Sword's Edge

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Sunday Means Departure

Sunday wasn’t much of a gaming day at Gen Con. I did have an early morning meet with Howard Andrew Jones, and we had a great discussion with stops at the business end of writing novels, writing itself, research, and family stuff (hint: never ask me about my family, as I can go on at exceptional length on my wife and girls). Dave Gross (of the wonderful Master of Devils novel) joined us for a bit. The conversation was surprisingly animated for an early morning coffee run at the end of Gen Con. It was great to touch base with Howard and fantastic to meet Dave. He has a fantastic knowledge of wuxia movies and media in general, so there was lots of discussion of seminal kung-fu movies and great TV series.

With else nothing planned, MF Bullock and I did a last circuit of the Exhibitors’ Hall, while Chris and Rob both made the most of it by engaging in some games. As Chris and Rob were driving back, their departure was kind of in their hands. MF Bullock and I, on the other hand, had to worry about getting to the airport on time. The truth was, GO Express Travel, which we had used to get from the airport to hotel on Wednesday, ran pretty frequently and although we didn’t have reservations, there was generally plenty of room on the shuttles we saw. We caught the shuttle around one in the afternoon, which got us to the airport in under 30 minutes. It worked out great.

The truth is, if I had scheduled a game I certainly would have had time to run something. Maybe from nine to one. I was up early anyway, so that would have worked out well. It’s something for next time – when and if there is a next time. Gen Con is an expensive proposition, and this year it was precipitated mostly by having enough loyalty points to pay for the fare portion of a flight (though not the other tariffs and fees, which still amounted to over $100). My hope is that I’ll be able to make it again in 2015, do this as a kind of every-other-year things, now that the girls are old enough that they can help rather than hinder their mother.

We’ll see. The take away this year as with 2011 is that Gen Con is awesome, and I am constantly jealous of people who get to head there every year. Back in 2008, we said we really didn’t need to visit again, but that was proved false the very next year when Rob and I turned green every time one of our friends or associates reported their plans to go to Gen Con. That led to visiting in 2011, after which we knew we wanted to visit as often as we could.

So that was my Gen Con 2013. It was pretty awesome. I hope to be able to get back in 2015, and if I do, I have promised the Lanza clan that I’ll bring along a game in which crazy plans and epic-level cinematic combat is rewarded rather than penalized.

I guess that means a Skill Kickers RPG.

You can find more information on Howard Andrew Jones here.

You can find more information on Dave Gross here and here.

You can find more information on Master of Devils here.

You can read my review of Master of Devils here.

You can find more information on GO Express Travel here.

You can find more information on Skull Kickers here.

2 Replies to “Sunday Means Departure”

  • When I went in 2008, it was pretty hard on my wife because we had a 18 month old and my wife was preggers. In 2011, my wife said it was totally manageable, and this year she hardly noticed I was gone. Give it time. 😉

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