Patwoman Returns From Origins

Back from Origins again. Had a good time, though I am pretty well exhausted and was wishing that I had requested Monday off from work, as well.


We ran “All Roads Lead To Perdition” this year. As you remember, it went extremely well at Gen Con last year. This year was even better. All the players did an excellent job and everyone had a good time. Once again, I was in the monster costume (which is hot, let me tell you, and covers me with black crap everywhere it touches me).

Some of our friends from Gamerz showed up and played and did a great job. I’d love to have all those guys play the new game at GenCon this year. That one will be called “Low Plains Drifter.” (Got a western thing going there.)

We did talk to some really great game designers and got to play some new games (T and I had a great time playing “Zombi Isle” with its creator, Josh. Played in about 30 minutes, easy to learn, and very competitive.

Also looking forward to Supernatural RPG release in July. (That’s the word from Jamie Chambers, who also showed me the printer’s copy of the book.) You know I loves me some Winchester Boys.

There were some things, though, that were a little disappointing. Firstly, attendance was down. Way down. Like, no line anywhere, any time. Even at the registration booth on any morning. Even at the line for generic tix.

Also, the registration system apparently screwed up a lot. (Of course this always happens, so no surprises this year, I guess.) The Origins website was down all day today as I tried to check to see how many attended, so I am left to my own estimations. I would say, maybe 10,000 people. Yeah, that’s still respectable, but it’s way down from what they usually do.

Some vendors were conspicuously absent, too. A very empty dealer room. Some had decided that other cons are more profitable. And some, I am told, have just gone under in this economy.

I stopped up at the knitting room, just to say hi, but almost everyone was gone on the LYS field trip. I also didn’t get the message about the Ravelry meetup until after it was over. And then, on top of that… I lost a dpn!!! (Apparently, it escaped through a hole in the bottom of the Starbucks bag I was using for a knitting bag.)

Still, I did have some fuzzy Yarn Bee Highland Thistle and some #13s, so I made a lovely drop-stitch scarf. In total, it took me about an hour and a half, including fringe. This color is called Tweed, btw. (I would've called it Red. But that's just me.)

And I did almost finish The Terror, by Dan Simmons. (Excellent book, btw. Reads very much like the beginning of Frankenstein, but not as boring. Has that ominous, supernatural feeling to it. Characters are very real. But 771 pages! Jeez.)

Oh, and one more thing I found interesting… We were on the 19th floor of the hotel and the windows were covered in spiders. SPIDERS! 19 floors up, in the wind and the rain. And not just one. I counted almost 20 on the bathroom window alone.

Is that normal?