After many days on the road, I’m finally getting back into the swing of being home… I’m planning on a Whimventure® for October, and another one in 2025, but really anything else is going to really be on a “Whim.” I’m playing around with a few projects around the house, including going back an getting my LEGO area in the basement reorganized, something I have been putting off as I have been focusing on comic books more than LEGO. While I don’t see that changing too much (my comics are still a bit of a mess), I do see more a bit more of a LEGO focus in my future. Nowhere near as much as when I was teaching or a member of the Indy LEGO User’s Group. I’m trying to focus, but there are some really cool set coming out in the next few months.
So last week, I was drawing a bit more, mostly just trying to get an idea or two out. I’ve been a member of the Draw or Die Club since I retired and while I may not follow the prompts that are sent out, I appreciate having that kick every morning to get me to draw something during the day. One thing I need to work more on is digital art, but I still like the feel of the pencil on paper. Then again I am lousy at inking and digital might at least help me there. That would mean i need to dust off my iPad and Apple Pencil.
So as we end August let’s see where I am in my areas of interest-
Drawing- I try to do something everyday, usually it’s a monkey or cartoony thing- I need to work on some sketching from real life, but then again I also need to get some cartooning projects done. I’m sure I have a comic due to FTF Geocacher soon.
Gaming- After Gen Con I’m really geared up for gaming, but it’s hard to find a gaming time, some changes in my schedule soon might make it easier, or harder. 🙄
LEGO Building- I’m working first on just getting things organized again… fewer elements just all over the place and more of them at least where i can find them.
Comics- At least Wednesday Mornings keep me on a schedule! After Heroes Con, I’m slowing down on buying art, but I still am fascinated by the original artwork and the various styles of the artists I love.
Curling Season should be starting back soon, I’ve just registered for the season with the Circle City Curling Club so expect me to “Put the rock in the house” or break something this season 🙄
MINIs- Well with the end of MINI Takes The States The big event is over. The other ones happen throughout the year, but unfortunately many of them overlap other things. I do need to get the classic back up and running… it’s like an albatross around my neck.
Geocaching- As I travel I do cache, so as long as I’m at home I might just do an event every once in a while. I do have a comic due to FTF Geocacher soon.
This Week in Comics:
Amazing Spider-Man #56 (LGY #950) – So Tombstone has it out for Spider-Man, and vice versa. After the whole “Gang War” crossover which ended up with an uneasy truce to bring down the “Big Bad” Tombstone has bee running the underworld, but the petty criminals think Spider-Man is working with him. Peter is having a great time supporting that illusion to keep complete power of the city out in flux. The comic bounces around in time, which isn’t too bad but ends up with courtroom drama, that’s just going to get more dramatic. There is also a side story dealing with Paul, MJ’s “Significant Other” as we learn more about his background to add more drama… because what is Spider-man without drama.
Captain America #12 – With the return of the Red Skull, Hydra and AIM are back firing on all cylinders, Will Cap survive the assault by Baron Zero and Batroc the Leaper?!? Wait, that’s not this story. Cap has gathered the change agents he needs to help Lyra save the world from Death…but like many good actors the question is “What’s his motivation?” This issue we get more of Death’s backstory and why we might actually sympathize with him. Curious about how this will end since Death has empowered people to stop our ragtag bunch… by promising them certain death if they don’t and only certain death if they do… OK he might not have told them that second part.
Ultimate X-Men #6 – I’m still wrapping my head around Peach Momoko’s story. Not saying I don’t like it, The artwork is beautiful, but since most comics take place with heavy western influences, having one focused so much on Japanese culture is and education, and even with the notes on the last page, I’m still going through this thinking I need to read this again once the first arc is done. One of those reasons why some comics are better as trade paperbacks or graphic novels.
The Flash #12 – See my comments about Ultimate X-Men when it comes to trade paperbacks. This arc has been weird and combining it with some of the stuff from Absolute Power makes it even more convoluted. It looks like we are coming to close and I’m still trying to figure out who the bad guys are! What seems to be happening is all the speedsters have gathered to give Wally West a big pep talk so he can do whatever needs to be done. Can you tell I just want to go back to super intelligent gorillas…
Detective Comics #1088 – Maybe the penultimate issue in this arc? Maybe? There seems to be a lot of fighting Batman’s rogues’ gallery going after the bad guys who have been controlling Gotham. It is interesting to see how each villain handles their opponent. Then we get into the whole mystical realm stuff again. Batman, like Captain America should really be more grounded in my opinion. Again with the side story that will end up being important to the big picture. I’m just wondering how, this Batman will fit in with the Batman who is currently in Batman Comics. Detective Comics Batman vs. Batman Batman, vs. Batman & Robin Batman… We knew he had a multiple personality disorder, but this might be taking it a bit too far.
Star Trek Defiant #18 – So We have Romulans being Romulans and Spock and Seal trying to figure out why… While Worf and the crew of the Defiant are trying o prepare for a Romulan invasion of Antara. An Agrarian society that seem to be lucky enough to fight off previous invaders and while the double barrel shotgun might not be much against any tech the Romulans have, a couple century old scout ships, and perhaps the most important person in Starfleet history (who happens to allergic to cats) might help them out.
Rogue Sun #21 – Some fighting, some more fighting, some character and plot development. Rogue Sun continues with his plan to take out Mourningstar which for a teenager seems like the logical and easy thing to do. To get there Dylan has a few things to learn (a lot of things to learn). He and Divinity are taking out one bad guy, while we learn that actions have consequences, and that even spirits know that sometimes teenage girls need to hear what they want, and not the whole truth. Now we lead into a murder mystery… I think the butler did it, except that there is not butler to be found.
Once & Future – Pen & Ink #1 – One of my favorite comics “Once and Future” has British mythology and Arthurian legends intertwined with the modern world… frankly, it is awesome and if you have a chance to pick up the trades I would. Your local comic shop (like Comic Carnival in Indianapolis) should be able to get them for you. What I have though is kind of a “Director’s cut with commentary Kieron Gilles and Dan Mora add comments on the first issue. These pages bring out a noir feeling to the story and I know I’ll be rereading this a couple times, not just the text, but insight into how it was all put together.
The Rocketeer Breaks Free #2 – Cliff, Bettie and Peevy enjoy a lovely vacation in San Francisco. I sure hope Cliff and Bettie visit the Cartoon Art Museum while they are there. Unfortunately, Cliff brought the rocket pack and now is in hot water for being the hero… Not really, but Bettie was hoping more “us time” less “hero time.” Sadly, the Germans aren’t listening to her and the Golden Gate Bridge seems to be the target!
Nemesis Rogues’ Gallery #2 – Nemesis is back and this time we get the story of how he recruited Robin to help him fight crime… no, how he recruited “Rookie” to help him commit crime. The Ultimate anti-hero is back and now he’s brought a sidekick.
This Week’s Shake
One thing the app I’ve been using has is a shake feature. Basically shake your phone and one comic from your collection will pop up at random. It also allows me to scan barcodes to put issues into my collection. While I’ve been culling my collection, I still need to go through and cull what I have on my phone. It currently says I have 5,719 issues. C’mon you knew I had a lot of issues, but probably not that many 🙄. Today I did a shake and this popped up. Crimson by Humberto Ramos. Published from 1998-2001. The story of a teenager who becomes a vampire, but is also “The Chosen One” destined to bring an end to vampirekind. I started reading it after enjoying Ramos’ work on Impulse. I even own a page he drew for Strange Academy. I still follow what he does and try (if I remember) to pick up his newer work – Like Spectacular Spider-Men.
