Gen Con – Recap

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I made it back from Gen Con and it was so much fun. I wouldn’t expect anything less; this is my 3rd time attending Gen Con and it’s become one of my all-time favorite conventions. For Gen Con, I devote a few posts as there’s so much I want to write about. This post will be a generic recap of the convention. The second post in this series will be about new experiences I had at Gen Con and finally, the last post will focus on my haul or everything I purchased this year.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Image is a selfie of me, my two friends and my brother. We are staring at the camera, smiling with our Gen Con badges on.

Gen Con is a four-day convention and our group stays all four days. On Thursday, it’s become a ritual where our group likes to get to the convention center early and camp out near the exhibit hall. I’m always the one to take a selfie of our group while we wait. This year, I didn’t have anything specific I was trying to purchase which was nice. I could walk through the exhibit hall and try to take in everything.

Image is a picture of the Gen Con Convention Center. There are people crowded everywhere and lined up from a long ways away.

Since I have been to Gen Con a few times, there are a few things I have to do. The first would be to try the Gen Con pizza from Hot Box Pizza. Hot Box Pizza is a pizza chain in the Indianapolis area and every year, there’s an official pizza. At the Gen Con block party, Hot Box will sell slices of the official Gen Con pizza. This year, the pizza was Critical Chip which had salsa verde, corn, beans, jalapenos, ranch drizzle, and crushed doritoes. It was pretty good. Another thing that I usually do is try Sun King’s Gen Con official beer. Sun King Brewery will partner with Gen Con to have an official beer of Gen Con. This year, the beer was a Cereal inspired beer and that did not sound good to me. My brother ended up ordering it and I had a sip. It was okay, but not something I would have ordered myself.

Image is a photo of a piece of pizza. There are doritos chips, jalapenos on it.

The final thing I wanted to touch on at Gen Con was cosplay! I learned last year that having three cosplays was too much. On top of that, our hotel was thirty minutes outside of downtown, so there wasn’t a way I could take a break like I could last year. I didn’t plan any new cosplays, instead, I brought my Bioshock Splicer cosplay along with Keyleth with me. I love re-wearing cosplays because it’s quick for me to change into them. I took many pictures with other cosplayers which is always a compliment. My Bioshock splicer cosplay is always a hit and it’s great to see so many people recognize my cosplay since it’s more niche. I’d love to bring a new cosplay to Gen Con next year.

Image is a selfie of me as Keyleth in a bright orange wig and my friend who is cosplaying as Bane from Batman.

Gen Con was busy and I’m looking forward to decompressing this week.

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

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Image is a book cover for Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce. It shows a boy and a girl staring at each other. The boy is juggling dice, the girl is playing a guitar. There are board games in the background.

I purchased Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce earlier this year while on my road trip to New Mexico. I did not know this book existed beforehand and I’m not usually one to purchase books I have never heard of. With that said, the premise of this was too cute. A fake dating romance with one of the characters being a theater kid and the other working at a game store, it’s like this book was written for me. I’m happy to say that Dungeons and Drama lived up to all my expectations and was such a cute book to read.

Riley Morris dreams of becoming a stage director on Broadway. After the spring show is canceled and Riley is caught driving without a license, Riley feels in a bit of a funk. As for her punishment, she works at her dad’s game store. After seeing her ex-boyfriend stopping by, Riley catches Nathan Wheeler and pretends to be his girlfriend. Nathan goes along with it as he’s interested in someone else in his DnD group. Riley is looped into their campaign and slowly develops feelings for Nathan. Pretending to be his girlfriend isn’t as hard as she thought.

I loved this book. Riley and Nathan were adorable together. Reading Dungeons and Drama was a trip down memory lane. I frequent game stores and when I was in college, there was a local game store we would always go to as one of my friends worked there part-time. I felt that this book captured what a game store environment is like and the regulars became side characters that mattered to the story. I liked reading about Riley and her finding the similarities between theater and tabletop. She ends up playing a Bard which was so fitting to her personality.

There was no way that I wasn’t going to love this book. As an added bonus, I saw that this book is apparently the first book in this series with book #2 potentially being released next year. I would continue in this series as this book was everything I wanted it to be. I rated Dungeons and Drama five stars on Goodreads.

