Game-con-on

This weekend M'Lady & I will be in SoCal attending Strategicon's Gateway gaming convention. She will be helping keep the con looking good with the D20 Girls and I will be riding along for shiggles.
Although I don't normally attend gaming cons I do hope to change that. I'm looking forward to trying some different systems. My coworker "RunningRyan" recommended I try Arkham Horror, as I've never actually played it and maybe even put my acting chops to good use in a LARP, as there seems to be a cool Eberron session set on the lightning rail and of course a steampunk game also.

To add some vaguely relevant personal insight to this post I might discuss the new Campaign that just started with Eric the Blave as DM.

As a flavor/powering component he has had us roll up lvl 1 NPC class characters, and then when we level we will take the first level of a core class. However, instead of having us play a short prologue like he has done once previously, we rolled straight into the first session of the game.

It has been interesting so far, I like the idea in general as a neat quirk but even up against po-dunk peasants it was a challenge.

I don't mind low powered survival scenarios and if I know that's the kind of game we're going into I know to enjoy it. However, I don't know why I never learn with this DM, I expected something more epic, initially.

So, the idea is that magic is returning to the world after thousands of years and our characters are inheritors of this concept (i.e. sorcerers are unheard of, there is no "live" pantheon, everyone worships the elements, but we are the rare few to bring about change in the world). Being that our group would be (after our first "real" level) fairly unique and definitely more powerful than the average citizen of the world I anticipated some fun derring-do our first session.

I was wrong, as I so often am in Eric's games. Brad_again(rejoining our group once more after a 3+ year hiatus) and I would joke about making a kill order list of every named NPC we met and general taking a KoS view of the world if anyone was a jerk or TOO helpful. The joking was about 60% joke and 40% serious as intelligent, articulate, polite and EVIL JERKS seem to infest The Blave's worlds.

Although, even with a mob of peasants vs 3 level 1 npc's I am learning the power of a reliable strength score as well as controller characters. Even as an expert, which gets no BAB, built to level into bard, I was able to make excellent use of trips and grapples.
As much as I want to gripe, perhaps I will have enough time to see how effective I can be "dual wielding" a quarterstaff with a -2/-4 attack. For some inexplicable reason I seem to be terribly adept when my characters have absolutely no business doing a certain thing, and then does them. (My full progression Wizard who had a Bastard Sword for looks and ended up one shoting a peasant and some utiugs on separate occasions.)

Nerdettes

Make no mistakes, I like the ladies. The ladies who like ladies, the ladies who like guys, the ladies who like everybody, but especially, the ladies who like the things I like (Don't worry, I like guys who like guys, we hang out, but this isn't their post).

My entire upbringing was engineered by strong independent women and as a result I feel I have a fair, if not progressive, view and respect for the fairer sex. I would also venture to say protective and even fascinated. Therefore, whenever a particularly interesting item floats by, I give it an extra peek if it involves females.


I think part of my unconscious flirting (hehe, an unconscious person flirting) and protectiveness is me trying to be "the man" of the house/ situation, and be protective and try to take care of whatever ladies I'm around. OR, I am a shameless flirt and in another reality, was a major Player.

ANYWAY, Tink, also a quiet feminine feminist, is always looking towards women empowerment and ways to show off how awesome women are, has been building some serious steam in gender-centric circles.

Seeing as these things are orbiting my life (and sometimes crashing into them in rough terraforming instances) I figured it would be an excellent idea to compile some online resources I find myself drawn to time, and time again.

d20 girls

Tired of Booth Babes being vapid vacuums of vain villainy? You either? But you would like it if they actually had something in common with you, right? That would be even hotter? Well look no more. A few of the nerdy gals in my life have signed on as professional models. This company promotes and contracts out professional booth babes with knowledge in the industry. Through meticulous interview processes, geeky ladies of every size, shape & stripe are screened before entry and provide for a fantastic pallet of girl power.
fat, ugly or slutty

On a less cheery note, the male condition is one fraught with disgusting, uncultured, swine. I was going to use the colloquial "douche bag" but honestly, thats being unfair to the term. This site chronicles various unsavory occurrences from around the nerd world where the revelation that the gamer on the other end of the controller is a female results in misogynistic idiocy. There is little censorship on this site, and good thing too, as anyone who believes any of this behavior is allowable in any situation, they deserve to let their habits to be known to the world.
Comic Con Pervs

A very similar site to the last, I think this is a great idea for the same reasons as outlined above.

I will admit, I am a pervy nerd, and I like to see naughty things fairly often, BUT, not like that. Not that process, that is disgusting and wrong. There are sites for that sort of thing where everyone involved is consenting and, usually, it's all much better quality and less chance you will be prosecuted for pedophilia.
hot gamer girls

I have not done too much research into this site, but I like the concept so far. It appears to dominantly be originally a a forum comprised of dominantly lady gamers as the focus.

cosplay deviants

As mentioned earlier in the post, "there are sites for that." And this is one of them. I heard about them at their booth at Fanime and also heard through the grapevine they did a shoot somewhere very close to the convention. Frankly, I am a little jealous I had not thought of this first.

The Gamer Girls

You all know how much I love my Nerdcore, well so do these gals. One of the groups mentioned in this post to have a presence at Gamer Con, there was an "industry only" concert on a rooftop in San Diego where Doc Awk & Zealous rocked out. Music aside, once more, these are nerdy ladies that are also in the modeling contact sort of biz.

empowered fire

This site I have mentioned before and unfortunately has stopped posting since before the first of this year. I am saddened by this, but many of their posts are excellent as they examine many issues in the female gaming community with a focus on World of Warcraft. Worth a dig through if you have some spare time.
Geek Girl Network

Not one cohesive site, but an ever growing conglomerate of gals. This jiggly juggernaut has spawned a con, numerous panels, and even a WoW guild, which was named by my lady, T1nk (true story).

Other sites I have come across that are of the female persuasion that might be worth a look, that I have not researched too thoroughly include . . .

Charisma +2

Another modeling site, very clean, looks very professional.

Frag Dolls

Real professional Gamers who are female. These fragging femmes make money for beating guys (and some other girls) at video games. Isn't that awesome?

And, I'm gonna give an honorable mention, I'd even call it, a vigorous nod to . . .
D&D With Porn Stars
Though led by a "dude's dude of dorks" his crew is largly comprised of X chromosomes and I think that is fantastic. I have not had him describe a single game so far where a gal wasn't involved. And in case you have no idea what this is, its a gaming blog. If you go check it out, you should be able to deduce the rest, like why it's so named and how cool those folks are.

I very rarely bemoan my status as a male of our species, even though I am of the painful opinion that women can do everything better than guys if they try hard enough. But, many of these sites and groups kinda give me that nudge, to wish, for a little while, I could rock a rack. Actually, no, bad idea, I would never leave my room.