Talien's Tower
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Wednesday, April 22

I Was Interviewed on Geezer Radio!

Five people on one show...what could go wrong? That question and more are answered in this weeks episode of Geezer Community Cast. Enjoy. [MORE]

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posted by talien at 12:00 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Tuesday, April 14

I'm a Guest on Geezer Radio!

I'll be a guest on Geezer Radio tomorrow! [MORE]

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posted by talien at 11:06 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Friday, April 4

Updated I-CON Schedule

“Digital and D20: Transitioning between Pen-and-Paper and Computer Games”
Saturday 11am
Old Chemistry 144

“Creating Compelling Characters”
Saturday 5pm
Old Chemistry 134

“Video Game Violence: Wind-Up or Release?”
Saturday 8pm
Old Chemistry 144

"The Economics of Virtual Worlds"
Sunday 10am
Old Chemistry 144

"Virtual Worlds: In Fact, In Fiction, In Future"
Sunday 1pm
Old Chemistry 144

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posted by talien at 10:45 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Tuesday, April 1

I-CON!

Yep, I'll be at I-CON again this year:

“Digital and D20: Transitioning between Pen-and-Paper and Computer Games”
Saturday 11am
Old Chemistry 144

“Creating Compelling Characters”
Saturday 5pm
Old Chemistry 134

“Video Game Violence: Wind-Up or Release?”
Saturday 8pm
Old Chemistry 144

http://www.iconsf.org

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posted by talien at 6:39 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Friday, March 23

Cancellation

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I will not be attending tonight's panel at I-CON. I will be there for all my panels tomorrow.

Sorry!

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posted by talien at 5:06 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Thursday, March 22

I-CON Update

I'm now going to attend to additional panels at I-CON:

* 3/24/07 12:00pm 2:00pm [898] State of the Industry SAC 304
* 3/24/07 2:00pm 3:00pm [899] Work For Hire: Freelance SAC 304

[MORE]

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Tuesday, March 20

My I-CON Schedule

Attended by over 6,000 people each year, I-CON is a three day festival, designed to encourage literacy, creativity and interest in science and technology through science fiction and its related genres. Programming at I-CON spans a wide range of topics and interests, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, Japanese animation (otherwise known as Anime), science and technology, comic books, and medieval reenactment.

Guest speakers are invited from around the world to share their experiences in their fields, information about any new or upcoming projects and their insights into the genre with their fans. Over the course of the convention, guests typically will participate in panel discussions, give workshops and demonstrations, sign autographs, and interact with their fans on a one on one basis in such venues as the Awards Banquet. With so much to offer, I-CON is able to appeal to a diverse audience, including college students, senior citizens and families with young children.

Programs I'm on:

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Monday, August 14

Gen Con: The Day After

Well, Sunday actually turned out to be a pretty good day. Waking up at 6:30 a.m. sucked, but it did keep us busy. We had a great gaming group and an even better DM. Unfortunately, the adventure was a murder mystery; given that these adventures are timed slots, mysteries can drag on and on and on. Fortunately, the DM knew this and ushered us along nicely. That, and Blast memorizes charm person and hypnotism for just such an occassion.

Anyway, we faced down a bunch of ghouls with a fireball and then tracked the bad guy to his lair...only to have the bad guy come up behind us while in said lair. He successfully cast "hold person" on Blast (how embarassing!) only to be rescued by one of our clerics who cast protection from evil on him, giving Blast another saving throw.

Things went downhill for the bad guys from there. One fireball and two lightning bolts later and the adventure was over. Overall, Matt/Perin leveled to 4th, Eric/Darius leveled to 3rd, and Blast got a shiny new 1st level spell called Kelgore's Firebolt that inflcts 1d6 fire damage/level (max 5d6). This makes Blast's first level spells much more powerful than a mere magic missile, especially when he has two pearls of power to back him up.

We hit the dealer's room one last time. I bought a whole pile of miniatures, including MageKnight, miniatures from Goodman Games, and the starter kit for HorrorClix. I just couldn't help myself!

Flying back was terrible, as expected. Going out of New York is bad enough, going into New York is downright insane. Everybody gets searched, even boarding the plane. You've got to love Airtran, who handed out what was meant to be a snarky/cute bag of pretzels on every flight. Here's the text from their pretzels (parenthetical commentary mine):

HOW TO EAT GOURMENT PRETZELS ON A LOW-FARE AIRLINE
1. Think about our wonderful low fare at airtran.com as you open packet (LOW FARES?! It was over $200 for a connecting flight!).
2. Place a pretzel in mouth. With each crunch, be reminded of our low fares (yeah, it reminded me of how much Airtran sucks).
3. As you swallow, remember again just how low the fares are (oh, I swallowed something all right, but it's not pretzels...).
4. Repeat until pretzel packet (or wallet) is empty.
5. Keep empty packet to remind yourself to book at airtran.com for our lowest fares and no booking fees (or to remind yourself never to take airtran again).


I was also handed a 1 million dollar bill on the street. It's a trap of course (failed my Spot roll, d'oh!). On the back is this:

THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: Will you go to heaven? Here's a quick test: Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? (insert text as "proof" from the bible that it's bad to do all those things) Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgement Day? If you have done those things God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in hell.


Then, and I love this part, there's an explanation of what to do...with a translation. The parenthetical note is NOT mine:

Please, repent (turn from sin) today and trust in Jesus, and God will grant you everlasting life.


So now we have to define what the word repent is? What's the world coming to?!

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posted by talien at 8:03 PM | 2 comments links to this post


Sunday, August 13

Saturday

Saturday went well but was underwhelming. Where Friday was a knock-down, drag-out battle to the death where we all barely survived, Saturday's RPGA event was stupidly easy. The rogue spent hours disarming traps, some of which were clearly identified by graffiti of kobold heads being sliced off. And oh yeah, the headless kobolds laying in the hall.

We then broke a bunch of weapons to get a ritual that nobody can use. After rescuing two people, one of which who didn't really want to be rescued, we came across a troll. And then, frustrated at not having killed anything, beat the crap out of it. I almost felt bad for the troll.

Then we went back to the hotel, drank a lot of beer, and played three-dragon ante all night while watching the Venture Brothers. Good times, good times.