My Favorite Moments from Naddpod’s First 50 Episodes

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by

I have been listening to more podcasts now than I have in the past. I listen to podcasts while I work, driving to and from work, and when cleaning the house. I mentioned NADDPOD (Not Another D&D Podcast) several times as I went to one of their live shows a few years ago. I finished listening to their first campaign several years ago and have since listened to their other campaigns. Since it’s been a bit, I decided it would be fun to go back and listen to their first campaign and I’m so happy I did. There was so much I forgot about. To celebrate the fact that I’m halfway through the campaign, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite moments or episodes that destroyed me emotionally.

If you have never listened to NADDPOD before, it might help to have some background. NADDPOD’s first campaign centers on the homeworld of Bahumia. Before the campaign began, Bahumia was saved by three adventurers with the podcast taking place after that major moment. The characters in NADDPOD are Moonshine Cybin (played by Emily Axford), Beverly Toegold V (played by Caldwell Tanner), and Hardwon Surefoot (played by Jake Hurwitz). The campaign is DMed by Brian Murphy or Murph for short. The first campaign focuses on Moonshine, Beverly, and Hardwon as they attempt to save Bahumia again.

Spoilers for the first 50 episodes of NADDPOD

Beverly Tricking a God – Episode #12

In episode #12, Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon see a god and are each granted a question. Most of the questions center around their character’s stories. After asking their questions, Bev decides it would be a good idea to “trick” the god by handing the god a berry that would induce vomiting. The god rightfully gets pissed and throws Bev off a large tower. Bev almost dies from the amount of fall damage he takes and the group is astounded. I was laughing so hard.

I like this episode because it’s such classic Dungeons and Dragons shenanigans. One character trying to do something silly and it completely backfires. This is an episode to remember.

Hardwon cutting off Galad’s head – Episode #18

This episode was wild! Hardwon finds out that Galad Rosell conspired to murder his parents. Hardwon’s mom, Lydia Stormborn, makes a deal to return as a Revenant. For those who are unfamiliar, a Revenant is an undead creature that solely exists to kill the thing that hurt them. With Lydia becoming a Revenant, she focuses all her energy on killing Galad and earns the nickname “The Widow”.

Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon catch up to Galad and have him pinned. Galad pleads for mercy and warns Hardwon that if he kills him, his mom will be lost as he will take away her mission. Hardwon does not care and kills Galad anyway. This moment was such an underrated moment, that even Murph was astounded at the outcome. I love this because it shows that you may have an idea as to what a player could do, they could do something completely different.

Balnor’s First Appearance – Episode #21

Balnor is an NPC that the group picks up earlier in the campaign. Moonshine and Bev agree to pull a card out of the “Deck of Many Things” which is a deck of magical cards that can grant different abilities depending on the card. They pull a card that gives them a Fighter character named Balnor. At first, the group teases Balnor, however, Balnor quickly becomes an important part of their group, and towards the halfway point of the campaign, the group finds out where Balnor came from.

NPCs are crucial to any campaign. Balnor is so sweet and has some of the funniest moments throughout the remaining episodes.

Marabelle Boss Fight – Episode #29

Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon go to The Crick to help figure out the cause of Crick Rot. Moonshine learns that her aunt Marabelle is responsible for spreading this disease that’s been revealed to be demonic in nature. When the group discovers Marabelle, while they try to reason with her, they end up fighting her. After defeating her, the group sees a vision where Marabelle is targeted by a Necromancer and is forced into a ritual that turns her into what she is. It’s heartbreaking because she’s framed as a villain when she was a victim.

This episode sticks out to me because you can tell in the way the cast roleplays this, it’s getting to them emotionally. I believe I listened to one of their Q&As after this session and they mentioned either getting emotional during this portion or being close to that point. This episode solidifies how powerful TTRPGs can be in telling a story and how even though I’m not playing the game, I still feel emotionally invested in what happens.

Hardwon and Gemma’s private conversation – Episode #35

This isn’t necessarily a favorite moment, but I can’t not mention this episode. Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon go to Frostwind where Hardwon grew up. Hardwon is made aware of his ex-girlfriend, Gemma Bronzebeard, who is getting married soon. Hardwon wants to speak with Gemma because he still has feelings for her. The group orchestrates this where Hardwon and Gemma can speak privately. As a listener, you think all is well until GEMMA IS KILLED BY AN ASSASSIN. Excuse me, but what in the actual fuck? Murph how dare you break all of our hearts like that. I felt so bad for Jake in this moment.

