This was our first trip to DragonCon, and it was a somewhat frustrating, unique and interesting convention. DragonCon was in Atlanta, Georgia, which is the home city of DragonCon. About the only outside item that changes for this convention is the dates and next years DragonCon is July. If you've ever been to Atlanta, even during late summer/early fall you definitely know the type of clothing required in Sweatlanta. The temperatures never got below 80 even at night. So be prepared! We arrived two days before the convention, since it will probably be the only time we will visit Atlanta. A WORD OF CAUTION, do not necessarily follow the directions that you might receive from your hotel on how to locate the hotel and the direction of travel from the airport. Or hotel would of had us going south instead of north and if we had followed the hotels direction we would of ended up in Savannah, Georgia instead of Atlanta. There were both good and bad points to DragonCon, and unfortunately the bad points out weigh the good. Where to begin? Since the bad -points outweigh the good, then we'll probably begin with the bad points first. Location: If you don't know where the convention is really going to be held, the map locator that is enclosed with the preregistration isn't going to be much help. The first day of the convention we spent nearly thirty minutes just trying to locate registration. What finally saved us is we asked some poor soul who just happened to be wearing his convention badge where registration was. He gave us general directions and we only lucked out by following other lost souls looking for registration. As we neared registration we heard a comment from another convention goer "This place is worse then GenCon!" After we picked up our registration packets, we looked at the convention listing to see when the dealers room and other venues were going to open. There was no mention of when the dealers room was going to be opened much less close. The event listing was spread out over the days in printed word format versus the typical spreadsheet format. So unless you could locate an event on one day, chances are you were not going to locate it on another day or time slot. Any attempts to try to find a game where very frustrating and eventually we gave up. Unlike most conventions, DragonCon was divided into three buildings. The Atlanta Apparel Mart, the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, and the Hilton Hotel, so we were in for a bit of walking back and forth between the buildings. In the Atlanta heat, it wasn't a real fun thing to look forward to. The dealers room looked nice but it didn't open on the first day until noon. There was no indications when the dealers room opened or closed. Getting inside the dealers room was an experience that we hope never to repeat. In order to get in, you had to go up the escalators in the Apparel Mart, then though the monitored security areas, which were monitored by the security company for the Apparel Mart and staff from DragonCon. The dealers room was on two floors of the Apparel Mart. The "second" floor was poorly lighted and the design of that floor was not very complimentarily for a fantasy/science fiction dealers room. The "first" floor of the dealers room was a bit better in lighting but we think they could of improved on the layout of the vendors. The forward part of the first floor was rather cramped and made going up and down the aisle ways something to the akin of being a line backer for the NFL. The rear part of the second floor was a bit wider in most areas so at least we didn't get knocked around as much. A majority of game companies were present but there were some companies that you might expect at a convention of this size to be there. As for gaming, well you needed the experience of a blood hound to locate where the games were being played. Most of the games were located on the second floor of the Merchandise Mart. There was no indication of where this floor or building was in the event book. The second floor of the Merchandise Mart was rather large and could comfortably fit a wide variety of games. However, like the Apparel Mart it lack sufficient lighting and had a constant draft. Events at the Hilton were a bit better organized including the art show. The staff at the art show got off to a slow start but as the con, continued they improved their rules. Originally, they wrapped your backpack, brief case in plastic and sealed it with a neon green tape. This created a large back up at the entrance to the art room, but as the convention continued, bags were dropped off at the entrance. The Hilton also hosted several seminars of the Babylon 5 crew which on at least on occasion was standing room only. The Hilton also hosted at least one auction which a con goer offered close to $400 for a book script and was promised to be in an upcoming science fiction book and killed off. The good points even though they were not many did become the most memorable of the convention. There was the six foot women, who was dressed in a red thin strapped outfit that really opened eyes and turned the editors face beet red. The vendors in the dealers room were very friendly, and more than willing to hold purchased items while you continued shopping. The most memorable event was lunch on Saturday. The crowd really grew on Saturday, as typical of most conventions. We managed to grab a sub sandwich from a local shop but were unable to locate any seating. So we took our lunch outside. While enjoying the coolness of the shade, and lunch, we were approached by none other than Harlan Ellison. That's right, the science fiction writer, and commentary of the SciFi channel came up to where we were sitting. We're not too sure if he thought we were homeless people or not, but he offered us his Yoo-Hoo. Unfortunately, while Mr. Ellison was talking to the editor, the associate editor and my favorite traveling companion was too shocked to take her camera out. (SIGH!) So to you Harlan Ellison, wherever you are, "Thanks for the Yoo-Hoo, it was greatly appreciated." There was a bit of discussion between us, as to whether or not we would ever go back to DragonCon. And after measuring the plusses and minus's we probably won't unless there are some changes to the layout and location of DragonCon. It's a one-time opportunity, and if you have the chance by all means go. But do plan on some frustration, complicated directions to the dealers room, and a lot of back and forth looking in the event guide to know when things are going on. Back to White Knight #10 Table of Contents Back to White Knight List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Pegasus-Unicorn Productions This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com