Gamehole Con - Classic Report

High light: The guest of honor get together at The Free House pub on Thursday night. It was everything you want in a Bar Con while everyone was still fresh faced and energetic about being at the show. I got a chance to catch up with old friends, meet new people and fan out a little bit over some of the people I admire as a designer.

Low light: Being forced outside the lovely heated walkway from the hotel to show on Saturday because of a tween dance team meet blocking the route. If that had happened on Thursday, when it was still 70 degrees out, that would have one thing, but it mean hauling a coat to my games that I didn't need.

Best experience: The organizers set up a chance to explore and buy items from the ACD warehouse located in Madison. This is likely the closest I will ever be to wandering the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Worst experience: We were told that some items in the warehouse might be unavailable due to game store order that had not been picked yet. They say there were between 20-30 items in the warehouse that would be unavailable for purchase. I picked two. 

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): I picked up a book I wrote where I'm still waiting on an authors copy years after the book came out. I confirmed at Bar Con that company is notorious on both the retail and production side for being completely unreliable.

Best Freebie: John Kovalic designed an adorable owlbear plushie that went from my suitcase directly into Batkid's crib.

Most welcome surprise: After my Firefly RPG session, the three VIG gamers at the table told me they upgraded to VIG specifically to make sure they got a space at my table.

Most unwelcome surprise: Despite sharing a room, I barely got to see much of Mighty Matt Forbeck. At least we were able to talk about the highs and lows of being a geek dad at Bar Con on Thursday.

Best game: Heebie Jeebies is a casual party game where you have to guess which of four selected cards squicks out the Judge for that round. It's a killer party icebreaker and got a table of strangers talking after less than a full round.

Most interesting game concept: Three Pillars is a Mille Bornes style game of supernatural investigation put out by a crew of actual supernatural investigators.

Sleeper game:  I am super excited to bring Star Wars Catchphrase to Nerds at Heart events.

Coolest booth: The Half-Price Books booth actually had good games for half price, rather than their usual selection of collector-priced options.

Strangest moment: Realizing I already knew one of the other guests of honor because she was one of Sarah Babe's Ingress buddies from Gen Con.

Played: 
Heebie Jeebies
Three Pillars
Fate Ghostbusters
Firefly RPG
Save Game
Atomic Robo RPG

Purchased:
Mysterium
Firefly Kalidasa Expansion
Stars Without Number
D&D5e: Out of the Abyss
D&D5e: Princes of the Apocalypse
D&D5e: Screen
Murder in Baldur's Gate
Force and Destiny: Chronicles of the Gatekeeper
Age of Rebellion: Desperate Allies
Age of Rebellion: Strongholds of Resistance
Eldritch Horror: Mountains of Madness
Eldritch Horror: Strange Remnants

Swag:
Hotel room
Bar Con tab
Guest of Honor shirt
Guest of Honor badge
Owlbear plushie
Heebie Jeebies
Marriage Material
Cash'n' Guns 2nd Edition + Expansion
Winds of Fortune
Pathfinder flip-mats

New York Comic Con 2015 - Classic Report

High light: Sharing the weekend with my mom. We've had a rough couple of years, but we spent  lot of time together at the show and just wandering New York.

Low light: Missing the one panel I wanted to attend because the subway entrance I wanted to take was closed.

Best experience: BBQ films held an event modeled on the blood rave from the opening sequence to Blade. I even brought out my Malkavian T-shirt out of retirement for one last epic LARP.

Worst experience: The only time I suffered a bad traffic jam was in Times Square. People, not cars, were jammed to a standstill on the sidewalk.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies):  This was the best use of a ReedPop pro pass yet.

Best Freebie: The foam chainsaw hand promoting Ash Vs. Evil Dead.

Most welcome surprise: I don't know if it was the con, the good weather or what but I didn't run into any stereotypically rude New Yorkers. I met so many folks that were friendly, funny and awesome.

Most unwelcome surprise: My mom only made it out to one day of the show. She still wants to go-go-go, but she's also still recovering from two cancer diagnoses in two years.

