GENGHIS CON XXXVI!

Hello from the 36th annual Genghis Con!

For the first time in 4 years, I am back at Genghis Con :-).  Like a rare alignment of the planets, the time, money and understanding of my wife (Thank you wife xxx ooo) have all converged on the same weekend to allow me to attend the convention in it's entirety! Below, in a baring of my geeky soul, I will share my experiences.

DAY 1:

     Arrived at the convention at 5:00 p.m. and checked into the hotel. The hotel was the Radisson in Aurora 20 minutes from home. Some might question why I would pay for a 3 night stay so close to where I live. I'm going for the full experience here and it's nice to just head to the room after your done gaming late at night, to run up for  a quite break between events and to have all your gaming supplies and toys strewn about the room. So don't give me any grief about it or I will throw a baseball sized D20 at you.
     After checking in, the wife and I stood in the registration line to get our badges. I had preregistered online but still had to pick up my badge and my wife had to pick up a visitor badge. Badge numbers are based on the order in which people registered. By paying attention to other peoples badge numbers throughout the weekend you can tell how early people registered and get a feel for how many people attended the convention. So far the highest number I have seen is 1040 but the weekend is just getting started. My badge number is 7 :-).

     My first event was a semi co-operative zombie board game called The Dead of Winter. Everyone plays their own group of survivors that have banded together in a colony outside of town and must work together to take dangerous trips into town to forage for supplies exposing your survivors to zombie attacks and frostbite. Food gathered must be shared to feed the people at the colony or starvation sets in and morale starts to drop. If morale drops to 0 the game ends, nobody wins. Trash and waste need to be attended to, barricades erected and zombies killed. These tasks when left unchecked cause morale to drop. Events happen each turn, sometimes to the colony and sometimes to individuals out foraging. Players have to vote via thumbs up/down on issues that arise or a player is left to make his own decision with consequences that can affect everyone. Each group of survivors also has their own secret agenda which can conflict with the group objective and can be outright against the group. If the group thinks you are a betrayer, you can get voted out of the colony and be left to wander whats left of the frozen town nearby, risking frostbite and zombification. The game ended with the colony winning and 3 of the 5 players meeting their secret objective resulting in a 3 way tie. I was one of those 3 and felt like I had done well. Not only did I help the colony achieve success but I met my own secret goal of hoarding gas, food and weapons so I could attempt to get back home. Also I did not loose any of the survivors in my group, unlike the other groups. A roll off ensued and I rolled 2nd highest. Bah! Still it felt like a victory to me :-).

DAY 2

     The day started with a miniature painting lecture called "Leveling Up". It was informative and cool to see the work of the lady giving the lecture. She works for Reaper Miniatures and makes a living painting for them.
     After a quick lunch in the room from the mini fridge I headed to the board game room for a game of Firefly. If you are a Firefly fan then I highly recommend this game. Even if you are not a fan the game is good based on it's own merits of game mechanics and balance but the flavor of the game is what really clinched it for me. There were 5 players, 3 of whom owned the game and were well versed in the rules. I had never played the game or read the rules. I was in for a uphill fight.

