Michael Lee's Train of Thought

I think for many people working on CONvergence, this was a particularly challenging year to get through.  It's so very big now -- approximately 5900 registrations, and 5500 people actually attending.  And despite the challenges, mistakes, miscommunications, and flaws (and I'm keenly aware of every single one of them, both ones that I'm a directly a part of as well as others), this was a successful and memorable year, and I think we're on a good path for the future.

I had some fun panels that I was on -- the Avengers panel was a highlight, with Lyda Morehouse correctly predicting that the Winter Soldier was in Captain America's future, and the love of Shwarma just increasing. I was happy to spread the convention love at our Conventions beyond CONvergence panel, since there are so many things beyond the one weekend both locally and around the country, and there are so many successful different flavors.

I completed a 25 year goal of mine to have Sophie Aldred at a Minnesota convention, and her appearance on a totally warped version of Just A Minute was epic beyond belief.

I was also very happy to see that we had people playtesting the upcoming version of Dungeons and Dragons -- and the future of D & D panel was a particular highlight.  I might actually have to play a game sometime, as it has probably been 20 years since I last played the RPG, but I have fond memories (and have enjoyed the recent board games my brother has worked on).

The musical highlight of the weekend was seeing Marian Call perform, and I hope she comes back to Minneapolis again so I can see her perform again.

I joke occasionally that we're on the road to Fafnircon, and that's a possible future that we need to manage towards.  Our current facilities do cap us at a point, even if there isn't an explicit cap in place.  And that building can still handle larger conventions -- we aren't the largest convention that building has seen, and that building has now hosted multiple generations of science fiction, fantasy, and related fans, so it really is a home away from home for all of us.

And of course, coming next year is CONvergence 2013:



I can't wait.

Labels: convergence, cvg2012, DnD, marian call, sophie aldred

We're just a few short days away from CONvergence 2012. As always, it looks like it's going to be really massive, and there's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into this year's convention.  The volunteers who help run it and keep it going do a lot, as well as everyone else who attends.

There are a lot of things that I'm looking forward to on the Schedule.  Three highlights of mine:

• Marian Call, Mainstage Thursday 8:30 PM
• Sophie Aldred (Ace from Doctor Who) - especially her mainstage interview, and I've wanted her to come to Minneapolis since she was first in the series in the late 1980s.
• Dungeons & Dragons Next Playtesting - I doubt I'll get a chance to do this myself, but there will be a lot of opportunities to playtest the upcoming version of the definitive fantasy role playing game, and I hope people have a lot of fun with it.

Labels: convergence, cvg2012, DnD, doctorwho, marian call

Tomorrow, Lords of Waterdeep, the Dungeons and Dragons-based boardgame that my brother co-developed with Rodney Thompson comes out from Wizards of the Coast.

I had a chance to play this once when my brother was in town for my wedding last year -- so in a very real sense, we played this game as my Bachelor party.  Nerdy, yes.  Relatively low-key: yes, but that's how I wanted it.  But it was also awesome, and I've been waiting almost a year for the game to come out, and I pre-ordered it (because I'm not getting a free copy!) the day it became available.

While I was my brother's first Dungeon Master for D&D, I stopped playing the game in my teenage years.  I didn't have the time or energy to be a lifestyle gamer.  It's a lot of work.

But I have huge affection for the D&D mythos.  Even before my brother started working on the product, I've always believed it's one of the great geek franchises -- like Star Wars, Star Trek, the superhero universes of DC Comics or Marvel, Doctor Who,  The Lord of the Rings, and so on.  Community doesn't do a Pathfinder episode -- they do an episode about Dungeons and Dragons.

I am a fairly regular board gamer -- and some of my favorite games are games like Ticket to Ride, which I'm a hardcore player of on the iPad especially.  And I like some of the games like Dominion, and other games with that sort of flavor as well.  I've enjoyed the other D&D Board Games my brother has worked on like Legend of Drizzt -- especially as they give a bit of that D&D flavor, but in a limited time scope, but Lords of Waterdeep is the best of the games yet, and something that deserves to be played very widely.

Here's a video about how to play the game, with Rodney Thompson.



I think this is a very good fan review of it as well, and gives a good indepth look at the artistic design of the game.


You will be able to get the game at Amazon.com, of course, as well as your local gaming shop like The Source Comics & Games here in Minneapolis, as well as other places.



It's a moment of sibling geek pride for me, obviously -- but more than that, it's a game I can't wait to play again myself, on a final board with graphics and artistic design.

Labels: DnD, Waterdeep