July should have been a busy month for the Moose Jaw Gamers Association (MJGA), with the annual Summer Gamer’s Expo taking up the group’s entire attention and filling the Cultural Centre with enthusiastic gamers from all over the province.
But the much-anticipated event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, leaving the MJGA with an empty calendar and a challenge to come up with some inventive ways to stay connected while apart.
The local group of gamers has risen to the challenge, taking events strictly online earlier this spring and moving ahead with some new, upcoming projects hopefully in the near future.
The group’s Discord server has seen lots of traffic lately, with tons of members using the channels to stay up to date and host virtual gaming sessions together — including resuming regular Dungeons and Dragons sessions online, which have taken a break over the summer months.
MJGA also announced its first donation to this year’s charity, Creative Kids Saskatchewan, in May with a unique video delivery to abide by the then-ongoing pandemic restrictions.
The group also recently purchased and donated a Nintendo Wii gaming system to the Moose Jaw Transition House, to help kids in the program feel more comfortable.
The biggest question on the MJGA’s minds currently, however, is what’s next?
Projects currently under construction
The next confirmed project in the works from the group is something a little different for the MJGA: a Dungeons and Dragons web series in the style of the popular series Critical Role, featuring an ongoing campaign played by local Moose Jaw players and dungeon mastered by Kurt Hebron.
The first video in the new series is expected to release on the MJGA’s YouTube page in the very near future, with more episodes to follow.
Also in the works is a return to the MJGA’s ongoing Adventure League D&D sessions at the Moose Jaw Public Library, provided that more Dungeon Masters express interest in helping facilitate the games.
Before the pandemic, Adventure League was running twice a month with more interested players than the MJGA could handle — sometimes up to 40 people an evening.
As many D&D veterans can attest, the MJGA is facing the common issue of a shortage of volunteer DMs for the popular game events, but both the public library and the MJGA are hoping the series won’t end here.
To maybe help alleviate the drought, the MJGA is looking to get things back on a roll beginning with a Dungeon Master recruitment month to kick things off this fall. Over a course of a few weeks, the MJGA is considering hosting a series of D&D games exclusively for budding dungeon masters, to show them the ropes of hosting a role-playing game session.
From there, the hope is that there will be some new DMs feeling confident enough to take the reins at some upcoming D&D nights, or even host their own sessions privately with their friends.
“It's a victim of its own success, unfortunately, but there’s a clear need for [D&D in Moose Jaw],” said MJGA member Janice Lamb.
The MJGA is also working on organizing an RPG adventure writing workshop in partnership with the Festival of Words sometime in the future. Details have yet to be ironed out, but a workshop facilitated by Saskatchewan author Jillian Bell on how to write original content for RPG adventures could be coming to Moose Jaw someday soon.
Patch notes: What’s going on with Winter GAX?
Normally, the MJGA board of executives would be elbow-deep in the planning stages for the Winter Gamer’s Expo coming up in February, but the uncertainty of the pandemic has the group conflicted.
During an August meeting, MJGA organizers discussed what the Winter GAX would look like in a COVID-19 world and whether the event will even be possible this year.
Although the Cultural Centre would be available as a venue, the huge gaming expo would be limited in space, as the number of players allowed in a room would be capped at 30 and moving between rooms could pose a problem. The number of volunteers needed to run the event would also likely increase by a lot, thanks to crowd control and cleaning measures, and it's unlikely the event would be able to run like normal.
“Honestly, I don't think we’re going to be able to do a full Winter GAX again, at least not in February," said MJGA member Jess Hallsworth.
But that doesn’t mean GAX isn’t happening, as the MJGA is still talking about alternatives for the fundraiser.
Ideas that hit the table included specifying registration for in-person activities and limiting movement between rooms, or even taking the popular gaming event online with streamed RPG sessions, workshops and even panels.
If all else falls through, the MJGA executive also talked about postponing the big event in favour of a series of smaller events until GAX can make its triumphant return.
With the popularity of the online D&D sessions, smaller events could include other streamed RPG games, a virtual version of the previous Sunday Funday board game events, or a series of Mega Games on Zoom — where RPG story meets United Nations style problem-solving.
The jury currently remains out on a concrete plan for Winter GAX’s future, but the MJGA is hesitant to cancel the event entirely, as it serves to connect the gaming community like no other.
“GAX has been around for 12 years [and] we would like to keep that momentum that we still have, for when we do get back and have that giant party because it would be the first gaming convention that's an in-person convention in maybe two or three years,” said Hallsworth. “And we really could do something huge with that, once the feeling of safety is there.”
Creative Kids Saskatchewan is still the chosen charity for 2020-21, and the MJGA is hoping to be able to offer them some support despite the wrench COVID-19 has thrown into the works.
"If people still want to donate, they can go to our website and donate directly to us, it doesn't have to be through the gaming event,” said MJGA spokesperson Kristian Sjoberg. “We are still planning on supporting Creative Kids, so whenever we do get back up and running, they are the charity we’re partnered with and any donations that come in as general donations are still going directly to them.”
To keep up with the Moose Jaw Gamers Association, follow their Facebook page or check out their website for more info on how to donate to their 2020-21 charity-of-choice, Creative Kids Saskatchewan.
