The Dragon's Cave -

Saturday morning I got up early so I could go meet a friend from PlanetFurry for breakfast. Kellan Meig'h (as he calls himself) is an old Scottish war horse, and he brought his daughter along. We went to Coco's and had a good hearty breakfast while we discussed a wide range of topics. Kellan is an author of sorts, and has written several stories of his own that can be found on The Raccoon's Bookshelf. It was great to meet him and his daughter, and I hope to see them again some day.



At 10:00 that morning, I was delighted to attend a live animal event! A company called 'Leopards, Unlimited' brought a number of wild felines into a meeting room for all to see and take pictures. While we watched, they told us about each animal, their habits, and special traits. They reminded us that, while these cats appear to be loving and cuddly like domestic cats, they are still wild animals and should not be approached by anyone but professional handlers.

My favorite was the cheetah! I had no idea that a cheetah purrs and meows like a domestic cat, but there it was, with a low meow and the loudest purring I've ever heard. As it turns out, this very cheetah was the motion capture model that was used for the computer-generated cheetahs shown in 'The Chronicles of Narnia.'


They also brought in a bobcat, lynx, african serval, and cougar.




Later that morning, I attended a class that talked about dragons, their biology, legends, behaviors, and their affect on modern fantasy.


I decided to go back through the dealer's den so I could convince myself to buy some stuff from Bill Holbrook or Dave Simpson, but my frugality won over once again. However, while I was there, I ran into none other than Max Blackrabbit himself! For those of you who don't know, Max Blackrabbit is the creator of one of the most iconic and well-known characters in the furry fandom: Zig Zag!


That afternoon, I attended a seminar on "Introduction to the Gaming Industry", where a professional game reviewer game and spoke to a bunch of us about how to start a career in the Gaming Industry. Why did I go? I guess I was feeling a bit like a show-off, but I wanted to support the seminar and offer a few tips of my own. I passed out a few business cards, and met some aspiring designers and artists that asked quite a few questions.

Once that was done, it was time for the fursuit parade. There were more than 360 people there dressed in fursuits! I heard (though this wasn't confirmed) that we broke the Guiness World Record for the largest number of 'mascots' gathered in one place at a time. Here are a few pictures from the parade:




Later that evening, I attended a workshop on "Enhancing your communication skills." It was listed as part of the writing track, so I thought it would be about how to better communicate your ideas through writing. As it turns out, the workshop was mis-listed; it was about verbal communication and how to overcome personal and social communication barriers. Though it was not what we expected, Desert_Wolf and I stayed for the workshop.

It ended up much like one of the communication role-playing sessions we had back in my management communications classes back in college. I thought the psychologist who ran the workshop was very well-prepared, and she helped a lot of us to recognize our own personal communication barriers--I realized that when I confront someone, I often use the passive voice and say "People don't like it when you do such-and-such", instead of coming out directly and being clear with my feelings.

Later that evening was the WILDEST game of chess I have ever played! They laid a 30' x 30' chessboard outside on the parking lot, and a bunch of us played as the individual chess pieces. I was white bishop #2. Each piece received a manilla envelope that contained a number of poker chips for hit points (i.e. the amount of damage you could sustain before you were killed), and a number of 'special power' cards that could be used on your turn. I had powers like 'raise dead', 'heal other', 'destroy undead', etc.

The way the game worked was that a game master had a card for every piece in the game. During each round, he would shuffle the deck and then read off each piece one by one (thus giving every piece a turn each round). We moved the same as regular chess pieces. Combat was determined by rock-paper-scissors, resulting in lost poker chips (hit points) every time you lost. Thus, it was possible to be attacked and still come out the winner.

The players themselves totally got into their characters, with our king and queen stealing the show. The queen was dressed to kill, and she totally hammed up her part, often flirting with the other pieces. I played the pious clergyman, making comments such as, "My Lady! That is highly inappropriate behavior!" We finally lost the game when our king used a teleport spell and attacked the enemy king directly. Unfortunately, the enemy king had a power that boosted his combat luck, and our king was quickly defeated. Despite our loss, I had a marvellous time.

Our king and queen!

Deep into the game, the enemy black knight 'trash talks' our white pawns:


I walked back to the hotel that night quite happy, geeking out about the whole experience.