#image from Nerdarchy

[carolinedoesmagic]

More quests and something important happens

I’m sorry for skipping a day, I found myself quite busy. Back to your regularly scheduled mediocre fiction.

A part of me told me that I was hurt, frightened, and most importantly, just a little girl who should give up, but another section of my mind was stronger. I required at least an explanation, and heard a story of age-old wars between the guild and the druids.

‘We only want to make the city better and stronger but whenever we introduce something new, those filthy bastards try to sabotage us. You have no idea how many fires they set on our homes and shops. We would set fire to their forest, but we actually respect nature,’ he spat.

I tried to persuade him, although half-heartedly, already sensing a failure and feeling somewhat swayed by his bias at that point. Seeing the look on my face, he offered a compromise.

‘Tell you what, girlie. I can get you the stone but only if you solve one of our issues.’

I knew that another quest should make me happy - after all, wasn’t that what adventuring was? - but I felt tired more than anything else. I took the detailed description of the important log book that held all of their secrets but went missing and said my goodbyes.

David’s shop was my next stop, and I got an idea on my way there. The kind mage was shocked at the sight of me, but not as mindlessly as the villagers. I briefed him on my daily encounters and told him about the conundrum with the double quest, to which he had a much simpler solution.

‘I can get you the obsidian myself, but for half the profits.’ 

The hero in me was not satisfied by the idea of not solving both issues, so I inquired about a particular spell to help me find the missing book. He switched his demeanor to one of business, telling me that he could perform a ritual that would meet my demands and asking for payment of 10 gold if he were to do that.

I agreed, albeit reluctantly, and watched him perform the spell I remembered from a book I once read. It was supposed to help the caster locate the object by showing them visions of the location, and it included several valuable objects, complete silence, and from the vibrations I sensed in the air, a powerful mage. The very act was much more impressive than the results, which only told me where the missing object WASN'T, which was the entire city, apparently.

‘I’m sorry, Caroline, but it only reaches a certain radius around me. Perhaps I am not powerful enough to help you locate this object. Perhaps it is hidden under spells which mine cannot counter. In either case, this is all I can tell you.’

Trying to hide my disappointment, I went out soon after, murmuring something about it getting dark and promising to return the following day. 

Driven by final shreds of hope, I dropped by the blacksmith's again, sharing what little info I had without getting anything in return. I don’t even think I managed to help them, at least not for real. I dragged my feet back to the inn, feeling like crying not for the first time since I started my adventures.

Returning to my temporary home, I had to state my name and business before being let inside. The inn was close to deserted. The only people inside were the keepers - Ericson, Arin, and the elderly halfling, as well as Trevor, a small party of adventurers, and myself. Everybody seemed busy when I first entered the room, busy with little nothings to distract themselves from the thoughts of what the night could bring. I decided to go to my room and wait it out, but Trevor stopped me in his usual friendly manner. 

We chatted idly for a while, and he made me promise to tell him all about my day later in a feat of such amicability that I almost felt a bit better about life. Perked up by the talk, I went to sit with the party, asking their permission to listen, asking for company, feeling like a child. They astonished me a bit by gladly accepting me to their table, but paid very little heed to me from then onward. I listened to their stories, making a little sound here and there, until they mentioned shadow creatures. All eyes were on me when I gasped, loud in the room full of quiet, unspoken dread. 

The other members scoffed at my interest, but the lady in the group smiled and gave me an abridged version of their encounter with some shadow cultists. The very knowledge of such people made me hopeful that I would be able to learn about my magic after all, and I was itching to continue asking questions, even at the risk of annoying the group. Our talk was, however, interrupted by a scream and beastly sounds coming from the outside.

[mleighsquickspot]

Chimera

Composed of many parts

Hybrid of life, bringer of death

Images of disasters are foretold by your appearance

Monster of myth and legends of old

Echos of distruction, a path pathed in blood

Rise from the ashes, bring about change

Arouse feelings of rejected life thus naked pain

image: Creation of the Golden Chimera – Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition ...Nerdarchy

Let me know what you think and pass the thought along.

