From the Press Release
ATLANTA – August 4, 2015 – Gamer and actress Felicia Day, voice actor Mark Meer, top video game designers Jonathan LeCraft and Ian Frazier, and a Murderer’s Row of table top game designers will be part of the fun at Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, sci-fi and gaming convention.
“While the cosplay and our celebrity guests get a lot of attention, Dragon Con is actually one of the largest gaming conventions in the nation. Our panel discussions and presentations are as good as you will see anywhere,” convention co-chair Dave Cody said. “Our overall games programming features voice actors, game designers and other guests from the worlds of table top and video gaming, as well as the opportunity to play tabletop and LAN gaming in casual and tournament formats.”
Video game pioneer and American astronaut Richard “Lord British” Garriott, who created the Ultima and Tabla Rasa games, will be on hand to talk about his latest project, Shroud of the Avatar, which is expected to be released this year. The TCGplayer.com returns this year with an exhaustive schedule of HeroClix competitive play including the Realms Open Championship and 2015 ROC World Cup Super Qualifier Event. And the National Security Decision Making Game (NSDMG) led by Mark McDonagh, a retired Navy Captain and co-designer of the game, returns to Dragon Con 2015.
More than 65,000 people are expected to attend Dragon Con 2015, filling downtown Atlanta over the four-day Labor Day weekend, September 4 to September 7, with events and activities across AmericasMart Building #2 and five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree and Sheraton Atlanta.
Mark Meer is the voice of Commander Shepard in BioWare’s acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy. Actress Felicia Day became an internet sensation after launching her web series The Guild, loosely based on her life as a gamer and continues to appear in gaming-related Internet media.
Designers from the top game studios including Blizzard (World of Warcraft), Bioware (Mass Effect, Star Wars: The Old Republic), Cloud Imperium (Star Citizens), HiRez Studios (Smite) will be on hand, as well as designers from Artix Entertainment and several other independent developers and studios.
“We are very excited to welcome Jonathan LeCraft, sr. designer from World of Warcraft and Ian Frazier, lead designer for Mass Effect: Andromeda, to Dragon Con 2015,” said Kevin Stallard, director of the Video Gaming track.
“We also have the talent behind the three bestselling table top games on the market, including Monte Cook (Dungeons & Dragons), Rob Schwalb, (Dungeons & Dragons), Jason Buhlman (Pathfinder), Kenneth Hite (GURPS), and Erik Mona (Dungeons & Dragons),” Cody said. “Add to this Jay Little, who designed both the hit miniatures game X-Wing as well as the leading table top RPG Edge of the Empire, and we have a dynamite line-up of table top game designers this year.”
The National Security Decision Making Game presents players with a range of real world issues that they must decide how to solve, with each play assuming the role of a different political leader or deliberative body. The game will be offered seven times, five using current global geopolitical issues and two relying on historical scenarios. In addition to the game scenarios, each lasting 4 to 6 hours, McDonagh and his team will offer more than a dozen lectures on various geopolitical subjects, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the evolution of submarine warfare or apocalyptic scenarios.
About Dragon Con
Dragon Con is the internationally known pop culture convention held each Labor Day in Atlanta. Organized for fans, Dragon Con features more than about 3,000 hours of comics, film, television, costuming, art, music and gaming over four days. For more information, please visit www.dragoncon.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.