      I won the roll for choosing my captain and ship first from the available choices. So naturally I picked Malcom Reynolds and Serenity herself. Perhaps this was the start of the enmity that 2 of the players had for me during the game. The game had 3 goals that had to be accomplished in order. The first to complete the 3 goals would be declared the winner. The game did an outstanding job of capturing the feel on the Firefly verse. Serenity needed a constant supply of fuel and parts to stay flying and earning enough credits to pay for these, hire crew, buy equipment and keep the crew happy and still have a profit took some planning. Not to mention needing to become solid with Mr Universe, visit Miranda deep in Reaver territory and amass 10,000 credits to win. As the game progressed I found two of the experienced players (who where friends) taking every opportunity to throw hardship my way. Each time a card was revealed that gave them a chance to move a Reaver ship or the Alliance ship to intercept Serenity they would,  without a moments hesitation, moved that ship directly to me. Each time they had 4 other players to choose from but they never did. I decided to take this as a compliment. Despite being at an experience disadvantage, I was still the biggest threat.  I was able to slip  out of confrontation numerous times with the Reavers which I could clearly see frustrated my antagonists. When it became clear that we would run out of time before the game ended normally, the referee declared new and in my opinion unfair win conditions. At this point with only two turns left each, I was the only one who had met the first win condition and thus was the only player with a large goal token in my pile. Prior to the announcement by the referee I thought "Sweet, I got this". Then suddenly it was who had the most money wins and my goal token suddenly was only worth 1,000 credits. Quickly switching gears, I planned out my next two turns and realized I could complete one more job and pull in enough credits to still take the win. I had made it to a planet in Alliance controlled territory and picked up some contraband which I quickly stored in my secret hold. I was one turn away from making a short and low risk flight to another planet to deliver the goods and collect my credits for the win. I could sense the bitterness radiating from one of my antagonists as he too saw the writing on the wall. Then by a total stroke of ill luck, one of my enemies drew the one card out of hundreds that allowed him to move the Alliance ship directly to my location at the worst time for me. I had an outlaw on board, a warrant issued for my arrest and a cargo hold full of contraband. Contraband seized, money spent to bribe my way out of the  warrant and my outlaw narrowly avoiding arrest, my hopes of completing the job and collecting the needed credits to win on my next turn were dashed. I was a bit pissed but kept it to myself and congratulated the winner and helped clean up before departing. I decided that if it took being ganged up on by experienced players and having the win condition suddenly changed 2 turns before the game ended to bring me down then I played well.

     The day ended at 1:30 a.m after a marathon auction in which I purchased a few games for the girls and sold my Starfarers of Catan for $110! Yay!

DAY 3:

     Day three started with a game of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. The last edition of D&D that I fully learned and played regularly was 3rd edition. I was excited to sling some dice! I played a 1st level dwarven cleric that I named Grundig Stonebrow. The game was a series of three loosely connected scenarios. The first scenario was mostly straightforward combat, the second strictly information gathering and problem solving and the third was a little exploration, some traps and a large battle at the end. It was fun and made me yearn to play in a regular game. The DM was a little fast and loose with the rules in my opinion but it was understandable. There were 7 of us gathered around the table and a strict 4 hour time slot to observe. He did a great job portraying the different NPC's and keeping the game moving along. Afterwards I met the girls in the hotel room for a quick dinner and then headed to my next event.
     The next event was a unusual game of Malifaux. Each player was to bring an enforcer class character with one upgrade. I was to compete with up to 8 other players in an effort to make it across the table through a gauntlet of zombies. It was every man/women for themselves and it was the event I was most looking forward too. The game started with the judge (the supposedly impartial person running the event) allowing in two last minute players setting us over the limit. Only 3 of us had experience playing. I could see that there was no way we would finish in four hours.

     Everyone laid out their enforcer and picked their upgrade. The judge asked everyone to announce who they were playing and what upgrade they picked. When it came to me I announced I had picked Bishop and the Scramble upgrade. This combination allowed me to move up to 15" per turn compared to everyone else having a  8"-10" movement range per turn. On a 72" table it gave me a distinct advantage. I didn't announce my advantage but the judge realized it and quickly told me there was no way he was going to let me race down the table and win. He then proceeded to enforce his declaration by essentially taking control of another players character (being played by the teenage daughter of another player, who spent the game texting and listening to music) and using her to attempt to take me out of the game. He also offered real world product rewards as a bounty on my head. The first player to take me out would get the a brand new fate deck.  I was pissed. I don't know how late the game ran but I bowed out at 11:00 p.m., which was the originally scheduled end time.

DAY 4

     Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast, toured the dealer room, picked up my miniatures that I had entered into the previous days contest and checked out the room. All in all I had a great time and I am looking forward to next year. People were generally very friendly but the unfortunate stereotype of the socially maladjusted gamer did pop up a couple times. Some people just can't handle loosing. I don't like loosing either but I would never cheat or behave in an unfriendly manner towards fellow players over it. Welcome to humanity I guess.

