Blogging for my friends

I've gone back and forth with this blog thing. I'm not going to put myself out there and become a public blog, mainly because I want to protect a little bit of my privacy. I've always had a personal website but I just wanted to share things with my circle of family and friends. I tinkered with iWeb but it never felt right. Blogger seems to be very easy but also a bit limiting at times. WordPress is nice but it feels too open and sometimes overwhelming to operate. So I'm going back and forth between them.

I'm also influenced by my computer platform. The fact is my macBook has been assimilated by my wife. My oldest daughter has an even nicer macBook. So I am forced to use the PC from work. Not that I'm complaining! I have learned how to move back and forth between a Mac and a PC pretty well now. And I just got a new HP tablet that works quite well. It is also really small so I don't mind dragging it around. It's just that I'm forced into the PC world, which always seems both overwhelming and unfriendly.

In the end, I really just want to share with the people I know and love, not strangers on the Internet. So bear with me as I try to reach out to my friends...and learn how to use these damn programs!

For example, I wrote this blog post just so I could see how easy it is to add pictures to a single post using Blogger. Enjoy this picture taken by my daughter at the Botanic Gardens:

GenCon2010 Journal

“There and Back Again: A Gamer’s Tale”

Arrival and Purchases

I have been attending gaming conventions since 1991 and each one has been unique and special. This year’s GenCon continued that streak. Once again, we loaded the van up and headed south to Indianapolis. Cox and Hayes met at my place and were on our way at 8 a.m. We ended up at the Convention Center just after noon on Thursday (We lost an hour due to Indy being on eastern time). The first thing we noticed was the expansion of the center is almost complete. In fact, it will open in December and I look forward to seeing if GenCon will take over the entire space, which could be very cool. Will Call pick up of badges went smoothly and the only disappointment was the absolutely LAME swag bag. Other than the coupon book and D&D comics preview, there was really nothing in the bag. Origins had much better freebies.

We hit the floor and I once again was blown away by the sheer size of this convention. Origins doesn’t even compare. There are 24 aisles numbered 100, 200, 300, etc. By the time we left at 5 pm we had not even walked half the floor. It was also packed, even on Thursday. This would be true all four days. I haven’t seen the final numbers but I’m sure it was near 30,000 attendees. I knew that Thursday was a day to grab items that would sell out by Saturday so I insisted we walk across the hall to the Wizards of the Coast booth. I had read that WotC had brought enough of the new limited edition Icons miniature of Orcus for 25 people per day. They were handing out raffle tickets until 2 pm and then would pull 25 numbers. Those folks would then have the opportunity to buy Orcus for $60.

When we got to the booth, we had our second big disappointment of the convention. The Wizards booth sucked. First, it was small. Half of it was dedicated to Magic. The other half was taken up by waiting lines. One led to a chance to roll a big d20 and win some kind of small prizes. The other led to a small counter to buy things. It was also the line you had to stand in to get a raffle ticket for Orcus – and it was packed! I wasn’t going to waste my time standing in a line. Also, they had a display case built into the counter but the only way to see anything was to wait in line. Dumb!

A while later, we stumbled into a 3rd party vendor from St. Louis that was selling tons of miniatures at pretty good prices. To my surprise, they had 2 Orcus’ for sale for $60. I thought, why should I wait in line? I’ll buy it here.” Then one of the owners says, “Hey! We have a $5 off coupon in the Coupon Book in your swag bag!” So I ended up buying the 2nd to last Orcus at their booth for only $55!!! It was the bargain of the Con because I saw Orcus for sale at other booths for as much as $85!

My other big purchase that day was at Alea Tools. We use these magnetic condition markers and have grown to love them. I picked up more white and some new pink markers, as well as a few large size markers. I also added a ton of conversion units to add to plastic minis. They had a new addition: sticker labels for the markers with “bloodied”, “marked”, and other conditions. They even have one with numbers 1-10 to designate creatures. Love it! A few packs of cheap Clix later, and I was done.