We've got an 8 a.m. game today. This is our last chance to kick some serious Living Greyhawk ass. I'm wearing my special shirt that reads: MY ELF STINKS...STINKS LIKE AWESOME. That's Blast's motto.

We'll see if we live up to it.

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Friday, August 11

And that's a wrap

Several beers in, fairly overheated, and ruuning out of air...I have to say that since I'm ana vid Freeeport dm, Green ronin's accolades are well-deserved. I picked up their Freeport books (all of them, including their most recent that concludes the succession of the sea lord).

good bye and good night!

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Fan's choice for best publisher

And here it is, the big popularity contest! Who will win? Peter Adkinson will tell us...

Incldues customer support, web site, etc. Over 40 were nominated.

Silver: wizards of the coast! As peter put it...how ironic!
Gold: green ronin publishing

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posted by talien at 9:46 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Innovation Award

Presented by Teflon Billy, this ois a judge's award presented by the board who came across something amazing and wanted to recognize:

Silver: atomic sock monkey press for truth and justice
Gold: impossible dream for dread, which uses Jenga tiles as a rules mechanic

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posted by talien at 9:42 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Grognard Award

For companies thqat represent older gaming traditions. If only they could figure out who won...

Silver: goodman games. Go Joe!
Gold: necromancer games! Go Bill and Clark!

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posted by talien at 9:39 PM | 1 comments links to this post


Best Product

Artesia
Fudge 10th anniversary
Game of thrones
Mastermind's manual
Mutants + masdterminds 2nd ed
Pulp hero
Shackled city adv path
Shadowrun 4th ed
Spycraft 2.0
Wilderlands
Hm: etherscope
Hm: dread

silver: mutants and masterminds 2nd edition
Gold: shadowrun 4th edition...they are really, really excited too :)

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posted by talien at 9:35 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best d20 Product

Etherscope...I contributed to the Great metropolis supplement, hope it wins!
Game of thrones
Mutants + masterminds
Shackled city
Spycraft 2.0
Hm: thieves world playes manual

Silver: game of thrones by guardians of order
Gold: mutants and masteminds by green ronin publishing

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posted by talien at 9:28 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best Game

Artesia
Dread
A game of thrones
Mutants + Masterminds
Spycraft 2.0
Hm: pendragon 5e

Silver: game of thrones by guardians of order!
Gold: green ronin for mutants + masterminds second edition

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posted by talien at 9:24 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best Electronic Book

Baba Yaga
Lorebook of the broken isles
Bits of the wilderness: into the open
Stuff!
Truth + justice
Hm: the last dominion

Silver: truth and justice by atomic sock monkey games
Gold: baba yaga the first setting in rassiya by dog soul publishing...too funny, I wrote an adventure about baba yaga from monkey god years ago!

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posted by talien at 9:20 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best free product

Age of worms overload
Gates of hell
Mage the Awakening
Return to the Tomb of Five Corners
Six guns: the james yonuger gang

Silver: Mage the Awakening demo by white wolf
Gold: age of worms overload by paizo publishing

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posted by talien at 9:15 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best aid or accessory

13th hour
Flip-mat
Galadon mounted on rose
Iron heroes battlebox
Kya and lavarath
Hm: counter collection digital 2.0

Silver: 13th hour by midnight syndicate...I love their d+d music
Gold: flip-mat from steel sqwire...I just bought a bunch of their stuff today, go SS!

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posted by talien at 9:12 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best campaign

Artesia
Dark legacies
Freedom city
Shackled city
Wilderlands
Hm: cyradon

Silver: freedom city by green ronin publishing
Gold: shackled city by paizo publishing

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posted by talien at 9:08 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best supplement

Dragon compnedium
Everyday heroes
Houses of hermes
Realms of sorcery
MCs spell treasury
Hm: thieve's world players manual

Silver: Monte Cook's arcana evolved: spell treasury
Gold: dragon compendium voulme I! Yeah! I used the death master from this book!

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posted by talien at 9:04 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best Adversary/monster Product

Noms:
Iron Heroes bestiary
Lockdown
Masterminds and madmen
Tome of horrors 3
VII
HM: template troves vol 3

Silver: iron heroes bestiary by malhavoc press
Gold: tome of horrors 3! Go nerco games, they got my vote!!!

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posted by talien at 9:00 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best Adventure

Noms: etherscope the lemurian candidate
DCC #12.5: iron Crypt of the heretics
Pleasure prison of the bthvuian demon whore
Shackled city
DCC#20: shadows in Freeport
Hm: dark harbor

Silver: that's right...the b'thuvian pleasure whore by expeditious retreat press! From "fear of girls" video
Gold: shackled city adventure path by paizo publishing

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posted by talien at 8:56 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best rules

Noms:
Aces and eights: showdown
Dread
Mutants and masterminds 2nd ed
Shadowrun 4th ed
Spycraft 2.0
Hm: M+M mastermind manual

Silver: green ronin pub M+M 2nd ed
Gold: fan pro for shadowrun 4th ed (the punk haired folks in suits, go them!)

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posted by talien at 8:50 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best writing

Noms:
Artesia
Baba Yaga
Mage: the awakening
Pulp Hero
VII
Hm: everyday heroes

Silver: hero games pulp hero
Gold: white wolf publishing Mage: the awakening

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posted by talien at 8:47 PM | 1 comments links to this post


Best Production Values

Intro by keith baker after being introduced by rich (heheheh).
Noms:
Artesia
A game of thrones
Legend of the 5 rings
Serenity rpg
Shackled city adv path
Hm: exalted 2nd ed

Silver: guardians of order a game of thrones.
Gold: margaret weiss productions Serenity rpg

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posted by talien at 8:43 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best cartography

Noms:
0ones blueprints the great city
Dragonlance tasslehoffs map pouch
Masterwork maps chasbin keep
The shackled city adv path
Wilderlands
Hm: knghts of the grail

Silver: paizo for shackled city
Gold: sovereign press for tasslheoff"s map puch: the war of the lance

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posted by talien at 8:39 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best interior art

Noms:
Artesia
Dark legacies campaign guide
Legend of the 5 rings 3rd edition
Low life: the rise of the lowly
Mastermind' manual
Hm: exalted comics

Silver: green ronin mastermind's manual again
Gold: alderac entertainment group for legend of the five rings 3rd edition

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posted by talien at 8:36 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Best Cover Art

Rich burlew od orderofthestick.com fame introduces...