I still remember listening to this episode originally and how shocked I was. I’m overusing the word shocked here, but it still applies to this episode. While Hardwon may not have been able to reunite with Gemma, Gemma is an important character throughout Hardwon’s journey and motivates him to succeed in all of his trials and tribulations. If I could bring back one NPC from the dead in this campaign, it would easily be Gemma. RIP.

Hardwon grabbing the Coldain Kingshammer – Episode #45

After trying to uncover who killed Gemma, the group travels to Mount Forge to seek the Coldain Kingshammer, a hammer blessed by a god. After a pretty intense fight, Hardwon can grab the hammer and unlock the spirits of several dwarven families. Hardwon nicknames these spirits his “dwarven daddies” and the name sticks throughout the remaining episodes.

This episode is so important to Hardwon’s back story, but also, the dwarven daddies protect Hardwon when he needs it the most.

It’s been a blast re-listening to NADDPOD. NADDPOD taught me how powerful TTRPGs can be in telling an enchanting story. Once I finish the first campaign, I will write a second post summarizing all my favorite moments from the last 50 episodes. After that, I will get caught up on their third campaign and I may even start a new podcast altogether. If you haven’t listened to NADDPOD yet, you are honestly missing out on one of the best TTRPG podcasts ever.

How Natural 1s Furthered Vesper’s Story – Axis Campaign

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Image is a photo of character art of Vesper. She has long brown hair that flows in waves down her shoulders. In the background is a huge castle and to her left is a black hound with glowing eyes.

Since being involved in a regular campaign, I have rolled my fair share of natural 20s and my fair share of natural 1s. In Dungeons & Dragons, a d20 is rolled to either attack an enemy, make a skill check, or avoid a spell effect from another spell caster. Rolling a 20 is considered a critical hit or in some cases a critical success, while a natural 1 is a critical failure. I don’t think anyone enjoys rolling a natural 1, but in my case, I tend to roll natural 1s on a D20 at pivotal moments in our game. I wanted to share two examples where I rolled a natural 1 and how the lower dice roll furthered my character’s journey within the campaign.

Both stories are set in our current campaign where I’m playing Vesper, the Variant Human Sorcerer. Vesper had to make a Constitution Saving Throw after a long battle our group finished. When I stated I had rolled a 1, the DM revealed a disguised enemy came up behind me and removed my eyes. Our whole group was shocked! When this first happened, I will admit I was devastated. I wasn’t sure how Vesper would progress through the story considering that as a spell caster, she needed to be able to see everything around her. In a turn of events, Vesper accepted help from Zariel which unlocked a new feat for Vesper. If she calls on Zariel’s aid, she gets added benefits in battle but she can’t cast all her spells. Vesper eventually regained her eyes and vision with help from the other players in our party.

Rolling a natural 1 in this instance altered Vesper’s story. I don’t think she would have made a pact with a god. There were several in-game conversations between the other players where they expressed concerns over Vesper’s partnership with Zariel. These conversations were fun to have and I think bonded Vesper with the other characters. They expressed their empathy, but also kept Vesper in check and not letting Zariel take over. None of this would have happened had I not rolled a 1.

The second story happened pretty recently. Vesper is currently in a relationship with Cam, an NPC who is Vesper’s academic adviser at the magical academy she graduated from before the campaign started. In one session, Cam had accepted an opportunity that would permanently change his character. Our DM asked me to roll a d100 which would reveal how well this would go for him. I rolled a natural 1 on a d100 which is a 100-sided die. Rolling a 1 on a d20 is one thing, but a d100. I can’t even believe it. As a result, Cam almost died. I did not expect myself to care as much, but I started crying during the session. I thought of Vesper’s feelings toward Cam and how she would lose somebody she loved. With no help from myself, the other players rallied around me and we were able to give Cam assistance to pass his Constitution Saving Throw. I cannot look at d100s the same now.

From a story perspective, this was much needed for Vesper. The way I roleplayed Vesper, she always put Cam at a distance. This comes from her back story, but as a way to protect herself. Throughout the sessions, Cam got Vesper to open up which led to them confessing their feelings for each other. Vesper took Cam for granted and that was intentional on my end. The fact I rolled a natural 1 and almost killed him woke Vesper up to the fact that she truly loves him. As far as how that benefitted the campaign, I think it solidified Cam as a permanent member of our group.

