All Year I Dream About Gaming Conventions

On this episode, Quarex and Ben dig deep into our rolodex to speak with the most exciting act at all of PAX Unplugged—Jacques ze Whipper! Jacques regales our fair dreamers with his youth in the circus, running away to join the anthropology department, and his progressive return to performances with his whip on TV, Renaissance fairs, and even conventions! Jacques will be at PAX Unplugged Philly -- check out his ever-updating schedule here -- and you might even catch his show the Monday after at the Royce Social Hall at the Tropicana Casino and Resort! Links for the show notes: Jacques' websiteJoin one of Jacques' 4 million followers on TikTokJacques is also on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky!Watch Jacques stream on Twitch, or toss a coin to your whipper on Patreon! Pick up Jacques' merch through Emberglow

While at Gamehole Con XIII, Quarex and Ben talked with a number of folks while pressing record! Listen in to get the scoop from: Tom at Tabletop Bookshelf, fine purveyor of indie RPGs online and onsite at their Milwaukee store Peter McDonald from the UW Game Design Program... for undergrads, masters, and PHD candidates alikeConnor from D8 Summit Charities, who are holding the D8 Summit Charity Gaming Convention in Dixon, IL from April 15-18Rune from Dragon Roast Coffee, who will sell you a bag of your character class' coffee Harrison from Thunderworks Games, who brought some board gaming to Gamehole right before trekking out to the mecca of German... Essen Spiel.Carolyn from Black Oak Workshop, who provided the scoop on the Emergency Dice Delivery program at conventions like Origins

On this episode, Quarex and Ben are getting you prepped for the December convention of your dreams... PAX Unplugged 2026! From badges to lodging, from flights to parking, from the maps to the app, we're are previewing everything worth featuring while Gabe and Tycho get their arcades in order. Links for the show notes include: Pre-registered eventsThe PAX Unplugged App for Google Play and AppleAll the features fit to eventually be printed in digital formatFirst Look ListIndie Games Night MarketThe Megagames and the Puzzling!

On this episode, Quarex and Ben talk with Andy from Philcon. This longest running sci-fi convention celebrates its 90th year in Cherry Hill, NJ from November 20-22, 2026!Listen in to hear about the seminars, the art show, the filk and anime tracks, the costuming and masquerade balls, the con-with-a-con that is Eric Flint's 1632 Minicon...... and of course, we can't forget about the gaming. Register as a member to get your badge today!BUT ALSO: our friends at GAMA have arranged for Game Store Day on Saturday, November 7. It's like Free RPG Day but for board games? It's going to be more than just promo cards.. check out the link to learn more and find a local store that's participating!

Listen in as Quarex and Ben review the very great time we had at Gamehole Con XIII: The Badger Mitzvah!!! And don't forget that you can still get your badges for the next Rushmore convention: PAX Unplugged Philadelphia! Three day badges have already sold out, but you can still buy one day badges while there's still time!

As we recover from our long weekend of gaming in Madison, we are talking with Ron Meischker and Phil Wert from the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo known as PAGE! They are coming up on their fourth year—a veritable Conan-za of gaming that promises to be bigger and better than those before it. Of course, we wanted to provide dreamers with an early preview so they can attend the show January 14-17!Check out PAGE 4 on Tabletop Events!Pick up a badge for 1, 2, 3 or even 4 days of gaming!Peruse their schedule of ticketed events!Pore over their list of special guests!Analyze their exhibitor list for the next great purchase!Purchase their merch, including Conan-za shirts and pins for sale!And make sure you save room on Thursday at 3 pm where we will be monitoring the panel entitled So you want to run a gaming convention... You won't want to miss it!

On this episode, Quarex and Ben give our patented previewsode treatment to the thirteenth edition of Gamehole Con in Madison, WI!Here are the links in the show notes, in order of appearance:Adventures in the D&D StudioEscape from Dork TowerInterview with Vampire RPGAnvil Run: Shadowdark BreachersRPEX Events from Studio 6d6Dialect: A Game About How a Language is Born and DiesSecrets of the Creation of 5EBeyond I Assist: Designing Real Group Mechanics in RPGsThe Secret Origin of DCC RPGBuilding a Better Table: Telling Bone-Chilling Stories of HorrorSupporting Executive Functioning using TTRPGsIntellectual Property Seminar: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 And don't forget the the Charity Collector's Auction!And if you're not going to Gamehole Con, why don't you check out Arcane Con on October 16-17 in Northampton, MA?

On this episode, Quarex and Ben talk with three folks whose wares you will want to sample at Gamehole Con 2026! First, Katie from Luma Imports tells us about all the board gaming fun they are bringing to the Badger Mitzvah! Check out the numerous ticketed events, including learn to plays and even tournaments. (If you're more a Quarex, you can try out Cat Rescue... while if you're more like Ben, you will want to try out Frosted Blooms. If you're a Kurt of the Pod, you would want to check out Compile.) Next, Janelle from Wardens of the Eastern Marches tells us all about this great living D&D campaign that is debuting its second season at Gamehole this year. Many events are sold out, but you can still sneak into numerous events on the Gamehole website. Finally, Mickey from Polyhedral Knights, who will be in the demo hallway with their 9 games (including Southern Gothic). You can also join Mickey to play in their ticketed events or even learn how to make RPGs on a prison wine budget. Heck, you might be able to make play a pickup game all four days!

If you weren't one of the almost fifty people who came to the Crowne Plaza on Thursday at 3 pm, you can listen in as Quarex, Ben, and moderator Matt from Hit 'Em With a Shoe Games speculate about what gaming conventions will look like in 2031.