Noms:
Mastermind's manual
.Monte cook's arcana evolved: spell treasury
Pendragon 5th ed
Rifts ultimate edition
VII
Hm: world of aldea

Silver: green ronin for Mastermind's Manual.
Gold: malhavoc press for MC's spell treasury

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posted by talien at 8:33 PM | 1 comments links to this post


Best Fan Site

Noms include diamondthrone.com, farlandworld.com, modus-operandi.co.uk, planewalker.com, yog-sothoth.com, and hm criticalmisss.com.

Silver: farlandworld.com
Gold: yog-sothoth.com!

I voted for them, yeah!

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posted by talien at 8:29 PM | 0 comments links to this post


PK Speaks

He observes how companies are creating joy (and greed) in vast quantities. The crowd didn't react.

Also, a word about the increase in quality. With that in mind, finally the awards. And pants.

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posted by talien at 8:26 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Piratecat Speaks

Oh yeah, cellphones to mute. Now for the intros:
Judges who went through over 180 products, including Cthlhu's Librarian, Chris Gath (missed th name), Joe Kushner, Teflon Billy, and Diaglo. And Psion. Denise Robinson, and Russ Morrisey (not present). Zapf is volunteer coordinator, Stewat Parker is Pr and Chris Johanssen who created a voting booth.

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posted by talien at 8:23 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Kids in the audience...

We've just been told that certain words actually mean other things in respect for the kids. No F-bombs, apparently. Uh, okay...

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posted by talien at 8:19 PM | 0 comments links to this post


And here we go...

The volume is terrible. Denise Robinson is talking. She's talking about hard times in the past year and how we're all happy to be here to celebrate. Door prizes. Wait! I never got a ticket for a door prize. Demands for a "little dance" for the door prize winners were denied. Okay, a finger waggle, but that's not the same thing...

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posted by talien at 8:15 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Dumbass!

The BRT guys are playing a game called dumbass. What's most fun is that whenever anyone asks, they respond "dumbass!"

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And crowded

We"ve now run out of seats too. Next step, we run out of air.

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posted by talien at 8:06 PM | 0 comments links to this post


The bar...

Has a line. And it's hot.

Did I mention it's hot?

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posted by talien at 8:03 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Order of events

It looks like it's Best Fan Site a
Award up first. Matt just confused somebody in a mask with a gimp (S+.) vs. A wrestling mask. I live near the WWE, I may get beat up if we confuse them.

We're sitting down with Blacksburg Tactical Research and Great White Games. Cool guys!

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posted by talien at 8:01 PM | 0 comments links to this post


The Ennies

Well, it's a small room. And hot. Looks more organized than the year before, with just one projection screen. Matt's got beer in hand people-watching. We've already seen folks in suits and punk haircuts, so they must be somebody important.

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posted by talien at 7:56 PM | 0 comments links to this post


And here we go...

The second adventure was super tough. It was a special (dobule exp/gold), and the dm was kind. Blast cast all his spells, perin went down (and came up) countless times, and Darius saved us alll. No thanks to a cowardly barbarian. We survived, lost a lot of money in the dealer's hall, and now we've got seats at the ennies. Gearing up the blog for the report!

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posted by talien at 7:52 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Day one

After navigating the airport and recognizing that we're actually not staying at the same hotel as before, we arrived at the Garden Hilton. It is sweeeet! Big rooms, friendly staff, and now there are signs everywhere indicating that Indy is glad we' back. Looks like all those threats about moving the con worked, even the restaurants are happy we're here!

We managed to muster a game and ended up facing down the slavelords again. Perin/Matt nearly died fighting a Chuul, Blast fried a wizard in a crow's nest with a lightning bolt ("how do you light a torch? Just add fire!"), and Darius/Eric got made fun of a lot for being the token human. Fortunately we survived, though the chuul was far tougher than the final boss.

We ate and drank at Houlihan's and then watched forced Matt tio watch the Venture Brothers until he fell asleep.

Today's second stop (after breakfast) is the dealer's room! Go team Venture!

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Thursday, August 10

Atlanta

Well, we made it to Atlanta. I was going to take my luggage onto the plane, but the damn terrorist alert messed everything up. Rather than throw out my shampoo and toothpaste, I ran back to check my luggage.

With 10 minutes before my flight left, I politely asked the two blonde, coiffed moms in front of me if I could skip ahead after hearing their flight was leaving at 10 am. The response: a frown and, after a moment, a disgusted wave letting me cut...

Or not. The next person was called and they went ahead of me anyway, completely ignoring me.

Fortunately, this same incident happened to everyone on the plane, delaying it by an hour or so.

I have faced down the blonde minions evil...my first trial. I will not be defeated, forces of no-fun-ness! I will get to Gen Con!

But my luggage might not...

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posted by talien at 1:11 PM | 1 comments links to this post


On the Plane

"Thank God, we are on the plane," said Mr. Hammer.

That sums it up. MH ended landing in CT at 1 am at Bradley airport, then drove a rented SUV to White Plains. He finally got to the airporty (where his car was) at 3:30 am, and arrived home at 4 am.

Then he woke up two hours later to drive us to LaGuardia, whereupon we discovered that the terror alert had been raised, thereby snarling the airport so badly that we had a 2 hour security line. Oh yeah, also...

You can't carry on toothpaste.
Or mouthwash.
Or deodorant.

Apparently the terrorists threatening decided to use liquid bombs on a flight from Heathrow. So there you have it. The dark forces conspire against us, but we will prevail!

Now here's hoping we actually mnake the connecting flight out of Atlanta. Stay tuned true believers!

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Wednesday, August 9

ENnies - Here We Go Again...

I'm going to continue the experiment in insanity from last year and report from the ENnies, live, on my blog: http://michael.tresca.net. Hopefully, the RSS feed is working correctly now.

Also throughout the trip I'll be blabbering on about our travails as we struggle to make it to Gen Con in one piece. Considering my brother-in-law is in Michigan and my other buddy is currently in Minneapolis, how all three of us end up in the same place will be an interesting feat of logistics.

Here goes nuttin'...

