This year’s Open House marked yet another transition into a larger world for both myself, and my faithful co-author Mr. Isaac Xavier-Santos. Yet this year we were flanked by friends, both old and new, the estimable Brandon Aten, and new face Josh Sinsapaugh. Arriving in New Jersey (the launching point of this years journey) ahead of Isaac, the ever accommodating Brandon Aten picked me up at the Madison Train Station, interrupting a chorus rehearsal, and dropped me off at his apartment, where Josh and I got to know each other. We discussed everything from our plots and schemes for future Palladium projects, and even had a civilized conversation about the current standings of the Red Sox (of whom I am a life long fan) and Josh’s New York Yankees. It wasn’t long before Brandon returned and our conversation transitioned back to geekdom, and our love for all things Palladium. Around 2:00 we retired in preparation for Isaac’s early morning arrival, and our epic journey to the Palladium headquarters.

It was a lovely morning, in the surprisingly scenic area of New Jersey where Brandon lives, and it was not long before Ike arrived. We grabbed a quick breakfast and then we were off. Despite what would seem like a tedious car ride to most, I truly enjoyed the drive. Despite my almost universal aversion to cars, and driving in general, there is just something hypnotically entrancing about driving through the forested hills of Pennsylvania, and the steep plateaus of the Ohio Valley. I’m not sure if it has something to do with my complete emersion in all things Magic Zone, or my general giddiness about seeing Kevin and all the folks in Palladium, but I enjoyed the ride. Brandon, and Isaac had me laughing all the way to Michigan, while Josh ensorcelled me with tidbits from his forthcoming manuals (very well written I might add), and around 10:30 p.m. we arrived.

Infinitely late, we unceremoniously shuffled into the Freelancer Friday like a gaggle of vagabonds, and were forced to bite an uncomfortable bullet, admitting to Kevin that our book was not finished. At 250+ pages and a one hundred or so unfinished pages our book has begun to take on a life of its own. I find myself and Isaac discussing the book as an almost living, breathing world apart from our own, that by sacred chance we have been privileged enough to describe, a mental framework, I might add that is altogether nonconductive towards deadlines and conclusion in general. Nevertheless, after a roll of the eyes, Kevin greeted us with his usual kindness, and genuine enthusiasm for our presence and forthcoming work. What happened next, while seemingly insignificant, is something that stuck with me for the duration of our trip and a recurring quirk of Kevin’s personality. Almost as soon as were finished with our greetings, Kevin produced the Machination of Doom graphic novel, and you could just tell how pumped he was about it. This excitement for what he is doing, what Palladium is all about pervades every level of personality. Though you could tell he was foreboding an exhausting weekend of gamer interaction, you could just tell how important Palladium, and the guiding creative principals of Palladium are to him. Anyway, Freelancer Friday was regrettably brief, and we soon returned to our hotel sipped a little bourbon, stayed up all night and began anew on Saturday.

For me it was all about Saturday. After a gluttonous breakfast at the local Bob Evan’s, we made our way back to Palladium, with our sights set on the arrival of Perez. Now as any regular reader of the AFR site fully understands, the AFR crew loves Perez. His artwork has been inspiration to all of us, in terms of role-playing, and just our group wide appreciation for exciting new art. Yet particularly for me, Ramon is someone I have long looked up to, in terms of illustrative prowess, design style, his story-telling compositional approach, and general old-school flavor. The last time I met up with Ramon he showed a lot of class in giving me a lot real advice, not just “work hard, don’t give up” crap usually dumped at the feet of most inquiring amateur artists. To be completely honest my old stuff really sucked, but walking away from that meeting I didn’t leave with that impression. He showed a real enthusiasm for my designs, and my color work but gently pointed out that my anatomical acumen was sorely lacking. Looking at my fine-art stuff, of which my anatomy was much, much better, he showed me how to reconcile the both, and shared with me his approach, and the guidelines he tries to stick by. That meeting was huge for me, and I focused like crazy on everything he said from that point forth, working hard to put together a portfolio worthy of Palladium publication. So in returning to 2007, after perusing the library of Palladium products, and Kevin’s epic collection of Star Wars memorabilia, Ramon arrived. I was very excited about talking to him, and showing him my artwork, talking about my forth-coming book and about my desire to collaborate with him in the future. To my shock and surprise he recognized me immediately. He asked me about my progress, and what I was up to in general. I told him about our book, to which he congratulated me, and how illustrating has had to unfortunately be pushed to the background, a little bit. After talking about Machinations of Doom, and my appreciation for his art in general I moseyed about the convention for a few more hours intermittently chatting with Ramon and others before getting ready to rock and roll out of there.

