Category Archives: cool things

The Name of the Wind Art Deck

So. Here’s the deal. Today we have a bit of an announcement. And by we, I mean me and my team here at Elodin Enterprises. (Yes. That’s really our name.)

But before I tell you what’s happening now, I hope you’ll understand if I mention some of the events that led up to this happening. I’m guessing this format isn’t going to be hugely surprising for any of you. Because that’s how I do.

    *     *     *

Once, years ago and miles away, I heard about an artist by the name of Echo Chernik. In little dribs and drabs, I kept hearing about her, and running into her art in various places.

And to put it plainly, I thought it was amazing.

Years went by, and kept brushing up against each other professionally. The first time she was part of the Pairs kickstarter I did with James Earnest back in 2014. A year or so later, I saw some of her art in a show at a convention and was wowed.

Later, I found out she was doing a Tarot Deck for Shadowrun.

(Queen of Swords, if you hadn’t guessed.)

Later still, James invited her into the Tak Kickstarter, where she designed the board that many of you have seen….

Which might not seem like a bit deal, until you realize that she had to design the Selas Flower before she made that board:

(Before she did this, the flower only existed in my head….)

It was during the Tak kickstarter that we first got to talk and work together a bit. (See selas flower above.) And after the ice was broken, I felt brave enough to actually approach her at a convention, introduce myself, and ask if she wanted to hang out and chat a little bit. This might surprise some of you, but the truth is, I’m kinda bashful. Especially around creative people I admire.

While we were chatting over coffee, I learned something surprising. While Echo loves going to conventions, working with game companies, and making geeky art…. that’s not really what she does for a living. Her day job is doing corporate ad design working for people like Dos Equis, Celestial Seasonings, companies like that.

“Do you like that stuff better?” I asked.

“I love illustrating for advertising and packaging. But being a geek at heart, the opportunity to combine my passion for art and geekdom is a dream,” she explained. “Unfortunately, games don’t pay well enough for that dream to be full-time.”

Hearing this, I was honestly irritated. Echo is a world-class talent, and the fact that she was forced to do corporate ad design to make ends meet… well… it kinda pissed me off.

“Would you want to maybe do a project together sometime?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager. “Maybe a kickstarter or something? My people love beautiful art, and they’re enthusiastic. I’d love to see how you’d paint my characters. If it goes well, maybe we could make enough money so you could just draw what you love for a while, and not worry so much about making ends meet….”

She didn’t laugh at me, which is always a good sign. And then we talked more and more seriously about it until… well… now.

And here we are.

I hereby present to you: The Name of the Wind Art Deck. We’ve been working on getting this ready for the better part of a year, and I’m incredibly proud of how it’s turning out so far.

On the surface, we’re making a deck of playing cards that feature art and characters from The Name of the Wind.

But fairly early in the process, Echo and I realized we had a problem. A deck of cards only has 12 face cards, but we had more than twelve characters we wanted to feature. Wouldn’t it be nice to see *more* than just the main cast of characters?

We tossed around a couple ideas until we hit a solution that I’m really proud of. We’re doing multiple decks with different pieces of art. That means we can show you more characters, and even do a couple variants with our favorites. (A Fae bast, and a mortal bast, for example.)

But (and here’s the clever bit) the backs of the cards will be the same…

That means– Well. You know what. We took great pains to explain all this in our campaign video. Plus there’s a bunch of cool animations in there to help explain what I mean.

Does that make sense? How you’ll be able to make your own decks?

This is a bit of an experiment for us here at Elodin. We’ve never run our very own Kickstarter before. But we do have experience producing goods and shipping them out because of the Indiegogos we’ve been doing for the last three years with Worldbuilders.

Luckily, the team has been doing all the logistical work. My job has been easier. Since I suck at organization, the main thing I’ve been doing is been developing the art with Echo. And it’s been turning out so, so good..

Check out young Kvothe.

And Auri…

Also, did I mention that since package design is what Echo does for a living, she’s *Super* good at it?