My In-laws were visiting for a couple of days and they asked me about Gen Con. I had to remind myself that even after being part of the family for over 30 years, there are still parts of me that they might not understand. I took some time to explain role playing games to them. I realized that while I get role playing games, I’ve been playing them for over 40 years, there are those who have no clue about them.
Think of a role playing game as a “choose your own adventure” story. They are collaborative games in which everyone works together to beat the game. In a role playing game, you are part of a party of characters who try to meet a goal. You are playing a character in a story, the story changes as you, and your group make choices. Your success is determined by a simple dice roll.
Your character has attributes and has a job (class) which gives you skills to help the group win. You battle bad guys and sometimes good guys (if you think they are bad guys). As you move through the story, you learn and get better. In the end you might die or you might go on to another adventure. Role playing games give people like me the chance to be someone the complete opposite of who I am. The grandfather of role playing games is Dungeons and Dragons- it’s been through highs and lows. It’s been considered the work of the devil by some 🙄 but really gave nerdy kids a chance to let their imaginations go.
Let’s Get Personal
At Gen Con this year they celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. I started playing it in middle school and had no idea what I was doing, for the most part I still don’t have a clue.
My first character was an assassin, Lawful Evil, noble by birth, Count Iblis. Most people’s first character gets a name from a book or other reference, my friend’s character was “Elrond” and yes, he was an elf. The count soon became my alter ego. He could hide in the shadows, like I kind of did in real life, but he could also move gracefully and with dexterity- something I still can’t do. He had a bendable code and ended up collecting some amazing things. He became a Marquis and by the time I was in knee deep into high school he had been put on my shelf & at some point after that lost in the ancient dusts of time.
I went to college and played a slightly different character using the MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) system. The GM had a rule in which we were playing “heroes,” therefore we couldn’t be evil. This was before the rise of the concept of anti-hero. Funny thing, I still follow that rule when making a character. “Greyff” (A purposeful misspelling of the German word for Griffin) looked like a scruffy nerf herder of a rogue, but could sling spells at you before you realized it. Something that made you not judge this book by his cover. So my personal history with role playing ran hot and cold over the decades. Usually if I had a group that wanted a player, I could be there. GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System), Pathfinder, Starfinder… I could figure out or bluff my way through most systems. Life was easy as long as I could do mental math and knew what I needed to add or subtract from my roll.
When I came back to Dungeons and Dragons it was like having never read a Marvel or DC comic book and trying to figure things out. There were so many different realities- and therefore things that might lure in or keep away new players. There were those who missed whatever world they had started playing in, like the multiverse, each world had some changes and added classes, species, and things that make that world unique. I tend to play species and classes from the Player’s Handbook. I’ve branched away once, but really saw the other players almost discomfort because an Intoximancer, while cool, was a hard concept in normal gameplay, I’ve shelved that character.
I remember starting a game with some new players so I stuck to my standard character type. l picked something straight from the Player’s Handbook. I even commented to the DM that I find it hard on new players when some crazy class or species shows up as a player because the new players can’t just look things up in the book they have to learn about who they are playing with. You expect to have a party of elves, halflings (hobbits), and humans – our common knowledge base for fantasy comes from Lord of the Rings. In this instance someone showed up late to the game and was playing a robot, a robot cleric?!? 🙄
What’s Old is New Again
A few weeks ago Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast the current makers of the 800 pound gorilla of RPGs released the latest edition of the Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook. Things like this cause an uproar in the community with shouting and cursing about how people’s lives have been ruined. I don’t see it. First, I am no expert. As far as I can tell this is mostly just rules clarifications and changes in layout. The company has even said it’s supposed to be backwards compatible. Therefore it isn’t a new edition. When it was first talked about (in muted whispers, in the darkened hallways of the interwebs) they were going to change “races” to “species.” This way they could avoid any issues with race, a topic we humans seem to struggle over. It seems they have clarified some of the rules, and made character classes a bit more level. I won’t really know until I actually play, but on paper it seems that way.
Here Are My Biggest Takeaways:
They’ve gotten rid of half elves and half orcs. Doesn’t mean your old characters no longer exist, but they no longer have separate listings in the Player’s Handbook. Just Elves and Orcs. Orcs being a new addition. Your DM may continue allowing them, or not.
Along with Orcs, they’ve added the Aasimir and Goliath species. Not that these weren’t playable before, but they are now part of the Player’s Handbook so you don’t need some other book to play one. Then again- what are they? Aasimir are the just other side of Tieflings, right? Oh, sorry- Tieflings descended from Demons, Devils, etc. Aasimir descended from Angels. So you now can play either. Goliaths on the other hand are descended from giants. Like Dragonborn (another species) have some dragon abilities, Goliaths have abilities from giants. If you’ve played you know there are a bunch of kinds of dragons and almost as many kinds of giants. I look at Goliaths as the Incredible Hulk… could be smart Hulk could be that other guy.
They made the layout easier to understand. In the old version if you wanted to play a spell caster your list of spells was in the back of the book lumped in with all the other spell casters. Now you turn the page in the class description and there they are… a nice list. You still need your head to the back to read details, but that makes sense since some spells are used by multiple classes.
They’ve embraced their past through the illustrations. Over the years Dungeons and Dragons has had many different realms in which the stories took place. The really nice illustrations harken back to each one – I didn’t see any mention of cannibal halflings or some of the more unique realms, but I haven’t looked at every caption. It seems that they have touched upon: Valor’s Call, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and even Eberron. Don’t feel bad, I had to look some of these up and I even have read Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons and Dragons.
Right now there are a few things that are listed as – Consult the Dungeon Master’s Guide the one I noticed was dealing with deities. If you play a cleric or paladin you need to worship a deity… after reading NPC’s by Drew Hayes, I wanted to see the updated list of deities as I was thinking of creating a character like one in that book. No list of deities- consult the DM Guide which the new edition hasn’t been released yet. Heck, the new edition of the Player’s Handbook doesn’t officially become available until September.
Looking for Group
The hardest part in gaming has nothing to do with the rules, or which edition you are using. The hardest part is finding the right people. I recall when I joined a group that I just felt lost in. The Star Trek Adventures game had just been released. I went to my local store when I heard they were putting together a game. I came thinking that in my group of friends I’m pretty much the token geek. I know Star Trek. I didn’t know the obscure Federation history these guys were bringing up. I was figuring something around the original series, or a little later. The game was going to be set right after the conclusion of the Dominion War in Cardassian space on a ship type I had never heard of… I decided to slowly back away…They were way too serious.
How about April 12, 2419?
Then comes the issue of scheduling, when the real world interferes with the fantasy world. Almost every group I’ve been in someone stops showing up due to whatever reason. Sometimes work gets in the way, or family vacations… I try not to do this, but I’ve done this too, so I’m also to blame. You don’t show up before the group attacks a dragon, people die, and it’s all your fault.
If you think of a D&D game like a novel – you turn to the next chapter and it’s blank. That’s what happens when the DM goes AWOL. Happened to more than once. You turn the page and one of the main characters in the story is no longer mentioned. Then reappears with no explanation three chapters later… Life does get in the way sometimes, but I know I try to make it or at least give everyone enough of a heads up.
Life’s a Game… Don’t be a Murder Hobo
When creating an alter-ego for the game some people take a lot of time. Some times a DM will ask for a well thought out backstory so they can spring something on you. Other groups are just “Murder Hobos”. See the monster, kill the monster, loot the body. See the poor innocent guard just doing his job, kill the poor innocent guard just doing his job, loot the body. See the small child with a lollipop… you get the idea.
