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That Gen FairI learned the hard way that, after they screw up the airline reservations you made months previous and put you on stand-by for a flight later than the one you paid for, United also puts a little code on your stand-by ticket that says, "Search this guy thoroughly" to the airport security people. That's a nice gesture. I mean, of all the people in the airport, you're likely in the biggest rush to get to the gate so that you can maybe get a seat on a flight so you can reach your destination at least on the same day as the reservation you paid for months earlier, so why not make sure you're the one delayed in security? Maybe, what it actually says is, "This guy's day's not going to get any worse, so you might as well pick him to search." Or even, "We've really screwed this guy over and he's likely steaming mad, so if someone's going to do something bad on the plane, it'll probably be him." Or maybe just, "Ha ha." So, of course, since the airline screwed up our flights to Gen Con, it figures that they'd screw up the flights back to. In fact, if you've flown before, you know to expect it. So we called ahead to clear up any difficulties ahead of time. But that didn't work. So again the United ticket agent has to rebook our seats and again kindly puts the little secret code on my boarding pass. By this time, when the security guy says, "United has selected you for a random special screening procedure," I'm thinking: "Yeah. Random. Right." But I know the drill. I get in the special line and take off my shoes and await the beeping wand and the guys going through my carry-ons. While I'm sitting there, though, the younger of the two security guys ensuring that America is safe from, well, me, reaches into my carry-on luggage and pulls out a big plastic snake that we were using as a part of the Iron Heroes demo and starts making the "snake charmer" music: "Doo dee doo doo doo, doo dee doo dee doo dee doo." The older guy sees that and says to him, "You should have been in the baggage search area yesterday. Books, books, books. Like you've never seen. Books you've never seen. They even had Star Wars books. It's all from that Gen Fair."
Day One: Dice and Demos We got to that Gen Fair on Wednesday -- later than we were supposed to, but safe and sound. It was a hectic day of making sure that people were where they were supposed to be and that they had what they needed to have. They weren't and they didn't, but by the end of the day we had either fixed it all or found alternatives. Thursday was the real start of the convention. Almost immediately, I found and bought a clear d20 that had another d20 inside it. I figured it was a die that confirmed crits all in one roll, so that's pretty neat. A quick wander around confirmed that the show was, as always, crowded with gamers, game industry professionals, and games. For our own efforts, Malhavoc had an in-booth Iron Heroes demo that ran for four or five hours every day, a three-round Arcana Evolved tournament, and a number of Iron Heroes events. Plus, we had at least one seminar each day. On Thursday, the topic was Iron Heroes, and Mike and Sue were on hand to answer questions and talk about the new game. Day Two: I Can Take Him On Friday, we attended a Sword & Sorcery panel with some guys from White Wolf, Necromancer Games, World of Warcraft, and Guardians of Order. Right afterward, Sue and I had a seminar about Arcana Evolved that was well attended by people with good questions. We discussed everything from the origins of Arcana Unearthed to the upcoming Spell Treasury. Friday I also watched some of the "Gamer Olympics." Now, I'll admit, when I heard about this I thought it was a little dumb. The premise was that you undertook a number of tests to measure your strength, dexterity and so on-firing a bow with foam arrows, making your way down a passage filled with tripwires, etc. The culmination of it all, however, was a one-minute combat using foam weapons against a skilled opponent. The fight was set up for people to watch; it was located right next to where people signed up, even though it was the last part of the process. Here I was to see the genius of the whole thing. As we watched a participant get pummeled by the trained swordsman, one guy behind me said to another, "Aw man. We can take this guy." They then hustled off to pay their entry fee. I watched a few more contestants go through their paces in the combat portion, and got ready to leave when I saw that the two guys who were so sure of themselves were next for the fight, so I stayed to watch. One at a time, they were both soundly trounced, but while they fought, a guy behind me turned to his friend and said, "Dude, we can totally take this guy." Whereupon they went off to hand over their money. As I said: genius. Exploiting the bravado of young male gamers at a con about all things medieval. Absolutely brilliant. Friday night was our annual dinner with our pals at Fiery Dragon, followed by the very classy ENnies ceremony. We did well, winning Gold ENnies for Best Cover Art for Beyond Countless Doorways, Best Interior Art for Arcana Evolved, and Best d20 Game for Arcana Evolved, as well as a Best Supplement Silver ENnie for Beyond Countless Doorways. We were very honored. Sue's acceptance speeches for the art awards (as Malhavoc's art director) displayed her innate poise and eloquence. Mine were, by comparison, fumbling and clumsy, although I did get in a good joke (albeit at my good friend Erik Mona's expense -- sorry, Erik). You'll have to ask someone else who was there to tell you what it was. Day Three: Introducing Ptolus!
