Gen Con 2021

Gen Con returned to Indianapolis this year after Gen Con Online last year. Rob, Karen, and Buck couldn't make it this year, but we had Lou, Nick, James, and me from previous years, and Lou's old friend David joined us.

I was in five games (20 hours) of D&D, and my longtime Gen Con warlock Aleister made it to 16th level. Three of those games were "the D&D Experience," where you play with the same Dungeon Master and players for all three games. Here's our table for the first D&D Experience game, including Lou, Nick, David, and our Dungeon Master Jacob. We're gearing up to ambush some goblins.

Here's our last game on Sunday morning.

Here's a pano of the big (non-D&D) play area in the conference center; gamers took over the lounge at our hotel too.

It was a good year for costumes. These plague doctors were a good pick for the covid pandemic.

The Dungeon Master from the 80's D&D cartoon.

Edgar Allen Poe.

King Arthur and Patsy.

We went to the costume contest this year - here are the finalists on stage. The kids' group winners won the overall contest too.

The exhibit hall was crowded but not as crazy as previous years. Most of the usual suspects seemed to be there except Fez-O-Rama.

Our favorite DM from 2018 and 2019, Zac, was in the hall at the booth for his company Drifter's Atlas.

I found some original 70s D&D boxes for sale, for $500. As crazy as that is, it's not as much as a lot of Magic Cards.

Eric Lang's new game, Ankh, was on sale about a month before release.

We kicked off Wednesday night with Lou’s traditional foodie dinner. This year it was Lou, Nick, and Nick’s gaming friends, and me. From left to right, Lou, Diego, Nick, Randy, and Daniella.

Also enjoyed a couple meals at the George Street food trucks - jerk chicken tacos + deep fried cheese curds, and a pulled pork bbq sandwich.

Boston

I visited my friend in Wei in Lexington in 2015. I visited Wei and her family again, and spent an afternoon lazily walking part of the Freedom Trail in Boston. I really enjoyed Boston, there's a ton to explore there.

I started at Copp's Hill Burying Ground near the harbor in the North End, which dates from the 1600s. Among others, Increase, Cotton, and Samuel Mather are buried there; Increase and Cotton were key figures in the Salem witch trials.

The Old North Church is nearby. In 1775 the sexton Robert Newman famously hung signal lanterns in the church's belfry to warn Paul Revere that the British were coming. My picture shows the church's organ; privateer Thomas James Gruchy captured the cherubim from a French ship.

Paul Revere Mall, behind the church.

The "Old State House was the seat of the British colonial government between 1713 and 1776" and the facade still sports the English lion and the Scottish unicorn. The basement is a subway station.

The Old South Meeting House, where Samuel Adams kicked off the Boston Tea Party.

Benjamin Franklin in front of the Old City Hall, which was the city hall from 1865 to 1969.

The Granary Burying Ground dates from 1660. Folks buried here include Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and victims of the Boston Massacre. Paul Revere has two monuments next to each other.

The Massachusetts State House, under repair.

The state house seen from Boston Common.

Trump is a dangerously stupid, racist, sexist, fascist liar: part 2

There were regular anti-Trump protests in the Bay Area from the 2016 election until about May 2017, and I posted my pictures from some of them under Trump is a dangerously stupid, racist, sexist, fascist liar: part 1.

Live protests died down after that, but you could still work online. Leading up to the 2020 election, I consolidated four years of Facebook posts into one week of posts, which I now present as "Trump is a dangerously stupid, racist, sexist, fascist liar: part 2," here.

Gen Con 2020

Gen Con was online in 2020 because of covid.

Rob, James, and I played D&D using Roll20. My long-time Gen Con warlock Aleister made it to 14th level this year.

Usually in Indianapolis we shop the outrageous vendors' exhibit hall at the conference center. This year I ordered in some good stuff, including another new Fez-O-Rama fez and some game books. I also got in some gamer treats - the new crazy Mountain Dews and some Japanese candy on a whim.

Lou and Buck are foodies, and usually we get out for good food several times during the conference, and I tried to get some good food here. Often we'll get food from the trucks on Georgia Street, so I at least went to the burrito truck near my place. We'll finish up a lot of days with drinks at High Velocity at the hotel, so I tried to replicate their Blackberry Bee’s Knees - gin, honey, blackberry, sparkling wine.

Gen Con 2019

I went to Gen Con again this year with Rob, Karen, Buck, and Lou, and this year James joined us.

We played a lot of D&D again this year. We got to play again this year with our favorite DM from last year, Zac.

Here are some of the costumes from this year.

The last few years the con has expanded to use Lucas Oil Stadium (where the Colts play) as well as the conference center.

Things got out of hand with books this year. I pestered a few authors before the con to see if they'd be there and whether they'd be willing to sign some books, and then some new editions of classic RPGs came too, so I was carrying around a pretty big stack of stuff. I had to move some books out of my checked bag at the airport to keep it under 50 pounds.

I was thrilled to get a Middle-Earth Role Playing, which we played hundreds of times as kids, autographed by S. Coleman Charlton and Pete Fenlon. Many thanks to Kelli at the Catan booth for making it happen!

D&D 3rd edition author Jonathan Tweet and D&D 4th edition author Rob Heinsoo autographed my copy of 13th Age, the game they wrote together (and Jonathan also signed my D&D 3.5 Players Handbook and Ars Magica).

Jason Bulmahn, the author of Pathfinder, signed my Pathfinder 2.0.

Great food this year.