Event Reflection : Lil Con 2017

Well I know it might seem a little silly to be writing a reflection about the event we went to this past weekend, but I want to share some of the things we did and some of the unique things I've added to my collection.

All in all Lil-Con 4 was as usually alright. It wasn't like the large cons, but it also is a more pleasant experience when it comes to small social excursions. Now, when I say We, there were 4 of us who went together as a group. (One arrived late, but that doesn't discredit his attendance). So as with many events, I have to say it was pleasant in part due to the company I attended with.

I do have a few frustrated observations about the convention though. There was a workshop that we went to attend, and sat waiting for almost a half hour before finally realizing the previous workshop leader had no intention of leaving. Needless to say we felt quite disappointed as the topic of discussion was one that we were eager to roundtable with other gamers about. But in the situation it seemed there was no intent of our workshop even happening. There was a table too close to a doorway, which made it difficult to get through to the stairway to go to the upper floor where the workshops were mostly being held. This would have also been a big problem if anything had happened and there had been an emergency.

But let's look at the positive things that we took away from Little-Con 4 this year.

We got to see a GREAT presentation about how to draw the human form for comics or portrait work. I learned a lot of interesting things I'd never been taught when I was in school. Art of Stace gave a great overview.

To the right you can see some examples of her work that I got to bring home with me. I purchased the Mario Throne of Games print for my boyfriend who's planning to hang it up by his autographed photo of The Angry Video Game Nerd, so that is definitely a positive score. There was a fun coloring contest that revolved around the top print in the image which was exclusive to Lil-Con. I personally have a fondness for smaller prints, so I picked up her dragon book image as a card to frame and add to my personal collection.

Art of Stace is on instagram - as well as on face book.

 I got this awesome Journey art print from Wendigo House. I'm absolutely tickled and excited to add a piece about this game to my collection. Why? Because I actually finished this game all by myself.
I highly recommend the game to those of you who haven't played it. It's a unique experience when it comes to games in my opinion, and I loved how the characters 'chirp'.

Wendigo House is on facebook and instagram as well. She has a variety of different art pieces that aren't video game based, so check it out if you get a chance.

I love my patch and pin from The  Lady Disarray. I have a rather basic set of screen printed patches for on my next bag, but this one will add some color to the collection. It's hand dyed too, so if she does future batches there's no guarantee there will be another one like mine.

My pin is of a brain on a stick because the concept made me laugh.

You can find her on instagram and on etsy.

I also got a new card game. I'm really excited about playing this one again because it was  ton of fun. It's made by the same company that put out CATS, which is another fun card game.

Psychological Warfare plays with the various character concepts and lets you give other characters baggage and negatives to their worth. I think I might be explaining it wrong, but we had a blast playing it at the convention and I brought it home with me because there's no such thing as too many games.


But yeah... uhm. I guess that's all you're tired of hearing about Lil Con, but who knows, maybe you've got something you want to share too.

Unique Experience : Cooking with Dice

Games are something that are popular now more than ever. Many people enjoy playing them alone or with other people. There are games for every skill level, and for those who want a challenge it can be a great change of pace from daily life to play a game. but they almost all have the same limitation, usually the only true results are simple entertainment and an engaging way to pass time. But that seems to be changing as people look at ways to creatively combine world necessities with our inherent need to be entertained.

Which leads us to our unique experience, Cooking with Dice: The Acid Test. This is a cookbook and game experience that is going to be live on kickstarter March 14th. You can find out specifics about the campaign on their website www.cookingwithdice.com. You'll be able to get your very own copy to play through and enjoy!  But I'm sure you're wondering about how it plays, or how it works. So let's have a look at how our experience here at home has gone.

So before I get too far into this, as someone who prefers tabletop games and board games to video games on the most part, I have to say I found this to be appealing. The Acid Test Cookbook is a fantastic example of creativity at it's finest offering unique kitchen experience. It includes a few different play mode recommendations, single player, group, or team based on what you feel up to attempting. But remember some of the recipes need time to 'cook' so they may not be ready for consumption immediately. I attempted to run it in group mode, but we felt intimidated, so I ended up testing it on my own in single player mode.

