Lori Ann Curley.com Okay, maybe you didn't just move into a 3000+ square foot home like
I and my husband did. We still have to deal
with storing all our gaming supplies, which is why I had no problem
giving the husband the finished attic – all 404 square feet of it with
closets galore – for his home computer and gaming gear. Here are some
ideas that we've learned over the years:
More ideas will come in future articles!
Copyright
2004-2005 The Lady Gamer. All rights reserved.
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Gen Con Sunday, August 21, 2005, 2:53 pm
I sit here in room 108 of the Indiana Convention Center (ICC), awaiting the end of my husband's last game three tables away. I'm tired; My feet hurt; I just went to Starbucks for a tall White Mocha Latte because even though the temperature outside is bordering on hot, the ICC is air conditioned to the point of being refrigerated. I just gave two blister Band-Aids to a woman wearing boots she bought yesterday. After the World's Greatest Husband (WGH) is done with his game, we'll bid our gaming group Infinite Imaginations, Inc. (I3) farewell, then we will drive the 5.5 hours home. Another Gen Con come and gone, and it was very, very good.
I've been attending Gen Con since 1990 (and that year is a sad story for another time), with the exception of 2003. The WGH and I live in Wisconsin, and Milwaukee was very convenient for us. Not only did Gen Con move to Indianapolis in 2003, but the WGH was battling heart disease and my mother was battling cancer. Mercifully both have won their medical battles, and we returned to Gen Con in 2004, realizing, as many did in 2003, that the move was good.
This year we reunited with I3. During the Milwaukee years, the WGH ran Drive-In Hero for I3, and I was best described as an I3 groupie, running smaller events on my own. We both decided to run games for I3 for the free badge and low-cost hotel room. Because I3 runs so many hours of events, Gen Con picked up the tab for all our badges and most of our hotel rooms. I3 divided up the cost for the uncovered rooms amongst the 30+ GMs in our group. The downside was we didn't receive our badges until Gen Con, and if we wanted to pre-register for anything, we had to buy a player's badge for which we would be reimbursed. Most of us, the WGH and I included, decided not to pre-register for anything.
The only other major bad of the weekend involved the two full-sized beds in our hotel room. The WGH and I are gamer-sized, i.e. he's a 2X and I'm a 3X. We own a king-sized bed at home for a reason. We also had an issue with snoring, but that's an even longer story than the sad story of my first Gen Con.
Other than these minor negatives, the weekend went quite well. I'd have to say that this was probably the best run, the best organized Gen Con I ever attended. Peter Adkison believes in customer service and delivering a quality product, as is evidenced by the fact that he personally attends the feedback session at the end of every Gen Con.
Wednesday evening when we checked into the Crowne Plaza, I saw Monte Cook, and called him "one of my two favorite people at Gen Con." He didn't understand, but accepted my offer to buy him a drink sometime during the convention.
Dinner at the Rathskeller has become our Wednesday night tradition. I'm of Irish-German heritage and the German food at the Rathskeller reminds me of my grandmother's cooking. The Rathskeller has so many beers to choose from that I always ask the waitress what she recommends. She asked me, "Do you like light or dark beer?"
When I answered, "Yes", the waitress recommended the Seasonal Six Sampler, ranging from Guinness to a light apple cider.
We received our badges and marching orders at the I3 meeting later that night. Then off to try sleeping on the full-sized bed.
My first event on Thursday morning, the Dork Tower Board Game, ran in the Board Game Headquarters (BG HQ). Lee and the other hall captains color-coded the tables and provided me and my players with ample space for my gameboards. Although I made arrangements to have prizes for all my games, my MIB (Men in Black, convention volunteers for Steve Jackson Games) contact did not deliver the needed prizes until Friday. That's okay; my winners on Thursday were just there for a good time, which the Dork Tower Board Game provided, and weren't too concerned about the prizes. I was able to connect with one winner and give him his prize on Friday. The other winner's prize will be mailed to him next weekend.