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Thursday, March 23

The Party's Over

Oh man. They told us the lines would be long in disembarking, but not THIS long. In theory, one can leave at 8 am. In practice, we left arounf 9:30. And that was with us patiently NOT getting on line. The line wends down a staircase, then your "Sign and Sail" card is scanned as you leave the boat. This card is the root of all evil, like the devil's credit card, tempting you to sin at every turn.

Anyway, after the fisrt 1 and 1/2 hour line, you get on the line to get your luggage. Theb you get on a customs line, where they inspected nothing. Then you get on a bus line. 45 minutes later, you get on a ticket line. Then yoiu get on a luggage security check-out line. Then you get on a security line. Then you wait for the plane.

All these lines (at this point, six hours of lines), tired me out. I need a vacation!

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The Last Day

We managed to keep ourselves busy, sunning (err, burning) on deck, watching a really chesy "Broadway-inspired" show, enjoying the hilarious jokes of a magician, and of course drinling, drinking, drinking.

The captain must have really opened the throttle, because the ship was shuddering hard...my suspicion is they had to gun it to return to Florida in time. It was strong enough to slam the cabin's bathroom door.

Speaking of which, we thought our cabin was fine: king sized bed, window to the ocean, and near all the events. Not everyone had the same arrangement. Apparently, interior rooms have a fake window with curtains over a wall. One passerby peeked into our room and loudly pronounced that they wanted to "get a room like that next time". That almost made us feel better about the bill we got at the end of the trip. Whew!

We watched Flightplan on the in-cabin tv and then went to bed, ready to disembark the next morning. Little did we know...

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Fun Day at Sea

Now we sail back to Florida. It takes all day to get there, since we're not making any stops. A couple of observations:

Our cruise director, Paul, is a British benevolent version of Robert DeNiro. He tells jokes, he speaks to us over the intercom, he even sings. This is what I Imagine god is like, always with a vague smile on his face like he knows something really funny that you don't.

This is the land of Watch Your Step. Every entrancr has a lip, a step, a drop-off, or some kind of lip you have to carefully traverse. This includes the bathroom and the shower. My guess is because they need to control the flow of water to prevent flooding. That doesn't quite explain why every stall in Freeport and Nassau has the same problem. Or maybe it does.

The hurricanes devastated the region. That's why there's both construction and destroyed houses in the same area. The construction companies haven't caught up.

Like Disney, cruise ships are suffused with their own spercial brand of musical diarrehea. In this case, it's 90% Jamiroquai and Beach Boys. It all blends together after awhile.

There are a lot of grumpy old men on cruises. They seem to have an attitude about everything, and aren't interested in the usual niceties. Maybe it's because they've been on cruises before, maybe it's because they're from money and expect a higher level of service...whatever, they need an attitude adjustment and I thought cruises did just that. If this won't work...they're pretty much perma-grumpy!

The island peoples are an odd mixture of evangelicals and hedonism. Shirts that praise god are right next to shirts describing (and in some cases, displaying) some pretty lewd positions. Go figure.

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The Formal Dinner

Cruise ships are funny. Everything is a limited time, special offer discount. But how would we, who have only been on the ship a whopping 2 days, know the difference?

We don't. So I don't buy that anything is actually a good deal.

Anyway, the formal dinner was great. The food was delicious, especially the chocolate cake we had in honor of the other guests at our table's anniversary. The cocktail hour had dancing, but it was up on stage in front of everybody...just a little awkward.

And now for the bad news...while doing a photo shoot in the Cat's Lounge (wherein everything is sized to a cat's perspective), WE LOST STUNT STANLEY #1!

Don't worry, that's why we have multiple Stanleys. Stunt Stanley #2 is looking a little nervous...

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posted by talien at 7:02 AM | 0 comments links to this post


The Day After

First thing we discovered after waking up from our drunken haze...they TAPED us while we were dancing on stage. Fortunately, nobody seemed to care, because none of the guests we ate with recognized us.

We set out to shop in Nassau, which is the "real" pirate haven. Shopping was fun, though the "Straw Market" was more of the same crap we saw in Freeport.

After we went back to the ship to eat, we discovered a whole new kind of cleaning staff waiting impatiently on the rails of the ship: black-beaked seagulls. When guests got up to leave and left their food behind, a bird brawl would break out. It'd be funny if it wasn't for all that infernal honking. Then was back to Nassau for my personal highlight...the Pirate Museum!

Next...pirates!

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Pirates of Nassau

The bus tour took us to two different historical monuments. Our host was Muskgrove, a well-spoken older man who knew everything about the island.

What Stanley learned: 70% of Bahamian income is from tourism. There are steps labelled the Queens' Steps because there were 66 steps, and the former slaves who built it dedicated it to her. There's just one problem: she ruled fof 64 years. No worries, due to nature and man, one of the steps has worn away. Give it another 10 years and the Queen's Steps will finally be accurate!

I also used the flash on my camera to take pictures of a dark dungeon in a fort. It was so dark I didn' dare go inside. I won't know what it looked like until I see the pictures develop!

Back to pirates. The last leg of the tour drops you off at the pirate museum. We were greeted bya crazy pirate actor and then in we went. Lots of wax dummies and explosions, some ad hoc quizzes and then...pirate merchandise!

That's what I'd come for. I bought a lot. It sems that Nassau's pirate history is not something the locals are too fond of...in the same way Cornish locals don't like to talk a bout the witch museum there. No matter, I'm in my pirate phase, so this was just what the cruise doctor ordered. More shopping and then we went bakc to the boat.

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Saturday, March 18

I-CON 2006

I-CON, the Northeast's largest convention of science fiction, fact and fantasy, is held annually on the campus of Stony Brook University. Attended by over 6,000 people each year, I-CON is a three day festival, designed to encourage literacy, creativity and interest in science and technology through science fiction and its related genres.

This year, I-CON takes place from Friday, March 24 through Sunday, March 26. I'll be speaking about a variety of gaming topics on different panels throughout the three days. Check out my schedule for more details. I give out free stuff to attendees!

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posted by talien at 9:32 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Monday, August 22

Gen Con Summary Now Live

Check out the edited and compiled version of my blog entries on Gen Con 2005 in the Appearances section. [MORE]

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posted by talien at 10:58 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Sunday, August 21

Final Day Wrap-Up

Well, overall I would say that this latest outing was a success. I bought more than I should have, but I bought stuff I knew I couldn't get cheaper online. I gamed more than I ever had at a convention and had a lot of fun. True Dungeon was hard but hysterical. And the gaming was a mixed bag, but I've definitely had much worse.