[nerdarchy-blog]

Let’s face it — Game Masters can never have enough tools to help make running their D&D games easier. DUNGEONFOG is just one of those tools. The fine folks over at DUNGEONFOG sent us over some copies to check it out and sponsored this article and some videos. They were even nice enough to give us the promo code Nerdarchy so you can score a 10 percent discount on the annual subscription which is already discounted from the monthly subscription. There are a ton of features to help GMs run their games and prepare beautiful maps. Not only that, there are tons of maps already on DUNGEONFOG that you can drop into your games or modify to your needs. Go sign up for free here.

DUNGEONFOG

Online map maker & authoring tool for RPG Game Masters

With the extensive DUNGEONFOG Editor you can draw your RPG tabletop maps with just a few clicks — no more patching up map tiles! Create multi-level dungeons, terrains or entire worlds in an instant. Generate your GM notes automatically and export or print high-resolution images and notes, or send a Fog of War version for your players to your TV or VTT of your choice!

You need battlemaps for your tabletop roleplaying game? With their online map maker you can create dungeons, terrains or multi-story buildings with just a few clicks. DUNGEONFOG offers a modern editor that allows you to draw your map instead of patching it up tile by tile!

Are you usually late on your preparations? DUNGEONFOG is not just a drawing tool! Each room on your map is identified and converted into a descriptive note — including room numbers, description of the walls and floors as well as all contained objects. Each information is editable, downloadable and can also be designed to fit your needs.

Be part of the community! On the map platform you can share your maps with other GMS. Each map is editable and can be customized to fit your needs. Adjust maps to a variety of settings like science fiction, fantasy, or dystopia!

Be a part of the community and exchange maps and notes with other GMs. Through the platform you can browse and clone all public maps to make them your own.  All maps and notes are fully editable and can be customized to your needs.

Many Maps for Game Masters to Choose & Make Their Own

  DUNGEONFOG Editor offers extensive drawing tools, specifically designed to create battle maps for your next game in minutes. DUNGEONFOG pays special attention to the consistency and aesthetics of all components, so you can impress your players with professional maps!

DUNGEOFOG Online Map Editor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=32&v=b98YTsXpfmc

Commerical Licensing — Are you publishing your homebrew campaigns on commercial platforms like the Dungeon Master’s Guild or DriveThruRPG? Get the commercial license now!

Marketplace (coming soon) –-The marketplace is currently in development. Once published, you will have the opportunity to buy and sell new tools, new assets and textures, as well as complete adventures.

I’ve been playing around over on DUNGEONFOG. Here is a D&D map I came up with in like 5 minutes or so.

Screenshot from the export page

Screenshot from the map editor

Now I’ve just begun playing around with this mapping tool. Let me share with you what Nerdarchy Fan Eli A.K.A Elf Bait on YouTube has done with Dungeonfog.

Here is Elf Bait’s Haunted House

Haunted House Basement

Haunted House Main Floor

Haunted House 2nd Floor

Haunted House Attic

Elf Bait also Used Dungeonfog Maps for his Cthulhu Christmas Adventure

To me, using the software feels very much like when I used to draw D&D maps on graph paper back in the day. The only real difference is this is faster and any of the objects I drop into the map look way better than anything I could draw.

This tool is so amazing even our friend Guy over at How to Be a Great Game Master YouTube Channel and the fine folks over at World Anvil are partnered up with DUNGEONFOG, both Nerdarchy friends. This adds another layer of confidence in the product and the people behind it for me personally.

Don’t take my word for it. Go grab your copy over on DUNGEONFOG. At the very least you owe it to yourself to sign up for the free version and see if this is the map tool for you. If you decide to upgrade don’t forget promo code — Nerdarchy — for a 10 percent discount on annual subscriptions.

Get a clearer view of @DungeonFog and double your proficiency with those cartographer's tools for your maps #DnD #RPG Let's face it -- Game Masters can never have enough tools to help make running their D&D games easier.

[nerdarchy-blog]

Hello gamers! Our crate unboxing segments are moving from our video series to a new home here on the website as we shuffle things around to best provide all the things we want to offer between here and the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. Check back every month should you wish to learn of the awesome stuff that comes in that month crate. This time we are unboxing the March 2018 Dungeon Crate.

  March 2018 Dungeon Crate unboxing

From the insert

March is a well-known month for drinking holidays, so we offer a tavern themed crate this month.  Taverns are the best place for adventurers to get the scoop on the local area, find new quests, and settle in for some rest and relaxation. The items in this crate revolve around some of our favorite Halcyon establishments.

