot more work for me, and make it harder for everyone to find what they’re looking for.

        • toddcmz
          Posted September 19, 2016 at 10:36 AM | Permalink

          Makes complete sense. I really appreciate the consideration and response! Thank you very much.

    • Little My
      Posted September 3, 2016 at 7:55 PM | Permalink

      Seconded. FWIW I think some of the everyday Thoughts-about-Things that used to live here have moved over to Facebook, but I’m not on that (and thus may be wrong), so I just am happy on the occasion that it happens here. The notification system that’s in the works sounds like it will be helpful for directing the attention of interested parties to the appropriate category of blog.

  3. Posted September 2, 2016 at 1:11 PM | Permalink

    The thing I like best about Amanda writing the blog, is that I can go in and edit it a little bit and nobody’s the wiser.

    Extra Points to anyone who can point to the couple sentences that I tucked into this particular blog….

    • horsecart
      Posted September 2, 2016 at 2:48 PM | Permalink

      sentences containing supine/chemical fog, pontificate and WHAT HO! my best guess anyway.

  4. Calthaer
    Posted September 2, 2016 at 8:37 PM | Permalink

    I am really looking forward to this Acquisitions Inc. game; my wife and I bought tickets to see it live in a local theater – I didn’t even know this was a thing in years / sessions past. I am sure the rest of PAX is probably cool, but really I’d go just for this. It’s our favorite thing to watch – way better than any show on TV, except maybe The Goldbergs, which I have to admit is slightly funnier.

  5. Bloodshaed
    Posted September 3, 2016 at 8:59 PM | Permalink

    Paaaaat,

    I need to find you so you can can sign my Capcom artist rendition of you as a character. http://imgur.com/mODHrhP

  6. J2Haas
    Posted September 7, 2016 at 11:53 PM | Permalink

    Oh man, I love Acquisitions Inc. I just recently started listening to/watching them (in almost backwards order) because of your post sharing their newest season with you in it and I love all of it. Jerry, Scott, Mike, and Chris are ridiculously awesome humans, and they have a new fan. I would go on about it, but it will be the endless gushing of yet another fan, and having read your books a few times and now having Ac Inc I’m sure I could go on in an aggravating manner about how great I think you (and your pals) are. I have got to attend PAX some time.
    Love what you do Pat, thanks for taking time out of your days to allow us to share in your adventures.

    P.S.
    Random random random question.
    Is there a Japanese edition of The Wise Man’s Fear planned or in the works?

  7. prettypoison
    Posted September 11, 2016 at 12:17 PM | Permalink

    It was fantastic seeing you at PAX (it looked like you had a good time at Acquisitions Inc, which made me happy)! There was some apocalyptic chaos that almost destroyed my Auri costume, but I’m glad that, in the end, both she and the Adem were able to make an appearance to your panels.

    I never really got the chance to explain the weird rock that I handed to you the day of your signing. (There’s a bit of preamble that’s necessary for it to make sense.) See, I’ve always been pretty much on my own; no parents or family to speak of- just my little sister, Shannon. Well, last year things got pretty dark for me and, having always survived on my own, I thought I could handle it. I didn’t talk about it- not even when it got really bad. You know, sometimes people just can’t and the truth is, I thought I could just deal with it on my own. Then, one day, I came home from a job I hated in a situation that just kept going from bad to worse and totally fell apart. My sister, who, by the way, is accustomed to my prideful bullshit, pressed that stone into my hand. She told me, “Some days are going to break you with their weight. Some days you won’t have enough- or feel like you’re enough. Those are the days you need to remember your own strength. The strength of a heart that has survived, over and over again. The strength of hope.”

    I carried that stone on me for an entire year. I took it out over and over and over again, and I remembered what she said. More importantly, I remembered what she did for me. The love within it.

    Truth is, I don’t know your struggles. I’ve never been burdened with the terrible and wonderful privileges and responsibilities you have. But, more than anything, I remember the battle you described between parenting and, as you called it, your responsibility to the world. You described a day where you just wanted to spend some time playing a game with your child, but you couldn’t focus on it, couldn’t enjoy it, because you were so acutely aware that, “right there in the next room, children were starving to death waiting for you to come back”. The idea of that split my heart in two. I can’t imagine having to live with that kind of struggle every day. I have, as always, nothing but the deepest and most profound respect for you. Not just as a writer or someone trying to leave the world a better place than when they found it, but as a human being.

    I’ve known struggle and conflict in my life. I believe we all have. But I’ll never know the depth of yours- or the staggering velocity of it which, I imagine, can sometimes knock you right off your feet.

    So, I want you to have it- my stone, that is. I hope you can always find and remember your own strength, and your own hope- and that if you ever feel like you can’t, that it acts as a quiet reminder for you, as it did so many times for me.

    Until next time.
    Destiny

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