Zub Tales

Gen Con obviously wrapped up last weekend and it was a good time. Gala’s now home after the con, finishing up her internship and leaving her with some great experiences and knowledge of the RPG industry. Needless to say though, I’m glad she’s back.

A statue that was carved over the course of the show by a crew of people.
It’s hard to tell the size of it in this photo, but the statue is taller than I am.

With all the other conventions piled together, I was pretty exhausted by the time I got to Indianapolis, so I didn’t party as hard as I did last year. Even still, it was one to remember.

Thursday involved Dr. Drave and I waiting for our hotel room to open up and wandering the con floor in a haze after driving most of the night. That evening after finally checking in, we ended up at a pub called the Ugly Monkey for some quality karaoke. By quality, I mean songs by Prince, Poison, Nancy Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Tom Jones and others… so your quality mileage may vary.

Stumbling back to the hotel, Bri’s back was acting up and I made some quality comments about his understanding of logic that earned me a punch in the throat — thus satisfying my “one injury per convention shared with White Wolf” rule. Luckily, I woke up uninjured and not hung over.

Gamers start to gather early on Friday morning for the show.

Friday during the show zipped by and that night was the big release party for Requiem. Nicole and Stacy got roped into being dancing cage girls with the promise of free swag and the rest of us drank and grooved the night away. At midnight, the new books were unveiled and the party continued. Later on, a dodgeball match (with gymnasium utility balls and everything) broke out in the alley between the White Wolf crew and Fanpro. Although no one agrees on who won, both sides promised that this would become a regular con event.

Saturday morning, the brand new White Wolf books get unpacked before the hall opens.
That’s a whole lotta gamer goodness.

Gala worked the booth helping Shane with demoing Vampire Bloodlines and seemed to enjoy blowing up creatures and kicking the crap out of street people in the game ala Grand Theft Auto. I’m sure after running through the demo for people dozens of times it lost its luster. Still, she seemed to enjoy the show and did a bit of shopping, snagging some new dice and wandering the hall looking for deals.

The booth ladies may want Pikachu, but the feisty yellow Pokemon only has eyes for me.

Saturday and Sunday were quieter, with quick jaunts out but generally me heading to bed early to catch up on sleep. By Sunday, I’d gotten a cold and was under the weather, so Gal and I decided to stay until Monday morning and then just drive home rather than leave Sunday and take a road trip around middle America.

Now, I’m just settling back in, getting organized and recovering. Gala caught the cold just as I shook off its effects, so her weekend looks like it’ll be staying in and getting well. The Toronto Comic Expo is this weekend, but I’ve had enough cons for the year and just want to relax, so I’m gonna just let that one go by without attending.