I played a Dungeon Crawl Classics Funnel at Gen Con and still think it is an awesome way to create cool characters. Instead of you sitting alone rolling dice to figure out what your character did before adventuring… you get to start with a few characters who are at that tipping point. Will they die or will they become heroes? You have nothing invested in them until after they survive the funnel. The funnel becomes the how and why they went adventuring. My my characters case, they were kidnapped by cultists and escaped, they are either trying to get back to their village or have realized the entire village was killed and they are the only survivors… Now they have a grudge against these guys and a reason to hunt them down and stop their evil plans.
As I said in my recap of Gen Con, I think I prefer the more dice roll based role playing games than the ones where you gain advantage by conning the DM into accepting what you want to do- it’s the concrete, Lawful side of my personality.
My standard character is a bard – so they can fight and cast spells. I tend to describe their singing style as similar to William Shatner, so they play music and tell stories. I used to always play a rogue, but decided that a bard forces me to not be an introvert. The ones I’ve played in the past are: Lennon McCartney, Peter Paulenmary, Simon Garnetfunkel, and recently Arlo, just Arlo. I’ve also played a dwarf barbarian named Oogachucka, and a gnome sorcerer named Antyr Rhynum (A play off of the latin name for the snap dragon). The names are meant to illustrate that I don’t always take the game seriously, so expect me to open the door while everyone is deciding if we should open the door. When the robot cleric first came through the door Arlo yelled out “Klaatu birrada nicto!” and then asked if he had the pizza I had ordered. Through out the game Arlo called the guy “Gort.” I also had modern songs either ukulele covers or those done in a classic style set on my phone so I would just start playing a song when we took too much time discussing things. I became the Final Jeopardy timer for the group. `Most of the time the campaign has just withered away, so I have these not intro level characters therefore I really can’t do anything with them. Some are lost in Ravenloft, others have some cool home-brew magic item that no other DM is going to allow.
A few of my characters- the different sheets just have different ways of displaying the same information. I’m assuming an electronic version of the updated sheet will become available in September.
Arlo’s Backstory (an example): Arlo had come from a family of brewers and not being the eldest was going to be left nothing. His older brother got everything, Arlo was expected to work for his brother (who had bullied him growing up) and be happy. Not Arlo’s style, he just wanted to play the ukulele, and tell stories. He convinced his older brother to brew a very special beer “Zombie Dust” and nice IPA, that unfortunately turned people into the undead for a short period of time. It was a hit! During which Arlo grabbed his ukulele and ran for the hills, leaving his family fending off a village full of Octoberfest zombies. His family now is hunting him down for revenge and the recipes and cash he also took. Arlo’s a nice guy, helps people, especially those that the system have left to the wayside for no fault of their own.
Final Suggestion
When you decide to create a character the one thing I can recommend is dark-vision. Humans are nice, but they are blind in the dark and that is where the monsters are. Pick a species or some way so you don’t need torches- they give away your position and once they are snuffed out, so is your life.
I know it’s been a while… I’ve been busy. Then there’s the whole catching up part that takes time. While I’d ike to update you on the comics I picked up after my grand Whimventure® during MINI Takes The States, and Gen Con, I figured I’d just start with What I received this week. So basically skipping about a month.
Bailey, my helper. I would never have been able to get this posted without his assistance.
Welcome to my world, sometimes I have to figure out what’s going on because comics don’t always come out regularly. Don’t get me started on Mike Kunkel’s awesome HeroBear and the Kid. So while there are breaks between issues if the storytelling is good, you can usually slide right back into that world. Like when you have to wait a couple years before your favorite author’s next book comes out, or the sequel to a favorite movie. Sadly, sometimes during the break between books the author has had something happen in their real lives so that they’ve ended up losing the rhythm of the story or the voice of the characters. In the world of comic books it’s usually just a month… sometimes less, most of the time more.
There are those who no longer read “floppies” or what most people think of when they think of comic books. They only read who those in the know would call “Trade Paper Backs” the combination of a story arc (usually six issues) They also may just read complete long stories – these are considered “Graphic Novels.” these stories are designed to be published in one book, not broken into cliff hangerish endings after so many pages, like floppies. There are actually some titles I only pick up in Trades, because They don’t always come out in a regular schedule. Most of the time I read floppies.
FYI- If you are interested Thundercats #7 came out with 27 variants this week! Wolverine: Revenge #1 was next highest with 11 (a couple of them bagged due to “Mature Content”).
Here’s what arrived this week in my pulls- exceptions will be noted. I’m going to try to do this in the order I read them. Which might shed light on some of my process. I started with the big two publishers DC and Marvel. Mostly because I know what the quality of the story will be, and that in some cases they might be part of some overarching storyline, that I am not following so I really don’t need to read as closely. I try to write this up after one read, some issues I will go back and reread.
This Week in Comics
Superman #17 (Absolute Power Tie-In 🙄) – If you haven’t been following the Absolute Power multiverse changing mega event to end all mega events in DC, you might be lost- like me. It seems that somehow Amanda Waller (Head of Suicide Squad) has made a power play and has taken all the powers from the DC heroes and given them to Amazo Robots. She rules the world… The heroes are fighting to get it back. Superman and Zatanna now venture down the “Dark Path” into a magic land to find the one thing (MacGuffin) that will help them give the heroes their powers back. For those who don’t know, Superman has issues with magic (it’s his kryptonite… Ok it’s his other kryptonite). They end up at the Oblivion Bar where magical practitioners hang out safe from the crazy “normal” world. At the end they have to make a deal with the…
Titans #14 – For a while now, Raven hasn’t been herself. She’s been taken over by her evil side and want to become the “Dark-Winged Queen.” She does this by capturing souls of other creatures (good and evil) and placing them in stones in her crown. Nightwing has figured this out and the Titans are ready to fight and hopefully rescue their friend. Back in the early issues of the “New Teen Titans” written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Perez Raven worked on a story dealing with her father “Trigon” attempting to rule the Earth. This has actually come up multiple times in the various versions of the Titans comics. It’s like when you get a writers block- Raven goes bad. Although I will say, like Terra, Wolfman and Perez did an awesome job of putting in hints that you didn’t notice until you went back and looked after they had been revealed. Other writers, later on… not so much. Funny thing, and I most likely am wrong, but this is probably the first time the Titans actually call for help at the end of the issue. I’m not sure how they could do this, since according to “Absolute Power” super heroes have lost their powers, but I”ll find out when the next issues comes out.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man Annual #1 – An Annual issue, as I have said before, either ties up story, or is completely out of continuity and helps understand more about the character. In this case, Miles Morales (currently a Vampire 🙄) is heading to Puerto Rico to visit his grandmother. He’s heading a few days earlier to spend some quality time, before his family flies out to join him. Basically the main story Miles, get’s to know what drives his grandmother to be so hard on everyone. The second story, he meets Storm (from the X-Men) as she deals with a… storm. The final one, Miles is back in NYC and is dealing with his new vampiric issues… please Lord, let this go away, it’s as silly as the original “Bloodhunt” and DC’s new version that recently was released.
Ultimate Spider-Man #8 – Have a mentioned I like Ultimate Spider-Man? Each comic covers a portion of the month in which it was released. In this case we get August. Here we have Peter heading off to his son Richard’s birthday party (and his daughter, May, who born the same month). We do a lot of character development which is why I like this title. By the end we find out where Spider-Man (Peter Parker) was on the Maker’s list and who is really uncharge of the underworld in each of the NYC boroughs. Oh, and Peter get’s a job offer.
