Starting Your Own Board Gaming Company, Legally Speaking
Summary:
Seminar on legal issues FATAL to small business owners: (1) IP infringement, (2) consumer protection laws, (3) securities & franchising laws, and (4) key contracts clauses to be aware of.
Description:
As a nine year Texas attorney, I can attest: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. What may cost only a few thousand dollars (properly papering up an agreement) can instead cost TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars to enforce (full blown litigation). This seminar is planned as a survey of key legal areas for future small business owners by discussing: how to avoid accidently infringing on another's copyright and trademarks (very basic); co-owner issues to be aware of when having or not having a partnership agreement or a company agreement; how to avoid accidently violating both securities laws (raising funds) and consumer protection laws (deceptive advertising) when getting your business started and taking your products to market; and a survey of each of the very lopsided contracts clauses you will find--but likely can't negotiate out--of a form contract with a major company.
Staying Connected: Technology's New Role in Tabletop Gaming
Summary:
Technology has fundamentally changed how players find each other, play together, and build communities. Join us as we explore the innovations reshaping tabletop gaming.
Description:
Tabletop gaming has always been about bringing people together. But over the years, technology has fundamentally changed how players connect with one another and with the games they love. From online forums to virtual tabletops, Discord communities, livestreams, and new emerging technologies, each innovation has opened new possibilities for how we discover games, share experiences, and keep our communities thriving.
Join us as we examine the key technologies that transformed tabletop gaming, the lessons we've learned along the way, and what the future of playing together may look like.
Stories Beyond The Tentacles: Cosmic Horror Without Cthulhu
Summary:
Join us to explore the broader aspects of cosmic horror, how to engage with it in your own writing, and discover writers who are pushing the boundaries in new and delightfully terrifying ways.
Description:
Featuring: Lark Morgan Lu, Mary Sangiovani, Richard Dansky
Strong Female Character - A Discussion with Femme Creators on their Gaming Industry Experience
Summary:
Our panel of femme TTRPG creators & games industry veterans share honest accounts of their work experiences and offer advice for anyone looking to begin a similar professional journey.
Description:
DISCLAIMER! This is not a panel about writing for fiction or character concept art. There will be no list of required elements or sharing of a secret recipe which awards the elusive, and ineffable label in the title to fictional women.
This panel is about real femme creators and professionals working within the games industry. Our panelists will be sharing frank and open accounts of their experiences working within these professional and creative environments, to offer a picture of the current state of affairs for femme individuals looking to pursue a similar career/creator path. Come listen to our panelists who are achieving incredible accolades, working to create beautiful art and experiences for others, and all too often working twice as hard as what is fair for the recognition and respect they deserve.
Egypt nationalizes Suez Canal & blockades Israel. Israel invades. Britian & France join in. An often-overlooked affair in Cold War & Arab-Israeli history. Maj. Scott Macmann, USA/ret., NSDM Game staff
Description:
Israel invaded the Sinai to restore access to the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba, which Egypt had recently blockaded. France and Britain rapidly moved to help Israel, in part to restore European control over the Suez Canal, which Egypt had nationalized. What followed was an Israeli victory, but with France and Britain to some extent shown to be no longer superpowers, unable to pursue independent foreign policy objectives with the consent of the United States. Lecture discusses the backdrop of Arab-Israeli tensions, the developing Cold War, and the deterioration of the European colonial paradigm, goes on to describe the conflict and its aftermath. Presented by Maj. Scott Macmann, USA/ret., on the National Security Decision Making Game staff.
Summon Achilles' Wrath: Turn Public Domain Legends (or Your Own Characters) into Living AI NPCs
Summary:
Dr. Jo Szewczyk turns public domain icons (Achilles, Dracula, Holmes) — or your own creations — into reactive ChatGPT NPCs. Hands-on build; walk away with yours. Works free or paid versions of AI.
Description:
Achilles remembers slights, snarls with Homeric fury, shifts the story live. Same for Dracula, Holmes, or your own characters. No flat NPCs—these stay alive and true.
Dr. Jo Szewczyk (Surviving Gen X; forthcoming Scarlet Shadows), PhD Creative Writing, MSc Oxford, Vanderbilt GenAI, shows you how with ChatGPT. Bonus: deep-dive history/books via authentic AI chats.
Free tier works (rate limits possible at con—build before/after). Paid smoother. Templates work on Grok/Claude.
Core Focus: Build one dynamic NPC from public domain classics or your writing. Master few-shot, guardrails, flipped interactions for true voice, memory, grudges.
Hands-On: Bring phone/laptop. Craft live, probe player-style chats—Achilles rages, Holmes unravels lies. Leave with reusable templates.
GMs, writers, LARPers—no AI experience needed. Legal, fast, deepens games + knowledge.