Pumpkins and Pirates and Cowboys... Oh my! Our dream Disney TR!

[If U Had Wings]

Have a great time! Sounds like it's going to be a great weekend.

I flew Airtran for the first time last fall. I have no complaints. We left on time and arrived early. Nothing fancy, but I'm always happy when I get there on time.

 

[adisneymama]

Just wanted to head over here and tell you to have a great trip! Glad you found the luggage! But wow what a schedule!

Have fun!

 

[mom3sonstt]

We've flown Airtran last year and this year - plus my son flew to ATlanta for a conference this spring. We have had no real problems. Wasnt happy that our direct flight from Moline to Orlando turned into a stop-over in Atlanta, but all in all I can;t complain. The connecting flight was was the gate next to the one we got off at so we didn't have to walk far at all. We left Atlanta 10 minutes late - but that was because they had a crew member deciding whether or not he wanted to "deadhead" with us to Orlando. Thought that was kind of odd because two passengers had to get off because they were overbooked (don't know how they got on if there weren;t enough seats - that didn't make sense either) but two people had to get off but a crew member gets a free ride-along?? Oh well.

 

[Princesskeyblade]

We are back!! I will have to begin my mini TR as soon as I can start thinking.... I am still very tired!

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Tuesday Night

I got home and crashed on the couch for a bit. Then we went and met our DBF's for some dinner and to drop off our apartment key, because they were cat sitting for Min while we were gone. We had pizza and nachos and just hung out. They have just gotten engaged, so we were swapping info and stuff.

After we said our goodbyes, we went home and finished packing. The flight was in the morning, and we had to be there at 7:00 am, so we had to be up for 5:30 a.m..... or at least I had to ....It would be the last time I would take first shower all vacation

Wednesday

We left for Logan on time, after bidding goodbye to the kitty, and had no problem making our flight. We got into Atlanta a little late, but we were still able to grab lunch at the Sam Adams resturant (a little taste of home in Atlanta), and then made our way to our gate for check in. We got to Indy around 3 p.m. and grabbed our bags and made the run to a share a ride bus to the Embassy Suites.

Now if you ever need a hotel to stay, try an Embassy Suite. Our suite was awesome! We had a common room (used to run our games and general hang out time) and a bedroom with a bed that has been given the title of "Bed sent from the heavens"... man I miss that bed.

We unpacked and then went to grab dinner at Bucca de Bepe, a awesome italian resturant in downtown Indy. There is NO wait and we have a yummy meal and bring back the leftovers to put in the fridge that came in our room (we had a microwave too). We got back early and hung out until our friend's welcome party. One of the great things about GenCon is it is really a great place for people to get together and socialize. It was awesome to see all our friends again, and despite having someone knock into my wine and spill it all over my clothes, it was a fabulous time. I even got to connect with someone I didn't know as well before, and now we are great friends.

I turned in around 1 a.m. but couldn't sleep. Maybe pre Game Mastering jitters......

Next update: How will my first GenCon game go? Will I enjoy being a Supervixen? And with no party on Thursday night, will we find something to do?

 

[Lady Lallie]

Great start to the Mini TR. I can't wait to hear more!

 

[willwriteforears]

Wow, game mastering! Had you done it before? I've never been a "classic" RPG-er, but from what I've heard about it, I think I'd enjoy game mastering--I think it appeals to my latent control issues.

Looking forward to more of the mini-TR!

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Wow, game mastering! Had you done it before? I've never been a "classic" RPG-er, but from what I've heard about it, I think I'd enjoy game mastering--I think it appeals to my latent control issues.

Looking forward to more of the mini-TR!

I have GM'ed before. I love it. It is like a mixture of improv and "Choose Your Own Adventure" where the roll of the dice decides the fate of the characters.

They actually have a really cool game called Dread... It uses a jenga tower instead of dice. I am going to put together a game based on Clue for Halloween. You may enjoy that.

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Thursday, when the alarm woke us up to grab breakfast, I realized just how tired the traveling day before made me. This was sad, because we were both slated to run games first thing in the morning. DF was running his Indiana Jones-esque game and I was set to run my first GenCon game ever, my Welcome to Tranquility superhero one-shot. I was nervous. Most of my group I had never met before Wednesday night's party, and then there was a friend from Boston, who is pure awesome as a GM and as a player. So after my free breakfast (Did I mention Embassy Suites was great?), I wished DF good luck and went off to run my game.

It was fun! I mean how could it not be fun, everyone is playing old people with superpowers and a Billy Idol wannabe is terrorising the Town ( I will write more about that later). Despite me thinking it went "meh", players convinced me otherwise when I talked to them later on in the weekend.

After, DF and I went and grabbed some lunch at the resturant in the hotel. We caught up on each other's games, and chatted about the rest of the day. He felt that his game did not go well either, until all his players told him that they all had a blast. Then we separated again. This time he was off to the dealers hall to shop and man the ENWorld ENnies Booth.

The ENnies is like the literary awards for RPG's. These are voted on my the fans who play them, and the fans can get all dressed up and attend the ceremony on the Friday of the convention. They have a booth in the Dealer's Hall and we both worked in it.

Then I was off to a game called Sophie and the Supervixens. It was a horror game, featuring a girl band (a la Josie and the Pussycats ) who are lured to a house in the middle of nowhere and was trapped by a mad man with a chainsaw and are forced to face a horrible demon. I played the ditzy drummer/ martial arts specialist. I had so much fun! The GM was one I gamed with the year before, so I had no doubt about the game being great. He gave us CDs filled with music from the "band", songs that were played in game. They were actually songs that inspired him to write the game. We were also given the character sketch.

