My PAX Workshop: GMless RPGs

What’s today? Friday? A week from now PAX will descend upon Seattle.

Story gaming at PAX is on the rise. I’ll be spending a lot of time playing (or loitering at the Gamma Ray Games booth) but I’m also signed up to run a workshop. What about, you ask?

GMless Role-Playing Games

or “Oh my god who’s running this game?!?” Good GMs are awesome, but you don’t need a GM to make an awesome game. Explore games designed to play with no GM, like Fiasco, Shock, Polaris, Geiger Counter, and Microscope. Whether you’ve never played a GMless game before or you’re already an expert, come examine what makes them tick and stretch your gaming muscles. No experience necessary.

Friday 2-4 pm

I’m pretty sure it’s in room 302 but check the schedule.

Will anyone be at PAX that early on Friday? We’ll see. I intentionally got a slot early in the weekend so that folks would have a chance to head over to the story games tables and play the games we talked about. Yep, that’s right: rumor has it there is going to be a designated area for story games action. Wanna try the cool new games all the kids are talking about? That’s the place to be.

UPDATE: If you missed it, don’t fret. Jobe at Meta Gamemastery got a recording of the whole thing. Thanks, Jobe!

PAX GM-Less Gaming Workshop with Ben Robbins (audio recording)

With the digital compression my words get a little clipped. Somebody probably should have talked a little slower, but I had a lot of ground to cover. The audience (audience? make that team) participation is hot and by the end we get into some stunning indictments of gaming gospel. Kudos to everyone in the room for putting on their thinking caps and jumping in.