IntrigueCon X - Saviours
The Prophecy Is Fulfilled
My fellow Intriguers, lend me your ear, I have a tale tell: Where did the IntrigueCon X –Saviours come from? Come along and I will tell ye!
After Covid forced us indoors and away from the games and chums we shared them with, we reinvented the way we played like everyone else. Now, a few years later, as Covid slowly recedes into a differently, but generally much less threatening, part of our lives, we’re coming out of our basements and taking stock of how the way we play has changed, and what TTRPGs mean to the people we used to play with.
A few things are immediately obvious. First, we actually didn’t play anywhere near as many TTRPGs as we used to. We just couldn’t. Instead, we turned to video games more and more to get our RPGing fix. The stories, mechanics, and themes of such games will inevitably influence our play once we’re all back together. We do not seek to fight this, instead, we offer a nod to the Final Fantasy franchise with our quote of choice for inspiration. Second, we’re finding the tone of operating in a world where everything is falling apart and things are seeming desperate is an all too familiar theme right now. We are inevitably optimists, and we choose to focus on how things are getting better. The fantasy’s we most wish to play out together again the ones where we tell stories about heroes, more often unlikely ones than not, step up to the challenge of making things right again. Oh yeah, we’re all about those ‘and the sun came out’ kinds of stories right now. Bring on the saviours!
There are also some less obvious, though lingering, reasons for the choice of theme. We know things have changed in how people play TTRPGs together, but we actually have no idea how. For example, we really are not sure who is going to want to come back to play in person again. We don’t know how many of you discovered new ways to play games that now fit better into your lives. Honestly, we’re also kind of scared to discover that we’ve lost some friends during the difficulties of the last few years. This will be a super-cheesy plug, but each familiar face that comes through the doors is going to be some relief; a saviour for our concerns, if you will (*groans*).
This uncertainty about who is going to come out, and how people play TTRPGs has use facing some existential questions, to be honest. We’re feeling a bit uncertain about what place IntrigueCon has in a world with significant uptake in virtual TTRPG playing. To be clear, having an abundance of gaming opportunities online and the chance to make new friends is awesome. But, we know that we still love certain qualities of IRL roleplaying that virtual gaming hasn’t been able to recreate though, we’re not sure how many of your still feel that way though. Thus, in a world that doesn’t want to roleplay in person anymore, what place does an in-person roleplaying convention? Thus, loving drama, we decided to lean into this feeling and elect to channel the legend of Final Fantasy into our theme. If you don’t know the legend of Final Fantasy (and allegedly FF 15 as well), it was believed that it was a beautiful masterpiece that was expected to have a poor reception, leaving it the ‘final’ fantasy game published by the studio. The feeling was so pervasive that it ended up being the title of the game. So, to be clear, it isn’t our goal to start any rumours here, we’re simply really relating to that feeling right now. Plus we’re hoping we can get a little of that inverse nay-saying luck to work for us too.
To end on some optimism though, we’re also very excited for the new friends we hope to meet at IntrigueCon X – Saviours. There are people who discovered the amazing world of TTRPGs during the pandemic, and they are excited to finally try it in person for realises! There are also those who rediscovered old hobbies and passions in TTRPGs, and they are ready to get back behind the dice. We are super excited to welcome these people to IntrigueCon and can’t wait to meet them.
So, to every Intriguer out there, new and old, if you can’t make it, we are going to miss you; if you can make it, we are super excited to see you again, and we can’t wait to go on new adventures with you; and, if you are new, we are looking forward to meeting you, learning from you, and showing you something cool!
Friends, on Friday October 14th to Sunday October 16th, its savouring time!
