{"id":625,"date":"2018-10-05T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T00:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deathcookie.com\/home\/hex-games-celebrates-20-years-of-qags-at-archon-42\/"},"modified":"2024-01-15T15:25:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T21:25:16","slug":"hex-games-celebrates-20-years-of-qags-at-archon-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deathcookie.com\/home\/hex-games-celebrates-20-years-of-qags-at-archon-42\/","title":{"rendered":"Hex Games Celebrates 20 Years of QAGS at Archon 42"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve mentioned a few times in the past year that it’s now been 20 years since we released the first edition of QAGS. Or at least since we printed it. “Released” is probably overstating the book’s availability, given that it was only available at cons we went to, at the store where I worked, and on our website (which at the time was www.mindspring.com\/~sejohnson). Also, “book” is probably overstating the format of the half-sized, 64-page booklet that we printed at a shop that was about half a step above Kinko’s. Still, we printed the thing and started trying to sell it in 1998, so we’ve decided to call 2018 our 20th Anniversary.<\/p>\n

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A couple years later, we went to our first Archon<\/a> in Collinsville, Illinois. I’m not exactly sure how a bunch of guys in Lexington, Kentucky found out about a con just outside of St. Louis, or how we convinced ourselves it was worth driving five hours to run games there, but I’m glad we did. We’ve been back every year but one since (we had to skip the year Archon hosted Nasfic because it was too close to GenCon). Over the years at Archon we’ve been the Gaming Guest of Honor, beat Steve Jackson at his own game (Live Action TOON), held most of our Knome Baptisms (don’t ask), hosted a lot of room parties, and run hundreds of games and dozens of panels.<\/p>\n

Archon has been good to us over the years. It’s more professionally run (by volunteers) than most of the “professionally run” conventions we’ve been to, the gamers there are fun to run games for and actually willing to buy product, and we’ve found a lot of great artist willing to work for our crappy rates there. Also, free beer in the con suite. The point is, even though it’s several hours away from most of us, we’ve come to think of Archon as our “home” convention. It’s the only one we’ve gone to (nearly) every year for most of our existence and the place where we’ve made a lot of actual, real-life friends. So it seemed natural to make Archon 42 (October 12-14) the home of our official 20th Anniversary celebration. The actual birthday party\/panel will be at 8pm on Saturday night in Salon D of the Gateway Center, but we’ll be celebrating all weekend with cool stuff at the booth, panels, stories, drinks, and of course a shitload of games. The official schedule is below. The unofficial schedule is a secret.<\/p>\n

Panels<\/h1>\n

Flash-Bang Forever! Magic in RPGs<\/h2>\n

Friday @ 9pm in Salon 4<\/p>\n

In most games, magic-using characters wander around hurling fireballs and teleporting across the globe, and that is AWESOME. Magic should be flashy! Magic should be about more than math and bookkeeping. Come to this panel to learn more about how to keep magic in your games from getting boring, and put the BANG! back in flash-bang magic!<\/p>\n

How to Run a One-Shot Game<\/h2>\n

Friday @ 10pm in Salon 4<\/p>\n

So you want to run a game at a convention, or at your local game store, but you\u2019re not sure what to expect, or how to prepare for a game with a group of random strangers. Don\u2019t worry! The Hex Games staff has run hundreds of one-shot games over the years, and we are here to answer your questions and offer helpful tips and suggestions. Learn how to run a con game they\u2019ll remember!<\/p>\n

How to Run a Game Company<\/h2>\n

Saturday @ Noon in Salon 4<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, Hex Games has been in operation for twenty years, and in that time we have published over 50 products and run countless games. Now the staff members of Hex Games are ready to share their hard-won wisdom with you, from the many pitfalls they\u2019ve stumbled into over the years, answering your questions about writing and publishing games.<\/p>\n

20 Years of Hex Games: A Celebration<\/h2>\n

Saturday @ 8pm in Salon 4<\/p>\n

Hex Games released QAGS in 1998, and has been publishing games ever since. In that time, Hex has come to Archon almost every year. Now it\u2019s time for our birthday party! Come, gather around, and let\u2019s look back, chat, and reminisce about all the good times we\u2019ve shared. We\u2019ll laugh, we\u2019ll cry, we may even sing a song\u2014but one thing\u2019s for certain, we\u2019ll all learn a valuable lesson . . . about love.<\/p>\n

Games<\/h1>\n

Session 1 (Friday 2-6pm)<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Warlock High School<\/h3>\n