West Plains, MO preparing for OzCon


Today we find ourselves in West Plains, Missouri. Tomorrow, we set up for OzCon in the morning and open the show at 2PM. Normally, I despise shows that require a setup on the opening day. The Tortured Earth display is rather expansive and requires several hours to set up and make presentable. Fortunately, we put out new jewelry and flags at the last show and haven’t gotten anything to elaborate on. I’m expecting a three-hour setup, another hour of fine-tuning with plenty of time for a normal lunch and a little breathing time.

OzCon was a show we followed for our first four years. From what I understand, the show started off as a college project for an anime group. As it grew and developed, the young man who headed the project took it over and switched it from a charity show to a for-profit show which does donations. I’m anxious to see how the show has changed since our last visit.

The reason for my abandoning it wasn’t malicious or due to low performance. Around 2018, I had a gentleman who wanted to start doing shows for us. At about the same time, one of the showrunners we followed opened up a new show on the same weekend along the Gulf Coast. I turned the show over to the gentleman and he kept it on his circuit until COVID. After going through some issues of his own, he dropped off the circuit.

Pretty much at the same time, the company I was following underwent internal turmoil and the partners managing the event split. The Gulf Coast show I was following dropped in attendance and I decided to go back to OzCon.

Over the past few years, vendors working the show have raved about the attendance and the community. I’m anxious to visit the show again and see what kinds of changes they have made.

For those of you who have never been to West Plains, Missouri, it’s a really nice place. There are rolling green hills, beautiful streams, and quaint little homes dotted all over the place. On this trip, we opted for an AirBnB. I used to use AirBnB exclusively, often finding the accommodations far more adequate than standard hotel rooms. After a few years of using the service, I found that although the home prices are quite fair, the service fees added to the final bill can drive the price far higher than hotel prices. In this particular case, the prices were fair and affordable. The neighborhood where the property is located seems quiet and is easily accessible.

As always, if you are looking for a new gaming experience, try our free download at Tortured Earth (www.torturedearth.com).

Information on OzCon: www.oz-con.com


 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Never Ending Cycle

Image
Part of launching into this industry is the continual creation process. The development of Tortured Earth was a means to an end - the development of a framework in which a broad range of stories could be told. Now that the system is finalized, the process of storytelling must begin. Kevin and I are currently focusing on the development of one-shot adventures. These kits are retrofitted from the 2.0 Core Ruleset and give players a taste of the system without having to invest in multiple books. Other game systems have developed similar products for the same goal. The Rules Lite versions allow for replayability while the core books provide the full flexibility of the system. A creative GM will be able to adapt the Rules Lite version for homebrew adventures fitting in the world setting for which the kit was built. Currently in the editing phase are four such adventures. Two have been completed and are already in production and being distributed through the convention circuit. Eventually, t...
Read more

General Notes on Creature Development

Image
I have a Bachelor's in Biology and a Master's in Environmental Chemistry. Clearly, I have an analytical approach to solving problems and a flare for fiction. I love how nature seems to fit together to make functional systems. I also love stories having unusual elements somehow fitting seamlessly together and creating new and alien worlds. This makes stories both relatable and believable.  Unfortunately, this concept has yet to reach game designers. Many designers create creatures having features not in line with the environments from which they supposedly originated. A classic example being the red dragon. A massive carnivore living on mountaintops, breathing fire, and living in hot environments. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the white dragon. Another massive carnivore living on mountaintops, breathing ice, and preferring cold environments.  This imagery makes absolutely no sense.  Let's begin with the red dragon. To begin with, life on this planet has deve...
Read more

Iron City Comic Con and New Developments

Image
Today we leave for Birmingham, AL to vend at Iron City Comic Con . We're actually pretty excited about it. Birmingham used to be a staple on our convention circuit. The company we used to follow split apart and the original show fell by the wayside. One of the partners of the original show decided to return to Birmingham and rebrand under the new name. We are VERY excited about the return! In other news, we do have a few announcements. First, Dark Origins has finally arrived. We will showcase the new module at Iron City Comic Con. When formatting the book, I had some reservations about going full color. We received some negative feedback on the original books color format, I was hesitant to produce another full color print. However, the text layout against the faded page looks really good. The pages are interesting and the text is easy to read. Of course, the story is amazing! We're really happy to have Anthony Kallas on board. Anthony has also announced he's working on a ...
Read more