MADMANMIKE's review

[MADMANMIKE]

OPEN HOUSE ought-seven

..Back in November I was getting excited. That was when we picked what weeks we wanted for vacation this year at work, and I managed to get every week I wanted. The first was naturally the week of the Open House. I was going to ride up with Warwolf and attend the then-secret Freelancer Night, and finally bring my unfinished proposals to Kev. I was on top of the world.

..And then like an absurdly fragile over-sized egg on a wall, my world came crashing down. On January 15th I lost my job. I spent five weeks on unemployment, making less than half what I had been before. When I finally got my new job at Schwan's, I knew I wouldn't get a vacation until next year, so there was no way I could go to the Freelancer night. But although it was going to be extremely difficult to find the money to go, I told my new boss when he hired me that I needed a four day weekend at the first of May.

..Bound and determined to get there, we scrimped and saved every penny so I could go. Because my new job had me working through dinner, and I didn't want to waste any of my money, I ended up losing nearly twenty pounds over the two and a half months between.

..I work fourteen hours a day, five days a week. Every weekend my friend Mike Julian (Dhiekohtimyst Prieto to those who saw his nametag) would come over and we would work on my costume. It only took one weekend to accept that we didn't have the time or the materials to build the Deadboy Armor I had intended, so we vowed to work on that over the course of the next year and have it ready for Open House ought-eight.

..So really I've lived and breathed Open House most of my free time for the past three months.

..I was not disappointed in the results. This year was even better than last. It looked to me that there were even more people than before, and like the first time, it was just a big family reunion. As most of you know, I have Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological difference that is at the heart of "nerd-dom" and the source of my former social ineptness. Last year I almost backed out on going because of my difficulty with crowds, but Xar, who I only knew from a few play by post games I'd run a few years ago, convinced me to go. We met up with Heather and Tony, Star Dust and ErykStormbright, and switched back and forth between the two cars to break the monotony of what turned into a 15 hour drive.

..This year Xar drove his van, Heather and Tony brought their brother-in-law Chad (NecroCypher) and we all went up together. At the Ramada we met Derek, aka armorlord, who had driven up on Thursday and who's group had bailed on him so we could further split the cost of our room to four people instead of just three. After getting settled I took my laptop to the lobby where I could get on the free wireless internet connection and perused the boards for a bit before settling down to finish a Ley-Line Walker for Pete, aka GrandPalladin, who's hard drive had crashed a few days ago. After a while several Palladiphiles arrived and a few sat down to chat, including Carmen Bellaire. We sat and chatted until 4:30AM Detroit time, when we were all starting to nod off despite the electricity in the air.

..Saturday came and despite the long wait at the door to sign up for games, we had a good time. This year I pulled out my RIFTS UE and went to everyone I could find to get them to sign it. Not just the Freelancers and staff, but EVERYONE. I'm sure I missed a few, but the front two pages of my book are filled with sigs. And so many of them said the same thing; "Me? But I'm nobody."

..Everybody is somebody at Palladium Books.

..The Costume Contest was a bit sore for me. I had my Crazy plugs in all day, but the adhesive I used kept failing and they kept falling off. We went back to the Ramada to finish Grand Palladin's game and lost track of time, then I made a couple of wrong turns on the way back. We got there and Xar was inside trying to stall everything so I could get the rest of the costume together, and as I walked in I realized it wasn't going to stick. Still, Kev put out the last call and I marched in and posed for the crowd, then impressed everyone with my Magic Axe. If I was a Crazy and I could have one cool feature on my Magic Battle Axe, what would it be? Bubbles. As I walked out of the limelight the costume literally started to disintegrate, with the straps coming undone and plugs fallling off my head. I guess the bubbles were more impressive than I thought since they gave me second place in RIFTS.

..A little later that evening Carmen invited me to his overnight game at the Ramada, and I gladly accepted the invitation, but before I went there we all had a light dinner at Denny's with the Freelancer crowd. When I finally got to the game it was already in progress, so I picked the first character that jumped out at me (made for RIFTS Rapa Nui), Oscar, Lord of the Garbage, a vagabond. Between trying to trade up with my candy and playing off a failed Lore: Demon and Monsters roll with tales of the Chupacabra, I think I played the character well and brought a new energy to the game. Thankfully when I started nodding off from pure exhaustion Carmen gave me an out and let me get killed by the monster in the game.

..I laid down on the floor and took a cat nap while the game finished.

