Occasionally I go to science fiction conventions and have fun gaming, going to
author panels, etc. In Spokane, I went to one that had one of my favorite authors, Lois
McMaster Bujold, who gave a VERY entertaining reading from *Miles and Ivan Go to a
Cetagandan State Funeral*, which was, sadly, re-titled by Baen to simply *Cetaganda*.
Locally, my con-going has included Dis(aster)Clave and PhilCon '97,
and WorldCon '98 (Bucconeer: 4500+ people. Panels! Movies! Gaming! Coffee
with authors! Fascinating Whelan slide show and C.J. Cherryh speech!). My family has
a tradition of writing long trip reports upon our travels, so here are some write-ups of
JohnCons (primarily gaming) and a general con,
below.
Friday night, I left work early for me, just in time to face the glories of beltway traffic at 6 on a Friday night. By the time I got to the con (an hour later, should have been 1/2 that), and stood in line to register and get my picture taken (for my badge), I was in a mood to smite someone mightily, so I headed to the game room. Fortunately, I saw some folks I know setting up Deluxe Illuminati (take over the world by devious means and dice rolls), and won two games in a row, heh heh heh. The first time, they went easy on me (until too late) because I hadn't played Deluxe before (just other Illuminati variations), and the Gnomes and the Network players forgot to save any money to stop me whilst whomping each other. The second time, the two players who could have stopped me didn't realize (until too late) that they had to combine resources BEFORE I declared my last (winning) move around midnight.
Saturday:
1 AM took my first juggling class (the teacher was thrilled that 6 of
us showed up). Now all I need is lots of practice.
2 AM joined in the techno dance, but it all sounded the same to me,
so I drove home not long after.
2 PM took my first Medieval Dance class. Ditto practice, and I was
told about a Maryland group (near U of M) to possibly connect with.
They had a live band playing lutes and tambours and whatnot. Some
dances were coupled, others one-big-circled, and one Italian one had
us dance in sets of three. Lots of pretty costumes. The
tambour-drummer was the juggle teacher from the early hours before.
After class, ran into gamers (all in black) from previous
night in dealer room; showed off my festive burgundy and pine gown and matching
flower headpiece, which I keep meaning to scan in (pix from my
HalloWarming party and the RenFest I went to this fall).
Sunday noon: showed up to run Hacker, still my favorite game (take over systems on the network via card tricks and dice rolls). My players finished up their game of Guillotine and we had a slow-starting but very enjoyable 3-hr game.