Blogposts – Page 53 – My Geek Odyssey

GenCon vs. Comic-Con or Apples vs. Zombies

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Bruce

I know I’ve already blogged a bit about GenCon, but as I sit and reflect over some of the experiences I thought I would share some of the moments for those. Today I started out arriving a bit early because I had a few things I wanted to accomplish…the first was more rings for Cecil’s chainmail. Once that was accomplished (I have the tools, and know how to make simple monkey chainmail) I headed out to the exhibit hall which was not going to open for about 30 minutes.

At Comic-Con this would have been a crowd of thousands all pushing and shoving, here it was an orderly crowd waiting around. When the door opened we calmly walked in showing our badges. No yelling, no cursing… That has been one thing I have noticed about GenCon, how the attendees definitely have some idea of personal space. At Comic-Con it seemed like everyone was focused on themselves, pushing & shoving & crowding every available foot of space. If you were in the way, tough luck. Stop to get a photo of something? Expect someone to walk through your shot. At GenCon people maybe in their own little world, but they understand that there are other people around. Maybe it’s the whole Midwest attitude vs. West coast attitude. Maybe it has something to do with space, there are around a quarter of the people for GenCon and most of those are sitting in rooms playing games, but I have to say I liked it. It was nice to be able to find a place to sit down (not the floor) and relax. People who could find a gaming space in a room took a table in a public space. There were also people zonked out on benches (not the homeless) when I entered the convention center, warriors sound asleep after a night of fighting dragons.

So what did I do today? Once I entered the exhibit hall? I decided to see about learning something about one the juggernauts of non-roleplaying games- Catan. It’s a simple gain so many points game with the mechanism for gaining points being settling a land by gaining resources and trading. Actually pretty simple with a lot of options for strategy and expansion. Which to me is what makes for a good game. After watching an abbreviated game I understand why it has such a following. I will be purchasing a set for my classroom in the near future.

Cecil in his chainmail learns to play Catan at GenCon 2011

After that I headed over to WizKids games (again) this time I wanted to demo the Star Trek: Expeditions game which sadly (since I own it) was a mistake. I was able to play as Dr. McCoy which was kind of cool, but the game mechanic was a little clunky for a group of first timers, this was compounded by the fact the expert from WizKids deserted us after a quick cursory explanation so he could demo Star Trek: Fleet Captains, a more expensive game. We ended up lost after a few turns either making up the rules or scrambling to ask anyone who looked official for help. While our questions were answered, the person usually ran off so within 3 minutes we would be asking for help from someone else. It was during one of these searches that I noticed there was only one table with Expeditions running and the majority of tables either had Quarriors or Fleet Captains. Oh, and a quick note for those HeroClix fans- here was no demo of HeroClix or the fancy 3-D playing fields that once graced the booth in Cons past. Once one of the other players fumbled for an excuse to leave, the demo was over.

I entered my last session (Education & Games) and was very pleased with the content and discussion. I have decided that I really need to look at starting a gaming club at school this year if time permits (then again I also want to do a comic club). I’m sure I will comment on both once I get them started.

So comparing both Cons would seem easy, they both deal with the geek community, but that is only the surface and frankly, they are as different as apples & zombies. San Diego is massive and because of that size makes it completely chaotic. It seems like most people who attend are focused on getting stuff or being seen. While it still deals with comics the sessions that get the most play are those dealing with movies & television. As Wil Wheaton (name dropping) commented “I started going to Comic-Con when it was about comics.”

GenCon is a gaming convention… So it caters to a different kind of geek. While there is overlap, these folks are into taking a more active role in their imaginary world. They seemed to be a kinder lot. I’m not going to stereotype them as the kind that tended to get picked on in school, but I wouldn’t bet against it. For most they buy their tickets and plan for 4 days of gaming, not partying, not hanging out with this “star” or that. Yes, you need a ticket to get into various sessions some cost more than others. Teddybear Chainmailing $18, Games & Education $0. This seems to be their way to keep from having the Hall H, or Ballroom 20 issues of Comic-Con. Tickets go fast for some things… This year I finally got up the courage to get some tickets- next year, who knows? I might actually play a game. Gamers do have their cliques, just as comic book people divide themselves into groups, gamers do too- it seems like human nature.

