The times, they are a-changing indeed. This was the first year in a long long time I actually
paid to attend RopeCon. Yep, paid real cash money. I know I paid to attend the first RopeCon
and the second one, but from the third on if I recall correctly, I've always volunteered to
put up my own program and consequently got free admission.
Well, not this year. To be quite frank, I lacked inspiration and since no one else in my group (and I use that word in the loosest possible sense) seemed to be interested in doing a con project, the lack of peer pressure finalised my inaction. I always want to do something new for the convention, dragging out last year's stuff for another go is just not my style. Thus I was in a line (thankfully very short by the time I got there) with the proles waiting for my turn to purchase my very own Bracer of Unhindered Access to Premises.
This may have been a good thing, actually. The program was top-notch this year and I couldn't fit everything I wanted to see into my schedule even without running a game.
One of the guests of honor this year was Bruno Faidutti, an European game designer (I'm still not quite sure whether he's Italian or French). Frankly, I had no idea who he is (I'm not really into board games).
I enjoyed his presentation, though, despite the heavily accented English and lack of introduction.
The other guest of honor was the guy I really came to see,
Kenneth Hite. Even though I've never
played any of his games (actually, I was completely unaware he's a game designer to boot), I've enjoyed
his columns. I was figuring "if the guy talks half as well as he writes, he should be a hoot to listen
to" -- and it turns out I was right. Definitely one of the better guests of honor to attend the con.
The Finnish talkies were also surprisingly interesting. Janne Niinivaara, Janne Kemppi and Mikko Rautalahti were very interesting. Murtokohta sounded really interesting, hopefully it's cleaned up and published in some form. Ninnu Hirvonen, Ville Vuorela and the Star Wreck crew were interesting though I didn't stick around for the live commentary track. However, somewhere along the line I've missed who made it a job pre-requisite for Finnish RPG designers to be obnoxious prats...
Mari-Pilvi Junikka and Aurora Raiskinen-Kujanen obviously knew a lot about corsets, but the girls need to practice their presentation skills a bit. It was interesting nonetheless, but could have been a whole lot better with more time, a little more practice and a little less giggling.
Guy Windsor was interesting as usual. Different than
what I expected, and largely stuff I already knew, but a very good presentation.
I tried to attend one of the freeform/jeepform seminars to learn what it's all about, but about 15 minutes told me it's not my thing. This is quite strange since I've abandoned rules-heavy systems long ago and done mostly very rules-light and freeform roleplaying stuff. It just didn't click. Maybe it was the LARP thing, which I'm not into at all. Well, I guess the seminar served its purpose anyway.
There was lots of stuff I would have liked to attend, but it was simply impossible to fit everything into the schedule. I think a major improvement in the Ropecon organization would be to offer transcripts and/or recordings after the convention. I could even pay for a good DVD or similar.
Kenneth Hite had a really interesting note about the etymology of the word "demonstration", but I don't have
a mind like his so I've forgotten most of it. It was something about showing monsters, I'm pretty sure.
I didn't have the time to actually play any demos, but I did wander around looking at them. I must say the art of organizing demonstration games is still in its infancy in Finland. I don't mean the figures or the terrain, but the general attitude. Geez guys, a demo game does not mean you and your buddies having a game at the con.
GeMiGaBoK's game was nice to look at,
though. Usual excellent quality from the guys.
Unlike in the UK, gaming shows in Finland are not really trade shows. Sure, the few local traders attend but for the most part they have stuff you could buy from the store anyway. Despite this, I spent more money at the con than I've done ever before.
Picked up a couple of ornate resin card boxes for the kids from a store that didn't have its name prominently
displayed. Unfortunately the boxes didn't fit the standard size collectible cards (my fault for not asking),
but luckily the kids didn't mind and stuffed them with standard playing cards (which are different size
for some arcane reason).
Bought Reaper's Warlord from Sotataito. Haven't had the time to read through the book yet, but at least it looks nice. Also has the first painting tutorials I've seen that actually offer concrete, usable advice on thinning paints.
Initially I had intended to stock up on Rackham figures at the con, but Sotataito didn't accept plastic and the blister rack was one big royal mess. Big mistake. With the harmonized pricing I might just as well order the figures from France, and save postage to boot!
Despite their best efforts to ignore me at the demo game, I succumbed to
Fantasiapelit's convention offer and
bought
Starship Troopers
basic game box. I almost bought two basic boxes, but sanity prevailed. In addition Janne convinced me to
buy Bruno Faidutti's Citadels, though I fear it'll be one of the many fine games on my shelf that never get played.
Oh well, at least it's the Finnish edition so maybe I can get the kids to play. His devious strategy of stuffing
my bag with Munchkin freebies paid off and
I returned to buy the basic game. Though I really wonder who I'm going to play that with...
I was really looking forward to buying a real sword (not a hokey replica), but the swordsmiths weren't there this year. Oh well...
Even though not actually a con purchase, I bought Kenneth Hite's Dubious Shards as PDF right after the con. Slightly more expensive than my usual price point for PDFs, but acceptable knowing Ken. For an unknown author, it would have been a non-buy. Looks interesting and possibly contains something I might use in an upcoming RPG mini-campaign. If I can get anyone to play it.
Since I had decided jeepform wasn't for me, I skipped Sunday's seminar on the subject and instead took my kids to
the con. Unfortunately the bouncy castle wasn't there on Sunday, but we had ice cream and hung out watching the
boffer guys beat the snot out of each other. And the SCA guys.
And some guys with real swords. I don't know who they were, but they were definitely Niilo's favorites.
The kids also appreciated the Dipoli architecture, though I'm not sure if the architects had quite this in mind when they designed it.
The kids also wondered why I wasn't dressed up as something, and they didn't accept "Daddy doesn't look good in a skintight catsuit" as an answer.
No one knew me. Well, almost no one. Definitely no one I didn't already know. Sweet Oblivion, here I come!
All the pictures.
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Copyright 2003-2021 Mikko Kurki-Suonio
Sucks!