Since I made my big purchases on day one, I really didn’t buy much the rest of the Con. I picked up a few things for the girls. I also added some D&D mini singles on Sunday. As my final purchase, I ended my two year ban on myself by visiting the Reaper Miniatures booth. They have started to create “knock off” minis of D&D races such as tieflings, warforged, and…dragonborn!!! So I just had to buy one. I also replenished my dried out paints and made a vow: I will paint all my metal minis and terrain pieces by GenCon next year.Overall, the vendor floor was once again overwhelming and gigantic. I was surprised by how many clothing vendors were there and steampunk clothing was everywhere (although I still don’t know what game these people are playing!). Larry Elmore was there and being honored all weekend. Weis and Hickman had booths next to each other. And there were plenty of costumed babes. Some were even good-looking.

GamingIn terms of gaming, this was my best convention ever. I played D&D in the hotel three nights in a row, did two Dungeon Delves in the RPGA room, and played for over two hours on the car ride back on Sunday. Yes, I actually DMd in a moving vehicle travelling between two states.

On Thursday, Hayes and Cox sat down for the next episode in “Seekers of the Ashen Crown”, part of our our on-going Eberron campaign. We also managed a first: Drew “Skyped” in and joined us. Apart from one technical mishap, it actually worked! Of course, the party almost died but I gave them a chance to redeem themselves, which they did. On Friday night, Drew was there in person and Bessey and Tomaso showed up to join us. Do you know what a TPK is? It stands for Total Party Kill and we almost had one. In fact, I had my first actually character deaths in several years as Hayes' monk Akado was killed and Tomaso’s warlock, Mina, got her head sliced off. Yuck. The group dragged their fallen comrades out, Tomaso changed the character’s name to Mona, and they returned, barely winning. Saturday night was more of the same: near deaths, another TPK scare, but eventual victory. But combat took so long that we didn’t get through as far as I had hoped. But all was redeemed on Sunday. Since we were stuck in the car on the drive back and the next part of the adventure was mostly role-playing, I sat in the back of the van and DMd for Hayes, Cox, and Drew. It was awesome!! We got SO MUCH done in the module. We even ran one combat encounter against some wights and zombies! It also made the trip fly by. Right as we pulled into my driveway, we finished the section and are now ready for the third part! I’ve never done that before!

The other new gaming experience occurred Saturday and Sunday. We played through two Dungeon Delves. These are sponsored by WotC and run by the RPGA. It is held in the Sagamore Ball room, which is a giant space holding several different events, including the D&D tournament where you play as a team and see how long your team can survive. There were demos of D&D using the NEW Red Box and demos of the now shipping Castle Ravenloft board game. They were also doing Dark Sun coliseum battles. Now a Dungeon Delve costs $4 in generic coupons and you just walk up to the area and wait for a table of 6 to be ready. You sit down with an RPGA DM, grab a pre-generated character, and roll for initiative. The DM starts a timer and you start playing through two encounters. At the end of 60 minutes, your Delve is over. If you survive the first room, you get 2 points. If you survive the second, you get 2 points. The DM can also award an extra point for surviving or doing something cool. He stamps a card and you can redeem the card for two kinds of prizes. The first are “virtual” prizes that can be used in any other Delves during the Convention. The more expensive ones include shirts, bags, and condition cards.

Saturday morning, we rolled out of bed WAY too early and were at the Convention by 8 am. Since the vendor floor didn’t open until 10 am, all six of us – Dohrer, Hayes, Cox, Tomaso, Bessey, and Drew – walked in and were promptly seated at a table. Of course, we had NO IDEA you needed generic tickets so after a short delay, we played. We actually survived the first encounter and were into the second when time ran out. It was awesome! I loved playing with all six of us. It felt like we should have “Team Bessey” shirts or bowling shirts or, YES, hockey jerseys!! On Sunday, the four of us played with a couple and experienced the “toughest delve” of the convention resulting in a TOTAL PARTY KILL!!!! I mean we got smacked BAD! But we still got some points and since we were in the final delve of the convention, they gave us all kinds of prizes. Hayes and I each got a pack of condition cards that will start showing up at the gaming table back home. And each of us chose one free “virtual” prize that I am allowing them to give to their Eberron characters.