Star Trek #23 – Lore is a crazy bad robot guy… he wants to destroy everything and has the means to do so. Unlike the last issue in which Beverly Crusher get’s to spend som time with Wesley, this is strictly Lore being crazy and the crew of the Theseus trying to stop him.
Huge Detective #1 – So giants are real and they popped up after a long sleep to discover the world is run by us… little people. IN the end (after the expected fighting) they take Australia and we have an understanding. This comic takes place in that world. After one reading I’m still going through it in my head. You have a regular detective and a huge one trying to figure out a murder/missing person Missing Huge case. Since this is the first issue, there’s a lot of exposition and world building going on. We Shall see how this fairs after a second reading and a second issue.
Night Club 2 #1 – IN the first Night Club, a group of teenagers become vampires (hmm… there seems to be lot of that going around) and decide to use their powers for good, becoming superheroes. In this universe, there was a massive fight in which almost all the good guys died, and then it all got reset (as it happens in comics). So now what happens to our vampire super teens? They keep trying to help, and get fame and fortune, and be teenagers. Of course there’s one in every crowd who messes it up for everyone. So far that story is just beginning.
Something Crawled Out #1 – Comic Shops will give away comics, like a drug dealer hoping that you will get hooked. As someone once wrote “Comics are the gateway drug to literacy.” Don’t tell my niece or the adults she hangs with this (those adults can be such a bad influence).
Being a first issue, it is trying to set the rules of the world and what is going on. All I have is that weird stuff is going on. Various characters being introduced. Missing people, and a weird guy with a gun and glasses wandering around in the night. while Eddie, our main character is working at the scary, gas station market when the lights go out. Then things start to get weirder…
Lawful #2 & #3 – I read issue number one and then missed the second issue, and it looks like the third… a quick recap. In this world, magic exists. If you do something bad (break the rules) you end up slowly turning into a monstrosity. Each offense causes something else to happen. It could be growing horns, it could be scales… There’s no way to fight it. after a while you get exiled for being a monster. Only good people are allowed in the city. Our main character, Sung, did something wrong as a child, so he has a very small patch of scales. His best friend, Eris, is a rabble rouser, and she has a tail, horns, etc. In the first issue, Sung became a clerk in the office of champions. Basically he does paperwork and gets to stamp papers for those who should be either brought for review, or exiled. Whose paperwork should cross his desk? Eris. He marks her’s for review and now has more scales. Of course his mom is sick and his father was a champion before he was brutally killed while doing his duty. If he loses his job, they get thrown out of the inner circle and his mom won’t get the medicine she needs. Hmm… what’s that saying about power corrupting? Let’s just say, by the end of the third issue, Sung has a lot more to worry about. The artwork is great and Greg Pan has written a great story that (as many great stories do) parallels our own society.
So why did I read them in this order? DC and Marvel are like reading something simple like Star Trek, they are franchises with decades of history in some cases weighing them down. If the story is complex and makes me think, I’m happily surprised. Ultimate Spider-Man being the exception. Then we start with the non-traditional comics. Many after a first reading will require me to read them again. I usually pull a comic I am looking forward to reading for the end. Like a nice dessert. “Lawful” with two issues to catch up on was that comic. I knew from the first issue (which I actually remembered, even after over a month long Whimventure®) that I wanted to know what happened to Sung & Eris and that world. Being one of those people who tries to “Be Good.” I can relate with Sung, but I also see how unfair and arbitrary the universe they live is can be. Sung is doing “good” by helping a friend who he knows isn’t all bad. Now maybe if they could figure out a way to reverse things if you did a good act… maybe they have but if that information got out it could shatter the harmony of the world. You can tell what my favorite comics are, by what I read last.
On July 10th I headed out west to be a part of “The MINI TransAmerican Motortastic Road Trip to End All Road Trips Rally” ver. 9.0 You’ve heard me trying to help people prior to the start. Once I got on the road all I can say is it was a lot of driving… roundtrip somewhere around 6,700 miles. This was my ninth time going on this drive put on by MINIUSA every two years (Postponed once due to a pandemic). I’ve also gone to the European version- MINI United which is basically a long weekend party. In 2009 it was at Silverstone Raceway in the United Kingdom. They stopped doing MINI United in 2012. Basically this one was Albuquerque to Seattle with two days in the middle where you were on your own.
The diversity of this country comes into full view as you drive the roads throughout each state. You learn so much about how big and beautiful our country is when you see it from the road. I do recommend this type of travel to everyone, MINI Takes the States makes it a bit easier.
The route is planned for you, all you need to do is show up in the morning for breakfast at the appointed time and get a route sheet. Do you have to follow it? No, you can do whatever you want, but… With MTTS MINI provides Roadside Assistance to those on the route… not on the route? They’ll still help, but it might take more time and there are “vultures, vultures everywhere!” 🤪
The trip from Indy to Albuquerque wasn’t bad at all, I listened to two books Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs on the history of TSR and NPCs by Drew Hayes, a fantasy involving what happens when a bunch of Non Player characters decide to go on a adventure. I liked them both. When I arrived in Albuquerque I went to the airport and picked up Sue.
The next day we visited the Very Large Array and then headed north to check into MTTS at Sandia MINI. There we met up with some friends, passed out buttons and stickers, and picked up our lanyards, water bottles, and goodie bag. The cost for one person to go “All the Way” is $200. You get some swag, but the most important pieces are probably your lanyard with your badge and your wristband. This year they went with #CampMINI as a theme and we were divided into troops. Each troop was named after a MINI color and an animal. Sue and I were part of the Volcanic Orange Scorpions. There were competitions each morning pitting each troop against each other for fame and prizes. At registration they also handed us a bingo card to go meet new people. When completed we could turn this in for a merit badge. We stuck around discovering that many of our friends from past MTTS events were having some trouble and their MINIs were being serviced, before leaving tomorrow. We heard about a group getting together in Old Town for dinner and decided to join them. After many spilled drinks (mostly water) we ate and then headed back to the hotel to prepare for the first Rise & Shine.
Online terror strikes with people concerned about pretty much everything. We weren’t overly concerned since we had done this before and we actually do travel a bit. Having a trunk also helps because most of your things are out of sight. Each night we would bring in our cooler, our small suitcases, our snack bag and daypacks. We had planned for being on the road for over two weeks so we knew we would be recycling some clothes. we also knew space was tight.
First photo for MTTS as I entered Albuquerque I saw the supply trucks from the Interstate.
The Rise & Shine
We started off at the Balloon Fiesta Park with excitement levels high. There is a row of tents each dealing with something and over the course of the trip you get into a groove as to where to go.
Registration Tent- If you missed registration yesterday or are joining now, this is your first stop. You get you water bottle, folding daypack, lanyard, wristband and other SWAG.
Check-In Tent- If you’ve already registered, here is where you pick up today’s button. You are given a button at each location. You may also get other SWAG that they may give out for that day. Exclusive super cool stuff… or not, matters the day.
MINI Financial Services – in 2022 they gave out magnets for each state, this time around they went with window clings which are harder to steal. If you had a MINI credit card you could also get something special if you showed your card. MINI Financial Services has embraced being eco friendly so they had just announced a new card made from the plastics floating around the ocean.
Merch Tent – Yes, you can get a grill badge, t-shirt, sweatshirt…
Plant Oxford – Our guests from across the pond. They were giving away chances to take classes in Thermal, CA and you can sign the bonnet of their MINI Countrymen which will be hung in Thermal for all to see. They also had a couple of different buttons.
