Countdown to Total Confusion 2013

[Black Jack Rackham]

This new "naming the snowstorm" thing is stupid. I refuse to participate.

[Lady Grace]

And then suddenly the Nautilus rises from the depths and blows Boston up...

[Rebecca Iavelli]

I'm still trying to figure out what a tiny orange striped fish has to do with the snowstorm's name anyway. If anything they should have named it "SnowKraken" if they wanted to name it after something in the sea, cuz a giant Kraken is more related to the weather outside than the little fish.

Wind is up a bit right now, blowing lots of the stuff around. Cars across the street are nothing but snow dunes. It's going to take me forever to shovel out my car. Sigh.

[Black Jack Rackham]

10 More Days till TotalCon!

[Sister Sonya]

Went to work today. See the ortho doc tomorrow.

I've two huge bruises above and below the elbow, but the swelling at the elbow has gone down somewhat. I still can't raise my arm, but it's less painful now. I can drive with two hands now, which is good with all of the wind we're having today.

[Black Jack Rackham]

9!

[Black Jack Rackham]

8

[Black Jack Rackham]

7 (YES ONE WEEK TO GO!)

[Black Jack Rackham]

6

[Black Jack Rackham]

5 DAYS LEFT!

[Black Jack Rackham]

4 DAYS LEFT!

[Black Jack Rackham]

3 DAYS LEFT!

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok Mark, we know your excited about this, but your starting to get confusing, which I guess is good, since the name of the convention is Total Confusion, lol. Now, at 12:15 am you posted that there are 4 days left, yet at 9:10 pm on the same day, you say there is 3 days left, lol. So. which is it??

[Black Jack Rackham]

Actually the mistake began on the 17th. If you look at the previous post, I said 6 days on the 15th skipped a day and wrote 5 days on the 17th. So yesterday's post just fixed the problem that I'd created earlier.

Oh yea and 2 MORE DAYS!

[Black Jack Rackham]

TOTALCON 2013 (AND HEROES OF ALTAMIRA, YEAR 3) STARTS TOMORROW!!!

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Not for me, lol. Today begins my TC adventure, as I will be leaving soon to go meet the crew and help unload the truck and then help set up.

[Black Jack Rackham]

First game is going on right now (and I'm not there to witness it ) Got a table of 7 but unfortunately, Ep. 3 only had one person show. Fortunately, he was ok with just sliding over to Ep. 1 and playing that again.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Sitting in the office close by enough to hear them at the table. Sounds like they are having fun.

[Black Jack Rackham]

GREAT NEWS! And to add to it, here are some pics!

[Black Jack Rackham]

Tired, tired, tired. Got lots of pics and a bunch of new faces

[Black Jack Rackham]

As promised, Here's the bulk of the pics. Con started off slow (of the four times we were supposed to run Eps. 3-4, we only actually ran it a total of once), but built in energy right up to the end!

[Sister Sonya]

Sorry for the delay in my recap of Boston and TotalCon.

. Got Charlie Senior Card, went for tourist info on the Common, unfortunately left my self-made itinerary on my desk at work. Ate at restaurant in Chinatown (didn't remember Chau Chow City, sorry LG), took train to Mansfield, walked 1 mile to Red Roof Inn. Almost no snow left from big one two weeks previous.

. Spent most of the day in Cambridge. Much to do will have to wait for next year.

. Went to see Old Ironsides; I was the only tourist for 45 minutes and had the guide to myself. Took the ferry from Charlestown, walked to the Old North Church, had a pizza w/Anchovies at Pizzeria Regina (took the balance back to the hotel).

. Went to Fenway Park and walked around, Spent the rest of the day looking at art galleries and other stuff on Newbury St.

. No early train on Sunday so couldn't go to Sunday Mass at St. Leonard's in Italian. Spent much of the rest of the time eating pastry in the North End. Mike's is overpriced; Bova's raspberry turnover was great; Maria's had an interesting spice cake w/fig filling with dark choclate on top!

. Filled in things I'd missed earlier: Quincy Market, Beacon Hill, covered the Common in the rain, etc.

. Was flying back Tuesday, had no time for much.

The bad news is I did too much walking and now have foot issues. Next year I'm planning on the Symphony, the Opera, two art galleries, and music at Harvard. Bring on Episode 7, 8, and the PA (we won't talk about the climax of 6 this year!).

[Black Jack Rackham]

I see a cool review of your time in Boston, but I'm not seeing any mention of TC... (oh and sorry about your foot)

[Sister Sonya]

[quote="Black Jack Rackham"] I'm not seeing any mention of TC...
Well, I can't very well address Episode 5&6, and my PA couldn't interest many...

The Holiday Inn, besides being 2 miles from the Mansfield Commuter Station, seemed hidden in the middle of nowhere next to the Interstate. Except for the event rooms, the whole place seemed dark and gloomy.

The courtyard was so dark that I wonder how many people would trip and fall each day. The wood chips, or peat moss, or whatever was on the ground most everywhere, was uneven and added to the darkness. Many of the rooms had their doors facing this courtyard; I would be surprised if breakins were not commonplace. The noise level was pretty high in the courtyard as well, as some loud games were conducted there. The men's room seemed clean.

One of the worst venues I've ever seen for a game convention.

[Sister Sonya]

I'd originally decided to room at the Red Roof Inn because it was midpoint between TotalCon and the Mansfield commuter station. So, if I ended up going to the Con all four days I could save some money. Or I could pick and choose which days to go into Boston.

As it turned out, there weren't any events, other than GoSM, that seemed as interesting as Boston itself, so I should have got a motel closer in and just stayed at the RRI for the one day. Pathfinder is a big improvement over D&D 4.0, or any other, but it still has many of the same problems. A lot of the other events had game systems with which I'm unfamiliar. Perhaps they're homegrown, or they're just new and I've not bothered to keep up with new PRGs like I used to do. There is nothing quite like enduring an RPG that tries and fails! Life is too short.

Perhaps I'm just used to the local Cons in my area, and I know which unfamiliar game systems are good for me and what are not.