I must admit that my first few attempts at working through any of the recipes left me feeling a little out of my element. Partially because I'm not very good at following directions, but also due to the fact my kitchen lacks a majority of the ingredients listed on the roll tables. Which made it a little difficult to just play the book from home without purchasing the ingredients before hand. A mistake I initially made. I'm a gamer who doesn't frequent the kitchen so it never crossed my mind you need to go get your ingredients first. My bad.

So after reading through more and examining things more closely the solution I came up with, was to roll the dice and make a shopping list. Yeah I know, this is what everyone else would have done in the first place when they want to prepare a recipe. But I'm not a cook, so to me it seemed I had come up with a great solution. Less creative I suppose than I want it to sound, but by approaching the recipes and die rolls in this manner it was far easier to actually follow the recipes and continue game play.

I think my favorite part of the book is that it does not require the use of the oven. The microwave really is one of my favorite cooking centers, so a book that offers more creative and inventive recipes to be made there is highly appealing. It was surprising though that they were much easier in practice than I was expecting.

Not only were the recipes easy, the results were impressive. I'm looking forward to actually using some of them for future holiday get togethers. My favorite recipe in the whole book though is the buttermilk cheese critter. I never realized I could make a cheese ball so easily at home. I've always found them to be a rather intimidating product when the holidays come around. We often purchase them and then set them out as needed.

The recipe that I rolled up for my cheese critter wasn't extremely difficult. But I did alter my recipe slightly because I wanted to pretend that I was brave. I ended up using: 2 cups low-fat buttermilk,1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese, 2 tablespoons diced Ham, and 2 tablespoons of bacon bits. Those components made up the majority of my "Buttermilk Cheese Critter". For the coating I ended up using 2 tablespoons of crushed round crackers.

Personally I like the buttery taste of the crackers, and it let the ham flavor stand out more. The bacon bits gave it a little more of a crunch, and I know they'll be safe if I repeat this with some of my friends around. I know they weren't really included in the plans, but I wanted to have a little bit of a crunch with the ham and I wasn't sure I wanted to add nuts. I think I'll call this variation porky.

I'm going to have to do it again soon though so I can make it cute and take a picture of the results. So don't be surprised if there's another post in the near future showing off my rather new found acid based cooking skills! I wasn't entirely brave in my preliminary creations because I was more interested in tasting the results and finding out how difficult it would be. But I am definitely going to have to show off some results as soon as possible.

So considering that I have actually had positive results, even though I have little skill, I recommend this cooking experience. Even for younger children, as long as you supervise them. If you're looking to make creative game based meals, or just to challenge your family to create food at home, this cookbook will be a wonderful addition to both your cookbook collection and your game collection. Check out their website for further information, www.cookingwithdice.com and MAKE SURE to check into their kickstarter once it's live! You don't want to miss out on this.

What's On The Screen? : Unicorn City

Okay, so I know a lot of you may not be into gaming. It's not everyone's cup of tea. But there are some of us that really do enjoy gaming in various forms. We've watched a variety of movies about gaming. But this one was new to me and I was looking for something light to watch, just to give me something to be distracted by.

Yeah... so I didn't actually know what I was getting into when I hit play on this movie. Not a bad thing in this case. It's a fun movie with some theme points and comedy scenes similar to ones seen in other gamer themed movies. (If you haven't seen The Gamers, you should because it's amazing! But this has nothing to do with the current post it's a side note.) But unlike most of them, this movie looks at the idea of trying to bring the game into the real world, rather than trying to disappear into the fantasy world. Which is presented in an interesting manner.

The costumes are nice, and believable. The acting, while sometimes a bit cheesy or over the  top, isn't really all that offensive. Some of the situations are ones that various types of gamers can understand. There's romance, rivalry, and now and then stupidity. Oh! And a taser, can't forget that! On the whole though, while not necessarily a movie that will appeal to everyone, it is lighthearted and a nice change from the big name romantic comedies or the films with overly computer generated situations. Give it a shot if you get a chance, maybe it's not for you, but...maybe it is.

*Is babbling a bit, sorry. It's been a long week already*