Technicon 21 report
The element of Technicon that has stayed with me most this morning is the great pain in my legs from dancing too much too quickly Saturday night. Oh, yes… and I think that next time raininva and I go to India Garden, we’re ordering just bland chicken “tanders” and the garlic “naan” (bread). Our stomachs aren’t international enough for much else.
Bots, bots, bots, and marriage
I think it’s Ken Wright’s fault that every time a SCAdian refers to an “autocrat”, I picture Optimus Prime with a sword, shield, and crown.
Anyway.
Didn’t mean it to be six weeks since the last time I posted here… guess I’ve been a bit distracted. The main high point of that period would be my trip to Portland with Rain, which was pretty decent. It did trigger secret VTSFFC marriages somehow… I’m wondering who else got married that I haven’t heard about yet.
After a thorough study of the Warhammer 40K miniatures rules, I’ve figured out that I would probably enjoy the game. A quick check of the budget, and the remaining space in my apartment, tells me that I still won’t be getting involved in it 🙂
Got the BattleBots ready for T-Con… we’re only using the two big ones this year due to wear and signal strength issues. Look to your ankles!
The Borgus MarsCon Report
I had the first glass of wine I’ve had in years. Honestly, probably the best-tasting, to my preferences.
The dealer’s room had the Callahan’s Saloon softcover (“Lady Slings The Booze”) I’d been missing, and the next Miles Vorkosigan I needed. I also discovered that FanPro’s Shadowrun supplements are a lot more expensive than the old FASA stuff.
Stayed up till 3am Friday for a dot/Hack//Enemy demo. I won, but then the newbie is supposed to win demos, so they’ll get hooked on the game. I’m very cautious about getting hooked on collectible games.
Only ate one meal Friday. I thought I’d outgrown that kind of con behavior.
Rain and I gave Jesse Braxton her Xmas present – a set which included figure of Lucy Lawless, as Xena, in the style of “The Simpsons”. It went over very well.
Spaz-quested for 30 minutes Saturday trying to remember where the nearby Wal-Mart was. (We never found it.)
Learned to play “Button Men”. Discovered that the game has a few game-balance issues, but at least I ended up with a pair of Dork Tower Button Men (my entry requirements) and another pair of general fantasy ones (a fellowship prize for not throttling the little kid I played one round against).
Had a lousy dinner in the hotel restaurant. That place is just cursed, I swear.
Won two starter decks and a box of boosters for dot/Hack//Enemy in the auction. Now I can build a few decks at a bargain price, and play some before I decide if I’m really going to get involved in this.
Enjoyed another good Caprizzio show – the vibrating duck was good for a laugh, though it got a bit overused.
Managed to order pizza at 2:30 am, thereby avoiding going another 24 hours between meals.
Drove home earlier Sunday than I really wanted, but not early enough to miss the snow. We counted 6 or 7 wrecks on our side of 81 alone, and there we a couple juicy traffic-stoppers on the other side.
Overall, a good weekend – I hope more of the folks around here can make it next year.
Clearly the work of aliens, Scully
The Rising Star meeting in Blacksburg went well; afterwards, jdunson and I got into a lengthy discussion of dot/Hack. When we finally cleared ourselves from the parking lot, raininva and rattrap and rockbender and Bob and myself decided to make a quick run by Fun ‘n’ Games (MechWarrior boosters for the West Virginians and a trading card box for myself) and then grab some food.
Well, as three of us waited outside Fun ‘n’ Games, rattrap and rockbender just plain weren’t showing. Finally ‘Bender showed up and led us to an alley a couple of blocks over, in which his pickup sat on three tires and one rimless wheel. Yes, the lug nuts had all dropped off and he’d scraped his way along the street for 5 yards. Accident? We’re not completely sure.
We finally got it fixed after destroying my jack (gotta get a new one of those!) with the assistance of some nice folks at Hokie House. (A little instant karma for you guys.) Then, after getting our game stuff, we ended up at Macado’s instead because of the late hour. A little more karma to the Macado’s waiter who covered Jerry and David’s drinks for them, since they were clearly in a state.
Yesterday was far quieter. A day of concerted clutter removal and sorting in the apartment, and Rain and I were finally able to uncover carpet in the master bedroom and the living room – and now have several days’ worth of clean clothes to boot!
Another Roanoke Valley Saturday
Yesterday was quite productive, I got four other people in my office to Talk Like a Pirate.
dot/Hack definitely has raininva and myself sucked in, I’m up to seven hours of play, and I’m not sure how many Rain has. The “game within a game” aspect appeals greatly to my interests in metareality, and I’m pretty impressed with the emotional range of the characters – not something that most of my PlayStation games do much with.
