I have missed the Boat!

Point one, as far as general gamers go, I'm, well, Old.  Not in my forties, but old enough to remember AD&D 2nd Edition as a MAJOR Milestone of my childhood.  Today, my age was not a factor to acceptance, but still impeded my progress as a gamer.

Today i attended Soup-Con at the UWS Yellowjacket Union.  First off, let me say that the facilities there are Excellent.  The conference and other private rooms upstairs were well suited for this endeavor, and the lower level is plenty vast to have had many more attendees than i saw.  Food and drinks were readily available all day from a variety of sources.

The lower level had several console gaming systems set up for general play.  Highlights include the constantly on, well played Rock Band for Xbox, another Xbox with a collection of games, and a Wii also with a variety of options.  Most of these systems were in play all afternoon, and were a nice escape for those upstairs to kick back at.

The big event, and the one that left me the most outcast was the Magic: The Gathering Magic The Gathering Limited Edition Premium Deck Series SLIVERS draft.  From what i understand, this was an opportunity to obtain some older, out of print cards.  This is where i stood dumbfounded, apparently Magic is where its at now a days.  While i was weening off of D&D with 3rd edition, and casual gaming, the young gamers of today were being swept up in the table top games that I've eschewed for years.  I let my better judgement rule, and did not buy a starter deck.  Magic the Gathering Portal Starter Deck (2 Player Theme Decks)I had never witnessed an actual game of Magic being played, and still havent.  I felt awkward, my hopes of a RPG intensive atmosphere were dashed in minutes of seeing the event summary, but i soldiered on.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that RPGs are not dead, they have just changed form to accommodate the Magic intensive gaming community of now.  The Burning Wheel was a featured demo, and it is a nice change of pace from the statistic driven core of Magic.  Role Playing is a must, and campaigns are driven by it.  Other table top games were featured, ie Spellcraft, and a few others.  Over all, i felt a sense of relief, the escapism and Role playing of my youth IS alive and well in todays gaming community, i just had to look.  Gamer retention was high, as the total number of people involved in the Magic draft never seemed to dwindle, just to fan out into adjacent rooms.

Speaking of looking, in my travels i did manage to encounter MANY of the archetypes of the Gaming universe.  Several people who had to say nothing, but i KNOW they DM/GM something, they have that look, you just know.  There were Video game geeks (the guys on expert rock band), Magic geeks (enmasse), RPG Geeks, Music geeks, and at least a couple Comic Book geeks that i had the pleasure to meet, though i did not have the opportunity to meet Alan, the advisor for SAGA, and from what i understand, a serious comic geek in his own right.  I even observed the rare species of Female Geeks, in a broad range.  There was a room devoted to Anime, including Cowboy Be-Bop  Cowboy Bebop Remix Complete Collection (Anime Legends), which had viewers enthralled.


All in all, it was a great day to socialize in a comfortable setting, where none of my world is taboo.  I could speak freely about Comics, gaming, dating, social awkwardness, how i spent my weekend as a youth, and much more that immediately sets me apart as a Geek. Social awkwardness abounded, names are not as important as commonality, and are only an afterthoguht to many conversations i heard.   Certainly i felt in the median, not as an outlier on the geek scale, and for that, even for the day, i thank Soup-Con and SAGA for putting on this fine event.  Here's to a bigger and more well attended event next year!

I did not stay late enough to attend the D&D 4th edition room, but having purchased and read the new 4th edition, i already knew it wasnt for me.  Though on a side note, i DID accomplish my ONE primary goal for the day, to find an adult group to play weekly D&D with.  I don't know anything about the group yet, but I'll be there on Monday at 530 pm.  Here's to hoping that there's a v3 or 3.5 campaign i can join!!!  Looking forward to meeting some like minded gamers that i can develop some good relations with.

I am sure that next year, not only will i attend a few of the events, (whatever they may be) but i will be trying to run an event of my own.  Im thinking a few hours of RPG in the vein of Mechwarrior Mechwarrior, Third Edition: The Battletech Roleplaying Game, or maybe Marvel Super Heros, or a similar d20 game.

Once again, thanks to SAGA, UWS, and Soup-Con for a fine event, a great escape, and a wonderful venue to share interests.

btw, i was that guy in the yellow Sinestro shirt who hung around Rock band, and popped into the upstairs rooms.  See you all around.