Gaming is about sharing

     I was going to open this blog with the line "I love gaming." While that is true, it doesn't sufficiently convey how I feel.  I love sci-fi and fantasy movies, books and games. I love the crazy number of genres and sub genres. Steam punk, post apocalyptic,  anime, high fantasy, horror, wild west, zombies, cyberpunk, lovecraftian horror, mmorpgs, society simulations, ccg's, larping, table top rpg's, board games, the list goes on and on. There are movies, books, forums, blogs, clothing, games, events, conventions, toys and clubs dedicated to each specific genre. You can just skim the surface or dive in as deep as you want. You will never run out of new content.
     I read a good book at night. I look forward to my monthly fix of KODT. I carry my 3DS everywhere I go and get excited every time I get a street pass. I love watching the Walking Dead. Playing board games is a favorite past time. I regularly spend time skimming and diving into the gaming world. I find however that I still feel like it's not enough and that something is missing.
     Last night my wife and I were out and we saw a movie theatre called the  Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

Intrigued we decided to head in and see what it was all about. The theatre had typical seating except for the addition of small tables between the rows. You could take your seat a half an hour before the movie started and wait staff would serve you food and drinks. Beer, wine and mixed drinks were on the menu. The movie selection was more diverse and before each movie is a pre-show video that pertains to the movie in lieu of the regular slew of commercials you get in a typical theatre. The lobby was cool and full of people.  Many of them were unusually dressed. Lot's of anime themed apparel. An announcement came over the speaker system that they were now seating theatre 7. The anime crowd gave a cheer and moved en masse. We followed along. An anime movie called Rebellion was playing. I suddenly found myself jealous. This is what I am lacking. The group experience. Sharing something I love with other fans. With people who are as into it as me and want to talk about it. Sharing the minutia. Sharing the passion.
     This wasn't a revelation for me, (I figured this out long ago) rather an important reminder. Life can often overwhelm you and dictate how you spend most of your time. Making time for what is important to you can take some real focus, planning and commitment. When you do get some time it is usually late at night after you have worked all day and got the kids to bed. You sneak in a little reading or play your current favorite video game to defrag. While this is good perhaps some of that time should be spent planning to make some time to get out there into the gaming community. Attend a convention, join a gaming group down at your local game store or head to a theatre to enjoy a movie with like minded people.  Gaming is about sharing :-).
   

Enchanted Grounds

Hello again!

I had a chance to head down to my favorite game store recently and take some pics with my 3DS.  It's called Enchanted Grounds and is located in Highlands Ranch, CO.

As you might have guessed from the name, it's a coffee shop and a game store! I have been to every game store in the Colorado Springs and Denver area, and this one is unique. The obvious difference here is the blending of coffee and gaming, however it goes deeper than that.
There is sadly a common theme that one runs into at gaming/comic stores and that is poor customer service. Game stores are by and large owned and operated by gamers and of course frequented by gamers. No surprise there. Gamers, bless their souls, have a negative stereotype that is not entirely undeserved. They tend to be introverts & not overly concerned with hygiene. Once you get to know them however, most gamers are very intelligent, kind hearted and gentle creatures. But back to the negative for a moment. Being introverted and a bit remiss on the house keeping, don't make for good traits when it comes to running a business. It is not uncommon for the employees of a game store to be engaged in some sort of game with fellow friends and patrons. The problem comes when a customer who is not a regular, needs assistance or is ready to make a purchase. Once they become aware of your existence, they exhibit visible irritation that their game is being interrupted by your need to contribute to their continued employment. The average game store also tends to be a bit unkempt with dusty shelves, old sun bleached posters advertising the upcoming release of a product that happened 2 years ago and bathrooms long over due for a good cleaning. The disorganization of the store bleeds into the admin side of running the store also with special orders rarely being filled and events not being run properly.  Some are bigger offenders than others in this category but in general these conditions exist to some degree in most game stores.