Check out the gallery below for some images of the cool stuff included in the March 2018 Dungeon Crate.

The first item is Epic Encounters: Tavern Builder. Normally we get a small folded card with a ready-made encounter to use right away in your fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons game.  However, this is a great insert that you can use to make a tavern. I do a lot of improv as a Dungeon Master and when players want to go to a tavern I struggle at times coming up with a good name. This Tavern Builder card can be a major asset to solving this issue. But it does not stop with a name chart. You have options for an inn, the tavern, a pub, and the dive. You get options for the size of the building, descriptions, notable occupants – even a menu. This is a good get for a DM to use either on the fly or during your prep time to make exactly what you want. I am happy to have something like this to aid in my gaming.

The images that appear on the pint glasses are also available as T-shirts! Click the image to check out the Dungeon Crate shirt shop for these and others. [Art by Dungeon Doodles]

Going along with the tavern theme, the next item is the Etched Steel Tavern Logo Pint Glass. Made by Advanced Deployment and with art by Dungeon Doodles, this glass has one of four design options. I am not sure of what all the options are but the one I received is from the Shady Lady. It is a cool design and I wonder if maybe the Dungeon Crate shop will eventually have for sale all the options so you can collect them all.

If you know anything about Nerdarchist Ted, you know I like miniatures and dice. And the next handful of items are right up my ally. Next are two miniatures from the Reaper Bones line. We get a dwarven brewer and a townsfolk innkeeper. The dwarf stands next to a keg almost as big as he is with some great detail.

The notion that brewing and dwarves go well together is represented in this detailed mini. I am happy to add this to my collection and I am set for the next dwarf I play who specializes in brewing supplies. The innkeeper is another great asset. Maybe not as a player character mini but one that if you want to set the scene and have a combat in the tavern, you have something to represent the barkeeper so those monsters can threaten your NPCs as well as the adventurers.

Minis, check. But I said dice as well and this crate has those as well. You get three in fact. First by GameScience you get a d10. GameScience dice are known for their precision balance and quality. This is number three in a set as we got the d20 and the d12 in the previous two crates so I suspected that this one was coming.  It is cool to be able to get the whole collection over time, really adding extra value to getting the crate every month. But if you missed something there are options.

You know the manufacturer of the thing and if it is not available over at the Dungeon Crate shop you can always check out the GameScience store and get it from them directly. But that is not all for dice. While GameScience is cool these d4s, in my honest opinion, blow them out of the water. I know many people love and are used to the typical triangle “caltrop” d4 but the company Doublesix Dice has made these super amazing d4s that are essentially a 12-sided die marked with one through four, three times each.

For a bit of hilarity, the first one of these I got months ago, also in a Dungeon Crate, was gold with black triangles for pips. It looked really cool, but because it had 12 sides I did not know what it was. Once I figured out what it was it became my favorite d4. From the same company we get two more of this style d4. One is black with gold triangles as pips, while the other is an orangish gold with black swirls as pips. I���m super happy to have more of this awesome style of dice to add to my growing collection.

And the last item in the box, which I would have missed buried in the packaging had it not been for the insert saying what all the items were, is a set of coins. For those of you who do not know, the guy behind Dungeon Crate is a fanatic for coins, so they do not come in every crate but in a bunch of them. These ones are a three piece set from Rare Elements Foundry.

Coins are a great thing to have at the gaming table. They can be cool props for when the adventurers travel to a new land or when they uncover a treasure horde. They can be used as inspiration tokens, or heck, if you ever have the need to roll a d2. Lastly they can be used as atmosphere or roleplaying tools. Your rogue, or any gold-loving character, could constantly fiddle with their coins. Here you have props to provide that sound and help you get into character. You could of course just have them around the table adding to the atmosphere or environment of your gaming table.

So if you think these are cool and want in on the next crate feel free to head over to the Dungeon Crate site. Make sure you use the promo code Nerdarchy to get 10 percent off your first month’s subscription. If you want to check out the store and maybe see what they have from past months you can do that too. You never know what you are going to get.

Thanks for reading and check out this great create service and until next time, stay nerdy!