Our Kellan Colt promotional figures for Shadowrun: Duels came this morning, so now we have a truly complete set of Series One. I’ve noticed that there’s already a FAQ posted on the official site with clarifications and errata. What did we gamers do before the Internet?
Rising Star has a staff meeting this afternoon in Blacksburg, and I’m looking forward to discussing ideas for the Emcee skit with rattrap and yubbie. I know that there will be other, less entertaining issues raised at the meeting, but I have a great deal of faith in RS and the people who make it happen. I see no reason yet to change my opinion.
Reboot!
Ever actually noticed your brain’s chemical balance shift?
I’d been fighting thick, heavy depression for several days, and though the battle was going well by this weekend, the war hadn’t been won. Then yesterday, it was as if I blinked in mid-afternoon and suddenly felt fine, up to dealing with my personal issues and being pleasant company to others around me. I felt the change, it was sudden and slightly disorienting.
Strange how a funk like that can be like a poorly-designed, ill-maintained roller coaster that you didn’t realize you’d gotten on until you’re screaming down the first hill. You don’t want to be on this thing, but you can’t work out any way to get off immediately, and you’ve got to ride it until an opportunity for escape presents itself.
With my 5-year wedding anniversary coming up, and Invisifest to boot, at least I should now be in a frame of mind to enjoy them properly.
Congratulations to jdunson on his birthday Monday, and to raininva for having been WizKids MechWarrior Rules Arbitrator for five days now and not having killed a single gamer fanboy yet! A further hello to the friends page of the filking blog dandelionreport. I look forward to the White Plectrum reunion at Rising Star 12!
Issuing a ranged combat “suggestion”
Went to the VTSFFC New Member Picnic Sunday, but missed most all of the new members and just hung with the old ones for a couple hours 🙂 Now, I’ve been attending VTSFFC meetings for well over a decade and a half, and raininva‘s been doing so for about a third of that time; yet as we walk up the path to the Duckpond, someone (I never did find out who) yelled, “Hey, it’s Rain… and, uh, that guy!”
Sigh. As has always been true in fandom, the hot girls get all the attention.
Spent most of the weekend getting my Lexmark printer to work right, and a lot of the rest annotating the MechWarrior:DA rulebook for my own reference. (The firestorm that incautious use of the words “attack” and “order” can cause among MechWarrior players is nothing short of incredible.)
First things first…
Happy belated birthday to meiran. My calendar said your birthday was on the 27th… on the other hand, it also said you were born in 2080, so it obviously needed a bit of correcting.
Thanks to vond, jdunson, corin_wolfkin, and the Carilion crowd for showing up at Rain’s party, and thanks to yubbie for the cake on Saturday 🙂
It was a heck of a weekend – I got a little personal time in after work Thursday, but Thursday evening I drove some stuff over to Rain’s gaming venue, and finished the evening with dinner at the Tanglewood Macado’s… Friday I went from work, to bill-paying, to home to pack for Rain’s party, to Anne-Marie’s for the actual party *puff-puff, whew*.
Saturday, over to VTSFFC click-base day, where I discovered (by running demos) that the Shadowrun Duels system is fast-paced and fun, and does lend itself to use in actual RPG situations. OTOH, Benny and jdunson both found out a click-base truism: though two sides may be even in points, the side with more figures has a noticeable advantage.
Saturday night was dinner at the Blacksburg Macado’s, where we plotted to make everyone at nius‘ high school reunion jumpy and confused, and we discussed the details of wirelessly networking sex toys.
Sunday, I had a little personal time, but it got divided between a long-distance phone call, laundry and dishes, and installing MacOS 6 on my G4. (Really – and I had a good reason.) After that, dinner with rattrap, corin_wolfkin, and Rockbender. Back home, to a couple hours of private time with the lovely raininva, and finally to bed.
And after all that – I couldn’t sleep last night!
Celestial Light and Magic
Having tried twice, this Thursday and Saturday, I’ve discovered that I can’t go to see The Matrix Reloaded without rain coming from the sky in bucket loads and lightning searing my retinas away. Apparently, it’s an extra special effect arranged by Warner Brothers.
I shaved my beard off this weekend, just to re-introduce the skin of my lower face to the outside world. So far, the reviews of this new (quite temporary) look are mixed and a bit negative.
Happy news I’ve had for a while, but not posted; I’m running the Crimson Skies marquee for WizKids on June 7, at Xtremes in Tanglewood Mall. Time to dig out Commader Coalsack’s (and the Rabbiteer’s) old rocket backpack! I’ve also got some venues interested in having me Battlemaster for them, so it looks like I will be able to fulfill WizKids’ minimum activity requirements.
Had some thoughts this weekend on gaming personas and how they relate to the player who maintains them, but that’s a lengthy, introspective post that is going to need some more thought before I put it up here.