The WGH and I ate lunch together, then he went to take a nap (the snoring issue hit him worse; in other words, he's not a snorer). I went to the Exhibit Hall to shmooze and pass out advertising for my editing and indexing business. One game publisher on finding out I like to write indexes, a task he abhors, called me a "crazy (rhymes with rich)" in a joking manner. I also picked up some prize support from Out of the Box, whose games I was running. It was nice to hear, "Just pick any four" as he pointed to the display of all the games the company had to offer.
After joining the WGH for a nap and then dinner at The Claddagh Irish Pub (more Guinness), we went to the street party, hoping for some free swag. Unfortunately, only food was to be had. The popcorn was good, but neither the WGH nor I were in the mood for fried Snickers bars, so we told the young boy we saw in the hotel lobby on his way to the party that he could have ours.
Then the WGH and I went to our hotel's hot tub and pool. I took my glasses off, but I could still compliment the lovely blond who joined us whose swimsuit, like mine, had a skirt attached to it. She thanked me for the compliment, and upon hearing her voice, I squinted hard to confirm my suspicions. "Cristi?" I asked.
"Yes, Lori, right?"
"Yes!" I said as Cristi's husband, Nodwick and PS238 artist Aaron Williams, joined us. We spent the rest of the evening soaking and talking and having the kind of surreal time one can only experience at Gen Con.
Friday morning, I found the hall captains at the Trading Game Headquarters (TCG HQ) to be just as helpful as those in the BG HQ. My Chez What? game was in a room all to myself for the first hour, and my players had fun. The MIB delivered the other prize support offered, so I was able to give the winner a prize as well as a fun time.
Friday afternoon's Apples to Apples game was in the same room that I was now sharing with a few others, but I still had ample space to accommodate the nine players I had. The first winner went home with her own copy of Apples to Apples, then the players decided to play more just for the fun of it. One young man there with his dad was hyper-intelligent and funny. The dad even gave me a tip as he left!
Friday night was the annual Cthulhu Rally, and Chaosium was celebrating 30 years in the games industry. Charlie Krank always throws a great party, and this year's theme was a beach party. The Duct Tape Girl was having way too much fun with the inflatable banana during the limbo contest.
Saturday morning saw the Igor Bars contest, and I must admit that the moment I saw the bars with M&Ms on the top making a picture of Igor himself, I knew the contest's winner. The woman who decorated her Igor Bars with steel-grey frosting, Gummy Worms, and a candy dead rat was a very close second.
I connected with both Monte and Sue Cook, and the latter explained to the former that they’re my "best customers" (read: my only customers so far). This being Saturday, it was far too late to set a time for that drink, so I bought Sue a bottle of soda instead. That works.
That afternoon I played my absolutely favorite game ever: Blink. I love a game that I can teach and play in less than a minute. Even Cheapass games aren't that fast. I had time to return to the Exhibit Hall to do some shopping. I purchased the Riddle Books that I did not own, as well as earning the "Riddle Master" ribbon for my badge.
After a short nap in my hotel room, where I was the only person and thus the only snorer, I went to see the Dead Gentlemen host an RPG including some industry celebrities: Aaron Williams, Monte Cook, and a third whose name I don't recall. I took a picture of Cook and Williams together because apparently they look so similar, some think they are the same person (uh, one's a writer; the other's an artist). I also have a couple of funny pictures of me with the Dead Gentlemen. These guys are a hilarious, fun-loving, group of gamers, just like anyone else at Gen Con. Cristi Williams also told me that Magnificent Egos, in the booth next to theirs, had only four Nodwick minis left.
Because the Colts unwisely scheduled a preseason game during Gen Con again, the WGH and I had quite a time finding a restaurant for dinner. Last year I wrote the Commissioner of the NFL advising him to not schedule a game in the RCA Dome during Gen Con. Apparently I need to send the letter to the Colts organization instead. I hope the fact that I'm a shareholder in the Green Bay Packers, and thus know the needs of football fans attending a game, will have a little weight with the team's scheduler.
