Conventions

I don't go to as many conventions these days as I used to.  It's not a lack of interest - it's a lack of time off from my Day Job combined with my sticking to my stated priorities.  But I'm working on it - only four more years until I get another week off.

I'm (as I write this) at OryCon in Portland, OR.  It's bigger than I'd expected, but still pretty small as conventions go.  And many of the faces here are faces I recognize from NorWesCon in Seattle, which is much larger.

I've had a good time at the show, and I do intend to return in the future - but I didn't interact much with the show this year.  In fact, I only went to a small handful of panels, and, in most of those, I was oddly disappointed.

For example, the "Crowdfund Your Book" panel covered nearly all common-sense items that I'd learned from the Kicksnarker community on Google Plus.

I keep saying this, but maybe I should look into being a panelist at a convention sometime.  It seems that more and more, I'm disappointed by the actual panelists.

In 2013, I attended the North American Discworld Con, GenCon, and OryCon.  In 2014, I'll be attending NorWesCon, and GenCon for sure.  OryCon and GameStorm are maybes.  BGG.con is wishlisted.

But I only have two weeks of vacation, and I only spend one week on me.  The other week of vacation is reserved for Stephanie. It looks like there is a lot of vacation spent up there, but NorWesCon is two days spent. OryCon was one day.  GameStorm is one day.  North American Discworld Con was for Steph (as was OryCon).  And yes, I do take occasional unpaid days off for conventions.

I'm learning that I actually prefer bigger shows, too.  OryCon is - as I said - larger than expected, but it's still small enough that many (most?) of the regulars know one another (or, at a minimum, recognize one another).  As a first-time attendee, I feel like a bit of an outsider. This is, by the way, not a criticism of the show itself. Or of the people attending, for that matter. SCARAB was much the same way a few years ago - the difference is that I knew someone at SCARAB other than Steph.  And, by the way, I do intend to return to SCARAB at some point.

At a larger show, people expect to be surrounded by strangers, and so work extra-hard to get to know them.  When you go to a small show, people are often there to see their friends and so don't make as much of an effort to reach out to strangers.

Smaller shows also have fewer panels.  I realize that this is essentially common-sense, but it should still be said.  At NorWesCon, their program book doesn't have any gaps in any of the rooms until late at night.  Here at OryCon, there are rooms that are only in use for a few hours every day.  But fewer panels doesn't mean they're lower in quality by any means - the Crowdfunding panel that was disappointing for me?  Did have good information.  It was just good information that I already had.  Someone who wasn't active in the Kicksnarker community might have found it very useful and/or informative.  I honestly don't know.

One of the real highlights of the show - for me, at least - was introducing my wife to Shogi, using this set.  I'm still learning to use this camera, so it's not quite what I'd expected - but I'll get better.  And there are few things as awesome as a good time-lapse board game video, amirite?

... and that's about all I have to say for now.  Next week, I'll have more words to throw at my screen.  I promise.

SCARAB, Part 2: Travel and the Show Itself

What's the first thing you do when you decided to take a trip? Find the cheapest rates.

The convention had made arrangements with a local hotel for a special rate. We gladly took advantage of that, and Stephanie immediately started checking out airfare.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, it was cheaper to fly into Raleigh/Durham than it was to fly directly into Columbia. A lot cheaper. Part of this is because we flew Southwest Airlines - it's no-frills and cheap. And the flight attendants aren't afraid to demonstrate their personalities.  Which is nice.  It makes for a flight that's entertaining and a pre-flight briefing that isn't completely generic.

Our first flight was early.  Our second flight was late.  When we got off the plane, I called Geoff. We then headed to his place for the evening. And by "evening," I mean "late night."  Geoff had a spare room, and we crashed there overnight before driving down the next day.

The drive was ... well, it was a drive. Nothing particularly good or bad happened. Well, other than breakfast at Chick-Fil-A. That was good.  And we saw two accidents. Those were bad.  But that's a typical drive, right?

We arrived a bit later than we'd planned to.  We had no problem checking into the hotel, and the convention was very conveniently close.

Registration was fast and easy.  We got our badges and our swag bags and headed to the open game area, where Geoff and I set up and started running demos (and playing games).

It wasn't a big convention - I'd guess just over 100 the first night, and 150-200 at its peak, but that's just a guess.  I haven't seen any actual numbers anywhere. But what it lacked in numbers, it made up for with enthusiasm. It's worth noting that I've attended smaller conventions here in Seattle.

At one point that first evening, we started a game of Dungeon Twister: Prison, but didn't have the time to get through it.  That's for the best, though, as he was beating me quite badly.

