Interrogation Droid- Stephen Holodinsky of AetherCon

First, for any of our readers who might not be familiar with you or AetherCon, could you please tell us a bit about the con, and what you do for them?

Stephen J. Holodinsky, AetherCon Event Coordinator, Chief Hat Juggler, Bullet Catcher, and Technical Crash Test Dummy.

AetherCon is an annual online tabletop RPG convention that takes place each november (this year November 13-15), that is free to attend and free to partake in. We feature many tabletop RPGs, including organized play from Pathfinder Society, Dungeons and Dragons Adventurer’s League and Shadowrun Missions. In addition to that we will have 27 hours worth of themed panels with some of the industry’s top names, 27 hours of Live Publisher Q&As with some great game designers, 27 hours of speed painting duels with some very talented RPG artists, the voting for the inaugural ‘Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue’ miniatures painting tourney and for the first time bargain hunting at Baublebrook’s Bazaar.

Where did the idea for an online gaming convention come from?

I took a sabatical from gaming to travel Europe for 10 years in the 90’s. Before I left game wars and edition wars didn’t exist. When a company came out with a game, folks glommed onto it, everyone wanted to try it. It didn’t matter who wrote or what compnay published it, it was a new game and that was all that mattered. When I returned the atmosphere wasn’t nearly the same. I couldn’t find a RPG chat room that wasn’t drowning in vitriol. People were more concerned with what game they played than actually playing it.

Let’s be honest, even at it’s highest, tabletop RPGs were not top of the pops when it came to where folks spent their entertainment dollar. Movies, Sporting Events (which in and of itself can be subdivided several times), Music, Theatre, Video Games, Books and Magazines, these are just some of the places people were spending spare cash before ever getting close to where tabletop RPGs sat in the rankings.*If* hobbies such as tabletop RPGs merited a placement on the top 20, it was likely at or near the very bottom.

And yet here we were, the hardest of the hardcore, the ones most capable of introducing new people to our favourite past time, at war with one another. And for what? Anyone wandering into one of the chatrooms at that time who had never played and wanted to learn was just as likely to turn around and walk out. We certainly were not helping grow our number and most probably doing it a great disservice. We needed to stop. We needed to reach out to folks who had never played before. We needed to grow the industry from the ground roots. Hence the idea for an online convention. It offered the tabletop RPG experience to anyone with a computer and offered it to them for free. Newbie or old pro, it didn’t matter, we just, for three days anyway, wanted to stop the warring amongst RPGers.

Have you noticed any change to the rivalry between gamers since you started AetherCon?

Yes, it has gotten less intense, but if we played any part in that at all, it was but a small one. That said, we are very happy to see it.

For those who don’t know, tell us how the convention works. How do you play tabletop games online?

Currently our games run on Roll20, a type of program called a virtual table top (VTT). What a VTT is in layman’s terms, is tele-conferencing software with added tech that is needed for tabletop RPGs. Mapping Technology, Dice Rollers are the main ones, but there are others besides. Roll20 is free and browser-based which makes it easy for gamers to to access gaming. That being said, we are not closed to adding other platforms in the future.

How has the con evolved over the four years it has been run?

We definitely have a better understanding of the tech involved and our staff has grown. The first AetherCon was staffed by myself and whoever I could pull in from the Ox & Mule (our main chat room) on the weekend. For AC IV, we have between 15-20 staffers that we could call reliable. We are still understaffed by about 35 to 40% but are in a much, much better position than where we were previously. Having more staff has allowed us to do the things we already do better, though there is always room for improvement in anything you do. It has also allowed us to gradually build onto our current platform of activities.

Does AetherCon offer games other than RPG’s?

Currently all the games we offer are tabletop RPGs, though this year we are experimenting with Steve Jackson Games Car Wars for the first time, which should be interesting.

Tell us some about where your GMs come from and what they do for the con?

