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FWA 2013 Recap
12 years ago
So, I was lucky enough to attend FWA this year. It was a great con. This was the second year I've attended and their first year in the Westin.
Thursday I drove in with
Stargazer79. It was about a 12 hour trip. This is where we encountered our first problem with the hotel. I've got a big old pickup truck. I pulled into the self-parking garage, which was tiny and 10 floors. I reached the top only to discover it was completely full, then had to drive all the way back down. It was not pleasant. We then had to find a parking garage nearby. Considering it was almost midnight by this point, it was exhausting and frustrating.
Friday, I wore my Explorer outfit. My new pith helmet isn't nearly as good as my old one, so I may switch back. I quite enjoyed that FWA had built almost life sized displays of the fennec and rabbit which was animated to kiss. I was mildly disappointed in the God Level gift. It's a duffel bag embroidered with FWA. While it's decent quality, I don't think it stacks up to their gifts from previous years like the Beer Stein or Pocket Watch. It's a decent enough bag, but just a bit lackluster. The poster on the other hand is fantastic. I'm definitely going to frame it.
I met up with
Piston and 
TristWolf, who are always fun to hang out with. I quite enjoyed meeting up with 
rocroldis again, who I haven't seen in quite a while. Further, I was able to see a host of friends I knew from South Carolina, such as 
Celyn, 
CubBruin, 
TheDK, 
HungRider, and more. It was also a blast chatting with 
AnimeCat, 
Nut-Case and 
Funshade.
Friday was mostly spent wandering around and enjoying the con as well as hanging out with friends. That evening was the god level dinner. As with almost every year, we went to Fogo De Chao, AKA The Meat Faucet. If you've never been, it's expensive, but they serve some absolutely amazing meat. Each person has a little card. When the card is red, nothing happens. When the card is red, the servers who constantly circle with meat descent upon you, asking if you want whatever it is they are serving. And it's all good. I've heard they have a good salad bar, but I wouldn't know anything about that. Because endless meat. Afterwards, we had a game of Small World, an absolutely wonderful board game. This is where I met Thomas Ivan and his hat with the eyes on it and a few others.
Saturday was far more relaxed. Breakfast was a foraging session in the God Level con suite. That really is a nice touch, having a slightly nicer, quieter con suite for god level members. Much of this day was spent hanging out with friends. As today was the day of the St. Patrick's parade, we waited for that to finish before we went to get food at the food court of the local mall down the road. The mall cops looked confused at the various furries.
After lunch we broke out Descent. RRD ran this game and we, the players, ran roughshod through the dungeon, crushing everything before us. It didn't end well for the monsters. But then, we had two veteran players and it was one of the easier adventures. Next time, I doubt it will be so easy. For those of you who don't know, Descent: Journies in the Dark is an adventure board game. One player plays the dungeon master with two to four other players controlling various adventurers. It usually takes 4 hours for a game, so it's not a simple party game, but it's a lot of fun. It's very much a D&D dungeon crawl as a board game. There are actually campaign rules for this game. I want to run a campaign.
Saturday evening, a group of us went to a local Mediterranean restaurant, Truva. We were split between two tables, but RRD, Stargazer, Piston, and Trist were at my table. I had some amazing salmon and we had a great time. Piston even got the personal attention of the belly dancer, which she loved. -hides from Piston-
I had planned to wear my Satyr legs after lunch sometime, having just worn the outfit with black trousers earlier in the day. However, because of the elevator issues, I just never ended up wearing them. As for the elevators, this was one of the biggest complaints most had with the new hotel. I didn't have too much of an issue with them. If you can avoid the elevators at peak times, it's not an issue, but those that suffered the most were fursuiters. Interestingly, I found that it was much easier to get to rooms above 45 than it was to get to the lower floors, due to the elevator setup. I had a room on the 58th floor and the view was spectacular.
Sunday, I wore my Chrononaut outfit. I finally got my talons on a side-button shirt in my size, which really made the outfit look better. Once more, breakfast and lunch were forage sessions at the god level con suite. This day was mostly spent relaxing. I spent much time in the game room, hanging with friends. I spent more money in the Dealer's Den as well. We played another game of Small World, which I was able to sweep. We had five players. I pulled Heroic Sorcerers, which were good enough, but the first player had Diplomatic Pixies, so there were lots of things to convert. When my Sorcerers were finally played out, I brought in Commando Ratman. It was a good game. :)
My biggest problem with Sunday was that everything shut down at 5PM. I understand de-staffing the game room at that time, but the room should have been open. This left the only real space to gather as the lobby, which rapidly killed the remaining energy of the con. A small group of us hit Hsu's a really good Chinese place down the street. It's a bit pricy, but it's fancy Chinese food, which is really rare. Afterwards, I spent my time hanging out in the lobby, chatting with a number of people including AnimeCat. I ended up roosting a bit earlier that evening, as I had to drive 12 hours the following day.
It was a good con and I plan to go back next year. I just hope some of the issues are smoothed out.
My acquisitions of note for the con: The bondage badge that's been posted already. A sketch from Nut-Case that hasn't been posted yet but will be soon. A Bad Dragon toy (Clayton, Small, Medium firmness, Yay ridges). A Hippocampus toy from Exotic-Erotics. A beer glass with the FWA 2013 logo on it. The FWA 2011 shot glass. The FWA 2013 God Level bag.
