Reaper 2014 for the Melons

[MissMelons]

I'm pleased to say that the Melons clan is safely home, as is Bonwirn and Corporea. I am also pleased to say that this is the most fun we have ever had at a convention. Hopefully I will have broken this down well enough to give new people or potential visitors an idea of what to expect.

 

The Venue/Hotel, for this year, it appeared to be juuuuust right for the amount of people and with what needed to be done. The gaming area was nice and large enough to accommodate seating and space for a bags and what not so you weren't easily disturbing people at other tables if you needed to shimmy by.  I was a bit disappointed that we weren't able to get in on a   Pathfinder Society Game but honestly, there were so many other things to do that it was quite easy to fill your time with other things. The breakfast, I ate it once and just let Mr Melons use the rest of the breakfast tickets  (I was satisfied munching on muh carrots for breakfast). The hotel room itself was spacious enough that we weren't stumbling over each other and could have easily slept two or three more people in the room with 3 twin pull out beds/mattresses, air mattress and etc (We had a two queen bedroom). The convenience of the hotel rooms nearby made this entirely worth the money. The food wasn't fantastic but I think the majority of people that went in for the banquet anyways weren't looking for a 4 star gourmet meal anyways so that's fine. The staff of the hotel were still very polite and professional. 

 

Pre-Registration/Classes, Registration, though with a few technical difficulties at first, went by smoothly and professionally. The line was NOT crazy so for people that were worried about getting in on a class, you did not have to worry. Most people lined up about 30 minutes before registration opened and this was maybe 10 people, most of which probably already had their classes anyways. (Also some classes offered more than just 1 spot on the day of the class) Mr Melons and I showed up in line a bit after registration opened and waited a little bit in line and if I had wanted any class for that day, there were still seats available, I was probably number 50 in line. (Rough estimate) SO For people that were turned off by how fast classes went for pre registration on line, you still had good odds at the con. No excuse next year. :P 

 

I sort of wished the tables for classes were square instead of round. This might be an odd thing because the convenience of the middle of the tables for paint sets and teacher supplies is nice, but if you're unfortunate enough to sit on the opposite side of the teacher then it can be a bit hard to hear them. I had this problem in Bailey's class because you really only have a thick blanket of velvet separating your class from the next one over or the painter award area. So if people are loud in the award area, you hear everything they say, if you have a particularly funny teacher next door, you hear everything they joke about and what not. There was a hair dryer at one point, which didn't really even make me mad because that was pretty brilliant thinking on their part. Either way though, the class was great, she gave wonderful advice and pointers and I love how she viewed colors and technique. 

 

The lighting in the classes, which I think is everyone's complaint. I know this is a problem that cannot be easily fixed, thanks to venue size and availability of space/time/organization but for next year, a bit of leeway time needs to be put in between each class for student set up as well. It sort of felt like we were all on top of each other when it became switch out time. I never had a chance to see if there were readily available plug ins so i could use my ottlite for classes. Also, the registration was never entirely clear on what time 1 on 1s started. I asked at the registration and they weren't sure either so I accidentally impeded on Mocha's class thinking we were at the same time. @[email protected] Sorry Mocha. <3. It turns out that     if it says 2 to 4, then the first 1 on 1 is 2 to 3, and the second is 3 to 4. (For future user reference of course) 

 

I think if there was just ten minutes of time between each class, then it leaves time to clean up painting messes before the next class. Sometimes dirty paint water was left, paint stains, palettes and what not were around the table before the next session because they were left behind by people that, I assume weren't being rude by leaving a mess, but didn't want to impede on the next classes time so they bailed. 

 

Open Room/Artists Area/Vendor Area, This was the room you could typically find me and Coporea, Mr Melons, ShadowRaven, and everyone at Corporea's Corner. The tables were the perfect size to fit at least 10 of us at a time to paint, sculpt or just hang out. The artists were lining the opposite wall and were always willing to answer your questions, even if it was something minor that you forgot from your painting skin class. @[email protected] The vendors were on the other side of the room with a nice amount of space to work with so they weren't cramped and you didn't feel cramped while searching their wares. I am bummed that I missed out on Shannon's table though. 'Someone' didn't give a positive answer on whether or not she would be able to set up shop, so most of my funds went to well needed paints and food before I realized that she had a special spot. 