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Did you enjoy this post? Nerdarchy’s awesome volunteer staff of writers and editors do their best to create engaging, useful and fun content to share. If you like what you find here on our site, consider patronizing us in a good way through Patreon.

On top of reaching our goal of paying our writers, pledging gets you exclusive monthly content for your D&D game, opportunities to game with Nerdarchy, access to patron-only channels on our Discord and more

With your generous support we’ll continue to create quality content between our YouTube channel and blog, invest in equipment to increase recording quality, and eventually create original publications and products to enhance your tabletop role-playing and gaming experience.

Thank you for your consideration and as always, until next time stay nerdy!

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Everything you need to build an epic tavern for your #DnD game in this @Dungeoncrate Hello gamers! Our crate unboxing segments are moving from our video series to a new home here on the website as we shuffle things around to best provide all the things we want to offer between here and the 

[nerdarchy-blog]

Hello adventurers!  Our crate unboxing segments are moving from our video series to a new home here on the website as we shuffle things around to best provide all the things we want to offer between here and the Nerdarchy YouTube channel. This time we are going to do an unboxing of RPG Crate.

March 2018 RPG Crate unboxing

From the insert

The theme for March is War and Conquest! Welcome to month eight of our second season, Adventurers on the Open Road. Tog, a famous cook from The Bloody Bucket learns he has a brother, and with the news also comes rumors of war near Lowcliff.  The adventurers have theor work cut out for them as they try to stop a war that threatens to destroy all of the Tree Rivers Region.

Check out the gallery below for some images of the cool stuff included in the March 2018 RPG Crate

After the insert, which tells you what is in your crate, usually is an awesome T-shirt. And the March 2018 RPG Crate does not disappoint. This one states on the insert: “pay tribute to the one-eyed god, or suffer Flamehammer’s wrath . . .”  This exclusive shirt has an awesome orc, frothing at the mouth in rage and wielding flaming warhammers.

I honestly have no idea how RPG Crate does these great shirts every month. Maybe he has a warlock pact with a T-shirt company. However he does it, it is to our gain as subscribers. Great art that you can wear proudly everywhere you are willing to let your nerd show.

The next item in the box is a Game Master’s screen with an orc encampment ready to go. The artwork that would show towards the player is just awesome, displaying a great battle scene that is just too much to describe it all.

That artwork from the T-shirt is central to the main panel. You get three maps, random encounter tables, random treasure and three awesome magic items. If you are like me and want to GM on the fly this is a great piece to pull out when your players want to hunt some orcs or goblins.

Did I tell you before that I like minis? I probably did. In this RPG Crate you get an Orc Warrior with Runed Axe, from Effincool Miniatures. This is a premier metal mini attached to its own metal base and could be a good representation of an orc or half-orc barbarian.  Maybe you want to paint this guy up really nice and have him for a big bad for a session. Maybe he gets away and you use him again later, stronger and more powerful than before.

“The redblood clan will destroy all that oppose it – no mercy, no quarter!”

Recipe for Adventure

These are handy little cards with one side an already-made encounter and the other a joke recipe for a fantasy food. This one is Goblin Fingers. The cool part here is the adventure helps you get the harder ingredients so you can make the thing and the recipe lets you make actual food in real life.

You can always substitute out the fantasy item. In this case you can use pretzels instead of Goblin fingers. Either way you look at it these handy dandy cards are ready to insert into your game and useful to have as a GM resource.

Keep collecting!

Adventurers on the Open Road

Every month RPG Crate gives out a three part adventure path with great material. Yours truly runs this as a condensed adventure over on YouTube typically the fourth Friday of every month, with a select cast of great roleplayers. When you look at what you get out of these cards it is pretty darn amazing.

Each card typically comes with art on one side and a map on the other. If you attempted to run this adventure and incorporate all of it I would say it probably is a sold 6-8 hours of adventure depending on how much your group roleplays with NPCs and each other. I really like these adventures. They are fun and entertaining to run and typically come with unique monsters each month. Well worth it to have these as even more fleshed out adventures in your GM toolbox. Each month it tells you the recommended number of players and suggested levels.

