Wednesday, June 30, 2010

New Comics Day

A very nice week!

  • Madame Xanadu #24
  • Invincible #73
  • The Web #10
  • Batman Beyond #1
  • Gotham City Sirens #13
  • Teen Titans #84
  • Justice League of America #46
  • Justice Society of America #40
  • Action Comics #890
  • Wonder Woman #600
  • The Flash #3
  • Green Lantern #55

I love Action and JSA so much. Green Lantern, too. Kind of dubious about the new direction for Wonder Woman, though.

Origins 2010, Day 1

The drive to Columbus takes me about three and a half hours, so I like to bring along some CDs. This year, I also had a good bit more to haul with me, thanks to the pending sale of my Magic cards, so I actually had tied a couple of things up in the bed of my truck. Lifting 22,000 trading cards isn't easy, but I finally managed to get it up there.

I actually made the trip nonstop this year, and got into Gahanna (a suburb of Columbus) right at lunchtime, to indulge int he first of my Origins rituals - Massey's Pizza. See, it's a local Columbus-area pizza chain that I consider to be the best pizza on Earth. so I always grab lunch there on the way in.

From there it was on to the hotel - the Hyatt Regency, which actually adjoins the convention center. I got checked in, had my stuff taken up to the room, and went down to the registration area for the con.

Now, Origins was a little off its game this year, in terms of organization. They just implemented a new registration system, and some of the shakedown chaos of that spilled over into the lines, which were long. (and somewhat understaffed.) Still, I got my badge and tickets and freebies bag, and headed towards my first event - Quackery, the Game of Medieval Medicine, running from 2PM-4PM. Another player and I waited at the Board Games HQ for the Gamemaster to show, but I suspect he or she was running late - the event ultimately had to be cancelled.

That didn't bother me too much - I usually end up with at least one cancelled event at any given Origins, and the free time would allow me to meet up with friend Andrew, arriving from the airport, so as to let him into our room and get him his key. We caught up a bit, then grabbed some food - lamenting the fact that the exhibit hall doesn't open until Thursday - and then headed down to pick up his registration material and to see if I could drop off my Black Lotus at the Auction area.

He got through the pre-registration line a little quicker than I had, thanks to some additional people staffing the booth, and we checked in at the auction ballroom - they were now accepting items for intake, but there was a line. My next event was at 6, and Andrew's was at 7 - so when the time starting getting close, he offered to wait in line for me to drop off the card and I headed to my 6PM-7PM event, Flat Acting. That, too, was cancelled - insufficient players. I got my event ticket signed so I could exchange it and I headed back to the auction room and took my place in line.

I finally got the card registered right at 7PM, which left me zero minutes to dash across the length of the convention center to my 7PM-9PM event, Betrayal at House on the Hill. Now, this is a board game that I have played before and I just love it, so I'd taken opportunity to play it again at the convention. The Gamemaster running it was actually the same woman who'd run it last year, when I'd first played it. I did get there before things got started, fortunately.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a board game where a group is exploring a haunted house - as they explore more of the house, 'Omens' are revealed. With each Omen revealed, the player makes a Haunt roll - and if the Haunt roll is less than or equal to the number of Omens revealed thus far, the Haunt begins. The Haunt can be one of more than fifty different scenarios depending on which Omen and which Room trigger the Haunt. Typically, it also involves one of the players becoming the 'Traitor' and beginning to work against the others.

I love, love, love this game. It's got a lot of the appeal of Arkham Horror, but it's not quite as harsh or as micromanagement oriented.

We narrowly defeated the Traitor, thanks to my timely application of the last can of paint to defile the unholy basement pentagram. Since I'd won the day, the other players voted I should have the event prize.

That's something that was a bit different this year - Origins was pushing for almost every event to have prize support. If you 'won' an event (or were voted the winner, in case of cooperative games) you'd get a slip to take to one of the HQs - there, you'd roll a die and on a 15 or greater, get your pick of a stack of games. Roll under a 15, and you'd get a freebie pack of dice as a consolation prize. For Betrayal, I got the pack of dice.

After that, it was back to the room to rest up - my Thursday schedule would run from 8AM to Midnight, nonstop.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Combo Post!

Back from the Con! Origins was basically my super Week of Geek for the year. Lots of games and more games. I will write up some con reports later in the week. The Magic cards are sold, and I spent too much money on new stuff.

I also picked up my comics on the way back into town, and haven't had time to read'em yet, but here's the list :

  • Angel #34
  • The Incredibles #10
  • Incorruptible #7
  • Fantastic Four #580
  • Superman/Batman #73
  • Power Girl #13
  • Batman : Streets of Gotham #13
  • Detective Comics #866
  • Zatanna #2
  • Supergirl #53
  • Green Lantern Corps #49
  • Superman #700
  • Legion of Super-Heroes #2
  • Justice League : Generation Lost #4
  • Batman : The Return of Bruce Wayne #3

Whee!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Belated Week in Geek

I got in an excellent session of my Golden Age game this weekend, in between bouts of Magic-card sorting and Pokemon collecting. As one collection wanes, another grows to take its place.

I will be going to the Origins Game Fair this week, and enjoying myself - that'll mean that the Wednesday comics post will have to wait until I get back on Sunday. I will try to do some convention after-reports as well, as I'd like to start pushing more content into this little blog.

The Golden Age game was kind of a debut session - previously we'd had one team-up of two of the characters and one short story-only introduction of the team to their headquarters. The Assyrian, Crimson Cloak, Spotlight, and special guest star Flag-Waver teamed up to foil Catalyst, the sinister mistress of chemistry, and her plan to cause pandemonium in New York City to provide cover for multiple bank robberies. I dusted off my best chemical puns and a rollicking good time was had.

I'd expected the villain to make a getaway, but the PCs fought hard and made the capture - discovering that Catalyst (who wore a primitive hazmat suit) was a female proved to be somewhat disturbing for the chivalrous Flag-Waver, who wasn't comfortable with the idea he'd just been beating on a woman.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

New Comics Day

Fairly light week.

  • Darkwing Duck #1
  • Fables #96
  • Magog #10
  • The Spirit #3
  • The Shield #10
  • R.E.B.E.L.S. #17
  • DC Universe : Legacies #2
  • Birds of Prey #2
  • Brightest Day #4
  • Knights of the Dinner Table #163

Good stuff!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Week in Geek

I skipped last week's, because I was still elbow-deep in sorting cards from various CCGs. I'm still working on that, but I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. As you might imagine, that took up a good portion of my leisure time for the last two weeks.

While doing the sorting, I have been indulging in some Mystery Science Theater episodes - going through the Sci-Fi era in chronological order. It makes excellent background noise while I tedious work on the cards.

I had a game gathering this weekend, but instead of an RPG session, we did a board game night. First a run-through of Chrononauts, and then (at Eric's insistence) Risk. I remain undefeated at Risk within my memory of my adult life. I may have lost some games as a kid, and I came close once in my teens, but I've had a pretty good run. The next time we do board games, though, Betrayal at House on the Hill and Mwahaha will have to be played.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

New Comics Day

Been kinda busy this week. Whew.

  • S.H.I.E.L.D. #2
  • Prince of Power #2
  • Titans #24
  • Doc Savage #3
  • Doom Patrol #11
  • Batgirl #11
  • Secret Six #22
  • Batman #700
  • Booster Gold #33
  • Justice League : Generation Lost #3

The big news? After sitting out an issue of Doom Patrol without so much as a cameo, Ambush Bug features heavily this month!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

New Comics Day

Here's this week's list!

  • Irredeemable #14
  • Invincible #72
  • The Thanos Imperative #1
  • Hercules : Twilight of a God #1
  • Nemesis : The Imposters #4
  • JSA All-Stars #7
  • Superman/Batman Annual #4
  • The Great Ten #8
  • Red Robin #13
  • Justice Society of America #39
  • Adventure Comics #12
  • Brightest Day #3

Haven't had time to read'em yet.