ConCarolinas 2018

I love ConCarolinas, it's one of my favorites cons to go to. Todd doesn't like it because there aren't enough people he wants to get autographs from, though he did consider having me go on Sunday to get Adam Copland's (aka Edge from WWE) autograph. In the end, Emily and I just went for Saturday.

Like at SC Comicon, Emily and I were cosplaying as Pikachu (her) and Anna from Frozen (me). My choice of costume was pretty much because it's the most comfortable to make the two hour drive to Charlotte.

We got there around 9:30 so we had time to get our badges and head to the dealer's room. Since the dealer's room didn't open until 10 we hung around in the hallway talking to the SCA folks. They told me that there was a chapter of the SCA in Asheville and how to go about contacting them. I've been interested in the SCA for years, but it always all seemed overwhelming. But I did send an email and joined the local chapter's Facebook page. I've been to a couple of fighting practices, and hope to actually suit up and fight next time. But I digress.

Once the dealer's room opened, Emily hemmed and hawed about what she wanted to spend her money on. And then she saw that one of the booths had a tiny kitty that you could hold for a dollar - it was for an animal shelter. So I paid a dollar and she went into cat heaven.

After her cat time was done, she ended up buying some Pokemon cards. One was a big set that the

guy had discounted because the packaging was torn. It was a really good deal.

We left the dealer's room to go play D&D. The game we were scheduled to play in was for higher level players, but there weren't enough people signed up who had high enough characters. So one of the DM's ran a different game. It was two adults (including me) and then three kids. The other two kids were Emily's age and it made for a really fun game.

Emily played a wizard and at one point in the game, she put a rock to sleep. She was very proud of that. We ended up killing the rock as well.

From there, we took another swing around the dealer's room, and I paid so I could cuddle the kitty. Emily petted the kitty as I held him, and was in kitty heaven again. We also took a picture with the Ghostmobile that they had outside. Just as we went out there, the sky opened up and we got a little wet. Someone was nice enough to take our picture despite the rain.

We had some time before my friend Mikey's show was going to start so we went to see Valentine Wolfe play. I hadn't heard them before, but they were really good. Lots of dark, gothy rock that was really awesome.

Once they were done playing, we moved up to the front row since that's where Emily wanted to sit and listened to Mikey's concert. He always puts on such a great show!

After that, we were tired so we headed home. It was a lot of fun but I definitely want to stay the whole weekend next year. It makes for a very long day with four hours on the road.

Tales From Cuppedia - The Beginning

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Last year, I got the Dungeons and Dragons starter pack and started to run a campaign with Emily and Todd. I followed the story that came with the starter pack and it was fun. But there are a lot of stats that come with playing D&D that I was just fudging because I was having issues keeping everything all straight.

So I've been thinking for a bit about designing a really scaled down table top game. Just minimal stats, mostly borrowed from D&D and Hero Games. Something so we can still roll dice and have a combat system, but have it be more story driven.

I was talking to Emily yesterday as we were driving about what kind of story she wanted to do. She came up with something elaborate right away. She wanted it to be a Candyland and she wanted her character to be a catgirl.

So I wrote up the start of our campaign:

Trouble in Cuppedia

King Reyhan and Queen Mora has ruled Cuppedia for many years. Mora is a gingerbread woman and Reyhan is a chocolate man. But several months ago, the King has disappeared and a new King, Medwin, has taken his place. He looks like a Tigerman, but there is something off about him

The Queen has taken her leave from Medwin to summer at the castle in Sorley. King Medwin has stayed at the capital of Zo and is actively ruling the country. He is only making little changes right now, mostly trying to keep candy people and animal people separated. But the Queen fears for Reyhan and her people.

Emily is going to be a Wizard catgirl and Todd is going to be a Warrior Gingerbread Man. Sadly Todd has been working a lot of weekends so we probably won't get to play for several weeks.

I'm going to post recaps of our games because I think it will be interesting! I'm going to be writing the first adventure in the next few days and then plotting where I want the whole campaign to go!

Dragon Con Goals and Worries

Image: dragoncon.com

Dragon Con is only a couple of weeks away so we are totally in Dragon Con mode. Todd and I have conversations about Dragon Con several times a week, sometimes several times a day. I'm really looking forward to my 8th Dragon Con but I do have some worries.

I've been really sick as of late. Lots of really bad migraines as well as balance issues. I'm planning on getting the disability sticker on my badge so I can sit down in a chair to wait for panels and I am not going to give blood this year.

Hopefully I'll be ok - I might add a sticker to the back of my badge with Todd's contact information, just in case. I'll be spending most of the con with him anyway. I am still looking forward to it a lot.

My main goal for this Dragon Con is to finally meet Peter David. He's been one of my favorite authors since I was in high school, and he's usually at Dragon Con, but I never seem to be able to find him. Probably because the last couple of years we having hit the Artist Alley at all, and I think that's where he usually is. But this year, I will meet him, get his autograph, buy new books!

This year I'm also pretty excited that I actually need to buy dice. Need may be a strong word, but we gave Emily dice from our own collections. After years of playing Hero System games, we have an abundance of  6 sized dice. But we all need some of the others, especially Emily. She has requested pink and multi-colored dice, and she especially needs some more 4 sized dice because that's what she uses most with her Magic Missile spell.

