GenCon 45

We just got back from GenCon 45 in Indianapolis.  There were a lot of ups and downs but in general I had a really great time.

Wednesday night when everyone arrives, the usual gang meets up at Buca di Beppo.  It is a family style Italian restaurant.  It is loud and crazy and at the same time has this strange way of making everyone family.  It is a little intense for me, but this year I got to enjoy its jois de vivre as well.  It is a nice way to start the week.

It being GenCon there was of course a lot of games.  I played a couple of games of Brass and Steel and decided to pick up some of their materials.  I am debating whether or not I am up for running my own LARP using one of their quick starts.  I also played a couple of LARPs that involved some wacky hijinks.  They were both playtests so there were some details to iron out, but I had a good time.

This year I decided to do some costuming.  I made a steampunk-esque costume for Friday (skirt and apron with an exterior corset-the first one that I made was too large so I steampunked it).  Saturday I wore my Victorian polonaise.  I have been working on this for about a year and made all the foundation garments and exterior garments myself.  One of the LARPs for Saturday was set in the Morris-Butler house which is a restored Victorian home.  The LARP itself was supposed to be Edwardian themed but all the participants had a variety of costumes from Victorian to 1920s.  This was one of the best LARP experiences I have had.  Aside from the unbelievable setting, it felt like all of the players were committed to creating an atmosphere.  I have had some of the best in-game conversations in my brief game experience.

The house was unbelievable.  I want to go back and take a regular tour so  that I can learn more about it.  The restoration group did such an amazing job creating an atmosphere of "home".  The details were incredible and included a pair of handmade knit socks and some tatting in process on one chair.  The remade kitchen was just magic.  I loved every moment.


There were some incredible costumes this year.  I have noticed that there are some interesting levels of costume at GenCon.  For some people it is a chance to wear all the wacky things they don't get to wear in everyday life.  Then there are the pre-made costumes that no one ever seems comfortable in, but they offer a good start.  Then there are the costumes that are made like clothes.  In the end, I think the best clothes are the ones that the wearer owns the look.  Some costumes wear the person.  Some costumes are worn.  One of the Darth Vader's was so well-played that people cleared a path for them. 

GenCon provides a good opportunity for geeks to be awesome.  It is fun to be apart of that.

Nostalgia

All of this talk of gaming and LARPs and role-playing reminded me that my first RPG experience was actually when I was pretty young. My older brother and his friend used to play red box D&D when they were in high school. I was actually in elementary school, and since my brother got stuck watching me a lot, I was around when they played. At one point in time they made me a character and every once in a while I got to role some dice. I had no idea what was going on in general; it was just fun to get to be a part of it. Apparently, I got a lucky die role that significantly advanced my character and that was the end of my game playing.

However, they decided instead to make up a little interactive scenario for me. Looking back I realize it was my first LARP. I was a little squire who was learning to sword-fight (I was given rules/commandments by the master) and then sent off into the woods to go on quests or return things to the dungeon. After my first one, they gave me a little red squire's tunic and I was so proud. I dashed about in my costume following clues. I remember one time I had solved everything and reached the location but couldn't find the dagger. It was above my head, and I just couldn't think to look for it. They had taken a wedge of old wood and spray-painted it copper and made a hilt out of duct tape. I loved those games when I was a kid and they are some of my fondest memories.

Years later I was going through my closet and I found my little squire's tunic. My mom told me the real reason they made it for me was because they couldn't see me in the woods and the bright red fabric made it easier for them to track my movements.

GenCon Wrap Up

Things got a little hectic at GenCon so the rest of my posts will have to be summarized in one. When last I left off, I was getting ready for my evening LARP on Thursday night. This one was based on the Spycraft RPG from Crafty Games and took place on a research facility in Antarctica. I walked into the room and was only the second female in the room so I was a little concerned that maybe I missed some directions. It worked okay though. I ended up playing a doctor sent by the Agency to assess the research being done at the facility. I was able to accomplish my main objective. The latter part moved a little slowly after that but I think that was more because not all of the GMs they were expecting showed. The story was interesting though.

On Friday, my LARPs didn't start until the afternoon so I spent the morning just relaxing. I went for a swim and took care of some things online and reviewed my character data for my first LARP that afternoon. This one was set in Paris in a vaguely Victorian+fantasy setting. I played a sorceress with a scientific bent who was invited to an evening party because her recent work had put her in the press a lot. This suited her interests because it meant having the opportunity to network with new potential clients. I ended up accomplishing my task but there were all sorts of subplots I completely missed out on.

Afterwards, I had a quick dinner and met my husband for dessert at Circle City Bar and Grille in the Marriott Hotel. They really make an effort to accommodate the geek clientele that descends upon the city with special menus and decorations. And the food is pretty good too. I only had dessert but I almost never order dessert in restaurants because the quality is only fair to middling most of the time. This was amazing however. It was a "butter cake" which had a flavor and texture somewhere between a sugar cookie and a pound cake with ice cream and some sort of creamy egg custard poured over it. So rich and so sinful and so good.

That evening I played in a Castle Falkenstein game based on the Courting Murder scenarios. This game focused more on figuring out the various plots and subplots and attempting to manipulate the situation to work out in one's characters favor. I failed miserably at this one. I enjoyed it, but I think this type of game may not be the best fit for me. At least without some sort of puzzle or task to throw in. It is interesting how one's alliances change when they find out you might be useful in a pinch. It was also a little weird because I had found I was willing to start being more brave and come out of my comfort zone a bit in the LARPs I had participated in until this one. It may have been that I actually new some of the other players which threw off my game a little bit. I am not sure. Interesting dynamics and I learned some things.

Saturday morning was the LARP I attempted to costume for. I borrowed a skirt and blouse from a friend (along with an unbelievably fabulous hat) and I made a vest to go with it so that I could be vaguely suitable for a steampunk LARP. This LARP was billed as being more "immersible" and I thought my modern dress would stand out more in this scenario.

When I started signing up for events after GenCon registration, I wasn't really sure where to begin. I don't know that much about LARPing or where I fit in the genre. Also, from some pre-Con advice I received, GenCon LARPs can be so widely variable from one group to the next so you can't always imagine just what exactly to expect. I ended up choosing this LARP for a very silly reason...the group hosting it dubbed themselves "The League of Unspeakable Adventure" and I thought that if the name was any indication they must be be fun. And they were. The set was indescribably cool...in fact I forgot a couple of times that walls weren't walls and almost knocked them over. The GMs were great. It took me a while to warm up into my character (which was really more me then the group I believe) but once I came up with an idea and went to the GMs for help, they were totally game. They went out of their way to help me with my idea and help make things work. And I don't think it was just me. I talked to some other people who played other LARPs they ran that weekend and even though the experiences were vastly different in terms of the way the story evolved they too sounded like the GMs really did their best to make the game fun and successful. They work with the Rise of Aester world. If this group comes back next year I will absolutely sign up for whatever they run. I need to start working on my steampunk costuming

After that, I changed and headed over to the exhibit hall to do my crawl through the vendors. There is a ton of stuff to see and hear. I heard the TARDIS music and was immediately drawn to it. It was interesting to see all the demos and games taking place. Gaming really exists on a multitude of levels and it is going in so many exciting new directions. I drooled over the model building stuff. I really loved dioramas as a kid. In fact in school whenever a diorama project came up, I was there. I built some really fun stuff in our basement when I was a kid. Nothing brilliant mind you but I really loved it. I think I would get into model building as an adult except it is really expensive and there isn't a good place for it. It was fun to stare at the displays though and imagine. I watched some board games. It is interesting that the games I thought I would love were not quite what I expected, and the games that seemed less then stellar grabbed my attention in the end. I really liked Fortune and Glory from Flying Frog Games. I also picked up a copy of the game Impossible Machine. It is a simple mechanic but I like the concept. And, Brothers Knudson are good at including visual aids in their game instructions.

Some of the artists I saw that I liked (including Echo of course):
Jared Blando - I really liked his cartography work.
Doug Kovacs - he had some really interesting Green Man based art work
Fallenlights - she had some really lovely pieces and I think some of my friends have some of her work because I have seen them before. I actually bought a little pin from her booth
John Stanko - I thought his work really had a life and vitality of his own. I was really moved by the emotions he was able to capture on the subjects faces.

I met up with my husband after my crawl and we went out for dinner at a sushi restaurant and then I headed off to play True Dungeon. This game was a last minute addition to my schedule. I enjoyed the experience immensely but I was also frustrated by this game. Knowing what to expect though I fully plan to play again in the future. The interactive puzzles were fun even with some set backs. The dragon ultimately ate my face.



This doesn't even cover all the other intangible GenCon impressions. Some of the costumes were so amazing. And, I really liked the feeling that people seemed like they were free to be themselves. I don't think I have ever been somewhere that people could just explore their weird geekiness in a non-judgemental way.

I definitely had a great time and I am already thinking about all the things I want to do next year.

Gen Con Day 1

I have arrived in Indianapolis for my first Gen Con. My husband has been going for many years and this was my first opportunity to get to go with him. Given my recent obsessions with LARPs, I think I was a little more ready to take the big leap.

The drive down was nice and productive; I got some knitting done. We arrived last night and went out to dinner at Buca di Beppo which was really good if a little overwhelming. It is family style Italian and there is an unbelievable quantity of food. I really enjoyed their garlic mashed potatoes and while everything was very tasty I think I enjoyed the red wine sangria the most...or at least that was the thing I was craving the most. By the time we were done with dinner it was too late to stop in and get my swag bag and the pool had closed do I just took a shower and went to bed.

Saturday morning, I played the ever popular "stand in line for an hour and a half" game. I think it was the most well-attended event of the Con if perhaps not the most loved. I did a quick browse through the exhibit hall and spotted a few things I liked and a few demos I want to try later on (I didn't have enough time today; There was a lot I missed but I get overstimulated pretty easy). I got to meet Echo and I did buy a few of her prints. Her work is so amazing. I was really shy though and a total fangirl but she was gracious. (It looks like she updated her website and I just realized that some of my favorite pieces of visual advertising have also been her pieces. Not surprised at all).



LARPs generally take place in Union Station which is such a gorgeous space to play in.

I participated in my first LARP this morning. It was loosely based upon the Girl Genius comic. I played a spark/heir. It was enjoyable in that they made some really interesting puzzles to play with. It was a little hectic for me so I am not sure if I was very much fun to play with. I had a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time, so I didn't succeed on some of my goals. All the puzzles were so distracting, and I wanted to fix them all. At one point we couldn't find the pieces to fix a puzzle so we started improvising and at one point there were 5 characters holding times onto the grid to complete the circuit. It was appropriate if you know anything about Sparks from the comic and the GM considered giving us the win except that it would have really rearranged the storyline. While looking for clues, I also overturned a chair and found a "You are a winner" sticker on the bottom. Sadly it was only a coincidence.



It finished earlier then expected so I had time to go for a swim and take a shower. I am going to wrap a few things online and then go grab some dinner. I rushed through my lunch because of timing constraints and I would like to take a more leisurely time of it with dinner. Then it is on to the next LARP of the evening.

Chicago

Our first honeymoon, aside from spending time with my spouse, was sort of disappointing due to a variety of factors. It will be a while before we will be able to afford the trip to Greece we would like to take; however, we decided to try a second attempt and take a long weekend in Chicago. We were heading there for a LARP over Memorial Day weekend and decided to combine the two.

While preparing itineraries for a conference that was being held in Chicago a year or so ago, I stumbled across a website for a museum. I have been wanting to visit the International Museum of Surgical Science since I came across it. This seemed like an ideal time because they had a special exhibit, similar to the more well-known "Body Works" exhibits displayed across the country, that incorporated preserved human tissue in among the regular information. I have to say it really enhanced the information and education the museum provided. While the quality of the preservation was not good as other examples, it was more closely tied to what I wanted from that type of exhibit...education. Anyway, there were a lot of great displays, and it was really rewarding to see things I encounter at work. I also really enjoyed the apothecary shop display they had and the cross-sections linked to the x-ray technology really enhanced the information. As an added bonus, the museum is housed in a historic house/mansion so there were some neat little nooks and crannies including a bathroom hidden in the wall.



Following the IMSS, we went to the Adler Planetarium. I have never been before. The building was beautiful and it was so great to be on the lake during a storm with all of those windows. My brain was a little overloaded at that point in time from my first museum trip so we were much more leisurely. I saw some beautiful old telescopes but most of our educational time involved watching some of their shows. There are some great interactive events for kids like remote control simulation with a "Mars Rover" and crater formation. I think this is definitely a place I would like to go to with my kids someday. We didn't make the aquarium, but I am looking forward to going back for that purpose.



Chicago is an interesting city. There are places of absolute beauty with amazing architecture and installments and in the same panorama you get some of the ugliest ill-kept landscapes I have seen. There is a lot of juxtaposition.

We got to do one of my favorite things on this trip...camping out in our hotel room, watching TV in bed. It was great to get some downtime during this trip to watch bad cable snuggled up in bed. It is such a decadent luxury.

Sunday afternoon we went to a friend's house to participate in a LARP. This is my third LARP experience. I have to say while I have long been a geek, it wasn't until I found a joy for LARPS that I really felt like a gamer-geek. Most of my fandoms don't have a community outlet (at least not collectively). LARPing however usually requires other people.

This LARP had a lot of elements. In fact there were a lot of good story lines and a number of ways in which the game could be altered based upon the choices the character made. This was both good and bad. I love storytelling which is what I think LARPs do better then RPGs and there were definitely a lot of stories. However, it was occasionally frustrating to try to accomplish my character's goals when they depended on others who decided they wanted to play a different game. The game was certainly not what I expected. I had a good time overall; I definitely learned some things about LARPs.

Fondue!

We hosted for the second time our New Years Day party which involves food and games and such. I think it went well though I really over-cooked. We had ranch chicken wings, bbq pork, pita with 2 kinds of hummus, various cheeses, chips, etc. And there was fondue!

I found a recipe online for a traditional three-cheese fondue and I really liked the way it turned out. I was skeptical of how it would work because I am not a fan of swiss cheese or cheeses of that ilk. I bought some nice specialty cheeses from a local market and it turned out dangerously yummy. I also made a chocolate fondue that we flavored with cinnamon that was creamy and decadent and .... *drool*

Fondue is totally awesome!

I also had an amazing time at the LARP (called "Clerical Error) I went to the other day. I was worried at first given my lack of experience, but it ended up going well and the way the story unfolded was just plain awesome. They are running the game at Intercon K this year so I will refrain from going into more detail. I think LARPs are something I want to explore more of in the future.