Baycon 2012 – 30th Anniversary – Day 1

Baycon, a Sci-fi/Fantasy Convention hosted in Santa Clara, was a fun affair over the course of memorial day weekend. This years featured guest of honor was Brandon Sanderson, the person chosen to succeed Robert Jordan in completing the “Wheel of Time” series. While it seems to be a slightly smaller convention, it still has been around for 30 years now.

GameShampoo arrived at the Convention around 2 pm. We proceed to greet each other and talk some about our coming plans. It was good to have the banter of us around again. It always seems too long between the gatherings of the writers of GameShampoo. We all talked some about our assigned games and prepared in general for our panel. We got the order set and made sure that everything was in order for the panel itself.

Once we were ready for the panel itself, we had some time to wander the convention itself. At a convention there are a few things to do around them. The biggest things though, for us, are to spend our time in the Dealer's Room and the Game Room. More than anything, we found ourselves walking around the Dealer Room, enjoying the scene and talking with a number of vendors. It was also immediately apparent to all of us that there was something to collect here: ribbons. It remained an enigma for this day, it would only be later that any of us could learn more about these ribbons and the small degree of obsession found around them at this convention.

After burning virtually all our free time beforehand on the dealer's room, we made the short walk from the dealer's room over to our panel room. Tech got there just as our panel was scheduled to start. We all milled about the front of the room and talked amongst ourselves as things were set up.

With the projector set up we were ready for the panel itself. At this point, all our preparations showed. Ron would run a trail for the game and then the writer would speak on their assigned game. Nick covered Diablo 3 and Mist of Pandaria, Eric talked on Prototype 2, Mass Effect 3 and Starhawk , Ron talked on Star Wars the Old Republic and Skyrim while I talked on Borderlands 2 and Guild Wars 2. We got a few questions on each game as they were discussed and most were very solid ones that helped  further the panel or just opened up a new venue of conversation. Everyone was as well versed in their games as one could expect, very well to exceptional.

Definitely, in the future, it would be best to go for a less formal tone around the panel itself. It would have been nice to have opened up the floor more, but it was easier to get through the games we wanted to talk about. Still, it was an experience to have and one we were happy for.

After the panel we went our separate ways. Eric and Ron left the convention after exploring it some more. Just after that Nick and I parted ways after I showed him to the Game Room. I went on to explore more of the convention and talk with a few people. There were plenty of people to talk with as I wandered the floors.

The final part of the night was spent in the Game Room with Nick. We set into a wonderful game of Cards Against Humanity. It was here much of the night passed until the small hours of the mornings. It was time to finish the day and retire.Baycon 2012 – 30th Anniversary – Day 1

Baycon, a Sci-fi/Fantasy Convention hosted in Santa Clara, was a fun affair over the course of memorial day weekend. This years featured guest of honor was Brandon Sanderson, the person chosen to succeed Robert Jordan in completing the “Wheel of Time” series. While it seems to be a slightly smaller convention, it still has been around for 30 years now.

GameShampoo arrived at the Convention around 2 pm. We proceed to greet each other and talk some about our coming plans. It was good to have the banter of us around again. It always seems too long between the gatherings of the writers of GameShampoo. We all talked some about our assigned games and prepared in general for our panel. We got the order set and made sure that everything was in order for the panel itself.

Once we were ready for the panel itself, we had some time to wander the convention itself. At a convention there are a few things to do around them. The biggest things though, for us, are to spend our time in the Dealer's Room and the Game Room. More than anything, we found ourselves walking around the Dealer Room, enjoying the scene and talking with a number of vendors. It was also immediately apparent to all of us that there was something to collect here: ribbons. It remained an enigma for this day, it would only be later that any of us could learn more about these ribbons and the small degree of obsession found around them at this convention.

After burning virtually all our free time beforehand on the dealer's room, we made the short walk from the dealer's room over to our panel room. Tech got there just as our panel was scheduled to start. We all milled about the front of the room and talked amongst ourselves as things were set up.

With the projector set up we were ready for the panel itself. At this point, all our preparations showed. Ron would run a trail for the game and then the writer would speak on their assigned game. Nick covered Diablo 3 and Mist of Pandaria, Eric talked on Prototype 2, Mass Effect 3 and Starhawk , Ron talked on Star Wars the Old Republic and Skyrim while I talked on Borderlands 2 and Guild Wars 2. We got a few questions on each game as they were discussed and most were very solid ones that helped  further the panel or just opened up a new venue of conversation. Everyone was as well versed in their games as one could expect, very well to exceptional.

Definitely, in the future, it would be best to go for a less formal tone around the panel itself. It would have been nice to have opened up the floor more, but it was easier to get through the games we wanted to talk about. Still, it was an experience to have and one we were happy for.

After the panel we went our separate ways. Eric and Ron left the convention after exploring it some more. Just after that Nick and I parted ways after I showed him to the Game Room. I went on to explore more of the convention and talk with a few people. There were plenty of people to talk with as I wandered the floors.

The final part of the night was spent in the Game Room with Nick. We set into a wonderful game of Cards Against Humanity. It was here much of the night passed until the small hours of the mornings. It was time to finish the day and retire.