March 2019

Setup

Lori and I attend and volunteer at a few gaming conventions each year; usually local ones, but occasionally one of the bigger, national cons. Earlier this month (March 6-10, 2019) we were able to go to the inaugural Dice Tower West gaming convention in Las Vegas and I am finally reporting on our experience. First, a bit about what we look for in a con, so you know whether my perspective is compatible with yours. Our attraction to cons is playing games, alternating between D&D and boardgames; that’s just the two of us sometimes or with friends we didn’t know we had until the bits are dumped from the box. So, the more general geekdom cons (Gen Con, Comic Con, etc.) don’t pique our interests and I wouldn’t know how to compare DTW to that type of experience.

The Don't Split the Podcast Network is a network of RPG-focused podcasts (currently 7) produced by veteran podcasters Rudy Basso and James Introcaso. The production quality is some of the highest in the game podcast universe and the variety of content is expansive. The show formats and content span the interests of most gamers. The content is mostly focused on D&D 5th Edition, but other systems are featured and much of the DM advice will improve your experience in most systems. My interests in the network podcasts are limited to the news, design, and DM content, having followed all since their inception. However, I am unfamiliar with the actual play shows. (I currently only have time to listen to actual plays for which I write content). The current shows are listed here: