Origins 2011, Day One

I'll be skipping over the minutiae of the trip, the hotel, etc. Most of that was uneventful, except that the Hyatt had a Monopoly board set up, and allowed people to roll the dice - if you got a 10, you got your parking comped by the hotel. I managed to luck out on that - and then my friend Andrew, who had flown up, and was staying in the same room. took a roll on my behalf and won it a second time.

My schedule for the first day was :

3PM - 5PM : Painting Miniatures : Tools and Supplies
7PM - 11PM : Lawfully Blonde (4th Edition D&D)

The painting class was extremely helpful - explaining the virtues of miniature paint vs. craft paint, why you don't want to skimp on brushes, and the like. It is directly responsible for my spending nearly $200 on paint and probably $100 on supplies and tools to up my game in painting minis.

Lawfully Blonde was one of the most hysterical RPG experiences I've ever had. Six low-level adventuring sorority girls. Investigating goblin saboteurs interfering with their favorite salon. The catty remarks were flying, and the three guys playing got into it as much as the three girls. During a skill challenge to catch a fleeing goblin, the bible-thumping Paladin (of Pelor, sun-god) girl tried to flash some cleavage, arguing for a Diplomacy check. One of the other players inquired "You use Diplomacy for that?" and was answered "Well, there's no skill for Whore." The Paladin became the butt of most of the jokes after that, as the Bible-thumper AND the Tramp.

My character had a special rivalry with her, too, giving me ample opportunities for undercutting remarks - the most blistering of which I will recount to give you an idea of the atmosphere of the session :

Tiffany! (the Paladin, played by the girl next to me) : "Well, I took a class on Forensics, once.."
Brianna! (the Psion, played by me) : "Waking up covered in evidence does not constitute a class in Forensics, Tiffany."
Tiffany! "... Pelor loves you, even if you will end up in Hell, bitch."

I seriously haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Another one - after much amusement was had about the Paladin mentioned she had 'contacts' in the Thieves Guild (via her Streetwise skill) causing us to wonder how many of them she'd had contact with..

Tiffany! : "Pelor believes in free love."
Brianna! : (to the others) "Oh, so that's why she doesn't charge."

Since my character was the bookish one, and had glasses, I decided she was the hipster chick of the bunch, and used History during the skill challenge to recall a little-used shortcut.

Brianna! : "There's this little alleyway back here, you've probably never heard of it.."

So that was a great start to the Con, for me. I was apparently in the same hotel as the girl who played the Paladin, so we walked past each other at the elevators several times over the next few days - I couldn't tell if she recognized me or not, but I resisted the urge to say "Bitch!" just in case she didn't.