So Dark the Con of Man

For the last few years, as often as humanly possible, I have made a yearly pilgrimage to Atlanta, Georgia around Labor Day weekend. The reason, of course, is DragonCon. An event, I've best heard described as "Mardi Gras... for dorks". That pretty much sums it up in full.

For anyone who's not familiar with the idea, DragonCon is an ephedrine and vodka fueled weekend where anyone who's into... anything, and come be around other people into things they're into. See below.

Are you into role playing games? DragonCon has a room large enough park the USS South Carolina dedicated exclusivly to tournament style and more casual role playing. The room is filled wall to wall with tables so if you're in actual role playing games or miniatures, there's room for you in the Grand Hall. Looking at now, I can hardly think of a better name for a room that will play host to the innummerable tales of adventure over the long weekend - Grand Hall indeed, Heorot might be a better name, or perhaps Meduseld. Anyway there are scheduled games that are hosted and run by guys and gals who have the DragonCon stamp of approval. RPGA has a big presence there, if you're into that. Of course, there are plenty of tables which are just open to the public for throwing down old skool style. Also people play CCGs, stuff like Diceland, and virtually any other activity that requires a large flat and rigid surface.

There's also a LAN room. This room is less large and you could probably only park a few tractor trailers in it. Because of this, it gets a little cramped and there is usually a line of people waiting for "next" on the next PC that opens up. Even in the wee hours, this room smells of cooking silicon and unwashed nerds. I tend to shy away from it. Much as I like computer games, I can do that at home. At any rate, all weekend long they're running versions of Battlefield 2, Quake, Warcraft 3 and anything else that can accomdate 20 to 30 PC players at a time.

The real reason to go to DragonCon, -in fact the reason that every person should go to DragonCon at least once in their life, even if everything I've said up to this point has been complete jibberish- is just the sheer spectacle of it. As you can see not everything is sci-fi or fantasy related, granted most of it is, but there are plenty of cinema TV and generally humor offerings. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so hang on while I drop about one-hundred grand worth on you. (I'll try to keep these safe for work but no promises.)

Costumes range from really quite good to über-lame. Seriously, is that guy even trying? There are Jones's and Stormtroopers galore, often with a few clever twists on old themes. There are lots of video game and movie costumes; comics book characters and anime costumes tend to be the most popular though.

As is probably already apparent, many con-goers (usually of the female variety) use the long weekend as a perfectly good excuse to go about half-naked. No seriously, a lot of them do. That's... that's the part that's probably not work safe. So, uh, don't get canned or anything on my account. The girls' costumes range from damned accurate to less specific and generally themed to not-so-much-a-costume-as-some lingerie and electrical tape.

As such, the way at DragonCon is fraught with peril. You must always be alert as you walk around at these events, lest you end up like this guy. Poor bastard. Being a lech is one thing, having it immortalized on the internet for all time is quite another.

Anyway, I'm already looking forward to the trip this year. God willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll be there with bells on - Rebecca, possibly in less. We are already starting to make plans to get people there, this will be my third year to go to these hallowed grounds. Rebecca and others that we may be dragging along will be popping their DragonCon cherries. I remember my first time. Mmmm-mmmm.

So far costume ideas for me are George Lucas and Gordon "The Free Man" Freeman. We'll see how that goes. Updates as they come.

-Kroy has gone offline


The Father Hen will call his chickens home