MINI Connected – Learn about all the cool tech in the latest model of MINI. They gave out pins highlighting one of the many features provided by MINI Connected.
American Camp Association – MTTS is a way for MINI owners to do good. This year we were motoring for Keep America Beautiful and The American Camp Association. Here You could donate and receive limited edition MINI SWAG or you could buy raffle tickets for the daily MINI Lifestyle package.
Breakfast – Ranged from Pancakes to other breakfast fare… sadly, no breakfast burritos. 😢
Urban X – showing off their cool 3D Printers and making license plate frames.
MINI Services – raffling off a cooler and a chance for free oil changes for 3 years. They also started scanning keys and printing out a picture of your MINI it’s mileage and how many services were due.
There would be other tents sometimes local dealerships selling shirts, or local groups telling you about the area.
Everyone got into a rhythm as to where to go first what to save for last. Throughout the morning our mistress of ceremonies, Dez, would go over things you should know, but many people didn’t listen to. This was when games would be played, the raffles would occur and execs would come up and say a few words. Raffle rules: your name is called three times and then the ticket goes into “THE POCKET OF DOOM.”💀
Once the morning is over we are sent to our cars, and we head off through a gauntlet of MINI people waving flags and cheering us on. Somedays this was 7-9am others 7-10am
Highlights from the Road Leg 1: Albuquerque to Salt Lake City
Each day brought about different scenery each unique. Day one for us ended with us in peril… OK not too much peril, but still. We had stopped for gas and a short break about an hour outside of Durango. When we restarted Alfie there was a red warning indicator which looked like the car was in the garage on a lift. If it were amber, I’d probably drive on… a little anxious, but still get into town and have it checked out in the morning. The car did start. However it was red… red usually means bad things. I called Roadside Assistance explained what was going on and was told a service vehicle should be there within an hour. I then got a call from the service vehicle and explained it was probably nothing, but I wanted to checked out. They arrived. and everything started with some laughing and a belief by everyone that it was “nothing.” Then came an “oh.” and next thing we know it, Mike Peyton, VP of MINIUSA is there and two other corporate MINIs. I kept repeating that I just had the car in days before I left… It seemed the FRM Module (which runs things that don’t make the car drive, things like the lights) had gone out. It was a known issue in that these things have an expiration date (kinda) they run so many actions and then – they die. There is no way to predict it… it just happens. So we are stranded…
As the story goes Jim McDowell the first VP of MINIUSA was at Disney and noticed that a kid had dropped their ice cream within a few minutes, the ice cream had been cleaned up by a cast member, and the kid had a new one. They say he felt that MINI Takes the States should have the same kind of service. If something goes wrong, the MINI owner should be taken care of. We were. One of those Countrymen were emptied out and we were handed the keys. Alfie would be towed to Salt Lake City and we could pick him up there. We had a 2025 MINI Countryman for about three days. I’ve already written up my feelings about the Biggest MINI ever so I won’t go into it. My only regret was Mike Peyton did offer to go over the new controls with me, and I turned him down… I still don’t know about many of the Easter Eggs hidden in the large round screen. We christened our new MINI “Joel Incognito” “Joel” because that’s who we took him from- the MINI kept say “Hello Joel” and “Incognito” because no one knew us since we weren’t driving the Roadster.
It was a great drive and each Rise and Shine brought about the same vibe. I spent a lot of time running around handing out pins and stickers something I will do less of in the future (you don’t get to spend that much time caching up with friends). I will note that while driving “Joel Incognito” I noticed that we did blend in with other cars on the road. MINI says the new Countryman is the “Biggest MINI ever” as if that should be a point of pride… ummm… We were driving through some small town in Colorado in a mixed line of cars when I saw this woman on the side of the road waving like a crazy person at all the MINIs going by. When the “regular” cars came by she stopped waving. We were sandwiched between a couple of non-MINIs and I watched her stop waving. She then looked around for other MINIs. We started waving at her and she ignored us. Still looking for MINIs to wave at. The new model doesn’t have the same characteristics as what people consider a “MINI” it’s just another car. While Members of the MINI community may politely embrace this change, the general public is looking for what they think of as a MINI.
We arrived in Salt Lake City and headed over to MINI of Murray to pick up Alfie. He was repaired and we happily drove off leaving some surprises for whoever ended up with Joel Incognito next. (stickers buttons, a drawing and note of “thanks.” That night was an evening event celebrating the end of the first leg. With lots of posts about parking, food, and confusion from the people who don’t listen to Dez when she makes announcements.
The group photo of those who had attended all nine MINI Takes The States and could make the photo… so many were missing. (See Seattle for the other photo)
Choose Your Own Adventure
Between Salt Lake City and Bozeman we had two days on our own. We were told MINI Takes The States staff would be off the clock, that regular Roadside Assistance would work, but the special set up for MTTS would not. Go have fun and explore. Which we did.
We started with a quick trip into Herriman, UT to see the “Up House.” Then to Promontory to the Golden Spike. From there we went into Idaho and the Museum of Clean. The next day took us to Jackson Wyoming and our first Troll of the trip. From Jackson we headed into the national parks. Ending up in Boseman for the night.
Highlights from the Road Leg 2: Bozeman to Seattle
The Return of Jim McDowell – The prime Chief Motorer returned from retirement to join us on the second leg. For those of us who had done MTTS since the beginning this was like the second coming- with a squirt gun. He was just one of us on this trip, but it was great to see him and his wife having a great time reconnecting with MINI owners. Yes, he tried to kidnap Cecil on multiple occasions, but that was part of the fun of having Jim around.
I’ve spoken about the diversity of our country, and sometimes we have stereotypes. one that persists is how the Pacific Northwest is pretty much mountains and pine trees… nope. A lot of Washington state is fields, 75% of all hops used in beer production in the US comes from this area. It is also pretty hot until you cross through the mountains.
MINI Roadside Assistance to the rescue (again) – When we left for the last Rise & Shine a low tire indicator when off. We pulled into the Roadside Side Assistance Tent, and the quickly discovered a very small, slow leak in one of my tires… They said keep an eye on it, and get it patched in Seattle. Which I did.
The last Rise and Rally was interesting, here is where MINIUSA auctions off all the stuff from the trip so they don’t have to carry it back, and it brings in a nice sum to the charity. over the years we have picked up a few items at these auctions and plan ahead since they are cash only. This time I had my eye on the Volcanic Orange Scorpions Troop flag and Sue wanted to continue our collection of event banners. The hardest part about this and anything else is the limited space in a MINI. We’ve been living for two weeks out of our little car and over the stops picked up stuff. Usually t-shirts or other small things, but still we had little or no room. With that in mind we did not go for the Large “Welcome to…” signs or the “Jelly Beans” used to direct people to the event. We dis get what we wanted, so we were happy.
The Museum of Flight
The final event was held at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, there were the typical questions about parking and food. There was a mob to get into the Museum where we earned our “wings” which was awesome. One thing they also had (which drew the largest crowd) was the extras- buttons, pins, stickers that were left over from the trip. Sadly, for those of us who had “Gone all the Way” this meant that some of the exclusive items weren’t that exclusive anymore. While it is a bit of gambling- pay for the last day and get all the swag you missed. Of course Sue and I live by what we call the “Harley-Davidson Rule” – Buy the bike, then buy the shirt. So we won’t buy or wear stuff from things we haven’t done. As with all rules it can be bent, I wore a MINI cap years before I bought a MINI. (Still wear the cap) I just recall once wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers jacket my parents had bought me and getting quizzed by a sports geek about the team. I wore it because I grandfather was a fan and almost failed out of high school because he would skip class to go to games. After that I stopped wearing the jacket. Those who know me well, know I know nothing about sports.