Best costume: The 9 foot tall Hulkbuster Iron Man armor stoop head and shoulders above the rest. Sorry. (not sorry)

Most amusing costume: I'll let Troy McClure speak for himself:

Best costume where my picture didn't turn out: Two kids dressed up as Daniel-san and Johnny from The Karate Kid, with the mom dressed up as the referee from the karate tournament.

Coolest booth and why: The MegaBloks Star Trek booth had a Captain's Chair build out of  

Strangest moment: Watching a pair of fellow Midwesterners wander into a sketchy garage just to take a picture of the Lamborghini up on blocks inside.

Favorite item available in the Exhibit Hall: there was a booth selling cardboard replicas of water towers and billboards you could paint over for your desk. They brought in well-known graffiti artists to replicate their more famous works.

Purchases:
Sidekicked
The First Law of Mad Science
Ms. Marvel
Astro City
Scam
The Red Ten

Free Stuff:
Foam Chainsaw
Lanyard
Jessica Jones Photo

Couldn't Find It:
Neocomicon

Best Quote: "I don't remember you asking me if I wanted to go to the blood rave." -Mom

Classic Con Report - Gen Con 2015

High light: I met a lot of people that influenced my career choices at this show. Joe Dever, in particular, wrote the first fantasy books I ever read and he was fantastically charming and gracious. I'm going to be a dad next year and I can't wait to bust out the boxed set for the baby when he or she is old enough.

Low light: Not enough time. I feel like I missed seeing so many people at the show.

Best experience: Sunday night dinner at St. Elmo's continues to be a highlight of the con. That first bite of the Filet Mignon is like a vacation within a vacation.

Worst experience: Finding out some bad family health news on the way home. Nothing like crying in a Steak and Shake parking lot to kill off your big post-Gen Con buzz.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): 4 D6 Star Wars books I didn't have for $18.

Best Freebie: Gene Ha, the artist for the award-winning Top 40 comics series, handed out some sketches of audience members he did at the comics panels at the show. I was one of the lucky ones, which is the rough equivalent of a reknowned chef wandering by your table at dinner and asking if you want a free steak.

Most welcome surprise: Our usual Friday night room game didn;t go off, but I still had fun just hanging out and talking with folks I usually only see at cons.

Most unwelcome surprise: Despite having most of my time back to myself, I didn't really get a chance to play a lot of games until Sunday.

Best game: Flick Em Up is a Wild West dexterity game where you have a shootout in a little meeple town. It is painfully adorable and a blast to play a few drinks deep.

Most interesting game concept: Flick Em Up, a wild west shoot'em up meeple game, was a ton of fun throughout the con.

Sleeper game:  Yashima, a wuxia kung-fu deckbuilder, did just enough cool things in the demo to get me to buy it.

Coolest booth: The Flick 'Em Up booth had a Texas-sized version of the game to demo, complete with a duel area for quick illustrations of how the game worked.

Strangest moment: Watching my roommates hack the hotel TV so that we could watch Netflix as we wound down on a few nights.

Played: 
Monarch
Nefarious
Flick 'Em Up
Superstar Smackdown
Firefly RPG
Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn

Purchased:
Flick 'Em Up
Yashima
Seventh Hero
Star Wars books
Cthulhu Apocalypse
Mythos Expeditions
Lone Wolf Adventure Game
Ravenloft books
Street Legends expansion

Swag:
Leverage Companions
Sixth Gun RPG
Deadlands Kickstarter
Chill 3rd Ed
Feng Shui 2
Pathfinder map packs
Legendary Encounter organizer
Revelations of Mars
Ravenloft boxed set
Gene Ha sketch
Cypher System bag

Things to pick up after the con:
Mysterium
Urban Shadows
Serpent's Skull Adventure Path
Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn

Classic Con Report - Nexus Game Fair 2015

High light:  Walking through the con and just stopping and talking to people be they friends, fans or other pros.

Low light: Many of the seminars and panels were sparsely attended. Everyone was too busy playing games, I guess.

Best experience: The Milwaukee Company of Gamers bringing their truck full of games and letting me play games that I might take home at a later con.

Worst experience: Save Game and Atomic Robo were underattended. Ghostbusters Fate rocked, so maybe more Fate adaptations of popular media to get people on board with trying it out.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): Both the silent auction and the trade booth allowed me to get some good deals without spending money.

Best Freebie: My business dinner with Jason Hardy, the Shadowrun developer, about [REDACTED].