 

The Reaper store was great, Vince is absolutely awesome in helping/finding whatever you need. The other ladies and gents that managed the register or the lovely metal trade in bin of chaos, were polite. It was a lot of fun searching for miniatures in that thing. I now have to try to get enough miniatures/metal to trade in for next year. (I turned in a good 3.2 ounces so I was proud dangit! 

 

Gaming, Gaming. This one is rough. Not in a negative way. As I had mentioned earlier, I was a bit bummed that I didn't get in on a Pathfinder Society game even though we had signed up for it. It filled up VERY fast and we got there exactly on time. Fortunately, Minicannuk was AWESOME, I mean AWESOME enough to wait the extra minute or two from our glazed over convention look to save us two spots for his how the west was eaten. That meant so much to me and I don't even think he knows it. Not only was he awesome for that, but the game was SO MUCH FUN!!!! I didn't get the chance to tell him that on Sunday though, so I hope he sees it here. I know next years theme is different but I would definitely be up for another one of his games. After Dark Fiasco was loads of fun, but is also one of those things that "What happens at reaper con, stays at reaper con, so lets just say that THAT was also A LOT of fun too. 

 

Future Reaper Con Gaming Advice to change: The point of online pre-registering games was sort of lost if you went to the table and other people had already sat there and it was full. Sure, you got the reaper bucks for it, but we had legitimately come to play games too and we were really only able to play three. (We had signed up for at least 2 a day). Pre-registration people, should have been given priority over walk ups via a ticket system or similar. I'm not sure what information is known via the registration computer but it did show that we were banquet attendees so surely for each day we went to get costume bucks we could also get our gaming tickets for the day for our table and time slot. If we went to the desk and decided, nah, we are too hung over, tired, or whatever to play that morning then it's a free slot that opened up. Yes, this would be slightly more work so my idea probably isn't well thought out yet but it's an idea. 

 

The tables weren't numbered.

 

I didn't play Warlord but liked the area it was in. It wasn't in the way and it still left some space to spectate if you wished without bothering the players. 

 

The Gallery, Very nice, I loved the people that worked in here (So many names @[email protected] I just love them okay!!) They were so helpful, they worked so hard to make sure everything was working and that we knew our work were in great hands! I didn't get a chance to thank them when I was leaving so hopefully Kit sees this. Thank you guys so much for your work!!!

 

Sophie Says/Speed Painting, If you guys didn't take part in this, you were missing out! These were great games to just relax....kind of relax, okay no relaxing but to just put paint on a figure while doing silly things. It doesn't have to look pretty, it doesn't have to be perfect, you probably wont even be leaving with the miniature you started with anyways but I found it to be an excellent change of pace for painting. As someone that started painting in September, this game (Sophie Says) Specifically just made me enjoy painting even more because it is something that is fun to do. I focus on making something look pretty or perfect or mixing such and such colors that Sophie Says was a wonderful way to just let loose and put some paint onto something while trying not to paint too much of your neighbors hands. Thank you Lady Storm for running this table!

 

Banquet, I mentioned earlier that the food wasn't spectacular but this too was a nice change of pace from the con. Reaper Ron was awesome, as was his lovely assistant. 

 

Also, just want to say, I haven't been west in a long while and I completely forgot the iced tea/sweet tea thing. @[email protected] Had to add a bit of sugar to muh tea. 

 

 

 

 

We didn't take any pictures. I'm sorry, I did take a picture of the loot when we got home but I'll probably post that to the loot thread later. 

 

This was a fantastic experience and I want to thank Everyone at Reaper for the Con and all the awesome things they do for their fans. I'd also like to thank the seasoned Con goers for making this a great first experience for Mr Melons and I and showing us the way to further our painting, how metal exchange works, back alley trading and just being awesome! 

[Mr Melons]

I second this opinion!

[TaleSpinner]

Argh!  You never stopped by, or if you did and I met you and know you, I don't have a mental link between the real you and the melon you so now it is driving me nuts trying to figure out which you I met is the you I know here. Did that even make sense? 

[Sergeant_Crunch]

I had fun meeting you two. Keep those doggies rollin' while painting someone else's figure with your off hand.