Other Stuff

I did attend two seminars, one on running a long-term campaign and the other on upcoming products from WotC. Both were good and instead of talking about them here, I’m going to link to several sites that summarize the announcements. You can even listen to a podcast of the product announcements from the Wizards site or through iTunes. In the middle of the seminar, you can even hear me make a snarky comment to Bill Slaviciek from WotC!!! I’m famous!
Links to new release info:

http://www.neuroglyphgames.com/reporting-in-from-gencon-2010-part-3

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4pod/gencondnd

http://critical-hits.com/2010/08/07/gen-con-2010-dd-new-products-seminar/

The upshot of all the announcements is this: Dungeons & Dragons is in good hands and is not going to be screwed up. All the controversy about the “Essentials” line is really just Wizards trying to introduce new players to the game we love and ensure that it will be around for generations to come. There are several products we are all going to be buying soon, including the Rules Compendium, new dungeon tiles, and some of the Board games based on D&D. Gamma World is back and looks great. Their special miniature for the year will be a set of beholders. And they are releasing a Ravenloft game setting. They were not able to talk specifics about DDI or the miniature line, but they did indicate that Atari is coming out with a D&D based console video game soon.

Hayes and I accosted an RPGA leader and complained about the poor communications we have had with the RPGA over the years. As a result, I was able to score a limited copy of the 4e version of Village of Hommlet, which will make an appearance at a gaming table near you very soon!It was great to see WizKids back. The new clix look great. They are prepping TWO Star Trek based games that have possibilities. And Pirates is not gone but they don’t have any plans to announce just now. Paizo won all kinds of Ennies and Pathfinder makes me want to play 3.5 again…kind of.

Indianapolis keeps getting better. There are more restaurants. They are building more hotels near the Convention Center, which will double in size as of this December. And did I mention that GenCon starts on August 4th, 2011? What do you say? Shall we play a game?

The LOST Airbender

I never saw "Highlander" in the movie theater. Instead, I watched this masterpiece of swordplay and Sean Connery on VHS (or maybe even Betamax!) and consequently was able to watch it over and over again. I would marvel at the transitions between scenes, the great historical flashbacks, and the Queen soundtrack. I knew every scene and could quote the dialogue. It was perfect.

Then I saw Highlander 2.

Gerry Evenwel and I sat in the movie theater, geeked out that we were about to see the sequel to our favorite movie on the big screen. They had even gotten Sean Connery back for the movie. This was going to be great, right? Wrong. Within the first five minutes, the subtitle suddenly told us that we were now on the planet Zeist (Zeist? Really?) and that the entire mythology behind the story was that the Immortals were...aliens??!! It just went downhill from there. People actually got up and left the movie theater. I didn't. I kept hoping that something would redeem the film. Not even two New Trier grads, Virginia Madsen and Rusty Schwimmer, couldn't save this dog. The writer, director, producer, movie company had ruined it. All I could do was mope out of the movie theater and head back home to watch the original and cleanse my pallet.

Well, it happened again with M. Night Shymalan's version of "The Last Airbender" and I was there to witness the train wreck first hand.

If you haven't watched every episode of this three season Nickelodeon animated series, then do yourself a favor and pick up the Complete Series of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" on DVD. This is a classic. There is a beginning, middle, and end. There is character development. There is complexity to character motivations but also some great humor that is at times goofy and other times sophisticated. The animation is excellent and the mythology is engaging. I've thought many times about making a character class based on a bender or even the Avatar itself. Because it is on cable, I've ended up watching the entire series at least three times now. Catherine and I have bonded over the series and both love it. Awesome.

