Well, as promised, my final thoughts regarding BlizzCon:

It was a BLAST!

Seriously, while I truly enjoy geeking out over Blizzard games and products like any other fanatic, what really made this trip memorable were the people. This was the first BlizzCon where I got to meet many of the “Twitterati,” the group of World of Warcraft bloggers and twitterers for whom TwizzCon was started. They were good folk, the lot of them, and there were two fun nights spent chatting, laughing, talking WoW, and just generally enjoying the real world presence of these people for whom, up until recently, I only had Twitter @ handles.

I’ve updated the TwizzCon photostream with the pics I took, since my original pictures post is still hung up in iPhone limbo. You can check them out over on the photos page, or click that browser to head directly to Flickr.

For my next few posts, I’ll summarize each day of the con for you, and I’ll include any other pics that may not have made it into the stream.

Day Zero: Thursday, August 20, 2009

My flight arrived at the Santa Ana airport relatively on time, with the flight itself being relatively uneventful. Last year, it was filled with WoW players, because you could hear the paladin talk raging across the back of the plane. This year, perhaps because of the slightly later time of the scheduled flight, there wasn’t as much WoW discussion. It was a “business” crowd.

After picking up my bag, which was the first off the belt, I immediately grabbed a Super Shuttle to the Hilton. This is where the amusement starts.

I noticed one of the people in front of me had Twitter up. And I also noticed a familiar icon (specifically, @Spoonwolf’s icon was being replied t0). After I saw that she posted a tweet, I checked my own feed and noticed something new from @Syrana. Intrigued, the short Twitter exchange happened something like this:

Me: @Syrana: I think I’m on the same shuttle as you. Am I sitting behind you and to the left?

@Syrana: …maybe… *turns around slowly to look*

Me: *waves*

It was then that I briefly met @Syrana and @Zideshow! A short laugh was had, and it wasn’t long until the shuttle arrived at the Hilton, where I departed.  Check-in was quick and painless, and I took my elevator up to the 13th 14th floor, where I was greeted by these two sights:

So, yes, apparently the Anaheim Hilton was designed by Stephen King during his The Shining days…

After unpacking, I headed back out to pick up my goodie bag and badge and all that. When that was done, I stopped by a nearby IHOP to grab a quick bite to eat. Since I was still a little sick from a fast bout of the flu (or a supercold, still dunno what it was), my appetite was light. But I ordered and then did what every self-respecting Twitterer would do: I tweeted about it.

Me: Grabbing a quick bite to eat at a nearby IHOP.

@Syrana: OMG! We’re here too! Stop following us!

Indeed, I had somehow stumbled upon them yet again… twice in the same night. The fates, they’re funny in that “space-time continuum” sort of way, ya know?

I finished my small meal and headed on over to speak to Sideshow and Syrana for a bit. I passed along a brief bit of BlizzCon advice (”get there early!”) and then excused myself as I headed back to the hotel.

After quickly planning my schedule for the next two days, I passed out to sleep.

-Richard “@greyseer” Powell, aka “Twizzy”

Well, it is now Sunday morning after BlizzCon. I see that my photographs post is still hung up on my iPhone (and it never posted here), so I’ll upload those photos manually to the Flickr photostream when I get home this evening. I also have a summary post coming later today, most of which will probably be written in between unconsciousness on the flight home.

Last year’s BlizzCon was fun. But this year’s topped it. It wasn’t just the new WoW expansion announcement (more on that in the later post), but it was the people. I met with a chunk of the WoW “Twitterati,” including such good names as @Arrens, @Syrana, @Zideshow, @Spoonwolf, @Saresa, @brajana, @Tigorasou, @fimlys, @nibuca, and even the non-dorf dorf himself, @brigwyn. I even briefly met with @Jezriyah and @Ailinea! Good people, all of them.

To all of you: I hope we can attempt to gather again next time, assuming, of course, that there is another BlizzCon around which to gather ourselves. It was a blast, and you all made the trip memorable.

For now, though, my shuttle to the airport calls. In a few long hours, I’ll be back home and life will return to the routine. This site will stay up for a couple more weeks, and I’ll still post a final summary and get my photos up for all to see. But after that, it will fade.

Will TwizzCon happen next BlizzCon? Perhaps. But perhaps it will be in a different style altogether, I’m not yet sure. But we’ll see, won’t we? Be well, and I’ll see you all soon!

-Richard “@greyseer” Powell aka “Twizzy”

No, I’m not referring to the live stream, although I do hear that IS somewhat spotty.

I mean the cellphone and WiFi signal from inside the CC. I’ll tweet as I can, but I’m at the mercy of the signal…

It has begun! Waiting in the lines for entry, but I’m here!

Whew! It’s been an exhausting day. For me, today was very heavy with the seminars. Two talks in the morning were web comic based, with the first being a “Free Content Business Model” seminar given by Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary fame. The second was a general “Life of a WebComic Creator” panel with Howard and Stan! Both were pretty good, and it’s great to hear two passionate creators talk shop about their work.