So which is better? I’d love to see more comics at GenCon, for me that could do it. As a teacher, I really wish there were more sessions at both on using games & comics in education. Then again I tend to not make it to Sunday at either con which is set aside as “Family/Kid’s Day”. The trade day at GenCon is a great way to focus on teachers and give us a track of programs to gather like minds together. C2E2 did this the first year, but it was kind of weak this past year. Comic-Con was difficult to find and what they had seemed to be squished into Sunday.

There are many different kinds of geeks out there… Here seem to to be many different Cons out there too.

GenCon: a few notes on the “local” Ginormous Geekfest

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Bruce

After getting back home from Comic-Con (besides getting ready to teach for the year) the next convention is GenCon, it is held in Indianapolis, so I can commute. In the past GenCon’s dates change around like the school calendar so sometimes I can attend and other times I can’t this year I was able to attend & I decided to branch out a bit cause, you see, I’m a comic book geek, not a gaming geek (& yes, there is a difference).

GenCon started out in Wisconsin, birthplace of Dungeons & Dragons, and is a conventions almost entirely devoted to games. Last year I attended educator day which was a way to help the teachers out there see how games could enrich their classrooms. It was really cool, I got some good ideas that I failed at implementing with “fidelity” (new educationese word that has nothing to do with 33 1/3 RPM vinyl). Since I had learned something I decided to go back and see if the second time around something might stick. I won’t bore you with all the sessions even though only one of them I would consider boring (Why is it that most folks who work at colleges or universities think they need to talk down to everyone, even though they have no idea how to actually teach? When did “academia” become only Higher Ed? Why can’t university types realize that powerpoint presentations are boring, especially when they are read to the audience?), but that was only one. What can I pass on to you- Out of the Box games are great and should be required for any classroom; having kids learn about game design & mechanics leads to actual thinking, and foam darts add joy, excitement and a little element of danger to any classroom situation.

The last activity of the evening was a demo time in which retailers & teachers met with game companies to try out some games. I did not try everything, but there were a few games I was interested in and few I got dragged into that weren’t that bad. The problem with a demo is that you really don’t feel like you can walk out no matter how bad the game is- you need to persevere through to the end.

I started out with a game I have really been looking forward to WizKids Star Trek- Fleet Captains. Being a Star Trek nut (you say Trekkie & I say Trekker) this looked neat. My favorite game from when I did do a lot of gaming was FASA’s Star Trek III: Space Combat Simulator. It was awesome, fairly easy to play and for a Star Trek Geek it made sense. This game captured a lot of what I missed and added some great features including missions and crew. Overly complex? this isn’t a game you are going to teach someone or even master the rules in 30 minutes, but I could see it being a great game except (and there always is an except) the price point vs. what you get. You get the entire game and some lovely plastic figures with clickable bases (if you haven’t played heroclix or mageknights I really can’t explain) the downside they are just that lovely detailed plastic figures. White ones for the Federation, army man green for the Klingons. Let me back up a bit… the first Star Trek game that WizKids released was Star Trek: Expeditions it deals with a basic old fashioned episode. I will hopefully go through a demo of that one sometime this weekend. For $50 you get the entire game (I know that sounds like a lot, but it isn’t in the world of games) and all the figures (and the ships) are painted. Heroclix (or Mageknights) all the figures are painted. They look cool, they don’t look unfinished. For $100 I would expect the same treatment. If I wanted to paint Star Trek ships I would go and buy the pewter miniatures and play Star Fleet Battles. Will I buy this game? I’m not so sure… the price and not having painted ships really puts me off. When asked I said it played well and then asked if the ships going to be finished in the final set and was told no. So I quickly reached my stop & think point, especially since I don’t have opportunities to play that often.

Other games I played were interesting not really worth mentioning since (as a teacher) I had a hard time justifying using games that were clearly not designed for the an all ages audience. Today I went and bought the classic “The Awful Green Things from Outer Space” for my classroom since my copy is in pieces I’m also looking at picking up another classic “RoboRally” to help my kids understand how programming works. The other one that I was introduced to during a session was the Professor Noggin’s series of trivia games, they look like a great addition to my classroom game library.

armor_cecil — Cecil shows off his armor and his wizard hat @ GenCon's city of cards.