And oh yeah, the book I contributed to won Best Writer at the ENnies. It was a great time for all of us.

I'll compile all these entries later, edit them, and hyperlink to all my buds' sites. Boarding the plane now...

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posted by talien at 6:10 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Living Greyhawk: The Price of Power

By this time we were all seasoned gamers, having been through at least one Living Greyhawk adventure. So we were happy when our latest players appeared to be mellow. The only small glitch was that one of the players was late, but he arrived just in time for the first combat.

This adventure was much more of a "find this quest item" plot, which suited us just fine. We spent some time in a town, role-playing with the DM, who was cool.

We ultimately killed some undead, fought off some bandits, and otherwise got a crazy book back to its rightful undead owner. In the woods. I called it the Pinecone Witch Project.

The only hiccup was a guy who was annoyed that Eric didn't specifically use the flanking bonus. To put it another way, apparently everyone is supposed to run around targets than straight at them. So yes, the barbarian, who was in a frothing rage, actually ran PAST an opponent, only to swing back behind him, all for the flanking bonus. It was a really stupid thing to harass anybody about, but this guy had difficulty letting it go. Not cool.Then again, I'm generally disdainful of people who argue with the DM, and there was some of that going on as well.

Anyway, Blast leveled (not a structure, he went up in level) as did Matt's character Perin.

All in all, our second best game of the con.

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posted by talien at 5:42 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Day 3 Wrap-Up

We took it easy after a Living Greyhawk game and True Dungeon. Unfortunately, the city was swarming with Colts fans (the stadium is a few hundred feet away, we could hear them cheering from the room). So it wasn't even worth trying to get a decent meal anywhere. We just went to TGI Fridays and that was good enough.

Now we have to deal with the stupidity of the hotel, who failed to mention that rollaway beds bare a fire hazard. Therefore, only rooms with one bed can have them. So I slept on the floor.

Then, to add insult to injury, Matt put his card down for incidentals, and they decided to use that for the room charge instead. Going to have breakfast and fix that now.

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posted by talien at 8:21 AM | 1 comments links to this post


Saturday, August 20

True Dungeon: Battle Beneath Castle Greyhawk

All the pent up nervousness when playing this LARP (and let there be no doubt, it's a LARP) had dissipated, so we could concentrate on enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately, this session wasn't as good as the first.

Basically, the problem with this year's True Dungeon is that the riddles were hard. REALLY hard. I was thrilled to be the bard again (I had all the bard runes memorized), and in this adventure that knowledge came in handy. A few of our fellow players dropped significant cash (as in, real life money) to buy more equipment tokens, including a masterwork lute, so my singing helped more. There's a rumor that someone bought $2,000 worth of tokens, but I'm not sure if I believe it.

There was a lot more combat this go round, and with our bulked-up items, we blew through them. Matt, as the wizard, blasted an efreeti. Eric, as the rogue, sneak attacked several monsters. My annoying singing caused several monsters to attack me (the DM's were quite vengeful), whereupon I would sing "U can't Touch This" by MC Hammer. And you know what?

Both times the monsters rolled a 1. Seriously.

Then we got to the end and were imprisoned in Limbo forever. The End.

It was obvious that a lot of people were getting frustrated as the DMs in each room kept giving us hints.

Overall, this version of True Dungeon was okay. It had more combat and the bard was much more useful, but it wasn't as thrilling as Assault Atop Castle Greyhawk.

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posted by talien at 8:13 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Living Greyhawk: The Quotes

Ever been to the Prancing Pony? The Red Dragon? Then why bother calling the local tavern anything more than what it is: The Adjective Noun.

A lot of Greyhawk adventures are mysteries, and depending on the party, can be quite ridiculous. So let the world know by adding, "Scooby Doo and the..." to the title. For example:

Alternately, CSI: Greyhawk can be added as well. This idea is all the guys at Skirmisher Publishing, so blame them if your players use it.

Eric gets the blame for this one: imagine Deliverance, only with orcs and elves. "Yew got sum purty ears..."

Finally, another one from the Skirmisher gang. Whenever a PC is hit by a touch spell, the other player asks, "show us on the miniature where the dirty orc touched you."

So much humor in the first half of that game. Too bad it didn't last.

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posted by talien at 8:00 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Living Greyhawk: Return to the Undercity

Well, this turned out to be Blast's best adventure yet. Sort of.

Blast is a noble wannabe, who forever wants to join the elven court but can never get in because he's a low class shlub from Bissel. This adventure took place in Celene, the elven homeland, so he was in his glory.

We gamed with an old school DM who was a lot of fun. Two of the players were my buds at Skirmisher Publishing. Hi guys!

Things were going well. We beat a back a slaver attack and hatched a plot to pretend the press gang attack worked, through judicious use of charm person and hypnotism. We were about to be led straight to the bad guys...when THAT GUY screwed it up.

This player, who shall remain nameless, had the only character that could speak goblin. Since the slavers were hobgoblins, we needed him to pull off the ruse. Instead, he spat at the slavers, who proceed to beat him nearly to death. That forced us to reveal our plan early.

Then, this genius slit the throat of one of our bad guy captives without explaining his actions. When he went to do it a second time, our lawful good cleric (played by Eric) intervened...and The Idiot slashed another hobgoblin's throat again anyway. What the hell?!

His excuse was that as neutral good he "hates slavers" to the exclusion of everything else, including sanity. And oh yeah, he had 16,000 gold as a 2nd level ranger, and some weird ass "sand sculpture" item that can turn into any mundane item which was from the Sandstorm book, only he didn't have it with him. He argued with the DM over every rule. By the end of it, the DM had to lecture us on how to have fun.

Fortunately, the planning saved time, so we finished...barely. Great group spoiled by an idiot, but that's the risk you run in playing a living game...people are unpredictable.

It wasn't all bad. We had a bunch of notable quotes that may not seem funny now but were hysterical at the table:

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posted by talien at 2:26 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Day 2 Wrap-Up

Well, Gen Con's been a blast so far. I've spent way too much money on rare figs, but they're all difficult to find anywhere else. I bought the prepainted Roman Legion minis from Heroscape, which will be perfect for the Arcanis campaign. I also bought some Cthulu-esque figures, including a byakhee, the King in Yellow, and a hard to find D+D mini, the Chuul (or as I like to say, CHHHHUUUUUUUUUUULLLL!)

