So, I have a bunch of photos to share, though I didn't nearly take as many as I thought I would. Next year I will.

First off I just want to share with you the horde.



To give you an idea, I'm 6'2" and I held my camera/phone up well over my head for these shots.



This right here is why zombie movies scare me guys. If they were all hungry for your flesh, there would be no stopping them.



By the way, all those people were waiting to go into the dealer hall.



I didn't spend much time outdoors (being a pasty nerd and all) but the few times I did it was vastly different from Tucson. So I snapped a couple of photos.







Buildings here aren't usually red brick, or so closely packed. I saw an alleyway that looked like the Waynes were murdered in it. It was bizarre. But I can't deny the architecture.



Or the people. Everyone was super friendly.



Here's the Will Call line for tickets. This is at the very end of the line btw.





This one is about the middle point in the line.



Here's the room where I had my first ever DnD session.



My character sheet for my Dragonborn Paladin, whom I dubbed Laird Setkhatt.



And my first ever DnD group. The two girls to the left are the two I was staying with. The redhead and the two guys in black and pale red were randomly assigned to our table and the man in the back in bright red is Josh, our DM. He was great! He helped me really enjoy my first RPG experience.



This is something called Cardhalla. People spent the entire weekend building things from donated cards.



I think on the last day you can throw money to knock them down. I'm not sure.



Can you tell which photos were taken near midnight?



GenCon is so big it even infiltrates local businesses. Like The Ram.







Scotty's is another place that gets into the spirit of things. They played awesome movies all weekend and sold Cthulhu Brew beer (I don't drink so I didn't get any), a Cthulhu Brew mug (I don't drink but I can totally drink whatever out of a mug [though I didn't get a picture of it]) and this little Ghost Goblin Minimate (disregard my collection of knicknacks surrounding it).



Now for some Cosplay!











This is by far the kewlest one I saw. This guy did great work!





Found some guardsmen patrolling the dealer hall. They walked past me and my friend Jan and we had to fight against the current of people to get them to stop for a photo.



These guys all put amazing work into their costumes. Again, had to stop them in the dealer hall.



Caught these guys standing around relaxing and asked them politely if they wouldn't mind posing for a photo. They were happy to oblige.







Spotted this Sabine Wren on a floor above us, and me and Jan had to split up to get to her before she moved. Jan got their first.



Passed by this Tali on the way back to the hotel room after making a foam sword.



And yet another great cosplay that was very funny (I am not responsible for your eyes!)



Jan has more, but I haven't received a copy yet. I will share them when I do.

I mentioned taking a sculpting class from THE Joe Orteza. Here's some photos of that.





Didn't get a photo of Joe... remind me to do that next year.


NOW FOR THE SWAG!! First off being the badge itself. Some events have these little adhesive ribbons that stick to it, I only got 3 total, but I saw people going around with some seriously long ones.



Planet Mercenary Dice! Planet Mercenary RIPP Tokens! Schlock Mercenary Pin! XDM Water Skin! Team Instinct Pin! GenCon Pins! GenCon Challenge Coins! Random Coins from The Stink! (annual pre-GenCon gathering). Scotty's Brewhouse die! Unlucky D20 (two 1's no 20's, also given out at The Stink).



Planet Mercenary Dice Bag!



(Note: I got all this Planet Mercenary stuff just for playing the game. I kickstarted it too and will have some other things coming eventually)

My new d20, my orange and yellow chessix ones failed me so hard I had to go to the dealer hall and get some new ones. This thing is huge and heavy and when I roll, people know it.



The rest of that dice set (including a normal sized d20.



A close-up of the Ultra Ball necklace.



And the things I wanted most from the dealer hall. Fantasy Arc's Bug Hunt Corridor Specialty Rooms!

MIRANDA! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE THIS! GO! GET OUT!! NO SPOILING YOUR GIFT!!!![u]






















So for a Christmas gift my for friends, I decided to make for them their DnD Characters.

This is taken from the description Miranda gave me.

Rhona, Illuskan human female druid:

She comes with the scent of a promised rain and the rustle of the wind through the trees. Her skin is a pale cream, resisting the attempts of the sun to bake her brown, and her hair is the dark red of the lifeblood coursing through us all. She stands at 5’7” and boasts the curves of Ehlonna herself, goddess of fertility. It has been long since she’s seen anyone, keeping to herself and the shrine to Goddess Ehlonna. As such, her hair has grown wild, tangling with leaves and flowers into a wild mane. Insatiable curiosity flashes out from her eyes, dark as pine needles at sundown, revealing that there is much she would do to uncover secrets of the past. Her druidic totem is never far from hand: a twisted circle of polished wood speared through with a white wood handle carved into the likeness of a unicorn’s horn. Shunning the metals of progress, a hide jerkin and leggings protect her skin from the wear and tear of the forest and its beasts. As caretaker of the forest around the Shrine to Ehlonna, it is sometimes her duty to clear invasive species, both flora AND fauna. Unable to bear the prolonged suffering of any creature, she employs a powerful scythe to quickly dispatch any intruders. The handle is nearly six feet of marbled bloodwood, wrapped with leather strips for a secure grip, and the head is a wickedly curved piece of blackened steel. She prides herself on the weapon’s upkeep, as only a sharpened blade will ensure a quick demise. The weapon was waiting in the shrine, a relic - though unmagical - of protection passed down through each protector of Ehlonna.

She was awoken in the murky pre-dawn light, alerted to an intruder in the shrine from the Goddess herself. She discovered a large...lizard...thing, curled up on the floor with a broken holy relic next to him. Mere moments from smiting the intruder, her dream came back to her. This was not the intruder she was meant to pursue. This was a miniature version and his threat was also miniature. The larger threat, quickly clarified in her mind by Ehlonna, was a threat to all the world. She would travel with this dragonborn, Roth, whose desecration had already been punished by the loss of his intellect, to seek an end to the Tyranny of Dragons.

So, with that in mind, I browsed a dozen mini websites and finally found this on Reaper minis.





Almost perfect right?

Now for Klicker.

Roth Klicker, silver dragonborn male barbarian:

Roth is Rhona’s constant companion, bound to her by an ill-fated decision to sleep in a Goddess’ shrine. His natural tendency to pick things up and try to figure them out - often breaking them in the process - proved catastrophic when on top of defiling a goddess shrine with his male form, he broke a holy relic - a twisting wooden cypher. The Goddess Ehlonna stole his intellect from him, as well as his common speech. His honor is bound to his clan, which now consists of his druid protectee. The two converse in draconic, which Ehlonna could not steal from him though she tried, and druidic, a gift from Ehlonna that Roth has used to teach Rhona to speak draconic as well.

His form is intimidating at 6’7” with muscles more sinewy than bulging. His silver scales alternate between a reflective shine and a brushed, almost tarnished, gleam. The scales continue down his tail, with the underside almost completely covered in the burnished silver colour. Silver eyes flash when he releases his icy breath, chilling anyone in its wake to their very soul. A pale leather kilt and his maul, as long as a greatsword with a mighty hammerhead, are his only real equipment.

And again, on Reaper Minis I found this.





Being a fellow Dragonborn, I thought I would start with Klicker.

So after having cleaned off the flash and base coated it white, I whipped out some grey paint.



And I coated the entire guy.





Then I took out some leadbelcher and gave his scales a once over.





From there I painted his mouth and the stone of his weapon.



Next I added some color to the haft of the maul and the rope holding the stone there.





I then started to eyeball his chain and thought he needed a bit of bling. But he doesn't remember being wealthy, so its copper. Don't judge. I also picked out his teeth with bleached bone.





Then I added some brown to his loincloth.



Then I took some drakenhoff nightshade and brushed it across his back and shoulders, trying to give it a bit of color, but it looked wrong.



So while I pondered fixing his scales, I added bleached bone to the skulls on his belt and then agrax earthshade over them.



And painted his little bag of coins.



Then I washed some watered down nuln oil across his entire body and some carroburg crimson into his mouth.



Look at those pearly whites!





Then I realized I that his base was awfully neglected. So I painted it the same color as his stone weapon and then washed it with nuln oil.





Time to give his eyes a bit of color.





And to finish it up I have the stone on his weapon a bit of a highlight and then another wash of nuln oil.



And that's where I called it for tonight. Having repainted his scales watered down leadbelcher once more.





Your thoughts?

MIRANDA! SERIOUSLY! STOP TRYING TO SPOIL YOUR GIFT!!!!














There, now with that done, let's pick up where we left off with Klicker. I started by redoing his eyes.





Then I gave his back a watered down wash of Drakenhoff Nightshade.





And I finished it off by adding the pupils into the eyes.





And with that I think Klicker is done. Time to start on Rhona. I started by painting her hair.







Rhona is a druid so I figured she'd have rather drab clothing. So I started by painting a mixture of skrag brown and bestigor flesh onto her robe.





Next up I painted a bit of goblin green onto the base. I was going for a mossy look.



Next I made some kind of crazy mixture and painted it across all her bare skin.









Then I gave her hair a healthy dose of Carroburg Crimson.







Then I painted another brown mixture onto her top and finished it off with olive green around the middle.





And for the end of the night I took pictures of the pair together which came out SUPER dark for some reason.





Thoughts? Opinion?