Feb. 17-19, 2012

Chattanooga, TN

? attended

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Gaming

There were separate areas, one for Pathfinder and one for everyone else, which made it a little difficult to go from one to the other, but next year Con Nooga will be using the convention center, so that might change things.  One major bonus to the smaller separate rooms is it kept the noise level down! This is a fandom convention, so there were more no-shows for preregistered seats than I anticipated, but there were always plenty of walk-ins, so I didn’t hear about any games not making.

Location

The Chattanooga Choo Choo is a historic hotel and you can’t find a better Victorian Steampunk setting! Ironworks frame just about everything, and you have to check out the ceiling in the lobby as well as the pool in hotel 1. There are lots of dining options available and 3 separate hotel buildings. With the trolley tours and downtown horse-drawn carriage tours, plus nearby attractions like the aquarium, there is plenty for the non-gamer to do.

Accommodations

Our hotel room had 2 doubles and we easily fit a roll-away cot and sleeping bag on the floor. The Choo Choo has so many separate areas where things are happening that it gave us plenty of exercise. There are shuttle buses moving folks from one area to the next, which was wonderful, but I think persons of limited mobility would have difficulty at this convention. We stayed in hotel 1, which has an indoor pool that is fantastic. Even more fantastic was the Pool Party Saturday night for the kids!

Value

You get 3 days of gaming for a $40 badge, making it less than $14/day for all the gaming you can stand, as well as cosplay, musical performances, films, SciFi/Fantasy, Anime, Paranormal, Comics, and Literary tracks, and a bunch of great guests like us. The hotel rate was $89/night. There were meal options in the exhibitor hall as cheap as a $3 hot dog, $1 chips, and there are multiple dining options right there at the Choo Choo: 7 in all, ranging from a coffee shop to dinner theater.

Family Rating

First of all, kids eat free since it is a Holiday Inn property. Kids 6 and under get in free. There is a fantastic kids track with everything from costuming to Wizarding World of Harry Potter vs. Wizards of Waverly Place debates. There were kid-specific games being run, and the pool party Saturday night was the biggest hit for my little fins. They had Debi Derryberry, voice actress for Monster High and Jimmy Neutron, as a special guest. The downside is there are vendors in the exhibitor hall that are not child-friendly, like the lingerie sellers and horror film booths, and costumes at night can be risque. This is a BIG convention and you need to keep younger children close.

Stand-Outs

Cosplay. Even if you don’t dress up yourself, there is nothing cooler than seeing a bunch of Jedi and anime characters running around.  Panels. Not all cons do panels, but Con Nooga offers up a wide variety of options and does a great job organizing them. Con Kids. My kids have a great time at this convention, and there are a lot of volunteers involved in just this track. Geek TNG is well in hand here! Guests. If you see a guest on the lineup here, odds are you can have a drink with them at a party and get to talk to them, really talk to them!

Links

Con Nooga website

Con Nooga Facebook page

Jan 28, 2012

Winston-Salem, SC

50(?) attended

Golden Corral Hanes Mall

Gaming

miniMACE is all about the gaming… and the food. Savage Worlds and board games dominated the listings, with some Pathfinder and Scaldcrow Games’ Bare Bones Multiverse. There were 3 4-hour sessions: 9-1, 1:30-5:30, and 6-10. This is a one day event.

Location

The Golden Corral is right off I-40 in Winston –Salem and next to Hanes Mall, so conceivably you could drop off any non-gamers there and enjoy a game or two.

Accommodations

Your ticket for the gaming gives you unlimited access to the buffet. So many foods to choose from… The servers refill your drinks the entire time you’re gaming.

Value

You get three meals and three games for preregistering $28 ($35 at the door still isn’t bad) per person.

Family Rating

We took the chance to game without the kids around, but there were plenty of teens there. There is no room for non-players to hang out, so I don’t recommend it for those under 10 or so. Besides, I think you have to be 10 to go to the buffet alone.

Stand-Outs

Gaming with a plate of steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans. Gaming with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. Gaming with refills of soda, tea, coffee, water… and you can change out what you’re drinking quickly. The servers at the Golden Corral know gamers tip well so they were happy to serve us with a smile. And they do the dishes.

Links

miniMACE website

Facebook Group

Jan 13-16, 2012

Columbia, SC

300 attended

Scottish Rite Convention Center

Days Inn Hotel and Suites

Gaming

A bank of computers in the front lobby (and staff assistance) made the ubiquitous Warhorn site a lot easier, although there were not as many pre-reg’s as we’d like. Pathfinder and board/card/miniatures gaming seemed to have the best attendance. We hosted a Savage Saturday Night and our inaugural Iron GM Contest, which was so much fun we’re definitely doing that again!