Then the WGH and I attended a screening of "The Making of Dorkness Rising" by the Dead Gentlemen. Too funny. I can't wait for this film's release sometime next year. Look for cameos by Monte Cook and other RPG industry personnel.
The TCG HQ hall captain was not as chipper on Sunday morning as he had been earlier in the weekend, but he was still helpful and provided ample space for my finale game. The one person who came won the last prize I had to offer. Then I rushed to the Exhibit Hall. The Magnificent Egos booth had two Nodwick minis left, and I purchased both of them (one for me and one for eBay; hey, they're signed by Aaron Williams himself!). I finally walked through the Art Exhibit and bought the WGH a print of Stewie from "Family Guy" saying, "Obey me or perish!"
Well, the WGH's game is done, and we're heading out. He gave me a couple of t-shirts for my birthday later in the month. One is the "Clerics" shirt and signed by Aaron, the other is a cute cat wearing reading glasses. We miss our cats terribly, and I'm glad to be going home.
Until next year; Thanks, Peter, for a really good time.
Copyright 2004-2005 The Lady
Gamer.
All rights reserved.
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For Gen Con Indy 2005, I will run events under the Army of Dorkness banner. Although each event will stand alone in its fun, the more events in which one participates, the better one's chances of winning the big prize, to be announced at Gen Con (in other words, even I don't know what it is yet, but it will be nice).
Event 1:
Event Title: Army of Dorkness: Dork Tower Board
Game
Event Description: Army of Dorkness Events: For the fans of John
Kovalic and everyone else. Participate in events, earn points, and win
prizes! Ultimate prize given on Sunday. Dork Tower Board Game: Collect
scrolls and magic items and prepare yourself to do battle atop the
central 3-D cardboard tower with the evil wizard Z'Mindrik. But watch
out; Z'Mindrik is guarded by dangerous, powerful monsters and the other
players are dogging you every step of the way.
Event Type: Board Game
Number of Players per Session Minimum: 3; Maximum: 12
Number of Tables per Session: 2
Game Materials Provided? Yes
Game System: Dork Tower Board Game
Rules Version: N/A
Rules Complexity Average
Age Requirement 13+
Experience Requirement: Newcomers (rules will be taught)
Event Format Single Round
#Hours/Session 4
#Session Run N/A
Preferred Time Slots: Thursday: 0900-1300
If I'm reading the Gen Con online catalog correctly, this event may
be sold out. If you cannot register for this or any event at Gen Con,
show up anyway with generic tickets equivalent to the cost of the
event, and you may still be able to participate if those with event
tickets do not show up.
Event 2:
Event Title: Army of Dorkness: Chez What?
Event Description: Army of Dorkness: Participate in events, earn
points, and win prizes! Ultimate prize given on Sunday. Chez What:
Beer. Nookie. Roommates. Just another Friday night at Chez Fill in the
Blank. Spend money and time to accumulate Slack points. What other game
gives you points for sleeping? Just look out for the car alarm. Drink,
party, and sleep late as you pursue Slack points to win the game. Most
or all Chez games will be available.
Event Type Card Game
Number of Players per Session Minimum: 3; Maximum 12
Number of Tables per Session: 2
Game Materials Provided? Yes
Game System: Chez Geek
Rules Version: N/A
Rules Complexity Easy
Age Requirement 13+
Experience Requirement: Newcomers (rules will be taught)
Event Format Single Round
#Hours/Session: 4
#Session Run: 1
Preferred Time Slots: Friday 0800-1200
Event 3:
Event Title: Army of Dorkness: Apples to Apples
Event Description: Army of Dorkness: Participate in events, earn
points, and win prizes! Ultimate prize given on Sunday. Apples to
Apples: Select the card from your hand that you think is best described
by a card played by the judge. If the judge picks your card, you win
that round. And everyone gets a chance to be the judge!
