The Post-GenCon Report

Got in at midnight last night. This is my story and I'm sticking to it.

The flight out was uneventful but I was stressed all the same: for some reason, it was booked so I arrived an hour before the big presentation I give at every one of these shows. This presentation was the biggest of the big: a major announcement, 200+ volunteers, and most of the company. It took me a couple of minutes to hit my stride (I psyched myself out too much and blew some of the introductions), but I think it's one of the best ones I gave - and it's so strange how introverted little Jason has become someone who can not only speak in public, but is kind of good at it.

Friday and Saturday I spent doing meetings with press every hour on the hour. I got a few minutes to walk about and look at stuff, but not much more than that until Sunday. I managed to play a game of HeroClix late in the day on Friday, and we had our big Mage Knight bash Friday night - a kind of bittersweet event. It was really cool seeing some of the old players come to hang out and talk about the game for a while.

And of course, I ate the Cincinnatti chili and hit the Ram, who have now taken their cool custom menus and sold them out to sponsors who have slapped their logos on everything. I couldn't bring myself to buy one for the new price of $5.50, when they have been free the last two years. Everything falls apart, as they say.

The main thing that sticks out in my mind about this event is that there wasn't really anything "must-have, super-cool, etc." The Serenity RPG sold out quickly and I wasn't willing to fight the psychotic fans for a lame paperback copy. I already ordered the Game of Thrones RPG. Axis and Allies was OK, but it's not my thing. Unlike last year and the year before, there just wasn't anything supergroovy I wanted.

However, I did make some good contacts - one of the guys from The Forge and I are going to exchange some emails, I might have found some more writing work, and I even discovered that some of my past work had been printed without them telling (or paying) me!

At least it's a notch in my belt.