July Life Update: Manchester Comic Con 2017

Hi readers, 

Yesterday, I went the Manchester Comic Con for the very first time. I was really excited and it had taken me an age to decided what to wear! Being a big Steampunk fan, I decided that would do, so I went with the costume I'd brought to wear later this year at the Leeds Steampunk Fair. I was worried, I might be the only Steampunk person there, but there were a few others, so I didn't feel that alone! There was also a section for Steampunk, though there wasn't a lot for sale there. There was a stage where talks about what it was and how people discovered Steampunk etc. 

My boyfriend dressed as his favourite anime character and he got stopped often for people to take photos. I got asked like three times and the third time was actually from someone I half know from playing Dungeons and Dragons! My boyfriend looked so dashing in his costume and I was happy as our costumes kinda went together. He had a great time and since it was his first time too, it was so nice for us both to share it. 

There were lots of people dressed up as so many different things; mostly it was anime, comics and games characters, but I saw Jack Sparrow, the Mad Hatter, a Big Daddy and Little Sister from Bioshock (Unfortunately didn't get a photo!) a T-Rex and Pikachus. I also saw lots of Stormtoopers, Batmans, Spidermans, Harley Quinns and Jokers. My boyfriend and I really enjoyed seeing all the different characters and he pointed out everyone I didn't know to me.    

There was a lot to see and do! Too much for only a few hours really. We didn't see any of the speakers and we didn't queue to meet any celebs. We did see them from a distance though; Warwick Davis and Chris Barrie. I would've liked to meet them but it was a bit expensive for me. Most of the other celebs didn't seem to be there at the times we walked by. I would have liked to hear some of the speaker stuff too, but it was busy and we'd not looked at the timetable for what was on. - Thing to remember next year!   

I loved all the stalls that were crammed together selling geeky things. Even though sometimes you had to wait to get close. I saw tons of soft toys- mostly Pokemon, Totoro and other Japanese icons.   There were many action figures, covering a whole range of themes and styles. There was also the model robot kits my boyfriend likes. The other stalls were selling; comic books, manga, photos, prints, drawings and other collectable items. There was an independence section where you could get an artist to sketch you! There was lots of interesting things in this part and I wished there'd been more time to look. There was a section for food places too and we had pizza for lunch as that was an easy thing to share. Plus, I didn't want to spill anything on my dress!

Then we found a second hall which we'd missed because we'd not walked in that direction. This was more of a games and a kid's play area. There was a professional photo stage, a copy of the Game Of Thrones throne. They also had two cars; a police car and Kit. It was a brief wander as we were on the edge of leaving early. I wish we could have stayed longer but unfortunately, my costume was giving me a lot of trouble, plus I was hot and tried. 

I did buy somethings because you can't really go to a Comic Con and not! I got a fan, which was expensive but so worth it as I was far too hot and having a breeze was nice. A large Jolteton soft toy - once again expensive but he's so soft and cuddly! Jolteon is my favourite Pokemon and I just couldn't leave him behind. I got some choco-banana flavor Pocky and an interesting strawberry drink that had bits of like strawberry jelly in it. I was half attempted to get some of the Lego figures to go with the Batman set my boyfriend brought me and there were so many other things I could've brought, but I'm so trying to save money at the moment. It's needed for Sweden in 2 weeks time (Yes, I got my passport now!) Leeds Steampunk Fair in October and some parts of my car because it needs a service. 

I had so much fun at my first Comic Con and I learnt a lot too! Next year, I'm going to try and make things better so I can have more fun. I'm so going to make sure the costume I'm wearing is comfy. Even though my dress was nice, I kept catching it when I was walking and I was worried other people might do to, so I had to keep carrying it. The corset I was wearing wasn't comfy after a few hours and come undone at the bottom too. I ended up taking it off before we went home as I'd had enough. My feet also hurt, despite my boots being a good fit. Plus, I so needed to bring a better bag! 