Yet before leaving Isaac and I wanted to proposition Ramon for some coveted original sketches, to which he agreed to do the next day. Yet out of the blue Ramon asked us what we were doing for chow, and asked if he could tag along. Very excited to chill with Ramon, Scott Johnson came along as well, and we went to a little diner grabbing milkshakes. We had a really illuminating conversation about work habits and artistic rhythms, finding inspiration and the like. Living in rather artistic isolation, it was really a great time for me personally. With my ever sharp wingman Isaac at my side we were able to talk about our plans for Federation II, to which both Scott and Ramon showed a lot of genuine interest, and Ramon agreeing to do some illustrations for our book. I could not have been more excited. Working with Perez has long been an ambition of mine, and his interest in our work really made me feel like I had come very far since our first meeting way back in 2004. So with a little confidence under my belt I felt more like a peer and colleague amongst all the Palladium staffers, and freelance veterans, and realized that these guys were people just like me. Needless to say it was really cool to sit down and talk with Ramon and Scott, both of them giving a lot of solid advice towards two rookies like Isaac and myself.

So with a good deal less nervous energy Isaac and I had a great time for the rest of the convention. Gaming with Kevin was great. Harkening back to the true old school, we played a really fun session of Palladium Fantasy. It was interesting format in which we had to stop the mad Lord DeSulca from D-shifting his kingdom, via ritual sacrifice, to an infernal realm, with the real-time span of 2 hours. Being used to the serious, no-nonsense, role-playing intensive AFR gaming sessions, I was somewhat appalled by lack of sophistication, and general rudeness of the other players involved in the game, but Kevin’s GMing style is really fun, with the rules and game mechanics operating noiselessly in the background, with the action and atmosphere taking center stage. The highlight for me from a player’s prospective was Isaac’s role-playing. Isaac killed it with memorable lines, inventive role-playing and great timing. His rebuttal to the demonic tauntings of a towering Baalrog standing out above the all the rest. The demon belittles his Paladin’s efforts referring to him as a “mere boy”. Isaac’s brilliant retort being “I may not be as old as you demon, but I am no boy”, drew cheers from everyone including Siembeida himself.

The rest of the convention was standard fare, a little gaming, a little partying, hobnobbing with other freelancers, but as Sunday approached, the din of the convention faded into the background as looming private audience with Kevin loomed god-like on the horizon. Following a spirited tour of the Palladium Facilities and a glimpse into Kevin’s crazy art-collection (you would not believe all the Alex Ross stuff he has) we finally had our meeting with Kevin about our book. Kevin explained to us the ins and outs of the business, telling us how we need to be a little more guarded with our approach and a lot of really thought-inspiring little tidbits. The guy is just a font of good advice, and excitement for all things creative. As awesome as our talking with Ramon, and Scott Johnson was, our meeting with Kevin was right up there. A lot of people characterize Kevin as some kind of tyrant, but in my numerous and often indepth conversations with the man he has been nothing short of inspiring, if brutally honest in approach. Maybe its just me but his honesty, even though it could be characterized as rough, is really comforting in a way. Its nice to know what a guy actually thinks about what your telling him, and what creative direction you want to go in. To me, its far more disconcerting to get honey-coated appraisals and praise lauded on you, with real criticism, and inevitable edits, and reworks lurking beneath the surface. Kevin’s approach really makes it easy to know which direction to take things, what he likes, and what he doesn’t so you know what the hell you’re doing. This epic meeting of the minds was cut short, as we were in there for something like 2 hours, and we had to pick up our compatriots back at the hotel and check out. So on a rather abrupt note we hauled ass out of there and returned back to the Palladium H.Q. shortly there after.

So as the trip wound down I finally got the chance to have Ramon look at my new art. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to show him stuff. I didn’t have my full portfolio, and I hadn’t really planned on it, but I figured what the hell. To my surprise I got a very good appraisal of my art. Ramon really liked my stuff, and thought my skills were really coming around. We talked visual strategy and Ramon showed me some compositional stuff which really stuck with me. It was really the perfect capper on the weekend and I was thrilled that Ramon liked my stuff. So not long after we said our goodbyes to everyone and made ready for the long journey home. I drove most of the way, and it was dark not long after we departed, hiding most of the scenery, making for a less enjoyable ride. Neverthless some 11 hours later we arrived back in N.J. crashed and then made the journey back to little Rhodie.

Overall the trip was a blast. It was great to see everybody, and get an appraisal of where we are in terms of creative maturity, the validity of our ideas and the like. With more than one personal goals met I couldn’t have been happier. With our trip now in the rearview mirror, my sights are set on finishing Federation II, plowing on regardless of sleep and sanity, Isaac and I trudge on to our next milestone: publication and true indoctrination into the Palladium family.

--- AVA