So on Thursday after Catherine returned from camp, we bolted to the Glen to see the movie together. Now I'll admit that even Catherine had doubts about the live action version. The previews looked good but she was worried that it looked "too serious." I was worried that they were trying to pack too much into one movie. The series is divided into three "books" with each book making up an entire season. This movie was going to be one season. How would they handle character development? And the fanboys were all worried because this was directed by M. Night Shamalamadingdong. Nobody has liked this guy since "The Sixth Sense".

Turns out we were all correct. It was all our fears...and worse. The dialogue was wooden and for a moment I wondered if George Lucas had gotten ahold of the script. The acting was pretty awful. Clearly, this was edited down for time and it jumped over huge gaps of time. Midway through the movie, Catherine shifted in her chair and put her head on the armrest. She was bored and so was I. By the end of the move, the only thing we thought was cool about the movie was the ending credits due to some interested special effects. This is an expensive movie that looks great (in 2D) but is devoid of anything that made the animated series great.

Oh! We did NOT see it in 3D because Catherine doesn't like wearing the glasses and, quite frankly, I'm still unconvinced that 3D is desirable. From what I've read since, I made the right choice. I guess the 3D version of the film is even worse that the 2D because it is dark and washed out. So if you are going to go see this, avoid the 3D version.

But do yourself a favor and avoid it completely. Instead, go an purchase the new first season boxed set that was just released last week. I guess it has additional footage and is cheaper than the boxed set that came out three years ago. Then buy the next two box set releases so you can keep this classic on your shelf to watch again and again. And forget about this live action version, please.

Origins Update - Saturday

Another full day at Origins and it will be our last day since we need to get back to Chicago early Sunday. I missed some chances to play in some different games but was able to still squeeze in some fun nonetheless. First, I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of the Exhibition Hall so I did a quick run snapping pictures along the way. It gave me a chance to learn more about Settlers of Catan from Mayfair Games. I looked for some HeroClix and books for Bessey but didn't find what he was looking for. (Sorry Brian!). I looked at this great game from Atlas Games called "Ren Faire" which is a cool card game with transparent cards. I also talked to the creator of a card supplement to D&D that creates random encounters and adventures. Interesting but a bit on the rough side. I also talked with our friends at Dwarven Forge and scoped out some of their products I might need later in the summer. GenCon perhaps? Finally, I made my way back to Catalyst Games and my "Purchase of the Con".

My best purchase of the convention is NOT a role playing game! It is "Dogfight" from Bucephalus Games. This came out last year but didn't really get much coverage until this year. It is what I am dubbing a "gateway drug for Aerodrome 2.0". It is a four piece wooden board with hexagons. When in the box, these boards hold the game pieces between them, locked in place by wooden dowels and magnets. Put them together and you have the gameboard and backdrop for six tiny metal WWII airplanes and stands. The rules are simple: it's kind of like checkers and if you shoot down six planes, you win. It is simple and beautiful but most of all, it was cheap! I got it for HALF OFF because I'm an educator. Woo hoo! Next time you are at my place, ask me about it and we'll play a quick game.

(Pat just called to tell me about a new Rush documentary. Cool.)

