Final Words
GenCon is one of the few places I go primarily to meet old friends (WorldCon and WindyCon are two of the others). This year I was fortunate in seeing Mike Stackpole (but not Liz, alas) again, even if we never did get together longer than a few minutes; David Honigsburg, with whom I had the best dinner of the convention; Alan Grimes, unfortunately stuck inside the TSR information booth; all of the Amber people: Erick Wujcik, Carol Dodd, Michelle Spainhauer, Felicia and Mike Sutton, and John Speck; artists Ruth Thompson (a wonderful person), Robin Woods, and Heather Bruton and Diana Harlan Stein (both old friends); old comrades in arms like the Hero Games crew and the Hero Auxilliary Corps, since I’ve been running Champions games since they first started publishing them: Bruce Harlick, Steve Peterson, Sue Grau (the “Grand Poo-Bah” of HAC), and Brian Grau; friends from the pages of Alarums & Excursions who make up the unregarded second tier of gaming professionals: Spike Y Jones (writer and editor at AH, with his wife Mary and new child), “Doc” Cross (the Toon-meister himself and star of his own card in the “Over the Edge” CCG) and Rob Heinsoo (now working on Shadowfist and Feng Shui); and surprises like Mark Rein*Hagen, who recognized me from Alarums & Excursions (something I was not expecting but was very pleased to have happen) and Tim Zahn (I remember him from his early days when he lived in Champaign, Illinois, and could attend Midwest conventions, but since he’s a Big Name Author and moved on the West Coast I’ve only seen him twice, both times at GenCon).
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