I got back to the room and got a call from DF, who was on his way back to the room. Once he got back he had quite a few things for us to look at. Including a book for the future kiddo, it was called Where the Deep Ones are A HP Lovecraft version of Where the Wild Things Are.

Then we got ready and headed down to the lobby, where we met TS, who we invited to dinner. We had dinner at the Webber Grill, where I had the best meatloaf ever. It was a great meal and a great chance to get to know TS, who we ran into last year but didn't get to hang out at all.

Not aware of anything going on for the evening we just went and crashed in the room, looking at our books and watching the Olympics.

Next up: Will I be the only girl in all my mixed gender games? How will I become a female version of Q? Will I ditch my pedicure to go shopping? Will we win anything at the Silent Auction?

Stay Tuned!!!

 

[LuccaDrake]

I'm totally confused and lost on the whole gaming thing, but sounds fun! Yay for a mini trip before Disney! Someday I'll have you explain the games to me. Are you actually performing as a character or are there cards involved??? I'm used to monopoly and trivial pursuit, this is way beyond me!

~Beka~

 

[Lady Lallie]

It sounds like you had a great time! I know very little about gaming but your Mini TR really makes me want to know more.

 

[Princesskeyblade]

I'm totally confused and lost on the whole gaming thing, but sounds fun! Yay for a mini trip before Disney! Someday I'll have you explain the games to me. Are you actually performing as a character or are there cards involved??? I'm used to monopoly and trivial pursuit, this is way beyond me!

~Beka~

It is not anything like Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit.

You don't act out the character really, you just determine what the character would do or say.

It sounds like you had a great time! I know very little about gaming but your Mini TR really makes me want to know more.

The best way to describe gaming is this:

A group of friends get together on a Saturday night to play. They all sit around a table and one person sits at the end, that person is the GM or gamemaster. Their main function is to tell the story. The other players play characters (depending on the game it can be superheroes or Pirates) and their decisions affect the story. When they try to affect the story, say by trying to parley with an enemy pirate, they would roll a dice, usually a twenty sided one, and if they get a certian number or above then they succeed, if they don't they fail horribly and something goes wrong. Then the characters will respond to that as well.

Usually you create your own character, but when you go to conventions, you get to play a pregenerated character that was created by the GM.

I hope that helped a little bit.

There is a really great book out there if you are looking for an interesting read, it won the ENnie this year and was really well deserved. It is called Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress: A Girls Guide to D&D by Shelley Mazzanoble. It not only is a great book, but it has some great receipes to try!

 

[willwriteforears]

I have GM'ed before. I love it. It is like a mixture of improv and "Choose Your Own Adventure" where the roll of the dice decides the fate of the characters.

They actually have a really cool game called Dread... It uses a jenga tower instead of dice. I am going to put together a game based on Clue for Halloween. You may enjoy that.

Oh, that does sound fun! I've done murder mysteries a couple of times and enjoyed it, and while I know it's different from gaming, I think there may be some similarities.

Glad to hear your and DF's games went well even if you didn't think so at the time! I think it's human nature to feel self-conscious and be our own worst critic.

That HP Lovecraft version of Where the Wild Things Are sounds really neat!

Looking forward to more!

 

[joelp]

It is not anything like Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit.

You don't act out the character really, you just determine what the character would do or say.



The best way to describe gaming is this:

A group of friends get together on a Saturday night to play. They all sit around a table and one person sits at the end, that person is the GM or gamemaster. Their main function is to tell the story. The other players play characters (depending on the game it can be superheroes or Pirates) and their decisions affect the story. When they try to affect the story, say by trying to parley with an enemy pirate, they would roll a dice, usually a twenty sided one, and if they get a certian number or above then they succeed, if they don't they fail horribly and something goes wrong. Then the characters will respond to that as well.

Usually you create your own character, but when you go to conventions, you get to play a pregenerated character that was created by the GM.

I hope that helped a little bit.

There is a really great book out there if you are looking for an interesting read, it won the ENnie this year and was really well deserved. It is called Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress: A Girls Guide to D&D by Shelley Mazzanoble. It not only is a great book, but it has some great receipes to try!

You forgot to mention the cheap beer, stale potato chips, lousy pizza - and that - at least in my younger, college, end-of-semester days ... you'd start playing on a Saturday morning after breakfast and finish up Sunday night at dinner ... ... and the start studying for finals ...

 

[Lady Lallie]

That sounds like a lot of fun, PKB! Are we going to get to see pictures??

 

[Princesskeyblade]

You forgot to mention the cheap beer, stale potato chips, lousy pizza - and that - at least in my younger, college, end-of-semester days ... you'd start playing on a Saturday morning after breakfast and finish up Sunday night at dinner ... ... and the start studying for finals ...

I also forgot a lot of gamers addiction to Mountian Dew, but that makes me just thinking about the amount consumed durring GenCon!

That sounds like a lot of fun, PKB! Are we going to get to see pictures??

I have to load them onto my computer, I had no time to do it this weekend, with a bachelorette party and a quick trip up to maine to visit my grandparents on vacation. I will try tonight!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Just wanted to say Hi and let you know that I'm reading. Now I have to go back and read the whole thing!!!!!

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Great!!!

I promise to post another update as soon as I can.... Work is crazy!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

All caught up!!!! How fun. I know nothing about the gaming world but it sounds like you guys have a blast with it (the only game I get to play nowadays is Candyland or something similar!)

 

[Princesskeyblade]

All caught up!!!! How fun. I know nothing about the gaming world but it sounds like you guys have a blast with it (the only game I get to play nowadays is Candyland or something similar!)

We do. DF and I are creative people, and for me this is a chance to get my creative bug out of my system so that my work didn't get all creative. That would not be good.

I love Candy Land!! I play every once in a while with my cousins.