Geek.Kon.. you went by too quickly part 2
The first day of Geek.Kon was sublime.
Panels..
Friends..
Libations of mind altering properties..
Being at Geek.Kon reminded me of two things, one of which was brought up at a panel much later on.
1) Madison is over-flowing with amazing people, that I hate living so far from and can't hang out with more..
2) One of the reasons that I love gaming so much is the 'sense of family' as someone put it... I always saw it as one of the few places I feel accepted and with any sense of 'belonging'
anyway..
I passed out trundled off to get some sleep around umm.. late..
I had planned to wake up around 8 a.m. as that would give me two extra hours of sleep..
I managed to get an extra 10 minutes of sleep from when I normally wake up.. huzzah!!!!
Zombie Nix, however, was feeling a bit worn..
No worries, Zombie Nix!
Nix came prepared with a plethora of useful bits..
plop-plop-fizz-fizz.. oh what a relief it is!
now chug that shit, Zombie Nix!!!
Now that Zombie Nix is feeling somewhat.. human (hehe) we decided to wander around and check out what was reportedly the largest video gaming room ever set up in the Mid-West, with only PAX and E3 coming close to being larger
over 10,000 sq feet (if I remember correctly) filled with full-size Arcade games, Wii's, Xbox 360's, PS 3's, Xbox's, PS 2's, PS 1's, Dreamcast systems, Super Nintendos', Nintendo 64's, and.. actual Nintendo's!!
Zombie Nix likes to keep his gaming old school..
so we played a bit of Mega Man..
Mega Man 1, that is!
Go, Zombie Nix, Go!!
zot those baddies in 8-bit glory!
ahh.. well.. that didn't last log..
after such a disheartening defeat we shambled off to the viewing rooms..
there were three..
an anime, a classic t.v.?, and a 'special features'
Down in front! Down in front!
First we sat in on a showing of 2010.. having missed out on 2001: a Space Odyssey
Zombie Nix couldn't understand why HAL got rid of the dead bodies.. what a waste of brains, he thought
na-na-na-na-na-na-BATMAN!!!
after Zombie Nix grew disgruntled with HAL wasting all those dead bodies.. we went down to the next room..
what did we see??
Only one of the greatest television shows ever!!!
Zombie Nix, and I, were both impressed with Cat Woman.. mmmmeeeeoooowwww, baby!!!
We still had plenty of time before our first panel..
Old School Renaissance in Table Top Gaming, with Victor Raymond (and of course me)
I had brought with a smattering of old games and new games, after all, visual aids rock!
I shot a quick txt to Victor, and informed him that the panel was starting soon..
he might have been running a bit late, but he arrived a few minutes late (amazingly.. he lived only a few minutes away)
with a few bags of visual aids as well.
We drew more of a response than we expected.. 8 people? or so..
10 a.m. at a convention geared more towards anime than gaming.. it was a very good turn out (rule of thumb is that any panel is a 'success' when the panelists are out-numbered by the attendees)
We spoke of our love of gaming, how we didn't 'hate' new games.. but that OSR was more of a 'state of mind' than a specific rule set.
They seemed to enjoy it.. and ogled the games we brought in quite happily
We then dashed down to the vendor room and picked up this little gem..
more on that one later!
I skipped Geeking Out in the 90's for some hanging out time..
then it was off to Game Publishing with Bill Bodden, John Kovalic, Matt McElroy, Aaron Pavao, and Monica Valentinelli (a note on Ms. Valentinelli.. she is the twin of skitabug , I kid you not... I did a triple take.. same basic height, build, hair color, eye color, etc.. even bone structure was very close.. very spooky!)
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome panel..
We then attended a panel on Writing.. this included the same basic group as the previous panel, but James Frenkel sat in as well..
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome panel.. again
Each person was well knowledgeable, informed, and expressive of their points..
I had the opportunity to speak with each person several times, I look forward to seeing them again at future conventions and getting to know them better.
Nix Networked!!!!
(I even made sure to thank them when I got home vie FB for their time, effort, and kindness.. the Nix is kewl like that)
I slipped away to the gaming signing panel and Matt Forbeck was kind enough to sign a ginormas pile of books..
I had asked him previously if this would be alright, I didn't want to be a dink and just show up and expect him to sign everything..
I had John Kovalic sign a couple things (of Munchkin, Dork Tower, and other such things fame)
and asked Aaron Pavao what products he had worked on, as I had looked at the 4ed Shadowrun stuff.. and didn't see his name (several supplements I didn't have and the 20th anniversary edition.. which I didn't have either.. maybe next time)
During this time, Victor was running a game of Empire of the Petal Throne.. since I was hungry and the players hungry.. I ran out for some chinese food for all of us and just made it back in time to wolf down some food and make it my next panel that I was on
Sci-Fi on T.V.