I'm not a panelist at all this year, and that is a good thing I think with my health issues. I'll be stalking the Walk of Fame with Todd. I really hope the Arrow guests and Big Bird will do table pictures. I really want pictures with all of them but I really don't want to use Froggy.

Other than that, I'm only bringing two costumes this year. I'll be the Tightrope Girl on Friday and Saturday and then Blue Jacket Kaylee for Sunday. We will probably leave fairly early on Saturday - maybe even right after the parade. Saturday is so crowded anymore it's hard to move a lot of times. Plus there is a really cool mall not far from my aunt and uncle's house with a Disney Store!

I think taking it easy on Saturday may be the key to making it through this Dragon Con without getting to sick or in too much pain. Hopefully, I'll have a great con, will be able to meet cool celebrities, meet Peter David finally, sniff some BPAL and hang out with 80,000 pretty awesome people!

Baby's First D&D Campaign!

Yesterday, we took Family Game Night to a whole new level. Yesterday, Emily played her first Dungeon and Dragons game!

Emily is only six but she has a great imagination. Even though the starter pack I got off Amazon said "12+" I figured we should give it a try.

Todd and Emily picked out characters from the pre-generated ones that came in the starter pack. Emily played a High Elf Wizard, who she decided was male, named Skeleton. Todd was also male, he picked a Cleric Hill Dwarf named Thanagard the Healer. I was the Dungeon Master.

I had read through the rules before we started but I was a little rusty. All the years of playing Hero System games had Todd and I a bit confused for a bit. I honestly fudged some of the finer points - like how many hit points to take in battle. It's something I'll have to look up before our next game session.

Even so, Emily had a blast. She played her character pretty well, even adopting a male sounding voice for when her character talked. We helped her at the beginning but by the time we got to our 3rd combat, she was lobbing magic missiles at goblins like an old pro.

I had been a little afraid that Emily would be bored and want to stop playing. But when we got to a good stopping point, she wanted to keep going! She's looking very forward to our next game.

The starter pack adventure should get us through quite a few more sessions. It's originally divided into five game sessions but we stopped in the middle of the first game session. Once we finish, I'll see how we can branch out!

Dungeons & Dragons and Me

Image: cartoonscrapbook.com 

Dungeons & Dragons - this may bring several images to mind. For some it may be fire and brimstone while others might think of hex maps, figures and 20-sided dice. For me, my first memories are of a cartoon.

When I was a kid in the 80's one of my favorite cartoons was Dungeons & Dragons. It was a lot of fun for a kid and I knew that it was inspired by a game. I always wanted to play it but I never knew anyone who was into D&D.

I didn't get a chance to play until I was in college. My roommate's boyfriend DM'ed a campaign for us. My roommate and I were best friends at the time and the boyfriend was surprised that our characters hated each other. We knew how to role play!

From Dungeons & Dragons, I learned more table top roleplaying games. I also got into live action rpg's which are a ton of fun. Instead of dice, the live action games I played in college used 'rock, paper, scissors'. In college, it was a lot of Vampire: The Masquerade and other games by White Wolf. I like V:TM a lot but Changeling is my favorite.

After college, I didn't play any table top RPG's until after we moved to NC. The first friends we made

down here were also very into table top RPG's and introduced us to Hero Games. I love the Hero Games system in large part because of the disadvantages. Your character has to pick several disadvantages that you have to work into your character - you have to use them.

Over the next few years, I did also play in some other games including D&D. The last time I played Dungeons & Dragons itself was a one-shot one of my Browncoat friends was running. That was over 6 years ago because I was pregnant with Emily.

Our Hero Games friends moved away but after Emily was born, I made a friend who lived right down the road. Her husband at the time ran a Hero Games campaign for us. My friend had one of the best disadvantages I've ever seen - her character was blind! It was a lot of fun.

They moved as well and we lost contact for a few years. Beyond LARPing once down in GA with my cousin and his wife's group, I haven't been able to play any table top games. Illness, small child and lack of a car are some of the reasons I haven't been able to find a group. Though I miss it a lot.

Emily is now six and she is reading, though definitely at a beginner level. We introduced Settlers of Catan to her because it doesn't require a lot of reading and she loved it. So I got the idea a while ago that I would try and run a game with her and Todd.

I picked Dungeons and Dragons because there is a starter pack that I got off Amazon. I'm an experienced role player but I've never run a game before. So D&D is a good place to start! Tomorrow I run our first game with an adventure from the starter pack.

In a way, I've come full circle and I'm excited to introduce Emily to the fun! Dungeons and Dragons started it all for me and now that's where she'll be starting as well!

Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Dungeons & Dragons by Shelly Mazzanoble

Image: shellymazzanoble.com

Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Dungeons & Dragons by Shelly Nobleman is a wonderful take on a how to book on life that centers around Dungeons & Dragons.

The book showcases life lessons that playing Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) can help you with, such as religion, moving in with a significant other, dealing with your parents, changing up your routine and more through Shelly’s life as she lives in Seattle and works for Wizards of the Coast. 

This book was really easy for me to read. If I hadn't had things like work and a preschooler to care for, I would have probably read it in one sitting. I enjoyed reading about Shelly’s adventures, both in real life and as a D&D character. It also made me really miss playing D&D quite a bit, and role playing in general. I’d love to get out my dice and roll up a character to help work out some of my issues.

Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Dungeons & Dragons is currently available in traditional paperback, Kindle and Nook versions. I highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially folks who love gaming, D&D in particular.

Note: I received a copy of this book for review purposes.