Event Type Card Game
Number of Players per Session Minimum: 3; Maximum 12
Number of Tables per Session: 2
Game Materials Provided? Yes
Game System: Apples to Apples
Rules Version: N/A
Rules Complexity Easy
Age Requirement 13+
Experience Requirement: Newcomers (rules will be taught)
Event Format Single Round
#Hours/Session: 4
#Session Run: 1
Preferred Time Slots: Friday 1300-1700
Event 4:
Event Title: Army of Dorkness: Igor Bar Contest
Event Description: Army of Dorkness: Participate in events, earn
points, and win prizes! Ultimate prize given on Sunday. Igor Bar
Contest: Are your Igor Bars the best at Gen Con? Try the recipe at http://www.dorkstock.com/IgorBars.html.
Competitors must
have a ticket. Not a cook? Come to eat and judge! Judges need no ticket.
Event Type: Other
Number of Players per Session Minimum: 1; Maximum 20
Number of Tables per Session: 2
Game Materials Provided? No
Game System: Other
Rules Version: N/A
Rules Complexity Easy
Age Requirement: none
Experience Requirement: none
Event Format Single Round
#Hours/Session: 1
#Session Run: 1
Preferred Time Slots: Saturday 1000-1100
Event 5:
Event Title: Army of Dorkness: Blink Tournament
Event Description: Army of Dorkness: Participate in events, earn
points, and win prizes! Ultimate prize given on Sunday. Blink:
lightning fast game where two players race to be the first to play all
of their cards. Using sharp eyes and fast hands, players quickly try to
match the shape, count, or color on the cards. The first player out of
cards wins the hand. Winner of most hands wins tournament.
Event Type Card Game
Number of Players per Session Minimum: 3; Maximum 20
Number of Tables per Session: 2
Game Materials Provided? Yes
Game System: Blink
Rules Version: N/A
Rules Complexity Easy
Age Requirement 6+
Experience Requirement: Newcomers (rules will be taught)
Event Format Single Round
#Hours/Session: 2
#Session Run: 1
Preferred Time Slots: Saturday: 1300-1500
Event 6:
Event Title: Army of Dorkness: Finale
Event Description: Army of Dorkness Events: For the fans of John
Kovalic and everyone else. Participate in events, earn points, and win
prizes! Ultimate prize given at this session. Participants will choose
from the previously played games: Dork Tower Board Game, Chez What,
Apples to Apples, and Blink. Those who have the most cumulative points
from previous Army of Dorkness events will be given priority to play.
Event Type Board Game
Number of Players per Session Minimum: 3; Maximum: 20
Number of Tables per Session: 3
Game Materials Provided? Yes
Game System: Various
Rules Version: N/A
Rules Complexity Average
Age Requirement 13+
Experience Requirement: Newcomers (rules will be taught)
Event Format Single Round
#Hours/Session 4
#Session Run N/A
Preferred Time Slots: Sunday 0900-1300
Come and
enjoy. I look forward to seeing
you in August!
Copyright 2004-2005 The Lady
Gamer. All rights reserved.
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My journey to Star Wars fandom did not begin until 1980 and the release of The Empire Strikes Back. When Star Wars (later subtitled A New Hope) was released in 1977, I was only seven years old, and Star Wars was everywhere: on commercials, on food boxes, in the toy stores, etc. Star Wars was very popular, and I wasn't; thus, I had absolutely no desire to see this movie that everyone was talking about and had seen at least a hundred times. Remember, this is the mentality of a seven year-old. I make no apologies for childish behavior exhibited when one was a child.
Of course the economic hard times of the late 1970s (remember gas lines?) hit my working-class family hard, so going to movies was a rare treat indeed. When my sister and her boyfriend came home one evening and announced they were taking me and my brothers to see a movie, I was ecstatic - that is until they answered the question, "Which movie?"
