Zapp Con 2015 Recap!
ZappCon is the Greatest!
The past two years I've headed down to Fresno as a comic book educator to lead workshops in comic book writing and share B-Squad with the thongs of Fresno-area comic book lovers.
I travelled down Friday to take part in the great pre-show party at Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Company. The ZappCon hosts take over the brewery and revel in the nerdy fun that's coming. I had some great conversations about playing role-playing games and met some fellow guests including novelist Starla Hutchon. I took down several amazing beers. The Autumnus was probably my favorite - it was an imperial hazelnut brown ale and the evening fall weather of Fresno worked really well with it.
The main highlight for me was the comic book workshops I got to lead. Each one was full of eager writers with great ideas for their own comics. From a young girl who wrote a story about a girl who wanted MORE homework, to a sea turtle struggling with ocean trash, or the journey of a banana barbarian that was unconvinced of his banana nature. Lots of laughs, emotions, and just a great attention as we analyzed story and how to get ideas out of the head and onto the paper. The best part was handing out writing journals at the end of each workshop to hopefully keep these new writers working on their ideas.
Other highlights of the event were hanging to play a late-night session of the Atomic Robo role-playing game based on the fantastic webcomic, Atomic Robo. The game was lead by the lead game designer, Mike Olson, of the RPG and it was truly treat. It's an incredibly fun RPG with a really innovative mechanic where the story unfolds via a brainstorming session. The Brainstorm has each player make opposing rolls to investigate a scene and ultimately come up with player generated facts that ultimately lead to a player generated hypothesis that weaves back into the game session.
All in all, Zapp-Con is definitely a show worth going out of your way to get to. It's incredibly fun, lively show with something for everybody. Gaming zones, panels and workshops all day long, lots of costumes and lots of talented creators with a wide variety of creator owned comics, geeky baubles, and nerdy trinkets for sale. Seriously great show.
Thanks for having me Zapp-Con! This is easily becoming one of my favorite shows of the year!
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