Saturday, October 03, 2009

felt flat

FlatCon just didn't do much for me today. It was nice to see my nephew the ninja, even if he could only vaguely sit still for a pick-up game of Tier Auf Tier. There just weren't any games available this afternoon that lit my jets. Not that the program booklet or online schedule made it easy for me to find out. Both were arranged by game type. To find out what started at 2pm I had to look at all the minis games scheduled for then, go to the board game section and do the same, then flip to the RPGs, etc. What a pain in the butt.

I had a good time running my own game last year but upon further reflection I've had trouble coming to grips with the thought that my wife and I had paid forty bucks for the privilege of running a game I could have run for free at the local game store. Not that I'm against running stuff at cons, but I guess a decade and a half of running games at Winter War has gotten me used to getting comped part of my admission for GMing. There have been plenty of Winter Wars where the only games I played have been my own, but by running two games I got free admission. That seemed like a fair deal to me. In comparison FlatCon feels like it was charging me to help make sure the other con-goers had a game to play. I don't mind volunteering, but this felt like paying to volunteer. So this year I opted not to GM anything.

And then there was the shopping. The only vendor with any used stuff was the guy from last year that I wanted to punch in the face. Did I tell you this story? I don't think I did because I wanted to calm down before I talked about it. So here I am doing a little bit of shopping when I overhear this gamestore jockey talking to a younger guy about Judges Guild founder Bob Bledsaw. Keep in mind that Bledsaw had been dead about six months at this point. This douchebag is explaining to the kid how he was absolutely certain that Bob was a card-carrying fascist. I look up from the nerd merchandise I was perusing, mouth agape, to see that this jackass was talking to someone my sister had introduced me to at the previous year's con. The young guy in question was Bob Bledsaw's nephew. It said 'Bledsaw' clear as day on the dude's badge, so I know it was the same guy. Maybe I was just overly sensitive due to my own uncle passing away the year before, but I don't even give a good goddamn if Bledsaw was a fascist, you don't go saying that in casual conversation to his nephew! So there was no way in hell I was giving that fucko any money this year.

I did enjoy two things. As in previous years we bought boffer swords from Gamers for a Cure so that Elizabeth and Cameron could beat the snot out of each other. They had a great time. And I took some homemade copies of Encounter Critical along to leave laying about. One I left on the freebie table. Another I hid under a program booklet laying in the boardgame section. And the third I surreptitiously slipped into the copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics #51: Castle Whiterock that I found in the silent auction. I registered all three copies with bookcrossing.com, so I may eventually discover the identity of whoever found them.

15 comments:

  1. Too bad you didn't get a chance to enjoy a game or two. I did enjoy the fucko comment and can completely sympathize with you on that one.

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  2. Getting comped for GMing is standard practice at most gaming cons, and the idea that there's a con that does it otherwise disturbs me :(

    Thanks for spreading the EC love, tho!

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  3. If I had to pick one old school guy for whom the word "fascist" didn't fit, Bob Bledsaw would be pretty close to the top of the list.

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  4. Sorry to hear your con-going fell flat. The exact thing, except for the fucko, happened this year at Gamicon. I ended up playing Carcassone with my friends; which I could have done much cheaper at home.

    Next year I run something again; If I can't find a good game, I must help create one! I just wish i could play for a change. Sheesh.

    Good going with the EC: Stick it to the man and bring it in under the radar, brother!

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  5. I love that act of RPG cultural terrorism. I might have to think about doing that at Draconis this year. Hmmm, which free game should I secretly seed around the con?

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  6. So let me get this straight...the fucktard was badmouthing this guy's uncle (Bob Bledsaw) to his face? And he'd just passed....Hmmm. Some serious ass-hattery going on there.

    Not getting comped for your services rendered is kinda crazy. I'm not sure that I've heard of that happening at any of the cons around here. Tacticon, Genghis Con, etc.

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  7. Thanks for the awesome tip on Book Crossing. I'm going to start unleashing copies of my zine into the wild with BC stickers and ID numbers inside.

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  8. Anonymous11:59 AM

    I am glad that you stuck to your guns regarding the merchant badmouthing the poor kid's uncle.

    I am never calm in those situations and I am sure that I would have been kicked out for telling the guy off or threatening to beat him senseless. I get that way sometimes.

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  9. 40 bucks?! That's ridiculous.

    The one way the US seems worse than the UK - hugely expensive concerts* and, apparently, conventions too.

    *Although when I visited, The Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman was good value at 20 bucks or so. Vegas was terrible though (ie, over $50 just to see a legend perform nightly).

    I'm going to a con on the 24th, it's £5.50. http://www.gamesfest.co.uk/tickets.html

    I think Gencon was around £10 ($15) last time I went. But $40 bucks?! I'm astounded.

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  10. 40 bucks for a local convention? That's outright mind-boggling. The convention in Heidelberg charged just 3 (in words: three) €, and as I've GMed a Traveller game, I didn't have to pay even that.
    With my 20€ in food and my 15€ in comic books I ended up with about the same overall bill in the end, but those 35€ payed me something tangible at the very least, and have been all directly con-related costs.

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  11. The local gaming con here, Con of the North, offers comps for GMs who run games, but they can't actually play any unless they pony up for admission (albeit at a discounted rate). And I don't think the local general SF/fantasy cons comp GMs at all.

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  12. Cute guerilla gamer tactics! sorry the con was bummerish

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  13. Next year you should make the boff swords the first stop. Then you'd be ready for any impending douchebag encounters!

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  14. Wow - I know that most of the HMGS cons and the other Illinois cons do not charge GM's an entrance fee - as they have invested a decent amount of time or money already to run the game.

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  15. As to the cost, last February, I got a weekend pass and signed up for four games at Winter War in Champaign (about 45 miles away from Flat Con in Bloomington) for $23. Free parking, too. I got a couple dollars off for signing up early, but still... Don't know if Winter War is cheap or Flat Con is expensive.

    Sign in word: "uncul" - The vendor speaking ill of the late, great Bledsaw to a family member was most uncul.

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