..Sunday I played in ErykStormbright's Palladium Fantasy game, but it was going slow and we were starting to run into other game times, so we agreed to continue the game back at the Ramada that evening. Xar and I then jumped into Julius Rosenstein's game and it ended up lasting until 7PM, just before which we finished gathering up all the chairs and tables and tidied up.

..We headed back to the Ramada and then up to ApocalypseZero and Illyana's room to continue ErykStormbright's game all night with them and a host of others, including Carmen Bellaire, who thankfully had a mind mage who herded us all in the right direction. Thankfully my friend Julian turned in early to get some good sleep, since we left less than two hours after we finished gaming. Everyone dozed until around noon while he and Xar switched back and forth driving. We were back to my house by 2:30 Central, and relaxed a bit with some cold soda's and battercrisp cod.

..So thanks to everyone for a great time and I look forward to seeing you all again next year! Maybe by then I'll have a game to run myself.

-Mike <8]

[Kythis]

I loved the recap. Enjoyed talking and just hanging out with everyone. THERE'S ONLY 1 PROBLEM.
you left out the one HORRIBLY AND DISGUSTING THING ABOUT THE WHOLE OCCASION.

IT HAD TO END!

WHY WHY DID IT HAVE TO END!!!!!!!!!

[Lord_Dalgard]

Chello!

Dude, it was the accessories, not just the bubbles, that won the 2nd place for you....a mock up of a NG Ion pistol...magic Axe with bubbles...gas mask with tinted goggles...the whole camo outfit...you looked like a frickin' Crazy that just stepped out of the wilds. and as far as I could tell, you only lost 1 stud on the way in...so it threw the "aestethics" off...so what? MOM implants don't have to be balanced...that's the point...!

Tony

[MADMANMIKE]

..The straps on the holsters collapsed as I walked back into the crowd sending them crashing to the floor, and the mask was biting into my face putting preasure on my already taxed sinuses. I seriously didn't expect to get anything out of it, let alone second place.

..One gun was a NERF Maverick repainted with the scope off of the NERF Longshot; I thought it looked pretty close to a Naruni Plasma Cartridge Pistol; The other gun was a $1.00 squirt gun from Wal-Mart that I spray painted sliver and then detailed with brown and black model paint.

..The Axe was a $1.50 Bubble Baton from Dollar General with the axe head off a halloween battleaxe that I think goes for around $2.00, but I found the head on the street in front of one of my customers houses. A little spray paint and viola.

..The goggles I bought at a gas station, the mask was a halloween hockey mask with the top cut off, a couple of Ibuprofren bottles attached to the face and black spray-paint, and the cloth portion was actually a Medium Childes tank top pulled up under the mask to give a bit of environmental protection.

..As I saw it, the uniform plugs were a top of the line M.O.M. system from the best shop in Kingsdale, where-as the random plugs were a standarty Old Bones Chop Shop hack job.

-Mike <8]

[Warwolf]

Yeah, still wish you could have come with. Freelancer Thursday and VIP Friday were awesome, though they passed by too fast (just like the rest of the weekend).

Oh well, I heard rumblings of another BBQ this year... you know I'll be there. Heck, maybe we can all actually do some gaming this year.

[Xar]

Oh well, I heard rumblings of another BBQ this year... you know I'll be there. Heck, maybe we can all actually do some gaming this year.

hmmm

*google-fu*

Cogcon 2007

[Warwolf]

Oh well, I heard rumblings of another BBQ this year... you know I'll be there. Heck, maybe we can all actually do some gaming this year.

hmmm

*google-fu*

Cogcon 2007

I was actually referring to gaming at the BBQ, though CogCon is on my schedule. I just hope I can swing it.

[Eryk Stormbright]

Oh well, I heard rumblings of another BBQ this year... you know I'll be there. Heck, maybe we can all actually do some gaming this year.

hmmm

*google-fu*

Cogcon 2007

I was actually referring to gaming at the BBQ, though CogCon is on my schedule. I just hope I can swing it.

well if at all possable, me and Heather want to hit CogCon this year too, we missed it lastyear because of money issues But.. with any luck the Goddess will smile and we'll be able to hit it this year. and Yes.. about the BBQ, we Have to have at least one game that day

[Subjugator]

..We headed back to the Ramada and then up to ApocalypseZero and Illyana's room...

*cough*

At that point it was actually my room.

*grin*



/Sub

[Xar]

lol

I didn't know whose it was, I just followed the people with the books and dice.

[Warwolf]

well, i plan on going to cogcon this year, wolf, so you can ride with me if you want. assuming my truck hasnt 'sploded by then

Well, I'm hoping to have a newer ride by then, so we'll just have to see which one is in better condition at the time. Either way, we save gas.