Sunday No Longer At GenCon

I’m in Orlando now, have traveled far and slept little since I wrote last.

As planned, I met up with Will Hindmarch, Ryan Macklin, and Wil Wheaton last night to game. Wil had asked to play A Penny For My Thoughts, but Will and I had another plan. As were sitting down, I asked, “What would you think about trying Fiasco instead?” The look on Wil’s face led to my immediate followup, “Right, we’re playing Fiasco.” Apparently he’d been wanting to play it for a while.1

We picked out Chris Bennett’s Los Angeles 1936 playset, which had finished second in the voting to Vegas on Thursday. We immediately got the right vibe, setting up a corrupt liquor licensing commissioner (Ryan), his good girl secretary (Wil) who was stuck in a frozen marriage to a nightclub owner (Will), and the burlesque dancer the club was named after (me). What was amazing to me was how understated the whole thing was. In contrast to the gonzo of the Vegas game, we played this one relatively straight. Yes, things still went horribly awry, but in a human frailty sort of way. We also managed to tell a great film noir story without telling a hard-boiled detective story.2

The only downside of the game was that it went much longer than we’d planned on, so I had to bail on my dinner plans with my friends Jeff and Mari at St. Elmo’s.3 Fortunately they had a good time together, helped by a shared love of martinis, and we met up afterward to hang out, eventually joining the our usual crowd and migrating from bar to bar as they closed. I was loathe to go to bed, knowing it was my last night at GenCon, but when 6 AM finally rolled around I said my final goodnights and turned in.

I somehow made it to convention hall before noon today4 and made my last few passes by booths. We had a great signing event for The Bones, which made me realize just how many cool people were involved with that book and how happy I am to have been a part of it. Then it was off to the airport and on to the next stop on my whirlwind tour. The trip to Orlando was relatively uneventful, though I did manage to read a good chunk of Robin Laws’ Hamlet’s Hit Points on the plane.5

So goodbye, GenCon, for another year. You’re always too short, always too far away, always too big to throw my arms around. There were old friends I missed, new friends I met, and people who get to spend too little time with. We should do this again sometime.

1 Yes, it’s a little strange to push someone else’s game instead of my own, but I’ve played Penny with Wil before. Plus, Fiasco is awesome.

2 Though Wil and I did get to help out Ryan, who was struggling a little bit in a solo scene we’d set him up in, by playing two guys who came in through the door with guns.

3 Was a double wound, as I didn’t get to have dinner with them and I missed out on good Midwestern beef.

4 For the first time this year.

5 Considering it contains a beat breakdown of Casablanca, my favorite movie ever, I’m predisposed to like it.