Originally Posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!

Last week Saturday was CritCon. Let's give this thing the rundown!

CritCon is a new con started by the Critical Glitch podcast(http://criticalglitch.com/ ). Critical Glitch is a Shadowrun Podcast, and honestly, it's a pretty good one. The podcast loves Shadowrun. But, the guys on the podcast do say when things are not up to snuff, so it's a quality analysis of what Catalyst is up to. CritCon started out as a pure Shadowrun convention, but over time new game groups moved in and at the con was a fair bit of Pathfinder and even a two full tables of World of Darkness.

Location: CritCon was at the Northwest Masonic Temple in Columbus Ohio. The location was great. I had a four hour drive from Jackson, MI, but the con's room was big enough for the crowd without being overlarge. Based on this year, the con is sure to grow, and it might need a bigger location next year.

Time: CritCon was a one day thing. It started~9AM and went till 7PM. We had to be out the door at seven. I wish we had more time, because I had a lot of fun and didn't get to do all thing things I wanted. The slots were well planned out as we got a good game slot then had a lunch break and finished with a second game slot. Sadly this was the same day as "Extra Life" but the con ended early. I'd play/run 25 hours of SR if given the chance. Kind of a missed opportunity.

Atmosphere: This thing was incredibly laid back. At any given time, four or five MVP's from the Catalyst demo team were sitting around and talking. I always enjoy meeting with my betters, and it was good to learn from the best and to just shoot the breeze. In addition, there was a bunch of different pick-up games going on. It's always good to see random gaming going on at a con. To me, unscheduled gaming means new friendships.

Games: Since Critical Glitch is a Shadowrun Podcast and the two hosts are very important members of the Catalyst demo team, Shadowrun was the main commodity. However, it was great to see some Pathfinder and World of Darkness going on during the con. There was even a games library with two demo copies of Shadowrun: Crossfire. I wished I had a chance to play, but there just wasn't time!

Admission: FREE* *=five+ non-perishable food items for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. With each can you gave away, you got tickets that you could use for bonus dice for your dice pool. AND the creators of the Podcast and the con HANDMADE dice bags! I wastched one guy walk in with a full box of Top Ramen, get a crap ton of free dice for the game and a free dicebag. This is the best con deal I've seen in a while.

Final Thoughts: I had a blast. I ran my first con game of Shadowrun, and as per usual, the runners did some completely crazy stuff that was nowhere near the standard, planed format. I also got to meet some major players in the Shadowrun world. Catalyst put some money into this, and when I see major companies putting money into a small con, it makes me want to give them more money (like I don't already....). I met some great players and saw some new ways to play Shadowrun. I wish the con was longer. I wanted to play some more games and get a chance to try Crossfire, but oh well. As the con hit 50 people, I'm looking forward to the con, just not the four hours in the car, next year.

Great report, if only we could hear about this before the event, not that I could have made it.

Thank you very much for the feedback! I know the guys at Critical Glitch appreciate the positive comments.

One minor point of correction I need to make to ensure proper credit is given. Critical Glitch organized and funded CritCon themselves. CGL did provide convention support through our Catalyst Demo Team.

Hats off to those two guys for taking on such a task to support those in need.