All Year I Dream About Gaming Conventions

On this episode, Quarex and Ben tell you everything you wanted to know about running events at Gen Con but were too afraid to ask. Key links include: Gen Con Events Page: https://www.gencon.com/events Gen Con EO/GM Portal: https://www.gencon.com/host/eo-gm  New GM Page: https://www.gencon.com/gen-con-indy/newgm Gen Con Event Host Policy: https://files.gencon.com/genconeventhostpolicy.pdf And if you want to interact with your hosts, why not join our Discord server?

On this episode, Ben T. Barackus talks with the following vendors at BGG Con using his real life press badge: Steve Jackson Games, makers of Purrfect Potions, Car Wars, and just about any flavor of Munchkin that a brand is willing to license BGG Store, the online storefront for Board Game Geek and fine purveyors of the BGG GeekUp Bit SetsJames S. Cole, publisher of Zombie: Survivor Infection... and many more! We want to thank our many dreamers, new and old, for a wonderful and record breaking new year, and you can expect more hard hitting convention in 2026.

On this special Boxing Day release, our dreamers get five more interviews with creators in the indie RPG design space who came to PAX Unplugged!Brian Liberge, designer of fine RPGs like Last Kiss, an RPG where you play teens facing the end of the worldTiger Wizard, the head mage of Exalted Funeral, publisher of punk rock and doom metal RPGs like Mausritter, Land of Eem, and the only Monty Python game you'll want to play Metal Steve of The Metal Steve, who was playtesting his forthcoming game Band on Tour with the help of a deck of cards!Ryland Garnett, designer of Food & Evil, the food truck RPG game coming to Backerkit in February through past exhibit hall guest of the pod Goosepoop GamesStephen from AED Publishing, who was showing off the quickstart guide for The 5th Conspiracy RPG, an urban fantasy where everything people believe in is real because of your attention.Like Ben's train from BWI before PAX Unplugged.... you won't want to miss it!

On this episode, our dreamers can unwrap an early Xmas gift — five interviews, hung with care from the All Year I Dream About Gaming Conventions' chimney. In each gift box, you can listen to the following creators in the board game and miniatures space:Christopher from the always amazing Capstone Games, who just released the weird Wild West wrestling game Rowdy PartnersMike from Rock Manor Games, publishers of the award winning Set a Watch, who are now bringing Spanish language games to the English marketAnjuli from My Mini Factory, who not only provides a marketplace for creators to design the , but was showing off the prototype for the box set of Fighting Fantasy by Sir Ian LivingstoneHermes from Boken Games, who was showing off their prototype of Song of the Wildkin miniatures game at the Addax Games boothJames from Druid City Games, who was showing off the Off with their Heads roll and reveal, Tidal Waves 2 board game and RPGs, Wonderlands War, and Madcala

Just in time to get excited for Gen Con 2026 event and badge season! Listen in as Aimee of the Pod, Aimee interviews Rachel, Bethany, Drake, Jayden & Lily, NotThatDrake, and Vino Veritas from around the Indiana Convention Center! As an added bonus: We have gone back and rehabilitated some of our interview with Munchkin Champion of the Pod, Diana. No promises at the sound quality, but it's an improvement on Episode 147 and provides some background on how one might win a world championship at Gen Con.

On this episode, Quarex and Ben review a gaming convention we didn't attend: BGG CON in Dallas, TX! The flagship convention from the Board Game Geek team, this is perhaps the largest and most preeminent of the gameslibrarycons in the US. It also happened on the same weekend as PAX Unplugged, meaning that we weren't able to make the convention. One of your own was in attendance, and he helped us cover it as a member of the media! We're so grateful that dreamer Ben T. Barrackus could join us so we could add BGG Con to our coverage roster.Don't forget to send in your Dreamer Dispatches using this Google Form and maybe you can also be our far flung press corps!

On our second longest episode to date, Quarex and Ben provide you with all the conventions you'll want to check out during the first third of 2026, including:Super MAG Fest, Winter WGG Con, Windy City Skirmish, Geekway Mini, Tundracon, Midwinter Gaming Con, SnowCon, AdamCon, PAGE 3, Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge, RiverCityCon, Star City Games Con, VerminCon, Winter Offensive, Winterfest Wargaming XXVIII, CaptainCon, Winter War, Aggie Con, Winter Fantasy, Cold Wars, CapriCon, Atlanta Game Fest, TantrumCon, Chuck-A-Thon, Games with Trains, Decepta Con, DunDraCon, Polar Vortex, Genghis Con, Escape Winter Con, Total ConFusion, Dreamation, PrezCon Winter Nationals, GAD-CON, Hoop and Stick Con, Marmalade Dog, Intercon, GAMA EXPO, Granite Game Summit, Blerd Con, Buckeye Game Fest, Dice Tower West, Kenny Con, Unpub Fest, Atlanta Scifi and Fantasy Expo, Awesome Con, Gary Con, Ground Zero Games East Coast Convention XXVIII, Adepticon, PAX East, NerdFest, Friends Across the Board, Circle DC, Chaosium Con, D8 Summit Charity Gaming Convention, TAG Con, OSR Con, Who’s Yer Con, Final 3 Con, Warhammer Spring Retreat, Raven Con, Midwest Gaming Classic, Final Boss Con, Dave Con, and Congress of Gamers Spring Session. Internationally, you can attend Unboxed Game Fest 2.0 (Ahmedabad, India), Warpcon (Cork, Ireland), Breakout Con (Toronto, Canada), Luxcon (Luxembourg), Calgary Expo (Calgary, Canada), and Mega XP (Mexico City, Mexico).As promised, you can read the DunDraCon History at this following link: https://www.dundracon.com/DDC_History.php 

We hope our dreamers have enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we did! On this episode, we review Ben's time at PAX Unplugged 2025 in beautiful, marathon-ridden Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Pick up a Button Shy Game! (link)Lead into game night with Super Show: Super Lucha! (link)ARTOVISION's excellent shadowboxes! (link)Get notified when Chicken Fried Dice goes live on Kickstarter! (link)Back Mystic Curling Club on Kickstarter! (link)And for real, go and listen to some Mountain Goats, y'all hear? You can start out with Tallahassee or The Sunset Tree for some of the classics. You don't have to be a ex-pro wrestler to enjoy Beat the Champ, and you don't have to play D&D to rock out to In League With Dragons. They just put out a new record that you could also check out.