Gen Con 2013 part 1

My original intent had been to make a post shortly after getting back from Gen Con, but it turns out I needed a little more time to recuperate.

I left Friday after getting off of work, and got to Gen Con about 9pm.  Throw in getting parked and to my hotel room, and I didn't find food until 10pm.  Got to try the Steel Soul Red at the Ram, but otherwise I hadn't really broken into Gen Con by this point.

Got up early and out the door, and ended up getting to the dealers room early.  There was a set of exclusive Robotech miniatures that were being sold at the Palladium booth in limited quantities, and since people hadn't started lining up yet I decided to snag a good position.  By the time the dealers room was ready to open things had gotten pretty crowded:



From there it was a mad dash to get my exclusives.  Which I did.  I then spent the day shopping for myself and friends who couldn't attend, meeting up with friends from across the nation, and getting a look at some awesome costumes!

Here's a few highlights from the show.  The biggest one is the reaction I got from Scott C. Brown, the actor who played Flynn the Fine on The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, when I gave him the painted Pile of Dead Bards:



There is something wonderful about getting such a strong reaction from such a simple gift.  The rest of the ZOE crew were also rather impressed with the piece, and I received much glowing praise.  It was both humbly and inspiring.

I ended up meeting with Howard Taylor, author and artist for Schlock Mercenary.  It's been one of my favorite webcomics for years, and Howard has been attending Gen Con for quite some time.  Over the past several years I've gone by to pick up his latest print collection, and to get a sketch in the back.  This year I asked to be drawn in the Schlock-verse.



I was asked how I wanted him to approach the subject of my hairline, and I replied that he should be as generous or harsh as he sees fit.  While I look much older in the pic I think he made up for it by giving me a better weight profile:



There was so much to do at Gen Con that this year's priority was on friends.  As a result I didn't really get any gaming in, except for a bit of a life-sized version of Elk Fest. 



It was a fun shuffle-board romp.  The idea was to use the discs to make a path for your elk to cross, but you could also use them to knock your opponents disk (and their elk) out of place.  I didn't do very well, and my Elk got splooshed:



I had a lot of fun for the short time that I was there, and I've already started looking forward to next year!