Saturday, however, was my favorite day of the convention. On Saturday, I got to check out the miniatures area, and was completely re-inspired to starting painting miniatures and building terrain again, a horse I'd pretty much fallen off of about seven months ago and never climbed back on. But that wasn't the best part. That came when, after lunch with fellow Spell Treasury author Jeffery Dobberpuhl, it was time for the Chat With Malhavoc Press seminar. The attendees probably didn't know it coming in, but this was really the Ptolus Preview seminar. The crowded room (about seventy people) weren't all that receptive to the idea of a gigantic book at first. I saw plenty of "I've already got a campaign setting" faces looking back at me. By the end, however, after we'd showed off the sample page layouts and the art previews, after we'd explained the organizational structure of the huge book and everything you'd get in or along with it, those attending seemed as thrilled about it as we were, sad only that it would be a year before the package becomes available. I think Sue's and my excitement was contagious. We're probably more proud and more pumped about this release than anything we've done with Malhavoc before (and that's saying a lot). We've been working on this one together for a long time, and we think it's really something special. Saturday night was also really fun. On the way back from the convention center to my hotel, despite the fact that I was feeling a bit under the weather, I got a front-row seat to a wonderful bit of culture clash. See, on Saturday night there was a Colts game in Indianapolis, and the field is right next to the convention center. I got to see grown men walking around in football jerseys with blue paint on their faces looking at gamers as if they were weird. And it got even better-but I'll get to that in a minute. After a bit of a lie-down in my hotel, I took part in a celebrity gaming event to support the new Gamers movie, Dorkness Rising. Sean Reynolds, Aaron Williams, a number of the Dead Gentlemen and I played through a small part of the upcoming Goodman Games module based on the movie. It was all extremely silly, but fun. Apparently, some of it will end up on the DVD of the movie. If nothing else, it generated lots of good lines like: The Paladin: As I
pull myself out of the mud, you probably all hear a giant sucking sound. After the game we went to the screening of the behind-the-scenes short on the making of Dorkness Rising. This is where it gets better. See, the Colts fans were just leaving the game, and one of the people we were walking with was actor Scott Brown, who was wearing his bard costume from the movie. I found it hilarious to be strolling with a cigarette-smoking guy in a brightly-colored tunic and tights amid a bunch of sports fans. The screening went really well -- the crowded room was so full of laughs and cheers that we probably missed half of the film. I can't wait for the movie itself to come out. If you saw the first one and liked it, I swear to you right now, as hard as it is to believe, this one is funnier. (And of course the production values are much better.)
Day Four: Time to Shop Sunday morning came all too quickly, but it was time to run the final round of the Arcana Evolved tournament. I had a great group of players and a small audience. I think a fun time was had by all. (Note to self: When you've got a room full of people scrutinizing every word you say and every action you take as DM, don't schedule your game for the morning of the last day of a long convention.) After the game, I got another chance to wander around the exhibit hall. I bought the flip-mat from Steel Sqwire, which is my pick for the coolest thing at Gen Con (besides our stuff, of course!). The flip mat is basically a battle mat that has been treated so you can use dry erase, wet erase, and even permanent marker on it, and it all comes off. You can draw on it with wet erase for things that you need to remain for a whole session and dry erase for something that's not going to be there very long. For example, you could pre-draw an encounter area with wet erase, fold it up and take it to the game, and then draw temporary things (like spell effects) with dry erase so that you can remove them easily. When you're done, a damp cloth cleans the whole thing. But just the fact that you don't have to worry about which pen you're using each time you use your mat is enough to sell me. I still have the "Sean Reynolds Memorial Wall of Force" on my battlemat-and I always will, thanks to that dry erase pen on my wet erase mat. Also on Sunday, Michele Nephew was generous enough to hand me Atlas Games' two cool new Northern Crown books, which look really interesting. Lee Hammock also made sure I had a copy of the nifty new sci-fi book Dawning Star from Blue Devil Games. I got some cool new minis from Magnificent Egos and Reaper, as well as from the Harbinger Magazine booth. After things shut down at the convention, we hung out with friends we get to see all too rarely and then collapsed into bed. Aside from the hassles at the airport, the trip back to Seattle was uneventful. We finally returned to the waiting paws of our little dog, who missed us muchly. Related Articles
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