Con on the Cob: Day 1

HUDSON, OHIO -- Speaking as someone who has attended Gen Con for the past 10 years, up until today I had almost forgotten that game conventions could be be actually be fun and relaxing and am grateful to Con on the Cob organizer Andy Hopp for reminding me of that. 
 
Suffice it to say, I am very pleased to be here as the Gaming Guest of Honor and that I have made it to the seventh incarantion of this terrific event. Andy has hit his stride with Con on the Cob and it would be safe to say that it has greater diversity of events than just about any regional con I have ever been to. 
 
Part of what has made this such a fun con for me up to this point, of course, is the opportunity to see so many good friends, including wartime consignlieri Jon Reichman, Stefan Rice of DarkThreads, and Will Thrasher of Kettle of Fish Productions, all of whom are hanging out and chatting with me over a beer in my room as I write this. It has also been fun to chat and get caught up with some of the people I have been hanging out with at cons over the past decade, including Larry Elmore (who I first met more than 11 years ago, at the short-lived Alti-Egos Con in Virginia Beach), hell-raising Sean Patrick Fannon (who I first tied one on with at the release party for Skirmisher's Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition), and Mike Olenik of Armorcast. 
 
I have also had the opportunity to meet some terrific new friends at this convention, including artist Arnie Swekel, whose work I have long admired in some of my favorite games, both pen-and-paper and video. Another high point was chatting with and being interviewed by Matt Lemke of the Through Gamer Goggles blog and podcat. 
 
If the next three days are half as good as this one, it will be a successful convention! But, between the seminars I will be giving and all the other great events Andy has got planned, I bet each one will be better than the last.