It did occur to me that sometimes Blast (my prissy elven wizard) probably shouldn't cast fire spells in a "guano filled cavern." Kobolds live in a lot of those.tunnels. I can see it now: "I cast burining-BOOOOOM!"

Okay, enough jibber jabber, time for breakfast and more Living Greyhawk.

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posted by talien at 2:12 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Friday, August 19

ENnies: Best Publisher

Necro games is up for THIS award. The silver goes to: Paizo Publishing. And the gold goes to...Green Ronin Publishing.

And that's it folks. Thanks for sticking with me through this (all 2 of you, Eric's sitting next to me).

I'd like to add one more award. This is too my wife, Amber, who isn't feeling well and is back at home. All my love...I'm off to shmooze!

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posted by talien at 11:51 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Publisher (Fans)

Here it is, the popular vote by the fans, for the fans. And the silver goes to: Green Ronin publishing.

The gold goes to:

PARADIGM CONCEPTS! It looks like all the living players finally rallied to show their support. Go Team Paradigm!!!

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posted by talien at 11:44 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Game

And the silver goes to: World of Darkness rulebook from White Wolf Publishing. The gold goes to: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying by Black Industries. Chris Pramas pointed out that he can't be as eloquent as Sue Cook or as foul-mouthed as Justin Achilli. Heh.

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posted by talien at 11:39 PM | 3 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best d20 Game

And the silver goes to: Blue Rose from Green Ronin. The silver goes to: Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved! Go Sue and Monte!

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posted by talien at 11:34 PM | 1 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Electronic Product

The silver goes to: Fiery Dragon Productions for their Counter Collection Digital. The gold goes to: PCGen 5.8. I don't have the latest version, but I love the work done by Code Monkey Publishing with e-Tools!

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posted by talien at 11:29 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Free Product or Web Enhancement

Necromancer Games got an Honorable Mention, yay! The silver goes to: Danse de la Mort from White Wolf Publishing. The gold goes to: Dungeon Magazine's maps and handouts from Paizo Publishing.

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posted by talien at 11:24 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Aid or Accessory

I just bought the Battlebox today, so I hope it wins! And the silver goes to: Battlebox! Go Fiery Dragon! The gold goes to: Dungeon Magazine from Paizo Publishing, as it should!

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posted by talien at 11:18 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Supplement

And the silver goes to: Beyond Countless Doorways from Malhavoc Press. Monte took this one...go Monte and Sue! The gold goes to: Vampire the Requiem from White Wolf Publishing.

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posted by talien at 11:14 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Campaign Setting/Supplement

Iron Kingdoms World Guide is up for this too! Go IKWG! The silver goes to: Black Company from Green Ronin Publishing. The gold goes to: Iron Kingdoms World Guide from Privateer Press!!!! BOOYAH! It won in both of the categories it was nominated!

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posted by talien at 11:12 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Adversary Product

The silver goes to: Advanced Bestiary from Green Ronin Publishing. The gold goes to: Old World Bestiary from Black Industries.

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posted by talien at 11:07 PM | 2 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Adventure

Goodman Games' The Dragon Fiend Pact is up, hope it wins! I just told Joseph Goodman that I hope his speech is good 'cause I expect him to win. Silver goes to: Villainy Amok by Hero Games. The gold goes to: Maure Castle from Paizo Publishing.

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posted by talien at 11:03 PM | 1 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Rules

Silver goes to: Blue Rose freom Green Ronin Publishing. The gold goes to: Ars Magica 5th Edition from Atlas Games.

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posted by talien at 10:56 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Writing

Iron Kingdoms World Guide, which I contributed to, is up for an ENnie! And the silver goes to: World of Darkness from White Wolf Publishing. As Justin Achilli put it "rock the fuck on!"

And the gold goes to the Iron Kingdoms World Guide!!!! YEEEEEESSSSSS!

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posted by talien at 10:53 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Production Values

I voted for X-Crawl on this one. The silver goes to: Ars Magica 5th Edition from Atlas Games. The gold goes to: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay from Black Industries. Atlas Games' speech was cute...they didn't expect to win so they didn't have anything prepared.

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posted by talien at 10:49 PM | 3 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Interior Art

The siver goes to: Vampire the Requiem from White Wolf Games the gold goes to: Arcana Evolved from Malhavoc Press. I can tell that Sue was delighted by this award...I'm one table away from them. Go Sue and Monte!

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posted by talien at 10:43 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Cover Art

Iron Kingdoms Character Guide received an honorable mention, which I contributed to. The silver goes to Blue Rose from Green Ronin Publishing. The gold goes to: Beyond Countless Doorways from Malhavoc Press. Go Monte and Sue.

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posted by talien at 10:38 PM | 0 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Cartography

I voted for e-adventure tiles, hope they win! The silver winner is: City State of the Invincible Overlord. The gold goes to: the World Map of Greyhawk from Paizo Publishing! Go Necromancer for the silver!

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posted by talien at 10:34 PM | 1 comments links to this post


ENnies: Best Fan Site

I was up for this Ennie once, but didn't win...and the silver Ennie goes to: http://www.planewalker.com. The gold Ennie goes to: http://www.d20srd.org. I voted for this site!

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posted by talien at 10:30 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Intro

Piratecat is presenting and doing well. He"s introducing the judges and volunteers right now. "One of the awards won by less than two votes" said PC.

The setting is incredibly posh. It looks like the walls are an Italian villa, very cool. Oops, need to shut off my ringer. More in the next update.

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posted by talien at 10:23 PM | 0 comments links to this post


The ENnies!

So here I am, after forgetting about the fact that the ENnies moved, we found it. It took several hours to get into the Ram but it was worth it...the beer and the food were delicious. The festivities are about to begin. Get ready...

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posted by talien at 10:19 PM | 0 comments links to this post


Living Greyhawk: Dark Deceit on Bright Sands

Fortunately, we were able to muster an entire group of APL2 players and off we went, and the DM was no less than the author himself!

