Flight and CthulhuTech Demo

Wednesday, 24 June

The Theory: c. 3:30 am: Leave Chez Mondegreen and head for Grove Street Path Station

The Reality: We arrived at a friend's house in New Jersey, since our flight was from Newark. Julian Lighton also crashed there, but his flight was at a sane hour. We watched _Ladyhawk!_, still one of my favorite films.

Josh and I actually departed at 3:45 am, which still left us plenty of time, while allowing a nap of the correct length. We caught the PATH train to the New Jersey Transit Train.

The Theory: c. 4:40 am: Catch train to Newark Airport

The Reality: We made our connection, but the NJT ticket machine shorted me a dollar. Either that or interdimensional monsters ate it. The train ride was rapid and smooth, and we caught the Air Train to our terminal.

There, we checked luggage and had a delightful breakfast at a place staffed by astonishingly cheerful and friendly folks. Josh surprised them by leaving a tip.

While eating, we were approached by a panhandler saying he just needed to make eight bucks. Josh said he knew the guy was running a scam. This is something normal people, even those who know that's what's going on, just don't say. The guy said we looked like nice people, but then we started in with this, and we were nerds.

As he walked away, Josh and I started laughing at the undeniably true charge. Yes, we are nerds.

Josh parsed the man's response as "I thought you were an easy mark, but now you're broadcasting I'm a scam artist. Dude, this is my living! It's my job, man."

I'll not deny charity is not my strong suit. Josh is more charitable, as are many of my friends. I've occasionally given food, when I have it to give, and, rarely, money to musicians on the subway.

But, there are Known Scam Patterns, and "I am trying to get X dollars" is one of them. Moreover, it is an escalation scam. If you give X dollars, the usual response is to say, "If only I could get Y more dollars, I could (insert desirable result)".

And... at Newark Liberty International Airport?? This isn't a conveniently situated bus or train depot, like NYC's Port Authority or Penn Station. While I am sure it is possible to be genuinely down, out, and desperate there (and to have reason to panhandle rather than approach people who work at the airport), my mind boggles attempting to construct an appropriate scenario, without involving extradimensional entities. That's what I get for starting _The Atrocity Archives_ the night before Origins.

Security checkpoint was reasonably quick, although a man did check my backpack. My own fault, I figured, for packing it so full. I watched him check my food for explosives. Fortunately, bread, brie, couscous, chocolate, and pop tarts all got a pass. The man asked if I wanted to repack my stuff, and when I said yes, he thanked me for my patience. I told Josh that I thought the man had been the patient one and that if I had pulled the food into a bin, he wouldn't have had to scan it. Josh wasn't so sure, given that there's a bit of a similarity between organics and explosives. Regardless, no harm done.

(UPDATE: I've since defaulted to packing food so that it's visible in the bin. This seems to help.)

The Theory: 6:40 am: Plane to Columbus

8:23 am Plane to land

The Reality: The flight was quick, and we fetched our luggage and got into a cab. There were a few moments before I could get buckled, as my seatbelt was buried deep in the cushion. Josh fished around for it, and said that he was having a monkey's paw problem. As my own paw, er, hand, is smaller, once he showed me where the thing was hiding, I could pull it out.

The Crowne Plaza let us check in, early as it was. Better still, there was a fridge in the room! The hotel had done some remodeling, so all the rooms had fridges. Since I had brought a pound of nova salmon, garlic couscous, and brie, this was really useful. And, it meant that leftovers from North Market and the food court could be safely kept overnight.

The renovations in progress throughout the convention area meant that we could not take the skywalk from our hotel to the Hyatt and Convention center, but this wasn't a big inconvenience. We got our registration packs and event tickets. Josh discovered, to his surprise, that he had actually remembered to sign up in advance for the Board Game and Looney Labs ribbons, and to buy a handful of generics. We helped the Loonies set up the Lab. I ducked out to make my first game.

The Theory: Noon - 2 pm: 6024 CthulhuTech demo

The Reality: This was not actually a demo. It was called "An Introduction to CthulhuTech". What this meant was that the person in charge gave a two hour explanation of the world and the system, which was stuff I already knew from reading the books.

There were actual games scheduled, but these were new events, not listed in the original online schedule. Naturally, the conflicted with things I had already signed up for and fully intended to make.

On the plus side, this meant that I could doze relatively guilt free. I woke up briefly when Julian arrived, handed him his key to the hotel room, and fell right back asleep. I did learn something useful: _Damnation View_, the latest sourcebook for _CthulhuTech_ was out. Only six would be for sale each day in the Dealers' Room, but they would hit the Complete Strategist, my local gaming store, sooner or later.

The other silver lining was this: There were so many people at this event that the game's author came to help out. Half the folks at the table went to join him. I didn't, still thinking this was going to be a demo. Sure, I wanted to, but all of us couldn't go. I was somewhat annoyed at the guy who said that those of us who stayed put had not chosen well. I mean, really, we would all have liked to go over there. Why rub our noses in the fact that not everyone could do that, and that we were being mature about it?

But, since the event was not a demo, merely an infodump, I don't feel particularly deprived. And, as it turned out, I was able to talk with the author in the Dealers' Room on Thursday.