Highmoon's Ponderings

 Thursday started a bit later than usual (a pattern that would continue). Where last year I was in the Exhibit Hall during the Trade/Press/VIG hour before official opening, this year I got to the hall at around 10:30 am, after a good breakfast at the Embassy. My only planned thing for the day was my panel at 2 pm, so I simply went in to wander the hall and say hello to friends and industry acquaintances manning their booths.

Something was off, though. To be honest, after about an hour of walking around, I felt out of it, almost like I could have cared less I was at Gen Con. I didn’t know why; it was just this sense of blah-ness. Nothing called my attention, nothing seemed appealing, and the crowds just pissed the hell out of me. I ducked outside the hall when my wife called and after a fairly long time on the phone with her, I ran into the Fist Full of Comics and Games guys and chatted with them a bit.

That raised my spirits a bit, and after another quick scan of the hall, I went over to the Westin, where the podcasting event track was set. My panel was entitled “The Impact of Podcasting in the Gaming Industry,” which is really heavy stuff if you approach it correctly. I was saved, as my panelists–Chris Hanrahan, Don Dehm and Michael Stackpole (in that order below)–were all excellent sources of information with unique viewpoints on the subject at hand. 

I cannot thank these three gentlemen enough because they made the panel a wonderful experience full of really good advice and discussion. I look forward to releasing that to my TDF listeners. We went a little over an hour, and when all was done, I realized that I, indeed, had been nervous about this panel, quite surprisingly, but undeniably. With the panel done and the immediate feedback so positive, I felt better, and after saying hi to Dan Repperger and Chad Wattler of Fear the Boot, who were setting up for the next panel, I hit the Exhibit Hall. That’s when I felt it. That’s when I was finally able to start enjoying Gen Con.

Josh arrived that afternoon, and by about 4 pm or so we had met up at the hall where I had been talking to various industry people about some business stuff for Highmoon Media. Once with Josh, we hit the hall again and bought some books: Josh got Hunter: The Vigil, and I got Don’t Lose Your Mind, Thou Art But A Warriorand my pre-ordered copy of Beowulf. Once the hall closed, we went back to the Embassy suites so I could get ready for the night’s activities.

At 7:30 pm I joined the various publishers at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG for a nice dinner at Buca di Beppo, much like last year. I can’t eat there, but trust me when I say that it is very tempting. I had a Peroni beer and chatted by Mark Clover of Creative Mountain Games, Bob from Mongoose Publishing, and Vicky Potter (and a fellow minion whose name escapes me right now) from Tabletop Adventures. My only regret about the dinner is that I didn’t get to meet more of my fellow publishers. I know public introductions are corny, but something allowing us to realize who was who would have been nice. Something to think for next year. At 8 pm, though, I left because it was time for our Star Wars Primetime Adventures game. 

The Star Wars PTA Crew: Paul Tevis, Rich Rogers, Me, Judd Karlman & Mick Bradley.
Rich Rogers took the pic and joined us thanks to Photoshop.

We started this game last year, so we were all pumped for this year’s episode. The players–Judd Karlman (Sons of Kryos), Mick Bradley (TGTMB), Rich Rogers (Canon Puncture), Paul Tevis (Have Games, Will Travel) and I–had all been expecting this moment with baited breath, and the game did not disappoint in the least. Where the pilot episode last year had a good mixture of camp and seriousness, this year’s episodes (we ended up playing through two) were a lot darker, more than Star Wars has ever been, and it was magical. The story we crafted together was just powerful and emotional, and each of the characters experienced satisfying growth as they descended into a downward spiral. Frankly, if my Gen Con had ended after this game, it would have been completely worth it, and I cannot wait for next year for all of us to play again. The game was recorded and will show up soon enough in the Canon Puncture Actual Play feed, much like the pilot episode did.

Our game done, I met up with Josh and after cajoling Mick to join us, we went to the Claddagh for a pint and some non-gaming, friends-catching-up talk. We were eventually joined by Paul Tevis (who was so easily swayed to walk into this bar after he had left another and sworn he was going to sleep), though, alas, Last Call had been announced while we were sitting at the tables outside, so we missed the chance of a second round. Our beers done, we all called it a night and turned in, already making plans for the next morning.

My buddy Josh (Hoade, if you’ve been following the Gen Con pics and reports) came over today and we recorded our Gen Con Wrap-up episode for The Gamer Traveler/The Digital Front. It took us forever! We had phones ring, phones vibrate, people knocking at the door, twice… I mean, seriously. The one I thought could be a problem, my cat Pip, was actually none at all.

After recording (and saving) we played a game of Monsterpocalypse with the review material Privateer Press sent me last week (completely awesome of you guys, thanks). The game is a ton of fun. Giant monsters and mecha bashing each other senseless and throwing each other against buildings and hazards? FUN! If this game wasn’t collectible, this could be a humongous hit. As it is, I really think it has potential to be big.

After we picked up my wife at her work, we got a pizza and had that over six games of Zombie Fluxx, a favorite at this house and a fantastic and fun-filled game. Let it be known that my wife is the Zombie Queen; she just seems to win every single game of Zombie Fluxx we play. And when she doesn’t, it only takes a rematch for her to claim the title again.

Lots of fun games, pizza, my wife and my best friend. What more can one ask for?

A week coming, but I needed it to be able to fully digest all that happened. Buckle up, cause it’s gonna be a long one.

I arrived in Indy Wednesday, Aug. 13, by mid-afternoon and because I had to wait for David Moore (The Game Master Show) to add my name to the room’s record, I left the bags at the Embassy Suites and went out walking thinking I’d pick up my badge.

