I mention this mostly because this year's convention was similarly tainted because I was losing my job the day after the con. Same job and even the same employer, even though the contract had been awarded to other companies a couple of times between 2018 and 2026.
What was different this time is that most of my expenses were front-loaded, or minimized, for this convention, and money wasn't as big of an issue.
Anyway, I showed up to the hotel on Tuesday, even though the con is technically Thursday through Sunday. There is a "Pre Con, Get it On" Wednesday. It was nice to be able to casually make my way to Dallas and seemingly have all the time in the world to chill before the convention. I was a little surprised how many people came in on Tuesday, but with some games available on Wednesday, it made sense.
The last few months I have been seeing these tiny Jesus figures seemingly everywhere. I think it's a low-key campaign directed at me somehow.....ok, not really, but I have been finding them all over the place and never really expected.
Now the weatherman (ok website/Google) said there was a low chance of brief rain for a day or two of the convention, but Tuesday would be clear. This year I was trying to have a sales booth in the dealer hall and had packed my stuff in cardboard boxes. Of course there was a torrential downpour pretty much every....single...day. Before the heavy stuff really came down I was that guy and backed my truck right up to the convention space entrance. So if you didn't know there is a tiny pedestrian overhang for that entrance. It is so not a loading dock, but this entrance wasn't really being used because it was a good day early. I unpacked my loading cart and started off-loading before the boxes got soaked. My room key didn't work on the door and some manager saw me and headed over, waving his hands.
Yeah....I thought he was going to yell at me for being pulled up to the entrance, but no...he was trying to tell me that the automatic door was working. He completely got what & why I was pulled up like I was. Once I got "everything" (I had already checked in and took my luggage up to my room) unloaded and inside he casually told me that the dealer room had just been finished setting up and when I asked if I could drop off or set up already he was cool with it. So basically I got to be the 1st person setup at the con.
Got soaked enough that it looked like I had been sweating all day since the rain was heavy and straight down. JE Shields (and Mrs Shields, I suspect she likes her privacy) bebopped over and offered to help me haul my crap...well the stuff for the Whisky tasting and my cart, up to the room. We also ran into Gary and Lisa Oliver checking in. After I was unloaded I grabbed a couple bottles I had gotten for the Olivers and headed over. They had a gift for me as well and gave me this pretty cool Whiskey book. I've barely started reading it, but it has some really early history of American whisky, which is a fascinating subject for me. The book has this faux leather feel and so far the inside is just as good as the outside.
My buddy Shad flew in once again from the SLC area to stay with me and game. His general plan is to buy my dinners at the convention in exchange for using the "extra" bed in my room, and my hotel status also adds in club room access/breakfast. This means I generally don't have food expense at the con. I did grab some quick dinners a couple times when he was in games so my food expenses were not zero....but cheaper than if I had just stayed home. We had gyros the first night and I couldn't resist trying to take a cheeky photo....
Thursday went well enough and in the evening we had what I'm assuming....hard to remember, was the 6th (or 7th depending on POV) annual Whisky Tasting. Here's a link to the YouTube video for the particularly brave. Despite all of my best efforts we did not have a full group, which torqued me a little bit, but we had "observers" who were able to jump in and take part which was awesome in my book. I have a few new friends/associates now and got to try some cool....alcohol in what ended up being a in-place "after party". The only part of the night that was actually bad was that I had totally boned things up by not giving specific instructions on the little "test" I had at the end. That and I should have made the test easier. Live & learn.
With the exception of Saturday's auction, my days were filled manning my booth and the evenings...well at this point there's just Friday and Saturday, with games. I ran one and played one. The game I ran was just "ok". It wasn't my players, it was me. I think I had things set up enough, but the players got a randomly-determined magic sword that could detect trap and secret doors. This let them pretty much steam-roll through the dungeon. They did a great job turning a big monster fight into a couple of relatively easy smaller fights and the BBG of the dungeon rolled really good for a reaction roll and basically told the party to eff off....and they did. My biggest mistake of the night, and it's my opinion there is always a mistake made every session, was that I completely forgot to roll for wandering monsters. I had a freaking sub table for the dungeon and everything! The night was relatively combat light because there should have been a couple of wandering monsters. To be fair though, the party did do a good job of minimizing the combat there was already, which might not have been the case if they had those wandering monsters.