Look at this gorgeousness:

The red decks are the Selas Decks, and the Black ones are the Chandrian Decks. They both have alternate cards and unique jokers and…

Y’know? You should really just go over and check out the kickstarter itself. You can see all the art and the stretch goals and details there.

Also, I feel I should mention that we have a couple tiers that are limited in quantity. Partly to encourage people to jump in early, and partly because we can only produce so many of certain items

If you’d head over and check it out, I’d appreciate it. Both my team and Echo’s family have invested a lot of time and effort into this, and the first couple days of a kickstarter are *really* important. (So both jumping in early and helping to spread the word are hugely appreciated.)

Here’s the Link. 

pat

Also posted in Arts and Crafts, calling on the legions, Echo Chernik, geeking out | By Pat58 Responses

T-shirts and Onesies: The Votening

Hey there everybody,

It’s been a busy day here at Rothco headquarters. Partly because we’ve been getting a bunch of new products together for the upcoming fundraiser but also because we’ve been collecting and sorting the submissions for our t-shirt and onesie design contest.

It was tough to narrow it down to just a few options, but we did it. And now, in order for us to get things ready before we launch Geeks Doing Good (on June 5th, just in case you were curious) we’ll need to see which shirts y’all like best.

Here are our top contenders. First a nice combo shot, mocked up shirts:

And individually, so you can check out their individual majesty:

Before you vote, a few polite requests:

  • If you don’t plan on ever buying a t-shirt, maybe don’t vote? (It’s not that your opinion doesn’t  matter… It’s just that it doesn’t matter in this particular instance.)
  • Please vote based on which designs you would buy as a t-shirt. If you like the art, but you wouldn’t wear it as a shirt, then don’t vote for it.
  • Let’s not descend into internet jackassery here. We’re better than that. Don’t try to game the system. Don’t vote a bunch of times. That’s not cool.
  • You can vote for two shirts. That means you should vote for the shirt that you’d really love to buy. And then the shirt that you’d love to buy if your first choice isn’t one of the ones we print.
  • When you’re voting, double check the name of the shirt to make sure you’re casting your vote correctly. The name of the shirt is at the bottom left of the image itself.
  • The poll ends at 11:59pm Tuesday, May 30th. So be sure to get your votes in before then…

Which T-shirt Should We Make?

  • Questioning Hall (20%, 1,665 Votes)
  • Cthaeh (20%, 1,651 Votes)
  • Edema Ruh (17%, 1,389 Votes)
  • How's the Road to Tinue? (14%, 1,122 Votes)
  • The Name of the Wind (13%, 1,067 Votes)
  • Amyr (11%, 942 Votes)
  • Straight Outta Tarbean (5%, 412 Votes)

Total Voters: 5,542

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We also have baby shirts to vote on. I’m excited for these, as it’s been years and years since we made a onesie.

Here are our onesie/baby bodysuit/baby shirt contenders, mocked up first:

And then individually for you to see all the juicy details:

Most of the same rules apply for the baby clothes:

  • Again, please only vote if you would genuinely consider buying a onesie. If you vote for one because you think it’s adorable, but you have no interest in actually buying it, you’ll skew our numbers and it will make it harder for us to actually get people a product they would like.
  • You can only vote for one baby shirt. That means you should only vote for the onesie you would most like to buy.
  • Again, double check the name of the design to make sure you’re casting your vote correctly. The name of the onesie/shirt is at the bottom left of the image itself.
  • The poll ends 11:59pm Tuesday, May 30. So be sure to get your votes in before then…

Which baby shirt should we make?

  • The Moon (43%, 1,101 Votes)
  • Golden Screw (27%, 687 Votes)
  • Taborlin the Cute (19%, 498 Votes)
  • An Apple Who Thinks it's a Pear (11%, 271 Votes)

Total Voters: 2,557

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Thanks for participating so far, folks. Looking forward to seeing what y’all are going to vote for.

pat

Also posted in contests, delicious fanarts, Geeks Doing Good | By Pat68 Responses

Art Contest III: The Artening.