"The Empire Strikes Back." My heart sunk, but I recall my thoughts exactly: It's a movie; you don't get to see movies that often. Go!
The Orpheum Theatre in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, is the closest thing this small metropolis ever will have to a theatre palace. I love the gilt gold interior, the crystal chandeliers, and the deep red velvet curtains that cover the screen when it's not in use. How many theatres this day and age have curtains? Anywhere? My brothers opted for seats in the balcony while my sister insisted I sit next to her.
When the introduction scrolled across the screen, I knew what millions of people discovered three years earlier: I was in for something altogether different. I became a Star Wars geek the moment I saw Mark Hamill's tush. Hey, I admit that I like a good looking derriere. Hamill immediately replaced Shaun Cassidy as my biggest school girl crush.
Of course I had to see Star Wars to catch up on what I missed. I don't recall if I saved my money, or if my mother gave me money just to stop the whining of a persistent ten year-old. Soon I collected as much Star Wars stuff as I could afford. I'm still angry with my parents for throwing out a bunch of my Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back bubble gum cards when they attempted to clean my room while I was away at Girl Scout camp in the summer of 1981. My saved memorabilia includes an issue of Dynamite magazine with Mark Hamill on the Dagobah set on the cover. The magazine originally included a poster that said the third movie would be named Revenge of the Jedi, but I think it went the same way those bubble gum cards did. Too bad, I could make a fortune with it on eBay.
By the spring of 1983, I knew more about Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back than the nerdiest boys in my class. I owned and read the novelizations so many times that the covers came off the paperbacks. I also felt that I had undeniable proof that Darth Vader was NOT Luke Skywalker's father (because during the conversation between Vader and the Emperor in Empire, the Emperor refers to "the son of Skywalker" rather than saying "your son."). A friend of mine had the storybook version of Jedi and loaned it to me before I saw the movie. I read as far as the scene on Dagobah, then I was too heartbroken to continue.
(Incidentally, I think Lucas did not originally intend Leia to be Luke's twin sister. I have bubble gum cards from The Empire Strikes Back that give different ages for these two characters. Oops.) [Editor's Note: In Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy included on the original trilogy DVD collection, Lucas states that he did intend Luke and Leia to be twins. I stand corrected.-L.]
I read every piece of media I could about Star Wars when Return of the Jedi was released. I still have the issue of People magazine with Jabba the Hutt and slave-girl Leia on the cover, in which I learned that Mark Hamill has been married for several years to his high school sweetheart. Another heartbreak. My crush on him ended right then and there, as I always have had a policy of never messing with another woman's man. (Like I ever had a chance.)
In the late 90s, I saw the Special Editions in the theatre and adored the improvements Lucas made with only two exceptions: I missed "Lapti Nek", the song Oola originally danced to in Jabba's palace, and the final "Ewok Celebration" number during the victory party - both in Jedi. Otherwise I was ecstatic to see Jabba's appearance in docking bay 94 of that "wretched hive of scum and villainy" Mos Eisley spaceport, among the other wonderful editions.
When Phantom Menace was released, I waited in line for six hours with my friends, again at the Orpheum Theatre. I wrote in my journal, "Okay, so I look like a geek. I'm sitting in front of Jack's Shoes on State Street about half a block from the Orpheum Theatre. It's a little after 6:00 pm. At midnight, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace will be shown. I don't plan on sitting here the entire six hours; friends and I will be taking shifts." While waiting in line, I kicked butt against some fellow Star Wars fans who brought their copy of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. My husband gave me a copy of the game several years before as a birthday present. I admit I'm a geek, but I wasn't as bad as the nerd who showed up wearing a Federation uniform. At least I never cross-contaminate the Sci Fi universes like that.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed in Phantom Menace. Although I can probably still recite the opening scrolls for episodes 4-6, when the opener scrolled during Phantom Menace, and a "Trade Federation" was disputing "trade routes," I had to ask myself "What's this?"