Unfortunately, he was a bit annoyed by the "nerfing" of his module. The less said, the better, but let me just state that Blast hates kobolds enough that I would consider multiclassing as a ranger with humanoid (reptilian) as favored enemy. Blast went down (but not out!) Along with much of the party in a corridor full of murder holes. First time we used pyrotechnics to get the hell out of there.

Unlike the first adventure, we made it out on time...we even got out early. Which was good, because Eric arrived. Then we went to the dealer room again.

Good news is it looks like I've got another major project coming up. Hope to have an outline soon. I also bought a lot of stuff, but that's for the next blog entry...

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posted by talien at 6:45 PM | 2 comments links to this post


Marshalling for Dark Deceit on Bright Sands

So, here we are in the gaming hall, 15 minutes early. That's 15 minutes of precious sleep we missed out on. However, we ate breakfast. Now I'm just waiting for my Claritin-D and multivitamin to kick in. And the ibuprofen, for the hang--I mean headache.

The hall is awfully empty. Sans Eric, it's possible we might not have enough players. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

The Party You Don't Know About was great even though we got their late. I met fellow authors of the Complete Guides, including rakshasas and vampires. And of course, consumed a wicked concoction known as pale ale. Bad, ale, BAD!

Bought Matt The Power Gamer's 3.5 Warrior's Strategy Guide. It's much cooler than I thought...need one for clerics!

Also, we met Andrew Barlow, the sculptor of the life counters Matt and I bought at Z-Man games. He's an amazing artist!

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posted by talien at 8:36 AM | 0 comments links to this post


True Dungeon: Assault Atop Castle Greyhawk

True Dungeon was a lot of fun. Matt was the wizard, a veritable death-dealing machine. I, on the other hand, was a bard. Which means I had to sing.

Nobody's surprised, I know.

What's funny is that you need to DO things, like memorize what certain runes mean, to emulate your class skill. When it came to my bardic lore, I completely screwed it up, triggering a gas trap that poisoned half the party. Amazingly, no one died.

Then we got to the end, couldn't figure out the riddle, and us along with all of Greyhawk blew up.

The End.

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posted by talien at 7:37 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Living Greyhawk: Secrets of Tsojcanth

Matt's first intro to Living Greyhawk was a great one. We got to play in the "special edition" of the event, which means the DM has minis for all the monsters. Our DM was a female, which is only noteworthy because the women outnumbered the men at the table (4 women, 3 men). We were fortunately playing with all adults too. Everyone was extremely cool.

We also had a great mix: fighter, ranger, barbarian, wizard and 2 clerics. We were sorely tested fighting 3 kobolds, but the greatest threat came from each other. Perin/Matt tried to hop over a trap only to set it off, whereupon a troll nearly mangled us all. We killed another kobold shaman (and his little dog too!) Along with some nasty spiders. Then there was the water elementals...

One of the clerics was a gnome asherati, basically desert people who are terrified of water. And we had to get in a boat. She spent most of her time clinging to a barbarian. Time ran out, so we had to stop in mid-adventure.

This is one of the best groups I've played with in a long time. B last spent his money on a new wand of magic missile, so we'll be better prepared for the next challenge. One thing that sucked is cash values were not provided for magic items from other sourcebooks besides the DMG. So we couldn't buy some of the items we earned.

That minor quibble aside, it was a great first adventure! And now it's too late to do the other summaries, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. Night!

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posted by talien at 2:14 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Day 1 Wrap-Up

Wow, so much has happened it's now 1 am here. First, some updates: Matt is once again unconscious. Eric was delayed due to a work conflict, so he will hopefully show up tomorrow. Also, I discovered that I brought the wrong charger, so my Blackberrying days are numbered.

I'll write separate entries for the other events, but our next one is Living Greyhawk at 8 am tomorrow. What was I thinking?!

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posted by talien at 2:02 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Thursday, August 18

Marshalling for Secrets of Tsojcanth

All I can say is...HOLY CRAP.

We're now getting ready to marshall for the Living Greyhawk "Secrets of Tsojcanth." Doesn't look too busy so hopefully we'll have enough players.

I already made it halfway through the Dealer's Room. I'll talk more about it later. I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to my new friend J.J. He plays Warmachine and was cool to talk to on the bus ride over. He had a wooden case for his figs...very cool!

Going to go muster, we'll see how it goes...

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posted by talien at 1:50 PM | 3 comments links to this post


On the Plane

First, let me state up front that I am only typing this on the plane...the wireless function is not actually on. So this entry won't show up until we land.

Anyway, I ended up sitting next to Peter and his buddy (I instantly forgot his name after introducing myself...I'm so bad!). They are indeed going to Gen Con to play Shadowrun no less. This is their first trip to the convention too. They weren't too eager to talk to me (I can't blame them, most gamer types find me a bit overwhelming), so I'm not going to harass them further.

Matt was up really late last night, so he's now fast asleep. Lucky bastard. I, on the other hand, felt obligated to drink an entire can of diet Pepsi. It goes like this:

  1. They ask if you'd like a drink.
  2. You're a little thirsty, so you say yes.
  3. Then you realize that you can't very well throw away a can full of soda--it'll leak through those flimsy trash bags--and that eventually you HAVE to throw the can away. So there's all this pressure.
  4. By the end of it I end up hastily guzzling the whole can, stressed out every time the stewardess goes by with a bag and wondering if that was my last chance to get rid of the damn soda.

Can you tell I've had a lot of caffeine? Man, I should try to take a nap, but now I'm not tired. Curse you Matt and you cat-napping skills! If this keeps up I may bother poor Peter again. Next update will be from the ground as we face down the CR 10 Share-A-Ride!

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posted by talien at 11:41 AM | 5 comments links to this post


Short Nap

I think I dozed off for a couple of minutes, just long enough to be snapped out of it by the pilot telling us we're beginning our descent. He thanked us for our business too. I think every business should legally be required to state that after you pay.

I just sneezed three times and nobody said bless you, not even my buddy Pete (and certainly not Uncon Matt (tm)). The pilot's more polite than the passengers! Go figure.

One more entry and then I'll stop yapping until we land. My next entry must be written covertly...

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posted by talien at 11:34 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Birthdays!

Matt just had a birthday, and I plan to buy him something gamerish. Anyone have any suggestions? Leave a comment (I can't read email but can reply to comments). Matt plays a fighter type in our Arcanis game--sword/shield/plate kind of guy.