After that, I spent about two hours in a sculpting workshop keeping my Green Stuff sculpting skills fresh and learning a few more techniques in addition to that.

Then the evening was capped off with two more talks by Michael Stackpole. He’s a really good speaker at these things, and the two classes were about characterization and plotting respectively. There was much learned. I plan to attend two more of his workshops tomorrow, and I’m really looking forward to them.

Unfortunately, due to the closed-in nature of today, there weren’t many new photos taken. So I’ll upload today’s very small batch alongside tomorrow’s batch. That said, I hope to spend the first entire half of the day tomorrow exploring the expo floor, taking pictures, spending money, and just generally seeing all there is to see. It’ll be fun, and I hope to have some cool shots for you across the day and into the evening.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Four days is NOT enough to experience GenCon for me. This thing needs to be a full week…

Good night for now, and I’ll keep the tweets flowing!

It’s been one heck of a first day of GenCon. I attended a writing workshop by Michael Stackpole as well as a few other seminars. Tomorrow I intend to continue the trend by sitting in on other talks like that.

I also got to try out the Battletech: Firestorm pods and enjoyed a grand melee against 11 other players. Overall, I ended up ranked number two, with a good friend of mine ranking number one. Perhaps all that old school Mechwarrior 4 “training” came in handy, eh? Certainly. =P

And while I was able to walk the convention floor, I only saw perhaps 3% of what it had to offer. Tomorrow, in between the other writing and comic seminars, I intend to explore more of the expo floor. Afterall, that’s where most of the cosplay can be seen. Not that what I saw today was bad… not at all. Check out the photos sections for Day One’s collection of pics. There are some good and creative costumes in there (my favorite so far is the Warhammer 40K pair).

A bit of news: legendary fantasy artist Larry Elmore was not present. While details were not given, we heard that he is currently in the hospital. There was a notebook for all fans and attendees to sign to wish him well. And while there is an EXTREMELY small chance that he’ll wander onto this blog, I still wish to take the time to wish him a speedy recovery here:

Larry Elmore,


Your work on the Dragonlance series in particular inspired me to try my hand at fantasy art many years ago. Your work is legend, and so are you. I wish you the best in your health, and hope that you recover quickly.

Best wishes,


Random Lifetime Fan of Your Art

Well, it’s gotten late once again, and another early morning calls to me. Friday promises to be infinitely busier than today (and Saturday even busier than that), so rest is required.

Be well, all! And I’ll keep this TwizzCon Test / GenCon feed rollin’!

Today, Thursday, August 13th, marks the first official day of GenCon and, thus, the first official day of the TwizzCon test. Throught the day I will be taking pictures using both my iPhone 3GS and my Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP DSLR and uploading them to the Flickr photostream. I will also try to “live blog” what I see on the show floor and briefly recap any seminars or workshops I attend.

Since part of this test is seeing how well this setup works for a live blog platform, I’ll still be trying to “find my way” when it comes to frequency, and type, of content. Also, I’ll be restricted by cellphone and wifi signal coverage, so bear with me. The @TwizzCon Twitter feed will be under the same restrictions.

If you want “up to the minute” coverage, the aforementioned Twitter feed is your best bet. This front page will be used for recaps, summaries, and any big news that may come down the pipe. It’s easier to jam out a 140 character tweet than a fully linked blog post when on an iPhone.

That’s about it for now. It’s time to pack up my gear and start moseying on over to the convention center!

I’ll see you there!

-Twizzy from iPhone

You won’t see too much different on the surface, but rest assured there is still some work going on in the background. I just recently uploaded a plugin / theme to make this page friendlier on an iPhone / iPhone touch. It should automatically load upon detection of mobile Safari. And because the Chatroll webchat system is actually reasonably compatible with mobile Safari (it works, but there are minor issues), I created a separate page for you iPhone users who want to participate in the community chat. It can be found here. Links to stripped down versions of other TwizzCon pages are also available.

By tomorrow I hope to have the finishing visual touches done, and with that I can lock this site down for the GenCon test, which will officially start Thursday during the day. But there’s a chance I may go ahead and start Wednesday evening. We’ll see.

*coughs from all the construction sawdust still in the air*

Well, welcome to the TwizzCon site! At least … welcome to the site in its current state. Unfortunately, the time left until BlizzCon (and our GenCon live test) necessitated the early launch of this site. So please excuse the largely unpolished nature of all the fittings and pages. I assure you, these will be corrected over the next few days.

It was important to get this site up and the word out, however, if we’re going to make TwizzCon a success. What is TwizzCon, you ask? Well, our handy-dandy FAQ answers that question, and many others, for you.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few more things to hammer down before they up and wander off on me…

*puts hardhat back on and grabs nearest sledgehammer*