Here is where Enchanted Grounds shines. The employees are friendly and are dedicated to helping customers. The store is clean as are the bathrooms. The customer base is also diverse. There are routinely groups of business types stopping in for a coffee and a casual meeting, elderly women meeting for games of Mahjong and everyday people just stopping by to visit with friends. Amongst this mix are tables of people playing Carcassone, D&D Encounters and Magic the Gathering.

They have a good mix of RPG's, tabletop miniature games, ccg's, board games and party games. They also carry a small selection of the more mainstream comic books and have a leave one take one shelf of books. Overall this is my first choice of game stores to visit. I have yet to belly up to a table and make friends with the regulars or place a special order but I suspect I will find no issues there.
Until next time....may all your hits be crits!

Denver Comicon 2013!

     48,000 geeks descended on downtown Denver, like a swarm of zombies, on May 31st thru June 2 for the 2nd annual Denver Comic Con and I had the privilege to be there and rejuvenate my gamer soul.

     I arrived at the entrance to the convention center at 10:40 a.m. ready to walk in and buy my con badge. There were two lines stretching from the entrance. One was moving rapidly, the other wasn't moving at all. I quickly learned that I was to wait in the stationary line, which I arrived to the end of, two blocks and ten minutes later. The lines were even worse on Friday with many people walking away even though they had prepaid. Go here for the 9 news story of the event.
    After an hour and a half, nearly 20 street passes on my 3DS and lot's of people watching, I was in! Thousands of people were milling about, queuing at the atm or heading off to the dizzying array of speakers, games, events and vendor booths.
     Guest speakers included William Shatner, George Takei, Stan Lee, Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen and Peter Mayhew (the voice of Chewbacca) just to name a few. The celebs gave talks, had meet and greets and autograph sessions. Photos of the celebs were not allowed at the different events and when they were moving between them, the throngs of people clustering about did not allow me to get a decent photo.
      There was gaming of all types going on including RPGs, Table top wargaming, CCGs, boardgames and LAN parties. Movies were showing, symposiums on "How have comics affected your life" to the "Whedonverse" and everything in between went on all weekend. Go here to see everything you missed.
     People in costumes were everywhere and ranged from cardboard heads and pick axes from Minecraft to high dollar replicas of popular and obscure heroes throughout the decades. Go here to see the photos I took while at the con. There were so many costumes, I could have spent the entire weekend just taking photos and only captured a fraction of what was out there. As it was, I only had 4 hours to soak it all in.
     After getting my badge, my bearings and a copy of the Con guide, I decided to head to the exhibitors hall. The sheer volume of people and number of vendor and artist booths (nearly 700!) was overwhelming. 1up was there with several classic arcade games to play, including Donkey Kong with Steve Wiebe (from the King of Kong documentary) present on the machine trying to get a kill screen. Walter Day the retired scorekeeper from Twin Galaxies was also present at the con.
     At location 1230 was the Genesis booth. You could pick up your premier copy of the comic book that preludes a crowd funded, filmed in Colorado zombie movie that is due out in October this year. It's sure to be a B movie but I picked up a copy of the 1st issue for $4.20. I'm a sucker for all things zombie. I will be sure to watch the movie and get back to you on what I thought about it.
     Wandering back from the Genesis booth I heard some loud rock music being played nearby with a crowd of people surrounding a stage. It was Stan Lee on the drums and two other people in high dollar Iron Man costumes playing guitars on Rock Band. Highlarious!
     All manner of toys, comic books old and new, games and clothing were available in the exhibitor hall including some very cool dice rings!  Go here to learn more.

 There was a large variety of people at the con and many of them had a 3DS. I pulled in a toatl of 60 street passes(the second highest number of passes I have received in one day. The first being a day in the Harajuku district of Tokyo) with some memorable ones like an upside down face mii and a zoidberg mii. It was a great time and I found myself wishing I could have spent the whole weekend fully immersed in geeky fandom. Game on!