As for my day in gaming, I tried to get into a Dungeon Delve in the RPGA hall but no one else was available. I could have played in a four hour long pick up game but decided I'd rather watch the US lose in the World Cup. Dang. In the end, I decided to jump into that great Pirates game being played on the diorama with the volcano. It turned into a two hour game! We each got a closed pack of Spanish Main and started at one end of the board in a neutral zone. Our goal was to acrue as many points from treasure as possible in two hours. At the far end of the board was an island with Aztec gold. If we docked at this island we could get another pack and bring on those ships back at the docks. It was also a Sargasso Sea design so we could sail off the board in a couple of places and randomly pop out the other side. He included a few special event coins to shake things up. And then there was the volcano! When the initiative got back to the GM, he randomly rolled to see if they volcano erupted. If it did, ships within the blast zone would lose masts and possibly be destroyed. It also changed the prevailing winds, which really impacted game play. As soon as my two ships got to their first islands, my large ship picked up a cursed token that made me an enemy of the crown, which meant the person who sank me got 10 points. Everyone went after me! Then right as this guy had made my ship derelict and just before my turn, the GM rolled and the volcano exploded, destroying my ship so he couldn't get the 10 points. Brilliant!! Well, my little two mast ship plugged along, made it to the Aztec island, allowed me to bring on two more ships, and on the very last turn, one of those ships found a 10 point gold piece. So I ended up in a solid second place! I also got to keep the ships. It was a lot of fun on a great, great game board.

After dinner, I went to the Origins Award ceremony. I had voted earlier in the day so I was curious to see who won. HeroClix Hammer of Thor won top Miniatures Figure line and a game called "Poo" won best Card Game. I didn't know all the games but it was great to see GAMA handing out these awards to game designers. It reminded me a lot of the days of ROTU. It was a good way to end the day and the convention.

Origins 2010 Friday Report!

Before I give the report, let me comment on this whole blog/photo gallery thing. So since I have some time on my hands, I decided to use my laptop and Google to update my friends and family about my trip and to start writing some more. It has certainly taught me much about Google, Picasa, Blogger, and my iPhone. I don't quite have the hang of it so let me know if you get this.

In the meantime, I THINK I am posting a daily blog and using Picasa's sync function to keep the slideshow on this page updated with new photos from the convention. I am also putting caption with each picture.

On with today's report!

Today was a quiet one for me. Basically, I'm exhausted from work so I used this opportunity to sleep uninterrupted for seven hours and take it easy. Since I did so much on Thursday, that was fine with me! Mark and I swung through the Exhibition Hall for awhile. We saw a pretty cool piece of software called d20Pro (http://www.d20pro.com/) and walked through the RPGA Hall. I plan on visiting Saturday and try and play. Did I mention Battletech Video Game Pods are back? They are here and the graphics look great. I almost jumped in a pod tonight! I tried to play a demo of Settlers of Catan but it was packed. I picked up a CD of background music and sound effects - I heard a podcast review of it before so I'm glad I spotted the booth and was able to meet the owners. I also picked up some gifts for the girls.

OH! I also went to Krema Candy and got myself a homemade chocolate shake and a gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I headed outside to get some fresh air and get out of the AC. This was the same place Hayes and I went to five year ago and was featured on Food Network. It was as good as I remembered. I made sure to email Hayes to rub it in.

At this point, I think I'm done with my purchases but am tempted by a few things I may pick up at GenCon. Well, I'm disappointed that Alea Games is not here since I really wanted to buy some metal bases for my miniatures. I am VERY tempted by the deal at Reaper. Half of my paints are dried up and Reaper has a great convention deal that would include 45 paints of my choosing, a plastic organizer and carrying case. I almost bought a little wooden laser-cut sloop. I think they sold the last one today. I really like a couple of games from Atlas games and I almost bought Munchkin. One of these days...

Mark had to work Aerodrome at 11 am and then had to run a game on his own at 7 pm so I did some school work in the room and figured this blog thing out till 6 pm and then I helped Mark get all the planes and gear down to the gaming hall, which is where all my photos have come from so far. I waited around to see if Mark had any open seats and he was packed so I zipped over to this game I wanted to try out and found lots of open seats. So I gave them my $2 game token and sat down.