With these natural 1s, Vesper wouldn’t be where she is today without them. I think it’s easy to feel disappointed or sad when a natural 1 is rolled, but hopefully, this gives some reassurance that sometimes, they aren’t always bad.

Favorite Moments of My 20s

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I’m officially in my 30s! Today is my birthday and after I get off work, my husband and I will drive up to Duluth to spend time with family. My husband’s family has never been to Duluth before, so acting as a tour guide and showing them around will be fun. Since I’m entering a new phase of my life, I wanted to share some of my favorite moments from my 20s in chronological order.

Junior Year – Fall 2014

Image is a photo overlooking a view. There are trees with red, orange and yellow leaves. The sun is shining and the sky is filled with light gray clouds. This photo was taken at the Science Museum in Saint Paul.

My early 20s began when I was entering my junior year of college. When I think back on my college years, junior year will forever be a standout. This is the year I met my husband, although I didn’t know that then. I was living with a good group of girlfriends in an off-campus apartment. I was starting to get further into my degree and becoming more involved in Winona State’s Astronomy Club. This year was a great start to my 20s.

Buying My Car – December 2016

Image is a photo of me in my blue mini-van. I am smiling from the driver's window.

For the first few years of college, I did not have a car. I think that was for the best since my school was known for not having enough parking spots and trying to get a parking pass was an extra expense. Eventually, I did bring a car with me to school. I drove a Ford Windstar Blue mini-van that my friend named Bertha.

In my final semester before graduation, I had to do an internship. My internship site was 35 minutes away from my college campus. Unfortunately for Bertha, my car was an older vehicle and I had concerns as to whether my car would withstand the extra miles. I wouldn’t consider myself a car person meaning I don’t have strong opinions as to what type of car I wanted. With my mom’s help, we purchased a Subaru Forester in Jasmine Green. We named our car Ripley Rey. Ripley after Alien and Rey after Star Wars.

Since 2016, I have taken my car on countless road trips including frequent trips to Chicago and Kansas City. I plan on driving my car as long as I can.

Graduating From College – May 2017

Image is a photo of me, my brother, and my mom. We are sitting on a bench and it is bright outside. We are all wearing sunglasses. I'm holding my purple Winona State University book with my degree. I'm wearing my black cap and gown.

This is easily one of the greatest achievements from my 20s. Graduating from college was a longer journey since I spent five years getting my degree. By the time graduation rolled around, I was so ready to be done. I counted the days until I could move home to be closer to friends and family. The weekend I graduated, the weather was gorgeous! It was sunny, but not too hot. It was a lovely weekend when some of my extended family came to see me walk across the stage. I showed them around both Winona and La Crosse. Winona will always have a special place in my heart.

Visiting NYC – Summer 2018

Image is a photo of me outside The Met in NYC. I'm sitting on a set of stairs outside the building.

I went on so many trips throughout my 20s and each trip was fun in its own right. I decided to highlight the time I went to New York City. Everything about this trip was perfect. We walked around Central Park, ate a lot of good food, had a few boozy moments, and took tons of pictures. This was also my first adult flight. The only other plane I was on was when my family flew to Atlanta when I was in middle school.

I would love to go back to NYC someday. There’s so much to explore and while we had a blast, there was no way we had time to see everything.

Orlando – February 2019

Image is a photo of me and my brother. We are smiling and holding our butterbeers to the camera.

Orlando was a great trip. It was the first time I left Minnesota in winter which I would definitely do again. It made winter less long. It was a jam-packed week as we spent most of the time at Universal Studios. Our hotel was within walking distance which was convenient and there was a shuttle in case we were tired and didn’t want to walk back. Unbeknownst to us, this was the last trip we took before the pandemic. It took a while before traveling became safe again and these memories kept me going throughout quarantine.

Mini-Moon – California Trip – Fall 2021

Image is a photo of me at Disneyland. I'm standing in front of Kylo Ren's ship.