On the other hand (not really considering myself a gamer) I did actually attend a session this time around. You see in the past I had hung out at the exhibit hall and spent money. Most attendees of GenCon purchase tickets so they can participate in games for entire four days of the convention. The Will Call line today looked like the line for Hall H or Ballroom 20 at Comic-Con, meaning it stretched out as far as the eye could see. But I digress, I took a class on chainmailing. This would be the ancient art of turning little rings into armor that could stop, or at least slow down a sword when it was being swung in your direction. The class was on making chainmail for a Teddybear so I brought along everyone’s favorite stuffed monkey to get fitted for some armor. I’m still working on some finishing touches but I don’t think it looks that bad for a beginner with a a monkey. Wes & Josh from amazingly enough (it was fate, some might call it kismet!) Medieval Monkey Creations did a great job with the class even though I started off a bit concerned after the comment “Chainmailing is a lot like knitting.” I’ve tried knitting and we all know how that turned out!

Comic Subs or decisions, decisions

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Bruce

Oh my… Yesterday I turned in my sub sheet for comics that will be shipping in September. For a comic geek this is nothing new. Local comic book shops offer a service to regular customers in which they can order comics when they are announced and that way the shop knows how many they need and the customer is guaranteed the books they want. I’ve always loved this benefit and when you’ve been going to the same store for 20 years it really is nice. If I forget something on my sheet I’ll be asked about it. If I forget to turn in my sheet on time those comics still appear. This also makes it so I don’t have to rush (although I try) to the comic shop on Wednesdays (new comic book day). So all in all a nice arrangement. Until DC Comics decided to mess it all up.

Comic Carnival North in Indianapolis (where I buy my books) does their sub sheets with all the Marvel titles on one side and all the DC titles on the other. For the uninitiated this means Spider-man, Captain America, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four are on one side, Batman, Superman, Green Lantern are on the other. So what’s the problem? Each year the comic publishers come up with some massive summer story that you only need to buy 120 comics to understand. It didn’t used to be each year, but now one of the signs of summer is some massive crisis in the DC universe or some war in Marvel. This summer in Marvel it is “Fear Itself” which I have not read but seems to be a take off on what DC did last year using Thor’s hammer instead of Green Lantern’s ring. DC decided to do “Flashpoint” in which Professor Zoom goes back and tweaks the space time continuum in order to mess with the newly resurrected Flash’s life. A few things that have happened in this world (spoilers) Batman is Thomas Wayne since his wife and son were killed in a mugging, Wonder Woman & Aquaman are at war trying to take over the world & Superman has been raised as a lab experiment when his rocket crashed into Metropolis. Caught in the middle is Barry Allen, police scientist, who wants everything brought back to “normal.” This is not going to end well.

History Lesson: in the 80’s DC published “Crisis on Infinite Earths” which at the end caused a number of their titles to start over. The result were things like Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One” & John Byrne’s. “Man of Steel” in which the origins of Batman & Superman were retold and tweaked. Not all the comics that DC published changed… Some just kept plodding along. This time it’s different.

I think I’ve mentioned before in September DC comics will be relaunching their entire line up… 52 titles will all be back at issue #1. Each title will have a new creative team and who knows what else. Now here is my dilemma even with “holding the line at $2.99” that’s over $150 if I want to check out all the titles. Not including any additions in the following months and wanting to give each team time to build (let’s say 3 months) I would be spending $500 just on DC comics! I don’t think so. Because as a good comic book reader I also know that given history, within 12 to 18 months it will all be back and this will have been a wonderful experiment that increased Time Warners profits.

So yesterday I turned in my sub sheet… Befuddled over how to fill it out. I have been reading Flash, Teen Titans, Justice Society, Justice League, Batman, and a few others. So instead I went by title for a few & creative team for others. I might be upset over a few choices, it will be interesting to see how it all ends up. Updates after Comic-Con if I learn anything there or at least in September when this ship.

Dr. Who Cache Series Update -Ugh!

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Bruce

The Dr. Who Series is going strong, but since launching this series I have learned a lot.

First of all “Take your time” I ended up rushing at the end to get the caches placed and I should have just sat and reflected for a bit and triple checked everything. Instead we ended up with the wrong final coordinates in every cache and if it wasn’t for the eagle eyes of one of the folks placing the cache I would never had known. I think if I hadn’t rushed them out I might have caught that mistake.

Next “choose your friends wisely.” When I decided to launch this series and make it a continent encompassing adventure I looked at my “friends list” on gc.com saw who had a significant number of finds and were placed in various spots around North America and asked them. Sadly some of my “gc.com” friends I had only met once or in some cases never face to face. This has lead to me not feeling as if I can really talk with them about any problems with the caches, or not even knowing if it was a “quality hide” Most people have been really excited to join in the game, almost as excited as I was to start it. Then there are others who this is just one more thing on a list and they’ll get it done, when they get it done.

