The Halcyon Days of Summer

As we begin the inexorable slide into autumn and the nights are drawing in, I can safely say that August has been another busy month, full of sunshine and rushing about here, there, and almost everywhere.

Things have been all go on the Chaosium front, as I’m sure you’re unsurprised to hear. Lots of art directing for The Children of Fear, for example - artists sending me their works in progress, me commenting on them and asking for corrections, or me sounding out my colleagues to see what they think. (I’m cheating a little by putting this link to the Children of Fear progress report in here because that was released in September, but I hope you’ll forgive a little bit of calendrical shenanigans on my part.)

As well as The Children of Fear, there have been other projects, most of which I can’t talk about - yet. I’m sure there’ll be an announcement at some point fairly soon, but rest assured that the Great Old Ones are keeping me out of mischief.

I also had to turn down a fascinating project because my diary is full to bursting at the moment. It was something outside my current experience for a company I haven’t officially worked with before, and it would have been an amazing challenge, but I knew I wasn’t going to have the time to devote to it that it needed, even though its projected release date is well over 18 months away.

Turning down work is hard, especially when it is something that would allow you to expand your skill base and design experience. But if I’d agreed to it, there was a severe danger that my current work would have suffered, the new project wouldn’t have received the care, love and attention it’s going to need to get it right, and everyone would have ended up pretty unhappy with the situation. The last thing I want to do is let anyone down, or hold anyone up, especially when it’s people I admire and respect (and would like to work with at some point in the future).

So, as sad as I was to have to do it, I decided to pass on this one. I really hope they find someone who can do the project justice, and they already know I’ll be more than happy to playtest it, should it become an actual thing.  Being realistic about time, energy and availability is a hard thing to learn, but not recognising that there are only so many hours in the day and only so much work you can shoulder is only going to make you miserable in the long run. And, seriously, life is too damn short for that sort of nonsense.

But - to cheerier things! August this year was, of course, NecronomiCon Providence time of year, and I was very happy to be heading back there, this time with my lovely husband in tow. He didn’t attend two years ago for a variety of reasons, and then had to listen to me waxing lyrical about what an awesome time I’d had and what wonderful people I’d met. So he was determined he wasn’t going to miss out on it this time around.

Because NecronomiCon is only every two years, it comes with an odd language issue - everyone always refers to “last year,” even though it wasn’t. Regardless, it was good to get back out to Providence and meet up with so many friends and colleagues, and to make new friends and colleagues, too. For a relatively small convention, there is so much going on: a packed gaming stream, a full stream of talks and panels, a movie stream, an art exhibition, and an academic stream, as well as a whole host of dramatic stuff (including our good friends at the HP Lovecraft Historical Society and their Dark Radio Theatre performances).

Perhaps the funniest of these was the night we finally got to see Robert Lloyd Parry and his superb presentation of MR James’ A Warning to the Curious. By funny, I don’t mean “funny, ha ha” but funny in that he regularly performs at a venue local to us, but we’re always away or otherwise engaged when he’s there. So we only had to go several thousand miles to see him! It was well worth it, mind you, and we’re planning on making sure we are about for his next visit to the Lit & Phil.

I also had a very nice chat with Mr Lloyd Parry the next day in the dealers hall, and it turns out he and his brother used to play Call of Cthulhu thirty-odd years ago. His brother was the Keeper, and it was the Games Workshop edition that they owned. A scenario in an old edition of White Dwarf had piqued their interest, as it was set in Suffolk, the site of many of James’ stories (The Watchers of Walberswick by Jon Sutherland).

It was a busy convention for me - three games (one for Extra Life, which raised a lot of money for a superb cause), two panels (both of which seem to have been well received based on the feedback I, and others, were given), and a day on the booth encouraging people to give us their money in return for beautiful things. I like being busy at conventions, although it does mean I don't always get to see much of the rest of the programming. And I largely resisted giving all my money to the other stallholders!

