SOE Fan Faire: What Really Goes On? Part 2

by: Tony "RadarX" Jones

Fan Faire Begins

The butt crack of dawn, and I'm awoken by stirring. Apparently SOME people can't sleep with any light in the room, so no big deal, I'll just get up. I take a step, but am frozen in place, and unable to move. I realize that Coyote has adjusted the room temperature to his native environment of Antarctica. Moving my way past the penguins, I throw the polar bears out of my bathtub, and yell to Coyote he better have pants on when I get back.

Time for some eating goodness. We wander down and grab a sandwich really fast. Coyote orders the sandwich that "is smiling at him." I give him an odd look before realizing I think my sandwich is smiling at me too. We say hello to people we met last night, whose names I can't remember. It's always pleasant to say "Heyyyyyyyyy" because you have no idea what to call them. I do remember Adrian (*sigh* ok Kiara reminded me her name) but everyone else was just "that guy."

Downstairs we head to the events. I break off from Kiara and Coyote (who I found out later would be screaming my name looking for me) to head upstairs and check out the Live Quest. Joel has done an amazing job with it, and tons of people are participating. While I didn't participate myself I do know that someone drew a "?" on a piece of paper and taped it to the floor. Someone actually picked it up too.

Nap time! Ok, nap time for everyone else. I had this "work" thing I was doing. After Coyote wakes up screaming about "Charlie in the wire!" and "Incoming Rounds!" we head down to the Gameplay discussion forum. I will admit upfront, there were some really great questions about the death penalty, etc... However, there were some really dumb questions as well. Whoever asked the Templar vs Fury question? I couldn't throw anything because all I had was my recorder but I was thinking about it. In the spirit of a Maj'Dul quest, I did put a cobra in your luggage.  Betrayal at all levels was also discussed in this session. How do I know that? Simply because, Kiara punched me as soon as I told her I knew that already. Then she grabbed Mawie's crowbar and beat me with it. Apparently not telling her this information was detrimental to my health.

Kiara got too excited, and decided to go to the lobby and read while Coyote and I toughed out another session. We talked to the always awesome Aggro Me during the break and I listened to them debate the humor of the EQ2 Gnomes. I made a note to shoot Coyote in his sleep. We stayed for part of the next session but most of the questions were a rehash of what I had already heard in the summit so we made our way back up to the lobby.

Like angry beasts, Coyote and Kiara demanded caffeine. Instead of the traditional popping of 12 Bawls mints, they wanted it in "liquid" form which means coffee. Guh. Coyote ordered a mixture that I've only seen made in a Doctor Jekyll/Mr. Hyde movie. I don't quite understand the terminology like "quad shot," and "10 shots of caramel" but judging by the "Are you sure?" look on the employees face, I could tell it was unusual. After being reassured, and being given back the signed liability waivers, he donned a hazmat suit and made his way to the back. The lights dimmed as the nuclear reactor warmed up, and the employee reappeared holding tongs to support the drink.

As we sat down, I listen to Coyote chew his drink. He seemed to enjoy it, although he did keep mumbling something about being able to outdo Kitty Pryde. Kiara got lovely chai tea latte which I of course ridiculed because we all KNOW that tea should have ice in it. It was a sissified, girly drink that she let me have a sip of. It tasted like I was sucking on pureed potpourri and I could feel the testasterone leaving my body. *sob* I liked it.

The Night

There is a welcome reception in a few hours, so we get cleaned up and decide to grab dinner because we don't want to be hungry. Everyone is hyped about Chinese food. I'm not a huge Chinese food fan myself because I don't like how China makes their PC parts. No, it doesn't make sense to me either. We wander around and find a lovely restaraunt. Coyote and I realize we were both raised with the same manners, and this provides for some awkward "Oh you got the door? I mean, no I got it? No you? Me? You?" moments.

Apparently the delicacies of this restaraunt didn't appeal to the trained palate of our group so instead of eating....guh we wandered around to find another place to eat. At least we weren't going to be stuck eating at Hooters again. A few minutes later, as I sat down at Hooters, I realized maybe I could eat something different this time. The meal passed without incident unless you consider the fried chicken feather on Coyote's wing plate. He consumed it like it was candy.

We head back to the hotel to the reception at which they were serving food for. We consoled ourselves by not eating any of the delicious food they served. That showed them. I had to run upstairs but I heard that Coyote got a little out of hand down there. Something about streaking through the room, or starting fires. We get cleaned up and its time to head to the Historical Tabernacle. This was of course a historical field trip invovling live music, and more importantly for my guildmates, an open bar.

We form up a wolfpack and make our way through downtown to the Tabernacle. Nobody thought to bring a GPS locator and the SWG Mod Garva has the only treasure map we are using. Blindly, we follow him past many homeless people. One asked me for $0.13 cents. I almost stopped just because I've never been asked for such a specific amount before. I later realized this was a quest NPC so when he accosted me on the way back I made sure to hail him.

I don't expect any issues with Coyote tonight, because he promised he wouldn't drink. He keeps that promise about 5 minutes after we walk in before he makes his way to the bar. We settle down to watch the live band perform. It was interesting. I'm positive I recognized at least one or two of the songs they played. We moved downstairs to the karaoke next and listened to a number of performers including Gallenite and Kat. I'm pretty sure Gallenite did the Black Crows which was a favorite band of mine growing up. Did I mention I liked Gallenite recently? 

I chatted with Cynabane, Aggro Me, Lotus, Glendral and tons of other people.  Mainly, I made fun of Coyote for getting a little too friendly with the men.  I'm feeling wiped, so I make my way back to the hotel and crash.  Coyote staggers in, proceeds to post how he is not drunk on the forums and provides interesting insight into leprechauns.  When he finally manages to stand, he leaves for a room party.  I do a little bit of work and get some rest.