Here we see Richard Russell, Janet Lewis, Dave (missed his last name.. my apologies to him), Me!!, and Brian Curley..
again, we had a decent sized crowd and the panel went by faster than I thought..
I was worried that I wouldn't be able to properly express my geekness.. but.. I was..
it was much fun
After that.. I finished off my dinner..
played a hand of Munchkin with.. umm.. some guy from OddCon that was teaching a couple of other people how to play..
it was nice running into him, he's a nice guy
then I went and hit the OddCon room party again
I had thought about going to Serious Dating Advice.. but..
I simply got hammered slightly intoxicated instead and hung out with OddCon people..
Zombie Nix was feeling a bit under the weather again..
no fear though, Zombie Nix!
alka-seltzer to the rescue!
our tummies were rumbling.. so we headed off for some breakfast.
Denny's was already had twice.. and.. that was more than enough
so we went to the only other place to eat in walking distance
McDonalds
Zombie Nix and I were hungry..
it was better than we had thought it would be..
or we were just really really hungry
First panel we went to next, was Tips for GM's with Aaron Pavao.
It was a small panel..
Most people were checking out at this point, after all
I attended to see how other people run games.. after running games for umm.. (cough) a long time (cough)
I'm fairly certain I know what I'm doing..
still.. a decent panel
I then went for my second round of Badge Checking
keep thy eye vigilant my brain munching.. umm.. friend?
this time.. the time did not go by so quickly..
my last panel was on the Perils of Freelancing (well.. there was also 'being an effective Reviewer and Critic.. with B. Bodden, J. Frenkel, and M. Valentinelli... another good panel)
it was me, a couple that had attended several of the other gaming panels, some other random dude, and B.Bodden.
unfortunately..
the people giving the panel never showed up. M. Valentinelli showed up to give Bill some "Men's" Pokky sticks..
and then stuck around so that she and Bill could give the panel.
Bill and Monica had wanted to see who the people were that had volunteered to host the panel.. since the gaming world isn't that huge, and most of them know one another quite well.
It was supremely cool of Bill and Monica to host the panel-that-almost-wasn't, and in messages to them both.. I pointed that fact out.
but..
it was time to head out after that.
OddCon people were gone..
things were shutting down..
Again, Zombie Nix volunteered to drive us home..
but..
NOPE!!!
I drove us..
it was.. 'o.k.' to get home..
I need to move to Madison.. it's a good city with lots of good geeks
Nix
Panels..
Friends..
Libations of mind altering properties..
Being at Geek.Kon reminded me of two things, one of which was brought up at a panel much later on.
1) Madison is over-flowing with amazing people, that I hate living so far from and can't hang out with more..
2) One of the reasons that I love gaming so much is the 'sense of family' as someone put it... I always saw it as one of the few places I feel accepted and with any sense of 'belonging'
anyway..
I passed out trundled off to get some sleep around umm.. late..
I had planned to wake up around 8 a.m. as that would give me two extra hours of sleep..
I managed to get an extra 10 minutes of sleep from when I normally wake up.. huzzah!!!!
Zombie Nix, however, was feeling a bit worn..
No worries, Zombie Nix!
Nix came prepared with a plethora of useful bits..
plop-plop-fizz-fizz.. oh what a relief it is!
now chug that shit, Zombie Nix!!!
Now that Zombie Nix is feeling somewhat.. human (hehe) we decided to wander around and check out what was reportedly the largest video gaming room ever set up in the Mid-West, with only PAX and E3 coming close to being larger
over 10,000 sq feet (if I remember correctly) filled with full-size Arcade games, Wii's, Xbox 360's, PS 3's, Xbox's, PS 2's, PS 1's, Dreamcast systems, Super Nintendos', Nintendo 64's, and.. actual Nintendo's!!
Zombie Nix likes to keep his gaming old school..
so we played a bit of Mega Man..
Mega Man 1, that is!
Go, Zombie Nix, Go!!
zot those baddies in 8-bit glory!
ahh.. well.. that didn't last log..
after such a disheartening defeat we shambled off to the viewing rooms..
there were three..
an anime, a classic t.v.?, and a 'special features'
Down in front! Down in front!
First we sat in on a showing of 2010.. having missed out on 2001: a Space Odyssey
Zombie Nix couldn't understand why HAL got rid of the dead bodies.. what a waste of brains, he thought
na-na-na-na-na-na-BATMAN!!!
after Zombie Nix grew disgruntled with HAL wasting all those dead bodies.. we went down to the next room..
what did we see??
Only one of the greatest television shows ever!!!
Zombie Nix, and I, were both impressed with Cat Woman.. mmmmeeeeoooowwww, baby!!!
We still had plenty of time before our first panel..
