A history with cons
Oh, the slowly mounting excitement of another game con. And this one will mark my 10th of the Strategicon family.
As mentioned in the past, I took a hiatus from gaming for over 15 years. And even back in those days of my youth, I only went to one convention, back in high school. It might have been a forerunner of Strategicon itself, in some fashion, since it was an LA convention. I can't even remember the name. My only memory is a horrible Axis and Allies game I jumped into with my friend Howie, with a bunch of old war gamers. We gave them a gamer horror story to tell, about the kids who pretended to know how to play, but didn't know a single rule, and just kept trying to fake it throughout the game.
But that's all ancient history now.
Strategicon Gateway 2012 opened my eyes to another facet of gaming I have enjoyed thoroughly. Sharing the sport with strangers. Finding new systems to play. Playing in board game tournaments. Late night Cthulhu games in hotel rooms. Even LARPs!
We are blessed here in the LA area, in that Strategicon itself runs not once, not twice, but THREE times a year, as Orccon in February, as Gamex in May, and Gateway in August/September. These magically always fall on the 3-day weekends enabled by President's Day, Veteran's Day, and Labor Day.
I ran my first game as a GM, after encouragement from my virtual friends at Happy Jacks RPG podcast and forums, at Orccon 2014, and have been GMing there since. My absolute favorite part is that contribution, back and forth, of getting to run something different for people, and getting to play in some many lovely, creative, interesting games (and the few horror stories in between).
I haven't missed one Strategicon yet (since that fateful Gateway 2012). I take those days off in my work's HR system 8 months in advance. I actually plan with my wife, mother-in-law, and various possible babysitters months ahead of time. And I have the most fortunate luck of having a wife that doesn't really put much stock into Valentine's Day, or at least not caring about the Feb 14 date itself, which often conflicts with the Orccons.
Gateway 2015
And so now, another con rears its beautifully draconic head.
I'll be running my Distress on Life Liner 928 game, Friday at 2pm, so looking forward to what the players bring to that game (it's always a very different experience!)
I was able to get in touch with the folks at Asmodee / Space Cowboys and secure 3 more sets of Splendor (my favorite board game) for the Strategicon game library, all for the Splendor tournament that is running on Friday evening. Although I have to drop out of one of my precious RPG slots, I must make the sacrifice. It's the first Splendor tournament at this convention, and hopefully one of many to come.
Have some fun games lined up for Saturday, but I'll write more on the return.
Looking forward to playing in another game by JiB (a Happy Jacks RPG host) on Sunday morning. All Happy Jacks games are exceedingly difficult to get into, and after playing my first JiB game last con, I'm definitely down for more of that action.
And then J and the kid (the wife and daughter) show up on Sunday. The kid asked to do more of the game 101's, so we'll be teaching Battle Sheep and What the Food!? on Sunday afternoon. And then she'll play in her second King of Tokyo tournament. She didn't pretty great last time, and being the youngest in the tourney (at age 6), I was duly impressed as well. J and I will be cheering her on from the cheap seats.
Wish me luck and fun. Stories when I return.