Like any convention’s first run PAX Unplugged had some issues. After being out of the office for nearly two weeks I’ve got a backlog I’m going to tackle, but I wanted to share my thoughts before doing that–so here we are.

ENFORCERS
There were a few problems with the convention but the staff were excellent–one of them straight up bought me a soda when I asked for one. That guy set where the bar for staff excellence is at now.

SCHEDULING ANYTHING
Simultaneous events (a law enforcement convention and the Philadelphia marathon) didn’t help out off-site and the lack of any game scheduling ahead of time was just a terrible oversight. Fortunately being an exhibitor let me sit down for a Starfinder game (in Paizo’s booth) before that hall opened, but otherwise there was no reasonable way for me to play a tabletop RPG–I had to be in the booth at certain times to work, and in order to get into a game you get into a line at the beginning of the day and after a couple hours maybe you lucked out. This is a drag for any con-goer but straight up impossible if you’re on a work schedule.

PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTIONS ARE DISAPPOINTMENTS
There’s this crap habit of conventions going on in Pittsburgh every 3-4 months where you get a dealer’s hall, maybe some magic card tournaments, and then a bunch of autographs. Real RPG conventions just aren’t allowed here or something? I dunno–mad that I missed SibCon because it sounds like that might’ve broken the curse, but I was really hoping PAX Unplugged would do it. There were a half-dozen seminars that maybe were of some interest to me as a game designer, but really this first year PAX Unplugged was a place for celebrity fandom and board gaming.

I’m sincerely glad that folks had a good time (there were a lot of people walking around super pleased with their experience) but this one was kind of a wash for me. Managed to get some important things done, had a great time as far as booth-work goes (Syrinscape is great and useful for everybody and all I had to do was give away free stuff so it was a breeze), ate at a spot in Philly Chinatown that has eluded me several times before (BEST DIM SUM – OCEAN HARBOR), and had no personal issues with the hotel (although I believe the people putting me up did). My actual convention experience though was limited to a Starfinder game I got into by privilege (early access to the exhibitor’s hall) and one seminar–if I go to work a booth here again, it’s probably going to require some more compensation because as it was this year there was no other way for me to enjoy the convention.

This adventure is finally available! All of its proceeds go to the SPLC and Black Lives Matter so check out www.operationnazismasher.com and grab its PDF, a print copy, or the Roll20 module! If you’re into high-level Pathfinder adventures and want to help us fight nazis, please check it out!

Here’s the full rundown:

A Hypercorps 2099 adventure set in WW2 for PCs of 16th level, 8th level [Hyper Score 6], or 8th level (Mythic Rank 5-6) using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Hyper Score rules.

After the despicable display of bigotry and hatred in Charlottesville VA in August 2017 a group of artists, designers, and writers joined me to do something about it. This thrilling adventure is the result of our work and the proceeds of every single purchase go directly to charitable efforts focusing on anti-hatred causes (specifically but not limited to the Southern Poverty Law Center and Black Lives Matter).

Everything you need to play the game is included and you have our gratitude for taking part in the fight against injustice. Go pick your favorite patriotic superhero from Task Force V (or make your own) and smash some nazis!

What’s inside Operation: Nazi Smasher:

• Cover artwork by world renowned illustrator Claudio Pozas
• A full color 19 page adventure for raiding the bowels of Castle Verzweifer, the last and most desperate effort of the Reich’s final days at the end of World War 2
• Four full-page maps for a nazi outpost, the exterior of Castle Verzweifer, and the dungeons below it
• Original illustrations for every character in the module as well as full-page pieces by a coterie of great artists
• A dozen different nazi statblocks to defeat including SS soldiers, genetically modified commandos, occult mages, mad scientists, and Baroness von Helena Kriegstalhz the Heldenschlager (Killer of Heroes)
• TASK FORCE V: A team of 7 alter sapiens in one of the Allied Forces’ most powerful teams of special agents—enough pregenerated PCs that the game can begin as soon as the last player sits down at the table [included in print, separate download for PDF]
• The entire Hyper Score system with revisions, improvements, and updates from its original iteration so if the party wants to make their own patriotic super heroes, everything they need is available
• A reprint of the Veloces base class for the player that demands to be a speedster
• PDF for printing out Character Pawns for every NPC and pregenerated PC in the adventure [included in print, separate download for PDF]
• High-resolution versions of all the maps for use with VTT (4 versions of each map)