…and so it ends at the Museum of Flight as it began…A portion of the group that has participated in every MTTS since 2006. Kind of the “Perfect Attendance Club” There are around 14 of us crazy folks.
Oh, for the record it was catered and parking was available.
Pictures or It Didn’t Happen
So what did I learn from my 9th running of MINI Takes The States?
Be flexible, things happen, go with the flow.
Don’t Panic, it’s silly when you panic over stuff like “Where do I park?” or “Will they provide food?” you will find a place to park, and if no food is provided you can get something somewhere else.
Buy early… if you want SWAG, make sure to get it your first day.
Don’t obsess over buttons, stickers, koozies, ducks, or other signature items. You’ll be spending your time trying to hand things out instead of meeting people.
Fill up when you reach half a tank.
Leave yourself some room. Don’t overpack. We brought a cooler for drinks and ended up leaving in it Washington because it took up too much space.
While I loved having two days in the middle – it made it like it was two different trips. So many new people jumped in that it was like starting all over again, with people not understanding what was going on.
I missed the Surprise and Delights… With only one gathering each day there was limited time to get to chat with other Motorers. Therefore it was harder to find a group to drive with if that’s what you wanted. The only Surprise and Delight was on the first leg, a drive through photo op, which didn’t lend itself to getting together unless you were waiting in line at the port-o-let.
I need to keep in contact with my tribe better. While I’m an introvert and tend to like being by myself. I missed sharing meals with my MINI peeps. We were fortunate enough to meet up a couple of times on the road, but still.
Let the crazies be crazy. There are a number of people who think they are a “Professional driver on a closed course” and will drive dangerously. Enjoy your drive, stay safe and avoid those idiots like the plague. Give them all the room they need so you won’t get hurt.
I’m looking forward to MTTS 2026 (if it happens- nothing official has been announced) Do I care where or when? not in the least.
Need to plan/remember to get Adventure Labs in the places we visit or along the way… I made a list an promptly ignored it.
In this day and age we have learned something- there are too many places to get bad information. MTTS has a bunch of groups- MINI Takes The States 2024 (now 2026), MINI Takes the States- First Time Newbies, MINI Takes The States – Going All The Way, and a bunch of repeat groups (some set up by scammers). All giving out similar but in many cases slightly different information. I hope that by the next one, either there will be a central location to get information, or MINIUSA works with one of the Social Media groups to get official information out in a quick reliable way. Having an event App only helped a bit and sometimes led to more confusion.
By The Numbers
Days Motored: 19
States Motored in: 15 (We have now traveled through all 50 states in some way or another)
Miles Motored : 6,392 not counting a tow to Salt Lake City and driving “Joel Incognito”
Approx. Hotel Cost for the Actual Days of MTTS: $2700
Approx. Fuel for the actual Dates of MTTS: $850
Registration All the Way for two: $200
Official SWAG: $140
Donations: All in Cash so a bunch- One Event Banner, One Troop Flag, numerous raffle tickets, One Oxford Plant polo shirt (aka the most expensive MINI shirt ever)
Food: Umm… I never try to figure this out since we have to eat no matter where we are.
Geocaches & Adventure Lab stages: 125 We only have Alaska to go then we will have found a geocache in every U.S. State.
Signature SWAG handed out/lost: 41 MINIons Take the States Buttons, 33 MINIons Take The States Stickers, 90 MINIon 4238 buttons, 32 Extinct MINI Cooper Motoring Society Window Clings (v.1), 13 LEGO ducks, 20 MTTS 2024 classic stickers.
Buttons, Signature SWAG, Ducks collected: Does it really matter?
Photos taken: 1,056
Trolls (Thomas Dambo Sculptures) visited: 12, 15 if you count the portals.
The Journey Home
On the way home we stopped off to see family and then more trolls which, by now, might be like family, but aren’t. We made it safely back to rest for a few days before the next Whimventure®
I was planning on doing a recap of MINI Takes The States when – “WHAM!” I got hit with Gen Con. As many know I am a registered “Kidult” aka a child who never really grew up. I was retained in third grade because the school felt I was “immature” now as I close in on 60 I read comic books, play with LEGO bricks, and carry around a stuffed monkey- so the retention didn’t work. One of the things I’ve been testing during the early phases of my retirement has been discovering what I am really passionate about. Gen Con highlights one of those things- Gaming.
Last year was my first chance to actually attend all four days of the con. I attended multiple sessions on Puppetry and tried out a few games. In the past I would arrive and spend the day in the exhibit hall wandering aimlessly throwing money around buying games for my classroom. This year I switched things up a bit more. Instead of puppetry I focused on games, and those were divided into two categories: miniature war games and role playing games.
For Level Zero to Level One Players- A Bit of Advice
You will be overwhelmed… there are a lot of people and a lot of things going on. If you are planning on going all four days (which I recommend) plan on going with the flow. Look at what is being offered. If you see something that sounds amazing- see about getting a ticket for it, or buy some generics and hope they have an opening. For the most part you can spent fours days wandering the exhibit hall and just playing games when someone calls out from a booth- “Would you like to see our new game?”
Does it matter which days you go? Not really, Sunday is a shorter day, so it is a bit cheaper, and some activities will have concluded by then. Cardhalla would be destroyed and the balloon sculpture is popped Sunday morning. Besides that any day is good. This year the hall was really busy on Thursday. Next year? Who knows?
Unless you have something specific you are trying to get wait until the crowd dies down before entering the hall. This year I had games scheduled for 9:00AM or before, so except for one day, I missed the throngs of angry villagers storming the doorways to get into the exhibit hall.
Another thing- use the App. If you are with a group, share your schedule through the website. Hopefully they’ll figure out a way to add sharing to the app next year. so you know where to find the rest of your party.
If you are a teacher and can afford it (I know being a teacher and being able to afford something is kind of an oxymoron) I suggest getting a Trade Day badge and going Wednesday to those sessions. Bring play into your classroom, no matter what the high paid consultants who haven’t set foot in a classroom for over a decade say. I wish schools in Indiana would start a little later to allow teachers to attend Gen Con. It would be nice if the Dept. of Education even could sponsor teachers to learn about the importance of play. Most teachers that I know spend those first couple of days bored in meetings wishing to be in their classroom setting things up. The problem is a Trade Day Badge gets you a four day badge and teachers are usually teaching the first two days which IMHO is stupid- just start school on Monday. I also kinda wish they’d open Trade Day up to retired educators…
My First Game for Gen Con 2024
Thursday began with a “funnel” in Goodman Games: Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) system. Those who know about role playing games (RPGs) know that part of the fun is making a character. I recall one system that took days to go through character creation and I still have no idea how what brand of baby formula I had in infancy impacted my character’s game play. In a role playing game you assume a role. kind of like an actor and all you have is the writer’s overview of the character. In this play and you are a new character and your decisions determine if you live or don’t.