Black & Read

Hello again! One thing that I love to do is visit the different game stores on the front range of Colorado. One of my favorites is Black and Read in Arvada. I got a chance to go there recently and I thought I would take some pics and share my impressions of the store and why I like it.
Black and Read is a new & used book and music store with a small game section relative to the rest of the store.  The first thing to hit you when you walk in is the wonderful smell of old books and how messy the store is. The gaming section is only one aisle but it is long and crammed full of new and old RPGs, board games and card games. There are also many used sci-fi and fantasy novels from current bestsellers to old favorites. As I stepped around the many boxes of games and books that littered the floor while I perused all the gaming goodness, my ears were treated to orchestral remakes of classic Zelda songs. (The songs are available here  for free until June 12 2013.) Tucked away around the corner at the end of the aisle is old RPGs and modules. I have picked up the 3 core books for 1st and 2nd edition AD&D plus some old skool favorite modules over the years. They take your old games and books here for cash or store credit too if you are needing to down size your game collection.
Whether you are hunting for a copy of an old favorite that you have lost or thinking about expanding your board game base, then this place is worth a visit. If you are looking for a friendly local game store to frequent each week, meet new people and play games, then you will be disappointed.

If you have yet to tune into the Walking Dead then what are you waiting for?! Even if you aren't a zombie fan, this show is intense! 15.2 million viewers for the mid season finale set an all time viewer record for a basic cable show. I know, I am over a month late in watching the last episode (damn kids/job/remodel) but I finally did last night and it was the most intense episode I have ever watched. My heart was actually racing while I was watching it! Keep in mind I am a geek and love zombie media but even so it was very well done. Here is the AMC Walking Dead site and you can watch season 1 and 2 on Netflix. I have the season pass via apple tv and it's well worth it. We have fellow zombie fans come over after the kids go to bed on sunday nights to get our fix. Also worth checking out is the Walking dead comic book. I recommend getting the compendiums. There are two, each one thick enough to stop a small caliber bullet.

The show parallels the comic in some ways and but often goes it's own direction. It's worth reading the compendiums and watching the show. Personally I think they compliment each other. List price is $59 but I have seen it for sale for as low as $33. I checked out both volumes from the library. $free :-). I hope you enjoy as much as I do!

KoDT!

If you are a gamer and have yet to check out KoDT, odds are you are missing out. KoDT was originally created in 1990 as short strips in another gaming magazine called Shadis, which is no longer. By 1994 the knights had there own comic book. It has evolved into a comic/gaming magazine and is currently on issue 192. Each issue is packed with nerdy goodness. Sampled above are three images of typical KoDT cover art. Many of the covers parody gaming culture, cult movies/games and old fantasy art that anyone who grew up in the 70's and 80's playing rpgs will recognize. The heart of the magazine is the comic strips of the knights and the world they live in. There have been many story arcs, some short and some appearing on and off and stretching over many, many issues. The Knights live in Muncie, IN and live for playing the game. Some story arcs center on their in game exploits and others focus on other gaming groups in Muncie as well as out of game events that affect their lives. It is well written and the characters have become very well developed over the years. The characters live stereotypical gamer lives. For example the game master of the group is the assistant manager at the local pizza shop and lives in his moms basement despite being in his 30's.
Outside of the comic strips there are articles, forums, letters, reviews and sometimes mini-games included in the magazine. New products and the latest in trends from the gaming community are reported here. KoDT is published by Kenzer Co. They also have many original Kenzer Co games on the market. Their flagship fantasy rpg is called Hackmaster. Lot's of supplemental material for the game can be found in the pages of KoDT. Even if Hackmaster isn't your game, there is plenty to enjoy in the magazine.
I have been reading the magazine for 12 years and have every issue but issue one(I have the bundled reprint containing issue #1 but not the original). Reading the comic feels like coming home so to speak and is a great stress reliever for me. My father in-law who is a casual gamer at best, was over and saw the magazine laying around and picked it up and ended up reading all the strips and loving it. He is currently borrowing the reprint of issues #1-3. Who would have thought? I hope this inspires someone to try the magazine :-).