some gathering thoughts
Apr. 19th, 2018 06:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishGathering was quite good this year. Having my own room is I think a requirement for my mental health. (Or at least a facsimile of my own room: Christine was a great roommate because we were basically never in the room and awake at the same time, so I had evenings to decompress.) Eric B-- was back, and I met and gamed with his wife Claire as well. I didn't get to play all the games I wanted (but when do I), or with all the people I wanted, but I got in a large proportion of each. It's still disconcerting to go around saying goodbyes and have so many people say "You're leaving?" in a disappointed voice.
I miss being here with someone, though. Even though I've only done that once, and that for only half the week. It'd be nice to be here with someone to snuggle and game with and talk about game-type things with.
Gamingwise, the standout would I guess be 1841, an 18xx in which companies can own shares of other companies, including presidencies, and in fact can start new companies during their operating turns, and that's not even the most ridiculous thing about it. It's set in northern Italy and has a truly impressive amount of historical and geographical chrome: national boundaries, mergers and in one case a company that divides in two, mountains that count as stops for your train but don't provide any revenue (and can be tokened), and runaway inflation and train prices to match. I don't know that I feel a need to own it or to play it often but I enjoyed it.
Other highlights include a two-hour game of 1846 in which I came in second and beat Eric for the first time, and a playtest of a forthcoming Tom Lehmann dice-building game. It's more or less "Dominion with dice" but I do like it better than Dominion. Though again, I feel no particular need to own it or play it often. Also the late-playtest of Hibernian Rails, a hopefully-forthcoming crayon rail set in Ireland. The board was an utterly tangled mess by the end of the game. Great fun. Unfortunately the recent collapse/acquisition of Mayfair Games leaves the future of the crayon-rail series in doubt, so who knows if or when it will see the light of day.
Scattered thoughts. It took me longer to adjust to the timeshift this year than it has in the past, possibly because I was going into it kind of tired, possibly because I was waking up earlier than usual. I did 30-45 mins of yoga a couple of mornings and that seemed to help.
Sad to have not been able to stay the whole week. I ended up unexpectedly having dinner with Steffan O-- one night. He said that he actually prefers leaving before the second weekend, because by then people are starting to get tired and rundown and generally sad about how it's about to be over. I can understand that, but I think I would prefer going through the emotional goodbyes along with everyone else. Feels less like I'm missing out on a lot of fun, less like a party and more like a parting. And I do enjoy the bustle of the prize-table and the flea market, and it's just plain weird to be leaving the Gathering with less stuff than I arrived with.
Checking a bag on the way in means that food is sorted: I bring pop-tarts for breakfast and sandwich fixins for lunch, and splurge on dinner at a hotel restaurant. I definitely appreciate not needing to track someone down for a grocery run, or needing to be functional enough on the afternoon I get in to buy groceries.
And now it is too early in the morning and I am sitting in the fancy airport lounge in Toronto, because when you fly too much on Westjet they give you fancy-airport-lounge passes. They feed me tea and breakfast, and give me comfyish chairs, and it is blessedly quiet in here. And soon I fly out to Prince George to accompany Erin on a drive south (my first time driving the southern route), for a pagan camping event and a floatplane trip to the island and more.
I feel wildly variable, veering between calm and unanchored. I don't know what to do about that. I mean, in the short term the answer is "get more sleep," and maybe that's the long-term answer as well.
I miss being here with someone, though. Even though I've only done that once, and that for only half the week. It'd be nice to be here with someone to snuggle and game with and talk about game-type things with.
Gamingwise, the standout would I guess be 1841, an 18xx in which companies can own shares of other companies, including presidencies, and in fact can start new companies during their operating turns, and that's not even the most ridiculous thing about it. It's set in northern Italy and has a truly impressive amount of historical and geographical chrome: national boundaries, mergers and in one case a company that divides in two, mountains that count as stops for your train but don't provide any revenue (and can be tokened), and runaway inflation and train prices to match. I don't know that I feel a need to own it or to play it often but I enjoyed it.
Other highlights include a two-hour game of 1846 in which I came in second and beat Eric for the first time, and a playtest of a forthcoming Tom Lehmann dice-building game. It's more or less "Dominion with dice" but I do like it better than Dominion. Though again, I feel no particular need to own it or play it often. Also the late-playtest of Hibernian Rails, a hopefully-forthcoming crayon rail set in Ireland. The board was an utterly tangled mess by the end of the game. Great fun. Unfortunately the recent collapse/acquisition of Mayfair Games leaves the future of the crayon-rail series in doubt, so who knows if or when it will see the light of day.
Scattered thoughts. It took me longer to adjust to the timeshift this year than it has in the past, possibly because I was going into it kind of tired, possibly because I was waking up earlier than usual. I did 30-45 mins of yoga a couple of mornings and that seemed to help.
Sad to have not been able to stay the whole week. I ended up unexpectedly having dinner with Steffan O-- one night. He said that he actually prefers leaving before the second weekend, because by then people are starting to get tired and rundown and generally sad about how it's about to be over. I can understand that, but I think I would prefer going through the emotional goodbyes along with everyone else. Feels less like I'm missing out on a lot of fun, less like a party and more like a parting. And I do enjoy the bustle of the prize-table and the flea market, and it's just plain weird to be leaving the Gathering with less stuff than I arrived with.
Checking a bag on the way in means that food is sorted: I bring pop-tarts for breakfast and sandwich fixins for lunch, and splurge on dinner at a hotel restaurant. I definitely appreciate not needing to track someone down for a grocery run, or needing to be functional enough on the afternoon I get in to buy groceries.
And now it is too early in the morning and I am sitting in the fancy airport lounge in Toronto, because when you fly too much on Westjet they give you fancy-airport-lounge passes. They feed me tea and breakfast, and give me comfyish chairs, and it is blessedly quiet in here. And soon I fly out to Prince George to accompany Erin on a drive south (my first time driving the southern route), for a pagan camping event and a floatplane trip to the island and more.
I feel wildly variable, veering between calm and unanchored. I don't know what to do about that. I mean, in the short term the answer is "get more sleep," and maybe that's the long-term answer as well.