Pros and Cons

 I had been planning on attending the NTRPG Con for several months, but life ended up getting in the way, and I had to cancel my plans.  At the last minute, though, it turned out that I had Sunday afternoon free, so I was able to sneak in, just as things were wrapping up, and I'm glad I did.  I walked in and caught up with Ark and the Boy, who were playing a game of... something... with Jeff Dee GMing.  Jeff put the game on hold to show me some of the artwork he was selling, including what he described as the "New Originals" of the artwork from one of my favorite modules, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.  I gleefully picked up two of them, for the wall space that I will someday devote to RPG Art, and Jeff even threw in a postcard size reproduction of Zeus from Deities & Demigods for free!  Also playing at the table was Zeb Cook, and Ark was kind enough to introduce me to him.  Unfortunately, I was taken off guard, and only managed to stammer something about how much I loved 2e.  Mr. Cook was generous, acknowledging the spirit of my statement if not the actual content.

A quick spin through the Dealers Room rewarded me with a Spelljammer which will no doubt bedevil my group in upcoming sessions as they transition from landlubbers to Salty Dogs of the Spaceways.  A couple of All Flesh Must Be Eaten supplements, some Fading Suns sourcebooks, Runequest's Foes, the Compleat Arduin, a wet/dry/permanent double sided flip-mat, an X-Crawl module, and a Mutazoids sourcebook.

The real prizes, though, were the Deluxe DCC RPG book, the NTGRPG Con exclusive reprint of Palace of the Vampire Queen, the 1e module Dungeonland, a 1st printing of Tomb of Horrors, and a copy of the 1e module Baltron's Beacon, signed by Frank Mentzer himself!

Wandering around, I was seriously impressed by the Aliens game going on, with an incredibly detailed game board, and the actual Aliens soundtrack playing on a small boombox.  Although I didn't get a chance to see it played, I'm interested in Circus Maximus, and I'm still seething that Ark's son got to play with Frank Mentzer, Jim Ward and other assorted luminaries of our industry.

All in all, I had a very successful, if short, swing through the Con.  I'm making it a point, hell or high water, to make it to this thing next year.  Taking time off, renting a room, maybe renting a table to sell off some excess stuff.  The whole nine yards.