Ultimate Geek Paradox

I was listening to the This Just In... From GenCon! podcast today when I heard mention of an event that made me think...  There is a couple who is going to be getting married at the con, complete with gamer onlookers.  This presented a quandary:

1.  Stereotypical geeks live in their mother's basements, are male, and are usually overweight due to a diet consisting of, but not limited to, Cheetos, Mountain Dew, and pizza (the bigger, the greasier, the cheaper, the better).
2.  Getting married in a nontraditional setting (a Renaissance Faire, et cetera) would be very geeky.  Marriage at GenCon, arguably Geek Mecca for anyone in the role playing field (my apologies to anyone of the Islamic faith, no offense intended), is like turning up the Geek dial to 11.

Here comes the paradox part...

3.  A geek, who by definition in this limited space, should have difficulty speaking to a female, much less tricking her into marrying him!
4.  She happens to be referred to on the podcast as the "Chainmail Bikini Chick."  This means that she is attractive, and can pull off such a getup.

It took me a few seconds to try to wrap my brain around that, and then I started looking at it in a personal way.  Sure, the two stereotypes don't add up and play nice with each other, but how accurate is a stereotype?  It is based on myopic, antagonistic views of people or issues, and that never tells the whole story.  I mean, I am quite the geek, but I am a well-adjusted, social adult who is married to a beautiful woman, and we definitely don't live in my mother's basement.  I applaud the couple and wish them the best; may you always roll 20s.

Besides, if we all lived in mom's basement, how could anybody afford to go to Indianapolis unescorted and in the bright, bright sunshine?

GenCon Indy 2009 D&D 4e Announcements

This is all gathered from the twitter feed #gencon and I cannot claim any breaking news.  I am just putting it together for us all to see.  Most of this is courtest of @GeeksDreamGirl's twitter feed.

1. DDI subscribers will have 1/3 to 1/2 of PHB3 before it is released.
2. 3D dungeon tiles come in March.
3. Primal Power hits in October.
4. The Underdark book hits in January 2010.
5. Books for each of the races coming at $10 each.
6. Somehow, Gabe & Tycho have been holding out on us -- there is a Player's Strategy Guide coming that has art from them in it.  June 2010.
7. Ravenloft makes its triumphant return, in the form of a board game.
8. Dark Sun is the campaign setting for 2010.  No surprise, with all of the Psionic stuff.  WotC_Rodney can finally announce that he is the lead developer of the project.
   
9. PDFs to return from WotC, in some shape or form.

Adventure Time: The Forgotten Forge

I went to my local FLGS (Pandemonium Games in Garden City, MI) today to run a couple of games with some friends.  The first game was designed to teach one of the people the basics of the game, since he had never played any D&D, not even 4e.  I ran a modified room from the second level from the Dungeon Delve book, using Big Grigbad, a bunch of Goblin Cutters, and 3 of the Decrepit Skeletons reskinned as goblins.  With some difficult terrain, a table to hide behind, and a bubbling cauldron of hot, hot stew, there was something to interact with rather than just a blank room.  That was fun, and it led me to the game I decided to run: w0nkothesane's 4e update of The Forgotten Forge for Eberron.

My party was mixed between first and second level characters and there were five of them.  The adventure was designed for four level one characters, so it was a little easier than it was intended to be.  We didn't get through the whole adventure, but we got to the underground chamber and through the encounter with the beetle swarms.  All in all, it went well.

I didn't have a chance to read through the material first, so I was a little disorganized and scattered.  I have to definitely know the material before I step in and try to be the universe.

Ramping Up Toward GenCon

First, let me say that I wish that I were attending.  I will be listening to the This Just In...Fron GenCon! podcast twice daily, watching my Twitter feed (you can follow me @D_Gibb), and checking a slew of other sites that I will link later.

It physically pained me when I saw a tweet from WolfStar76 that read that more GMs were needed for GenCon and to sign up right away.  If only I had money and were able to take time off of work, I would be there in a heartbeat.

I think that I will be happy with following the coverage and trying to live vicariously through those attending and podcasting/tweeting/posting/twitpiccing about it.

So jealous...