This game session was called "Monster Mash" and is a modified version of the 3.5 Miniatures game updated to 4E. The group running it is called Red Shirt Games. Each of us got three random monster cards and minis and our goal was to beat the crap out of each other till there was one monster standing. I got a Thrask, a Marileth, and Drizz't and Guenhwyvar. We each put our monsters in separate rooms and started moving. Luckily, I rolled pretty well and made a few good choices by going after a newbie's monsters. In the end, I was the last person standing against one of the guys who designed the game mod. Before we entered the final melee, the GM gave me a prize token for winning the game. Well, the other guy actually beat me by one point in the end but he couldn't with any prizes. I got a free pack of dice from GameScience. Cool.

Well, it's 11 pm and Mark isn't back yet. I think I'll head down and help him carry the stuff back. Tomorrow, I plan on playing a few more games. I also want to go to the Ennies at 7 pm.

Origins 2010 Thursday

Origins Report

Thursday June 24, 2010

The following report covers my trip to Columbus and Origins 2010.

Mark and I left Chicago at 7:15 a.m. CST and arrived in Columbus without incident at 2:15 pm EST. Wukas made all the arrangements and we ended up at the Hyatt Regency which is attached to the Columbus Convention Center so for the first time I am experiencing a game convention where I can actually take an elevator up to my room to drop off bags and take a rest before returning to the convention. Nice. Very nice.

Wukas helped run an Aerodrome game at 4 pm so I had time to get my badge and wander the Exhibition Hall, which doesn’t close till 6 pm, a vast improvement over GenCon’s 5 pm limit. I did a quick sweep of the floor and then had to stop at several booths to drop some coin. I’m a little worried that some of what is here will be gone by Saturday, so why wait? I picked up some 3.5 Eberron books and modules for half off, which was a sweet deal. I bought an old box of minis and then picked up some singles at $1-3 apiece. Finally, I picked up some Bela Sara stuff for Rebecca.

I ended up in the gaming area with some time to look through my bag of swag. It was full of some excellent stuff, including a complete Axis and Allies starter set, a Magic deck, and the annual Crystal Caste d6. This is Origins’ 35^th anniversary so there are some cool t-shirts and commemorative pins I may buy tomorrow. I’m also tempted by a convention deal Reaper is running for any 45 paint colors, a carrying case, and a duffel bag for $99, which is a sweet deal. More than half my paints have dried up so I need to replenish and this could be a great way to do it.

Mark and I went back down after dinner and checked out the evening gaming that was going on. This is another new thing for me since I have never had the chance to be at the convention late into the night. There is a TON of gaming going on. Some of the miniature games being run are very cool. I will try to upload some photos along with this post. My iPhone was running low so I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I will tomorrow.

Overall, I have to say that my impression of the second half of Day One was a bit of a letdown. First, there doesn’t seem to be many people here and while that means lots of room to move around, it also means that the energy level on the exhibition floor seems very low. The other letdown is the Exhibition floor itself. I can’t believe how small it is! Granted, there are over a hundred vendors here, but it seems so small compared to GenCon! It is also missing some key companies, such as Wizards, WhizKids, Fantasy Flight Games, Privateer Press, Topps, Paizo, and Alea Tools. There are a few mom and pop resellers but not a lot. Crazy Egor’s is here but his prices seemed high. I did find Pirate packs for $1-2 apiece but haven’t bought any. Maybe the crowds on Friday and Saturday will change this impression.

Tonight, I made my first attempt at converting a 3.5 module to 4E using the Adventure Tools portion of DDI. It went pretty well and I now have all the monsters in a Word file ready to print. Now I need to convert the traps, skill checks, and treasure. Overall, I think the Adventure Tools will allow us to convert things pretty easily.

I want to attend a couple painting seminars if I can. I am also going to the Mayfair Games booth to learn how to play Settlers of Catan. I have not gone to the hall with the RPGA and may try to get in on a 1^st level D&D game they are running throughout the convention. There is also a cool 3.5/4e D&D minis game being run by an independent group called “Monster Mash” that I may try. More soon!

My First Blog

I don't usually do this kind of thing but there are certainly moments when I want to spout off or keep my friends and family informed so here goes!