Rambling On Now!: New Orleans to San Antonio: PAX South Adventure Part 4

Part 1: here Part 2: here Part 3: here

Learning is an integral part of a nerd's life, which is why our dynamic duo plus Chung wandered the convention in search for knowledge and creatures from a far off place to learn the secrets under the universe and what's under Claptrap's hood.

During an expo/convention there are panels. These panels can run from a wide range of formats and topics. There were the guys from Penny Arcade doing a Q&A, Rooster Teeth previewing upcoming shows, a panel on Game Mastering, and a panel on the discussion on the developing geeky bars and restaurants. These are also places for fans to ask their favorite developers, personalities, and other people within the gaming industry.

Due to the overwhelming number of games that begged for us to play, we only attended two and a half panels. The half of panel was Obsidian Entertainment holding a Q&A to discuss their upcoming game Pillars of Eternity. Pillars is a RPG (role-playing game) and spiritual successor to games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale (old PC dungeon crawl and RPG games) that was funded through Kickstarter with a total funding goal of $4,136,208 (yeah 4.1 million) with 77,667 individual backers in 2012. The game is finally being released this year and Pete was a backer so he was interested in the panel. Sitting for a few minutes Pete decided he was bored and we left, so all of that explanation for nothing learned.

The next panel we went to was the guys of Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik holding a Q&A. Penny Arcade started as a web comic that has grown to be so much more. The convention panel is where Mike draws a three panel comic, while Jerry pulls from a hat of questions. Does that sound entertaining? Well, it f%&king was entertaining. Since 2004, these two have honed their ability to keep an audience entertained through casual conversation, banter, and storytelling. It feels as though you are having a conversation with Jerry and Mike and it just so happens that thousands of others are in the room with you, and you are really high up in the thrid floor of the theater where the poor theater nerds fawn over The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Abridged. I do not know if that is true, but we where on the third floor of the theater looking down or at a large screen.

The third panel we visited was the one concerning Game Mastering or GMing. This refers to the storyteller of a pen and paper role playing game, e.g. Dungeons and Dragons. I throughly enjoyed it as I have always wanted to take that role, usually a role nobody wants to do, and craft a story, but I have feared the game mechanics of most role-playing games. I'll be honest hearing the panel from older and younger GMs alike had me feeling a bit excited about starting a new group in New Orleans and running it. It was primarily an Q&A, but was provided with plenty of great advice and thoughts of running my own game (one day).

In between the panels, scavenger hunts, and games, we explored the various costumes that were proudly paraded throughout the convention. There were many characters that I had no idea where they hailed from, but was impressed with the skill dedication, or purchasing power of the many cosplayers. I believe my favorite was a person that was bound in a motorized wheelchair created Claptrap- a robotic character from the video game Borderlands. Feast your eyes below on the various costumes.