If you want to know how to make your gaming conversation gender inclusive, to make it a welcoming place for all gamers no matter what their background, look no further than Dreamation. This convention, as well as DexCon, both if which are run by Dexposure, is a local con for me, located in North-Central New Jersey. It hosts board games, miniature war games, LARPs, and of course role playing games. It was this past weekend and I enjoyed myself immensely at it.
This conversation has a sizable indy game presence where you can find yourself in a game of Monster Hearts as well as Dungeons and Dragons. I spotted games of Dungeon World and Misspent Youth. I ran a game of Traveller set in the Foreven Worlds. Naturally Adventurers League, Pathfinder Society, and Starfinder Society were present as well as Living Arcanis, Greyhawk Reborn, and Shadowrun Missions. I can now finally say I played in Pathfinder Society. Despite having a low 4 digit society number, I never sat down for a game. My first character is now level 2. First, however, I had to play a pair of Greyhawk Reborn games. If you like D&D5e rules but miss the Greyhawk setting, but sure to check out Reborn. You will be glad you did.
While I spent much of my time in the role playing area, I did slip out and got in a game of Munchkin Panic. This game is similar to Castle Panic, but with some elements of Munchkin thrown in. The shear number of games that were offered we’re amazing and well worth spending an entire weekend in those areas.
I never got to the war gaming and LARPing area and I always wish I did. Perhaps next year. Seeing people in costume or with their minis sets is always a joy.
So what about this conversation makes it inclusive? I will just let two pictures speak for themselves:
By having ribbons to stick to name badges that let everyone know how they should be identified, it makes it more comfortable for everyone. No one has to tell another how they should be identified; everyone can just read for themselves. On top of that, the signs in the second picture we’re covering the normal restroom signage, meaning there weren’t any strictly male or female restrooms. I did hear some ask others that the seat be lowered when they leave so maybe that can be added to future signs. Even still, there are plenty of other ways Dreamation supports an inclusive culture in tabletop gaming, and if every other convention followed their example in these two areas, it would go a long way to helping gaming to being a welcoming place for all.
When I talked about PAX Unplugged last year, I mentioned that they needed a much better way to pre-register people for games. While Dreamation’s system is light years ahead if them, they could be better. I would prefer it if they migrated completely to Warhorn or Tabletop.Events instead of only being done by Adventurers League, Pathfinder Society, and Greyhawk Reborn, but writing names down on paper still got the job done. Dreamation had a massive quantity more games, letting everyone get in a game in every time slot they choose to. Plus, Dreamation’s sign up sheets were always up and spread out over a sizable area, letting multiple people sign up for games at the same time, day or night. So if my biggest complaint about the convention is that its game registration system is not as modern as I would like it to be, I’d call that a serious win for this conversation.
Be sure to check out Dreamation and the other conventions such as DEXCon at Dexposure.com.
Jon Brazer Enterprises 