JerseyDevilCon Review

JerseyDevilCon is a new science fiction convention that took place on April 6-8, 2001. Located in Plainfield, NJ it was definitely convenient for me. The Holiday Inn it was located in was a little small but overall sufficient for a first year con. The hotel staff was great.

The con had some fantastic guest including Rowena Morrill (Artist) and F. Paul Wilson (Author). I had the pleasure to sit in on F. Paul Wilson's program which included an number of films that were made based on his short stories, and his commentaries. He was an absolute pleasure! Intelligent and well spoken he kept us all interested throught the inevitable technical problems. Kudos to the con staff for getting such a fine guest! My only criticism was that the films were shown on a SMALL T.V. which made it very difficult to see, however I am sure that the con staff will be able to improve the equipment as the con ages.

The attendance was actually much less than I had expected, though in the end this was best for me as I was able to clean up the Charity Auction for the American Cancer Society. While I didn't get everything I want, my BF was able to come home with a fantastic original concept drawing for the 1980's film Dune. The art in attendance represent a reasonable range of work, with of course Rowena's work being the highlight. Art sales seemed slow, but I mostly think that had more to due with the attendance rather than the art itself.

Friday I attended a storytelling session ande had the pleasure of listening to the tale spinnings of Carpathian and his fellow members of Patient Creatures Ltd. I can't describe the talent but needless to say I didn't leave without a cassette. Considering that it is very difficult to get a good "spooky" feeling while sitting in a Holiday Inn meeting room but yet I did get the chills more than once.

I spent most of my time on saturday playing a fantastic game called Continuum(TM) by Aetherco. A time travel game that actualy made sense, I quickly became addicted and scrapped my plans to attend the Vampire Dance to continue this mind numbing adventure. Do yourself a favor and check out their site, buy the game, and play by god!!!!! Then call me and I'll play it with you. Make sure to check out the artwork which features work by David Fooden (also one of the Co-Creators). He was also in attendance at the con and a fantastic person to chat with. The game was made even better by the terrific GM'ing by Chris Adams another one of the Co-Creators. I picked up the sourcebook, the supplement, and the latest Beta-Test supplement, which I was supposed to play a demo of but business kept me away.

As I mentioned before I didn't attend the Vampire Dance on Sat. night. While had full intention, and had even brought an outfit, I did indeed get wrapped up in the game, and did not attend. On a break from the game I did get a chance to peak in, and as it was fairly empty I guess that others were much distracted by other events as well. I do however have to say that the music was fantastic! Usually these events are poorley DJ'd. Almost all of the important Gothic music that I could think of could be heard.

Ooooo! Also before I forget the T-shirt is FANTASTIC! The artwork was done by Rowena and is absolutely amazing... I'll try and get a picture of myself in it up if I can. Even if you missed the con I still recommend getting the T-shirt. I'd contact the con staff at jerseydevilcon@aol.com and see if they have any left.

The con staff while relatively inexperience with the exception of the chairperson Steven Yoder, where fantastic. Always polite and helpful, I didn't even have to leave the gaming table for soda as the Gophers delivered it, as well as menu's and meals from the resteraunt! I'd thank so many people for making it better but I'll just name the few whose names I did manage to catch: Steven, Christina, Nora, Maggie, and Patrick.

All in all I found it to be almost everything I expected for a small first year con. I have already pre-registered for next year as I know they are looking for a larger venue, and will be having a fantastic guest of honor (I'd say but I don't know if it's been officially annouced yet). Hope to see you there!

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