I wanted to add this trip to the list since this was the first trip after the pandemic. While Europe was always going to be the honeymoon trip, there were still limitations with flying and taking Covid tests. I did not want to be stranded in another country because I tested positive for Covid. This was my and my husband’s first time in California. We spent time in LA, Santa Monica, Disneyland, and San Francisco. The fun part about visiting Disneyland in the Fall was seeing all the Halloween decorations. It was great to spend time at the beach and walking across The Golden Gate Bridge was a great thing to check off my travel list.

Europe Trip – September 2023

Photo is of me and my husband in Iceland. The road has a rainbow and there's a big church off in the distance.

I can’t forget to mention Europe! This trip was a dream come true. I had been wanting to go to Europe for so long. This trip was everything I wanted it to be and so much more.

New Mexico – April 2024

Image is a photo of me smiling at the camera in Old Town ABQ

I wanted to end with a memory from this year. The road trip I took with my mom was so much fun. The best moments of this trip were sitting at breweries and spending quality time with her. As I have gotten older, it feels more difficult to juggle all of my friendships, relationships, regular exercise, getting good sleep, and hobbies. This trip gave me time to spend with my mom which I will treasure forever.

I am looking forward to my 30s. While my 20s have been fun, I’m fully okay with putting these years behind me.

Is a New Life Worth Living – The Midnight Library

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Image is a book cover for The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It shows a woman highlighted in orange entering what looks to be airplane windows. The airplane windows show different sceneries.

CW: Suicide, depression, death of an animal. None of these will be expanded upon in detail in this post, but more for a forewarning to the content of The Midnight Library.

While at a friend’s cabin this past weekend, I finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This book had been on my Goodreads to-be-read shelf for years. It’s highly rated with an average 4.0 star rating from other readers. I am in the minority because while I’m glad I read this, I didn’t love it. I had expectations of what I wanted this book to be and those expectations let me down. Instead of writing a traditional book review, I wanted to expand upon some of the themes that were brought up in The Midnight Library.

The Midnight Library centers on Nora Seed. Nora is depressed and after a series of events, she’s committed to ending her life. Nora is suddenly transported to a library where each book within the library represents a different life path for her. For every book she picks up, she sees how her life is different. In one book, she’s an Olympic swimmer. In another, she’s a glaciologist in the Arctic. If Nora is unhappy, she is pulled out of the book and back to the library. With Nora’s reality coming to fruition, Nora must figure out what she wants before it’s too late.

I thought long and hard about this. If I ended up at The Midnight Library, I would not want to view other versions of my life. I am happy with my life. I have an amazing husband, I have several hobbies I balance, and I find joy in simple things like exercising regularly or playing video games. I have a good group of friends from different social circles. I have had several opportunities to travel to bucket list places which I feel fortunate to have been able to do. I don’t think there is such a thing as the perfect life and I wouldn’t trade my life or experiences for anything else.

Throughout the book, Nora has a “Book of Regrets” and that helps Nora figure out which books to choose. Her regrets are: quitting swimming, not going to school to become a glaciologist, quitting a band, and choosing to not marry a man she was in a long-term relationship with. I was thinking about what my version of regrets would be. If I had to pick, I think mine would be: quitting figure skating lessons, not being able to study abroad in college, not finding the time to play the alto-sax, and choosing a different major in college.

I chose to quit figure skating for a few reasons. Figure skating reminded me of my dad and that’s tough when I was navigating the grief I felt after he passed. I will always be passionate about figure skating and I still skate to this day. When the weather is chillier, I want to go to open skating at the local ice arena in my area. Studying abroad in college would have been awesome. However, I was already behind in my degree since I switched majors. Additionally, I didn’t have the money to study abroad. All my international traveling has been post-college and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Funding my own trips has made me appreciate traveling so much more. I played the Alto-Sax in both high school and college. I quit playing because the Anatomy classes I needed overlapped with Band. I am proud of myself for trying Band in college though. It made me a better musician in many ways I wouldn’t have predicted. My Alto-Sax is at my mom’s house. Part of me wants to pick it up and play it. I don’t think I can part with it permanently. The final “regret” is choosing a different major in college. In my professional life, I’m not using my degree. I wish I would have done a more generic degree versus something so specific. Going to college was life-changing for me in many ways and I learned so much about myself. I wouldn’t be the person I am without my time at Winona State University.

I am glad I read The Midnight Library even though I didn’t love the book. This book made me think and reflect on my own life based on what Nora learned about hers. I wouldn’t change anything in my life and it makes me appreciate every memory, hardship, and moment I won’t take for granted.

