I haven’t been able to attend every PAX Unplugged, but I was there at the start and as the convention circuit has grown back I’ve actually managed to chain a few of them together. In addition to noting as many familiar faces and games as I could manage for a middle-of-the-night article, I wanted to write about some of my own experiences now that the 2024 iteration is over to highlight a few things. Also, Aaron has been doing five-year retrospectives about Crowdfunding Carnival for a while now, so why not do a seven-year con one of my own?

Comparison Points and the General Vibe

Well, first of all PAX Unplugged has become a fair bit better organized, and a fair bit larger. Just for comparison, here’s the oldest map I was able to dig up, from the 2018 PAXU.

And here’s the map from this year:

Despite the jump in size, and this having been the first Unplugged that entirely sold out of badges, there didn’t seem to be be a commensurate difficulty in getting around or waiting for anything. The main lines to get in at the start of each day moved quickly and only extended outside right at the start, and as other entrances opened throughout the day any kind of wait to get in basically vanished. Now, I didn’t interact with many scheduled events/panels, more’s the pity and I hope to view some recordings soon, but getting around the expo hall, getting a spiel or a demo, and finding someplace to play a game all went smoothly.

I also got Mike Pondsmith to sign a copy of Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads, and learned that a newer version of the Cyberpunk GM advice book might be in the works, and that line was well-organized and properly Enforced.

It also felt like a much more diverse and indie population in the expo hall. From left to right, as you got into the high 3000s and the 4000s booths, the booths and the creative teams got smaller – and, personally, more interesting. If you spent 10 minutes at each booth in the 4000s alone you’d burn most of a con day and be exposed to a dizzying array of board, card, and roleplaying games, many of them being pitched by the people who created them.

When it comes to what’s getting played at the convention itself board and card games still possess what I’d call a dominant percentage of table space, and among those that I traveled to the con with who prioritize such games the satisfaction level was high. The biggest change from 2017 Seamus to 2024 Seamus was that roleplaying games no longer feel like a menu made on a sticky note. Some options were direct from publishers, while many were community and volunteer efforts. Baldman Games was running D&D, Gehenna Gaming and Lurking Fears were running various flavors of horror RPG, EDGE Studios was a pleasant bit of a surprise (they were even running Star Wars games, which gives one some hope), there were copious freeplay spaces and ways to schedule a game therein, and the Alexandria RPG Library was open for browsing. And, of course, there was Games on Demand.

Games on Demand

If you’re a regular reader than you’ve almost certainly caught me proselytizing about GoD before. As run at the east coast PAXi by Brian and Natalya, Games on Demand starts new games every hour on the hour at the con, from 10am until everybody gets kicked out of the convention space. The folks running the front desk and running the games are all volunteers, and tradition holds that the majority of GMs offer two games, with the players choosing which one gets run for a given session on a first come first serve basis. No registration or signups at GoD, you simply show up! It’s a well-run and well thought-of outfit; walk the expo hall in a Games on Demand shirt and more than one vendor will recognize it, and most of those who do will mention visiting or even running games there themselves.

This year, though, was a literal banner one: 259 sessions for a total of ~1139 players (blowing past the never-previously-attained 1000 mark), with 100+ unique titles from 17 Deadly Trials to Zoetrope. ‘Literal’ because the Enforcers swung by to present GoD with something to commemorate their efforts.

I joined myself as per usual, running four sessions, and I got a delightful split: two of my own No Map, No Plan, two of Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast.

Games being played wasn’t the only thing going on in Rooms 106 and 107, however.

The RPG Designer Meet & Greet

PAX and GoD had a little chat a few months before the convention, and based on the fact that quite a few GoD volunteers (among other folk running games with the other outfits) are game designers themselves, it was decided that some of the space would be given over to said designers to show off their creations. It would be early on Saturday, using GoD’s second room before the crush of the day filled every table with running games, and there’d only be two one-hour slots, but the designers wouldn’t have to pay or do anything but show up to set up their displays.

It was awesome.

I’m biased every which way on this one, because it was a huge boon. It was also a very profound reminder of how many hats I wear in the TTRPG space. As a game designer, I got to talk about my stuff!

Also, how the heck do people do that for three days!? I was feeling the burn after an hour. Clearly vendors are too powerful and are given booths to keep them contained for the safety of the rest of us, especially the one-person indie outfits. I got recognized for both my work with NaGaDeMon and here at CHG, and got to give my spiel re: ‘writing about games, for games, and entire games’. It was also a huge deal as someone with a Media badge, though; while the best I could do for the 10am slot was run around at the end throwing my cards at people, I was able to turn right back around and check out  the 11 am designers, including but not limited to:

Molomoot, David Brunell-Brutman of In The Dark, David Ward of Grimwood Games, George Philbrick of First Pancake Games, Joshua Long of Forged in the Dungeon, Mike A Pratt of MAP Boardgames, Monday Mourning of Lonelyfun Collective, and Stephen Koontz of AED Publishing!

I might never have come across these games except by meeting and greeting them at this event, and what a terrible loss that would have been. This one the first line item on the PAX Unplugged schedule of its kind, and I really hope something similar becomes a regular occurrence.

The Future

Right as the convention ended, we got the press release for the next year’s east coast PAXi. PAX East 2025 is going to be from May 8-11, with the four day pass (the press release says three, but I’m assuming that’s a typo) being an eye-watering $254, $71 per day. PAX Unplugged, meanwhile, is going to make a jump forward in the calendar to November 21-23.

Somewhat amusingly, just like in that first PAX Unplugged the 2025 iteration will be sharing the convention center and the city with a Marathon Weekend; not likely to impact expo hall space, but for those forward-planners among you booking places to stay will probably be a bit tighter.

PAX Unplugged has indeed improved since that first outing, and compared to hazy memories of GenCon ’14 it’s grown without crossing into ‘too big’ territory. It also, especially compared to its Bostonian cousin, remained much more affordable (until you get into the expo hall, at least). While no doubt prices will continue to rise, hopefully they remain fairly steady; it would be a shame for attending the full con to be sent out of affordable reach, as I know PAX East has for several former every-year attendees I know.

Well, I’ve got… a lot of games to read and/or play and articles to write, and PAX Unplugged 2024 hasn’t just given me the material to work with – it’s given me the inspiration and the energy. I hope to attend again in the future – and I hope to see you there.

Particular thanks to Brian, Natalya, and the rest of the Games on Demand volunteers, everyone who talked to me about their games and mine, the boyz, Aki, and Leslie, for helping make the convention a great experience!