Why Can't I Burn All These Dreads? - Persona 3

Soooo I have an obsession. And this time it has nothing to do with shuriken or maids or midday naps.

For some months now, I've been playing Persona 3. I realize I'm a little late to that party, but ever since the Great RPG Rush of '05(or whenever Dragon Quest VIII came out), I've been working on a tremendous and ever-shifting backlog of vidya games, especially RPGs. I was first introduced to the Persona series by my buddy Scrambles when Persona 3's trailers appeared on the Web nearly a decade ago. With my background in classical studies and mythology, I've been a sucker for games with a rich inner lore, so a series like Persona pretty much snagged me right away. I originally planned on playing through the preceding titles before getting into P3, and for some years I held onto that illusion, mostly thanks to the re-release of the original Persona on PSP(as well as that of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, the half of the Persona 2 story that never saw an original North American release). However, the Backlog of Insanity eventually defeated that plan, particularly since Persona 4 has been out for a long while, 5 will be released next year, and the Arena games are wildly popular among my corner of gaming fandom.

Colleague Shout-Out - Urbis Tenebrae

I've been the lucky recipient of some good promotion here at ACN, so I wanted to keep the good vibes going by returning the favor. A friend of mine named J-Puck(not his actual name, but I'm all about using hyphens in fun and obnoxious ways to give nicknames) runs a blog on gaming and fantasy called Urbis Tenebrae. He's got professional experience in the tabletop gaming industry, and I often pick his brain for information and ideas in my own work. This entry about the pitfalls of mono-cultures in game settings is an excellent example of his work, and was recently very useful in helping me make some changes to cultures in a couple of my own home-brew tabletop worlds(the legendary/soon-to-be-legendary Reyes among them).

So go over and give him a read. And tell 'im Ro sent ya'.

How to Convention - Artist Alleys

Hullo, Ninja Faithful!

Ever since Yours Truly decided to add a conventions aspect to this blog, there've been a few things here and there that I've been wanting to tack on, but didn't feel were at-home in my actual convention reviews. Thankfully though, in one of my meetings with the Shinobi Council, the idea was put forth that I should just have a category of entries for said thoughts, instead of trying to shoehorn them in elsewhere.

Thus, I give you the "How to Convention" series, geared towards little bits of information and tips that you'll find handy for any convention.

And what better place to start than with my usual base-of-operations, the artist alley?

Beam Me Up, Zordon - LCTC 2014

Convention Info

Name: Lexington Comic & Toy Convention
Host City: Lexington, KY
Venue: Lexington Center
Date: March 14-16th, 2014

Three years ago, Lexington Comic & Toy Convention(LCTC from here on out) debuted in the Lexington Center. It was a one-day event that drew around 4,000 attendees and used only a fraction of Heritage Hall. Year Two was two days and expanded into all of Heritage Hall, but also saw an uptick to 10,000 attendees. I don't have much personal interest in the comics side of geekery, but this con is on my turf, yo - and in a city of middling size like Lexington, a show that draws a crowd as big as 5% of the local population is kind of a big deal.

Enter Year Three.

Joysticks and Pinballs and Other Stuff Your Momma Warned You About - Louisville Arcade Expo 2014

Convention Info

Name: Louisville Arcade Expo
Host City: Louisville, KY
Venue: Ramada Plaza Louisville Hotel and Conference Center
Date: March 7-9th, 2014

Giggity.

Anyway, don't let the title fool you. This is going to be a very serious, grown-up entry about being an adult. Which, in this case, means playing Dr. Mario on a giant projector screen and making high-pitched swooning sounds over an Apple IIe. But before I get to that, a story:

Retro Froyo Yoyo(Yo Yo) - Game On Frozen Yogurt

Business Info

Name: Game On Frozen Yogurt
Address: 2001-2009 Pinoak Drive, Nicholasville, KY, 40356
Website: http://www.gameonfroyo.com/

Being a portly gentleman, possessed of a massive sweet tooth, I rarely balk at the chance to try new confectionery goodness. So the proliferation of frozen yogurt restaurants over the past few years has definitely been right up my alley. But with so many choices, it can be hard to decide where to go when you have a craving for the sweet stuff.

Of course, if you want to also enjoy not only shopping for old-school and new-school video games, but playing old-school and new-school video games, at the same time you're chowing down on froyo, there's only one place for you.

WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?! - Sukoshi Con: Bowling Green 2014

Convention Info

Name: SukoshiCon: Bowling Green
Host City: Bowling Green, KY
Venue: The Sloan Convention Center
Date: February 15th, 2014

Some conventions are a once-a-year deal, and with the amount of work that goes into them, it's not hard to see why. Coordinating people, places, things, and ideas - no type of noun gets left behind - to give a show to a thousand or more folks from different age groups, tastes, and backgrounds is undoubtedly a task for the mighty.

And then there are some people just crazy enough to do multiple shows in a year. The folks behind Sukoshi Con are that kind of crazy(in a good way). They have at least seven shows in four states, which means they're at least seven times that kind of crazy by the Distributive Property of Insanity.

The Con with "Awesome" Right in the Name - SugoiCon 2013

Basic Convention Info

Name: SugoiCon
Host City: Sharonville, OH
Venue: Crowne Plaza Cincinnati North
Dates: November 1-3, 2013

Depending on which of my personalities you ask, SugoiCon was either my first or second convention experience ever, something like five years ago(the other possibility for Numero Uno being GenCon). Responsibility for initially making me aware of it, and thus exposing the world to my inner otaku in a big way, goes to the wonderful and talented owner of Sew Peach, who also provided me with the first home-sewn costume I ever wore to a convention, my trademark Giant Kon.