I played in a pick-up game Saturday before the midnight auction. I probably should have taken that opportunity to rest up because I was a mess Sunday, and that was before the drive home. It wasn't an unsafe drive or anything, just tired. I think I was in bed before 2100.
Now for the good stuff: my "haul" from the convention.
My 1st purchase of the convention was a book from Bad Mike's booth, and the missing Echoes from Fomalhaut Zines I didn't have. I really thought there were fewer issues, so I got a lot. Haven't even started to look at them.
Usually my favorite vendor at NTRPG is Ettin Games. I swear that everything I buy from them is either a sweet deal, or probably 20% overpriced, but clearly something I'm willing to pay. For the record, the "overpriced" stuff, I'm happily paying over alleged value because I get to hold the damn thing in my hands versus having to buy at an auction and trust it was accurately described and then paying for shipping & handling and pray it wasn't destroyed in transport. One of these days, preferably when I have more $$$ to spend, I'm going to pay David's store a visit and (again) happily spend too much money.
My first purchase was a set of shelf-worn, but otherwise great shape, HackMaster 4th Edition modules, one of which is practically a splat-book sized adventure. He also had even better shape HackMaster PHBs and GMGs, and I was sorely tempted. IIRC I spent $50 for the lot. They were unpriced and he made me an offer. If I ever run one, the price for all would be so worth it.
At the end of the con I picked up this really nice-looking Holmes boxed set. It was missing the dice, which is likely the only reason it was still available for sale. Thing is I have a couple sets of bagged Holmes dice and would love to marry the dice and the boxed set missing said dice....so win/win. To round up my purchase to the $20's I handed him instead of change I grabbed a trio of minis in badly need of paint.
At the end of the con I made a quick jaunt around the room, with particular emphasis on Ettin Games, and they had a White Box booklet I thought I needed. Unfortunately my phone would not bring up the Google Sheets where I had typed out what booklets I still needed, so I had to go up to my room, down to the front desk for a new room key (they locked me out prematurely), and then back up to the room to use my laptop. Of course I had conflicting information so it looked like I had two booklets marked as both in my collection and still needing to be purchased. Luckily for me the only one that was only marked as definitely being needed was the Greyhawk booklet. I ran back down to the booth being packed away but David was more than happy to pull out the booklet for me to buy. Now I only need the Eldritch Wizardry booklet then I will have a complete White Box.
I'm not counting an adventure I had purchased previously from Pacesetter Games and picked up at the Con, but another I bought specifically had to wait until Saturday to get since it was their Con Module. I also got a PWYW Bunnies & Burrows adventure at the registration desk. It was off to the side so I don't think everybody even saw it.
For art this year I got two things. First was this painting from Manda I picked up at the Saturday Auction. Manda is known more for her video game work and probably more so for being married to Jeff Dee (of TSR & Villains and Vigilantes fame). There was something that just "got me" on this piece and I would've sworn I have seen this before....like in a weird déjà vu kind of way. She painted this piece this year at the convention, but evidently she had started it last year at the convention, so I probably had actually seen it last year. Still not sure where I'm going to put this. I had thought of giving it to my mother as a gift, but something tells me my father wouldn't like it and it'd just collect dust somewhere.
I was also give my choice of inked art from Keelan Halvorsen (from His Heinous Harvest). He made it sound like a gift, but I suspect it was my fulfillment piece from my pledge of his KS campaign. Either way I'm good. Even though this doesn't seem like a product I'd use in my game (the HHH KS), I was quick to back it after playing in one of his games and hearing about this Kickstarter, not from Keelan, but from my buddy Shad.
There were some small odds & ends I was given, including a sticker from Jason Brauncowski, a couple of dice, and ....of all things....a condom. It was a Midnight Auction joke thing. Honestly probably the best birth control possible because seeing Bad Rob in a speedo is going to kill any sex drive I had.....
Overall a good convention, like always. Looking forward to year #11 where I get to purchase another special T-Shirt for 10 years of convention attendance.