Along the way I ran into Ed Healy (Kobold Quarterly/Atomic Array) as he arrived at his hotel, and seeing he also had to wait for his roommate to arrive and square some things, we went to get our badges and check out Indy. Gen Con Trade Day was in full swing and almost done for the day, and while Ed got his Exhibitor badge, I picked up my Trade Day pass (I get one as a member of the Press) and Trade Day swag bag. We eventually started seeing more and more of the see-them-once-a-year friends, many of them podcasters, and Ed went off to do some work on the Exhibit Hall while I went with David, Mario Dongu and the rest of The Game Master Show crew to the Red Eye Cafe. Except the Red Eye was closed as they were now doing some weird new hours. So we dipped into the Claddagh Irish Pub for some drinks and food for the rest. There we were eventually met up by Mick Bradley (TGTMB), meaning that aside from Josh, who’d be arriving the next day, my roommates were all here. A round of Guinness was had in that honor.

At the Claddagh I also saw briefly Chris Hanrahan (2d6 Feet in a Random Direction/Endgame) who introduced me equally briefly to D&D 4e Lead Developer Mike Mearls. Chris and I confirmed our panel the next day and we all went to our respective food and drinks. After the pub we went back to the Embassy; given that Press badges would be given out on Thursday morning I had nothing else to do, so we went to the lobby of the Embassy, took over three tables, and played the scenario of Vegas After Midnight that Mick and David would be running four times during the con.

L to R: Mario Dongu, David Moore, Mick Bradley & Me. Photo by Clay Karwan.

The game went extremely well and we all had a lot of fun. We were joined by Rich Rogers, Chris Norwood and Chris Perrin (Canon Puncture) and proceeded to have about three hours of awesome, campy, Vegas fun. After that we went up to our room and just talked about VAM for a while, trying to figure out the kinks and how to fix them. By then it was time to sleep, so I took a shower and then managed to fall asleep (with the help of my iPod) in the midst of a veritable snoring war between two one-night visitors, Mark Kinney (All Games Considered) and Clay Karwan (The Rolemonkeys).

It was later than I had originally planned to go to bed, but what the heck. Gen Con hadn’t officially started and I had already gotten in some gaming! Totally worth it. And that was just Wednesday.

About a month ago I got a new Schwinn Legacy cruiser bike as part of a goal to do more incidental excercise and lower the use of the car.

My wife also got a new bike, an Electra Amsterdam Ladies Classic 3 with a Tulip motif. We picked it up from the store last Thursday, but between work and the rains (aftereffects of Tropical Storm Fay) she hadn’t had a chance to take it out for a ride.

Today we needed to go to Target (about 7 miles away) to buy some more bike-related stuff, so we decided to take the trek on our bikes. It was a very nice experience. The sun was hot and there was some humidity in the air (normal for Florida summers) but we took it easy and leisurely, enjoying the ride itself, getting to see parts of Miami Beach we had never seen in the 5 years we’ve lived here. We also had to get used to our bikes, and that will take a bit longer, though we were both pleasantly surprised to find we are not in such bad shape as we feared we were.

See the highlighted route we took on this Sunday Afternoon Bike Ride.
We actually followed the very same route to the store and back, netting us a total of just about 14.5 miles on this trip.

The entire excursion took some four hours, between getting there, spending some time at the store and returning. At the store we picked up a new bike lock for my wife’s bike, a back rack for my bike, as well as some clothes for excercising and a new pair of Converse hi-tops for me (yes!).

As enjoyable as it was, we discovered (or confirmed, as these were not unknown to us) a few things about Miami’s general unfriendliness towards bikers. Miami Beach has got to be one the best places for biking, given how small the island is and how many backstreets there are in order to avoid the very trafficked main arteries. Even so, to say that sidewalks are friendly to walkers, let alone to bikers, would be a gross lie; and that’s when there are sidewalks, which is not everywhere. Most of the time you have to share the road with cars (because of course there are no bike lanes) and Miami drivers seem to regard a rider in a bikecycle as someone under the effects of an invisibility spell: they just don’t see you; at most, they notice you when they are about one foot away from you. And that goes for most pedestrians as well. We even have bells on our bikes to signal we’re coming through. Most people just stared at us dumbly, very much with a deer-caught-in-headlights look.

These are just things we’ll have to get used to as we bike more and more around here. The act of going out riding, however, is worth the hassle, and save for a few steep bridges here and there, the fact that Miami is as flat as a pancake makes biking a very easy activity. I’ll keep posting as we do more and more with our bikes, hopefully turning them from recreational vehicles to part-time modes of transportation.

The international terrorist organization known as SEPULCHRE has its target set on disrupting the gubernatorial elections in The City. Can you stop twin agents Tom and Godiva from eliminating the candidates and thus throwing The City into turmoil?

Heroic Moments is the aschan series of single action scenes for four-color superhero games. This series is designed to be dropped seamlessly into any existing superhero campaign. No prep: just a set-up, some bystanders and a villain for your heroes to clobber.

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Josh & Me at the Gen Con Exhibit Hall

I’ve posted my Gen Con pics to Flickr (with some additions thanks to Josh Hoade, David Miller and David Moore) and you can take a look here:

Flickr Set: Gen Con 2008

One universal fact of this year’s con: no one took nearly enough pictures during the con. We all had cameras, mind you; we just didn’t use them. Personally, I wanted to get pics with my friends and that’s the mission I went on. I’m sure you can find tons of pics of the hall and events around (hint: do a Flickr tag search for GenCon08 or GenCon2008). 

I’m going to continue to hunt for other pics that were taken of me by others, so check back later to see if new photos have been added. Enjoy.