Post Vision/Egpyt Wars/Cape Con report

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tylermo
Greater Lore Drake
Posts: 2579
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:00 am

Post Vision/Egpyt Wars/Cape Con report

Post by tylermo »

Greetings. Finally decided to give a long overdue report of my latest three outings for Troll Lord Games. Let's go back to Feb 14-17th...Vision Con in Springfield, Missouri. Stephen and some of the other Trolls had attended this one in the past, but it was a first for me. I had already been up nearly 24 hours before James and JL (two of my C&C players and helpers) arrived in Sikeston. After a 4 hour journey, we arrived in Springfield. We sat up the booth with a little time to spare before the dealers room opened. I also had time to go through my "ocd" (as James calls it) ritual of making sure the books were properly straightened and aligned. Also, we had a 6ft. table as opposed to 8-footer, and my two vertical racks. This made it a bit harder to cram the nearly-complete line of TLG products on the table. Lol. Anyway, James ran the first demo while I worked at the booth. Seems like we had 4 out of 6 players at least. During the afternoon, I met John and Chris. They had played in some Troll Games at GenCon (in the past), and had shared a few beers with Stephen and Davis. They knew all of Davis' life's stories, except the one in which his dog had a bowel movement on an old TLG banner in the back of Stephen's truck. I digress...These guys and three others played in my evening game. Sales were decent that day, at least. Mostly people who were new to C&C. After the session, we three Trolls walked the first floor of the Howard Johnson into the wee hours. Vision is a multi-faceted con with guests, gaming, costuming, and other "festivities". I knew an acquaintance or two from Archon would be there, so I hung out with them. My head would finally hit pillow at 4am Saturday morning. I got up 2 or 3 hours later, and availed myself of the breakfast buffet. By 9am, we were back to the dealers room. James ran the morning and afternoon games, with JL playing the odd character as needed. This generated some sales from new C&C players. Plus, I'm sure sold some of the ever-popular Engineering Dungeons. During my time in the booth, I was approached by Christopher Brace, a college friend of Davis Chenault. Seems like it would've been a good weekend for Davis to be with us. Anyway, he hadn't talked to Captain Caveman for years, so I took his card and promised to pass it along. Fate intervened, and knocked out my evening game. It was only at two players, and one was a "no show". The other guy said he join us for Sunday's session. I tried rustling up other players on the spot, but no such luck. The three of us went back to our room, and decided to hit the halls once again. There was no shortage of things to do. Rocky Horror, Aaron Douglas (Battlestar) roaming the the halls, a LARP, a live band in one of the rooms, etc. Amazingly enough, there was a group of six belly dancers in the room directly across from us. They had a sound system, and koolaid for sale. You should have seen my moves. When in doubt fall back on Travolta's Sat Night Fever. Lol. After awhile, my 20-something associates retired for the evening. I hung out with Beth (dealers room organizer) and her husband, as well as a belly dancer who was serving as a gopher, among others. I slept for 55 minutes going into Sunday. Breakfast came too early, followed by the dealers room. James, JL, and I spoke at length with author, Shane Moore. He wrote the Abyss Walker series. Soon to be an rpg accessory released by TLG. Great guy whom we hope to meet again. James ran our final demo for a group of at least four, while I continued to make some more sales. Also had a chance to meet some other fine folks including Andrea, a concealed gun instructor from Springfield. By the afternoon, we had to pack up. Did I mention there was a bit of snow on either Fri or Saturday? Crazy! James, JL, and I hit our usual 15.00 dollar buffet. Soon after, I was going downhill quick. Can you say up since Thur morning with only 4 hours sleep? I slept all the way home. Anyway, a big thanks to Beth, and Dave Harp (gaming organizer). A shout out to all of the players and customers over the weekend, as well. If I get a vote, I hope TLG returns to Vision Con in 2014.

tylermo
Greater Lore Drake
Posts: 2579
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:00 am

Re: Post Vision/Egpyt Wars/Cape Con report

Post by tylermo »

Now on to Egypt Wars in Carbondale, Illinois. April 12-14th. This con is a replacement for the old Egyptian Campaign, and is in it's 4th year. The Trolls attended EC from 03-07, and all of the EW's. I helped Stephen at the one in 10, and was the Troll Rep in 2012 and this year. Anyway, James and I headed out from Sikeston, MO by at least 9am Fri morning. We arrived at the SIU campus an hour and a half later. Same place where Tim Kask was a member of the Southern Illinois University Strategic Gaming Group. Anyway, we weren't sure where the gaming area was, so I ended up lugging a 50? pound box halfway through the building. Many stops were made along the way. Soon after, we pulled the truck over to the correct entrance, and began our set up. EW is a smaller, gaming-only con. A lot of Pathfinder Society and Magic on the roster, with a bit of miniature wargaming, Doctor Who, D&D, Quags, CoC, and Pokemon. Friday was pretty slow, but some connections were made. The usual Egineering Dungeons sale and some others. I spoke with a woman I had met last year. She and a few of her college pokemon players asked to play a late night game of _________(the name escapes me). It's kind of pg-13 to rated R version of Apples to Apples. We had a lot of fun with that one. Afterwards, James and I checked in at Super 8, and actually got some sleep. Afterall, Egypt Wars isn't a party con. Lol The next morning, I had my usual two waffles, and everything else. Saturday picked up quite a bit, one of our games had 4 players. They were fantasy veterans, one of whom was wearing armor and a helm. We had a returning customer or two from previous years later in the day. Always nice to see folks come back for more C&C product. James and I also had the pleasure of speaking with a woman from the Pathfinder group. Lindsey, from St. Louis, plays or runs 4-5 different games each week. Anything ranging from PF to Gamma World to board games. Huge Star Wars fan, and of just about everything else too. She agreed to play C&C with us the next day. James and I went back to the Super 8, and called it a day. The next day, I ended up running the morning demo, A Darker Shade of Ale (Seskis). We had Lindsey, a guy from Marion, as well as Nathan and Danielle (selling Magic in the dealers room). James sat in to round out the group. One of our players really got into the role, forcing me to use the Siege Engine as never before. That's all I can say, but the players really made the game. Very memorable. lol.You just don't know. Either way, Nathan (who actually was running a CoC game during that slot) bought a phb, m&t, and adventure per his wife's suggestion. Lindsey also got onboard, even picking up the Umbrage Saga boxed set. Probably the 2nd to last one in existence. Our last US was later sold at Cape Con. We sold Kalas and Aihrde maps, among other things to one of last year's big customers. Organizer, Scott Thorne, picked up several dice sets for his game store. In the end, we picked up some new players, and supported Scott. Scott has been dealing Troll products in his shop for years. A tip of the hat to Mr. Thorne. Attendance was 135 last year. Up to approximately 170 this year. Thanks to all of our players, and nice to see the ladies(Lindsey, Danielle, etc.) gaming, as well. James and I had some Steak and Shake after 10pm, as all of the buffets were closed. Darn the bad luck, but I was on a roll with few last minute sales. By the time all was said and done, we arrived in Sikeston by 1:30. The end. :)

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