Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Classic Con Report - San Diego Comic Con 2014



High light: Thursday, walking around wide-eyed and stunned at the sheer hugeness of the experience.

Low light: Time is a con-goer's most precious resource. To do anything at the show seemed to required a minimum wait of an hour, with the most popular stuff like Hall H requiring camping out overnight.

Best experience: Attending an open pitch panel for Thrillbent, the online comics site created by John Rogers and Mark Waid. Mark stayed on after the panel to listen and critique everyone's pitches, even though he didn't have to.

Worst experience: The Geek and Sundry Lounge was hot as balls and the venue seemed to be confused about the events they were running.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): Finding the one Atomic Robo trade I didn't have in one of the 50% bins.

Best Freebie: There were a lot of collectors bags from Warner Brothers, but I'm going to go with my Gotham lanyard/promo card.

Most welcome surprise: I'm not a physical wreck after the show. I packed light, got plenty of sleep and didn't have a bag of gaming books on my back.

Most unwelcome surprise: I was originally supposed to fly out Wednesday night and got bumped to the Thursday morning redeye. That gave the weekend a compressed feeling that I never quite got over.

Best costume: There was an Ursula costume at the Masquerade with articulated arms and everything. If Disney ever does a full-blown Little Mermaid stage show, they need to hire that designer.

Coolest booth: The Marvel booth was the beating heart of the show, especially when it brought celebrities by to clog up the aisle.

Strangest moment: The one original sketch at the Masquerade about farting and a scooby style mucus monster and I seriously wonder if it even happened of it was just a hallucination brought on by a Joker cosplayer's Smilex gas.

Favorite item available in the Exhibit Hall: 

Purchased:
Half-off trades
Gifts
ISIS Badge Holder

Swag:
Con ticket
Hotel room
WB bag
Gotham lanyard
Penny Dreadful lanyard

Sold out:
Pacific Rim experience

Things to buy after the con:
Even more comics

Best Quote:
"The exhibit hall is like the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark except everything is for sale."

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Hillfolk - Ennies voting

I've been lucky this year to be involved with a lot of cool projects that are seeing some award love. Hillfolk was a chance to work with one of the living legends of RPG design and I got to do it twice with Mafia Century and Encore. Hillfolk is up for both a Diana Jones Award and an Ennie. The decision Diana Jones Award is up to the mysterious council of elders, but the Ennie is up to you, the fashionable gamer. Please consider voting for Hillfolk when you see it as one of the nominees in the voting booth.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Firefly RPG - X-Mas in July

If you're a PDF gamer, DriveThruRPG's X-Mas in July sale is a great way to stock up on great games that have come out over the past year.

If you're a Firefly gamer, the sale offers all the PDFs at 25% off, including the core book and my adventure, Bucking the Tiger. That's the adventure I'll be running at San Diego Comic-Con.

The sale runs till July 28th.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Firefly RPG - @San Diego Comic-Con

The gaming schedule is up. If you want to sign up for my Firefly RPG events, check out the website. If you happen to be close, personal friends with any of the cast, feel free to invite them to come by.

Otherwise, I'll be the bewildered Midwesterner wandering the floor. Come say hi!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Milwaukee Record - Welcome to Night Vale Interview

The radio play found new life on podcasts. Welcome to Night Vale is a spooky series featuring a small, Southwestern town where the strange is normal and every conspiracy is true. The creators took the show on the road and are coming to Milwaukee next week. I got a chance to talk to them before their show on Monday.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Review - Bucking the Tiger

Here's another review of Firefly RPG. Scott used Bucking the Tiger as his one shot of choice and came away with a great view of the game.

Milwaukee Record - Ren Faire Costume Guide

My previews of our excellent nearby Bristol Renaissance Faire continue on the Milwaukee Record.