I love getting out of the house and meeting fans and friends. I spend a lot of time at my desk in my house, and seeing the rest of the world makes for a good break from that.
This May 29—June 2, I’m heading to northern Sweden for Arctic Game Week, which includes a number of different festivals in SkellefteÃ¥, a city that sits just shy of the Arctic Circle. Now, I live in Wisconsin, so I know how to handle cold, but I’m grateful that I’m going up that far in the late spring rather than the dead of winter.
On May 29 I’ll be at guest at the Arctic Game Conference, along with luminaries like Fred Malmberg, Magnus Nedfors, and Mike Elliott. I’m speaking at 10:40 AM as part of the Analog Games & Storytelling track. The topic includes two things on which I’ve built a lot of my career:
Mechanics and Metaphor
There’s a long standing debate among game designers about whether you should start with a game’s mechanics or its setting, the crunch or the fluff. This is a false dichotomy. The best game designers work hard to dovetail the two efforts together into a seamless whole in which the mechanics and the setting work together in a seamless metaphor. This helps to make the game intuitive not only for the designer but the players, who can then figure out how the rules are supposed to work by the way in which the setting is presented.
After that, I’ll also be at Nordsken from May 30—June 2, along with lots of other guests, including Marvel’s editor-in-chief, C. B. Cebulski. I’m not sure what my schedule will be there, other than playing lots of games. If you can make it up there, though, be sure to say hi!
For the rest of 2019, I’m planning on being at:
- Comic-Con (July 17—21)
- Gen Con (August 1—4)
- Gamehole Con (October 31—November 3)
More details on those bits as I have them. Hope to see you on the road!
