Escapist Expo 2013 (Oct. 4-6)

The Escapist has officially announced the second annual Escapist Expo.

IMAGE(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/556047_10151419245019591_1665662959_n.png)

They've redone the website quite a bit (and forgot to replace the Drupal guy icon), though naturally there are still scarce details.

3-Day Passes are $40 and Single-Day are $20, but according to the announcement if you enter "EarlyEscapist2013" as a coupon code between now and March 31st you get $5 off.

I had a really good time last year, but it is certainly a very small event. But that's part of what made it so great for me. Maybe this year I'll do a better job and not lose my voice on Sunday.

Keeping this in the back of my mind. I will definitely attend any local meet-ups, but not sure about going to the actual Expo.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Keeping this in the back of my mind. I will definitely attend any local meet-ups, but not sure about going to the actual Expo.

Yeah, kind of feeling this way as well. Last year was a crowded mess overrun with youngsters having fun (get off my lawn). I'm glad they've increased their space this year. Maybe I'll just find a quiet table and hold court with a stack of board games if anyone wants to play.

I'm up for another meet-up, though. We've got a good NC contingent.

Sway wrote:

Maybe I'll just find a quiet table and hold court with a stack of board games if anyone wants to play.

From what I could tell, this would be pretty easy to do at the event, but it also depends on who you want to play with. At PAX it seems a bunch of people from the entire East Coast gathers, so it ends up being worth the money spent. I imagine Escapist Expo will mostly be local NC folk, in which case it would be just as easy to meet at someone's house.

Finding a place to do a Slap & Tickle shouldn't be too hard now that folks are more familiar with the lay of the land. And by folks I mean myself.

Sway wrote:

I'm glad they've increased their space this year.

Have they?

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Sway wrote:

I'm glad they've increased their space this year.

Have they?

Announcement wrote:

We've got twice as much space as last year, so Expo 2013 will be even bigger and better.

Yup.

Well that's something.

How was the mix last year of floor space, panels, open gaming space or whatever it is that constitutes a convention these days? The photos on their site mostly show the aforementioned youngsters having fun on a lawn with Nerf guns, but I'd guess that's not all there was to it.

D

The outdoor events were nice additions, I think, but on the whole it was a smaller event. They have more of the convention center this year, but it's never going to be huge at the current location. But I kind of liked that, as I found that made it easy to walk past people multiple times in the day to make some small talk.

The biggest area was the "expo floor", which was mostly shops I'd say. They had a board game area and consoles, but as far as cons go it was a bit cramped.

Since it's about a mile away from my house I'll be there for the Expo and any meet ups. I'm looking forward to seeing folks again.

honeycut1 wrote:

Since it's about a mile away from my house I'll be there for the Expo and any meet ups. I'm looking forward to seeing folks again.

Yeah, I'll probably swing by for the day again. Of course, you don't have to wait until October to meet up.
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/115490

I'm actually tentative at the moment. I'm still unemployed and don't know if I'll be working by time the con rolls around, and right now the hotel room is in my name. So we'll see what I can line up.

We'll be there. Mrs. Jonfen has expressed an interest in board gaming there this year.

Sway wrote:
honeycut1 wrote:

Since it's about a mile away from my house I'll be there for the Expo and any meet ups. I'm looking forward to seeing folks again.

Yeah, I'll probably swing by for the day again. Of course, you don't have to wait until October to meet up.
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/115490

Thanks for the heads up about this meetup. I'm pretty sure my wife and I can make it to both parts.

I am tentatively on, together with my older son. Will be glad to meet the local gang.

I'm definitely interested any in meetups and possibly the expo.

I've canceled my room just in case, but have friends I can stay with. The issue is I'm still unemployed, have no idea what my finances will look like that weekend (right around when I gotta pay rent), and if I do manage to get a job at this point, I doubt they'll be wanting me to take time off so soon.

Whee.

Not a lot of local buzz, eh?

Forgot to mention I can't make it this year. I am actually really sad about this, as one of the things I was looking forward to most was another slap and tickle.

Unemployment sucks.

I'm not planning to go to the Expo itself, but I'll be happy to drive over to Durham for a get together if anyone's up for it.

I'll be hitting the expo all 3 days & running an RPG session of Numenera from 11-3 on Sunday.

Not just no local buzz, but it seems like no buzz period. Even three days out I'm barely seeing any chatter on Twitter or what not.

I've got passes for me and the wife, but real life has been needling at my budget and free time lately. I'm thinking I'll walk the expo floor Saturday or Sunday afternoon, but at the moment I'm not expecting to do much beyond that.

Edit: okay, the notion of a Numenera pen and paper session has wormed its way into my brain. Jen, is it a drop in, scheduled, or what not type of session?

Is anyone getting together tonight for escapist expo-y things? We've not had time to do the conference, but if there's a goodjer get-together we'd be up for joining...

Numenera is on the schedule I'm running it from 11 to 3 on Sunday in the RPG room (above the registration area).

So those who went: thoughts?

I finally saw people tweeting about it during the event, and I actually do wish I could have gone. Alas, hopefully next year.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

So those who went: thoughts?

I went, although i didn't spend a lot of time there. Without digressing into tales of demophobia or social anxiety or just plain being a loner, i'll try to relay my experience. Another huge factor for me was that i hadn't been to a real con/expo experience since a few HeroCons in Charlotte in the mid-90s, back way before things like ThinkGeek and eBay made fun, strange and geeky products significantly easier to find every day of the year.

Those two things said, the expo floor didn't really impress me and the panel schedule didn't draw me. It looked like there were plenty of folks there having fun, but it felt a bit off to me. Notably it felt very scattershot. There video games, table top board games, table top RPGs, the live action zombie thingie, and generic internet celebrity panels. In addition, i saw cosplayers from video games, comics, anime, fantasy, and even a rather good Jack Sparrow. It seemed like they were encouraging the notion of 'come celebrate whatever geeky thing you love', but it wasn't quite big enough to fully support all of those different things. I will state again that i know i didn't spend long enough there to get a complete feel for the event, this is just my impression.

That all said, i enjoyed the Numenera game Sunday. Thanks for running it, Jen.

Dryden wrote:

Those two things said, the expo floor didn't really impress me and the panel schedule didn't draw me. It looked like there were plenty of folks there having fun, but it felt a bit off to me. Notably it felt very scattershot. There video games, table top board games, table top RPGs, the live action zombie thingie, and generic internet celebrity panels. In addition, i saw cosplayers from video games, comics, anime, fantasy, and even a rather good Jack Sparrow. It seemed like they were encouraging the notion of 'come celebrate whatever geeky thing you love', but it wasn't quite big enough to fully support all of those different things. I will state again that i know i didn't spend long enough there to get a complete feel for the event, this is just my impression.

Interesting. That's exactly how I felt about it last year. I chalked it up to it being their first year. Maybe a con takes a few years to find its identity. Also, I felt very old.

To be fair, you ARE old.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

To be fair, you ARE old.

I'm so old I keep forgetting that I'm old.