Reported by Isaac Xavier-Santos
On October 21st, Alex, Feifei and I boldly embarked upon a trek to see Kevin Siembieda and friends. The destination: Ubercon 8 at the posh La Quinta hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey. This trip was a worthwhile weekend that echoed the triumph we felt with our experiences at the 2006 Palladium Books Open House. Our objective was to present Siembieda with all that Alex and I had written so far, which topped out at 77 pages. Our Federation of Magic II manuscript, though not completed, had some really strong writing and ideas. Consequently, we planned to give Kevin a taste of what we’d accomplished thus far and see how our vision for the Magic Zone would mesh with his.
Initially, the journey experienced some complications, which seem to be a hallmark of all our trips together. I was running late, and Alex still needed to stop and get his files printed. This put us about three hours behind schedule. Finally, we arrived in New Haven where we’d be taking the train to New York City’s Penn Station and from there, to Secaucus. However, my debit card decided on this particular day to cease functioning. Consequently, I couldn’t access any of my money, forcing me to leech off of Alex and Feifei for the remainder of the trip. It took us 30 minutes to hail a cab in New York, and we had to wait an hour and a half until our train left to New Jersey. Amazingly, we somehow still made it to Secaucus roughly on time. Additionally, our friend and benefactor Brandon Aten (one of the authors of Rifts World Book 29: Madhaven) was unable to pick us up at the train station after getting lost on the Jersey Turnpike, so we hunted down a taxi to bring us to Ubercon.
The convention was mostly what I expected a lot of gamerific individuals doing their role-playing/cosplay/LARPing thing. Though I hate to mock my own kind, I must admit that I did feel slightly ridiculous surrounded by people dressed as pirates or aliens from the Star Wars movies. We were the only Rhode Islanders there, with the exception of a RISD student who was dressed as Zantana from Batman. Unfortunately, we arrived just as the convention was winding down for the night. Everything was closing shop, but we stopped in to say hello to Kevin, who was in the midst of GMing a Beyond the Supernatural session. Ironically, it was the same scenario that he had employed when I played with him at Origins 2004. Kevin introduced me as one of the best role-players he’d ever met (aw shucks), and the best Professor Higgins he’d ever GMed for (Higgins being the character I had played in his game). Ultimately, we had to get going so as not to interrupt his game more than necessary, though I returned later to watch for a little while.
Surprisingly, one of the highlights of the evening was going out to dinner with Wayne Smith, the editor-in-chief of the Rifter. Though Feifei, Alex, and I had always thought that he didn’t care much for us, we were apparently wrong. All of us, particularly Alex, schmoozed it up with him at a fairly fancy restaurant called Bonefish. I took the opportunity to ask Wayne some personal questions about Palladium Books, working with Siembieda, and the specifics of CJ Carella’s departure from the company. Wayne gave us some good advice and clued me in on what to expect as an editor. (a career path I might pursue someday) It was an enjoyable night, and we continued to speak with Wayne long after dinner, talking about many non-role-playing subjects, like sports and alcohol.
That night, we stayed in Brandon’s apartment, and I got to take a close look at his marvelous Palladium collection, which left me very jealous. He had doubles of almost every book (including limited editions) and printer proofs of several main manuals. One of the perks of working for Palladium, I suppose.
The next day we met with Kevin Siembieda at the convention to talk about our manuscript. We left the noisy convention hall and relocated into a quiet, spacious pool room. Alex, Feifei, and I sat down with Kevin, accompanied by Brandon, his fiancé Martha, and Mark Evans (the artist who did the cover of Madhaven). The following two hours were incredibly encouraging and revealing. We spoke with Siembieda about his vision for the Magic Zone and explained our plans for the Federation. He listened intently, after which he responded with positive feedback. I was pleased at how open he was to our ideas. Even when I presented my desire to explore time travel in the Rifts setting, he expressed his concerns but still remained receptive to my proposal. The funniest moment was when Kevin jokingly made a disparaging remark to Feifei, which turned into a running gag. Eventually, Feifei responded with a deadpan face, saying “Are you trying to hurt me Siembieda?” It was classic.
Finally, we gave Kevin our material, and he promised to get back to us. He even agreed to videotape a short introduction for our website. I also talked to Mark and asked if he would be willing to do the cover of our Federation book. He said that he definitely would; he thought that our book sounded interesting. Consequently, I plan to contact him when the time comes.
Overall, Ubercon VIII was another great Palladium Books experience that has galvanized me and fortified my need to complete this manuscript. When all is said and done, I hope to be seeing a published manual with my name on it and with Alex’s in six to nine months. In the words of the Godfather, “Keep those imaginations burning bright!”
