[GenCon] EN World photos and stories - add your own!

[Psion]

I just showed JGBrowning's picture around the office and my co-workers agree that we look eerily alike.

Y'know, I met lots of people there that look eerily like people I know IRL.

Michael Morris looks (and sounds) like an engineer that used to work with me.
Dextra looks like an old friend of mine in Bremerton.
Crothian reminds me of a guy I went to college with.
TRS Dee looks like a government engineer I work with.
TB would be a dead ringer for a guy I went to high school with if he gained a few pounds.
And so on...

 

[Pielorinho]

Strangely, nobody I saw there looked much like me -- although Piratecat swore he knew my brother (Spider) from somewhere.

Buttercup is right about the onion rings: that restaurant served good food, but they served it in ridiculous sizes. Near as I can tell, they used jumbo onions, cut one belt-wide ring from each onion, and used the rest of the onion in another dish. I got a tower of these rings about a foot high. Silliness, I tell you!

Probably my favorite parts of the con (and I enjoyed it all) were hanging out with folks Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Y'all are pretty great people!

Daniel

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Also, rather than blowing up the munitions dump, we sent a rampaging elephant into the compound.

We used a camel for cover. And we blew up the munitions dump.

 

[Pielorinho]

We used a camel for cover. And we blew up the munitions dump.

I get to tell about my character a little now -- but just a little. I was playing the sour-faced French Sherlock Holmes in Piratecat's Spycraft game, who had special shoes (their bottoms vibrated when they contacted gunpowder residue or dried blood), a portable Cray computer with a satellite linkup, and special contact lenses that could give me readouts of anything from my computer.

My greatest disappointment in the game was that we didn't actually investigate any scenes of old carnage. I was prepared to walk into the room, look around, and say, "Zere has been great violence in zis place -- I can feel eet in my soul." When people looked at me funny, I'd scowl at them, lift up my foot, and point at it. "My sole, my sole! It buzzes! Zere iss blood on ze floor!"

'Tis a terrible thing to waste a pun. I did, fortunately, get to call my incredibly good computer (useful for taking over the navigation systems of enemy cars) a +4 Hackmaster, so not all was lost.

Daniel

 

[FungiMuncher]

Hey, I'm curious. Did anyone else try the rotating restaurant on the top floor of the Hyatt? I think it was called "The Eagle's Nest." They had a dress code, but kindly let us grab a table while we were in our gamer garb. Certainly, one of the best meals I've ever had: Cajun swordfish with a citrus tart for dessert.

 

[der_kluge]

I don't know many gamers that can afford to eat in revolving restaurants.


I had a great time, met lots of great folks. Let's see, met PirateCat, Eric, Morrus, Alsih2o, Crothian, ButterCup, Dextra, Hellhound, Cthulhu's Librarian, Napftor, Psion, Sniktch... Geez, I'm sure there are others, but I'm forgetting them now.

It would be an honor to have any of you guys (and gals!) in my regular group.

Need to d/l all my pictures from my camera. I only took a handful Wednesday afternoon (got some pics of the floor before it opened Thursday).

Sunday I ran around and got pictures of all the D20 booths I could find.

Had a great time. I managed to stave off impulse purchases, and only picked up two modules by Monkeygod (I got to be the person to buy the absolute very first copy of Hellstone Deep, so that was cool), and I picked up two things of really cool dice.

I also worked at the Bastion Booth, and got two free books for doing that. Their Critical Hits book is totally cool (I should know, I demo'd it for 4 hours!) - it's totally worth it for the Dung Golem, and the "Called shot on the groin" rules. Awesome work, Bastion Press!

My book (Artificer's Handbook) did quite well, so I was very pleased with its success (too bad I don't get royalties for that!), and I got some great swag from MEG (hey, being a freelancer does have its perks after all).

Lessons learned: If there is something, I should purchase it when I see it, and not dwell on it. Malhavoc ended up selling out of Requiem of a God, so I could not get that.
Also, Birkenstocks are ill-suited for GenCon - next year - Tennis shoes every day.
Next year - work my schedule around to accomodate even more gaming. Also, I intend to game with some ENWorld folks.

 

[EricNoah]

Buttercup is right about the onion rings: that restaurant served good food, but they served it in ridiculous sizes. Near as I can tell, they used jumbo onions, cut one belt-wide ring from each onion, and used the rest of the onion in another dish. I got a tower of these rings about a foot high. Silliness, I tell you!

The silliness continued after you left -- Jane used what was left to play some sort of a ring toss game after we moved into your booth!

 

[Negative Zero]

I think I may have caught this thing too. Were the symptoms achy body and very sore throat? (Nobody ever accused me of talking too much, so I knew something was up.) ...

yep, that's the one. since i was talking all day everyday, i assumed that was the cause. *sigh* oh well. at least now i can "talk" all day here without doing further damage i really hope you don't have this coz it sucks! i'm such a wreck now. but it sure was worth it.

