We arose early, hurriedly packed, and raced over to the Convention Center. Our first stop was the Miniatures Room. Many folks had departed. but there were still plenty of gamers left and lots of awesome dioramas.
We hit the dealer room yet again, picking up the creepy art collage we had purchased earlier and checking out a few of the newer boardgames. I also dove headfirst into boxes of obscure game supplements, while a stood patiently by. Some many bargains, so little time! 
There was definite “Sunday atmosphere” on the floor, and most of the dealers seemed low-key, somehow chatty yet tired and looking forward to the chaotic roll-up that was to come later that day.
I stopped by to take a good look at the awesome (and awesomely expensive) Ptolus book. It was beautiful and had the highest production values of any gaming book I’ve ever seen. Sue & Monte Cook were there, so we chatted with them for a few minutes. Monte is evidently a Spock’s Beard fan, and my ‘Beard t-shirt was a big hit. A meanwhile chatted with Sue about editing. (It seems most “designer wives” end up handling some editing duties one way or the other.) Both Monte and Sue were great to meet.
Our next stop was Atlas Games, so I could pick up my copy of Gloom. We bent Michelle Nephew’s ear for a moment and she was very nice and willing to chat. At one point she was demonstrating Gloom for a would-be customer, and every several minutes this guy would swoop past the booth and grab one of the Gloom demo cards sitting out on the table. I watched amazed as this goon zipped by at least three times, picking off a card (they were there some people could see what the game looked like, not to be taken) each time. Dude—just buy the game, for crying out loud!
Ratatosk’s Final Booty List
• Battlebox accessory (Fiery Dragon)
• Dungeon Crawl Classics #31:The Transmuter’s Last Touch (Goodman Games)
• Dungeon Crawl Classics #35: Gazetteer of the Known Realms (Goodman Games)
• Gamemastery Item Pack cards (Paizo)
• Gary Gygax’s Hall of Many Panes (grabbed for $10) (Troll Lord)
• Gloom game (Atlas Games)
• 1 size 2XL “Roll the Dice … It Builds Character” T-shirt (a present for Markus)
• Larry Fine sticker (Stylin)
• Some cool Q-Workshop dice (half presents for the Willster)
And some used items (basically all in new condition except I4):
• Ravenloft, Silver Anniversary edition (TSR)
• Module I4 Oasis of the White Palm (TSR)
• Dragon magazines # 297, 310, 326
• Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (a snap at $18) (Wizards)
Soon it was near time for my signing, so I hustled over to my booth and sat behind the draped table for about 45 minutes, talking to customers. It was very cool being on the other side of things for a change and talking to people about my adventure was great.
Dice city!
Soon after we both beat a hasty exit and fled for the airport. (There I grabbed a bright red “INDIANA” t-shirt as final memento.) I spotted a group of people near our designated gate, sitting on the floor and playing Shadows Over Camelot in a last ditch effort to squeeze yet one more game in. Sitting a few rows ahead of us on the return flight was Chris Doyle (author of Goodman’s DCC #7: Secret of Smugglers Cove and ENnie-nominated DCC #11: The Dragonfiend Pact)—little did the passengers know they were surrounded by adventure authors! Less than two hours later—our flight was early this time—we were back safely in New Jersey; it was over.
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