I arrived late-ish Thursday evening after getting stuck in some horrendous NYC traffic. I helped to set up the booth for the first time at any PAX. Afterwards I grabbed a late dinner with boothmates Sean and Tanner.
Friday I managed to make it in early, being in a hotel across the street from the convention center helped, grabbed my gear and walked over to the Tabletop Freeplay area to set up for demos. I ran one demo between hall opening and breaking for lunch at 1pm. This had me worried/annoyed /frustrated but things picked up after I got back. I ended up running six more demos, Shades Corvid ran one while I took a break, even one with Jerry Holkins watching and color commenting. I continued giving away participation packets as I did at PAX East, ten on the first day. After hall close I had dinner with Shades Corvid and my boothmates, Sean, Joshua and Ben.
Saturday I got in early again and set up in a different location, the "Social Zone" where there were round tables which I prefer for demoing. I did two demos and Shades did one then we broke for lunch before the full scale game. We gave out four participation packets for the demos we ran. Hydromancer watched the table for us while we grabbed banh mi. The "big game" was great. It was just Hydromancer, Shades Corvid, and myself. I finally got to display a table setting I had been working on for at least a year. It seemed to attract a lot of attention as the three of us kept answering questions from passers-by. I may be exaggerating but I think at one point all three of us were talking to curious people at the same time. I'll try and have the battle report up soon. We finished the game and broke down the table by 5pm. I wandered around the con for a bit and then left when the hall closed. I sold out of Starter Kits sometime in the afternoon on Saturday, which made me happy. Ended up taking some quiet time for myself after the main hall closed. Chilled in the hotel room for a bit then walked over to Cooperage Philly. I did a little research before heading down and this place was on my radar. The food was good and the whisk(e)y list looked interesting. I'll see if I can drag more of the crew over next year.
Sunday I slept a little late but managed to make it into the hall early again. Set up in the same spot as Saturday. Started kinda slow but Shades and I managed seven demos in total, with him running two of them. My friends Vlad and Ryan managed to make it to the table and get in a few demos as well. The general vibe for Sunday seemed more relaxed but that may have just been me coming down from the rush that was Saturday. I sold out of Rulers this day and also gave away seventeen participation packets. After knocking off around 5pm I grabbed a quick bite then helped to tear down the booth after the hall closed. A short rest at the hotel room then a very fast 4.5 hour drive home finished out my PAX Unplugged 2018 experience.
Some random thoughts.
- This con felt a little more personal to me. Maybe because I had material for sale, or maybe because I was sharing a room.
- I felt like I didn't spend all that much time with my boothmates this year. Probably because we were all getting pulled in separate directions and there were more of us than in previous years.
- I'm glad there was strong interest in the Starter Kits I created.
- I had ideas for an expansion pack before the con and I'll implement them for the next PAX.
- There seemed to be a lot of interest in MFZ at the con, yet the community in general seems to be at its quietest.
- I talked with Shades Corvid and Hydromancer about ideas to increase the presence of the MFZ community at PAX Unplugged in coming years.
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