I played what was called a “funnel” in DCC. My friend Brian was running the game and each player was given four characters from a village to play. These were not adventurers, these were pig farmers, a cooper, a trader, basically the characters out of the book I read on MTTS- NPCs by Drew Hayes. We begin waking up on a ramp leading to a pit surrounded by the beautiful music of a choir. Each group of four characters is run by a player sitting around the table. Our job was to live long enough to figure things out and escape. You are given four characters because the chance of survival is low. As characters died the GM would stamp that portion of your sheet. If you lost all four characters you got up walked out to a gong and rang it. At this point the area would erupt in cheers at your death. I’m not going to give away anything else, but it was fun and I look forward to trying it again. As my friend said- he’d most likely be editing this adventure once the con was over as that is his retirement gig… what a life, if only I could spell.
*Spoilers*
My notebook pages from the funnel… Sometimes I draw to help visualize the location, other times I will draw out the situation. Then sometimes I try to flesh out the characters or monsters. In this case you can see a lot of trying to figure out where we were and where things were, along with some monster bits. If you couldn’t tell one of my funnel characters “Jean Claude” was a trapper so I drew him accordingly. The Star Trek Adventure games didn’t lend themselves as well to drawing, and in a miniatures based war game, you don’t have time to draw things out.
It’s all in the Dice
I guess this would be a good time to mention polyhedral dice used in lots of games. We all are familiar with the common cube shaped die, six-sided nice random number generator. Most role playing games use a bunch of different sided dice. Enough different kinds to make it expensive. DCC uses even more “funky” dice, so I, of course, had to buy a set when everything was over. During my the games, dice were loaned out, but as the great gamer once said, “You can never have enough dice.”
Other Games-
I focused on playing this time around, and my next game (also with Brian) was called “Rivet Wars” kind of a science fiction steampunk World War 1 battle game. My side (Germany) against his side the Allies. The hardest part about this game was turn order. Turn order is the basic order in which you do things during your turn. In this case: deploy units, attack, and move. Which was counterintuitive to deploy, move, attack. It threw us both off even though Brian had played the game before. When you are in a “Learn to Play” game, they rules are gone over and you start with simple basics, and then rules are added as you play. It’s a nice introduction to a game. These are usually led by people who love the game and play it often. My last game for the day was in the evening, so I had time to walk through the “Bazaar of Deva” aka the exhibit hall. More on that later.
Gen Con takes up pretty much all of downtown Indianapolis, most of the convention center is used to create a massive exhibit hall, those not are then used by game companies and groups to play or teach people games. As are the ballrooms and meeting spaces at every connected hotel. They even use Lucas Oil Stadium to house an open game library and that’s where I played DCC, Rivet Wars, and AerodromeACE. It is also a nice air conditioned place to sit back and relax with food if things get too crazy everywhere else.
My last game for day one was learning a game that won’t be by released until October -Star Trek: Into the Unknown. Basically this is a spaceship game using ships from the Star Trek Universe around the time of the The Next Generation and Deep Space 9. I got started early and took command of be the Defiant against a Jem Hadar fighter ship. We started off just scanning the system as an intro act. Then we started a rescue mission that ended up with some pew, pew, pewing so we could experience the combat system. Like many combat systems it seemed fairly straight forward, the ships looked nice, you had crew member that added a dynamic. The issue is that this becomes (like many games) a collector game. You need to collect things to be competitive. I love Star Trek and the ships are very cool – an Enterprise D with a saucer section that separates! But the question I will return to is – “Will I play it enough?”
That ended Thursday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday looked similar with the games being different. I played the recent update of the Star Trek Adventures role playing game twice. One a spy mission, and another repelling a boarding party. I’m cutting the GM’s some slack since the new version came out a few days before the Con and they seemed a bit confused since they hadn’t really played it before. I think the publisher could have better prepared the GM’s especially since these folks were the ones promoting the games. Like my current game using the “FATE” system it seemed like as long as you could convince the GM enough you could do anything. Not as concrete as Dungeons & Dragons, so I found it was not to my liking. I guess I’m more “Lawful” than I care to admit. Unlike a game like “Dogfight!” that I purchased after playing, I did not buy the 2nd edition of Star Trek Adventures. I have had the first edition since it came out, and really never found a group I was comfortable enough with to play it. The first group I tried made me look like someone who knew nothing about Star Trek! The second group never got past talking about playing.
Lucas Oil Stadium as it should be, filled with games!Cecil prepares for the funnelRivet WarsStar Trek: Into the UnknownShip ControlsThe Enterprise NCC-1701DIt’s Monkey Time!Star Trek AdventuresDogfightSpace AlertAerodromeACEMy plane controls for AerodromeACEYes, I did get a copy of the new Player’s Handbook
One of the other games I played was called Space Alert and was a cooperative game. A cooperative game is one where everyone is trying to beat the game. In this case we are all on a spaceship and have 10 minutes (real time) to accomplish your mission and keep the ship safe. The hardest part was when a player didn’t listen to the discussion (or thought they were the one everyone was talking to – and Sue says I think it’s always about me!) so when they programmed their actions it overlapped with other people 🙄. This created chaos with our limited resources. Fun game but requires a group to play. So I probably won’t ever play it except at a con.
The other two games I played were World War 1 dogfight games. The first one was based on Wings of War and we were part of two squadrons attacking a giant monkey on a skyscraper in New York. The other one I had played the science fiction (Battlestar Galactica) version last year and decided to try a Sopwith Snipe instead of a Viper. I actually was able to shoot down two enemy planes during the missions we flew. I happen to get shot down so my wings were awarded posthumously.
The question is would I either purchase or play these games again? The dogfight games I would, I even checked and I once owned Wings of War, but since I never had the opportunity to play it at home it no longer is in my game library. Space Alert was another one that was fun, but I’m not seeing myself having the chance to play it at home. I purchased the rules for Dungeon Crawl Classics and the funky dice. Just to be prepared. As for the second edition of Star Trek Adventures… I’m not sure. I have a bunch of resources for the first edition that have sat on a shelf. After playing it, I’m not sure I like the game mechanics, but that could be the issue of Modiphius not preparing their GMs well enough, coupled with my experience last year where I spent 2 hours listening to a lecture about how the game is played without ever playing the game. So is it the GMs, is it Modiphius, or is it the game? Star Trek into the Unknown… The price point is a bit too high for a game I may never play. The ships are amazing, but I’m just not sure I need to get into another high priced miniature game. Unlike some of the massive Star Wars games, this does have a mission component, but once you’ve played out the missions… what’s next?
Level One Players- How Does One Go About Playing Games at Gen Con?
Your badge gets you into the Exhibit Hall which includes some games, there are a bunch of places that are demoing games and have other activities, but if you want to do something for the most part you need a ticket.
Step one- get a badge when they go on sale (Remember GenCon sold out this year, so you might want to do this early.
Step two- wait patiently for the event listings to get posted. They will go live about a week or two before you can purchase tickets.
Step three- add events to your wishlist. Put them in a preference order, your wishlist gets filled in order so think about this.
Step four- when it tickets go live get into the queue and submit your wishlist. Cross your fingers. The Queue is long, but you might get lucky.
Events get added up until Gen Con. You can also get generic tickets and use them if there are open spots. Those with actual tickets get in first. AerodromeACE wasn’t live when I first filled out my wishlist, I added it later.
Your badge and tickets will arrive to your mailbox (signature required) before the Con… or you could brave the Will Call line, which this year wasn’t as bad as the merch line.
My2024 Official Schedule:
Thursday 9:00-1:00 The Doom Spell of Amarath Seahold (DCC)
Thursday 1:00-3:00 Rivet Wars (Brian had the tickets he was before me in the queue)
Thursday 6:00-8:00 Star Trek: Into the Unknown – We started early and therefore ended early.
