NecronomiCon 2024. Part II: Panels

As previously mentioned, I had planned to go to more panels this year, making the most of this side of the convention. In previous years, I had indeed managed quite a few, but mostly on the gaming side. It turns out that was mostly the case this year again, but I tried.

There was talk that more of the panels would be recorded and made available in some format, probably on Youtube once they've been edited. Once I hear where and how to access these, I will be sure to post that on the blog.

Writing this out and reading it back, I seem to be more down on the panels than I thought I would be going in. In a way, this is just me working through what I think. Take these reviews with a pinch of salt.

Literary Panels

I made it to two solely literary panels. The first being:

The Poetry of Edgar Allen Poe and its Long Shadow

Michael Cisco, Christa Carmen, Frank Coffman, F. Brett Cox (M), Levi Leland, Sean Moreland.

This was an early morning session, and one of the first of the Con. Four academics sat and discussed Poe and his poetry, as the title suggests, and gave the impression that he was as skilled in his poetry as he was in his fiction or criticism. No mean feat. I enjoyed the conversation.

I had to leave early to get to my first game of the day, but it did leave me wanting to look further into the subject.

It Came from the Frozen North: The Canadian Weird

Scott Jones, Tiffany Morris, David Lee (M), David Nickle, Simon Strantzas.

Another morning session, I think this was one of my favourite panels of the Con. The discussion ranged from the history of the weird tale in Canada (more recent that I thought in the terms discussed); through indigenous experiences and dueling apocalypses; to what it means to be a Canadian author.

I took lots of notes of themes and authors and will be delving into these at my leisure.

I later asked Tiffany Morris if they had any books for sale at the Con, but unfortunately the answer was no. Since they are a Canadian Author, I should be able to track some down easily enough.

Gaming Panels

Crafting Horror: Designing Call of Cthulhu Scenarios

Sean Branney (M), Paul Fricker, Kenneth Hite, Mike Mason, Badger Mcinnes. 

A very well moderated panel, with a multitude of questions to keep the discussion flowing. Lots of notes taken on this one that I should re-read and get ideas on scenario structure and perspective. A good panel.

Six-Shooters and Spell Books: The Weird West on the tabletop

David Boop, Jon Davis, Fiona Geist (M), Kenneth Hite, Allen Ruch.

This was indeed almost a mixed panel where although everyone at the table was a gamer and had some industry experience, a couple of them were from the literature side, and one had written short stories for games. This made it one of the best panels of the weekend for me.

There was discussion on how the weird in the West dates back to the times of the West, when dime novels were writing tales of giant robots and other strangeness.

The themes of the panel included the West as a liminal space, and as an unexplored world, both qualities making it good for horror; Law vs Barbarity; the clash of indigenous folk traditions with the traditions of the immigrant culture, and how this gave rise to essentially a new folklore. Lots to think about.

There was also a long list of my notes that includes stories and books to look up for inspiration.

Fictional Mythologies for Game Development and Fiction

Paul Fricker, Mike Mason, Matt Ryan.

There was also someone who was not mentioned in the program who was from a Pendragon/Runequest background, but I didn't note his name.

I got my timings a little off, and I was late to this one. In the end it seemed to stick more to the Cthulhu Mythos than the other proposed mythologies. A tighter Mod could have fixed this issue.

Maybe the stuff I would have found interesting in terms of fiction or non Cthulhu Mythoses was discussed before I got there.

Weird Gaming: Indy and Freelance Perspective part 2

Oscar Rios, Bret Kramer (M), Jared Smith, Leslie (XPLovecat) Horn, Derek Sotek.

It was good to see a collection of creators from a variety of backgrounds in the Cthulhu/Horror gaming spheres, and not just another batch of panels with a Chaosium heavy presence. The perspectives given were not ones I expect to find useful in the type of scenario publications I could forsee for me, but they were interesting nonetheless. 

What I should have done after the panel was ask Derek Sotek if he had any of his gamebooks with him for sale, but I did not.

Genre Mixing in Call of Cthulhu Settings

Paul Fricker, Mike Mason, VJ Stonecraft, Oscar Rios, Fiona Geist (M).

I can summarise this panel by saying Cthulhu goes with everything. Just add Cthulhu. No insight into how best to do this, and what things to look out for, or bring to the fore. Better moderation or thinking through of the topic by the panel members would have improved this. As it was, the anecdotes used were ones the panel members have in their back pockets and bring out regularly. One of the most disappointing panels I attended.

My notes page are blank, except for a few notes I made to myself on how I would do it, and things I want to think about, that the panelists did not bring to the table.

Weird Gaming: Indie and Freelance Perspectives Part 3 Community Building

Amber Bliss, Herbie Hicks, Robby Howell, Thom Raley, Oscar Rios, Luke Stratton (M), K H Vaughn.

This one got me really pumped, but not for the reasons I thought. Most of the panel participants were game designers/publishers, and were talking about how to build a community round their games. This was of little interest to me. Thom was there to speak to his experiences building the Outer darkness community, but he had very little insight and hadn't seemed to have though out how he had stumbled into his current position. The run away star of the show was Amber, with the amazing work she has done building has community round her public library. I truly doff my hat to her and the work she has done, It was inspiring to see, and would be a model to follow for in person gaming communities.

Summary

In general, the gaming panels actually left me rather uninspired this year. The panel members were mostly the same from previous years (e.g. Mason and Fricker), and they didn't have anything to say that I hadn't heard either in panels from previous years, or in many of the gaming podcasts that I listen to. This was certainly the case for the later panels 

The Indy Panels were of greater value, though I heard the first of those were not good, and the ones I attended were of varying quality and interest. I do not want to run my own indie company, and know how to get things that I do want to make out there, so this part of these panels was not of interest. 

The moderation of some of the panels also left room for improvement. The best panels I went to (on the literary side, or early in the week for the Gaming panels) had prepared questions, and even answers in advance, allowing for well thought out responses, and making sure all the points they wanted to get across were included. On the gaming side, it seemed the questions were sometimes not well thought out, or even deep, leaving gaps in the schedule, and things being thrown out to the audience quicker. I think the gaming schedule needs to look at their literary counterparts before the next Con.

To end on a high, the community building panel left me with lots of ideas on how to build a community here in Montreal. I also will be delving back into my notes on the Weird West gaming, and the Canadian Weird. Very inspiring.