We have been fortunate in that we have been able to slowly develop a stable of GMs over the years to run Open Games. Guys like Shannon MacNamara, Will Hammerand, John Dorman and Shawn Lovelett have been with us since day one. Others who are repeat GMs include folks like Earl Bingham, Ed Possing, Edward Clower, Sean Ulczycki. We have a bunch of folks who played last year who are GMing this year. Riley Heffernan is a good example. Last year he attended 14 events, this year he is running three tables of his own, taking a shift during the weekend to act as staffer and helping out with the Roll20 Tutoring, never mind the stuff he has signed up for himself :). We’ll take GMs from all over the world as we play throughout the night from open to close. For example this year Frank Falkenberg from Germany will be running a Savage Worlds game that looks quite promising,

Keep in mind as well that all of the publishers in the Vendors Hall have agreed to run a table as well. Some of the great ones we have there are Mike Mason of Chaosium, Jason Nelson of Legendary Games, Sean Patrick Fannon of Evil Beagle Games, Josh Harrison of FASA, Walt Robillard of Hazard Studio, Scott Woodard of Pinnacle Entertainment Group and Oliver Shead of Australia’s Immersion Studios among others.

Other than games, what else does AetherCon offer?

As previously mentioned we have a series of themed panels that take place in the chatroom called “Philosopher’s Conundrum.” There are 6 panels a day, each lasting one hour and 25 minutes with topics ranging from Shoot the Moon: Secrets to Kickstarter Success with Richard Baker – Sasquatch Game Studios, Andy Hopp – Mutha Oith Creations and Rachel Ventura – Legendary Games (Moderator: Keith Kappel); to It’s All in Your Head: Psionics in RPGs with Bruce Cordell – Monte Cook Games, Stephen Radney-MacFarland – Paizo, Jeremy Smith – Dreamscarred Press (Moderator: Chris Sniezak – Misguided Mark Podcast) and many others.

We also have twenty-seven 55 minute long Live Publishers Q&As taking place in The Coin & Quill where you will be able to get the inside scoop from each of the game designers in the Vendors Hall.

As well, we will be running speed painting duels all weekend long in the Wandering Toad. The more times you vote, the more opportunities you have to win a signed copy of one of the speed painting entries (your choice which).

Voting in the first ever ‘Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue Miniature Painting tourney (which started in May) will also take place over the weekend in Anvil Alley. Teams representing Reaper Miniatures, Scotial Grendal, Ral Partha Europe, Lance & Laser among others

We also have free wallpaper downloads courtesy of the Artist’s Enclave brushmen and one will be gracing the cover of this year’s Convention Program which will have between 10 and 12 game designer interviews in it.

As we touched on earlier, there will be bargain hunting. Come AetherCon Weekend, each of the Vendors Hall, Artist’s Enclave, and Anvil Alley will feature shopfronts where you can grab up items at prices you won’t see elsewhere. You can also go to Baublebrook’s Bazaar if you want all of the shopfronts ‘under the same roof’

Oh, yeah, there will be prizes, lots and lots of prizes.

How would someone sign up to participate in a game and how much does it cost?

To sign up for anything happening at AetherCon you need to go to: https://warhorn.net/events/aethercon-iv

Make sure you sign up for both Warhorn (a one time process that allows you to then register for any events in their database) as well as AetherCon IV. From there, just check out the schedule and sign up for the stuff you want.

As for how much it costs, there are no costs to attend or partake in our event. From the start we have never envisioned AetherCon as being akin to “Money Mountain.” It’s always been and always will be about bringing folks together.

Any words of advice for first time participants?

Put the pizza delivery menus in the drawer of your desk that is furthest from your mousepad and make sure your mini fridge is stocked with energy drinks and is running on it’s own powerbar.

Seriously though, make sure your headset mic/earbuds-desk mic and desk cam are in working order before the convention. If you can get into a game on Roll20 beforehand, so much the better.

Check the schedule thoroughly before signing up for anything, but once you have done that, don’t wait. You’ll end up on the waitlist of the game you want to play the most if you do.

Once you have signed up for a game, as soon as the opportunity is provided (either by e-mail or forum on Roll20 or other means) get in touch and stay in touch with your GM.

What has been your favorite experience working for AetherCon?

Meeting folks, to be honest.

Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?

So long and thanks for all the fish!

Thanks Stephen! You can follow AetherCon on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Check out AetherCon on Monday, September 21st at 6:30pm for a pre-con chat with Fantasy Flight Games Sam Stewart (and more) hosted by yours truly.