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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1800931" data-attributes="member: 151">Con Report, part the second:Day Three, Saturday:  Again, the sleeping thing.  The hotel has a hot/cold buffet; make no mistake on this, friends, scrambled eggs with bacon and coffee...these are the things that make life worth living.  (Quiet, arteries, I'm talking to the nice people.)Anyhow, Saturday starts off with a slow roll into fun.  A big breakfast gets things rolling, but by the time we're on our way, it's too late for anything but pickup games.  Instead, it's off to the dealer's room, to look at many and sundry game things.  At this point, some clever fellow has bridged the miniatures and dealer's rooms through a portal at the back, providing quick acess for those crazy guys to bolster their armies, if need be.We begin purchasing games in earnest, of course.  Valanthe tries some demos for Jungle Speed and Wooly Bully.  The Good Fella running d20 Mafia at the 'Legitimate Businessmen's Club' is good for a few chuckles, too.  Today is the highest for attendance, I think, but it's still less than I expected.  There's plenty of people, but fewer than the previous year, I think.  I've got no hard numbers, though, so I could be completely wrong.Anywho, Valanthe and I decide to hook up with these folks for a couple of hours:<img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_larp.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Yes, I know.  LARPers. <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 game has a pretty complicated world setting, and they actually have us make characters.  Valanthe's disposition is towards wielding an Axe, so she naturally selects a fighting combat skill tree.  Myself, I go for magic (duh), and build up towards a fireball.  The system isn't bad, but leaves something to be desired in the organizational department.  Weapons are foam, spells are beanbags.  You've probably seen the 'lightning bolt!' movie?  It's like that.  They'd taken over a conference room and built a mini dungeon in it.  Say what you will, I thought it was nifty.Our adventure was to clear some ruins.  It was all going well, until the 14 year-old berserker.  See, there was this girl there who was relatively new to stuff, and she didn't really get the 'don't hit in the head or face' concept.  That's a problem when she comes out of a blind alley while we're fighting orcs, screaming and wielding two shortswords.  She covers her face and flails wildly, smacking me so hard in the face, she knocks my glasses six feet away, and knocks the lens out of one eye.  Ow.  It takes me a solid hour and a half to get the lens to go back in properly.  In the meantime, I play through the rest of the module squinting through one eye, negotiating with a lich, and nearly having the party turn on me. <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=";)" />Taking a break, we buy Dungeoneer at the dealer's room, along with Spooks.  We start to prepare to play Dungeoneer, and Valanthe makes us some playing pieces (after I express shock and horror, HORROR mind you, that Atlas wants me to cut up cards to play).  The game proves to complicated for our exhausted brains to absorb, and we play spooks again.  Valanthe's, however,  are grand and glorious things.<img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_stickfigs.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> After that, it's time for the ENWorld Gathering.Or, as I like to call it: "Hello, Michael Tree." <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" />See, Argent and dravot both got waylaid on the way to the con.  Argent was called into work on an emergency (some of his coworkers were fired in some sort of emergency, and they needed coverage), and dravot became deathly ill.  Some other folks didn't make it, unfortunately, so that left only myself, Valanthe, Aethramyr, Scorch and Michael Tree.<img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_enworld_gather.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Readers of last year's report might remember I was supposed to wear a loud shirt.  Truth be told, I forgot and wore said shirt the previous night (my 'covered in rotating skulls' shirt, in fact).  Instead, I wore my GAMER shirt.  Yes, it buttons at the top, like an old gas attendant (it's from thinkgeek.com).  Readers might also notice I have a different badge than everyone else.  We didn't notice at first, until we noted that my badge number was different from Val's, which was odd since we both registered at the same time.  Turns out that by running the gathering, I got a DM/Guest pass.  Who knew? <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=":)" /><a href="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_dru_gamer.jpg" target="_blank">http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_dru_gamer.jpg</a> Well, we may not have had a ton of people show up, but we still had fun.  First, Micheal Tree introduced us to the smackdown that is Lunch Money.  Aethramyr beat my head in with a pipe...but not after I choked Scorch into unconsciousness with a steel chain.  See those pennies there?  That's our lunch money, baby.  Next we played a few more hands of Spooks, and then a round of Apples to Apples.  But now it's 5PM.  We're hungry, and it's time for the official gathering.  Where do we go?  Why, to the <a href="http://www.elephantcastle.com/" target="_blank">Elephant and Castle pub</a>, for good heavy English food.  Both nights, Scorch and I battle over billiards.  Both nights, I lose, but on Saturday, I lead most of the way and screw up on the eight-ball.  But I still lose.<img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_elephant_castle.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Once there, Scorch contemplates dinner.  And World Domination.  But mostly dinner.<img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_ed_pub.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> After a big dinner, it's time to decide what to do.  Deciding that I'll try and run the Mutants & Masterminds game later, Aethramyr and I decide to got the Heroquest tournament Finals.  This means bagging on the second session of "Horror on Hag Hill", too, which is a hard choice.  But the grand prize for the tournament is a copy of the game itself (which is 15 years out of print).  We go for it.  Val joins as an alternate, while Scorch goes to play in the Apples-to-Apples tournament (which he wins, I might add).Now it's time for the grand finale.  The third group discovered that the Queen was actually the mysterious 'X', and hadn't been kidnapped, at all.  She retreated to her fortress with the captive king, and off we go to rescue them.  This one is so big, it uses TWO copies of the game.  See for yourself:<img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_dq07.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> The game runs for FOUR+ HOURS.  We run at lightning speed towards the end, so the DM can get to the Texas hold-'em $100 tournament at midnight.  I place third for the table, while Aethramyr takes first place!  We defeat the queen, save the king and have a ball!  Then it's time for more spooks, some other games, and then bed.  I avoid the Jenga tournament.  I mean...it's JENGA.  Scorch, Aethramyr and I pool our points and pick up Chronicle of Riddck: Escape from Butcher Bay for the Xbox.  Suh-weet.Day Four, Sunday:  Final day.  Today is a quiet one, and we take it slow.  Another killer breakfast, and then cruising the con.  More visits to the dealer's room, of course, and the requisite purchases.  We visit the minis room, and while it's not as big as last year, there are still plenty of impressive designs to see and emulate.  Here's a sampling of some.This picture doesn't show it, but there's a waterfall that runs the full length on the far side of the mountain.<img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_terrain01.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> This is your classic blaster urban battlefield.  It seems like the future in most of these games consists of burned-out factory husks. <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://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_terrain02.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Now, believe it or not, these are cardboard.  Very sturdy cardboard.  So much so that Aethramyr and I were sure they were some form of pressed board until the owner corrected us. Pretty awesome.  Check out the Hindu and Aztec palaces: <img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_terrain03.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> <img src="http://wizardru.net/img/se2004/se2004_terrain04.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />After that, it was back to the game room for some more pickup games, before saying goodbye and heading home.  We picked up the following games, by the end:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Werewolf</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spooks</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wooly Bully</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Jungle Speed</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">some Heroclix</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some Star Wars Minis</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lunch Money</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Apples to Apples</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Beer Money</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dungeoneer</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Kids of Catan</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pirates of the Spanish Main</li> </ul>and other stuff like dungeon props for Scorch, the MM III for me, some minis, and DICE.  You always buy dice.Overall, a fun time had by all.  Hope you enjoyed reading the report, and I hope to see more of you next year!</blockquote>

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