Lastly, and usually the best is last, this time we get goblins and gnolls. RPG Crate looks like they have a standing relationship with Frog God/Necromancer Games as each month you get one of their great products, in soft cover or sometimes in hardcover. This one is a 36-page soft cover book.

This book contains an entire adventure called Death in the Painted Canyons. Maps and interior artwork are all black and white but still offer a great presentation. I am not going to spoil the adventure here, so you want to know more you will have to get your own book either from RPG Crate or from Frog God Games themselves. Nerdarchy has an exclusive promo code for the Frog God Games store, available twice per user. STAY-NERDY-30 gives you a 30 percent discount on anything in the store.

When you sign up for RPG Crate over at rpgcrate.com you can even get past crates and great stuff in their store. Make sure you use NerdarchyRPGCrate during check out to get 10 percent off your first month’s subscription.

Thanks for reading and checking this out.

Until next time, stay nerdy!

Like this?

Did you enjoy this post? Nerdarchy’s awesome volunteer staff of writers and editors do their best to create engaging, useful and fun content to share. If you like what you find here on our site, consider patronizing us in a good way through Patreon.

On top of reaching our goal of paying our writers, pledging gets you exclusive monthly content for your D&D game, opportunities to game with Nerdarchy, access to patron-only channels on our Discord and more

With your generous support we’ll continue to create quality content between our YouTube channel and blog, invest in equipment to increase recording quality, and eventually create original publications and products to enhance your tabletop role-playing and gaming experience.

Thank you for your consideration and as always, until next time stay nerdy!

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War and Conquest delivered right to your castle door from @RPGCrate Hello adventurers!  Our crate unboxing segments are moving from our video series to a new home here on the website as we shuffle things around to best provide all the things we want to offer between here and the…

[nerdarchy-blog]

The art of collaborative adventure design

The art of collaborative adventure design

Taking a break from the usual musings on nurturing a tabletop gaming habit amidst the time demands of busy adult lives, this week I’d like to share some insider thoughts on a Nerdarchy project I’m involved with. “Floshar’s Fate” (title subject to change) is a free Dungeons & Dragons 5E one-shot adventure in the works from several Nerdarchy writers in honor of Geek & Sunday’s International…

[nerdarchy-blog]

D&D Ideas -- Travel

Have dice, will travel. Advising against being a knight without armor in a savage land though. #DnD

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is travel, and we’ve got a few more new segments including a Product Spotlight from Nerdarchy the Store, an update on our end of the year mega giveaway and changes coming to our content release schedule. Speaking of travel check out the image below from our wildly successful Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition Kickstarter. In…

[nerdarchy-blog]

I filled in for Nerdarchist Dave on one of our weekday live chats a while back when we were doing them regularly, and I got to sit down and have a great conversation with Ben Barsh from Pacesetter Games and Simulation. They have a range of products for a variety of different roleplaying games, but we talked about their Kickstarter and bringing Pasesetter into fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons adventures. You can check out their successful Rise of the Nefarious: A 5th Edition Campaign and and their other 5E adventures on the Pacesetter website.

Pacesetter Games miniatures for 5E D&D

What I wanted to discuss, as you may or may not have guessed, is miniatures. During the chat it came out that while they have material for games they have a sweet line of miniatures in metal and plastic and the list is expected to grow. Ben told me since they make adventures and miniatures, they absolutely have plans to make adventures and miniatures together so that you can hopefully pick up everything you need to run that adventure in one place. To me this is a no-brainer and I can’t wait to see what great things will come from this.

Halloween is right around the corner and this miniature from Pacesetter Games looks like the perfect sort of creepy creature to haunt an adventure.

Pacesetter Game and Simulations was nice enough to send me a sampling of their wonderful products to feed my miniature addiction. Their miniatures span a wide variety of monsters and sizes. You have tiny almirajs as seen in the 5E D&D adventure Tomb of Annihilation, so if you want to have a crazy familiar you can have a cool mini for it. Then you have some massive miniatures to compete with some of the larger Reaper Bones that have come out. The ultimate King of Evil Dragons standing on two legs has five heads so it can be used as your own campaign ending Big Bad, or if you paint it right it could be your Tiamat miniature to crush her enemies

Tsathogga is a massive frog creature sure to swallow enemies of any size. This one is beautifully painted. I will point out that like Reaper, all of these miniatures are supplied unpainted and in some cases assembly might be required. The frog mini could be another Big Bad for your 5E D&D game considering its size. It is a really cool sculpt and like the dragon is a limited number figure. The website does not mention if they will ever print more so if they sell out they may never be available again.

