Author: mellopanther

Back from…well everything

~ mellopanther

Sup, y’all?  I’ve been absurdly busy over the past few weeks.  Between Tekko, Easter, and all the other real life stuff, I’ve been leaving this space rather neglected.  Because this is my hobby and not my full profession, other things take precedence, but I will try to further my involvement on this blog while furthering my pursuits on this vocation.

MelloPanther @ Tekkoshocon X-2
Not gonna lie, Tekko was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.  On Friday, I ran my “How To Run A Panel” Workshop, hosted The Game of Shows, and emceed the always-hilarious Tekko Improv, this year featuring Uncle Yo.  If you didn’t catch me on Saturday in actual cosplay (thanks to Tekkoshocon Founder Rebecca for that), you may have caught me Saturday night running the board for the 8th year(!) of Anime Fight Club. Tekko is always a fun time–next year will be my tenth–and I’d like to thank Jim, Jeanie, Ada, Dan, and the rest of the staff for putting on an awesome show.

Catching up with old business
The Puzzle Strike footage still isn’t ready yet, mostly because I haven’t had time to sit down to edit it, but it had a great impact.  While there were 14 participants, one person who couldn’t make it was my acquaintance, and board game aficionado TJ.  Apparently, he wasn’t all that aware of the game, but that quickly changed.  Armed with the knowledge that anyone can play Puzzle Strike both online and offline, TJ returned to the underwater moon base of CGRUndertow and produced this short film.  I hope you enjoy it.

Bunnychan is still awesome, but Gary decided that he needed some space (or something like that) and started his own Facebook page. Now that I linked it, maybe he’ll give me back my shoes. >_>;

That’s all for now, but work on the next convention has already started, whenever and wherever it may be.

Bunnies! Bunnies everywhere!

~ mellopanther

We’ll have some fun stuff on how our Puzzle Strike tournament came out soon, but first I want to welcome MP’s first official sponsor, the drawing, cosplaying, figure-loving, tea sipping, internet bon vivant Bunnychan!  Like yours truly, she’s all over the tubes. She has her UTAU/Figure blog Bunny Chai, but when she’s not working on that, she showcases her whimsical art on the usual sites and will even draw for you as long you ask nicely.

Bunny has donated a metric ton of prizes for our game shows, and will also help the site out with some other projects, so you’re going to run into Bunnychan’s work whether you want to or not, but you should totally want to.  After all, Gary would be sad if you don’t support her.

On conventions and tabletops

~ mellopanther

A lot of what made me want to start MelloPanther and what will likely continue to drive me is that the programs and events that I do are things that I want to see.  One thing I’d like to see more attention paid to is RPG rooms.  Your standard convention will tend to have a board game room, sometimes combined with the CCG room, and some might have pick-up games of various RPG’s, particular Pathfinder and D&D.  However, while one-shots can be fun (and I’ve been in some hilarious one-shots) one of the appeals of tabletop gaming is getting together and having an epic campaign, spinning the tale of your heroes’ great adventures.  Problem is, if your convention is three days long, how can you fit in a campaign, especially with all the other things that can happen at a convention?

I think I’ve found an answer to that, and it comes from video gaming: a persistent world.  In basic terms, this is a game space that resembles real life in that you can make changes to the game world, and those changes are permanent, and like the real world, the game world can, and most likely will, change when you’re not around and getting involved.  I think a persistent RPG world would be a great setting for a short tabletop campaign.  A well-crafted setting can reward players for playing from the 1st session, but won’t punish those who want just a quick challenge before their next activity.  There are several ways you can pull off a persistent world like this in an RPG, and I’d love to demonstrate it a convention.  I figure I could fit in 4-6 sessions in most 3-day shows.  Why not give me a shot?

Crash Party

~ mellopanther

I like planning long-term, but sometimes things pop up that can be just as fun.  For example, I’ll be teaming up with the Pitt Gaming Club for a Puzzle Strike Tournament on March 2nd at 2PM.  Here’s the Facebook Event page.  Puzzle Strike is one of my favorite board games, so I’m glad I can help organize a PS event.  Hope to see you there!

An announcement and a few questions

~ mellopanther

To those who know me, this will come as no surprise, but MelloPanther’s first convention formally will be Tekkoshocon X-2 April 3-5 in Pittsburgh, PA.  I say “formally” because I’ve been helping out that convention since 2005 when I was just a wee little staff peon.  In 2006, I did my first panel and the rest, as they say, is history.  I hope to be meeting a lot of old and new friends there, and I hope you, dear reader, will be one of them.

In order to prepare for Tekkoshocon, I’ve made a survey for one of my game shows.  If you could, please take some time to fill it out.  By doing so, you help support MP, and if the response is big and positive enough, I may make more!

Thank you for helping, and hope to see you in April!

Hello Again, World!

~ mellopanther

Hopefully, you’ve come here from our tumblr page.  This spot is going to be for more formal, infrastructural things, like my portfolio, taking donations, and some long-form musing.  The tumblr page will be for videos, pictures, quick bits, and anything else that I feel like sharing.  There will be some overlap, so don’t worry.  You’ll get all the meaty bits no matter which page you follow.