Trinoc*con Day 2
The nice thing about smaller cons is the chance to spend time with people in a relaxed atmosphere. Origins, GenCon, ComicCon are all too hectic, always too many people to see or things that need to be accomplished.
We started the day having breakfast with Iron Man Steve Nicewarner who was solo-manning his booth the rest of the day. My friend Allie, who I discovered lives less than half an hour away from the hotel, came by and took me out for a coffee so we could catch up in person. I did get my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, easy reading for my downtime during the day.
Hooked up with HERO Games' Steve Long, who it's always a delight to see, but especially on his home turf. He introduced us to a great little Italian trattoria called Pop's. Pramas and I shared the daily special appetizer, a yummy duck tartlet. I made a meal of the Goat Cheese and Herb Ravioli (with toasted pine nuts, dried apricots, oil cured tomatoes, arugula, fresh mint, and melted brie), Chris had Grilled Pork Tenderloin with potato gnocchi, swiss chard, and white truffle sauce and Steve had one of their wood-fired pizzas (not sure of the toppings but it looked great). As tiramisu was on the dessert menu we were required to sample it (for science you understand). Good, not great, but definitely an 80%... we have such high standards for tiramisu.
I rounded out the evening as a judge in the costume contest. The kids category had only one entry, a sleepy brother and sister pair of pirates (ages 18 mos and 2.5 years). The amateur/self-made costume winners also entered as a pair of padawan. The journeyman category (between professional costumers or those using costumes they purchased) was very tight and we had to ask the contestants to come past the judges' table more than once. We had two rangers, one with all of the authentic Lord of the Rings regalia and the other with a more D&D-esque leather outfit and really heavy looking cloak. I sat on the panel with the professional costuming guest of honor and two of the literary track guests. We three amateurs were fairly kind in our scores, but the professional costuming guest was really tough! Even from my side of the judges' table I was intimidated.
After the costume contest I joined my fellow gaming track guests for a couple of drinks in the hotel bar. I've never had so much time to just sit and chat with Dave Arneson, though we have met briefly several times over the years. It's been great to have the opportunity to just sit and shoot the shit with him and with Dustin at this show. Very interesting to hear about their successes with Living Blackmoor; we've always shied away from doing something like Living Freeport because of the intense workload involved. It seems like a company can have an aggressive release schedule or a successful Living campaign, but not both. Still, both Zeitgeist and Paradigm seem to have made the commitment to the Living campaigns with good results.
Back to the room to finish off Harry Potter, and then sleep. Still finding the Marriott beds blessedly comfortable.
We started the day having breakfast with Iron Man Steve Nicewarner who was solo-manning his booth the rest of the day. My friend Allie, who I discovered lives less than half an hour away from the hotel, came by and took me out for a coffee so we could catch up in person. I did get my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, easy reading for my downtime during the day.
Hooked up with HERO Games' Steve Long, who it's always a delight to see, but especially on his home turf. He introduced us to a great little Italian trattoria called Pop's. Pramas and I shared the daily special appetizer, a yummy duck tartlet. I made a meal of the Goat Cheese and Herb Ravioli (with toasted pine nuts, dried apricots, oil cured tomatoes, arugula, fresh mint, and melted brie), Chris had Grilled Pork Tenderloin with potato gnocchi, swiss chard, and white truffle sauce and Steve had one of their wood-fired pizzas (not sure of the toppings but it looked great). As tiramisu was on the dessert menu we were required to sample it (for science you understand). Good, not great, but definitely an 80%... we have such high standards for tiramisu.
I rounded out the evening as a judge in the costume contest. The kids category had only one entry, a sleepy brother and sister pair of pirates (ages 18 mos and 2.5 years). The amateur/self-made costume winners also entered as a pair of padawan. The journeyman category (between professional costumers or those using costumes they purchased) was very tight and we had to ask the contestants to come past the judges' table more than once. We had two rangers, one with all of the authentic Lord of the Rings regalia and the other with a more D&D-esque leather outfit and really heavy looking cloak. I sat on the panel with the professional costuming guest of honor and two of the literary track guests. We three amateurs were fairly kind in our scores, but the professional costuming guest was really tough! Even from my side of the judges' table I was intimidated.
After the costume contest I joined my fellow gaming track guests for a couple of drinks in the hotel bar. I've never had so much time to just sit and chat with Dave Arneson, though we have met briefly several times over the years. It's been great to have the opportunity to just sit and shoot the shit with him and with Dustin at this show. Very interesting to hear about their successes with Living Blackmoor; we've always shied away from doing something like Living Freeport because of the intense workload involved. It seems like a company can have an aggressive release schedule or a successful Living campaign, but not both. Still, both Zeitgeist and Paradigm seem to have made the commitment to the Living campaigns with good results.
Back to the room to finish off Harry Potter, and then sleep. Still finding the Marriott beds blessedly comfortable.
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