It’s all there in blue and white. I hope to see you there for what will be an interesting weekend with some big potential paydays.
Category: Setsucon
A Thought While Browsing A Shop About To Go Out Of Business
One of my pie in the sky goals for MP is to have the ultimate portable system to run my programs on. This would include a computer, mini displays, peripherals, all the bells and whistles I would need to put on a presentation or a game show. I already know that what I would need would be able to fit inside a suitcase, but now I see that not only are PC towers smaller that ever, but there are now hard suitcases that fit under an airplane seat.
And that got me to thinking…
Anyway, Setsucon is in the books. I wheel into Zipcon this Saturday at 3PM.
Fandom Feuders On The Rampage…2!
It’s been a whirlwind weekend if you haven’t noticed, but time marches on and I have a couple of conventions coming up, and at least one of them is including Fandom Feud. Last year it was a success at Anime Midwest in more ways than one, and I want to keep up the momentum with another survey. This time, I’ve streamlined the process so that it’s one survey of 40 questions divided again into nerdy and nerdy, but those who don’t feel comfortable with their otaku knowledge will be able to opt out and go straight to the end of the survey. Remember, if you tell 10 friends and they tell 10 friends, then you’re probably going to get an overlap, but it also means that I’ll have plenty of responses to do as many as four more games!
As always, thank you for your support. You can take the survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/dlg2HlHrd5yfRqAg1
In Sickness And In Health…And In Sickness Again
Hello friends. Did I mention that I have major issues with post-con blues? Well you can pair that a propensity to be sick and you’ve basically described the past 6 months or so. I actually feel somewhat fortunate that I wasn’t able to get into Katsucon as a panelist because I would’ve just been a total wreck.
What wasn’t a total wreck were my first three game shows of 2017. Setsucon hosted Name That Tune and Wheel of Fortune while Anime Mini saw the initial foray of Doge! Much Press Very Luck. All three were successful although opinions may differ on the latter.
Next up is Tekko, and it’ll be busy both on and off the floor. Right now the only thing I can confirm is that Saturday morning will see the return of the Most Unusual Mix to the WPTS airwaves as part of the new Alumni Show. The rest is up in the air.
That being said, I can’t wait for yeas or nays, I’ve been busy getting a new friend of the company in Nightengale Needles and undertaking some super big projects that you will be hearing about very soon. Watch this space.
A Learning Experience
So here is what happened in the first 3 1/2 months of 2016 in no particular order.
- I moved across town into a larger space
- I was sick
- I changed shifts at my job
- My job changed entirely
- I went to four conventions
- I did programming for three of them
- I survived the Mildly Annoying Katsucon Fire of 2016
So yeah, I’ve been busy. Unfortunately, that has led to little time to maintain this space, but here is your catch-up report.
Setsucon Recap, Part 2
You might have caught my review while recording Otaku Drive Time, but I wanted to go into detail regarding a couple of things here and there.
As mentioned previously, I mentioned 4th Edition D&D and got an interesting side conversation from two old-school RPG’ers. The crux of the argument was that the combat was crap and the leveling system was also crap. Because the main aspects of the numbers side of the RPG were so out of whack, the game itself fails.
Here’s the thing, though. One, I like how 4th Edition was pick-up-and-play ready. The uniformity of the classes allow people to make new characters in no time flat. Second of all, an RPG is only as good as its first two letters. If the group you are in isn’t able to tell or participate in a good story, then it doesn’t matter how the combat system works. I played 4th edition and Star Wars: Saga Edition for very long stretches–campaigns for each lasted over a year, if I remember right–and our parties had a lot of fun with memorable characters, In the D&D game, I ended up turning into an Eladrin minivan because I was able to teleport half the group. In Star Wars, not only was I an ace pilot that ended up putting two over on the GM in the final battle (that’s a great story for another time), our mechanic and our Wookiee were two great and awesome characters that would’ve been great in any system.
So while I understand the resistance to 4E, it shouldn’t have gotten in the way of a good game. Any game system can work if you have the right story.
Setsucon Recap, Part 1?
So let me briefly mention a list of things that went wrong for me at Setsucon.
- I was unable to book at the Penn Stater due to lack of commitment from travelling companions
- My driving directions flew away as I tried to pack
- Retrieving said directions cost me my scarf
- My car’s battery died on Sunday, just as I was trying to get to a panel
- A jumper cable I had in case my battery died frayed off
- Various counter-progamming battles that I likely lost on
- Tempermental laptop cloning
- Accidentally calling someone “Kara”
So here’s a list of things that actually went right
- Super courteous staff
- Super accommodating staff
- Bee! :O
- Name That Tune becoming more inclusive despite a low turnout
- A reg line that almost Ouroboros’d itself
- #TakeYourShippoToSetsuconDay
- Singing along during A Real History of Fake Singers
- That moment in A Real History of Fake Singers when you realize that you’re cosplaying what they’re talking about.
- Wizardmon! D:
- Knowing exactly what I was getting into when I mentioned Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition
- Meeting a lot of new and awesome people
- Gosei Knight! x3
- The Creamery
- Spreading the gospel of MelloPanther and OTDT
- Running low on business cards for the above
All in all, I’d say it was a net positive weekend and I’d love to go back. In spite of everything that happened, I’ve been doing this for so long that I’ve built up sort of a resilience and ability to adapt to when things go pear-shaped. Mean old State College didn’t get the best of me no matter how hard it tried, and I’ll just be back stronger and better for the next time.
As of right now, it looks like MP will be making its next date in April, but of course, there’s always the chance that things change. Watch this space for more :3
The Setsucon Schedule of Super
All panels are 1 hour and may be subject to change by the convention
Saturday
12 PM: Shrines, Sushi, and Sickness, Tales & Advice From a Week Abroad
3 PM: The “How To Make a Panel” Workshop
Sunday
8:30 AM: Name That Tune
11:30 AM: A Real History of Fake Singers
1:30 PM: Radio, Podcasting, and You
Hope to see you there!
iPodagatari
Those of you who have been to Pittsburgh conventions might remember the dreaded iPod, but it’s a full story worth telling. Since I started hosting Name That Tune in 2010, I’ve had a metallic pink iPod nano as part of the Grand Prize package for winning with honors, whether it’s winning a bonus round, or beating the final round with a certain score. The problem for contestants has been 1) my endgames don’t kid around in terms of difficulty and 2) Name That Tune hasn’t been played in over a year and at a major convention in nearly 2 years. So the iPod has sat unclaimed for nearly 40 months, and has become a bit of a running gag. You may not think it’s valuable, but it is now one of the greatest trophies one can claim from my games, outside of the people’s ovation and fame forever.
Hopefully, that will change at Setsucon, as the iPod and nearly ¥20,000 in other goodies will be up for grabs at the MelloPanther’s first Name That Tune outside of Western Pennsylvania. I’ll post MP’s full schedule very shortly.
Hmmmmmmmmm
I wonder what’s in here. Won’t you join me to find out? :3