I Khan't believe it! Roleplaying (the less sexy kind) at KublaCon

They say that, “hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.”  Indeed, this blog seems to be starting on a high note.

Last Saturday, I attended a convention at the Hyatt Regency in nearby Burlingame. It was a four day event, but due to schedule conflicts, I was only able to attend for one night. The convention was called KublaCon. The first thing that came to my mind when I heard that was of course, the famous Chinese Emperor, Kublai Khan; grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of China’s Yuan Dynasty.

KublaCon, however, is a game convention and affectionately called, “the Khan of all cons.”  A gaming convention is a gathering or event that often involves role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, board games, tabletop war-games such as Warhammer 40k, collectible card games such as Magic: The Gathering and other activities known to carry various social stigmas.

More famous examples include Gen Con in the midwest, and Spiel in Germany. Dungeons and Dragons (henceforth D&D) itself was subject to controversy in the past, critics citing that it encourages ‘devil worship,’ although most reasonable people found these claims without merit and frankly quite dubious. Still, players of D&D, as well as others similar to it, are often labeled as losers, ‘neck-beards’, social outcasts or nerds.

From an editorial point of view, were someone to play these games with an open mind and observe them at face value, they may find themselves actually enjoying the experience. In these games, you and a bunch of friends typically get together, socialize, eat, drink and play the game. You play the role of a character with a certain set of skills. The player is first presented with a problem, then is charged with thinking of creative solutions. With the use of dice and modifiers based on your skill level, the player can resolve said problems. When it comes down to it, D&D is a variable game of improvisational theatre. It’s like a video game where you can do anything and everything--the only restriction being your imagination. Sometimes, however, I find myself baffled at how unpopular this can be.

I have friends in various social circles and cliques, and I have successfully gotten people from the ‘jock’ social group to find enjoyment in these games. However, often they have to play these games in secret to avoid being ridiculed by their peers. Most of the time, they don’t understand themselves why the games are considered ‘lame,’ and can offer me no better an explanation than, “It’s just lame man.”

With disregard for the consequences, (although having left high school I’ve noticed they are far less severe) my friend and I went to KublaCon. After having visited a similar  convention, Strategicon in Los Angeles, I found myself constantly comparing them to each other. Unlike Strategicon, which allows you to reserve spots for a game at a first-come, first-serve basis, KublaCon uses a game reservation system known as ‘the shuffler.’ The shuffler requires a choice between certain games for certain periods.

Now theoretically, this would make sense, however a period is not a set time frame per se. Rather, this just means the game begins in a 2-3 hour window of the specified time. These games can last between two and eight hours. Therefore, you can sign up for a certain period, but may experience overlap in several others.

To make matters worse, the computers that stored all the shuffler information at the convention itself were inoperable, and were offline for long periods of time. Upon arrival, we waited for an hour in a seemingly non-moving line. After this, we waited another hour until our game was posted on the bulletin board. When we finally got our assignment, we went to the assigned location, only to find that no one was there. No GM, (Game Master) and no players.

My friend and I wandered around for several more hours looking for other games to join. When we asked for assistance, or tried to join other games, people were unfriendly, conceited or even rude. In contrast, Strategicon was much simpler -- for example, their games were all only four hours in length. There were 3-4 sessions in the day, with hour-long breaks in between. There was no wait time to find out what games you were assigned. In general, people were friendlier and it did not take long for me to get on a first name basis with the other attendees.

Furthermore one’s entire schedule was made clear prior to arrival. I only got to play in one game, Star Wars: Saga Edition, a role playing game made by Wizards of the Arts (the same company that makes D&D). I had fun, but this was hardly worth the thirty dollar admission fee.

There was also a game that was constantly ongoing throughout the whole convention. Squids vs. Monkeys. Convention goers were given pins to indicate their team, which could be either ‘Squids’ or ‘Monkeys’. In addition to this, they were given three tokens. The Squids and Monkeys would then challenge each other to various contests of skill or luck to win their respective player’s tokens if they spotted someone wearing their rival pin. While great in theory, it seemed like I was the only one playing this game at the convention.

In all honesty, the most exciting thing to do was the blood drive. In addition to wanting to help my fellow man (granted the cookies were indeed a factor), I gave blood for something called ‘Kublabucks,’ a currency for the convention which could be exchanged for various prizes. Unfortunately, the prizes were limited, as were the ways to earn these. The only other ways I could figure out how to earn Kublabucks was by waiting in line (I was given five Kublabucks for being so patient) and, of course, when another attendee gave me his Kublabucks because he didn’t think he was going to use them. By the end of the convention I had fifteen Kublabucks, which I didn’t even spend. Here’s to hoping they can be redeemed next year.

At the beginning of the day I was optimistic, by the end, however, I was severely disappointed. That's why I think next Memorial Day weekend, I’ll be making the trip to L.A. instead, and those Kublabucks will have a new place in the recycling bin.