Less than 1 Week Until DragonCon!

DragonCon is, as the subject says, less than 1 week away. It's "the largest multi-media, pop-culture convention focusing on science-fiction & fantasy, gaming, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!"

Hyperbole or not, it's a sight to see.

The first time I went was in 2010. I had no idea what to expect - so many people. And so so so many in costumes (or in some cases, not much at all. After dark the convention becomes, depending on your family, somewhat family unfriendly ).

It was OK.  

Like I said, I didn't know what to expect and consequently found myself blown about by the whims of the people I was with. Had I really known what I could do there, I'd have done it differently. I would have been better prepared.

I did manage to get to 3 or 4 panels - including one on your rights when the police come knocking at  your door and one on Chinese zombies or something  (seriously, something for everyone here), and saw a few musical acts (Voltaire and The Crux Shadows, two acts I'd seen before, the latter many times, when I lived in Philly).

This year, my 2nd time going, and I know way more about it thanks to that first visit.  I intend to do what I want to do - which is attend gaming and writing panels and playing games, as many as I can squeeze in.

For a convention that's not gaming specific, there's a decent offering of games and systems: Here's the gaming program.

So far I'm officially signed up for:

• An old school D&D session
• A Dungeon Crawl Classics session 
• Games on Demand session

I'm contemplating signing up for something else, but we'll see. My parents are coming to town to take care of Young Lord Shadowmoss, but I don't like the idea of saddling them with bath time and putting him to bed more than 1 night.

One game I really wanted to play is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, but one session conflicts with the OD&D game and the other is Monday morning, which puts me at the mercy of Young Lord Shadowmoss's mother getting up before noon after hitting the Sunday night parties, since my parents leave early Monday. I have owned this game since it came out and I have never done more than roll up characters.

I plan to get in on a demo of Malifaux on Saturday or Sunday morning. I like the looks of the minis, you only need a handful and it's a game I could play with others if the urge were to strike me.

Event wise, I'm looking forward to the docent tour of the machine guns in the Armory, a campaign management session, another on world-building and a puppets on a budget session (I love me some puppets).

I don't cosplay (I won't say never. Although I've adamantly said   just that in the past. This morning I seriously contemplated putting together a Return of the Jedi Biker Scout suit for next year), so it makes prepping for the convention considerably simpler - and as I live not far from a MARTA station, I'll take the train each day, rather than driving and dealing with traffic and the parking madness near the convention hotels.

In the vendor hall, there are a few things I want to pick up, but this is first among them: 

That's a moustache monocle for those keeping score, available from Geek Chic.