Most welcome surprise: Meeting fans of this very blog. Sometimes, writing can feel like you're just screaming into the darkness. It's nice to see I connect with people and that they care enough to seek me out.

Most unwelcome surprise: The scratch in my passenger door that one of the hotel guests left on Snubfighter.

Games played: 
Ghostbusters Fate
Feng Shui 2
Colt Express
Firefly RPG
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Eldritch Horror
Kaiju Incorporated

Coolest booth and why: The con shirt makers could customize your shirts at the show. I know have a shirt with my Twitter handle on it!

Strangest moment: Having a small but fierce following show up at my various events. You guys rock.

Favorite item available in the Exhibit Hall: Dojo, a card drafting kung fu battle game, is now on Kickstarter.

Stuff traded:
Pathfinder Card Game packs
Forbidden Lore Eldritch Lore expansion

Stuff got for free:
Guest of Honor experience
Nexus T-shirt
Nexus plastic cup

Stuff that was wanted that was unavailable:
I'd love to see more board game prototypes at the show.

Things to buy after Nexus:
Colt Express is likely going to punch, shoot and run its way into my game library.
Likely to pick up the expansions for Eldritch Horror, which I enjoyed much more than it's older sibling.

Best Quote:
"Acquire! Acquire! Acquire!"

Nexus Game Fair - Schedule

This weekend, from June 25th - 28th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Milwaukee Airport, I'll be a Guest of Honor for the second annual Nexus Game Fair. In addition to the tournaments and MilCog's ginormous board game library, I'll be involved with games, panels and wandering around talking with designers. Here's where I'll be officially:

Thursday - 7 PM: Ghostbusters - Satanic Panic (SOLD OUT)

I'm running a session of my Fate hack for Ghostbusters at the show. We'll make up a franchise and get down to busting heads...in a spiritual sense of course.

Friday - 10 AM: Feng Shui 2 - Demo

I'm pinch hitting for Cam Banks who had to cancel his appearance at the con. As a Feng Shui 2 backer, I'm excited to get the game on the road and kick some butt!

Friday - 6 PM: Fun Facts About Fate

If you've ever wanted to pick my brain about Fate, here's your chance. I'm talking about the different variations and my experiences working with Evil Hat.

Friday - 7 PM: Firefly RPG - All In The Family (SOLD OUT)

I'm running an adventure out of one of the books for a Full Boat: 9 players, each taking a role of the Serenity Crew!

Sunday - 1 PM: Atomic Robo RPG - Neil DeGrasse Tyson Is Missing!

Sign up as Tesladyne interns assigned to pick up the famous scientist for a meeting with Robo...and then brainstorm to figure out what happened to him!

Even if events are sold out, don't fret. I'll be running these events again at Gamehole Con in November, and feel free to swing by and see if people dropped out.

c2e2 2015 - Classic Con Report

High light: I got to spend time with Gail Simone and bent her ear for a half-hour about getting into comics. She's just as awesome in real life as she is on Twitter.

Low light: Looks like my con crud free streak ends here. Time to restart the clock...when I have the energy.

Best experience: Watching Scott work the crowd waiting in line to get stuff signed by Gail. He's the best opening act in the business. Any business.

Worst experience: I could not, for the life of me, make it to a panel on time. I caught the tail end of most, but I felt like I was playing catch-up all weekend.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies):  Image trades at the 50% booth. I read Sex Criminals on the way down Saturday and wanted the rest immediately.

Best Freebie: The Star Wars lanyard they gave out on Saturday.

Most welcome surprise: A wide variety of cosplayers. It's not just the Harleys and the Jedis anymore. Good obscure costumes too, like this Visitor from V.

Most unwelcome surprise: The lines are getting bigger. That means c2e2 is going to stay viable, but it means I still didn't get to see the big names at the show.

Best costume: The Hawkman whose wings used real pheasant feathers. Ether the guy has a hook up at a pheasant farm or he needs to take out an insurance policy on those wings. 

Cosplay herd names:
A mischief of Lokis
A peg of Agent Carters

Most amusing costume: This Doom was good, but his Latverian accent, which sounded kind of like Death from the second Bill and Ted movie, put it over the top.

