Everyone once in awhile, I pull up a piece of nostalgia and realize... the mid-90's were a strange time to be a gamer.
After two cons to whet my appetite, the Lehigh Valley Gamer's Association (LVGA) and their Lehicons vanished in something akin to the Baltimore Colts moving to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. (Kids, YouTube it if you don't know what I'm talking about).
March 1994, I wasn't even twenty years old. I hadn't even gotten my first job at a gaming store.
But we were playing Burning Plastic. Designed by another Eric, Eric T. Smith while we were both at community college, we played the heck out of it. Green army dudes representing killer robots powered by unstable mini-reactors and even more unstable CPUs. Explosions, self-destructions, carnage, and mayhem were the words of the day.
And here was a new con, a one day con called Bogglecon, run by one of the LVGA old guard, Mike Griffith. Three slots of gaming with twelve events or so per slot. Everything that made the Nineties the Nineties. 2nd Edition AD&D, Vampire, Grunge, Goths... and a table by the pool of a dozen crazy guys playing Burning Plastic. It was awesome, and we would continue to attend Bogglecon, it's Fall equivalent Gobblecon, and it's red-head step brother Cardcon through the Fall of 1999. Mike fell ill, and a bunch of gamers came together to organize Mepacon. The rest is history, including a few fun Burning Plastic games at those cons.
Two quick notes. Scott, the player running Janus in my Burning Trogs campaign, is in the leather jacket by the pool. I'm also wearing the very trendy gaminv vest with two pins I remember, my "Tournament Victim" name tag that I bought after going 0-9 at the DBA Beginner's Tournament at Lehicon IV, and my "I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed person..." button that is still floating around today.
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| "Bogglecon 2, March 1994 - Last Playtesting for Burning Plastic" |
March 1994, I wasn't even twenty years old. I hadn't even gotten my first job at a gaming store.
But we were playing Burning Plastic. Designed by another Eric, Eric T. Smith while we were both at community college, we played the heck out of it. Green army dudes representing killer robots powered by unstable mini-reactors and even more unstable CPUs. Explosions, self-destructions, carnage, and mayhem were the words of the day.
And here was a new con, a one day con called Bogglecon, run by one of the LVGA old guard, Mike Griffith. Three slots of gaming with twelve events or so per slot. Everything that made the Nineties the Nineties. 2nd Edition AD&D, Vampire, Grunge, Goths... and a table by the pool of a dozen crazy guys playing Burning Plastic. It was awesome, and we would continue to attend Bogglecon, it's Fall equivalent Gobblecon, and it's red-head step brother Cardcon through the Fall of 1999. Mike fell ill, and a bunch of gamers came together to organize Mepacon. The rest is history, including a few fun Burning Plastic games at those cons.
Two quick notes. Scott, the player running Janus in my Burning Trogs campaign, is in the leather jacket by the pool. I'm also wearing the very trendy gaminv vest with two pins I remember, my "Tournament Victim" name tag that I bought after going 0-9 at the DBA Beginner's Tournament at Lehicon IV, and my "I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed person..." button that is still floating around today.
Hello Eric, I would like to contact you about the history of Bogglecon and subsequent Lehicons. How may I contact you? - Ginny
ReplyDeleteHi Ginny, feel free to shoot me an email at neffs@hotmail.com.
ReplyDelete