Archon is this week! This sci-fi/gaming convention starts Thursday the 30th and runs through Sunday the 3rd. It is four days this year. It has been extended by a day so that they can be a contender for the 2007 World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).

A number of friends have already told me that they will be attending. See y’all at the SLUGS Vampire LARP.

Another year, another Archon. Archon is a science fiction convention held yearly in Collinsville. I have been attending it off and on for the last few years. This year was the first time I actually got a hotel room and participated in the night-time activities. Oh yes, the party gets going when the sun goes down.

Archon took place in the Collinsville Gateway Convention Center. They also took over of the nearby hotel. That is where all of the fun is centered. They had Japanese anime showing in the video rooms and a Klingon dance room complete with a bartender serving up frosty beverages with names like: Romulan Ale and Spock’s Blood.

I signed up for live-action role playing (LARP), another first for me. This year’s LARP was live-action vampire! I was randomly assigned the role of a human, a Teutonic Knight diverted from the Holy Crusades to investigate the strange things happening to a town in Transylvania. It was fun to run through the hotel asking fellow LARPers to “touch my holy symbol”. No, lower! Ha ha!

This year featured an addition to the schedule: Robot Wars. I was expecting so much more than what I saw: two radio-controlled cars that appeared to have been bought from Radio Shack. One of them, the apparent victor, still even had its stuffed purple Barney stapled onto the roof. Puh-lease.

I attended a lecture given by Larry Elmore, the Artist Guest of Honor. He produced most of the TSR Dragonlance covers among a number of other book covers. He was down-to-earth and entertaining. I was drawn into his discussion of being an art student in college during the 60s. He also discussed how he overcame a deep depression after a serious illness.

My artist friend there with me worships Elmore. It was cool to see Elmore take time to talk with him when he got his book signed. Later he bought several hundred dollars worth of Elmore prints, which Elmore graciously signed.

Check out next year’s Archon. I had a blast this year. The rumor is some Hollywood people will be Guests of Honor (GoH). That means you probably can add +1 to the average convention attendee’s Charisma value. If you know what I mean.