As the creeps come out for Gen Con, Monte Cook Games offers up their booth as a safe space

Monte Cook Games will be at Gen Con, that huge RPG and tabletop games convention running from August 4th to 7th. They’ll be at the Exhibit Hall and Booth 2519.

Booth 2519 is near the side entrance, by the big Warhammer/Games Workshop stall and not far from the even bigger Renegade Games Studios stand.

Supporting a tweet from LaTia Jacquise of Monte Cook Games, who offered their booth and games as safe spaces, Sean K Reynolds extended to the whole company. If you need an oasis, find Monte Cook Games, their staff, games or booth 2519.

If you’re also operating a booth at Gen Con and would like to be added to this post, get in touch.

Please, don’t do it for the publicity or without serious consideration. Offering your booth or game as a safe space is to say you will help share the burden of someone’s trouble. You won’t know what that trouble is in advance, but it could derail your entire convention, and business plans could be impacted.

Monte Cook Games’ LaTia and Sean know this and have been very generous.

But there’s a catch, of sorts.

LaTia’s initial offer was made in response to a tweet from Katie of Bardice Inspiration, who received a creepy tweet.

That thread has now been taken down as Katie is convinced the whole thing is a set-up. That’s to say troublemaker(s) set out to harm someone’s reputation by pretending to be them and harassing people.

Hats off to Katie for handling an intensely personal, slimy and awkward situation with abundant diligence and courage.

That trolling and this sort of manipulation happens in and around Gen Con does not diminish the need for safe spaces and support, and it’s a reminder of why it’s essential. Sadly, all significant events can attract unwelcome attention from unwelcome people.

Gen Con and organisers know this too and battle against it. There’s a legal case against Gen Con and founder Peter Adkison who banned a disgraced game designer after allegations were made against him. The convention said they had put the ban in place and said why, which has resulted in this legal tussle.