The Final Day

Dawn...again. Apparently sleeping past sunrise is illegal in Georgia, so I sit up once again in a subzero hotel room. The good news is, the soda on the nightstand is still cold. The bad news is, the penguins drank most of it. Coyote seems...well no less hungover so being the sympathetic guy I am, I immediately show him pictures of what he did the night before. He seems only vaguely embarassed so we get dressed and go to pick up some breakfast.

We head down to the Fan Faire area as Coyote rambles something about a Larry Elmore imposter. I remember Kendricke mentioning him on Thursday, but only vaguely. I remember Coyote stopping and drooling a little, but walked on looking to talk to a few other people. As Kiara and I make our way to Tallika and Tonguu I see this child come flying up behind me grabbing me by the shoulder. I instinctively wheel around to give it a backhand but it turns out to be Coyote. 

Seeing my "Dude, what?" look he immediately begins to explain that Larry Elmore is over at a table.  I once again acknowledged that I knew that, and turned to walk towards some guildamates.  What happened next, was a little bit of a blur.  I think he pulled some ninja/WWF move on me and before I knew it,  I was on the ground.   He growled that we're GOING to interview Elmore, and not wanting to soil myself, I quickly agreed.

We meander over to the table where this older gentleman is trying to eat his ham and cheese croissant.   I look around the table, and hey...some of this does look familiar.  Over there was some cover art for a book I loved as a kid, and is that the cover art for one of the EQ expansion boxes?   Holy crap, this guy is the artist who does all this stuff.   I politely ask him if I could arrange an interview with him, and he agrees to do it right then and there.  I look to Coyote to start out, being this is apparently a hero to him, but all that comes out is "Buh...Buh..."  Feeling bad for him, I get the ball rolling.  

We listen for 20 minutes and Mr. Elmore discusses his work and his experiences with Dragonlance, EQ, and other types of art.   Coyote eventually formulates coherent phrases and begins to ask him a series of technical questions that only a true Dragonlance fan could ask.  Satisfied with the interview, and feeling guilty for interrupting his breakfast, I stun Coyote with a blow to the back of the neck and drag him away.

The Time is Near

We head back upstairs and are sitting in Coyote's and my room chatting.   They are chatting, I actually fall asleep.  Eventually, everyone fans out for the afternoon.  I run downstairs with Tallika to sit in a tradeskill discussion panel, which....was actually interesting.  There are a number of changes coming to tradeskills, and it'll be nice to see Beghn have a few moral victories.

I leave the discussion panel one or two minutes early, and run down to the end of the silent auction.  They are auctioning off server banners, and a few other decorations put out during Fan Faire.  I quickly bid with a few minutes remaining on the item I want and stand around as Brenlo ushers everyone through like cattle.   I win my item happily, and sneak back up to the final session. 

Only a few hours before the banquet.  Coyote and I are fairly wrecked, so we make some very simple plans to hang out after the banquet and avoid the vodka (he actually did this time).  Kiara disappears for a bit, and Coyote and I get ready for dinner.  Eventually we all meet up downstairs near a white Power Ranger....I mean monk (it wasn't a bad costume) waiting  for the banquet to begin.   As the doors open everyone piles in, going every different direction possible.  Kiara dashes off somewhere, so it's just me, Coyote, and Tallika.  We decide to grab a table and start marking spots for people.  This went fine, after I explained to Coyote that he wasn't doing what I meant by marking spots.

As we corrall people back to the table, we see Kiara's ingenious plan.   This utter sweetheart of a woman disappeared, to ask Larry Elmore to join us at the banquet table, knowing it would be a dream for Coyote.  We listen to stories of his life, and the people his worked with. He was just a great story teller and overall charming guy.  It was noisy, and there were numerous conversation going on so I wasn't able to listen as much as I liked to.  What I heard though was very entertaining.

The dinner itself, was barbecue meat, and you can't go wrong with that.  Brenlo talks for awhile and has a dance contest, talk like a pirate contest, and basically gives away a ton of stuff.   Tallika wins an iPod for participating in the PvE tournament, and Coyote beats out the huge pirate supporter Blackguard using a Firefly quote in a pirate voice.  The DJ begins spinning music and we continue talking.  A couple of the Devs we talk to on occassion stop by and chat with us, which is always cool.  Saavedra going "DUDE! DUUUUUDE!" for reasons I'm not going into, amuse everyone.  Eventually, like the last episode of Firefly, the banquet ends sadly.   The DJ spins some music, we chat with Elmore, but as the night grows shorter we eventually head back to our room for sleep.

The Goodbyes

Bah...I hate goodbyes.  I hate them more than my pink armor and today I was going to have to make a bunch.

Today was different!  We didn't wake up at dawn.  We woke up before dawn.  We watch a little TV, and I chip away the ice on my luggage so I can start packing up.   I won't go into all the goodbyes, because it's depressing, and that hug Coyote gave me was a little uncomfortable after he got grabby a few nights earlier.  After spending a few more minutes, I take him to the airport and say my goodbyes.  I drive out of Atlanta absolutely exhausted.   I found a neat trick though, that helps with road fatigue.  You drink 4 cans of Amp energy drink within an hour.    There are some side effects such as screaming like Beavis at other cars, and rambling to yourself, but overall I was good most of the trip. 

The trip, was amazing.  I had one of the best times of my life and I'm very thankful I could go.  SOE put on a great show, and if you haven't been to one, make plans for next years.