Old School Renaissance in Table Top Gaming, with Victor Raymond (and of course me)
I had brought with a smattering of old games and new games, after all, visual aids rock!
I shot a quick txt to Victor, and informed him that the panel was starting soon..
he might have been running a bit late, but he arrived a few minutes late (amazingly.. he lived only a few minutes away)
with a few bags of visual aids as well.
We drew more of a response than we expected.. 8 people? or so..
10 a.m. at a convention geared more towards anime than gaming.. it was a very good turn out (rule of thumb is that any panel is a 'success' when the panelists are out-numbered by the attendees)
We spoke of our love of gaming, how we didn't 'hate' new games.. but that OSR was more of a 'state of mind' than a specific rule set.
They seemed to enjoy it.. and ogled the games we brought in quite happily
We then dashed down to the vendor room and picked up this little gem..
more on that one later!
I skipped Geeking Out in the 90's for some hanging out time..
then it was off to Game Publishing with Bill Bodden, John Kovalic, Matt McElroy, Aaron Pavao, and Monica Valentinelli (a note on Ms. Valentinelli.. she is the twin of skitabug , I kid you not... I did a triple take.. same basic height, build, hair color, eye color, etc.. even bone structure was very close.. very spooky!)
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome panel..
We then attended a panel on Writing.. this included the same basic group as the previous panel, but James Frenkel sat in as well..
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome panel.. again
Each person was well knowledgeable, informed, and expressive of their points..
I had the opportunity to speak with each person several times, I look forward to seeing them again at future conventions and getting to know them better.
Nix Networked!!!!
(I even made sure to thank them when I got home vie FB for their time, effort, and kindness.. the Nix is kewl like that)
I slipped away to the gaming signing panel and Matt Forbeck was kind enough to sign a ginormas pile of books..
I had asked him previously if this would be alright, I didn't want to be a dink and just show up and expect him to sign everything..
I had John Kovalic sign a couple things (of Munchkin, Dork Tower, and other such things fame)
and asked Aaron Pavao what products he had worked on, as I had looked at the 4ed Shadowrun stuff.. and didn't see his name (several supplements I didn't have and the 20th anniversary edition.. which I didn't have either.. maybe next time)
During this time, Victor was running a game of Empire of the Petal Throne.. since I was hungry and the players hungry.. I ran out for some chinese food for all of us and just made it back in time to wolf down some food and make it my next panel that I was on
Sci-Fi on T.V.
Here we see Richard Russell, Janet Lewis, Dave (missed his last name.. my apologies to him), Me!!, and Brian Curley..
again, we had a decent sized crowd and the panel went by faster than I thought..
I was worried that I wouldn't be able to properly express my geekness.. but.. I was..
it was much fun
After that.. I finished off my dinner..
played a hand of Munchkin with.. umm.. some guy from OddCon that was teaching a couple of other people how to play..
it was nice running into him, he's a nice guy
then I went and hit the OddCon room party again
I had thought about going to Serious Dating Advice.. but..
I simply got hammered slightly intoxicated instead and hung out with OddCon people..
Zombie Nix was feeling a bit under the weather again..
no fear though, Zombie Nix!
alka-seltzer to the rescue!
our tummies were rumbling.. so we headed off for some breakfast.
Denny's was already had twice.. and.. that was more than enough
so we went to the only other place to eat in walking distance
McDonalds
Zombie Nix and I were hungry..
it was better than we had thought it would be..
or we were just really really hungry
First panel we went to next, was Tips for GM's with Aaron Pavao.
It was a small panel..
Most people were checking out at this point, after all
I attended to see how other people run games.. after running games for umm.. (cough) a long time (cough)
I'm fairly certain I know what I'm doing..
still.. a decent panel
I then went for my second round of Badge Checking
keep thy eye vigilant my brain munching.. umm.. friend?
this time.. the time did not go by so quickly..
my last panel was on the Perils of Freelancing (well.. there was also 'being an effective Reviewer and Critic.. with B. Bodden, J. Frenkel, and M. Valentinelli... another good panel)
it was me, a couple that had attended several of the other gaming panels, some other random dude, and B.Bodden.
unfortunately..
the people giving the panel never showed up. M. Valentinelli showed up to give Bill some "Men's" Pokky sticks..
and then stuck around so that she and Bill could give the panel.
Bill and Monica had wanted to see who the people were that had volunteered to host the panel.. since the gaming world isn't that huge, and most of them know one another quite well.
It was supremely cool of Bill and Monica to host the panel-that-almost-wasn't, and in messages to them both.. I pointed that fact out.
but..
it was time to head out after that.
OddCon people were gone..
things were shutting down..
Again, Zombie Nix volunteered to drive us home..
but..
NOPE!!!
I drove us..
it was.. 'o.k.' to get home..
I need to move to Madison.. it's a good city with lots of good geeks
Nix