Back from GalaCon · 2:13am Aug 10th, 2018
I always have a hard time with these blog posts. Usually it's because I worry that I will inevitably forget one of the many, many beautiful people I met, most of them for the first time, and they will wonder why they were left out of the list. The reason it's harder than usual this year is that Aragon recently set a new standard for FiMFic convention post-mortem blog posts recounting his trip to BronyCon this year, and not to be bested, the lovely GhostOfHeraclitus did the same for his trip to GalaCon. Nothing I could write here would compare in terms of literary merit or entertainment value, and I am therefore compelled to keep this brief.
Long story short--it was quite a time. I loved meeting you all, and please know that if I seemed quiet it was because I was overwhelmed by your intelligence, wit, and general quality. As I said in a semi-panicked e-mail message to my wife on Friday night:
I fear my recalcitrance will come off as diffidence because I am intimidated into silence. I left quietly after a discussion of the spread of Indo-European tribal culture. I shit you not that dinner conversation included weighing the relative merits of Esperanto. I don't fit in here. I should go find some people who are arguing over who best pony is.
Thankfully we eventually started talking Dungeons and Dragons, perhaps the only topic where I was on any kind of equal footing. I guess we all have our strengths, and if I'm good at critiquing the relative balance of introducing an exploding die mechanic into D&D, so be it.
Anyway. You all were great. I wish most of you weren't half a world away so I could get to know you better. I wish I had like a week to chat with you all so the 24 hours I spent in a massive social fit was a smaller percentage of the total time we had together at all, but I guess I'm lucky I got what I got. We should do it again sometime.
I'm glad you had a good time--I've always wanted to go to Germany. Hopefully you'll be at Bronycon's swan song next year. That event just isn't the same without me and Foxley molesting your Princess Cadance.
4917480
"just isn't the same" =/= "actually better"
4917482
4917484
There, there. Don't cry. If it makes you feel better, I am totally at capacity for Cadance plush toys at this point and so would not have been purchasing one for you to molest in any case.
4917485
I still hope we meet again at the final Bronycon. It'd feel right after our first encounter happened after my first ever horse con (in the NYC skyline, of all places).
4917490
I'm on the fence about going; the vibe is making me nervous. Haven't decided yet. It'd be great to meet up again though.
4917497
Nervous? How so? Personally, I won't let myself miss it, because it could very well be the last time I see many people from Fimfiction, several of whom I've known for upwards of six years. I'm hoping everybody can make it out, so we can really see it off in style, and most importantly, together.
4917497
I hope you go!
4917500
I dunno. I'm not liking the idea of being in the presence of hundreds of first-time con-goers trying to make BronyCon 2019 their first. You kind of have to work up to a con of that size, maybe?
4917504
Well, Quills and Sofas will still be Quills and Sofas, and the writing panels will still have the niche attendees they always do. I'd wager that, at worst, we might get close to peak attendance numbers, but I highly doubt we'll exceed the 10k we had in 2015 (or was 2016 the 10k year? I forget). I forget which years you were there, apart from 2012 (4k), but we had something like 8k in '13, and 9-something in '14, then a sharp decline in the past few years.
We can always set up a barricade of cut logs and chevaux de frise to keep out the hoi polloi from Quills and Sofas, if that makes you comfortable. In practice, the general public rarely figures out what Q&S is, as far as I can tell.
So.... 3.5 vs 5E?
Well, gosh, I feel guilty now. I talk too much—way, way too much and as a result tend to drag conversation into whichever obscure thing I've been quietly obsessing over. I'm sorry. I should really take care to be less of an appalling nerd-creature.
That said, my linguist friends tell me that me ranting about Esperanto ("Logical spelling my left foot! It has Polish phonology! _Eastern_ Polish! WANNA GUESS WHERE ZAMENHOF WAS FROM?") can get hilarious, especially when I get to windmilling my arms about in what I've heard described as "fighting an army of invisible ninjas."
Either way, it was sheer magnificence getting to meet you, and I hope that we'll get to meet at Bronycon next year.
4917577
Or as I like to call it "broken-as-implemented" versus "broken-as-designed"
Meeting you was ace. Very much up for doing it again sometime.
4917589
Do not apologize for being the amazing person you clearly are.
4917577
Well, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I have a nice respectable table who care more about character expression than breaking the system. Basically the gaming equivalent of a sleepy little town where you can leave your door unlocked. So they appreciate the fine-tuning possible with the 3.x system rather than the more narrowly-defined tracks that 5 keeps as a holdover from 4.
It was a joy to meet you too
4917521
I'm not trying to be elitist or anything. Large emotionally-charged crowds make me edgy, and BronyCon Ultimate seems like it will spark lots of emotional charging.
Your email excerpt is 100% what terrifies me about going to BC19 and meeting everyone. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up sitting there and listening to everyone else have deep, meaningful discussions about esoteric subjects, and I'll just smile and nod along. Which I'm fine with, to be honest -- my preference is always to listen more than speak -- but boy if it isn't still a little nervewracking.
I hope you do come so I can smile and nod along to D&D talk.
4917677
If I come we can sit next to one another and represent the unlearned masses together.
4917674
4917615
An equal pleasure meeting both of you!
It really was a delight seeing you again and I'm glad you were able to find spaces where you were comfortable opening up. I'd love to see you at BC19 and fwiw I'll have a very close hotel room to hide in and mostly will hole up at Quills anyways where're we're all too silly to be sad.
4917506
Keep in mind there are plenty of other pony cons that are still going strong. I'm skeptical everyone will just stop going to cons when BC finishes. It'll just be a bigger case of organizing which con will be the writer con each year, as opposed to assuming it'll be BC.
4917677
I spent 90 minutes talking about shitty anime and loudly announcing when I was goikg to fart, and then I yelled curse words at a mic and got kicked out of a panel for being too stupid.
You'll fit right in.
4917765
Maybe, uh, there's a space in between "discussing the spread of Indo-European tribal culture" and "loudly announcing when I'm going to fart" that I could occupy.
4917737
Well, Everfree Northwest is known for having a very strong writing track each year.
4917737
I mean, yeah, but the change in location, depending on where it is, will affect who can and can't go, especially if we move to EFNW or Babs.
4917577 Pathfinder.
It was great to see you again!
4918422
You as well! A very pleasant surprise.
Hey, about that exploding die: Listen, dice just explode sometimes. No need to go pointing fingers.
(actually I want to hear about the exploding die mechanic; don't tell me I'm the nerdiest person here??)
4918656
I don't have any objective data to back it up--I leave that to actually smart and learned people like you--but I just don't feel that introducing an exploding die mechanic into Dungeons and Dragons is a good idea. It's not a system that was built or balanced with exploding dice in mind, and to suddenly introduce it as a core mechanic in a new campaign setting that otherwise basically sticks to the main game's RAW seems like it throws a lot of things out of whack.
This was all in reference to Masque of the Red Death, a somewhat rare offshoot of the Ravenloft rule set which attempted to place your D&D heroes in a late 19th Century setting. The exploding die mechanic was introduced as a method for calculating firearm damage. The D&D setting isn't balanced for exploding damage dice.
4917504
I'll be making the last Bronycon my first, but I have gone to the last three Cidervilles and previous two Whinney Citys. I'll be attending in a group of 5 to 7 of people who've been before.
4919178
Hope to see you there if I go!