Con On The Cob Day 1: Cherry Air Freshener, KODT LAS, and HRONK-HRONK-HRONK

Greetings readers, as once again I live-blog from one of my favorite conventions -- Con on the Cob in Brecksville, Ohio! The convention calls itself "Four Days of Games, Art, Freaks, & Fun", and it always lives up to the billing. The Con outgrew its old digs in Hudson, and this year is the first in its new location, so I'm curious as to how the new location pans out.

I'm up early to head down to the vendor's hall to begin setting up the booth for Goblinoid Games as I type this up. As always, this "Live From The Convention" travelogue will be a running commentary of my impressions of what I've seen and done during the event, updated throughout the day, and posted before turning in later tonight. So here we go:

• Room is nice enough, but I hate the sickly-sweet air freshener/disinfectant used by the cleaning staff. It smelled like cherry cough syrup when I walked in. Blergh. Fortunately it aired out fast enough.
• The Wi-fi connection here SUCKS. It is best described as "spotty" as the hotel's "automatic connection" isn't automatic. Takes 20 minutes of fiddlin' to get a connection. It won't connect unless you enter the hotel's magic password, yet you can't enter the password without being connected. Plus everyone trying to use the system at the same time taxes the signal, kicking me off during peak hours. It's driving me batty. We're see if I can limp through the next few days with these posts. However, if this is the only one you read, that's the reason.
• When I checked in, the front desk gave me one of those plastic clip-on bracelet things you might get at a hospital or at a concert. When I asked what it was for, she said it's so they could ID me as a guest. Still confused by that. Ain't wearing it either.
• Inspired by an earlier G+ post, I brought a stack of unwanted gaming materials that I left throughout the convention's halls with "FREE TO A GOOD HOME" stickers on them. Every so often, I'd leave some random goodie out for someone, and it'd be gone in minutes. Enjoy!
• Booth is set up and well-stocked with tons of games. Once the vendor's hall opened, there was a ton of interest in Cryptworld, Monsters Macabre, and Starships & Spacemen 2e. Made several sales, but the first day is usually light. I'm set up right next to Roy Snyder and the Goodman Games booth, so we whiled away the hours gabbing about games, life, and other jazz.
• I love the way the con is laid out at this new location. There's a lot of space in all of the ancillary rooms, and most of them over look The Atrium below where all of the open gaming is held. If you've ever wanted to watch an RPG being played like you were in a sporting stadium, this is the place.
• However, The Atrium is in the same room with the pool and hot tub, so it's 98 degrees and 115% humidity in there. The echoing is a bit hard to manage too. I'll see how bad it is when I run my games  tomorrow afternoon.
• This year's souvenir CotC shirt is sheer awesome. Pix to follow.
• While in the booth, I had a group of three friends ask about Cryptworld. I explained the system, then gave them a thumbnail description of tomorrow's game "Condition Critical." All three had their mouths agape. Then one muttered, "We're so there, dude." So looks like I have some new players!
• HOLY CRAP, THE HOTEL'S FIRE ALARM WENT OFF. THE VENDOR'S HALL WAS BEING EVACUATED AS HRONK-HRONK-HRONK ECHOED THROUGHOUT THE BUILDING. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SHOWED UP AND INSPECTED THE HOTEL, AND IT WAS DETERMINED TO BE A FALSE ALARM. BUT HOLY CRAP, WAS IT LOUD. THAT'S WHY THIS IS IN ALL CAPS. THIS IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TRYING TO TALK TO OTHERS WHILE HRONK-HRONK-HRONK WAS SOUNDING.
• Spent 20 minutes laughing about the existence of a store named ACME in the area. I desperately want to go there and ask where they keep the anvils, rocket skis, portable holes, and comically big red magnets.
• JESUS, THE FIRE ALARM HAS GONE OFF AGAIN. HRONK-HRONK-HRONK.
• Met up with Jim Yoder who joined me in the CotC Con Suite for some rather suspect "fruit punch." I don't think it was Hawaiian at all.
• At 10 p.m., there was a special showing of all episodes of the Knight of the Dinner Table live-action series. In spite of the troubles this project has had, it was incredibly funny and true to the strip. Loved every minute of seeing these classic characters on the screen.

And now, as always, are some shots taken from the Con floor and around the area. Tune in tomorrow for more missives from Con on the Cob! (Wi-fi willing, that is....)

Always nice to know immediately if you've found the right place.

Just a few of the freebies I "salted "around the convention for a few lucky folks.

 The Gobinoid Games / Pacesetter booth is open and ready for business!

 Just a few of the items up for sale.

This eyeball-headed drone stood watch over the registration deck. I named him "Roger."

 The Vendor's Hall during set-up.

 The fire truck that responded to the fire alarm. I think they should've offered rides around the parking lot for $5 a person. I would've enjoyed that!

Yours truly live at the convention!

 This year's shirt and a few DCC RPG items I picked up from the Goodman Games booth "next door."

The Atrium has gaming running 24-7.