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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Col_Pladoh" data-source="post: 2530184" data-attributes="member: 796">The Canadian National Expo—Great Fun!Salutations!We, that is my wife Gail, son Alex, and I, set off for Toronto at 4 AM morning on Thursday 25 August to catch the ferry across Lake Michigan—Milwaukee to Muskegon—departing at 6:30. It was a great, if pricy crossing of about two-hour length. The big catamaran ferry boat was hitting about 40 knots most of the way whilst we ate breakfast in the passenger lounge, went onto the rear deck to look around (and me to have a smoke<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />As we got lost in Toronto due to some bad map directions from Google, it was about 8 PM when we got into the Renaissance Hotel…quite exhausted. A quick couple of Scotch and water along with some food revived us sufficiently to get unpacked and catch some shut eye.After learning that there was a half-hour wait for breakfast, we skipped it, had coffee and rolls near the con sight at the Convention Centre North and entered the building at the “early hour” of 11 AM during set-up. Finding no one around the Troll Lord Games booth in the exhibit hall, we came beck down to the main floor where hordes of comic book, anime, comic book, horror, and SF fans—many in costume—were already filling the place even though the festivities didn’t begin officially un 4 PM. There must have been 20,000 people there. So we bailed and just hung out at the hotel until I was called to duty on Saturday.I slept late again, so I didn’t make the con until around 11 AM. There must have been 40,000 or more attendees in the hall, for it was difficult to move in the place. I got to the Trolls’ booth and was immediately busy autographing and chatting, having my photo taken with many fellow gamers in the process. After giving a seminar with Ed Greenwood and Robin Laws, I ran an LA game dungeon crawl for nine players. It was a good adventure, but all too soon it was time to quit. I gave away two complete sets of core rules as a sort of consolation for playing for only a bit more than two hours. Aurelien Merville, the head of Alchemic Dream Inc., and his Chief Operating Officer Philippe Nadeau, had dropped by the TLG booth during the afternoon, so we were to have dinner together, and I had to head out to meet them. For those not familiar with Alchemic Dream, they are the providers for the excellent MMP online game, Dark & Light…for which I am a creative consultant. We had a drink in our suite, then headed downstairs to the hotel restaurant, it being quite good for—maybe a half-star<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> The big plus is that you can look out of big picture windows there to see the Blue Jays play ball as if you were in a high bleachers seat.Sunday at the Expo was every bit as crowded, the whole of the facilities being packed with eager fans of one or more of the featured attractions for the show. After being swamped by autographing and photo opportunities at the Trolls’ booth, giving an earlier seminar again with Ed Greenwood and Robin Laws, it was time for me to run an OAD&D game for nine players. I managed a modified version of The Abduction of Good King Despot—more like the original module that was done for a MDG con back in the late 70s. Three hours was again far too short a time, but the group had a good deal of fun while it lasted. So at around 6:30, after signing a last round of autographs and having a few more pics snapped, it was back to the hotel for carry out Jamaican food and some interesting French Canadian beer a kindly fellow RPGer, Joel Paquin, sent to us via the Alchemic Dream team. At around 8:30 Monday morning we left for home. The traffic in Toronto was light, and as the same was true of Chicago at 4 PM, we made it back home to Lake Geneva about 6:30, unloaded the gear, and relaxed after the long weekend. In all we were exhausted but well pleased with the whole experience.Conclusion:The guest list of the Expo was impressive and included Elijah Wood (Frodo), Clive Barker, and artist Dan Horne—whom I regrettably missed meeting as I find his work most appealing.There is no question that the event was well run. All of the staff and volunteers were polite and busy doing their assigned tasks. There were lines to register, but they moved quickly, so despite the huge throng everything seemed to move along very well.The large exhibition area was filled with attendees shopping, and I believe sales at the Troll Lord Games booth were quite high, especially considering that the gamers attending the expo were the smallest contingent.This year was the initial introduction of Gaming to the Canadian National Expo. The organizers did a fine job of it. I don’t know for sure, but I’d estimate that there were 1,000 or more gamers, mostly RPG fans, in attendance. They seemed to have a great time, so when the Expo rolls around in 2006, there will likely be at least twice that number. I know the organizers are planning a greatly enlarged gaming area.Despite the traffic in Toronto, and it is horrible during rush hour, the city is beautiful, clean, and friendly. The downtown area around the Blue Jays’ Stadium, the place where the con was held, is jumping! All sorts of restaurants and bistros, the area thronged with young people having fun. All gamers take note: The anime and SF features of the event draw huge numbers of cute young girls, many in costume! So by all means plan to attend next years Expo if you can possibly make it.Ciao,Gary</blockquote>

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