Hey there everybody,

If you’ve been hanging around the blog for a while, you know that in June Worldbuilders holds a fundraiser. It’s called Geeks Doing Good, and we put a bunch of cool geekery up on Indigogo for a week so y’all can come over, ooh and ahhh, then hopefully buy some stuff and help us make the world a better place.

Traditionally, we do some T-shirts during the fundraiser. And we have, in the past, occasionally run contests where people can submit designs for t-shirts which we then vote for here on the blog

I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

Truth is, over the years y’all have made some beautiful art. And since it’s been two years since our last contest, we figured we were overdue. So we’re throwing open the doors again, and inviting y’all to submit designs for new kingkiller shirts.

But that’s not all….

You see, long long ago. Years and miles away. We made a kingkiller onesie:

It was adored by children everywhere.

We even shot a video of Oot describing what exactly was going on in the picture:

(Awwww… Daddy’s little shill.)

But that was a *long* time ago. Maybe seven years? And we never did a second printing, so most people never had a chance to pick one up….

So anyway, in addition to t-shirt designs, I’d love to see some ideas for onesies or baby shirts if y’all have any bright ideas. I’ve been wanting to make another onesie forever, and this seems like a good opportunity.

Here are some general rules:

  • Must be your original art/design.
  • Please submit your entry as a jpeg, png, or pdf.
  • Images should not exceed 5MB. (If you win, we’ll contact you for high res.)
  • Please submit no more than three designs per category.
  • You can submit the same design to both categories.
  • Submissions must be sent via email. (Below.)
  • The submission period ends on Wednesday, May 17th.

This isn’t a rule so much as an important note: remember that fewer colors for a design tends to be simpler and more elegant, not to mention cheaper to produce.

Here’s how you submit your entries:

  • If you want to submit a t-shirt design, email it to tshirt (at) worldbuilders.org
  • If you want to submit a onesie or baby shirt design, email it to onesie (at) worldbuilders.org

After the deadline, we here at Worldbuilders HQ will sift and sort them, then post a blog where everyone can come in and vote on which ones they like best.

*     *     *

While we’re on the topic of art, there’s another project I’ve been wanting to do for ages. It started as a stupid joke years and years ago, I think I was talking with Paul and Storm about selling out, and what sort of really crass merchandising I’d do. I can’t really remember products we discussed, but it was crazy bullshit like Kvothe action figures with Real Sympathy Grip (TM) and Name of the Windbreakers.

Oh. Oh damn. I meant that to be a joke. But we could totally sell a Windbreaker, couldn’t we?

No. No no. I’m not going to do that. One crazy idea at a time.

Anyway, the one idea I do remember from that conversation was when we joked about making a kingkiller lunchbox. Mostly because I pictured it as having “The Name of the Lunch” written on it. I laughed my ass off at the thought. Partly because when I was a kid, I actually did have a lunchbox. It had Benji on it. And a thermos for milk. My mom packed me a lunch in it for years until I got too old for Benji. Then she used brown bag lunches instead.

So over the years, whenever we would talk about product development, I’d always bring up the Name of the Lunchbox as a joke. Then everyone would roll their eyes at me and we’d all move on with our day.

But when I brought it up this year, everyone kinda just looked at each other and said, “Why not?” The Indigogo is the perfect place to do it, because if people *do* want this bizarre thing and we sell 500 of them, that’s great. But if sanity prevails and we only sell 15, we’ll produce as many as we need, move on with our lives, and Worldbuilders won’t get stuck with four pallets of them gathering dust in a warehouse.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that this is a strange project. Hell, that’s most of the reason I want to do it. And it may prove too complicated to pull it off this year. But what the hell, right? Let’s at least give it a try…

But to do that, we’ll need art for the lunchbox. So if you’re an arty type, I’d love to see what you’d come up with for something like this.

The rules for the lunchbox designs are a little looser. There are size and shape issues that we’ll have to work out if we pick your design. But for your initial submission, USE THE TEMPLATE HERE as a guide, then email it to (you guessed it) lunchbox (at) worldbuilders.org.

