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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1109098" data-attributes="member: 151">Now, Con Suite's are something that I normally associate with Science Fiction conventions, as I haven't really seen them elsewhere.  This one was sponsored by a group called <a href="http://www.dexposure.com/index.html" target="_blank">Double Exposure</a>, makers of an RPG called <a href="http://www.dexposure.com/rules00.html" target="_blank">the Avatar System</a>.  I can, say without hyperbole, that this was one of the best-stocked Con Suites that I ever been to.  Large lasagna tins on the main table, filled with every manner of bad-for-you-but-oh-so-yummy snacks, like the required Cheesy Poofs, M&Ms (regular and peanut), Reese's Pieces, Swedish Fish, pretzels, corn and potato chips and much, much more.  Drinks were provided, as well.  Friday night was Red Dwarf Night, featuring select episodes of the show on a great projection system with powerful sound, and fresh batches of Chicken Vindaloo!  Saturday was Weird Al Night, with lots of music, videos and a screening of UHF.  Oh, and those weird twinkies with hot dogs in them and cheez wiz on top. Ugh. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" />  During off times, they played various videos like The Animatrix and Evangelion. Here we see WizarDru contemplating his Con Strategy and the peanut M&Ms, though you can't see them.  They're not for you, they're for Meeeeeeeee!<img src="http://www.wizardru.net/img/shorecon/Shorecon-consuite.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />  Where to for dinner, you ask?  Off to the pub attached to the hotel, which I was pleased to discover was an Elephant & Castle (a chain of pseudo-English pubs...this one was much less 'pubby' than the one in center city Philadelphia).  Regardless, the food was pretty good.  We'd had lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant in the city Joe's Peking Duck (home of the House Special Pan-Fried Noodle Platter, YUM!), so we got an appetizer sampler and resumed our journey. We had some debate about what to do next.  By this point, it was getting on towards evening, and we debated what to do next.  Valanthe had wanted to see the con guest-of-honor himself, and so we set off for his 8PM seminar.  Only to find him alone in a room by himself?!?  No one showed up for his discussion panel, so said guest, none other than James Ernest, founder and head-honcho of <a href="http://www.cheapass.com/" target="_blank">Cheapss Games</a>was glad to have a panel with us and the two other folks who wandered in.  James was extremely funny and very forthcoming about details of upcoming games, his new brand (Presto! games,  which are aimed at the Educational market) and the many foibles of WotC's R&D division.  Did you know there was a Looney Tunes CCG?  Neither did I.  And according to what I heard that night, you should be glad of the fact. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Here's James with Valanthe and Scorch and....some other guy. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="http://www.wizardru.net/img/shorecon/Shorecon-cheapass1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> James rocked the house...but we'll come back to how much he rocked the house later.  That fellow with the beard was one of the folks who showed up to the panel.  He was a nice guy, but I never did catch his name.  But more important was the second fellow. He was none other than Rob Placer of Gamer's Realm, otherwise known as Shorecon Badge #1.  More important for our purposes, he's the guy who owns and runs the con.<img src="http://www.wizardru.net/img/shorecon/Shorecon-Rplacer1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Rob was a swell guy, and after James' panel, we talked for a good fifteen minutes about the con's history and it's future.  For example, we learned that the reason for the con's late date was because the Hilton had doubled their rates this year for returning customers...and thereby lost Shorecon as one.  This left Shorecon with the unenviable task of securing a new date, as the previous one was fully booked...hence the early date this year.  But since this was the same weekend as Dragoncon in Atlanta, many of the usual dealers for costuming and weaponry (among others) had gone there instead, leaving them short a few dealers.  The Dealer's room was as small as it was because the hotel organizer, a gamer himself, had made sure to give extra room to the gaming areas (which were, admitedly, quite large)....and perhaps had been a tad overzealous in his resizing. Rob came through as a clear visionary of sorts.  He recognized what I did...that the East Coast has a huge, underserviced gamer population.  Shorecon used to be much bigger, and Rob hopes to return it to where it was around 2000.  I hope so, too.  Rob recognizes that a really well run East Coast gaming convention could potentially attract a huge audience, similar to Gencon.  He runs a local store, and clearly knows and understands the market.  Rob also clearly understands how to run a convention as a business.  It was his idea to move the con registration to an exclusively online format, a move which saved the convention $10,000 in printing costs alone. My biggest complaint about the con probably would be the con booklet that you see Rob holding, there.  It was very skimpy, and the events list was organized backwards for non-RPGA events.  A minor inconvienence, but it rankled me.  Another complaint, and again a minor one, is that there was no hotel map in the booklet, and none of the rooms were labelled in any way.  Was this the open room?  The RPG room?  The CCG room?  It was hard to tell.  Only a couple of rooms had schedules posted. The RPGA room was alive and well and kicking, as we saw whenever we passed it by.  They appeared MUCH better organized than the last time I saw them, with plenty of character sheets and computers for game registration.  Sam, April and Argent all attended several games, and indicated they all had a good time doing so.  Good for the RPGA.  Here was the mustering area just prior to a "Legacy of the Green Regent" event during the "Weekend in Keoland". <img src="http://www.wizardru.net/img/shorecon/Shorecon-gaming2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Saturday was a fun affair, with the gamers arriving in larger numbers.  It was pretty busy, of course, with games every direction you looked.  Val, Scorch and I hit the board game room with Dwarven Dig, and sat down to have a great time playing it.  Here's a quick look:<img src="http://www.wizardru.net/img/shorecon/Shorecon-dwarven.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Despite numerous setbacks, I actually won this game.  I love the fact that the gameboard is part random, part malicious intent of your rivals.  It was simple and fun.  The figs are all metal with some heavy enamel paints.  I'll have to contact Kenzer, though...see the rubberband around that figure?  We got a duplicate and were missing one of the minis for green.  Play continued apace. After a quick nap for me, we split up and hit different locations.  The RPGA was in full swing, as some of our ENWorlders can attest.  But there were plenty of non D&D games as well, and plenty of pickup games, as you can see here:<img src="http://www.wizardru.net/img/shorecon/Shorecon-gaming1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> That's what it's all about, baby. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Up Next:  THE GATHERING!</blockquote>

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