JP On Gaming

Monday, April 11, 2016

Conglomeration 2016: After Action Report, Part 1

For the first time since 2014, I returned to Conglomeration in Louisville KY, I did mention some of my issues with the con but this year my good friend, Derek-R joined the committee and heard my whining about things I would like to see at the con. Having received the assurances I wanted, I offered to fun three premieres for Legacies including a one time special.

I was also looking forward to seeing KY VC Chad and his LT, Randy (though I was more interested in meeting Randy to talk about Saggakar stuff, but nonetheless).

For those who do not know my connections with Louisville date back to 2013 when I left Colorado for KY. I will admit KY does not sound as "sexy" or exciting destination as some other place but dismissing it that way is a bad mistake. Great people, very welcoming. I like Kentucky and it's people. I still own a small piece of it, actually. About 2 miles from the Ramada that held Conglomeration, actually!

My weekend started earlier than usual when my boss allowed me to leave a little early. Great! Then I was able to cross Nashville in a half-hour, during early rush hour. Excellent, I thought. I'll be in Louisville in no time.

What a fool! Just as I was think it would be two hours to my destination, that I would get to eat a real sit down dinner, did the traffic slow down. The next twenty miles of I65 took me a full hour.

There would be no dinner.

There would be no social time for me.

I strode into the hall just a few minutes before my first panel started, got to chat with Derek-R about stuff, catching up a little, seeing where things were, getting re-situated if you will, before heading to the panel room.

My Friday night panel was about GMing and offering tricks to new GMs. Unlike other panels I attended, this one was very much in a Q&A format with the attendants (I can't call them "audience"). It generated a lot of very interesting topics from "How do I break up a campaign into episodes?" to "How can I do investigative adventures without giving them the answer?". While I do not remember the names of the panel, but together, all four had over seventy years of experience, a lot of it in multiple systems, from LARP to tabletop. It was very dynamic, and I would've been very happy to attend and just listen to the panel.

After that, I walked about, did the social thing, chatted with people I recognized, Derek-M, Jake-L, Chuck, and talking to some of the guys who attended the panel and had questions. I walked around the room and discussed with folks about 4e, 5e, Saggakar, Pathfinder. You know what a veteran opinionated old guy like myself has.

As I had a short night before, I turned in around 1am.

Soon it would be Saturday...

JP

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