Hi all, if you came to read Brent’s usual Renaissance Gamer column, sorry. He’s been ill so I’m taking the opportunity to yap at you instead. So, introductions for anyone new: Dave here. I’m the Owner, Lead Reviewer, and Head Rat here in The Rat Hole. (Just to clarify for the new folx, TheRatHole.ca is the company “The Rat Hole” is the virtual/”physical” location that my little rat pack all inhabit.)
I too am just coming off a nasty bout of the Common Con Crud (just a cold, not covid) after spending a week of 12-18 hour days at events where I only masked whenever interacting with other people that were, out of respect for them. This was clearly a mistake but is not the point of this column, but it’s why I didn’t write this sooner.
Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the GAMA Expo in Reno, NV. This is one of the premier industry tradeshows in the tabletop business. It’s an opportunity for the different segments of our industry to connect and network, focussing largely on retailer/publisher relations. It is also where a number of awards are given out or announced, and in a world where America is often the focal point, Western Canada stepped the eff up this year.
The first awards announced were the 2023 Power Retailer Awards. Of the four awards, Rain City Games out of Vancouver, BC picked up the award for Overall Store Design and Edmonton, Alberta’s Red Claw Gaming garnered Business of the Year (Retail). I’m a bit surprised I haven’t been to Red Claw before, but I’ll have to make a specific trip next time I’m in the city.
One store in Edmonton that I have visited, is Pe Metawe Games. This Indigenous owned and operated game store was a recipient of a Horizon Fellowship Grant. Translated from Cree their name means “Come and Play” and the name feels incredibly relevant here. I’ve always said that I don’t have competitors in this industry, I only have colleagues. That tabletop gaming is more than a bunch of businesses, it’s an ecosystem. To that point, in a thank you post, owner David Plamondon thanks the previously aforementioned Rain City Games and Red Claw Gaming, who is ostensibly their direct competitor in Edmonton. It’s always inspiring to see that sort of comradery and is one of the best parts of the GAMA community.
I spent much of the day on Tuesday working in the new on-site Media Studio. I was able to stream an episode of the Legend of the Traveling TARDIS and record with Earth Station Who. I’m already making plans to better utilize the space and my time next year.
I actually had to leave Reno early, skipping the final day there and the first day of the Calgary Comics & Entertainment Expo, which was the reason I had to leave. I got done most of what I NEEDED to get done, but far from everything I wanted to get done as a result.
But out of everything, Monday evening was the highlight of the event for me: the announcement of the Origins Awards finalists. The actual awards will be announced in June at the Origins Game Fair, in Columbus, Ohio. There are fewer Canadian publishing houses, full stop, so there were fewer Canadian finalists this year. But there is still a chance I’ve missed someone here, simply because I didn’t realize they are Canucks. So my apologies to them in advance if I have.
In the RPG Core category, Coyote & Crow gets a nod. While the publisher is not technically Canadian, there are a number of Canadians involved and it should be acknowledged that a number of Indigenous territories cross colonial borders. (It’s a beautiful book and we will have a review on it, hopefully soon, by the way.)
But the most exciting finalist announcement, and I suppose you could call it “burying the lead” here, is that my very own reviews of the Doctors & Daleks Player Guide and Doctor Who The Roleplaying Game Second Edition Core Rulebook were BOTH named as finalists in the Best Review category. I’m honestly still trying to process this information, while also trying to figure out how to handle all the other things happening that weekend. (The most relevant here is Free RPG Day happening on that Saturday.)
I’ll save the whole consolation speech thank yous for June, but I do want to say thank you to Brent, whose column I’ve coopted here and who has been with me on this journey since the start, as well as my entire family of contributors at TheRatHole.ca. You have all collectively lifted me up or dragged me forward as required.
I’m now past my (technically self-imposed) deadline to get this column posted. So I’ll close this with a shoutout to Brant Guillory of Armchair Dragoons, who did a far better job covering the GAMA Expo than I possibly could.
Brent will hopefully be back next week. We’ve got some great reviews coming in the meantime, but hopefully, I’ll see some of you in Columbus next month.