Con on the Cobb, day 2

3.11.06, 0645 (GMT-6)
Awake for a bit too long already, I do not feel like writing. I make my way to the lounge, the restaurant bar area I mentioned earlier, as I remember reading something about the breakfast buffet being open from 6am until 9am or some such. I meet a guy named Duane from just south of Cleveland, who is an early riser. I am not sure if i can be called an early riser, more of a "night shifter" sort I end up explaining. And about 745am we notice the breakfast bar still has not opened. Neither of us are really that concerned, but a bit tired of conversing so we move into the lounge area to access the electrical outlets for our laptops.

From out of nowhere, a guy who had been drinking at the bar with me some six and half hours or swoops into the room and exasperatedly explains to us that he has just woken up, and that there is 300 of us and one of him. Basically he feels we are rushing him. So Duane and I decide to check out what's going on in the convention area. The 8am games, some two of them are setting up, but the organizers aren't around. Not a whole lot is going on.

Moving back to the couches just outside the lounge, I see two women getting lectured by the cook guy. They stand their ground and explain to him that they are staying right where they are and whatever he can bring out will make do with. I hear the phrase "There are 400 of you all, and only one of me."

I get to a table that is next to an outlet, and am able to grab a cup of coffee, in the waiters' anteroom in the kitchen area, in a styrofoam cup as the cook guy explains to me that the ceramic cups are expensive. And by 805am there is some bagels and bread for toast set up. I am highly amused by the situation, and when a large group of families, a total of eight individuals, show up complaining about the lack of anything to really eat, the cook guy says, "There are 500 of you, and one of me."

By 9am, I decide to stop surfing and catch up on the news. I fix myself a plate of fried potatoes and am surprised at how good they are. I grab a bagel for Peryton who I need to wake up for our day ahead and slip out. The dining area has almost 30 people breaking their fasts. As I leave the lounge I hear, "There are 900 of you and only 1 of me."

I know the cook's secret recipe, two hours of bitching for 47 minutes worth of work. For some reason H.P. Lovecraft's town of Innsmouth comes to mind. I really am enjoying myself.

Noon
After printing up a bunch of character sheets for my Spacer's scenario, no one has shown up for my event. I feel bad for ending my last game too early and discouraging anymore participation with LAG, I figure. But there is a guy running a CoC game, where only two people have shown up. Tony is his name, and I watched him in the last session as I was setting up for mine. He's a good GM. Peryton and I slip into his game.

And what a great game it is. Before long, the players have turned into a group of college students who share a house and are drawn into the mysterious disappearance of a popular professor. And though we are rolling horribly, we are role-playing wonderfully. And through our own ineptness, willingness to commit felony breaking and entering, forgetting about the internet, we solve the mystery and actually survive. Only three cops and six civilians were shot while doing so. Our PC's have not learned a thing about the Cthulhu Mythos but we as a whole, if a bit on the lam, are breathing. Tony is impressed at our collective incompetence, and we have a beer after the game, his suggestion not mine by the way.

1600
The T&T game I was to run was scheduled at 8am, though it says 1600 in the printed schedule. As no one has actually signed up for it, and I hear from the room coordinators no one was looking for me in the Am, I let the subject drop. No one is at the table where I have set up my stuff, so Peryton order a delvery dinner in the lounge and agree that a nap is order.

The room is warm, almost uncomfortably so. We decide to leave the door cracked as opposed to shutting off the heater. We fall asleep quickly.

2130
I drag Peryton out of the room. The bands are playing again, and I want her to enjoy the after 9pm crowd. And by 0430 Sunday morning, Peryton has been giggling while playing a "Who is the Werewolf?" game, I have pissed off one of the creators of the Savage World RPG system, and we have been discussing Celtic languages in the lobby with a group of people. We wash up and slip into bed. Once again I am hoping to sleep in.