It was very hot, not just because of the summer and the people, but due to there not being much of a good circle of air. So, I might wear my Steampunk costume from last year's Leeds. Half tempted to do that this year too for going back again.Though I might have lost some more weight and be able to fit in my dress better. Wearing cooler, comfy clothes is key, so I can't imagine how hot people wearing bigger and heavy costumes - like the furries and full body suits, felt! 

I'm also going to find like a timetable of what's going on so we could see a few of the talks etc. Maybe see which celebs will be there too. We did know some of them this time but there was more then I remember. Maybe a map of the halls would also be useful! It's easy to get lost in all the stalls. Saving more money to buy a few more things would be handy too. 

Most importantly, is making sure my camera works and taking more photos! That was one of my biggest regrets. I took only 20 odd on my phone and then when I got my camera out to take some photos of people dressed, up my camera took two photos then to told me there was a problem with the memory card and didn't work again. Though it seems I didn't put the memory card back in right and after fixing that it seems okay again. I think also, stopping and asking people was a bit challenging for me, but most people will let you if you ask and there's enough chances to jump in when other people are taking photos too. 

Overall, I had great fun and I can't wait to go again!      

D&D Part 8: Victory Finish

On Wednesday evening, I played the last encounter of the Council Of Spiders adventure. The large group was spilt into three small groups of 4/5 players and we were off with our DMs for the final battle. My table was warned before hand that this ending was a bit disappointing. Which is interesting when the other encounters have been building up to something that felt really big, like a epic Drow war or battling a Goddess or a wizard army. Having never experienced the last encounter of an adventure I was keen to find out what was going to happen.

I was still playing my female Drow rogue, Kai. There was a female priestess, another rogue and a human slave. Now we were searching for this Drow called Valan Jaelre, who is one of the Council's leaders. Questioning him and then killing him could be very useful and possibly help put an end to the unrest that has been going on in Menzoberranzan (that's basically the whole of the Drow society). We entered some catacombs, which then turned out to be a forgotten shrine to Lolth. There were large patches of cobwebs everywhere and we were told that disturbing them and/or killing the spiders would lower our renown points. (Renown points are given or taken away due to actions taken by the players. Worth points work in the same way, but are decided on by the characters' stats as well).

A brown cloud of smoke appeared and started speaking to us telepathically. This smoke turned out to be connect to Lolth and was a sign of her favour or displeasure depending on how we answered. It was a role playing moment with each of us answering to why we where here and though we had agreed on the goal of completing the Demon Weave, it being all telepathic meant that we could answer with something different if we had decided to have individual goals. Myself, the priestess and the slave stuck with the goal and the rogue decided to bluff a different answer and failed. Lolth was displeased and cursed him.

We were then attacked by Valan's allies and they were Hex Knights and Spellsinners. I would like to say by a cruel twist of fate, but actually it was by the DM's hand, that I who'd put Kai at the back, got moved to the front and because I'd rolled a higher number then anyone else, I had to go first! I had no choice but to fire an arrow at the nearest enemy. I hit and did some small damage. Everyone else then got immobilised, weakened or slowed down by Valan. They couldn't really fight on their turns, so I had to fire another arrow and deal some more damage. I also got hit though and had to be healed by the priestess. I was then joined in the fight, though I was still stuck leading the group. I'm not very keen on being in that position, just because Kai isn't built for fighting and I'm still learning!

The other rogue tried to hide almost the skeletons in the alcoves of the catacombs. This didn't work so well and I decided that corners were still good shields. In front of us there was a staircase going down and we had to try and fight some of the enemies on it. This was a little bit hard and then it got worse because one set of the enemies (I forget which) when they went down turned into bone spiders. So, we had to fight them off as well. They turned out to be easy enough to finish off....as long as you weren't blind or weakened. The rogue somehow was weakened for six rounds before finally shaking it off with a good dice roll. Valan then cast a spell and covered the staircase in cobwebs, making it difficult terrain. This meant for me and the other rogue that we could only move half our movement number (which is 6) down the staircase. The priestess and slave were on the last step when the spell hit, so they were the first to enter the chamber at the bottom.