Originally posted by francisca
Yep, who can forget War Golem's, ummm, "innovative" technique for fighting Dire Bears?

now that's the deffinition of memorable! not sure if we can post the details here tho ... unless you think Gra'ma will make an excpetion?

~NegZ

 

[Teflon Billy]

Hey all, just got in after about 20 hours in transit (God the flights were srrewed leaving Indy on Sunday).

I had a wicked time. Best Gen Con experience I've ever had (of four.

I will take the oppotuinity to give props to Piratecat, though in all honesty it will be little more than a restating of what others have already said: As a DM, the guy is the Real Deal.

I thought the ENnies ("The Ennis Awards" according to my badge), went off as just about as well as they could have. Most awards ceremonies are incrdeibly tiresome in my opinion, but the ENnies rolled along pretty well based on the sheer entertainment value of the Presenters, the Winners and the the crowd itself.

Privateer Press Guy has got to be given some recognition for being such a humble good sport about picking up "his" companies 312 seperate awards despite having virtually no hand in any of them

Following the awards I had some conversation with some folks who shall remain nameless, claiming that the ENnie awards voters were "Monte Cook's Bitches" and that he had won (well, won best publisher anyways) based on the fact that he had name recognition and was ex-WotC

The Smiley above comes from the fact that this very closely mirrors Momte's complaints concerning last year's ENnies results

To quote Kurt Vonnegut: "...and so it goes"

Anyway, the dealer's floor was really impressive this year, and I had many items I was planning to pick up on Sunday before I got on the plane, The Armageddon 2089 Setting Supplement, a nice dagger with a jewel (?) in the hilt, Negative Zero's initiative thingy, Arcana Unearthed, and Grave Robbers from Outer Space...then on Sunday I was told that I didn't have a credit card.

Not that my card was declined, not that I was over my limit, not that it had been reported stolen....I was told, by my institution, that I had never been issued a VISA card by them (despite having it in my hand).

So I came home with nothing but Giant Monster Rampage 2: World War (which is awesome).

At the Mongoose Booth I played an Armageddon 2089 demo with one of the designers (August Hahn?) and it was a ton of fun. Before I left for Gen Con, I was itching to run a game of Armageddon 2089, now I am veritably chomping at the bit to do so. This guy really understood how the product needed to be showcased and did so brilliantly.

To whoever recommended The Red Garter as the strip club in Indianapolis; I give you my thanks. I had a terrific time there with Twin Rose Chris, the gentlemen from Troll Lords and my new friend Aldo Ghiozzi (with whom I sat at the airport for close to six hours). Aldo produces Battle Cattle and Stuporheroes, if you were wondering. He is also some kind of distributor.

it was great touching base with so many of you...

• Alsih20 (who is apparently going to change his screen handle here to "Clay") is an awesome cat.
  
• I Finally met Quickbeam and we hit it off as well as I thought we would. It was a shame that fate conspired to keep us from playing Giant Monster Rampage together.
  
• Hound, Dextra and the Gelflings were my upstairs neighbours. They amazed me, managed to work all day, entertain to kids and still get out and party at night. You guys are a frickin' inspiration
  
• Joe Browning and Suzi Yee are terrific drinking companions (and it seems that Joe and I used to breath the same muggy Louisiana air). Their next project sounds (to my ears) like another blast out of the park.
  
  I won't say what it is, because I have no idea if there was an implied NDA when we were discussing it, but I will say this: Had you asked me last year what type pf product I thought D&D needed, I would've said something akin to Magical Medieval Society-Western Europe. If you asked me last month what prodcut I thought gaming in general needed; I would have described XRP's upcoming relase.
  
• It was nice to finally meet Sniktch, the only person I'm certain was reading my story hour religiously
  
• Pielorhino and Spider were smart guys. And by smart I mean clever, cunning, devious and quick. These are the guys I never get on my team in tournament play (and still don't...the Spycraft game wasn't a tournament). I assumed that Daniel's last name was Pielorhino--it's not. Apparently "Pielorhino" as a title has something to do with Pelor and being small. I was told to pronounce it as if it was written in Portugese. I am, if anyhting, more in the dark than ever.
  
• My roommates Crothian and Psion were both good guys. It was nice to finally get a chance to pick Psion's brain about a few games and our impromptu game of "Zombie Robot Fighter of the Island of Whatever" was really a blast
  
  Psion, you snore man
  

I'm going to log off for a bit and try and catch some sleep. I'll post more later as I think of it.

Thanks to everyone who made this such a blast.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Alsih20 (who is apparently going to change his screen handle here to "Clay")

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Don't do it, Clay!

Joe Browning and Suzi Yee are terrific drinking companions (and it seems that Joe and I used to breath the same muggy Louisiana air). Their next project sounds (to my ears) like another blast out of the park.

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

EXPress should be on every gamer's "publishers to watch" list.