Wednesday Knights Blog

I just got back from Fear the Con and had a great time. I recommend this convention to anyone who can make it. You might ask me why I recommend it. I have a few reasons:

• The attendees are great. I am not an active forum user and I went by myself. Thus, I was a little concerned about not knowing anyone. This turned out to be no problem. I met very nice people from the beginning. Plus, the con is small enough that I ran into those people multiple times.
• World Wide Wing Night. On the Thursday evening before the convention, the con hosts a gathering called World Wide Wing night. It has appetizers (including wings) plus a cash bar. This a great mixer and a perfect opportunity to meet people that you will be gaming with over the next couple of days. Best of all, the cost for this (not counting your alcohol, are included in the convention fee).
• Free beer and soda. The convention takes place at Memorial Hall in Blanchette Park. As part of the convention fee, attendees get free beer (they had both a light and a dark beer on tap) and soda for the weekend (or while supplies last). From my observation, the beer and soda lasted the weekend. This is a great bonus and cuts out a lot of the costs of attending most conventions. Plus, the people dispensing the drinks gladly filled my water bottle with ice water.
• The food. One of the biggest complaints that  I hate about any convention is that the food available is usually not very good and it’s overpriced. At Fear the Con, the food is provided by ladies associated with the Fear the Boot community. This means a couple of things. First the food is good. Some of the food was fairly standard (e.g. hamburgers), but some of the other food (such as the homemade chili, homemade carmelitas, and homemade buttercream frosting on cupcakes) was absolutely delicious. Also, the food was reasonably priced.
• Table side service. This is part of the food, but I wanted to break it up. At the beginning of the day, the ladies in the kitchen distributed menus to each table. If you wanted something to eat, you simply completed a menu, and handed it, along with your money, to one of the circulating kitchen staff. They then returned with your change and the food that you ordered. This makes it very easy to keep gaming and keep fed at the same time.
• The schedule. The way the convention is set up, there is a session from 10:30 to 2. Then there is a 2 hour break. The next session starts at 4, and the last session starts at 8. Although this means gaming goes late (I didn’t get back to my hotel room until 12:30 each night). However, this is not a big deal, because I could sleep in in the morning. During the 2 hour break on Friday, Mikey Mason performed. On Saturday, there was a live Fear the Boot recording.
• Mikey Mason. This guy is hilarious. He performed a geeky, music-filled stand up comedic show on Friday. The show was hilarious and very entertaining. There a few things as fun as singing along with a roomful of geeks to She Don’t Like Firefly. If you don’t know what I am talking about, check out the video below.