During the convention, I managed to have stuffies again, and finally located Dave's Coffee so I could try coffee milk, another Rhode Island specialty. (It's very good.) And, of course, there was the wonderful Ellie's for breakfast most days, even though they did scare us by moving since last time. The last event we went to was the Dunwich Horror Picture Show. It's still an awful film, and the print they have is in severe danger of either self-immolating or disintegrating into a million pieces, but the live band is great and it's nice to have a definitive end to a convention - so many just sort of fade out, leaving everyone bimbling around and looking a bit lost as people drift away over the course of the day.

It's often sad to leave a convention, and it's especially sad to leave NecronomiCon. The organisers and their minions do a wonderful job of making it a fun, safe gathering and Providence is a comfortable city to wander around. And then there's the people we have to say goodbye to. The podcasting and gaming community at NecronomiCon is a very special one, and I miss those reprobates a great deal now I'm home.

So, see you all again in two years?

Let Loose in Europe

As you might have guessed, July was also a somewhat hectic month, for a lot of reasons. Chaosium continued to keep me good and busy on the work front, but that isn't going to be the focus of this month's blog post (partly because I'm writing this away from home and the Oracle, my faithful desktop paper diary where I record what I get up to work-wise each day, so I can't check exactly what projects - secret or otherwise - I was working on. And there were a *lot*).

July saw two conventions: DNA Fantastyki in Wroclaw, Poland, and Ropecon in Helsinki, Finland.

The first one I attended was DNI Fantasyki, as a guest of Chaosium's Polish language licensees, Black Monk Games. I'd met the team when I was a guest at CarcosaCon in March, and I was looking forward to spending time with them again and getting to know them a little better. The convention took place in another castle, this one converted into the local arts and cultural centre. The Zamek was also surrounded by extensive parkland, and was a very fairytale style castle - much less vampire-inspired than Czocha!

I was collected from the airport by Joanna, my convention liaison, and taken to the hotel, a few miles from the convention site, but very comfortable. Joanna then took me into central Wroclaw to show me around which, of course, included a little bit of dwarf hunting. Later on, after I'd got back to the hotel and had a nap, I went for a walk to the next door Stadion, to discover that there was a hot rod motor show on there. Many of the attendees were staying in the same hotel as Fantastyki's guests, which was quite an unlikely pairing (although not quite as odd as the time we were at a Doctor Who convention and a bus load of Peter Kay fans arrived to stay for the night after a gig).

I took part in three presentations at DNI Fantastyki: one about upcoming Cthulhu products (that one was mostly in Polish, which was fascinating to listen to), one about what's best in Cthulhu, and one writing workshop. I also ran a session of this year's con scenario (Breath of Angels) and got to play in a storytelling game. A lot of the time, though, was spent sitting in the sun and talking through projects with our licensees. And playing on trams, if there wasn't a convention-organised taxi to get me where I needed to be.

One of the lovely things about the convention is that, because the castle is a community cultural centre, the con organisers want the locals to enjoy the convention, too, so you only need to buy a ticket if you want to go to the talks inside the castle. Everything in the park - the traders, the boffer sword people, the archery people, the food trucks, the beer tents and the music stage - were all free for whoever wanted to come along. As a result, there was a huge variety of people in attendance: cosplayers, gamers, locals, slightly confused visitors...

After the convention, I had a day to myself in Wroclaw, where I went dwarf hunting with a vengeance. I got a little over 70 of the little blighters, although some I must have walked past, going off the tourist map that allegedly showed where most of them were. Joanna once again collected me on the Tuesday to get me to my flight, and I headed home after a great weekend at a small(ish) but highly relaxed and fun convention.

Next up was a much larger convention: Ropecon (just a little under 5,000 this year). When we were in Germany for mini-Kraken in June, Richard received a text message from one of his Finnish LARPing friends, asking if I would be available as a last minute replacement Guest of Honour for Ropecon as, unfortunately, one of their original guests had had to drop out.

Now, I was sure I'd heard of Ropecon - all extremely good things, I hasten to add - but I just wanted to make sure I had the right convention. A quick check with friends on FB confirmed that I really would be an idiot if I said no, so I didn't - I happily accepted the invitation.