Also, my brther's birthday is coming up (Joe gets my blog updates so CLOSE YOU EYES JOE!) So I'm taking suggestions on what to buy him too. He plays a lizardfolk barbarian. Leave a comment...I call upon the power of the three people who read my blog. Hi mom!

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posted by talien at 10:52 AM | 1 comments links to this post


Sonova...

I pretend to try and nap and sure enough, a steward (male version of a stewardess, right?) comes by and just grabs the empty can off of the tray between Matt and I! All that stress over throwing away a can for nothing.

Wow, my glucose levels are high now. Will try again to take a nap but a phrase keeps popping into my head:

"Can't sleep, clown will eat me, can't sleep, clown will eat me..."

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posted by talien at 10:52 AM | 2 comments links to this post


Peter

Wait, he is a gamer...and he is wearing a gamer shirt. I think he's looking at his character sheet right now. And a map. Cool, there are other gamers flying to Gen Con from the East Coast!

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posted by talien at 7:56 AM | 0 comments links to this post


In the Airport

Well, we're now in LaGuardia airport and things have already gotten interesting. I was totally oblivious (I'm still half awake), but Matt spotted Patrick Ewing and apparently his entire family.

In retrospect, I'm not sure how I missed him. He's the tallest man in the airport.

I wonder if he's going to Gen Con? Probably not. However, the airline attendant kept asking if I was with some guy named Peter, who is also going to Indianapolis. I didn't see any gamer-type shirts so I assume he's not going to Gen Con either. But if you read this Peter, great traveling with you!

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posted by talien at 7:54 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Ready, Get Set...

Okay, so now I'm wishing I could learn to instantly fall asleep. I think I'm running on a couple hours of sleep at this point, but there was much preparation to do and I don't sleep very well anyway. My secret plan is to sleep on the plane, but that never works.

A preface about the nature of this blogging thing and Blackberries. It's hard to type accurately on a Blackberry. So I apologize in advance if there are typos--I plan to go back and edit/compile my entries later.

A quick introduction to my traveling companions:
* The stalwart Matt Hammer is going with me from Connecticut. He's also graciously agreed to drive. Matt's the kind of guy you want in a pinch, because...well, because he's a lot bigger than me, and he agrees to do things like drive to the airport. And sleep on the uncomfortable roll-out bed (we'll see how that works out).
* Eric Reifert, my brother-in-law and premiere play tester. Whereas Matt's playtested my ideas because he games in my campaign, Eric playtests my published books because he actually LIKES them. He's the only person I know how's actually played all of my adventures. He's driving to Indianapolis from Michigan and will be joining us tonight.
* My lovely wife Amber. She's not going this year, but this blog is dedicated to her. Without her support, I could never go. Also, she's my agent. She ensures I eat at the right times, get to the right places, and don't make a fool of myself. Since she's not going, I'm going to have to do the clear thinking for myself. Or ask Matt.

In other words, we're screwed. :)

Five minutes before Matt picks me up. See you in the next entry!

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posted by talien at 5:51 AM | 1 comments links to this post


Wednesday, August 17

The Great Gen Con Experiment

Because I'm most certainly insane, and since I get a lot of hits to my convention reports, this year I'm doing something different. I have a Blackberry. I have a blog. Mix the two together and you get...LIVE UPDATES!

I'm not even sure that this is a realistic idea. I suspect that after awhile, typing with two thumbs is going to suck. And I don't know if I'll have access. But I don't care, it's worth a try, and besides--what else have you go to do if you're not at the con?

You heard it hear first folks. LIVE updates, instantly (or at least, when my Blackberry reaches a zone of service), as I piss and moan about our gaming events, give you scoops on the ENnies as they happen, and otherwise make a big web nuisance of myself.

If it works, I'll probably be the fastest Web reporter of Gen Con on the net. And if not? Well then I'm just a big geek. But we knew that anyway. :)

Unfortunately, Face-2-Face Games (formerly known as Monkey God Enterprises) is NOT attending. Which makes me sad, but happy for them. They can focus their efforts on cons more likely to sell board games. For those of you who would like to meet me, I'll be hanging out at Chris' RPGObjects booth #336. Poor Chris doesn't know what he's gotten himself into.

Stay tuned folks. It's going to be a wild ride...

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posted by talien at 10:17 PM | 1 comments links to this post


Friday, August 12

ENnies Location Changed!

Instead of the Crowne Plaza as originally advertised, the 2005 Gen Con EN World RPG Awards will be held at the lovely Indiana Roof Ballroom.

Next to the Embassy Suites Hotel and across from the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the Roof's main entrance is on Washington Street under the Indiana Repertory Theatre Marquee. Connected via skywalk to the Embassy Suites Indianapolis Downtown, Circle Centre, and the Indiana Convention Center and RCA Dome, this unique venue specializes in ambiance, excellent service and unforgettable atmosphere. [MORE]

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posted by talien at 9:22 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Saturday, April 23

I-CON Update

A couple weeks late, but my summary of I-CON is now live. There's even a couple of pictures. In fact, here's one! [MORE]



Dana Driscoll of Silven Publishing and Me of...well, here.

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posted by talien at 1:09 AM | 0 comments links to this post


Monday, April 18

Measuring the Impact of Your Communications

I'm off to my next panel!

You know you should measure the impact of your communications, but where do you start? On April 16, IABC’s panelists will discuss how to use measurement to maximize the effectiveness of your messages and your media results. Angela Sinickas, Michael Tresca and William J. Comcowich will present strategies, tools and best practices for measuring communications, both internal and external. [ MORE ]

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posted by talien at 11:28 PM | 0 comments links to this post


I-CON Update

My review of I-CON is coming soon, but in the mean time here are some other folks on I-CON for your reading pleasure:

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posted by talien at 5:50 PM | 1 comments links to this post


Friday, April 8

I-CON Schedule

I'm off to present at I-CON! I-CON, the Northeast's largest convention of science fiction, fact and fantasy, is held annually on the campus of Stony Brook University. Attended by over 6,000 people each year, I-CON is a three day festival, designed to encourage literacy, creativity and interest in science and technology through science fiction and its related genres. [ MORE ]

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posted by talien at 11:00 AM | 0 comments links to this post



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