Fair warning. We *might* not be putting the lunchbox design up for a vote. As I said, this project is a bit of an odd thing. As I mentioned earlier, you may not see the final product this year. Or maybe ever. But getting art we like is the first step in making my lunchbox dreams come true.

On a completely unrelated note, if you happen to know anyone in the lunchbox-making business who would be willing to give a charity a break on minimum order quantities, feel-free to send them our way.

*     *     *

Lastly but not leastly, I’d like to say that I’m a big fan of people getting paid for their work. Especially designers and artists, who are all-too-frequently asked to ply their craft for free. And while exposure is lovely, we all know you can’t eat it.

Since Worldbuilders is a charity, we run on donations. Partly because of that, and partly because we began as a shoestring operation running out of my living room, most of the art we’ve used was simply given to us out of the kindness of the artist’s hearts. In doing so, those folks have helped us raise a ton of money to make the world a better place.

But artists have to eat too. So from now on, Worldbuilders is adopting the policy of paying the winners of these contests for the use of their art. It’s not going to be buy-an-island money or anything. But it’s something. And don’t get me wrong, if you decide to waive the fee or re-donate it to the charity, we’re still cool with that, too…

I’m just saying. I admire you art-doers. I respect your cleverness and craft. The designs you create fill me with great joy, and help us produce things. You are important to us. So. From now on, there will be money on the table if we pick your design.

I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with…

pat

Also posted in calling on the legions, contests, fan coolness, Geeks Doing Good | By Pat29 Responses

Fee Fie Faux

So I stumbled across this thing recently…

Even if you’re not a fan of Neil Gaiman, it’s worth watching. If you are a fan, it’s hugely funny. And if you’ve listened to Neil’s Audiobooks as much as I have (Which is to say obsessively) the above video is AMAZING.

My third time watching it, I started wondering, “Could we do something like this, but for my writing?”

At first I dismissed the thought as silly. For one thing, I don’t have Gaiman’s gorgeous voice and accent. I don’t think my writing style is as distinctive as his, either.

But the idea kept tickling at me. And the truth is, when I go to conventions, or events, or signings, I’m always looking for fun, bite-sized things I can read in front of a crowd.

So I’m finally saying “What the hell” and giving it a try. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t. But if it does work, this could be a lot of fun. I could read a couple on the JocoCruise next week, or when I’m out at Gencon. If nothing else, I’ll read the best of them on my twitch channel so everyone can see them, then upload them to youtube later for archival purposes.

So… yeah. If this is something that appeals to you, give me your best Bad Rothfuss style piece of writing in the form below. It should be NO MORE THAN 1800 characters (which is around 300 words).

I know. I know. How can you satirize my effluvient verbosity in only 300 words? Well… I don’t know. Maybe you’ll just have to pick some other element of my style to lovingly satirize. All I know is that if I don’t put a cap on these, we’ll end up with several hundred thousand words submitted and this will go from a fun little activity to a horrifying millstone around my neck. (And by my neck, I mean Amanda’s neck. Because she’s one of the folks who will be helping to winnow these down.)

Anyway. Be aware that the form is set to cut you off before you start to bloviate. What’s more, I let Amanda write her own sassy response that will pop up as an error if you go over the character count.

We’ve included a place in there for your name and e-mail, too. That way, I can give you credit if I read yours….

So… yeah. Here you go. I’m curious to see what comes in, and read some of them in my best audio narrator voice….

Take care of each other,

pat

Also posted in Consistent Verb Tense Is For Bitches, dicking around, fanfic, talking shit, the craft of writing, The difference between 'slim' and 'slender' | By Pat58 Responses

Pat’s Far Travels: PAX South

Hey everyone, Amanda here! Pat’s on his way to a con, which means it’s time for me to post up his schedule for PAX South!

But before he gets to San Antonio for PAX, he’s in LA to do a guest spot on Critical Role, Geek and Sundry’s D&D series, TONIGHT (Thursday, the 26th).

