It’s General’s week, and of course it means a true army of nerds that are falling down on Indianapolis for a lot of running around for me, lots of game demos, and the largest gaming competition in the country. Many view this scam as one big market, a game store with super sizes, but it’s also about the community. One event tonight is all about the power of that community. It’s a power word resist. I sat with Glass City Competition organizer Eric Norris and Blank Body Podcast’s Sarah Lang to learn what happened to create this event.
I wanted to start with the idea for this event in Power Word when something like that came out for you.
Sarah Lang: Well, that started last year. That’s a good motivation. That’s a very good motivation.
Eric Norris: Yes, we’re the last minute charity show, the last gen con. We were teaming up with the Crit Awards, so it was a split in local music and the people at the Crit Awards ran a little D&D. We were the body that did it here.
How did you connect with Rainn and Gendernexus?
Eric: Gencon is here a great combination of local events for Indianapolis, and it is also a big draw for people both domestically and internationally, so we are trying to divide our charity between those that influence our communities and those that have national access to support our people. That way, all communities are being considered.
Gender Nexus was recommended by community members who personally know the director. And we got a recommendation there. Because we wanted to highlight national-based charities and not only to draw more attention, but also to highlight local charities.
Has the change in the political situation influenced your approach compared to last year? Do you think the response has changed?
Sarah: I am truly grateful that others are jumping on this, this notion of joyful resistance… can find peace and comfort, and protect people in a healthier way. I think nihilism is disgusting. I’m going to have a good time and party with friends and we’re going to do good things.
Do you think being in Indianapolis, especially in Indiana, is part of that?
Sarah: A significant portion of the state is used as a test site for many Republican think tanks. I hate that kind of thing. It’s frizzy. But the good news is that many of these people are stupid idiots. And Indianapolis as a city has a long history of political activity, like the 70s and 60s. There were a lot of Black Panther-like relationships in Chicago. We were the main hub of the Union Army, the main hub of the Underground Railroad. Many people who do a lot of really good work for the queer community do a lot of work for the immigrant community.
Eric: For ticket data, you can see where people purchased tickets, right? The metadata and the number of people who are local indie supporters show off this, but I think it’s at least about half of the audience. And the other half are people like me who come from outside either on the coastline or even from outside the country. We have people from the UK, but that’s crazy. It’s like serving this point of being a place where you can see them have a community.
One of the biggest things is being able to work with Ify Wadiway. That was my number one set dream. I want this very funny, proud guy to come and work with us, do a great show and equip it. We have at least two or three people like trans women who are helping this with people involved in gendered nexus and those who are advertising, right? Ify has made us crazy. Our main drag performer, the juicy garland, has been driving us crazy. A few weeks ago I confirmed that the enduring dul sisters were full of blessings.
Sarah: Ah, that means I have to be a little more cunty when I’m hosting, it’s a nightmare, but it’s okay. I’ll deal with that.
How was there a process to enter sponsors? You got a really good amount.
Sarah: Eric snatched me like a Pokemon and continued to throw it at various sponsors. So, when there is a moment while we were at the convention, Eric took me away with Bobati’s promise and let me talk to these people. And I’m right, it’s fine. So I’m going to be hi, we’re doing this charity thing. Do you want you?
Eric: This has returned to its early stages when I settled on the idea of a solid charity auction. We had boards of various companies that we wanted to be able to participate in. Because we knew that they had the great products we wanted to showcase because they supported these efforts in the past, names big enough to attract people, or allied with resistance and community ideas, or the intersectionality of queer-producing games, that we only wanted to introduce.. And among those names were Montecook, the liberated league game, Paizo. I’m trying to think of Modiphius. Asmodee was there. Like a bunch of these main names. Oddly, one of the names we didn’t have on that list.
Sarah: Modiphius was one company that surprised us that we had become such a passion. “Yeah, what do you need, girl?” We hook you up. They sent it straight away. They quickly reached out to them like they were. It’s like a marketing team like PR, yeah, let us take it on, what’s going on. We’re super down for this.
Powerword Resist will be held at the Indianapolis Repertoire Theatre on July 30, 2025, with tickets for sale now Ticket Spice.
Source: The Fandomentals – www.thefandomentals.com