Location

The Scottish Rite is right off I-77 in east Columbia, very easy to find, and surrounded by quick dining options. The main room at the convention center was used for the dealer’s room/board gaming/kids track/cantina, and the floor-level stage in the auditorium used for RPGs. SCARAB also uses the meeting spaces in the Days Inn for the minis gaming. Both locations show their age but are clean.

Accommodations

We snagged a room with 2 kings and it was still very spacious. The hotel serves a free hot breakfast ($5 for SCARAB attendees not staying at the hotel) which included a waffle maker as well as biscuits, white gravy, sausages, and scrambled eggs. It’s a 2 Star hotel, so it’s not fancy, but it was very clean. The main complaint I heard was about hard beds; No one mentioned a single bug.

Value

You get 4 days of gaming for a $50 badge, making it less than $13/day for all the gaming you can stand. The hotel rate is an unheard-of $50/night for 2 double beds, and we only paid $60/night for 2 king beds. Free Parking, Free Breakfast, and the GMs can earn cash for the games they run. My girls used their GM rewards at the cantina and pretty much fed themselves all weekend!

Family Rating

I can’t say enough good things about the Kids Track gaming. No other con focuses as much on the kids actually playing GAMES. SCARAB is on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, so there are little to no days of school lost. Ages started at 6: this is not a day care. This was not a “party con” which made for quiet nights of rest. There was very little cosplay, and definitely no “adult themed” cosplay where the kids would see it. In short, my kids lost track of how many games they played in at *20.*

Stand-Outs

Prizes! Swag bags at registration were heavy with Pathfinder novels, comics, and minis (for the first 100 I think). The Prize table was loaded with board games, books, etc. Board Game Library! When the booth was slow I checked out a board or card game from the library and played with whatever kids were handy, meaning I got to play Munchkin (I forgot how much fun that is!) to my heart’s content. And did we say enough about the Kids’ Track? No. No, we didn’t say nearly enough.

Links

SCARAB website

SCARAB Facebook page

SCARAB photos

Sean Fannon’s After Action Report

SCARAB Kids Track blog post

Yes, we are trying to be in two places at the same time. Quantum mechanics ain’t got nuthin’ on us.

Whether you’re in the Rockies or the Appalachians, February seems to be the time to go to the mountain for some memorable gaming!

They have other Pathfinder/OGL products, set in the world of Nobis (click here,) that I can special order. Pantheon Press is donating the complete line of Nobis print products to SCARAB convention‘s famous swag pile.

Other new products: Deadlands: Reloaded Player’s Guide Explorer’s Edition $19.99 Note: If you have the hardback version, you have the exact same book already, just bigger.

How We Came to Live Here $20.00 2010 ENnie Award winner for Best Writing, this RPG brings 2 GMs (Inside Player, for NPCs in the village, and Outside Player, for the monsters and such) and players to tell a story set in the American Southwest, American Indian style.

We have some very cool bundles of products to help make your holiday shopping easier! Each is at least a savings of 10% off the cover price, up to as much as 55% off! And yes, you can still use the coupon code “ILoveBrains” to get an additional 10% off (or more, if you’ve leveled up to Gold or Platinum membership)!

Bundles: These have been specially chosen to provide the best value possible. So if you ever wanted to try out a new game or introduce a friend to one, this is the best chance to do it! Now, when I say “limited time only” don’t turn off that part of your brain. Seriously, if we sell out of any one of the items listed in a Bundle, that bundle goes bye-bye until we can restock. And restocking is tricky during the holidays.

Pathfinder Miniatures Preorder: We’ve heard from many of you that it would be awesome to get the news minis from Pathfinder. So, yeah, we can do that. But minis aren’t our usual line, so there are some caveats. Basically, we’re offering a brick of minis for $79.99. As a bonus, buy 4 Bricks (a Case) and we will give you the Black Dragon for free! There’s slightly more to it than that, so click the link below for all the details.

Finally, lest I forget, Thank You. My customers are the best in the world, and are truly my friends. I pray you have the best holiday yet with plenty of family and friends. Maybe you can even squeeze in a game or two this month! I’m looking forward to a busy con season next spring, and hope to see you at one of them.

