Origins report

Late at night here at Origins, and I've got the internet in my hotel room.

I've never been to a Con, so I have no idea what to look for. So here's my scattershot...

Dealer room is really cool. All kinds of cool things to check out! Lots of game demos, just sit down and play. Only thing I played was a few moves of a circular chess board that was immensely cool. (must have been cool, overused that word...)

My wife is very popular on the Reaper minis boards, so we spent a bit of time at the Reaper booth to chat with her pals.

Only game I signed up for was Risk 2210 (I won, moving on to semi-finals Monday). I spent a lot of time in the tabletop/minis room. There are some really amazing terrain pieces! Highlights: Lighthouse at Alexandria, a WWII tank battle, and a shooter game set in a game convention. The last one had tiny terrain game booths, with lots of great touches. There was also a Giant Settlers of Catan set, with each hex about a foot wide, and fully modeled terrain for each hex. The guys playing said it was a bit cumbersome to play on, but it looked great.

I had some time to kill before my wife's game let out, so I wandered the halls. I saw lots of historical wargaming played, and my god! So many little cardboard chits! I saw tables that must have had 5000+ chits. I've played a few such games long ago, and I'm amazed I had the time and patience. I don't think I could do it again.

I saw some Cheap-ass game in the hallway, that involved people running around and throwing balls in garbage cans. It seemed pretty silly, but also lots of fun.

We ended the night crashing RPGs with the Reaper folks, checking out what minis people used. All the Reapers are great people. I met Sandra Garrity, and if you're listening Nobeard, she not only remembers you, but she went to the ENWorld thread where you talked about her fixing up your mini and printed the whole thread out, "because he said such nice things!" She's a real sweet lady.

That's all the rambling I've got, maybe more tomorrow! I'm going to play in Steve Jackson's pirate game, and see if I can rope him into playing a session of Melee with Bobby Jackson from Reaper.

PS

Thanks for the report Storm!

Now steal me a few of those Bobby Jackson minis

More disjointed Origins reports:

Let's see, I once again spent a lot of time with Reaper, as they're my wife's friends. I learned to paint rusty spots on weapons, and I must say I'm pretty pleased with my results. Couple other Reaper moments, we had Ron Hawkins arrested by the Klingon police for unspeakable crimes. We then taunted him mercilessly while he was incarcerated. One of the Reaper gents announced "I'm going to get a booth babe!" and then he went off and did it, much to everyone's surprise. This got me thinking...is there a Booth Babe Booth? Alas, I could not find such a booth.

I stopped in at the EN booth and met Hellhound, Crothian, and Dextra. We chatted a bit and talked about playing something at some point. Maybe we actually will! I need to get back in to talk to them again. Once the dealer room closes, people become much harder to find!

I played in Evil Stevie's Pirate Game. Steve Jackson runs a pirate game, with lego pirate ships blowing each other up. Lots of fun, with lots of neat lego ships and just about every lego pirate you've ever imagined.

Random observations: Everyone has been really nice, all over the Con. I haven't regretted talking to a single person so far, and we've talked to tons of random passersby. The convention center is enormous, much larger than necessary, so it doesn't feel crowded at all. There's been space everywhere to set up games if you feel like it, and both the hotels I've been in have set aside gaming space.

I have a few pictures, and I'll post a couple here.

PS

Evil Stevie's Pirate Game...

Terrain of CheapAss Games booth. This thing was great. There were a lot of really neat booths, but I didn't want to disturb the game they were playing.

The arrest of Reaper Ron.

The convict.

I'd like to thank my wife for the photography. Somehow, she neglected to take a picture of the booth babe.

Sorry!

PS

hmm. i dont suppose i could beg you to go get a copy of the dragonlance campaign setting for me, huh? =)

*grumbles about publishers who release things early without telling anyone..*

Hey, this is my first time at a con also. My wife and I are both here. Kind of late when we arrived, but wow, there were lots of people everywhere! (Internet in my hotel also!)

Maybe I'll have something interesting to report tomorrow---just thought I'd say "hey" and "wow"