Lost Weekend of Geekitude
Sep. 22nd, 2003 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ltmurnauYesterday I got back from FALLCON 16, a gaming convention in Calgary. To summarize, it was a diverting time with a few ego strokes.
I haven't talked very much in LJ about this wargaming hobby of mine and the games I design because
a) playing games and designing new ones is a constant for me, like bowel movements, and I don't tell you about those;
b) it's only a hobby, though mostly I can make it pay for itself; and
c) the more I talk about it, the geekier I sound because it's just a mutant form of trainspotting.
But if you want to know more about my involvement, look here. Basically, I have been playing for 23 years, designing for 12 and have about 20 published games to my credit. Many of these have been published through the Microgame Design Group, run by my friend Kerry in Edmonton. We price and move these games on a mostly non-profit basis, but over the past few years I have made the company a little money, so Kerry offered to pay my air ticket and hotel to this convention in Calgary. I've been to exactly one other convention in my life, in Vancouver in 1997, so I thought I would go. Also, I hadn't been to Calgary in 20 years.
Westjet ticket to Calgary return was $211, with another $124 in taxes and fees. Go figure. I made my flight with about 11 minutes to spare because the guys who run the airport shuttle bus couldn't organize a two-car funeral. Friday night I had dinner with Lisa, a co-op student who used to work in my office and just picked up and moved to Calgary two weeks ago.
Saturday we went to the convention, which was held in the big room of a community centre in northeast Calgary. About 150 - 180 people were there, only a few of the morbidly obese types drinking soda from 7-11 cups so big you would use one to water a horse. Kerry and I sat at a table with a display of MDG wares (unfortunately, he made only one sale during the weekend) and playtested two new games, one on the Stalingrad campaign of 1942 and a simpler one on the Norman Conquest of Wales. People kept dropping by to say hello and it was gratifying to see how many of them had heard of me and my design work.
Later Kerry and I went to the Sentry Box, a big game store and I spent an hour or two looking around for interesting cheap old junk on the shelves. I found a few things, including a complete run of Interplay magazine that I had been looking for for a long time. That night there was a game auction that was lots of fun and I picked up quite a few things I'd been looking for, very cheaply.
Sunday was more of the same, Kerry and I had lunch at a very good pho place across from the "Asian mall" and he gave me a lift to the airport. I got home laden with stuff for Aki (Mxo got this month's issue of Non-no for a souvenir too). Later Aki got a flat and I showed him how to repair a bicycle tire. I went to bed early as I was very tired from not sleeping in the hotel - strange bed, noisy surroundings.
It was a weekend well spent, with some egoboo and some niche-y shopping. Calgary is a screwed-around city geographically but the people are very nice. I was made very welcome.
I haven't talked very much in LJ about this wargaming hobby of mine and the games I design because
a) playing games and designing new ones is a constant for me, like bowel movements, and I don't tell you about those;
b) it's only a hobby, though mostly I can make it pay for itself; and
c) the more I talk about it, the geekier I sound because it's just a mutant form of trainspotting.
But if you want to know more about my involvement, look here. Basically, I have been playing for 23 years, designing for 12 and have about 20 published games to my credit. Many of these have been published through the Microgame Design Group, run by my friend Kerry in Edmonton. We price and move these games on a mostly non-profit basis, but over the past few years I have made the company a little money, so Kerry offered to pay my air ticket and hotel to this convention in Calgary. I've been to exactly one other convention in my life, in Vancouver in 1997, so I thought I would go. Also, I hadn't been to Calgary in 20 years.
Westjet ticket to Calgary return was $211, with another $124 in taxes and fees. Go figure. I made my flight with about 11 minutes to spare because the guys who run the airport shuttle bus couldn't organize a two-car funeral. Friday night I had dinner with Lisa, a co-op student who used to work in my office and just picked up and moved to Calgary two weeks ago.
Saturday we went to the convention, which was held in the big room of a community centre in northeast Calgary. About 150 - 180 people were there, only a few of the morbidly obese types drinking soda from 7-11 cups so big you would use one to water a horse. Kerry and I sat at a table with a display of MDG wares (unfortunately, he made only one sale during the weekend) and playtested two new games, one on the Stalingrad campaign of 1942 and a simpler one on the Norman Conquest of Wales. People kept dropping by to say hello and it was gratifying to see how many of them had heard of me and my design work.
Later Kerry and I went to the Sentry Box, a big game store and I spent an hour or two looking around for interesting cheap old junk on the shelves. I found a few things, including a complete run of Interplay magazine that I had been looking for for a long time. That night there was a game auction that was lots of fun and I picked up quite a few things I'd been looking for, very cheaply.
Sunday was more of the same, Kerry and I had lunch at a very good pho place across from the "Asian mall" and he gave me a lift to the airport. I got home laden with stuff for Aki (Mxo got this month's issue of Non-no for a souvenir too). Later Aki got a flat and I showed him how to repair a bicycle tire. I went to bed early as I was very tired from not sleeping in the hotel - strange bed, noisy surroundings.
It was a weekend well spent, with some egoboo and some niche-y shopping. Calgary is a screwed-around city geographically but the people are very nice. I was made very welcome.
