Thursday
The lot of us flew out of LAX early in the morning. I tried to sleep, but was too excited. We arrived a little early, tooka taxi to the hotel, and discovered their computers had crashed. We had our reservations, had our rooms, but we had to wait an hour to check in. The first symptom of a larger problem for the first Indy Gen-Con. We ate at a beer/burger bar and I had my first Scotch Egg, thanks to advice from Wonder Donna. We hit the floor, I met up with the guys from The Forge, Chaosium, Atlas, and everybody else. It was fun catching up with the folks I only get to see once a year. I also played 2 demos at the Cheapass Games booth. Later that night, we got our room, Donna got a copy of Guillotine and we played the hell out of that game. My goal to play 30 games over the course of the weekend was off and running. Three down, 27 to go.
Friday
I was up early, but not early enough to catch a free t-shirt from WW. No big. I know the big announcement. It seemed everybody did, and was eager to spill the beans early. I commenced to wander the room, looking for a demo anywhere I could find it. I got to play a ton of games — seems everybody had a demo. Before I knew it, my list was up to 15. I got to play Universalis — which KICKS MAJOR ASS. If you don’t have a copy of it, you’d better get one RIGHT THE HELL NOW. Got a copy of Jared’s octaNe — which KICKS MAJOR ASS. Ditto everything I said above. I got a copy of Monte’s Cook Book. It’s the unlicensed version of roleplaying in The Land (remember that Thomas Covenant guy?). Even got Bloodguard and Giants. It’s got racial levels which are kind of cool, but then I remember that I HATE levels, and put the book down for someone else to read and pick up the stuff I got at The Forge.
Had lunch with John Kovalic. He rules. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
Friday night, I ran an RPG for Jared, Ron Edwards, Thrym, and the rest of The Forge guys. What was it? Fifty-two players? (More like 10, John.) Nah. Must have been two hundred and fifty. It was fun. Wonder Donna got her first REAL taste of roleplaying. She said she had fun, looked like she had fun, so my mission is done. Got back into the room about 3:00. Slept until 10:00.
Saturday
White Wolf’s big announcement. Ending the World of Darkness so they can re-launch it as a d20 product. Woop. I’m up to 36 games. I’m done with the main floor, and haven’t even hit open gaming yet. Don’t need to. Met up with Tom Denmark. Atlas has purchased Dungeoneer and they’re re-printing the game. Good for Tom. He deserves a little success in this industry he loves so much. And his art has gotten even better. Like it’s supposed to. 🙂 Donna remarks on how many people recognize me. Yes, I am The World Famous. It’s a blessing and a curse.
As it turns out, Indiana wasn’t ready for us. The restaurants are running out of food and the ATMs are out of money. Half the vendors don’t take credit cards. People are waiting four hours to get into the place. Sales dip dangerously low. I don’t know if they picked up or not, but the vendors were pissed.
That night, we head off to the White Wolf party. It is ASS. They’ve got the place divided into an upstairs foyer and the downstairs floor. Only the cool kids get to go upstairs. More high school bullshit. Oh well. People who were cool in high school, got out, became nobodys, so now they obsess about the ’80s and pretend they’re still the cool kids. Then, they show a video announcing the whole End of the World thing. It’s lame. No, wait. IT’S FUCKING LAME. All the downstairs people were laughing. Watching white bread suburb kids talk about how they push the envelope and “street culture.” Whatever. It was lame, we went dancing.
We met up with the guys from Apophis Consortium. They were fun. They weren’t pretenetious, and we partied. And danced. And danced. And danced. I met a pretty little thing and we danced. And danced. And danced. It reminded me of my first Gen-Con… the circumstances so similar. Every time I get cynical, nihilistic, and depressed, life reminds me that there are forces moving I don’t always perceive… unless I open my fucking eyes and LOOK. Harry reminding me, “All my life’s a circle…” Went to Steak and Shake and saw and heard about the LARP. Lots of good news for Chandler. Got in at 5 in the morning. Got up at 10:00.
Sunday
Okay, I lied. I got up at noon. Stumbled through the con half-awake and very happy. My legs hurt. A lot. Still do. Didn’t play any games. The room closed at 4:00. Said goodbye to everybody. Made some plans for Gen-Con So. Cal, otherwise known as Gen-Con John and Donna’s Birthday at Matt’s House. I’m broke again. Had no swag. Mark Arsenalt gave me a little village book that I read on the plane. Very nice.
The plane trip home was packed and late. I got parked next to a little girl in the fourth grade and her slightly older brother. The little boy was great. I wore my Warcraft shirt and he asked me about it. I told him I worked there for a while and we talked about games all the way home. Smart kid.
The little girl — looked like Jenny did in those old pictures. She looked exactly like Jenny did when she was in the fourth grade. And she was smart. Even witty. She read over my shoulder while I read my books and asked me questions. Smart questions. We talked, and she told me she liked reading faerie tales and stories about monsters.
I left the plane, went home, and crashed. My legs hurt, but I didn’t care. And that was that.
Thanks to the guys and gals at The Forge, John Kovalic, Tom Denmark, , Wonder Donna, Keith and Anthony, Lee (who loaned me $60), Josh, and especially Jared.
We’re Wicked Dead, man.