Coolest booth and why: 
Karen Hallion did some amazing pictures I've seen on the internet. That's stuff is always cool, but buying a print from her to pay her for her talent was a great feeling.

Strangest moment: Realizing the difference between this and SDCC. I think cons this size are more my speed.

Favorite item available in the Exhibit Hall: There were a ton of 50% off trades booths, which always make the trip worthwhile.

Purchases:
Nightwing 1-4
The Star Wars
Sex Criminals 1
Manifest Destiny 1-2
Leia Mucha print

Free Stuff:
Signatures
Star Wars lanyard

Couldn't Find It:
Atomic Robo Vol. 9
Sex Criminals Vol. 2

Best Quote:
"Let's Sorkin while I get to my next panel."

Milwaukee Record - Anime Milwaukee

The biggest convention of the year in Milwaukee drops this weekend. I compare it to our big summer music festival.

Classic Report - Midwinter 2015

High light: Running into old friends everywhere I turned.

Low light: The open gaming area spilled out into the hallways and other rooms. Board games a big deal these days and the room set aside for it at the show was not sufficient.

Best experience: My Saturday night Firefly Game with seven players all of whom rocked the Serenity Crew.

Worst experience: I hauled in a lot of stuff to trade and had to haul a lot of it back because it was a no go.


Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): Traded some of my Shadowrun 4th stuff for some X-Wing ships and an Age of Rebellion book.


Best Freebie: The Chronos LARP rules are available as free PDFs. I didn't get to try them out at the show, but a few friends did and were raving about them.

Most welcome surprise: Saturday was the perfect mix of gaming with people I knew and new people who were fun.

Most unwelcome surprise: The lack of the MilCog board game library put a damper on by goal of trying out several board games I've been reading about.

Best game: The revised Monster of the Week added some new playbooks, tweaked a few rules and still has some excellent advice for running modern monster hunter style games.

Most interesting game concept: Kombat Kittens featured battle between kittens photoshoped into various geek-friendly costumes. I don;t know how much replayability it has, but the first game we played was ridiculously cute.

Sleeper game: Terra Mystica feels like one of those board games at the beginning where the first couple of playthroughs are just going to be pulling levels to see what happens because there's so much going on. But it does a good job of making strategies clear on your turn and picking between two fairly obvious but hard choices.

Coolest booth: 42 Lounge brought their projection screen and I played a few quirky, indie video games while chatting with the owners.

Strangest moment: Being the only person in the elevator not in full-on costume.

Played: 
Kombat Kittens
Terra Mystica
Monster of the Week
Firefly RPG

Purchased:
Parking, mostly.

Swag:
Age of Rebellion: Stay On Target
X-Wing: TIE Phanton
X-Wing: Z-95 Headhunter

Things to pick up after the con:
Monster of the Week in print

Classic Con Report - GameHole Con

High light: Getting invited to the show and meeting some peers, fans and friends who all were having a good time.

Low light: The parking lot was jam packed and the hotel didn't seem to have good options beyond "Uh, good luck."

Best experience: Lunch with some of my favorite folks in Madison. They are both nerds with kids, so here's hoping they raise the next generation right.

Worst experience: Walking into the wargames room and getting the stinkeye from the table closest to the door with a really cool mini terrain version of Settlers of Catan. If you didn't want people admiring your minis why did you pick that table?


Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): I didn't really buy anything due to my current budgetary lock down


Best Freebie: I'm Bored! handed out those fancy pass pouches. It even matches my con bag.

Most welcome surprise: The Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition games were very busy. It seems like this edition is quite popular even before all of the main books are out...

Most unwelcome surprise: ...which meant I didn't get a chance to play in a game. I'll be sure to pre-reg next year.

Best game: Talking with Cynthia Miller about Cartoon Action Hour got me excited to run it again. And F.L.A.G. Force is coming early next year!

Most interesting game concept: Sheriff of Nottingham is a customs inspections game where you have to smuggle items past the other players. Everyone gets a chance to be the smuggler and everyone gets a chance to be "The Man".

Sleeper game: ICONS is looking to have an interesting future from some of the projects Dan Hauser talked about. Just in time for the Batman TV series DVDs to come out, too...

Coolest booth: All the FLGS booths were crammed together, so they had really competitive pricing.