The chaos giant looks like some unique or special ettin and while I do not have one of these — yet — I will certainly acquire one soon as they could be very special boss figure or a great NPC, or maybe both. I love the paint job they have for this one. I wonder how many ideas we could come up with on a miniature like this.

The froghemoth. It is a wonderful creature we have stats for in 5E D&D and can be used in many ways. The formerly Nerdarchist Ryan talked about a culture of bullywugs that worshiped one of these and I think it is a great idea. When food is offered to its godlike entity a tentacle whips out of the muck and snatches the food, and sometimes the bullywug carrying it. In total Toy Story aliens style the bullywug could relish being chosen. Hysterical. The crew discussed the awesome froghemoth in more detail in another video after the release of Volo’s Guide to Monsters too.

The glacial wyrm is big enough to be a serious threat for use as an encounter or a random boss. Spring this mini on your players and they’ll be nervous and worry if they will survive.

There are a number of awesome figures for sale. I like making lists or spreadsheets so I went right away and made my wish list of figures from their collection. I am very happy to have a couple of new golems, some pumpkin men and vegepygmies to assault characters with in upcoming games. I think I can use the vegepygmies and the pumpkin men with the stuff I already have for a nice Halloween adventure in the future.

Jump to their website to check out all their awesome products. And check out the gallery below for some images of a few of my favorite Pacesetter miniatures.

Thanks for reading and until next time, stay nerdy!

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Like this?

Did you enjoy this post? Nerdarchy’s awesome volunteer staff of writers and editors do their best to create engaging, useful and fun content to share. If you like what you find here on our site, consider patronizing us in a good way through Patreon.

On top of reaching our goal of paying our writers, pledging gets you exclusive monthly content for your D&D game, opportunities to game with Nerdarchy, access to patron-only channels on our Discord and more.

With your generous support we’ll continue to create quality content between our YouTube channel and blog, invest in equipment to increase recording quality, and keep creating original publications and products to enhance your tabletop roleplaying and gaming experience.

Thank you for your consideration and as always, until next time stay nerdy!

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For at least one Nerdarchist, awesome new minis inspire new adventures and perils for their #DnD campaign. Halloween is right around the corner... I filled in for Nerdarchist Dave on one of our weekday live chats a while back when we were doing them regularly, and I got to sit down and have a great conversation with Ben Barsh from…

[nerdarchy-blog]

MisCon is my local convention here in Missoula, Montana. All of the common trappings of the small convention are present and, in some cases, exceptional. This is really the thing that not only differentiates MisCon from other small cons but makes it absolutely special among conventions. All of the advantages of a small convention (small crowds) with standout special guests and incredible panels, art shows, and much more.

MisCon is a 4-day celebration of fantasy, science fiction, and horror that takes over the Holiday Inn Missoula Downtown every Memorial Day Weekend.

Nerding out at MisCon

See below for a gallery of images from MisCon 32

Vendor tables packed the interior of a spacious hotel lobby with the entirety of the hotel’s conference and spare rooms taken up by panels and other activities. This con meanders and, as it does so, traces a neat path through the hotel lobby, onto the main floor, straight through the center of the hotel’s restaurant and out the back doors to a wonderfully sunny back field of hardwood trees.

The entire con sits along one bank of the burgeoning Clark Fork River, now skirting its banks with melt water from winter. I have to say, even as the con winds down each evening and the excitement of activities, celebrities, and going over my con budget abate, the incredible surroundings manage to keep me in a state of wonder. It really is four full days of magic.

If you’re savvy you can do what myself and the wife did for MisCon — get those tickets early! Head over to the MisCon website and preregister. Trust me when I say this will shave as much as 20 minutes off getting in the front door. An army of attendees will arrive at the launch of the convention on Friday night and stroll past the massive line straight into the convention, an absolutely wonderful feeling. Pickup for early passes starts Thursday night and continues through the convention, a secondary (good job planning ahead) table is set up for preregistered attendees.