Thursday I drove in with
Stargazer79. It was about a 12 hour trip. This is where we encountered our first problem with the hotel. I've got a big old pickup truck. I pulled into the self-parking garage, which was tiny and 10 floors. I reached the top only to discover it was completely full, then had to drive all the way back down. It was not pleasant. We then had to find a parking garage nearby. Considering it was almost midnight by this point, it was exhausting and frustrating.Friday, I wore my Explorer outfit. My new pith helmet isn't nearly as good as my old one, so I may switch back. I quite enjoyed that FWA had built almost life sized displays of the fennec and rabbit which was animated to kiss. I was mildly disappointed in the God Level gift. It's a duffel bag embroidered with FWA. While it's decent quality, I don't think it stacks up to their gifts from previous years like the Beer Stein or Pocket Watch. It's a decent enough bag, but just a bit lackluster. The poster on the other hand is fantastic. I'm definitely going to frame it.
I met up with
Piston and 
TristWolf, who are always fun to hang out with. I quite enjoyed meeting up with 
rocroldis again, who I haven't seen in quite a while. Further, I was able to see a host of friends I knew from South Carolina, such as 
Celyn, 
CubBruin, 
TheDK, 
HungRider, and more. It was also a blast chatting with 
AnimeCat, 
Nut-Case and 
Funshade.Friday was mostly spent wandering around and enjoying the con as well as hanging out with friends. That evening was the god level dinner. As with almost every year, we went to Fogo De Chao, AKA The Meat Faucet. If you've never been, it's expensive, but they serve some absolutely amazing meat. Each person has a little card. When the card is red, nothing happens. When the card is red, the servers who constantly circle with meat descent upon you, asking if you want whatever it is they are serving. And it's all good. I've heard they have a good salad bar, but I wouldn't know anything about that. Because endless meat. Afterwards, we had a game of Small World, an absolutely wonderful board game. This is where I met Thomas Ivan and his hat with the eyes on it and a few others.
Saturday was far more relaxed. Breakfast was a foraging session in the God Level con suite. That really is a nice touch, having a slightly nicer, quieter con suite for god level members. Much of this day was spent hanging out with friends. As today was the day of the St. Patrick's parade, we waited for that to finish before we went to get food at the food court of the local mall down the road. The mall cops looked confused at the various furries.
After lunch we broke out Descent. RRD ran this game and we, the players, ran roughshod through the dungeon, crushing everything before us. It didn't end well for the monsters. But then, we had two veteran players and it was one of the easier adventures. Next time, I doubt it will be so easy. For those of you who don't know, Descent: Journies in the Dark is an adventure board game. One player plays the dungeon master with two to four other players controlling various adventurers. It usually takes 4 hours for a game, so it's not a simple party game, but it's a lot of fun. It's very much a D&D dungeon crawl as a board game. There are actually campaign rules for this game. I want to run a campaign.
Saturday evening, a group of us went to a local Mediterranean restaurant, Truva. We were split between two tables, but RRD, Stargazer, Piston, and Trist were at my table. I had some amazing salmon and we had a great time. Piston even got the personal attention of the belly dancer, which she loved. -hides from Piston-
I had planned to wear my Satyr legs after lunch sometime, having just worn the outfit with black trousers earlier in the day. However, because of the elevator issues, I just never ended up wearing them. As for the elevators, this was one of the biggest complaints most had with the new hotel. I didn't have too much of an issue with them. If you can avoid the elevators at peak times, it's not an issue, but those that suffered the most were fursuiters. Interestingly, I found that it was much easier to get to rooms above 45 than it was to get to the lower floors, due to the elevator setup. I had a room on the 58th floor and the view was spectacular.
Sunday, I wore my Chrononaut outfit. I finally got my talons on a side-button shirt in my size, which really made the outfit look better. Once more, breakfast and lunch were forage sessions at the god level con suite. This day was mostly spent relaxing. I spent much time in the game room, hanging with friends. I spent more money in the Dealer's Den as well. We played another game of Small World, which I was able to sweep. We had five players. I pulled Heroic Sorcerers, which were good enough, but the first player had Diplomatic Pixies, so there were lots of things to convert. When my Sorcerers were finally played out, I brought in Commando Ratman. It was a good game. :)
My biggest problem with Sunday was that everything shut down at 5PM. I understand de-staffing the game room at that time, but the room should have been open. This left the only real space to gather as the lobby, which rapidly killed the remaining energy of the con. A small group of us hit Hsu's a really good Chinese place down the street. It's a bit pricy, but it's fancy Chinese food, which is really rare. Afterwards, I spent my time hanging out in the lobby, chatting with a number of people including AnimeCat. I ended up roosting a bit earlier that evening, as I had to drive 12 hours the following day.
It was a good con and I plan to go back next year. I just hope some of the issues are smoothed out.
My acquisitions of note for the con: The bondage badge that's been posted already. A sketch from Nut-Case that hasn't been posted yet but will be soon. A Bad Dragon toy (Clayton, Small, Medium firmness, Yay ridges). A Hippocampus toy from Exotic-Erotics. A beer glass with the FWA 2013 logo on it. The FWA 2011 shot glass. The FWA 2013 God Level bag.
Glad you had a fun convention.