Unfortunately, I was due to fly to Helsinki the day after the Great Debacle at Schiphol Airport, which meant my flight was cancelled the night before and there was no getting through to anyone at the airline to sort the problem out due to, as you might expect, tens of thousands of people being stranded and/or without flights. Yes, it was exceptional circumstances, but the airline didn't exactly cover themselves in glory in the days that followed by the way they (mis)handled it. But that's another story...

Anyway, by just sorting myself out and buying the last seat that could get me to Finland in time for the convention, I made my way from Newcastle to Paris, then on to Helsinki, arriving much later than planned but there, nevertheless. I was collected at the airport by Massi and Veemelli, along with fellow guest, Jon Hodgson, who we've known for donkey's years. After a good chat in the car on the way to the hotel, we made some arrangements for sightseeing the next day, and went to get some sleep. (By that time, I'd only had about four hours in the previous 48, so I was a bit worn out.)

Let me just say: never have I been so well looked after at a convention. Not that I've ever not been looked after at  convention where I've been a guest, but Ropecon really took it to the next level. We were given a water bottle to make sure we stayed hydrated, awesome convention T-shirts, and a phone so we could get in touch with the organisers whenever we needed to. We had a translator (Veemelli) for the opening ceremony, gala, and closing ceremony so we knew what was going on, as well. We were thoroughly spoiled, which was lovely but a bit odd. At one point during the weekend, Jon lent over and whispered, "How's your impostor syndrome doing?" To which I replied, "Not great. Isn't it just important people who get handlers?"

(I was later informed at the Guest of Honour dinner that we were important people, which always sounds a bit odd, even if it is very nice to hear.)

I was very much kept out of mischief throughout the con: four panels (one about me, one about editing for gaming, one about gender in gaming, and one about the Mythos and gaming), the three big ceremonies, the rock-paper-scissors competition at the bouncy castle, two television interviews (one of them live on Finnish TV!), a newspaper interview, an interview for the convention's livestream (all the panels were livestreamed as well and should be on Youtube, if you're interested), a podcast interview (although his memory card ran out two-thirds of the way through - oops!), a game of Cogs, Cakes &Swordsticks, and recording some promotional material for the con!

I was also introduced to salmiakki (salty Finnish liquorice - lovely stuff), Long Drink (lonkero; gin and grapefruit soda - also lovely stuff; it was invented for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics by the grandfather of the woman who was our panel moderator for the gender in gaming discussion, and apparently one direct translation of its name is - wait for it - tentacle!), Finnish strawberries (soooo good) and the convention tradition of everyone buying vast quantities of sparkling wine because it's far cheaper than beer. Oh, that was a good night - chatting away to Finnish LARPers (most of whom know my husband from his international LARPing exploits) over long drink and sparkling wine until 2.30 in the morning...

And then there was the dancing. Finns really do love their dancing. I was fortunate enough to see them trying to kill each other doing some sort of polka (which basically looked like all the insane bits of Strip the Willow), and then take part in the wolf dance, which really is a sight to behold. Not only were there dance classes all through the convention, but the traditional dancing started at about 8 pm on the Saturday night and, as far as I could tell, was going to go on until everyone collapsed with exhaustion some time in the early hours of Sunday morning. And there was a disco LARP at midnight!

Did I mention the blacksmiths? Because, despite the heat (over 30C most of the time), there were blacksmiths forging away until the early hours of the morning as well. Totally hard core. (I'm pretty certain one of them was actually Wayland.) I may have bought a forged metal D6  - you know, in case any fairies start getting uppity at my gaming table...

Ropecon passed in a whirlwind of friendliness and hospitality. There was a dinner with Finnish game designers (very entertaining, and the best crayfish risotto I've ever had), and a Guest of Honour dinner so we could spend time with all the amazingly hard working convention volunteers (plus: braised reindeer shank, which was really tasty). And then I had to go home, back to my writing hovel (with thankfully little drama).

So, as you can see - another jam-packed month. Two great conventions, so many lovely fans, some great gaming, and some wonderful shared experiences that will stay with me for a long time.