Con On The Cob Day 1: Anchovies, Aliens, And Steve The Jerk-Ass Troll

Hey gang,

As I like to do with Gen Con and Gary Con, I'll be posting a daily blog "con travelogue" live from Con on the Cob each day. Why do I do this? Well, I personally like to read about events I can't attend, so this is my way of giving folks a "You Are There" peek at a game convention they may never be able to get to -- or may have thought about attending, but would like to know what it's like. I also like to keep my blogging fingers limber, so these daily updates keep me racing back to the keyboard to tell you about whatever struck my fancy a few minutes ago.

Anyhoo...

Con on the Cob is a regional gaming convention here in northern Ohio. (Hudson to be exact.) It's one I've known about for years, but something always got in my way, so I've been unable to attend. This year, I'm here! And you'll be there to share my first impressions of "Four Days of GAMESARTFREAKSFUN"! As usual with these live con updates, I'll share what I've seen and what I've done during the day, rsacing back to my room to hammer out a new bulletpoint before firing the post later this evening. Let's get started!

• Got to the hotel/conference center stupidly early. I'm so used to driving to Indiana (Gen Con) and Wisconsin (Gary Con) that it never struck me that I didn't need to leave the house at "OH MY GOD" o'clock. So I pulled in at 10 a.m., as I'm only an hour away. Needless to say, my room wasn't ready yet, so I had a chance to wander the "still getting set up grounds."
• Grabbed my badge, program book, and t-shirt. Peeked into the dealer's room and asked around about attendance. I was stunned to find out Con on the Cob is twice as big as other regional cons I go to -- in gaming room space, vendors selling swag, and folks expected to attend. I'm very pleased to find out this will be crazy busy, so lots to do!
• Room not ready at 2 p.m., so I played in my first con game -- the board game classic, Dungeon! Sean, our host, had the most recent WOTC incarnation set-up (though we reminisced at length about the classic purple box version). We played for two hours, aiming for a "clear the dungeon" win scenario. We were all doing well, until I got to Level 3 and turned over a basic troll. Got trounced, dropped half my stuff, and was sent back to the entrance. Came back, fought the troll again (who I had named "Steve"), and got trounced AGAIN. At one point, Steve the Troll had every treasure I had accumulated. The other players were on Levels 5 and 6, but not me. Oh no, Steve and I had a score to settle. I even came up with a backstory for Steve. He's sitting in his dungeon room, watching CSI: Ravenloft, when there's a knock at the door. He sighs, gets up from the La-Z-Troll recliner, and opens the door. "Ugh, YOU again," he smirks. My cleric lets loose with a warcry and swings his mace. Steve reaches out, grabs the mace, shoves the cleric back into the hall, and slams the door again. He tosses the weapon onto the pile of loot in the corner, then sits back down. Steve was a dick.
• After my game of Dungeon, I got checked in and unpacked. One great groovy surprise: The Con Suite with free food and open gaming is across the hall from my room! I'm a heavy sleeper, so who cares about the noise? I GOT FREE FOOD AND 24-HOUR GAMES ACROSS THE HALL!
• Just finished playing a raucous game of Fiasco. I was Randy Rutherford, local plumbing supplies maven who was having trouble getting his elderly mother to kick his ne'er-do-well moocher cousin (who believed in aliens) out of the house. So he asked his porn-hording neighbor to keep an eye on things, while entrusting his best friend next door with his plan to get his mother committed so he'd inherit the house. Then he could kick the cousin to the curb. By the time the game ended, elderly mother turned out to be an alien (maybe...we lost her body), the house blew up, the cousin ended up being the sole heir according to mother's updated will, and me? I got shot in the junk. Hysterical fun.
• It's going on 9 p.m. and I'm starving (no lunch). Just ordered the "Con Special" from the local pizza joint (large 2-item for $10). And it's not often I get a pepperoni and anchovy 'za as the wife (and everyone else I know) hates it. But that's what I'm eating tonight. And I apologize to everyone else on the second floor for the odor that's about to occur. That's me.
• Tomorrow is a Pacesetter day as I'll be running Timemaster and Cryptworld. Really looking forward to Cryptworld as it's an adventure I've had in mind for years. Picture what would happen if Clive Barker wrote a 1950's B-level monster movie. Campy, yet gruesome.

And here are some photos from the convention thus far...

Watch out for Steve the Troll! He's a dick!

Gah! The Coblins are out in force!

Gaming in full swing in one of the three large gaming rooms.

Swag accumulated thus far...