Strangest moment: People recognizing me by my name tag. Always strange. Always awesome.

Played: 
Sheriff of Nottingham
Mage Wars

Purchased:
Nothing. Well, I did stop at Pine Cone on the way home.

Swag:
5th Edition Monster Manual
Pathfinder Skull and Shackles Adventure Deck #2
Pathfinder Skull and Shackles Character Add-On Deck

Things to pick up after the con:
5th Edition dungeon Masters Guide
Pathfinder Skull and Shackles Adventure Deck #3

Classic Con Report - Fantasticon

High light: Seeing a lot of nerdy families at the show. Loved seeing mom as Black Widow, dad as Captain America, and the kid in a Bat-Stroller.

Low light: The RPG area was a ghost town. I had some people show up for Firefly, but there were some awesome D&D and Pathfinder GMs who were stuck waiting around with their hands in their pockets.

Best experience: Playing board games Sunday morning with some Board Game Barrister staff and an adorable little girl in a TARDIS costume.

Worst experience: The con was spread out over two hotels that shared a common parking lot. Luckily, the weather was gorgeous this past weekend, but it would have sucked if it was a typical Wisconsin. 


Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): The Milwaukee/Star Wars mashup magnet I got is pretty cool.


Best Freebie: The organizers gave me a free badge, which is always a hard freebie to beat.

Most welcome surprise: I found a dice game that Lindsay likes. Chupacabra plays fast and fun, with a cryptid theme that she loves. 

Most unwelcome surprise: My quest to get my Firefly RPG book signed by all the cast members was foiled again as Adam Baldwin backed out of the show a few months ago.

Best game: I enjoyed my run through Rise of the Runelords. It's not quite an RPG, but streamlines a lot of things about Pathfinder while still keeping the stuff players love.

Most interesting game concept: Sushi Go is a set matching game that has some of the most adorable chibi artwork ever.

Sleeper game: Roll for It is a dice worker placement game that looks like it would be a big hit for civilians.

Coolest booth: The Indiana Jones Fan Club booth had some great artifact replicas.

Strangest moment: Walking past a guy with a really realistic looking python around his neck and then realizing it was, in fact, a real snake.

Played: 
Geek Out
Sushi Go
Roll For It
Chupacabra
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Rise of the Runelords

Purchased:
Chupacabra
Bay View Star Wars magnet

Swag:
Free pass
Business cards

Things to pick up after the con:
Roll For it
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

Classic Con Report - Gen Con 2014

High light: The Diana Jones Awards allowed me to meet many of the Twitter buddies I've made and also awarded Hillfolk, which contains some of my work. I'm 1/64 of a Diana Jones Award winner because Robin Laws says so.

Low light: This was the first year I had copies of my work to trade, which meant I was able to arrange trades with other pros for their stuff. Of the trades I arranged, only two went off without a hitch.

Best experience: My Thursday night game of The Strange with my room crew and a few other friends. Another Nightstick for the win!

Worst experience: Getting up super early on Thursday, getting my tickets from Will Call, running several events in a row and then being told an event was running 45 minutes late when I got there, when I could have gotten dinner or something before my final game that evening.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): AEG Big board game night. $32 to play any and all of AEG's offering, then a swag box at the end full of games that are easily more than double the price of the ticket. (That's why I have two sets of Doomtown.)

Best Freebie: FFG passed out a little minigame to play to those folks waiting in the massive line for their booth.

Most welcome surprise: Sunday was an excellent day instead of a harried mix of packing, last minute deals and a long drive home. Instead it was excellent networking, a lovely steak dinner, a great game that made new friends and a PPV in the hotel room.

Most unwelcome surprise: I lost my travelling hat somewhere in Indy, which had been with me from Europe to Whitewater. Vaya con Dios, camo boonie hat.

Best game: Legendary Encounters: Alien is a perfect fit for Legendary's advancing horde mechanic. It was tense, required teamwork and felt like an accomplishment when we won.

Most interesting game concept: Cluster Fight turns "who would win in a fight" into an Apples to Apples style judgment game, with the twist of cards that modify the fighters played each round. Sure, Batman could beat Homer Simpson in a fight, but what if Batman was legally blind and Homer had superspeed?

