6 Awesome Reasons To Attend BrigadeCon

We sat down the the staff at BrigadeCon, to see what their convention is about, and why you should attend this year! (Some slight editing occurred for clarity.)
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1) First off, what is BrigadeCon and why is it important?
What is BrigadeCon?

BrigadeCon is a 100% free Online Roleplaying Game Convention and Benefit in which the online tabletop and virtual roleplaying gaming community the RPG Brigade hosts live gaming events, interviews, gaming panels, and art demos in order to raise funds for the Child's Play Charity. Sponsors that support BrigadeCon (and its mission) donate digital books, physical books, dice, playmats, minis, and much more for the raffle held the day of BrigadeCon. Simply signing up as an attendee and providing a valid postal mailing address qualifies anyone for these Sponsor prizes.  

Why is BrigadeCon important?

BrigadeCon attempts to accomplish various important purposes.

• We promote and support the cause of the Child's Play first. We believe helping hospitalized children to experience the joy and much-needed escapism of gaming is an important cause, and have support Child's Play for four years now.

• We provide an accessible and fun online convention for people to participate in freely. Many people in our hobby simply cannot afford the costs of flight, hotels, and all of the costs involved with brick and mortar conventions. We and our affiliate AetherCon offer this to the public and believe it to be important.

• We provide a venue for viewers to play with their favorite YouTube or Twitch channel hosts. Our event hosts are not distant from their viewing public and are thankfully engaging. They enjoy playing RPGs with the viewers that watch their channels or listen to their podcasts.

• We hope that what we are doing in BrigadeCon helps the overall outreach of our Sponsors and the Tabletop/Virtual-Tabletop Roleplaying Game hobby to grow beyond measure.

2) Why did you make the jump from a community to hosting your own convention?
I think at some point all communities grow to a capacity in which they want to work and do some good for the community that they love. Four years ago when Michael Barker called for the creation of BrigadeCon, the RPG Brigade exploded with excitement. We all wanted to do our part to make BrigadeCon something fun and exciting to be a part of. Now, four years later, I look back on that excitement, and I still feel it. I think the entire RPG Brigade does too. It's a very special day for us all to re-converge as a community and have fun together while supporting a great cause like Child's Play.

3) Could you tell us more about Child’s Play and why you decided to partner with them?
The Child's Play Charity is "a game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of hospitalized children" by raising funds to purchase video games, toys, books, and other fun stuff for them while in recovery. During the preparation for the first BrigadeCon, we didn't have to look far to find a wonderful cause to support. The Child's Play Charity already had a strong presence in the gaming community and it was (and remains) meaningful to many in the RPG Brigade who were previously, or still are, hospitalized children that survived both the pain and boredom.

So we partnered with Child's Play and never looked back.

4) How can attendees donate to Child’s Play?
In the months leading up to BrigadeCon, the RPG Brigade (and those that find interest in BrigadeCon) can donate to the Child's Play Charity using two methods.

1. Utilize the URL: http://www.brigadecon.org/donate/ to donate funds directly to the Child's Play Charity.
2. Buy t-shirts or mugs via http://www.brigadecon.org/store/ with 100% of all profits being sent directly to the Child's Play Charity.

5) What is the format of BrigadeCon and where can players, GMs and others sign up for events?
As of the date of this interview, Event Hosting Requests are being accepted by those who want to host Live Gaming Events, Interviews, Gaming Panels, and Art Demos. The form to register is here: http://www.brigadecon.org/eventrequest/ .

On October 15th, 2017 a new page will be revealed on BrigadeCon.org showing all of the events that are open.Simply review all of the events you would like to participate in, then buy the ticket (it is 100% free) and you will be able to correspond with you GM/Host from there.

BrigadeCon supports YoutTube Live and Twitch Live Streams

6) Finally, what was your favorite moment from the previous BrigadeCons?
Personally, there are so many, but one stands out to me right now. During BrigadeCon 2014 GM Chugosh ran a one-shot of Slipstream for three players. It was really a neat game. Everyone thought it was over .... but a young Russian player, Vlad, was trying really hard to tell the guys that he wanted to finish off the session with a song "Taking Home." He finally got a word in. Then, "something magical" happened, as is the case with all Bards. The players were lost in the song and so was the whole convention. It was beautiful. Everyone was texting each other, "THERE IS A BARD IN GM CHUGOSH'S GAME SINGING!" All of the volunteers that stayed up for 24 hours just watched it together in silence. It was a special moment.

Here is the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr2M8hTBktk

Once again, thank you,
Thank you and High Level Games for supporting BrigadeCon!

Phil Pepin is a history-reading, science-loving, head-banging nerd, who would like nothing more than to cuddle with his pups and wife.

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