Pathfinder Heroes and Monsters Miniatures PREORDER $79.99

All For One Bundle $50
Apocalypse Prevention Bundle $85
Castles and Crusades Mixed Bundle $100
Day After Ragnarok Bundle $45
Deadlands Player’s Bundle $40
Dragon Age Box Set Bundle $65
Dresden Files RPG Bundle $80
Hellfrost Campaign Bundle $80
Hellfrost GM Starter Bundle $85
Hollow Earth Expedition Bundle $90
Kerberos Club Bundle $50
Necropolis Bundle $70
RunePunk Bundle $50
Solomon Kane GM Bundle $65
The Savage World of Solomon Kane $45
Space 1889 Red Sands Bundle $60
Wu Xing Bundle $40

To say thank you at Thanksgiving, I’m disabling shipping November 25-28, Black Friday through Cyber Monday so you don’t pay for it. So if you were looking for anything special for the holidays, now is the time to pick it up! Don’t forget I take special orders and you get 10% off using the discount code “ILoveBrains” too!

Roleplaying Game Books/Box Sets:

Pathfinder Beginner Box $34.99

(Savage Worlds) The Path of Kane $39.99

Fiasco Companion $25.00

The Laundry: Black Bag Jobs $24.99

Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple $25.00

(Savage Worlds) Ravaged Earth $29.99

(Savage Worlds) Powers & Perils Orwell Industries $19.99

Gaming Aids:

MASKS: 1,000 NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game $39.95

Hamlet’s Hit Points $20.00

Things We Think About Games $20.00

GameMastery Flip-Mat Country Inn $12.99

GameMastery Flip-Mat Haunted Dungeon $12.99

GameMastery Flip-Mat Monastery $12.99

GameMastery Map Pack Crypts $12.99

Deadlands Desert Thing mini $15.75

Check out the new additions here:

Hellfrost: Saga of the Frost Giants (Even though Triple Ace Games does not have it in print yet, they said I could go ahead and sell it!)

Hellfrost Adventure Compendium I

All for One: Paris Gothique

League of Adventures: Plateau of the Ape Men and The Dragons of London (this is available in print in the US from Beautiful Brains only! Originally released only at the UK Games Expo 2011)

Lisa Stevens, CEO of Paizo, joins Back Room Chat Room owner (and RPG editor) Jodi Black and friends at www.beautifulbrainsbooksandgames.com for an old school, text-only chat Thursday, November 3, 2011 9-10 pm Eastern (UTC-4 hours, or the same time zone as NYC).

Any topic related to Women and Gaming is welcome: Getting into the RPG Industry, GMing tips, Raising Gamer Girls… the only thing not allowed is extreme male bashing. This chat transcript will remain on the website for a week, maybe longer, so make sure you only post things that would make your Momma proud of you.

We have a veritable smorgasbord of goodies to give away in the chat, one each for the guys and girls section, including Free Shipping from Beautiful Brains! Check below to see who is donating what. Each prize will be given away individually.

Gamer guys may watch the chat and respond in a parallel chat room (the Back Porch Chat Room), but ladies only in the Back Room, please.  Clint Black will ferry over from the guys any relevant questions  for our esteemed panel of Women in the Gaming Industry:

Lisa Stevens, CEO, Paizo

Jodi Black, President of Beautiful Brains and award-winning RPG editor

Christina Stiles, writer, editor, and member of Misfit Studios (who secured 2 .pdf copies of the latest Kobold Quarterly magazine!)

Veronica Blessing, podcaster for The Game’s the Thing

Vickey Beaver, writer, marketer, and Suzerain Mojo Line Developer for Savage Mojo (giving away 2 .pdfs each of Suzerain Mojo’s Bitter Fumes adventure toolkit!)

Sarah Lyon, line developer for Savage Suzerain for Savage Mojo (giving away 2 .pdfs each of the Savage Suzerain Player’s Guide AND Savage Suzerain Pocket Universe!)

Catharine “Cat” McDonald, Gamescapes line developer for Savage Mojo (giving away 2 .pdfs each of the Desert Oasis Story Map!)

Emily Care Boss, editor of RPGirl ezine (who is posting a free link to download the 2010 RPGirl zine .pdf for EVERYONE, girls and guys!)

Carol Darnell, podcaster for All Games Considered

Krista White, architectural drafter for ENnie-nominated Fabled Environments (giving away 2 .pdfs  each of the airship and summer camp maps!)

Monica Valentinelli, author, game designer (she secured a $10 DriveThruRPG.com gift certificate for the gals and a $10 DriveThruComics.com gift certificate for the guys. Thank you DriveThru!)

Jess Hartley, author, game designer, editor

Heather White Hopp, Freelance Game Editor and Co-Director of Con on the Cob (giving away 2 4-Day badges to Con on the Cob in Hudson, OH in October 2012!)