Sleeper game:  All the games I played at AEG Big Board Game Night were fun, but I was blown away by Seventh Hero. It's a bluff/press your luck game that has some wonderfully tense reveals.

Coolest booth: FFG continues its reign as the heart of Gen Con. Announcing Star Wars Imperial Assault, Star Wars Armada, and X-Com the Board Game and then running demos at the show cements their title once again.

Strangest moment: The amusing Dudebro D&D going on in the same room where we were playing some games we bought. They spent two hours on one scene, zero combat, 60% digressions about naming their ship something filthy.

Played: 
Curse the Darkness
Daedalus Fate
Our Last Best Hope
The Strange
Firefly RPG
Valley of the Kings
Seventh Hero
Star Wars Imperial Assault
Doomtown Reloaded
Shadowrun Crossfire
The Battle at Kemble's Cascade
Cluster Fight
Legendary Encounters: Alien

Purchased:
Shadowrun Crossfire
Doomtown Reloaded
13 True Ways
Infamy
Secrets of the Empire
Naishou Provice
Sentinels of the Multiverse mini-expansions
Fortune and Glory mini-expansions
Firefly Blue Sun expansion
Numenera Character Options
Numenera Cypher Chest
Force and Destiny beta
The Strange Deluxe Edition

Swag:
Sentinels of the Multiverse promos
Doomtown Reloaded
Strange cypher deck
Firefly RPG
Echoes of War Thrillin' Heroics
Age of Rebellion
13th Age Bestiary
13th Age demo
Shadowrun Crossfire demo 
Crossfire promos
Romance of the nine empires
Valley of the Kings
D&D 5th Player's Handbook
D&D 5th Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Things to pick up after the con:
Incredible Expeditions
Star Wars Imperial Assault
Star Wars Armada

Memorable Quote:
"Fear the mighty Dickass the Dragon, dude!"
"Did you get Spockblocked?"
"Do you like Wendy's?"

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."

Classic Con Report - Nexus Game Fair

High light:  An excellent first year con. My handler, Stephanie, was on point the entire convention, keeping the hydration flowing and arriving just in the nick of time with more food vouchers. If I get asked back next year, I definitely want her helping me again. 

Low light: I still have yet to play Artemis, despite it being right there for free at this show, with Ben playing hours and hours and hours of it..

Best experience: an excellent 8-player game of Firefly on Saturday afternoon. One person away from unlocking the Full Boat Firefly GM Achievement.

Worst experience: The construction around the hotel was pretty intense. It normally should take about 10 minutes to get there from Stately O'Wieland Manor, but detours and dodge turns almost made me late for a couple of events.

Best bargain (had to buy it, no freebies): The free party cup offered soda for a buck anywhere in the hotel.

Best Freebie: Nexus treated me well as a Guest of Honor with free passes, food vouchers, a free shirt and party cup.

Most welcome surprise: The food at the hotel restaurant was surprisingly good.

Most unwelcome surprise: Many of the seminars and panels were sparsely attended. Everyone was too busy playing games, I guess.

Games played: 
Firefly
Camelot Trigger
Save Game
Doomtown Reloaded
Police Precinct

Coolest booth and why: I arranged an excellent trade with the guys at Chimera Games which provided the loots pictured above.

Strangest moment: Al Snow, professional wrestler, randomly showed up as a guest on Saturday.

Favorite item available in the Exhibit Hall: There were a lot o old-school game sellers there, including a run of Gangbusters adventures which I have already.

Stuff bought:
Deadlands Reloaded: Last Sons
Deadlands Reloaded: Smith and Robards
Edge of the Empire: Suns of Fortune
Edge of the Empire: Beyond the Rim
Smash Up: Science Fiction Double Feature
Smash Up: Obligatory Cthulhu Set
X-Wing: TIE Fighter
X-Wing: HWK
X-Wing: B-Wing

Stuff got for free:
Guest of Honor experience
Nexus T-shirt
Nexus plastic cup

Stuff that was wanted that was unavailable:
Looks like I may have to invest in the AEG Big Box for Smash-Up at Gen Con now.

Things to buy after Nexus:
Doomtown, though that's coming at Gen Con.

Best Quote:
"You're like a magical robot!"