Critical_Role_Logo

The game’s DM is Matthew Mercer, and features a bunch of other cool folks, this time including Pat. Pat’s made a few appearances on Critical Role as Kerr in the past, and he’s really excited to be on again tonight.

If you want to check it out you can watch on either Geek and Sundry’s Twitch channel, or on Pat’s Twitch channel. It’ll be tonight, January 26th at 7PM Pacific Time, so be sure to tune in. As a bonus, if you sign up for notifications for when Pat’s channel goes live and you’ll get a quick alert from there.

If you miss out on Critical Role, though, never fear, there’s a lot of cool stuff happening at PAX, including livestreams…

***

It’s Pat’s first time down to South, and there are a LOT of cool things happening down there.

The folks over at True Dungeon are running a short, free demo of True Dungeon at the con to build awareness and a potential volunteer pool for coming back and running the real deal in 2018. It’ll be 10am to 7pm Friday and Saturday, and 10am to 1pm on Sunday.

It’s no secret that Pat loves True Dungeon (frankly, we all do). We’ve given away seats to play with him and some friends a few times as a part of various Worldbuilders fundraisers.

TrueDungeon

We really like True Dungeon around here, and we think you should too. If you’re going to be at PAX South and want to see what all of the fuss is about, head over to the Stars at Night Ballroom on the 3rd floor for a free, 30 minute demo of one of our favorite games.

If you’re looking to find somewhere to find Pat’s merch, the folks at Toonhound will be carrying our various Pinny Pins, as well as copies of The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. WHiffle. If you want to grab some for yoruself, swing by booth 10071 and say hi.

Anyway, enough announcements. Here’s where Pat will be and when at PAX South:

Friday, January 27

  • 4-5pm: An Afternoon with Pat Rothfuss, Main Theater

This event is going to be live streamed on the PAX Twitch Channel, so you can watch Pat goofing off with the audience LIVE.

Remember that the time zones are in CENTRAL TIME, since PAX is in San Antonio, so account for that when you’re tuning in.

  • 6:30-8pm: Autographing Session, Queue room

Both of the signings will have Princess & Mr. Whiffle books available for purchase from Toonhound, and if you haven’t read that one, I can assure you you want to.

Saturday, January 28

  • 2-5pm: Acquisitions Incorporated Live, Main Theater

Acquisitions Inc is also live on the Twitch Channel (again, central time), and it’s guaranteed to be a good time.

If you haven’t kept up with Acquisitions Inc, there was a holiday special released on Amazon Prime recently (decidedly after the holidays) that you can watch and catch up. Pat plays a devilish rogue named Viari with a penchant for swinging on chandeliers, and the game is DMed by one of the best DMs of all time, Chris Perkins.

  • 7-8pm: Pitch Your Game Idea, Cactus Theater

This one sounds hilarious. Attendees have 45 seconds to pitch their game ideas to the panel of judges (one of which is Pat), and the top 3 will win swag and prizes. If you have a really great (or really hilarious) game idea, this is the perfect place to show it off and maybe win something cool in the process.

Sunday, January 29

  • 11:30am-1pm: Autographing Session, Queue room
  • 1:30-2:30pm: Jackbox at PAX…box, Main Theater

I’ve really grown to love all of the Jackbox games, so watching a bunch of cool people play them is something I’m looking forward to. Not to mention I have lots of reasons to believe that Pat might lose at a couple of these games, and I love watching him look silly in front of a lot of people.

This panel is also streamed on the official  Twitch Channel, so tune in with me and watch everyone goof off for an hour.

***

If you’re in the area of PAX South I hope you’re able to swing by (there are still a few badges left!), and maybe watch the Twitch streams if you can’t. I know I will, but I always tune in to make sure Pat’s not embarrassing himself TOO much…

Amanda

Also posted in appearances | By Amanda5 Responses

Five Sentences, Three Events, Two Videos, and a Bag of Chips….

