MegaXP


Hi Reader,

Welcome, please come in. This week, we're meeting a little, sun-baked apartment in Mexico City. A glass tumbler has some purple jacaranda flowers.

I came down to Mexico to visit family, but I also bought a ticket to a great games convention here called MegaXP.

Although I don’t know much Spanish, my phone does get internet, and it was easy enough to take an Uber to the World Trade Center Ciudad de México.

Inside, I had to ask the person at the Registration desk if they spoke English. They looked at me a little skeptically—like, "of course, but why on Earth would you ask that?" But they very kindly pointed me to where to get my wristband.

The view inside the exhibit hall looked surprisingly familiar.

It was massive, almost on the scale of Origins. Con-goers, cosplayers, and vendors. Most of the booths I saw sold board games, but there was also a lot of Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Warhammer 40K, minis painters, and medieval-style crafts.

I noticed a few Mexican inflections, too. Like the snack vendors (popcorn is big), and a trio of stilt-walkers who included El Santo (with an extra-long cape!).

Plus! A collective of gamer groups, called Rol en tu idioma, organized a full schedule of role-playing games at several tables in the middle of the hall.

I wandered over to that section, and I recognized one group’s name: ReRoll. Their Twitch channel played Raccoon Sky Pirates in 2022. (You have got to see the cartoons of their characters on the overlay.)

So, I went over. "Hi, habla ingles?"

Again the skeptical look. "Yes."

"Hi, my name’s Chris. I made a game called Raccoon Sky Pirates."

Instant excitement.

One of their members, Chok, facilitated the game on Twitch and played Iggy Escupefuego (Spitfire the Pigeon). He gave me a big hug. I signed a copy of the game for him, and we got our picture taken.

As we parted ways, he said, "You made my day!"

It’s really true what they always say: Raccoons are international.

There are lots of great cons happening around the world, and I rarely get a chance to go to one outside the U.S. What are your favorites?

Cheers,
Chris

P.S. It was so great to finally meet Chok and ReRoll! They're doing great things. Check out their Itch page!

Everlasting, Neverending Game Night

🌈🚀 Reliable wonder engine. I make narrative role-playing games that imagine a weirder, queerer, more connected world.

Read more from Everlasting, Neverending Game Night
the back end of a cadillac strains to take flight, giving off lightning bolts and held to the ground by one taut bungie cord. A raccoon reaches out of the trunk to release the cord.

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. I put stalks of crown-pink in a jar on the table. If you can see them. Don't mind the smoke. The raccoons are in the back yard, getting their ship together. Tomorrow morning at 9 am Eastern, the Kickstarter for Raccoon Sky Pirates: Total Chaos Edition will finally launch. I made a hilarious video for it. I can't post it here, because it's too big. But you can see it on the Kickstarter page tomorrow morning. Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Spider-Man, narrated...

dumpster fire icon on a progress bar, which is doing loop-de-loops.

Hi Reader, Whew! What a time it's been since we last got together. Unconscionably, I swiped a stalk of Lady's Gloves from a neighbor's hellstrip and put them in a milk bottle on the table. They look magical, but it's still theft. If you've been following along, you may think the Raccoon Sky Pirates Kickstarter should have launched by now. Yesterday, even. But a Kickstarter is always more work than I remember, and let's be fair, I was pushing too hard in not enough time. So now the Dumpster...

Full-color Raccoon Sky Pirates box, 10 inches on a side and shrink-wrapped, with the same art as the original but in color, & the words Total Chaos Edition on it

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. I had some flowers on the table, but this raccoon ate them. I call him Reggie. Careful, he bites. If you started coming to game night because you backed the original Raccoon Sky Pirates Kickstarter, then this game night is especially for you. Because Raccoon Sky Pirates is coming back. The legendary box set, all black and white, that came in a little mailer box, will be available in the upcoming, imminent Kickstarter. It looked like this: But that's not...