[Mr Melons]

Argh! You never stopped by, or if you did and I met you and know you, I don't have a mental link between the real you and the melon you so now it is driving me nuts trying to figure out which you I met is the you I know here. Did that even make sense?

The wife and I were mostly at Corporea Corner. She was one of the few girls with corsets and the one everyone could recognize as Miss Melons due to her "huuuuuge tracks of land". I was easily identified by simply standing next to her dressed in a brown coat, red bandana, light brown vest, and brown cowboy hat. You could identify her also by looking for the bouncing afro.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Mr Melons

[Notsonoble]

I'll second the comment on games, and add that we missed one because the registration line saturday didn't start processing until our the game we scheduled to be at. Then sunday's game we signed up for, even though it was full, didn't even make because the people running it had packed up. (There may have been a reason, and I can understand it, but to show up to a "scheduled" game and find an empty table was confusing.)

 

Honestly, i'd rather not have a "sign up for game slot" on the website. I liked free roaming of the year before. I did like having a schedule to look at well ahead of time, but the seat sign up thing...

 

Other than that it was a great time. I wish i'd found you guys though. I was looking forward to meeting Shadowraven and Fltadm from the BT boards.

[CashWiley]

Tracts.

 

And yes.

[OneBoot]

What is this "Sophie Says" event that people keep mentioning? I can surmise what it means, but you mentioned not painting your neighbor's hands by accident, so now I'm quite curious...

 

Glad to see that you both had a blast! Looking forward to meeting you both at RC 2015! :D

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

Sophie Says starts out as a speed paint but thing devolve rapidly from there.  Cher (Ladystorm) will randomly give directions for the painters to follow.  Use blue.  Pass the figure to the left.  Use your non-dominant hand.  Stand up and paint.  Hold the figure out to the person on your right for them to paint.  Walk around the table.  Sing Rawhide (rollin, rollin, rollin, keep them paints a flowin).  Combinations of the above.  Fun times.

[Mr Melons]

And just because she gives one direction doesn't mean you stop doing the other so we were standing while painting the mini of the person to our right (still holding our mini to the left), rotating around the table, and quacking like a duck. All of that while in the main area for all to see and hear. Oh, and there are hecklers shouting words of "encouragement" at you.

[JeffyBaby]

Then sunday's game we signed up for, even though it was full, didn't even make because the people running it had packed up. (There may have been a reason, and I can understand it, but to show up to a "scheduled" game and find an empty table was confusing.)

 

I also found this a bit frustrating. Why advertise Sunday, 10 AM, slots for Magnificent 7, Goblin's Night Out, and Eat Reaper Bryan when they clearly packed up the night before or early Sunday morning.

[MiniCannuck]

Hello Melons

 

I just had the chance to read your convention adventures.  I'm glad that you both had a great time and am so glad that you had fun with our game.  You both are wonderful people and I can't wait to get to know you both better as we get some more conventions under our belts.

 

People were so gracious to us regarding the efforts we put into the table that we spent most of our flights home figuring out how to do better for everyone next year.  Right now, Brad had me figuring out how to cast 28mm scale shuttle crafts for his 2 table adventure.  It will have 2 large ships on either table with the shuttles running between the two.

 

... we will keep you posted and will ALWAYS save you a seat!

[CashWiley]

That shuttle idea is genius.

 

I need to stop reading gaming posts, my learning/schmoozing time was already limited without putting gaming into the mix!

[Reaperbryan]

 

Then sunday's game we signed up for, even though it was full, didn't even make because the people running it had packed up. (There may have been a reason, and I can understand it, but to show up to a "scheduled" game and find an empty table was confusing.)

 

I also found this a bit frustrating. Why advertise Sunday, 10 AM, slots for Magnificent 7, Goblin's Night Out, and Eat Reaper Bryan when they clearly packed up the night before or early Sunday morning.

 

The emergency situation where those GMs had to leave was something we, and they,  had not known about until the Con was already in progress.

 

As always, the safety and comfort of our guests - including our GMs is paramount, and it sometimes becomes necessary to modify the schedule on the fly to accommodate these concerns.    

 

While we recognize it was inconvenient, all scheduled agents are subject to change is emergencies or unforeseen situations arise.

[JeffyBaby]

Sorry to hear about the emergency, and hope Tim and crew are okay. I certainly understand unexpected issues come up. Thanks for the update, Bryan.