Don't get me started on Jar-Jar.
So when Attack of the Clones was released, I decided to wait a few days rather than fight the crowds. I'm mildly agoraphobic anyway. I didn't think Lucas could do worse than Phantom Menace, but he did. To quote Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries series of books, among others, as well as an experienced screenwriter herself, "George, I love you, but you can’t write dialogue. I’m just saying."
Don't get me started on Hayden Christian (or Christian Hayden, I can never remember). All I have to say is that my cats can act better than he can.
In my honest opinion, Lucas tried too hard to move away from the original series in episode 1, and then tried too hard to swing back toward them in episode 2. Where Phantom was almost devoid of references to the original trilogy, Clones made as many references as possible to the original series.
Again, I will not fight the crowds because of the agoraphobia, not to mention that I just moved (selling one house, and buying a bigger one), and I just finished writing another index for Malhavoc Press. Quite frankly, I'm tired. Yet as I type this at around 1 AM on Thursday, May 19, 2005, I know that hundreds of people at this very moment are at the Orpheum Theatre watching Revenge of the Sith. I hope they enjoy it. I probably will in a week or two. For now, I'm going to bed.
Follow-Up [Here there be SPOILERS!]
I just saw Revenge of the Sith, and I am in shock. I am so stunned by how unbelievably bad this film was.
Meg Cabot is right: Lucas cannot write dialogue. As Padme said, "You're breaking my heart," I was thinking "You're hurting my head."
I know that Lucas had to wrap things up so they fit in with the original trilogy, but quite frankly my skills wrapping gifts are better; just ask my nieces and nephews who can guess what they're receiving just by looking through the rips I tried to tape shut.
While Sith did have the feel of the Special Editions of the original films - enough of the same "look" of the ships and the soldiers, and the music (scored by John Williams, of course) - special visual and sound effects cannot make up for a weak script. Lucas should have had someone else write the script. Even Bobcat Goldthwait's Shakes the Clown was better written than all three movies in this latest travesty, I mean trilogy.
My husband said it best when he said this is why you need someone different writing the script and someone else directing the movie. You need a person who will disagree with you and say, "This is crap. The dialogue is canned, and the pacing is pedantic." In fact, my husband wrote a scathing review on his blog that deals with far more specific details.
The character of Padme has gone from being a strong self-assured leader to a whimpering damsel in distress. While Hayden Christiansen (I think I have the name right) gives good evil looks, he still can't deliver a line with any kind of believability. When he hears he's going to be a father, Christiansen doesn't seem to know whether his character should be happy, surprised, angry, confused or what, so he winds up delivering his lines with the same stupid expression on his face that Kathy Ireland overused in Alien From L.A., which I saw when it was featured on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian was less cardboard than Christiansen's Skywalker.
Lucas once said, "If you can tune into the fantasy life of an 11-year-old girl, you can make a fortune in this business." Well I recall the 11-year-old girl I was when I fantasized about Mark Hamill and his tush. Lucas abandoned the fantasy with the terrible writing of the death scenes of Count Dooku and Mace Windu.
Where one could shed a tear over the death of an anonymous Ewok during the Battle of Endor (Jedi), one could only scratch one's head as Padme died just after her twins were born and named. Wasn't Leia supposed to remember her mother? Sending Luke to live on Tatooine, the same planet Anakin grew up on, was a terrible idea. Wouldn't looking up his step-brother be one of the first things Skywalker/Vader would do? And what was that reference to Qui-Gon all about? Please tell me this agony is over, not that more is coming.
Lucas has said that he will not make the third and final
trilogy in this saga, and I agree he shouldn't unless he wishes to
apologize to his
fans. The only apology I would accept is if Lucas would write the final
trilogy stories, then leave screenwriting and directing to someone
else: Kasdan, Kershner [ETA: RIP], or even Goldthwait.
Copyright 2004-2005 The Lady
Gamer. All rights reserved.
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