I also needed to learn when to say “No” I think I would have been better off just saying – this series is for the Television version of the Doctor instead of (after hearing a complaint) expanding it out. While I think the placement of the last two Doctors will be great, I also feel that (again) I was almost rushed to get the designs done and then pestering the person who volunteered time & resources to make the wraps.

But I think the biggest thing I learned is not to have a final cache tied to a series that relies on so many other people in so many different places. It has been a bit of a headache placing the cache, then (because of my mistake) having to send out new stickers. Then getting complaints because one cache had both the old and new coordinates on it. Which (as far as I can tell) led to an email to Groundspeak, because the quick wording on the final lead to the belief that there were other logging requirements (contact me for the correct coordinates so you don’t get hit by a semi in the middle of the interstate). Everything had to fall into place, and it didn’t. My thanks to our understanding volunteer reviewers for working with me to get this addressed quickly, but I know how much of a headache it was for me- I can’t imagine the headache it was for them.

It has been a wild a crazy trip and if I were to try something like this again I will most definitely take my time, choose my friends wisely, and ignore complaints… also I probably won’t have a grand finale. If I do that, I’ll do the series on my own. Grumble, grumble… Yes, I sound like the Caching Curmudgeon & yes I already have a couple ideas for other series that I would like to do- just don’t rush me. 🙂

The Rocketeer… nuff said.

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Bruce

Has it really been 20 years? One of my favorite comics (which bounced around publishers) was turned into a movie in 1991. Yes, I’m talking about “The Rocketeer.” Comic book wise Dave Stevens story and art were flawless and the film version was amazingly faithful. I went to the opening night and ended up with a poster (that still hangs in my office) It was the film that opened the newly renovated El Capitan theater in Hollywood- where I took my brothers that summer of 1991. I have all the original comics, along with the multiple times it has been reprinted… and yes, though I rarely can say this, I own it on DVD, I used to own it on VHS. I’m missing a few things, but I still can’t make the leap into buying a helmet though Cecil really, really wants one. What could make it better? This-

The Rocketeer 20th anniversary from John Banana on Vimeo.

Yes, a stylized short fan film- a trailer, if PIXAR was doing the film (which would be cool). The only missing piece to it, (as someone else pointed out) the fantastic James Horner score. If you have a chance to escape to the 1930’s world of Cliff Secord (the comic starts off in April 1938, the cover date of Action Comics #1) even if it’s just a few moments I would do it. In fact after I post this I think I might. “Rocketeer to the rescue!”

Thank You for your Support

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Bruce

Being a school teacher I therefore, according to many politicians, have more disposable income than many Fortune 500 CEOs. Don’t even ask about how much I bring in as a webcartoonist, Bill Gates asks me for loans. While I don’t have a lot to give I have discovered a cool spot to invest in some really creative projects- Kickstarter. Someday I might set up a My Geek Odyssey project, but right now I’m having fun supporting cool ideas. If you’ve seen Sue and my “Dick Tracy Radio Watches” that was a Kickstarter project. I’ve also supported a couple comic projects. They way it works is- you donate funds and if the project reaches its’ goal you pay. The level you support the project determines your reward.

I’ve supported projects that have given me: watchbands, warm beverage heaters, desktop trebuchets and comic project or two. The most recent projects I’ve supported are dealing with all-ages comics. If you are interested in supporting any of these enjoy!

Comic Book Diner: Fun & Funny Graphic Novel Boxed Set – Ending Mid-June asking for $10,000 (still needs funding)

The New Brighton Archeological Society Book 2 – Ending at the end of May asking for $6,000 (already fully funded)

So more cool comics for my classroom! I have tried (and failed) getting a donorschoose project funded for my classroom, I may have to try again, they have some great projects there also. Oh, Sue likes Kiva which gives micro-loans in third-world countries.

Then again you could also vote for the Dr. Who Cache Series at Where’s the TARDIS? (blatant plug).

More artwork… still no comic.