We quickly dispatch the remaining enemies and were left to face Valan. The DM did a bit of RP, acting as if we couldn't defeat him and he was so powerful. However, the priestess soon changed his mind about that and hit him twice with a magical attack really reducing his hit points. It was then my turn and it was decided that we'd question him before we killed him. The DM muttered that it wouldn't matter and I rolled high numbers. Kai took aim with her bow and shot him with an arrow to the head. He dropped and silence hit the table. The DM claimed it was over and that on searching him we find the last piece of the Demon Weave. It also meant that the Drow civil war was dropped and things calmed down, going back to normal for Drow society.

So that was it and with such an anticlimax too! I have to admit that I did feel a bit disappointed by this because I'd been expecting a bigger finish and a much more victorious feel. I think if we'd not been warned before we'd started, I'd feel even worse. I'm not sure why the adventure had to end that way as it really felt rushed and unfinished. However, I'm happy to say that Kai (below) and I survived our first D&D adventure!

So, as the book closes, what is my conclusion about D&D and the Council of Spiders adventure? Well, I know I still have a lot of learning to do! But that'll come with practise and time. The best way to play D&D is really how I've done it; going to a place which holds D&D playing and joining a group with newbies and an experienced DM. I've had a great time and it's given me something to look forward too each week, which was so needed after four years of uni! I've also made lots of friends and had a lot of fun. I know at the beginning I was worried about a number of things; from not liking D&D and RP, to not being accept as I'm a girl, to being seen as silly for not understanding. This quickly disappeared though and I now have to admit that I really do like playing D&D. I like listening to the back stories behind the story of the adventure, I like creating characters, I like fighting the monsters, (even though I complain about it all the time!) I love all the little random events that happen like; characters jumping on tables, hiding in bones, arguing with the DM, role playing between the slaves and masters/mistress. Also for a change my writer and nerd sides are both happy.

As for the adventure itself; I enjoyed it and liked all the missions we had to do. It was good that everyone could be in a different house because we were all- beside from the goblin, human and dwarf slaves- of Drow race, so it was good that we were still able to have conflicted between characters because of the different houses not getting along. It was interesting how things were revealed too in twisty ways that could also be shocking. I liked doing the secret missions as it added a different element. As for the role playing, this is an area I need to work on and not be so embarrassed to be seen doing. It can make you feel a little silly at times and the DM ends up encouraging you to act in the mind set of your character. Other people are really great at RP and this just brings the game alive and gives you so many funny moments.

There are only two small negatives I can think of to add. The first is that this adventure is actually a squeal to Web of the Spider Queen and because I didn't play that I don't know if I missed some important information, which might have helped play in my adventure. My boyfriend did explain some of it to me and the background you get from the Council of Spiders is pretty sound. Still though, playing that adventure first would have been beneficial. Secondly, the ending of this adventure wasn't very good in my opinion. I was expecting something far better and greater. Okay, maybe not an all out fight with a dragon or some large monster, but a more satisfactory conclusion then the anticlimax of things just returning to normal would have been good. Saying that it's still a good adventure.

Finally, I'm happy to say that I've decided to play another season of D&D! So, there shall be more on this blog about my adventures. I've heard that things are slightly changing in the encounters though and that we are going to be given more chance to RP. That should be interesting! Next Wednesday will see the creating of new characters, so if you fancy trying out D&D then I've linked the website you need at the bottom. I also found this image whilst searching today and I thought it was cool, also if you click on the link and read about it, it becomes even more interesting and just goes to show that D&D is an ever expanding game of possibilities.  

Images from:

 http://imperioliancount.wordpress.com/dungeons-dragons/
http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/chap8.htm
http://dungeonsmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/council-of-spiders-cover.jpg
http://torontoist.com/2012/08/dungeons-and-dragons-and-improv/


http://www.wizards.com/dnd/