Time for a con report! As I anticipated, I had a great time, and I think a lot of other people did too. This was our third year in the Westin, and just when we were starting to figure out where everything was, the hotel decided to do a renovation of the front lobby. That placed the registration area in the former library, so we had to switch some rooms around, but overall, we're definitely becoming more comfortable with this place. Another change for us this year is that our Facebook group is much more alive with photos and comments. It was used for updates, as a lost and found, and even to report parking lot flash sales! I contributed to the chatter frequently.
One other interesting addition was the sound of medieval music in the background with a live ensemble. Most people loved it as long as it didn't interfere with their gaming.
The medieval music ensemble.
Cory brought some killer good BBQ for the staff on Wednesday night. Yum!!
My flight went well, and I arrived about noon. I saw on the Facebook group that Mizzle was hosting a lunch in memory of Mike Carey at Denny's so me and one of Mike's good friends named Jim joined her for lunch and good conversation. I didn't know Mike, but apparently he was quite the collector. I understand Badmike will be handing the liquidation of his collection in the weeks and months to come. The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting with old friends and catching up on life.
Chilling in the Bluefire Grille
Fun with friends!
The three amigos.
Parking lot flash sale! Some people saw things they'd never seen before! And then they bought them!
We hoped to unload the truck in the afternoon, but the time kept getting pushed back until around 6:00
PM. We sorta had everything up but not fully operational by 7:00
PM, when most games started. Most people had to register the next morning. I played in Jimm Johnson's
The Contemptible Cube of Quazar, an OD&D game. We had a good group and a good time, but it took us a while to make progress. It seemed like we explored as much territory in the last thirty minutes as we had during the first three hours. We didn't really accomplish our goal of saving the world, but the week was off to a good start.
Wednesday night's crew.
Thursday afternoon I was going to play in Luke Gygax's game, but had to settle for an AD&D adventure called,
Somebody Stepped in Something which was
DM'ed by Chris Clark. I had never been in any of his games, but I had a blast! He has a very creative sense of humor, and this was not a serious adventure at all. I'll join more games with him in the future. There were some puzzles, some unique monsters and lots of jokes. We accomplished our mission and made it to the big boss himself defeating evil and restoring the American way. That evening I played in a 5e adventure with Steve Winter called,
Cave of Iron. Stratochamp and both his kids were in this game, and it was fun watching him parent his two kids. They're both bright and independent. It's good to see the next generation learning these games we all love. Anyway, our party did not really figure out this mystery until the end. We were completely fooled about who the evil mastermind was, and he/it got away.
Chris Clark doing his thing.
Cave of Iron crew.
Friday afternoon I played in Steve Winter's Gamma World game,
Rad Men. I was a short humanoid but with a few helpful mental abilities. We had two characters who were seven METERS tall! We had to figure out what was going on in a strange but prosperous town. We had some detective work to do, and it took a little while to figure out what we were doing and where we were going, but eventually the pieces all came together and we defeated the evil leader, although it wasn't due to my dice rolls, which were pretty bad overall. It was a fun crew I was playing with. Friday night I played in Steve Winter's Boot Hill game called,
What's Mine is Mine. One of the players had brought some highly detailed terrain items and painted minis which definitely enhanced our playing experience. This game was also another mystery that unfolded slowly, but when we learned the true intentions of the suspect troublemaker, we gunned him and his gunhands down, although it wasn't easy. The funniest thing in that game was when two players decided to have their characters blow up a storage shed, and they rolled incredibly well, totally demolishing everything and even killing a guard standing fifty feet away!
Steve is letting us have it!
Someone brought some great props for the table and painted minis for each of us which really enhanced our Boot Hill experience.
On Saturday, I played in Steve Winter's (notice a pattern here?) 5e game,
Lake of Dust. We had a good party, and we were able to figure out the mystery of the problem and retrieve an item of great power for our employer. We rolled good enough, although I went to zero hit points at least once, but was revived and restored each time. Both of Stratochamp's kids played in this game, and they were highly engaged, especially Billy. He
really likes gaming. That evening I played in what was supposed to be an AD&D game but wasn't. The
DM was play testing a new gaming system which was nothing like anything I had played before. It was role-playing, but definitely bait and switch from the advertised
1e AD&D. The "game" lasted only two hours, and at the end of that time the
DM asked us for feedback, which we provided. At the end of the game, he gave each participant some pretty nice swag, an adventure, a mini poster and about forty dollars worth of dice. I still don't like bait and switch tactics and would have preferred to have played D&D.....but I kept the swag.
Lake of Dust crew.
The Bone Cenote, a Mayan
rpg play-testing experience.
On Sunday, I played in a 5e game with Sketrewhisp called
Gambler's Haven. As usual, he
DM's with no notes and just a few pieces of blank paper and some dice. Incredible. Our party was not able to solve the mystery with which we were presented, but had some fun moments. A few players were given private notes during the game and they kept doing odd things that threw us off from time to time. That afternoon we packed up the truck and actually ate supper about an hour and a half earlier than last year. Later we learned we left a dry erase board, but that wasn't a huge problem.
Gambler's Haven 5e game.
Sketrewhisp with Jeff Easley, Darlene, Larry Elmore and Diesel.
One of the goodfeel moments of the con came when I learned of a gaming group who were already assembled at their table for a game when they learned their
DM had skipped town without the courtesy of a heads up. I asked them to wait at the table for one minute while I scrambled around to see if I could fix the problem. Fortunately, I was able to find a guy named Glen who volunteered and their gaming experience was salvaged. Glen pulled out Rahasia, and I found out later they had a great time. I love happy endings!
I am already looking forward to next year! And the best part about it is that my son Joshua will be able to join me on staff. He's a gamer and
DM's a crew where he lives. I can't wait to introduce him to all of you!
Truth is worth finding and life is too short to work for money.