When I attend a convention I look for a few things to fill my time, a quiet space to relax between events, and faces I remember from the prior year. This year I checked all my boxes and managed to not only see lots of familiar faces, and find a wonderful sunny corner to rest in, but found so many entertaining events I often found myself torn between them.

Panels are by far one of my favorite convention forms of entertainment. I would hate for you to think the entirety of this con is any one thing though, so be aware, there’s far more than just panels at MisCon! This year the convention was packed to the gills with writing panels, creative panels, and a variety of other items such as worldbuilding that, while I didn’t make it to them, I would’ve loved to attend. At any one time roughly three panels would be running at the same time, often more. At one point 7 events, many of which I wanted to attend, all ran at once. In an ideal world the con would’ve run for weeks and I would have the free time to attend everything!

Costumes, cosplay, and period dress all made a stop along the way. I would guide you on what the best day is to dress your best but its a bit of a mixed bag. If you’re like me you select only a few days, or even times, to cosplay and leave the rest of the convention as free time where the complications of wearing a costume don’t need to be considered. I know there are those of you out there who stay in costume for entire conventions and I absolutely salute you. I lack your fortitude and respect your perseverance!

Nearly every day of the convention has excellent attendance, except the tail end of Monday as MisCon closes. With greater attendance comes photo ops and that wonderful moment when someone stops you and asks to take your picture. To me this is the payoff for the time and energy I’ve invested into my outfit! I would suggest, if you’re looking to cosplay for only a portion of the convention, at minimum dress for success on Sunday. Sunday is the costume contest, has fantastic attendance, and tends to be a very busy day.

Vendors, oh, so many vendors. Half the vendors I know. I know them from last year and the year before, including some of my friends from Muse Comics, the hometown comic shop. If you’re at the convention and need a few packs or even a box of Magic: The Gathering to run a draft, they have you covered. Forgot your dice on your way to the hotel? Missing a supplement or wanna try out any number of new tabletop experiences? Muse not only carries everything you need on the showroom floor but also caters to requests and can retrieve more inventory from their locally run store. It’s fantastic to have the store manager on hand, always helpful and happy to take special requests from the storefront only 10 minutes away.

This year one of the special treats was spending time with Geek Lolita and Nemesis Gear. Hanging out with these wonderful ladies we collected some of the finest pieces they had available to assemble a grand ensemble for me! All leather, all steampunk or almost “western-punk” (is that a thing??). It was a pleasure to spend time in the booth and talk about the handmade wares. Every piece they sell is made by hand and, holding and inspecting each piece reveals the amount of labor and love dedicated to these masterpieces.

The local Belegarth group spends most of its time in the large riverfront outdoor space of the convention. The foam flies as howling combatants thrash each-other in wild combat. It’s an incredible spectacle to go from happily chatting away with the Rosearik Rikki Simons, the voice actor for GIR on Invader Zim, to armored combatants taking gladiatorial turns in a fighting ring. Anyone interested in participating, learning, or even just watching (what I did) is welcome to join the crowds and take in the show. My mind, watching the melee, half-expected to see some cheapjack bellowing as they passed through the crowd “Place your bets, place your bets here!” If I’d had a few silver to spare I assure you my bet would’ve been placed.

While I could go on and on about the convention the final item I wanted to mention is a special treat of happenstance that only adds to the magic around MisCon — the local farmers market, every Saturday morning. The Missoula farmers market spans a few city blocks and, on a sunny day, is the finest way to spend a morning I can imagine.

After hunting down a parking space my wife and I walked the length of the farmers market, picking up breakfast, coffee, and some fresh vegetables along the way and ended our walk in the middle of the convention. The two events mingle perfectly and literally cross over into each other. Saturday, because of the farmers market, massive attendance and great photo ops has become my favorite convention day. I dress in costume and enjoy strolling around in public dressed as Fitzroy Brumblebottom! My wife, dressed as Princess Peach endures frequent, but enjoyable, distractions as every little girl along our path demands her picture taken with a “real life” princess. I love being a nerd.

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Large or small, it's great to nerd out with friends at conventions like MisCon. @_Kienata_ shares his experiences getting nerdy over Memorial Day weekend. #staynerdy MisCon is my local convention here in Missoula, Montana. All of the common trappings of the small convention are present and, in some cases, exceptional.

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