Heya everybody,

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to get a solid blog up, so I thought I’d remedy that today, especially as there’s some news that’s a little time sensitive….

First and foremost, I’ve got a few readings and Q&As coming up in places I don’t visit very often.

  • Charleston, West Virginia

This Saturday (October 29th) I’ll be in West Virginia for the West Virginia Book Festival.

I’m going to be giving a talk on the importance of reading. (Where hopefully I’ll find something to say other than just shouting DUH! really loud.) I’ll also do some Q&A, and then have a signing for everyone who’s interested.

And if that isn’t enough for you, I’ll even be introduced by Justin McElroy, West Virginian and co-host of the awesome podcast “My Brother, My Brother, and Me.” It’s one of my newest loves, and if you don’t listen to it, you should. It is a source of genuine delight.

Here’s all the info for the event itself:

October 29, 2016 at 3:00 PM
Charleston Civic Center
Little Theater
200 Civic Center Dr
Charleston, West Virginia 25301
Facebook Event

If you’re in the area, come say hi. And if you happen to be in a different area…

  • Madison, Wisconsin

Despite the fact that I only live a hundred miles away, I’m doing my first event in Madison in years. Even better, I’ll actually be doing *two* different events, both with some Q&A and books available for purchase, though the first is primarily a reading and Q&A, and the second is primarily a keynote speech.

The first one is next week Thursday…

November 3, 2016 at 5:00 PM
Reading and Q&A
Agriculture Hall, Room 125
1450 Linden Dr
Madison, WI 53706

And the second is going to be on Friday night…

MADISON, WI
November 4, 2016 at 7:00 PM
Talk and Q&A
272 Bascom Hall
Madison, WI 53706

Both events will have books for purchase from A Room of One’s Own, one of my favorite bookstores in Madison. So if you’re all signed-book-wanty, this would be a great place to get one without paying shipping costs from our online store

For those of you who aren’t in West Virginia OR Wisconsin, there’s some cool internet things I’ve been up to as well….

  • Moana Screening in New York

And a couple weeks ago, his happened. For real.

I’ll probably gush about this more in the future. But the short of it is that I got to see an early version of Moana, and it was stunningly good.

More than that. Honestly? I think it might be the best Disney movie I’ve ever seen. Though honestly, with Lin Manuel Miranda involved, that shouldn’t really be a surprise.

Super good, folks. Seriously.

 

  • Podcast: “I’m Not Here to Judge You Chickenf*ckers.”

The most recent episode of Unattended Consequences is up, and it was a pretty good one. We recorded it live at NerdCon: Stories,  and the audience did a good job reining us in. We even said some not entirely stupid things.

Give it a listen if you’re so inclined. And be aware some of the stories I don’t have time to write up on the blog these days end up on the Podcast instead.

And finally, here’s the most time sensitive of the announcements:

  • A  delightful kickstarter that will help you friendship better.

Yesterday, I agreed to write five cards for Jenn and Trin’s Friendship Postcards Kickstarter Project:

You should really check this out. It’s a wonderful idea. The campaign includes cards like “Wow, that thing you did to your hair is super cool!”, “You make the internet a happier place,” and my favorite, “I said some shitty things (That’s not really how I feel, and I’m sorry.)”

782a6bde35266775fcadc2a84c8a34d3_originalWhen I saw this project, I actually emailed Trin and Jenn to tell them they were awesome, and to offer my help if they needed it.

I don’t talk about it a lot on here. But I have a hard time making and maintaining friendships these days. It used to be so easy for me. You just met people, they came over to your house. You watched movies and played games. You were friends.

Then I got published. I got busy. My friends moved away to pursue jobs and relationships. And I wasn’t in college any more. Wasn’t teaching any more. Wasn’t meeting people socially any more. Which means that friends don’t just happen to me any more. Which means… for about a decade now, I really haven’t had a lot of close friends.

But this last year, I’ve made a really good friend by the name of Thera. She’s better at being a friend than I am. And she’s taught me a lot about how to be a good friend as an adult (As opposed to just being a sort of an older maladjusted post-collegiate manbaby.)

