Death by Con: Part I
Before leaving Denver I made up a list of goals for GenCon. What is the quote about war? Something like the best laid plans evaporate after first contact with the enemy?

In 96 hours, I had planned to:


Meet Kam and Erik.
Done! These two are amazing human beings, as anyone who has spent time with them will tell you. Both are kind, generous, socially adept, and pretty much defy all the negative stereotypes associated with gamers. It was a privilege to spend time in their company.

Meet with the Fans.
Unlike last year, when only Jaliegh, Marissa and Jeff showed up, this years signings were insane. Products were literally being offered from all sides, with requests for signings. Thank you to everyone that took the time to stop by the booth, and if you have any questions or concerns that didn't get answered, feel free to drop me a line.

These games are NOTHING without the gamers. More publishers need to realize this.

Hang out with Saurus, Noise, Wentz, Ed, Jeff, Lara, Marisa, Rob, Technobi2k, TacoJon, the 5 Wits, the Young Dragons … and not feel like I’ve slighted anyone.
Almost done. The convention was a tab bit busier than I had planned. The Saturday and Sunday offered a total of 5 hours sleep, and that was just due to meetings. Sorta.

I still feel pangs of guilt for not getting to spend more time with these wonderful people, but it wasn’t half as bad as last year. I don’t mean to be a jerk, I’m just crap for scheduling. The worst part is that Jeff started warning me about this months ago, so I have no excuse.

Run 4 four-hour sessions of Halls of the Minotaur.
Success! Lost my voice by the end of day 3, but at least the players had a lot of fun. A special, Deathy shout out to the NINE player group that stormed my last game. You guys rock. Hope to see you next year, especially the dwarf suicide squad. (“We check for traps!” “How?” “By marching forward into glorious martyrdom!”)

Also, my apologies to anyone who was subjected to my enactment of “The giant spider drops on you from behind!” Some scenes are just too visceral to not have a physical component.

Dance my booty off at the ENnies.
Failure! Goodman Games ducked out through the kitchen after we lost the award, and celebrated, Irish wake style, down the street. When we won a judge’s choice award later that night, no one was there to accept. There’s a lesson there, but we’ll see if it sticks.

Make it to the Gamers: Dorkness Rising showing, as part of the Goodman Games crew.
The first night of the showing was rained out, even though the event was indoors. Something about a pool and water running down the escalator. The second night Goodman Games got red carpet seating up front. The movie was well received, and our adventures were nicely featured. Good times. This was the beginnings of Harley’s 4 Days as a Rockstar, and root of my ultimate demise.

Crash one of TacoJon’s games. (He’s running the Iron Crypt, 1st edition.)
Taco is a brilliant and vicious GM. Be very afraid. Goodman Games produced a special, 1st Edition release of the IC for GenCon, and it sold out before noon the first day. I wasn’t even close to getting a copy of my module. Amazing. Expect to see copies showing up on Ebay soon.

Crash one of Noise’s games (He’s running Jeff’s new module.)
Noise joined me in the Iron GM challenge. Alex is a machine.

If you’ve never tried running 4 sessions over 4 days with total strangers, I applaud your wisdom.

Confirm my rejection from White Wolf.
Failure! I was too scared to approach the booth, so my little brother did the dirty work. The annoucement has been delayed. Expect one timed with Halloween.

Meet with a publisher to discuss possibilities for my first novel.
NDA!

That report about covers the skeleton that was GenCon. Expect the meat shortly.