Not Enough "News From GenCon"

[paradox42]

Anything on the Gygax memoriam?

There was a two-page spread in the Gen Con program book about Gary, and the various tributes in store this year. Brown Jenkin already mentioned the minute of silence on Saturday (which I, personally, missed), but there was also the mention by Peter Adkinson in his opening day speech on Thursday, right before bringing up Dave Arneson to say a few words before the Rolling of the Dice. Also, there was the giant (5-foot) purple-blue d20 set up in the main entrance to the Exhibit Hall, which had a hole in the "8" so that passers-by could chuck in dice or memorial notes, which was auctioned off during the charity auction (which donated proceeds to Fisher House, Gary's favorite charity).

 

[Festivus]

Whats this? Please go into more detail if you have it.

Yeah, I blinked for a moment thinking "Hey, the new Joss Whedon series is Dollhouse.", but then I read the remainder of Family's list and cursed him/her under my breath.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

It's just a joke, as is the rest of the list, but I'd like it if they were giving away +2 items as swag

Well, if you were playing HackMaster and came to the Knights of the Dinner Table Live Reading, you could have won some +1 bonuses and other items off the prize chart...

[cough cough] And speaking of the Live Reading...

Sometime after 9 pm, during the event, a GenCon staffer or volunteer (a big bearded guy with a nametag that said "Ivan") came into the Live Reading as it was underway, and asked our staff for their badges (he started with Jolly Blackburn, then moved to Dave Kenzer and others). When he found our staff didn't have their badges, he said that everyone without a badge would have to leave (this would competely shut down the event, leaving 200-300 people staring at an empty stage).

When he was ignored, he began taking notes on a pad, and even checking members of the audience to see if they had their badges. The audience, naturally, did not take kindly to Ivan, and he was 'boo'ed'. One fan even gave his badge to David Kenzer and left the event. Finally, Ivan simply stood in the aisle taking notes and glaring at everyone.

The event started roughly 20+ minutes late because the technicians stripped out all the microphones after the previous event (costume contest, I think) and had to come set them up again. So the event ran about 10 minutes over, and when it was packing up, some other guy hops up on stage and says something about Order of the Stick! From what I've heard, he was either saying that Order of the Stick rocked harder than Knights of the Dinner Table, or that he thought we were the Order of the Stick guys and that our fans should go out into the hall instead of lingering inside the room to get autographs.

Of course, I missed all of this, since I left the event early to grab some food, but that's a pretty accurate picture I've painted based on the stories of those who were there.

Part of what makes the whole thing so funny is that the most recent issues of KODT feature the characters at 'GaryCon', and some encounters with a fat guy in a stormtrooper outfit (the 'door nazi') who won't let anyone into the dealer room without a badge. So it was like a joke coming to life in a really extreme way.

 

[Morrus]

Well, if you were playing HackMaster and came to the Knights of the Dinner Table Live Reading, you could have won some +1 bonuses and other items off the prize chart...

[cough cough] And speaking of the Live Reading...

Sometime after 9 pm, during the event, a GenCon staffer or volunteer (a big bearded guy with a nametag that said "Ivan") came into the Live Reading as it was underway, and asked our staff for their badges (he started with Jolly Blackburn, then moved to Dave Kenzer and others). When he found our staff didn't have their badges, he said that everyone without a badge would have to leave (this would competely shut down the event, leaving 200-300 people staring at an empty stage).

When he was ignored, he began taking notes on a pad, and even checking members of the audience to see if they had their badges. The audience, naturally, did not take kindly to Ivan, and he was 'boo'ed'. One fan even gave his badge to David Kenzer and left the event. Finally, Ivan simply stood in the aisle taking notes and glaring at everyone.

That's insane.

You should've just said to him "Hey, why don't you go find Peter Adkison and tell him you're trying to throw David Kenzer out?"

I recall a story last year of some overzealous Gen Con employee trying to interefere with a pick-up game between some EN Worlders/CMers in one of the hotels. A short, two-word phrase was used somewhat vehemently, as I recall. He left in a hurry.

Give people a little bit of power...

 

[Brown Jenkin]

That's insane.

You should've just said to him "Hey, why don't you go find Peter Adkison and tell him you're trying to throw David Kenzer out?"

I recall a story last year of some overzealous Gen Con employee trying to interefere with a pick-up game between some EN Worlders/CMers in one of the hotels. A short, two-word phrase was used somewhat vehemently, as I recall. He left in a hurry.

Give people a little bit of power...

The badge guy came around our events as well a couple of times. The first time was during the Diplomacy Tournament and took names because we let one of the top ranked players in the world play without a badge because he was delayed getting to the con and just barely made the event. After competing in the tournament round he went and picked up his badge at will call. The more amusing one was the second time the badge guy came around during our Car Wars event. It is a large table of minis with wheels so many of the players had put their badges in their pockets so as to not bump the minis when leaning over. The badge guy proceeded to ask everyone where their badge was only to have them pull it out of their pocket. That one I just sat back and smiled inside as he kept getting foiled.