Opportunity Actions: My PAX Bag

In honor of GM’s Day (3/4), and since the lauded PAX East is coming up, I thought I’d give us all a post about what I’m bringing with me to this blessed event.

I have never actually been to a gaming convention before. I am a regular attendee of New York Comic-Con (you can read a previous post about that here). Having always been interested in attending a convention but never thinking I had the ways or the means, I never thought I’d be making it out to one of these.

Then, an amazing series of events happened. Last year, my brother took in a day at PAX (from here on out, I’ll only qualify if I mean any PAX other than East) while I worked. Not long after, I got involved here at RPG Musings. Through interactions here and over Twitter, I came to realize I could go to PAX without threatening my economic stability. The plan was made, and now I’ll be attending my first gaming convention as a volunteer for Wizards of the Coast.

The Bag

This has been a major process for me. I know that I’ll be playing lots of D&D, but apart from that, how will I keep myself entertained? Here’s my bag (so far):

• My D&D books
• ICONS
• Cthulu Dice
• Gordon R Dickson’s The Dragon Knight
• a basic binder
• 2 notebooks
• tokens, cards, and other little bits 
• dice
• my laptop

An Explanation

Some of this should be fairly obvious. I left out clothes and hygene stuff because this is, after all, a gaming con, and there will be no time to bathe or even change the outfit that I wear the first day. (Kidding, but do you really care that I’m bringing Extra Strength Irish Spring to scrub off my naughty parts? I didn’t think so.)

• I will be playing lots of D&D, hence my books.
• Man, however, does not live by bread alone, and so I’m bringing ICONS to run pickups, as time allows.
• For even shorter time gaps, Cthulu Dice will do the job.
• If I should find myself sitting around for extended periods, I have The Dragon Knight. I’ve really been meaning to get back to reading Dickson. His stuff is great. You’re likely to enjoy it.
• Binders are so necessary. I always have at least one when I’m gaming, and this will be no exception.
• Notebooks are another gaming necessity
• I have a baggie of glass beads that I use to mark different things for different reasons. As of right now, I only have green and clear. I’ll be on the lookout for red ones this week.
• I have some condition cards that I plan on using.
• I made some cards for another game I’ll be playing, in case they’re needed.
• Dice, another gimme.
• and, finally, my laptop. I’ll likely be blogging of one kind or another after my experiences happen, so, there we go.

Conclusion

So there’s what I’m bringing. Is there anything I’m forgetting? What should be on this list that isn’t?

Watch your threatened squares. Happy GM’s day!