NordCon 2025

 So, I went, this time with my books and my standup banner and all that jazz. Took my place in a row of actual authors and really enjoyed these two days. My kids went about, playing table top strategy games against whoever and I told people about my book series and sold all ten collections of stories I had brought. Could probably have sold twice that but I hadn't had a clue how much would have been realistic and also I was above budget for this whole thing anyways. So I can say that it went great.

It's interesting to see how other authors do things. All of us had "real" jobs. Conventions are the place to sell books. Online is dead unless you really like playing the social media game. Community was really nice. Christian Günther borrowed me a table cloth right when I showed up and without it, my table would have looked like crap. Laurence Horn (and his son) and Finja Stoldt (with her brother) were my direct neighbours – and rather nice as such. I was in good company. Even did a little reading session in a literature jam. Five minutes is a really tight timeframe and I was somewhat nervous and a little too fast but I think people liked what they heard.

I'll be hitting more conventions like this in the future. Let's at least make this hobby pay for itself.

Once more at NordCon

 So, this year I'm in an exhibiting role at NordCon again. I've ran BrikWars-battles in the past. I've presented my board game. This time it's a bit more serious: I'll be promoting my series of pulp novelettes. And, yesterday, I was asked to be on stage for the literature jam in the evening as well. Which is today.

It would be an understatement to say that I'm a bit nervous. I originally didn't intend to publish Jon Danger. Then I had an interstitial phase where I expected to do so unter a pseudonym. You know because of how much of yourself you lay bare when writing. And the sex stuff. Oh well. Too late for that and the German law makes it hard to legally self-publish under what isn't your own name. At least the website has to have my actual name (and adress) on it, after all.

Wish me luck, whoever you are reading this. I've never read anything of my own stuff on an actual stage. I shall talk about it all in a later post (and also about what my kids were up to at the convention).

Gonna be at Nordcon

So, first time I will actually show WE'RE GOING ON A FUCKING ADVENTURE! to the public. It's the first print-prototype still, with its small errors and not ideal material on the tokens but it'll do. If you want to play and are in Hamburg this weekend, come by the convention and sit down with me (or my buddy Justin). I'll be in the Spielkultur-Tent, waiting for players and probably socializing with old friends I only see once a year at that particular place.

Gamescom 2013

So... I was at Gamescom 2013 - for work-purposes as I was there with the PR-department of a games-developer, rocking a stage in the consumer-area of the convention center. As I have just returned home last night after six days of hard work and slightly less hard parties, my thoughts on what I've seen and experienced are as of yet a bit unstructured but lest I start to forget, here come some snippets from my Gamescom-trip.

Please read on after the jump!

Telling about the NordCon, day 2

This weekend I was at the NordCon [linked content is in German], which is the largest gaming-convention around here. In this post I'll just tell you what I did on Sunday and how much fun it was. Check out the post about Saturday first, if you like. Again: This post might bore you, just as a forewarning.

My second convention-day was off to a slow start, as these are bound to be. I arrived at 9:30 in the morning, having set a date with a buddy at the Jugger-field for 10:00. He didn't show up, as it had gotten rather late in the mead-tent for him and he was still asleep in his place on the other side of the city. I didn't mind much, met up with another buddy who had brought his kid along and, after having stashed the stroller in the wardrobe, we decided to take a turn through the tabletop-gymn and see what the Warhammer-crowd had crafted to be looked at and ridiculed for the immense expenses they were pumping into their hobby. I used to play darkelves around 9th grade. Then I got a life. Burn! (in all seriousness: I envy and pity the fools who are in the miniatures-hobby. Envy as I have tasted the sweetness of fielding an army that you painted and constructed yourself, having built up a personal relationship with every one of these miniatures over the course of them becoming what they are. I myself am at constant risk to go down that path again, whenever I see a fantastically made custom miniature someone spent so much time, creativity and skill on. Pity because I know how much GW is draining their finances [other companies make it hard to find someone to play against] and how much of a fringe hobby they are following even at a nerdy convention. Their gymn is usually the place with the worst air and the fewest females.)

Telling about the NordCon, day 1

This weekend I was at the NordCon [linked content is in German], which is the largest gaming-convention around here. In this post I'll just tell you what I did and how much fun it was. No pictures though, as I was too busy having fun to get out my cell to document things. Except when I was a little drunk on mead and watching that ultra-hot fire-spitting/belly-dancing thing at night but that was because I was in third row and could only see things through holding up my phone... Anyway, let's get to the con-recap. This post might bore you, just as a forewarning.

So, first time at the NordCon as a paying customer. In recent years I have had my own stand, offering games of BrikWars with armies of Lego that I had built and provided for the convention-goers amusement. That went over quite well after I had made some posters denouncing the Warhammer-crowd in their own smelly gymn, going something like "tabletop-gaming too expensive and uncreative for you? Come play BrikWars with us!", games filled up nicely. The other times I have been at the NordCon I helped with preparations and clean-up, thus earning me the rank of a  helper and not paying entrance fees. Never got a T-shirt though, thus I was kind of disgruntled and decided that I'd not help this year (the fact that I was at that wedding in Swizerland the weekend before and got the dates somewhat mixed-up is the stronger reason but I like to play the grouchy ex-helper) and instead fully enjoy the convention as a regular goer.