GenXnerd

It’s day 2 of GenCon, and boy are my knees and ankles aware of it.  You know, for the amount of crap we nerds get for being out of shape, I’d like to see some of the “normals” do the amount of walking and general standing around that GenCon requires.  Often even while wearing heavy-ass backpacks, or carrying giant cosplay props.  In a gigantic throng of people.  Do I really need to go back to that picture of the doors from yesterday?

I’m going to start off today with a picture of Nicholas Briggs, the guy who does the voice of the Daleks in Doctor Who.  Because he is awesome, and because I can.  Because he was at the show today.  And also as a reminder that the new series for Doctor Who starts NEXT WEEK!!  Okay, here’s the picture:

Exterminate!!

This was probably the highlight of my day.  The rest of it was mostly filled with waiting and disappointment…and for once, I’m not talking about my love life.  No, I don’t like that joke either.  No, it’s not as much of a joke as it is a sad commentary on my life that hits a little closer to home than I’d like.  Yes, you’re just going to have to put up with my bad jokes and bucket of unhappy.  If you can deal with that, join me after the jump for some more good stuff, and then some talk about my biggest problem with the convention and why this will be a shorter recap today…

But after the jump.

Still here?  Good!  First off, the “more good”.  The first of which is that I got to stand within five feet of Nichelle Nichols!!!  Then some dude told me to move along…and then there was a “zap” and darkness.  On a possibly related note, does anyone happen to have one of those dolls that they use to have you show where the bad man touched you?  Okay, no…I shouldn’t make jokes like that.  But she really did have a couple of guys running interference for her as she walked around the con floor.  It is also possible that this had less to do with her being Uhura, and more to do with her being pocket-sized, though.  She’s probably a head shorter than I am, and I’m only 5’4″ myself.  It kinda messed with me a little when I realized this.  This is a woman who has shared a stage with Duke Ellington, was told she must stay on as Uhura by no less than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself, was in CHARGE of NASA’s recruits for years…and she’s completely teeny-tiny.

I tried to get evidence of this, but EVERY time I tried to take her picture, something went wrong and I missed, or the camera messed up.  I think she may, in fact, be magical.  It is also possible that this was my penance for the derpy Wil Wheaton from yesterday.  I’m sorry, Wil Wheaton.  Please undo the voodoo so I can take pictures of Nichelle Nichols?  I’m really a very big fan!

Instead of Nichelle Nichols, have instead a picture of a Dalek.  As far as I can tell, it is just possible that Nicholas Briggs was sitting in it himself, delivering some fine improv.  No, I do not know this for a fact, but I like to think it’s true…so there.  I have video of this also.  As soon as I find out how to load it to the YouTube page, I will.

I once caught a Doctor THIS big…

It was also a good day for cosplay!  However, because I don’t have nearly as nice a camera as MuGumBo, I didn’t take nearly as many pictures.  Which would be helpful if his internet weren’t still on the fritz.  Hopefully that gets ironed out soon, or I think his head may explode.  In the meantime, I do have a COUPLE of decent shots that I can share.

Is it me, or does Venom’s face look a little excited?

This is a Minecraft-type thing, yes? I should play that.

He’s a very tall Wookie. Yes I know it’s a bad picture.

And that’s about all I have to say about that.  Some of the costumes are really great this year.  Hopefully he’ll get more of those pics up soon!

Now for the UN-fun part.  I actually spent today trying to PLAY Dungeons & Dragons…which was apparently my mistake.  You see, even though Wizards of the Coast owns both D&D and GenCon, and they’re making exciting new announcements about all the legitimately neat stuff coming out for the game, they seem to have gone out of their way to make it as INFURIATINGLY IMPOSSIBLE AS THEY CAN to actually PLAY the new stuff they’ve got going.

Now, part of this is my fault.  I didn’t pre-purchase tickets specifically to play the new things at the specific times.  The truth is, I’ve been to GenCon several times, and been around games and gaming for more years than I haven’t…but I’ve never actually played D&D.  I didn’t realize that this was going to be a thing that was difficult to do.  I figured they’d want to make this shiny new thing available to as many people as they could possibly put it in front of.  Because I figured that makes sense.  They also decided that they were going to do a set of “Drow” dice this year.  I left you an info link, but suffice it to say, it’s a popular thing.  Except they made it so that the first two dice are easy to get, but for the next four, you MUST play these games that they’ve made it virtually impossible to get into.  Honestly, I just want to play the games!  I’d LIKE to complete the set, but if I don’t, it’s not going to kill me.  But because EVERYONE’S trying to complete the set, it’s making it even harder to get a chance to play.  I stood in three different lines, for basically over half the day today, just to try and play D&D for the first time.  And that’s no including line-time yesterday, which was not small and still had no payoff.  I got in to ONE of the games today.  I got to play the new Dungeon Command Skirmish miniatures game.  My verdict?  It’s a ton of fun!  There’s a bit of a learning curve, as you figure out where all your information is on the cards, but you tap for actions, play cards on creatures to make things happen, and then roam the board to beat the holy hell out of each other, and it’s great!  Highly recommended, and I’m kinda thinking I wouldn’t mind playing more in the future.  I’m going to try again tomorrow to get in to the other two games, because I’d really like to play, but until then, I have nothing further to say.  I have only frustration at being a potential new player, and basically being turned away.  I enjoy gaming.  I would like to play games.  I would like to play their games.  As of right now, it kinda seems like a bit of an impenetrable wall to get TO the games, though.

And that’s my wall of text for tonight.  Tune in tomorrow for more of me stalking celebrities and bitching about things that are probably mostly in my head! (but they’re MY opinions, dammit!)