Geoff, you see, is better at the game than I am.  It's like I tell people in person: I understand the game. I know the theory. I know why characters are set up as they are. The balance makes total sense to me. I also have an excellent objective grasp of the strategy. That is: I can tell you (by watching you play) where you're going wrong. I can help other people improve.

What I can't do is put that strategy into practice for myself. Most of the time.

We had a small but enthusiastic group there playing DT late into the night.  Most of them had come down from North Carolina for the convention. There was a mini-tournament/training Friday night. It went well - Geoff has posted the results on Boardgamegeek and on the official League website.

The next day started early, with more play.  I got in a game of Paladins and Dragons with Geoff, and I won - you see, Geoff's weakness is that he gets flustered when his opponent does something stupid.  I'm not making this up, either.

I teleported my Red Dragon and fireballed his Dragon and one other character - but it left the Dragon within reach of his Dragonslayer.  Which was stupid, as it gave him his third or fourth point, and he had superior board position at the time.  He got flustered, and then took the bait - he immediately killed my Dragon, allowing me to walk my Illusionist up to Charm his character into some falling rocks.  One AP later, and my Night Elf was in the Pentagram Chamber for a fifth point.

Saturday was spent playing more games of DT, and teaching more games. Later in the day, we broke out the 3/4 Player Expansion (even if you already own it, you should click through and check out that price), which went over like gangbusters. And by "gangbusters," I mean "we had to break out multiple sets for the players, as they were having so much fun."

On Sunday, we had the tournament for the big prizes.  Ten players total - we used Swiss Perfect to handle pairings.  We ran for three rounds (before running out of time - a fourth round would have been a good idea).  When the dust had settled, I wound up doing much better than I had anticipated. Second.

The biggest deal for me this weekend was something that may not make sense to some of you.

You see, I've been writing and posting this blog for more than five years, now. If you check back through the archives, you'll find more posts about Dungeon Twister than about any other subject.

Hundreds of posts. Analysis, strategy tips, pointers. Overviews.  The works. Lots and lots of strategy tips.

As I mentioned previously, I have trouble actually being able to put these tips into practice. I rarely win the game.  Sometimes that's deliberate - the point of a demo is to give the new player the flavor of the game. A five-minute game doesn't even come close to the full experience.  But usually (for me, at least), it's because I can't seem to make it work.

This weekend, however, something finally clicked.  I stopped struggling with some of the pointers I've dished out, and managed to get a few of them in play. Some of those multiple uses I've been talking about actually saw play.  It was a good feeling - and it led to my winning. Or being in a position to win.

I'd also been a bit burned out. Somehow, with all these pages and pages and pages of writing, I forgot that DT is a game, and games are for fun.  This weekend, I managed to rediscover the fun of the game.

Thanks, Geoff, for introducing SCARAB to me. It was a weekend well-spent.

SCARAB, Part 1: How I Came To Attend

A short post, today, as I'm still in pre-SCARAB preparation mode.

I first heard about the convention from my friend Geoff Heintzelman.  Those of you who have been reading this for a while will remember Geoff as the other North American member of the LIDT Board of Directors.

He mentioned that there was a local convention starting up.  "I think," he told me, "that I'd like to run a Dungeon Twister tournament there."

I looked at the site.  If only, I thought, I had any vacation time left after GenCon.  I mentioned it to my wife in passing.

"Well," she asked, "Why can't you go?"

I forgot that I accrue vacation time year-round.  And GenCon only uses up about half of my annual allotment. Meaning that I will have time.  If I can afford hotel and airfare ...

Geoff didn't help. "You do know," he said, "that there is a Chick-Fil-A less than half a mile from the hotel, right?"

I have a weakness for Chick-Fil-A, and the nearest branch that I have access to is in Utah. For those who don't know already, I'm Seattle.

Geoff took the initiative on the DT tournament - he e-mailed Ludically, who contacted Asmodee, who sent prize support. Quite a bit of it, actually.

In August, we ran the numbers and realized that SCARAB was a possibility for us. We started actively planning to attend the convention.

We ran the numbers several times.  It's cheaper for us to fly into Raleigh-Durham than directly into Columbia for the convention.  And yes, I know it's the wrong state. But Geoff lives in North Carolina and he will give us a lift to the show.

I'm not expecting it to be big. It's the first one.  But I expect to have a good time.

Of course, as long as I get to have Chick-Fil-A, I'll have a good time.

Next week, I'm going to talk a bit about creative commons. It's a little rantish, but it's just for one week.