My First Cosplay Photo Meetup – CONvergence 2024

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I have never been to a cosplay photo meet-up before. At conventions, there will be coordinated times for various cosplayers to meet up and get photos taken. When I plan out my cosplays, I wear what I want on whatever day I want. This year, I happened to time my Harley Quinn cosplay on the DC cosplay photo day at CONvergence. I decided to go because why not. Some of the pictures have been posted and I love all of them.

Image is a photo of 3 cosplayers. One is Harley Quinn, one is Poison Ivy, and I'm on the right.
Photo taken by Twin Cities Geek
This is a photo of Poison Ivy and me as Harley Quinn.
Photo taken by Twin Cities Geek

I am obsessed with these photos! I have never gotten professional photos of my cosplays mostly because of the cost associated with paying a professional photographer. I may consider this in the future. The quality of these photos is way better than any photo I would take. There were several photographers there, so there will probably be more photos that will be uploaded. I’m glad I went and I definitely want to do this in the future.

I Played Daggerheart – Let’s Talk About It

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In March, I wrote a post about Daggerheart, Critical Role’s TTRPG system, when it was first announced with an open beta. I had reservations based on their initial announcements, but wanted to reserve judgment until there was more released and if I would have the opportunity to play. As it turns out, Badowolf Adventure Studios ran a Daggerheart one-shot which served as an introduction to the system. Now that I have played the game, I feel my thoughts are different than they were a few months ago.

Daggerheart character sheet. It shows a Barnacle, a Ribbet Rogue. It's basically a sneaky frog.

When I originally wrote this post, I mentioned being skeptical about combat. In Daggerheart, there isn’t an initiative order meaning the players decide who goes first. When signing up for gaming events at conventions, it’s random people paired together. I didn’t find it awkward when we figured out who would go. There was always one player who wanted to start and I found that as we all worked together, we would call out who hadn’t gone yet. By not having an initiative order, players can be strategic and pick who goes based on what character is doing what. Another slight concern was how the DM would go after a player rolls higher in Fear. I wasn’t sure how often that would be. During our session, our group rolled pretty well, but I didn’t think it slated the game one way or another. With a one-shot, it’s tough to tell, but I left feeling much better about the mechanics than I had felt before.

Character sheet from Daggerheart from the Guardian class.

Our session was only an hour, so it was difficult to interpret much from one session. I left feeling positive about Daggerheart. It’s one thing to hear all the announcements and another to actually get to play. I’m curious to see how Daggerheart will be finalized upon its release and if Critical Role‘s next campaign will be with Daggerheart.

Cosplaying as Keyleth; Critical Role’s Notable Druid

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In my CONvergence post, I mentioned how I put together my cosplay for Keyleth, the Druid in Critical Role’s first campaign, Vox Machina. I love Keyleth. Keyleth may not always say the right things and can be awkward sometimes, but I think she was an integral member of Vox Machina. For how much I talk about Critical Role, I had it on my radar that I wanted to cosplay as one of the characters in their world. I’m amazed at how well my Keyleth cosplay turned out and I plan on taking Keyleth to Gen Con this year.

Image is a photo of me smiling at the camera. I'm wearing an orange wig, green floral crown, green floral dress, brown arm bands, brown tights. I'm holding a staff.

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest for my usual cosplay prep. The nice thing about cosplaying as a character from a TTRPG live show is that there are many looks to choose from. I have seen Keyleth cosplays that focus on a more autumn-orange look along with Keyleth’s cosplays from her Sideshow Action Figure. I settled on Keyleth from The Legend of Vox Machina which is her green dress, brown tall boots, and her infamous staff.

With The Legend of Vox Machina airing on Amazon, I had a lot of options for cosplay. I found an identical Keyleth green dress on Amazon and it’s amazing! It’s screen-accurate and the quality is great. I was expecting this dress to wrinkle, but it didn’t. The dress came with brown legwarmers and armbands, but after reading reviews, many suggested buying those separately. I’m glad I did because the leg warmers don’t cover my legs which is odd. I bought these brown heels that matched the tone that I was looking for. They have just enough of a heel to give me a boost, but not enough that I can’t walk in them all day. For Keyleth’s antlers, I bought two different options. One is a floral headband with butterfly and leaves poking out of it. The other is not a headband, but a crown that ties in the back. I prefer the crown since it matches Keyleth’s dress, but also, headbands give me a headache after a while. Before CONvergence, I put the whole cosplay on just to see how it looked and I was happy with the results.

