Sorry for the lack of an update last night, we had a seriously busy day yesterday. It started off with Session 2 of the RPGA, followed by some time on the sales floor and a nap. After that, it was time to sit on the GM’s Jam panel where I joined the folks from RPG Blog 2 for a Q&A session on game mastering. The event had between 40 and 50 people there, so. It was neat to draw a crowd and hear about everyone else’s gaming problems.

After that, it was time for a quick dinner and onward to Video Games Live, where the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra covered video game music from Pong all the way up to Starcraft 2. After that it was time for the Evensbrook reunion game, where Matt, Carson, Katherine, Tasha and I reunited to revisit my favorite campaign setting ever. It went great, but before I knew it the time had become 2:30am and I had missed my blog deadline.

Today was fairly simple. We had the third session of the RPGA, where we finished the mini-storyline for the convention. I got third level and a new magic item to pick! After that, it was a huge lunch wih the RPG Bloggers, some sales floor time, a mini-raid with the crew from home, and a giant dinner before our last goodbyes for the convention.

Tomorrow will be a busy day of tight travel, my flight from Indianapolis arrives at 5:18 pm and the connecting flight to Peoria leaves at 7:14 pm. I am already checked in online, I hope everything is on time and the security lines go quickly!

More tomorrow!

Today was a fabulous day to be a geek! The day started off with breakfast with the oh-so-awesome Shelly Mazzanoble and Bart Carroll, followed quickly by a trip to look at the line to watch Wil Wheaton’s seminar.

I say look at the line because it became quickly apparent that 1) it was going to be a zoo and 2) waiting for the whole event to be over might compromise Tasha’s plan to get one of Wil’s limited edition chapbooks, so we headed to the sales floor to queue up for autographs.

We stood in line for about an hour to get autographs from members of The Guild, where we got to meet Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis, Robin Thorsen, and the sublime Felicia Day. They were all really nice, and we got the opportunity to talk to Jeff and Robin for several minutes since there was some line congestion in front of us. Felicia was even so kind as to pose for a picture with us, which was really neat.

We opted to just cycle the line waiting for Wil to show up, and we ended up about 10 from the front. Tasha got the coveted chapbook #6, we talked to Wil for several minutes about his work, roleplaying blogs (including StupidRanger!), and the origin of our D&D dice that we brought to donate at his request.

After that lovely bit of nerdvana, we walked the sales floor for a bit. I spoke with James Wyatt for a few minutes (which was awesome), and then we headed to the 21 Days to a Novel session with Michael Stackpole. I decided at the last minute to attend that event and I am glad that I did. Michael’s method really creates great characters and interesting interactions, and I think that will help my adventure writing. The ability to create a really great character with real motivations is a topic that we have covered here before, this session really pumped me up to create some new stories.

As I write this, I am helping with a speed dating event that my friend e from GeeksDreamGirl.com is putting on.

More tomorrow!

What a great day! I played the first session of the RPGA successfully, earning a +2 maul in the process. Tasha and I then attended about the coolest nerdy arts and crafts class ever: making a chainmail dicebag. We each got it about half done in the allocated time, but luckily the class included materials and tools so we have everything necessary to finish the job.

After that, it was time for our event: Roleplaying for the Severely Disturbed. As with these sessions in the past, things went quickly “off the rails” and much fun was had by all. There were so many great quotes I can’t even begin to recount them all, but I think my favorite was Phil, the Chatty DM matter-of-factly informing us not to worry and ot was just two minotaurs rutting.

What I love about this game is how it comes together relatively quickly, the plot was hardly followed, and it was a riot. Just goes to show that the “say yes to your players” method of running a roleplaying game pays off. Does your minotaur want to construct a maze out of bookshelves and desks and drop a deuce in the middle? Why yes, of course he can!

Suffice it to say much fun was had by all. More tomorrow!

Drinking and playing D&D (within walking distance of the hotel!)

More later!

August 2, 2010: at long last, a day without drama at the office.  No major flare-ups, no urgent bugs, no insane meeting load… nothing.  I got a good solid swath of time to focus on debugging some new code that has been done and we found a handful of issues with it, so I actually got to add some value today.  Without going into too much detail, we actually got some important data to load today and I got to be a part of it.  Exciting.

In other news, Tasha and I are packing for GenCon today.  I’m really looking forward to a vacation, and only one more work day to survive through!  Woot!

We had a communication breakdown regarding our Amethyst game that we were going to play in today.  Apparently we got the time wrong and missed the session, arriving an hour before the gaming store closed.  That’s OK though, we made the most of the rest of our day.  I grilled some steaks that were just as fabulous as Friday, and Tasha and I went to Target to get some new clothes.

When we got home, we elected for a nap and then ordered pizza and are now watching Big Brother reruns.

Only two days before we head to GenCon!!

This week has been going by at a furious pace.  Excessively annoying bugs, conflicting priorities, and some administrative stuff that must be done before I go to GenCon adds up to a lot of work related frustration for me.  The good news is that vacation is coming up, followed immediately by a trip back to Illinois for work.

I’m looking forward to seeing the old crew in Peoria and spending at least a few days with my parents and family at the end of the week.

Aside from that, I don’t have much else to report.  Tonight was D&D Encounters and it was very fun.  This weekend is going to be a big pile of gaming thanks to some events at our local gaming store.  Hopefully most of my work will be done by then, but only time will tell.

We made it back in one piece from GenCon!  Upon getting home yesterday and retrieving our Retriever from his dog-sitters, Tasha and I came home and slept for 16 hours.  I woke up briefly to let the dog out, but we were both zonked out from the sleepless weekend.

It was a great time!  We got to catch up with friends new and old, got to interview Andy Collins and Bill Slavicsek who created the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and had a LOT of fun.  I got a chance to pick up a copy of a new game called Eclipse Phase which has a very limited availability (only 100 copies all convention long!) and I’m looking forward to at least trying that one out.  I’m not sure the genre is really something that our group will take to entirely, but I want to run a session or two so I can review it for StupidRanger.com.

Also, everyone should head over to Tasha’s Blog and congratulate her on being Miss Congeniality at the Queen of Geeks this year.  She did great, and all of her friends feel the judging system does not track the correct qualities.

That’s about all from me for now… time to get back to the office tomorrow and get back to the normal grind!

We’re on a plane back to CO!  Actual posting resumes tomorrow!

Today the plan is to hit the sales floor and attend a ton of events.  I’ve been asked to attend a DungeonMaster’s panel, so that will be a fun chance to meet some new people.  Later on today is one of my events, an unofficial gathering to play some D&D with friends.

This is probably my best day to hit the sales floor, so I should get to see the sights and get some cool gaming swag!  More soon!