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Bruce

As I have said this week was just weird (and it isn’t over yet). Besides working on the GeoWoodstock Playing cards so they could be submitted by the deadline I also needed to do some artwork for on of the Dr. Who caches. I started working on these drawings and really wanted to get them finished as promised. I still have two more to go, but I thought I should once more prove that I am doing artwork. I will be working the remainder of the weekend getting comics done for next week. for those who can’t wait and like Dr. Who here is what I have come up with…

Thank you for your patience as I get a few of these little offshoot projects done along with my day job.

Late late late… whoops!

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Bruce

I have been working on deadline for the Geowoodstock IX playing card deck… See there was this auction and I won, and then a friend asked me to help with his design. This weekend I thought I would get drawing done, and it didn’t happen. So today was the deadline (absolute final) and I needed to get these turned in. So here they are-

redjoker1 — The Red Joker for the GeoWoodstock Deck

7diamonds1 — Seven of Diamonds for the Geowoodstock Deck

5hearts1 — The 5 of Hearts for the GeoWoodstock Deck

heartQ — Queen of Hearts for the GeoWoodstock Deck

So I am sorry for not getting the comic out earlier this week, but with Sue out with the the girls this weekend I’m going to work on getting a bunch of strips done.

Another Geek on the Road…

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Bruce

I thought I would take a few seconds & point out a friend of mine’s blog- Motoring Adventures as she motors across the country to the biggest MINI event I have ever been to, MINIs on the Dragon. Sue and I have attended and actually helped out with a few drives in the past and are missing it this year thanks to the Indiana statewide high stakes test which happens this week. Emily, on the other hand, has built up some vacation and will be driving out from San Francisco (home of the 8th Doctor’s cache- Hmmm… I wonder who could be hosting it?) Sue and I met Emily at A MINI Vacation in Vegas- AMVIV last year. and we were able to get together at MINI Takes the States in Denver. So enjoy living vicariously through Emily as she takes a Ryan MINI on an adventure… I know I’m jealous. Let’s all wish Emily & Sam Wise (her MINI) safe travels. She’ll be in Indy next week- Gramboli’s anyone?

Oh, speaking of statewide testing… Monday’s comic will be delayed until sometime tomorrow (I can’t wait for Summer- so I can get back on schedule).

Dr. Who Update… They’re here!

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Bruce

After so many weeks of working… now everything is coming to a head. All Dr. Who caches (except #12) have been sent out. They are arriving in their final locations and those “companions” are placing the caches how ever they want. All I can say is one Wherigo is in the works (& I have some drawing to do). So instead of a comic strip for today (sorry, it has definitely been a day) I thought I would go through the process as to how these were placed.

When I came up with my 2011 creativity project I tried to figure out exactly what to do. After some thought I finally decided a series of caches based on Doctor Who would be fun (BBC America was pushing that the next series was going to based in the U.S.). Once the idea was finalized then the issue was what were the details, what rules would be set for the caches? I decided that I wanted them placed around the United States, and that I wanted there to be a “bonus” cache of some sorts. I worked with a friend in Atlanta to come up a “wrap” which ended up a sticker. I started with a few simple designs based the Doctors of my history (#4, #9 , #10, & #11). These went through some testing and fortunately the weather cooperated so I could check how it would last through various weather conditions. I learned that my original design was too big and wouldn’t fit on a decon container (Super Genius had ended up giving us a nice supply).

I redesigned the template and after a weekend of intense drawing & watching episodes of Dr. Who I had 12 caches designed. Now, who should get the caches? I checked Cecil’s friends on both Facebook & Geocaching.com. I ended up coming up with over eleven possible “companions.” An email request (and one through Facebook) eliminated one. Now the work really started… I needed to come up with a a location a “final” before sending out any caches or creating a generic cache page. After some “discussion” with the local reviewers the final was placed and everything was ready for the final steps. Caches were sent out on April 15th- ten in the U.S. one in Canada. Caches are being placed from “Sea to shining sea.”

I have been overjoyed with the response from the geocaching community – everyone involved in this series has been so wonderful and creative (aren’t all cachers?). I’m not sure what format each cache will end up as – it is up to the companion (multi, puzzle, wherigo, traditional) how they want place it. I’m looking forward to what the series will end up with. The bonus (series finale- GC2R1VF) will have a link to each cache once they have been posted. Then again as of right now the cache hasn’t been published since I need a few caches in the series posted beforehand. By Monday there will be caches in the series published and it will be up to the companions to keep everything going. What a great adventure and a great way to give back to a hobby that has really opened the world to me.

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