So we’re writing these cards together. Me and my friend. Not only does this make me happy. Not only does this mean they’ll be better than if I did them myself. But it also means they’ll probably get done on time….

Here’s the downside, the project ends Thursday, October 27 at 1:00 PM CDT.

Yeah. Today. There’s just a few hours left. So if you want a set of postcards you should hop to it.

Be good to each other,

pat

Also posted in being awesome, conventions, cool news, geeking out, Interviews, Link salad, panels, podcasts | By Pat19 Responses

On The Horizon: NerdCon Stories 2016

Hey there everybody,

Some of you may remember a little thing we did last year called NerdCon: Stories.

NerdConSome of you might remember because I wrote a blog about it. Others of you might remember because you actually came to the event.

For the rest of you: Nerdcon is a convention I started with Hank Green and his team. We wanted to start a new convention that focuses on storytelling in all its forms.

And so we did.

And I’m not going to lie to you, it was pretty great.

We brought in podcasters, musicians, poets, authors, puppeteers, and talked to all of them about stories, audience, genre, and more.

nerd con puppets

(If you’re wondering what’s going on in this photo, that’s fair. You kinda had to be there.)

There were panels and discussions. There were puppet shows. There were presentations and plays and signings and hugs. And kind of a surprising number of games. Some folks played Superfight, and I ran a game of The Extrordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which you can watch in it’s fullness right here.

We also had a debate based on the continued shame I have to deal with because my son puts on his socks and shoes by doing it sock-shoe, sock-shoe, rather than sock-sock shoe-shoe, as god intended.

We had panels about storytelling through song, podcasting, and performance. There were panels for fandoms, and about movie adaptations. We talked about diversity, activism, and sex in stories. There was singing and dancing and poetry and a birthday party.

nerd con hank music performance

Tons of these were filmed, and you can see them on NerdCon’s YouTube channel, or listen to the rest on their podcast.

There was a Giant squid from the Cephalopodcast. He was hanging out with Joseph Fink from Welcome to Nightvale. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

nerd con giant squid

Except it isn’t once-in-a-lifetime. We’re doing it again this year, only bigger and better.

conventioncenter

(But in the same beautiful space)

This year we’re bringing in even more guests. There will be live podcast recordings, workshops on copyright, improv, and game design. Panels about art, self promotion, and mental health.

The exhibitor’s hall is even bigger than last year, with more vendors. The Worldbuilders Team is going to be there again, too. Rocking the booth and having an awesome time.

And I’ll be there too. I’ll be on panels and playing games. I’ll be talking about stories. I’ll be recording my podcast with Max live at the Show.

The full schedule is available for perusal right here, and it’s packed with amazing stuff.

*     *     *

I’ll be honest with you folks. I’m super proud of this convention. Last year people came up to me and told me that it was the best convention they’d ever been too. One person told me that it was the best time she’d ever had in her life.

The chatter on twitter was pretty flattering, too. Here’s one tweet that particularly warmed my heart.

I’m cutting down on conventions next year. I’m getting too busy, and I don’t like being away from my kids. But this con is something special. We built it to be welcoming and warm. We hand selected the guests to be clever and funny and kind.

Best of all, this convention is small enough that I actually get to hang out with people. It’s not just a seething mass of bodies like San Diego or NyCC. So if you’re looking to catch me at a convention and hear me talk about stories, games, and life in general, this is the place to do it.

The convention is October 14-15, and you should get your tickets soon. It’s a comparatively small convention, so it’s possible that tickets might sell out if you wait too long.

You can get your tickets here.

I hope to see some of you soon,

pat

P.S. If you came to the convention last year, could you share how you felt about it in the comments below? It’s kinda *my* convention, so of course I’m fond of it. It’s like my baby. But the testimonial of people who were actually there tends to be a little more unbiased, and therefore it carries a more weight than mine….

Also posted in conventions | By Pat31 Responses
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