Me in my Keyleth cosplay and Matt Mercer. A man wearing a long brown wig, blue t-shirt, and a hexagon prop in his left hand.

I decided to wear Keyleth on Saturday since Saturday is one of the biggest cosplay days. It was great timing because I saw a Matt Mercer cosplay and a Pike cosplay while walking around the convention. I got a lot of compliments on Keyleth and a few people who wanted to take my picture which is always a compliment.

Picture of me and Pike! Pike is wearing a white wig, brown clothing.

Keyleth is probably one of my favorite cosplays that I have put together. I can’t wait to re-wear this cosplay to multiple conventions and potentially upgrade it as time goes on. This will be the first of many future Critical Role cosplays.

CONvergence – 2024

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It’s funny, last week I noticed something. I have been writing about CONvergence for so long and realized that instead of capitalizing the first three letters, I was spelling out the convention as Convergence. I have since updated all my previous posts that I had written about the convention. Proofreading is important, am I right? That said, CONvergence was last weekend as it’s usually over the Fourth of July weekend. There’s always something special when I attend CONvergence as it feels like I’m returning to my home base and the convention that started it all for me. I wanted to share a few of the highlights from the con.

Throughout CONvergence, I went to three different panels. The first panel I went to was the “Andor Fan Panel”. I loved Andor because it shows a different type of story within Star Wars. Without stories like Andor, there wouldn’t be a rebellion. I thought the panelists were well-balanced in discussing the show and taking questions from the audience. The second panel I went to was “Wig Styling 101”. This panel was probably the most useful panel that I went to. When I started wearing wigs, I didn’t watch a video tutorial. I threw my hair in a bun, stuffed it under the wig cap, and called it good. The panelists suggested braiding or twisting the hair so that when you put the wig cap on, it lays flat and there isn’t a bump at the back of the wig. This is such an obvious statement, but it never occurred to me to do anything different. Another takeaway from the panel is the panelists highlighted several online websites to order wigs. I always ordered from Amazon not necessarily by choice, but because I didn’t know where else to get wigs. While the panel focused on wig styling, I learned so much more about the basics of wearing wigs. The final panel I attended was “Session Zero: Setting the Stage for Your Epic Campaign”. I have thought about becoming a GM (not a paid one, but for fun). I don’t think I would focus on Dungeons & Dragons, instead, I’d love to GM Call of Cthulhu, Candela Obscura, or another horror TTRPG system. I think what worries me is how intimidating being a GM is, but I have to start somewhere.

Image is a photo of me smiling at the camera. I'm wearing a red cloak with the fur around it.

Besides panels, CONvergence is another convention I cosplay at. This year, I went with Red Riding Hood, Harley Quinn, and Keyleth. Red Riding Hood is a cosplay that I rent. It’s been a go-to comfort cosplay for me and it’s nice to have a breather from wearing wigs. The last time I wore Harley was back in 2023 for Planet Comicon, so it was nice to wear this cosplay again. The Harley wig I have has seen better days, so I might get one more use out of it before needing to throw it away. Keyleth was a character I have been wanting to cosplay for a while. I am so excited about how this cosplay came together. I’m going to write a more in-depth post about prepping this cosplay, so I won’t say much more than that.

Image is a photo of me cosplaying as Keyleth. I have an orange wig on, green dress, and a floral green crown on.

Something I normally don’t do at CONvergence is gaming. CONvergence has always had gaming events, but either they don’t work with my schedule or they conflict with something else. I wanted to prioritize gaming this year especially since this was Badwolf Adventure Studios‘ first time at CONvergence. I signed up for their Daggerheart event which was a play test of Critical Role’s TTRPG system. I wanted to play Daggerheart for a while, so I’m glad I got the chance to play. I have a lot of thoughts about Daggerheart now that I played it, so I will write those in a future post. I’m happy to see Badwolf at CONvergence not only from a business promotion standpoint but also providing more experiences for convention attendees to get into TTRPGs.

I had so much fun at CONvergence this year. It’s always bittersweet when this convention is over, but it gives me something to look forward to every year.