Friday 9:00-11:00 Space Alert Learn to Play
Friday 9:00-3:00 Player’s Handbook Early Release pick up
Friday 1:00-3:00 Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition – Enemies Without
Friday 3:00-4:00 Dogfight! Rule the Skies in 20 Minutes!
Saturday 8:00-11:00 King Kong: Monkeying Around!
Saturday 12:00-2:00 Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition – Through Fire and Fury
Sunday 10:00-2:00 AerodromeACE WW1
Most games started around the time they should have… people are late, sometimes even the GM. One of the Star Trek Adventure games almost ended because we had reached the old college 15 minute rule waiting for the GM. Most ended early, which was fine, giving me enough time to get to whatever was next, and have a bathroom break. By actually playing games this year two things happened: First, I didn’t spend that much in the exhibit hall. Secondly, the days went by quickly. It also caused me to actually talk to people, which I guess is a good thing.
The Hall of Wonders
The exhibit hall, like most cons are where most level one players hang out with their mouths agape trying to figure out what to buy first. As I started to go to cons this was where I spent most of my time. It didn’t matter the con, the exhibit hall was a hall of wonders filled with delights to tempt any and all forms of geek. Each hall has its own flavor in this case, lots of games (duh). Since Fantasy Role Playing pretty much started at Gen Con, a lot of the stuff on sale has a fantasy twist to it. You want a cloak, a sword, a witches/wizards hat? Games cover so many pop culture and historical topics, everything is covered in the hall. The hall also is attached to a large gaming area used by companies for tournaments or to just give people a chance to try out games. That was where I played Star Trek: Into the Unknown, and battled King Kong on the Empire State Building. You could spend all four days wandering the hall and be very content. The doors to the actual selling portion of the hall closed and gaming went into the late hours of the night.
Things to watch out for: As with most conventions people are oblivious. They are focused on one thing, and the people around them are not it. You have a wide variety of people (something great about gaming) but you also have wagons, rolling carts, and board game bags. Board game bags are backpacks designed to hold a bunch of games… which mean they still out over a foot. and the people wearing them tend to turn and hit people accidentally. Getting hit in the face with a bag filled with boxed games can leave more than a mark. So just be aware of your surroundings.
Maybe the Holy Grail?
There were thousands of games being played, demoed, and sold at Gen Con. I was fortunate enough to figure out how to get a copy of the soon to be released 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook. Now I’m not one who played D&D through all its iterations. I started with Advanced D&D in the 80’s moved to Middle Earth Roll Playing (based on ICE) in college, then stopped until 5th edition came out. So this is really my first rules change that I’ve been interested in. I’ve only taken a cursory look at the book and it looks like there have been some changes, but mostly in layout and placement of information. Basic changes I’ve noticed (besides races becoming species) the loss of half any “Race/Species” You no longer can play a half-elf or half orc, they’ve also added the Aasimir to the Player’s handbook, I’m guessing as a way to balance out the Tiefling. Besides that the layout seems much more user friendly, I especially like the class Spell list being a part of the class description instead of a massive list in the Spells, section. There is information that is being mentioned, but with a “see the DM Guide for more information.”
I’m not an expert player, and have limited myself to playing just a few classes so I can’t say much more than these basic “Aha!” noticings. I know there’s a lot more, but until I create a character and play it, I’m not sure how these changes will help or hurt the game. Many people online have used this as a way to promote their favorite RPG and how it is superior to D&D. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It just can be hard to switch when the audience for non-D&D RPGs is small. Pathfinder is probably the easiest to find a group. Since I don’t have that many people to game with I’ll probably stick with whatever they are playing which is currently FATE (which I’m not excited about) and D&D.
With the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons, the US Postal Service also released a series of stamps to celebrate. Not being an avid stamp collector, I’m using them to send cursed mail as I pay bills that require stamps.
Whining, Grumbling, & Complaints
There are always people complaining to complain. I’m trying to figure out why people post certain things on Social Media. After MTTS I really don’t know why. Maybe they want the attention, the dopamine rush… There is a Fans of Gen Con group on Facebook which is great about giving out good information, but also like most Social Media provides a soapbox for complainers.
For Gen Con, most of the posts dealt with the horror (Oh the HORROR!!!) of hotels, and parking. Then came the cost of Food trucks, and why Indianapolis? Why not someplace bigger? Please note I have only attended Gen Con since it moved to Indianapolis, and I live in Indianapolis so housing is not an issue for me. To me it is an Whimventure® at home. My niece flies out from Baltimore to attend so our only problem is only having cars that seat two people and getting out the inflatable mattress since we only have guests at the house once a year (and this is that time). Like MINI Takes The States people seem to think the governing organization has control over everything… they don’t. They don’t control if the air conditioning works in the hotel room you packed 6 guys in for four days because you wanted to save some money. They have no control over the hotel staffing and if your room is clean or ready. They don’t control if the food trucks charge too much. They don’t control the number of parking spots and if one of the lots got sold weeks prior to the event. They have no control over the wagons, ginormous bags people use, or if attendees use deodorant. They have no control over how many exclusive items are available and if they happen to sell out just as you get there Sunday afternoon. They can only control certain things and learn from past experience. Complaining to everyone online and saying you will never attend Gen Con again is silly, and serve no useful purpose. It’s the midwest, people try to be nice, there will be road construction. It’s August, it will be hot and humid. If you had a horrible time- don’t come back, nature abhors a vacuum and other people will fill the emptiness you create. Those people might appreciate that a bazillion people have gathered together to play and celebrate each other’s uniqueness.
If you want to keep up with the problems people have just join the Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group… As I said, they give out great information, and help you to keep track of when things are happening, but it also can be a place for people to whine and complain about things. Who knew that Gen Con has rules against cosplaying in paramilitary or police style costumes? That some cosplayers use these “police” assault team outfits to push their way through crowds? I always wondered… now I know. Like many conventions I could see the weapon check tables at the entrances, but there are so many entrances.
My complaints? Getting a copy of the Player’s Handbook througjmhnh the ticketing system was clunky. I heard of a number of people who just gave up. I just put it in my “wishlist” and then kept pushing buttons on my keyboard starting at 7:00AM until it ended up in my cart. It took a post about putting it on my wishlist, to help me get it on the second day. I probably would have given up after two attempts.
What I Learned This Year at Gen Con
I learned to pace myself. I only signed up for a few things each day. The most was three. This gave me time to play, eat, and explore. I played this time around. I decided to try to play some games instead of going to informational sessions. Thursday first time slot is nice but in some cases that’s the slot people skip (tired from travel, or celebrating being at Gen Con) so you might not have a full game. Be patient, these people are volunteers and sometimes not given the preparation needed to run a perfect game. Many have read over the material once or twice, but may never have run a party through the game until you sit down at the table. Be patient with your fellow players… like you this may be their first time playing, or it might be the 500th. Enjoy and understand that you aren’t getting a prize for winning (in most cases) so just relax and have fun. For me, I have a number of games at home that gather dust, this is my chance to actually play them, or at least try them out. I learned that I like games where the rules are more straightforward. I’m not one for games where I haver to explain or try to convince the GM about what I’m doing every time. Let me roll my dice and know that I succeeded, or that I didn’t. I guess I like games that are more black and white. I liked the DCC funnel! It was a great way to learn the mechanics, but also a way to create a character based on actual experiences, rather than having to create a complex backstory. My best character was a cooper… who now is off to adventure since his entire village was kidnapped and fed to a choir of ghouls.
My Haul
Like any geek related convention everyone proudly displays their “Haul” all the stuff they purchased. For me, I’ll just list it:
