Society for Aesthetic Deletions

GenCon was a lot of fun. And believe it or not, I bought NO t-shirts this year! My dear husband did, which was amusing because usually he doesn't buy any. I did leave with one t-shirt, however. Lou, myself, our friends Pat and Betsy who were making their first trip to GenCon, and two players we picked up at our first session, named ourselves the Cheshire Chimps and finished in Third Place in this year's NASCRAG tournament! Hoody Hoo!

About NASCRAG: NASCRAG stands for the NAtional Society of CRAzed Gamers. They're an organization that runs very fun, yet very silly, D&D tournaments every year at GenCon. I had heard about them from friends of mine who played way back in the early-mid 90s, and back in 1999 I tried it out, solo. I knew I could join a team, and I found a good set of guys to play with and we made it all the way to the third round. We did not win anything, and I have no idea how well we did or didn't do, but the guys kinda lost it in the last round, so concentrating on the game that they didn't do a lot of the RPing that is also judged/scored, and I'm sure that's partly why we didn't make it.

I must have skipped a year, probably the year we couldn't go to GenCon because we needed to buy a new refrigerator! But Lou and I both signed up for the 2001 tourney. We got stuck with poor people for the first round, and I don't think our team advanced but we were alternates. We didn't want to play with them again, and the whole experience wasn't as fun as it had been the year before. Fortunately, Lou recognized the potential, but we decided to wait to try again until we had a whole team, or close to it, of people we knew.

So, since we got Pat & Betsy to go this year, we all signed up for the same first round slot - Friday from 1:00 to 5:00. And we fortunately found two great gamers (Chris and Sharon) to fill out the team of 6 needed to play. Coming up with a team name is part of the NASCRAG experience, as well as coming up with a team cheer. We had not thought it out well enough in advance, so at the last minute we ended up being the Cheshire Chimps, with our cheer being basically monkey sounds of "ook oook oook." It sounded to me, alas, too much like Arsenio Hall dogpound noises, but hey, we had fun.

We had an awesome first round judge, and we kept her in stitches, and solved all the puzzles and even got in a good amount of roleplaying. The husband and I played a married pair, but I was the big dumb male human fighter, and he was the willowy beautiful female elven ranger. P&B played my character's brothers, and two more elves rounded out our group. We thought we did well in the first round, and checked the standings Saturday morning and found we had indeed advanced to Round 2, which ran at 1:00 to 5:00. This round didn't go as well, I felt. We hit all our points, got some roleplaying in, but the judge was a bit harried, perhaps slightly unprepared, and terribly distracted by the HUGE amount of noise in our room. We even switched rooms, but that only brought the noise level down to just able to hear each other if we leaned in close at the table and cupped our ears most times.

However, we advanced, hopefully due to Lou's puns and the jokes everyone shared (part of the adventure was to try to make this troll laugh, so he wouldn't throw rocks at you!). And that meant we were part of the final 12 teams. But, we did end up losing one of our players, as Chris had plans with his wife he could not get out of. We picked up a kid from the alternate list, and he played pretty well. Some of our rhythm was off because of the sub, alas. But we finished within time, and got in a lot more roleplaying. The two judges we had were the guy who does all the art for the tournament/organization, and the editor of the module. They worked well together...sometimes too well, we had to get their attention as they were busy RPing with each other a few times, but we still had a blast.

The last slot ran from 7:00 to 11:00 on Saturday, so we basically had time to get dinner and come back to check to see if we had advanced. Then the award ceremony followed that. It didn't get started until midnight at least, and they had a whole presentation before it, since it was the 25th anniversary of NASCRAG. It made for a VERY long night, but we were psyched when we got third place! We got a whole bunch of prizes that were donated by companies, and a free t-shirt celebrating us as winners.

As for the rest of the convention, we played an 8:00 game on Sunday, and I made Lou promise that we would not schedule that early a game if we do NASCRAG again, because we were SO dragging on Sunday morning. The game was an Everway one, where I played a character I created called "Given to Serpents." Everway is an odd diceless game, but I do love it, and the GM, Kat Miller, is one that Lou has played with many times before. She is a great gamemaster and though we were tired, she was tired, and two of the other two players were eating strange things (grape leaves followed by chocolate frosting (the paté they couldn't eat because they forgot the crackers in the room)), we had a good time.

But I'm starting at the end, aren't I? On Thursday we played Bill Seurer's GURPS Fallout game, which was a lot of fun, though it ended a bit earlier than the GM had planned (Lou and I always try to play in Bill's GURPS games at GenCon). We had just managed to hit all the prepared points in three of the four hours of the slot, but it gave us time to make a brief run at the dealers room before our next game. That was a Four Colors Al Fresco game, a home grown system that I still don't understand how it works, but it's mostly a narrative game (meaning you just explain what you do and the GM tells you what is and isn't possible. For the most part, everything you try (within reason) works). It's also a pulp-style game, with over the top heroes and villains, and lots of pontificating rather than beating each other up. This game ended VERY early...two hours into the four-hour slot the game was over. I was worried this was becoming a trend, but all the other games I played in pretty much filled the entire slots, so that was good. The GM was not originally supposed to run this game, and I also think we broke him with all our jokes and punning and generally having fun at his, and our, expense.

Friday was the first NASCRAG slot, but not until the afternoon. Lou was out at an early game, which let me sleep in late and then I attended a seminar by the author/artist of the gaming comic Nodwick and the wonderful kid superhero school comic, ps238. Aaron Williams was pretty neat, and I wished I had been able to attend his later seminar about coloring comics/art using Photoshop, but it was at 1:00, and that's when NASCRAG was, so... *sigh* I hung around after his seminar for another free one, this one about writing. Mike Stackpole, Matt Forbeck, Tracy Hickman, and R.A. Salvatore were supposed to talk about writing. Tracy was late, and Bob Salvatore never showed. I heard many things I already knew, and heard a lot of wanna-be writers ask the questions I asked many moons ago. Still, it was enjoyable. I need to pick up some of Stackpole's books. I've only got some of his old RPG books from Flying Buffalo Games.

As I was on my way out of that seminar, I saw two people who looked familiar on their way in. I couldn't place them at first - you know how it is when you see someone in a different place than you expect? Well, it took me about thirty seconds to realize that it was Jon & Carol Reese, there with bought-at-the-con 4 day badges! We chatted for a bit, and tried to make plans to get together, but other than running into Carol briefly between the two NASCRAG slots on Saturday, we did not manage to catch up with them at all. I should also mention that Lou and I made our yearly connection with Sue Grau, which usually consists of passing in the hallways and dealers room.

I am really glad I kept Saturday free. If we had not advanced in NASCRAG, I would have been REALLY at loose ends. But if we hadn't made it to the third round, I was going to try to get into the No-Limit Texas Hold'em tourney that they were having each night from 8:00 to midnight.

I did not attend any of Kij Johnson's seminars this year, though I did recommend them to Betsy. However, all her seminars (IIRC) were in the Omni Severin (as were many of the writing seminars), and that was too far for her to walk. I don't think she hit any of her seminars - I know she got lost trying to find one. I think next year they're going to try for a local hotel, instead of staying with Pat's parents or his brother.

Sunday was the Everway game, then I headed to do a last pass of the dealers room and look for the stuff Michael and Jack asked us to look for, as well as anything else I wanted. I dropped about $120 in a half-hour, though about half of that was the guys' purchases. I found Lou and after a trade of food (for him) and money (for me), I went back to the DR and got this (NOT QUITE WORK SAFE...naked girl ass ahead!) not in full size alas, but matted very nicely. The larger print was twice the price, even if it was "collectible," we don't really have a place to put it. Lou was happy with the purchase, as I thought he might be. The woman in the picture reminds me of Sana, his half-celestial bard in my Friday game, and I wanted to get some big art since we had the car and could actually easily bring it back. Next year, I may forego L.A. Williams art and get Nene Thomas instead. I'm finding Ruth Thompson's stuff not as appealing to me as I advance in age.

(I did get into the Art Show for a brief tour around, on Friday, I think.)

After spending all that money, I fled back to the room so I would spend no more. Oh yes, I did buy some dice, too. A set of d6s (in anticipation of playing something with the new GURPS 4th edition) and another set of 7 D&D dice in a pretty red and gold.

We went to Ruth's Chris Steak House for our usual Sunday night dinner, and brought P&B with us. We had warned them about the prices, but Pat was still shocked, I think. We all split some veggies and some had veggies to themselves and Lou and I split the Porterhouse for Two, which I couldn't finish my part of, alas. Still had room to split a dessert. By that time, though I'd had a nap earlier, I was still tired, and didn't have the energy for the new tradition of going to see a movie after dinner. But it did let us use the pool and hot tub/spa again (we'd used it Wednesday, and Friday, and Lou used them on Thursday though I went down with him, I didn't go in).

The two days of travel on each end was definitely a good idea. We got as far as Cambridge, OH on Tuesday, though I had wanted to make it to Zanesville. It was only about 15-20 miles further, but I was tired and wanted to stop (and I was driving). Interesting sight of the day: a motorcyclist on our right side on an other four-lane divided highway in New Jersey (after we got onto Rt. 78) decided to pop a wheelie as we were all going up an incline. While the road is also packed with 18 wheeler trucks. He stayed with it for a good while, changing lanes into ours about three cars ahead of where we were driving. It was really wild, in all senses of the word. I slowed down (it was my turn to drive) when I saw him, because I had visions of him falling over and us running over him, or getting into an accident while trying to avoid him.

I had intended to keep a daily diary, and the above paragraph was part of day one's entry. But I only did day one, as I was just too plain lazy. Internet access was still $10/day, and if I had had Saturday free due to not advancing in NASCRAG, I might have bought a day. But since we were paying $17/day for parking at the hotel (that was their "discounted" guest rate), I decided that it wasn't worth it. It wasn't even wireless, which they had at the convention center, but also at $10/day.

On the return trip, we tried to make it out of PA but after looking at the hotel situation where we would be crossing into NJ, we decided to see how far we could go, and stop in Easton, PA if we were tired. I was tired (driving again), and though it took a bit of driving off the highway to find the hotel, we stopped and stayed at a Best Western. Found out when we were leaving the next morning that Pat & Betsy had also stayed there that night! They left on Sunday after dinner to get a head-start on the road, and planned to take it over three days travel. They only went about an hour and a half on Sunday, though. We all hit breakfast together at a Perkins not too far ahead on the road, then we blew past them and made it home a few hours before they did. We just drive faster than Pat, and he did all the driving, so they took it a lot easier.

The strangest thing of the whole convention happened on Thursday at lunch in the food court. Lou was getting food, and I secured a table. I asked a group of two or three men if they were using this small table that was next to theirs, and one of the guys, the guy diagonally across from me, said no. I pulled it away a bit, and sat down. Lou comes over with the food, and we begin to eat. He starts trying to get my attention of the guy at the table next to me, the one I didn't look at when I asked for the table. I glanced over, thinking Lou was trying to get me to look at his shirt. No, he says, his BADGE. He tells me what it says - Ken Winland. O_O!!!

I kept eating, not knowing what to do. It's been like 10 years, or more, but we didn't really part on the best of terms...I broke it off with him after driving to where he was in Toronto at school to do it) and not long after that got together with Lou. I am freaking out, but in a "I can't believe this is happening to me" amused at the world way, rather than panicked. I think he either knew all along and was waiting for me to say something, or finally realized when Lou and I kept looking at each other and trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all. So he finally spoke to us, saying something like "I think I recognize these people..." and I said "Hi Ken." We actually chatted for quite some time, and he appeared to be willing to talk to me at least, which was a good thing. We ran into him later at the con, as he was looking for some Amber mailing list folk, and wanted to know if I knew where they might be (he had asked me that before as well). It was just so freaky that I had sat next to him for at 5-10 minutes without even recognizing him. Of course, he has no hair now (he didn't have a lot before), though he still looks good. He's living in Warren now. It kept me amused at the strangeness of the world for a good portion of the rest of the con.

My undying love to anyone who has read this entire post. ;)