I attended the North Texas RPG Con over the last few days (June 4-6).

Though this convention is, assuming good traffic, only about 20 minutes from my house, this was only the second time I’ve attended. I first went back in 2018, when I ran a GURPS Cyberpunk game and played in a Classic Traveller game. Each year since then circumstances just didn’t work for me to go.

It’s a great con. The focus, like it says in the name, is RPGs. For the most part RPGs in existence before 1999 or their more recent clones. You don’t really see “story” games there too much if at all. There are no cosplay events. There is no “fandom” happening. No anime.

It - is - for - RPGs.

This is a fairly small con. They keep it that way on purpose. They seem to cap registration at about 600 people. It’s held at the Westin DFW hotel, near DFW Airport in Irving, Texas. It’s a cozy venue, everyone knows it.

This year I played in games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Thursday - Mutant - a game that was “almost” published in the 1970s by TSR but for reasons never was. Mutant was Gamma World before Gamma World was Gamma World. The session was run by Ronin Wong, the person who is currently preparing it, finally, for publication! I had a great time. Really great group of gamers.

Friday - Classic Traveller - a scenario run by Ned Leeds of Five Magics Game Club in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a solid and fun Traveller session set on a planet that was a techtonic mess. We found and explored an ancient installation. Adventure was had! Ned was a fun and engaging referee, and damn it was fun to play the game (I almost always ref). We had some people totally new to Traveller, and really, they did well. This was a great introduction to the game and really captured the spirit !

Saturday - Perpetual Traveller - a scenario run by local Traveller person (and GASP! my personal friend!) Greg Caires. Greg has created a framework called Perpetual Traveller, which allows participating Traveller Ref’s to assign improvement points to player characters, which players may then take to other Perpetual Traveller sessions at that con, other cons, or online PT events. The framework also includes rules for spending those points to improve your character’s attributes, skills, or to mitigate aging effects. We had another awesome group of players, about half totally new to Traveller. Greg used Mongoose Traveller 2e, but the PT framework is designed for any version. I think that by assigning Improvement Points and allowing players to take their PCs from one game to another (the way many of use originally played D&D), Greg has created a real motivation for people to participate in these games, and thus a way to help popularize Traveller. This session was a nice introduction to the game.

There’s a lot more that goes on at the con. There’s a nice vendor room. My friend Jeffrey Jones from RPG Ramblings was there selling his awesome stuff. It was nice to finally meet him in person and have some dinner with him and some other good folks. There were even a couple of booths selling old science fiction and fantasy paperbacks. I picked up 8 old books for very reasonable prices - all SF of course. STOKED! They also have a midnight auction, pickup games, etc etc etc. One game a day was enough for me this year. I’d show up about 10am, look in the vendor room, talk to Jeffrey, chill, have some coffee and some lunch, and then play those games from 1-5.

To all the people I played with…you were all awesome. Yes, I run a Traveller Podcast, and yes, I type on this and other blogs compulsively, and yes, I love running games for our gaming group, BUT the truth is I am not that outgoing in big groups. So thank you all for reaching out at the table, saying hello when we encountered each other (1-in-6 chance!) later, and being cool.

Anyway, I have already put it on my calendar for next year, and plan to play bit more and perhaps run a game.