It's Saturday morning...not quite a week since the end of Cauldron III. I've been home (Seattle) since Monday night. Things are, more-or-less, back to "normal."
Sofia's (school) soccer season has ended (although we're still going to do some sort of pizza party), and it was a successful one. Our goal, set at the beginning of the season, was to make the playoffs in our first year of eligibility and we did so, being second in our division of ten, and number four of only eight teams selected. Next year, we will set our expectations higher.
Likewise, high school cross-country has wrapped up for Diego; his last meet (Thursday) I got to watch him finish #11 out of some 300+ kids (#4 amongst first year students) form eight different schools. It was not his best run of the season, and he felt he should have placed higher for this particular meet, but this was his first time doing high school athletics, and he had a pretty strong season.
Club soccer continues for both kids. Diego's off to Yakima today. Sofia and I will be putting together the last touches of our Halloween costumes (normally, I'd be the one on "driving duty" for the five hour round trip, but I'm the Lector at 5pm Mass this evening). School continues. Basketball season is starting. Etc.
This is my family; this is my life. And I love it. At Cauldron, I may be a God of the Gaming Table and a Creator of Worlds...at home I'm the dishwasher, the chauffeur, and the scrubber of toilets. It is the the way of life, and I wouldn't want to have it any other way. If I wanted it some other way, it would be some other way...we create our own reality, just as surely as Dungeon Masters create dungeons.
Why do I bring this up?
Cauldron is an amazing, incredible experience...one that I feel so blessed to have participated in, one that gives me so much joy, I feel the need to write four or five (long) blog posts about it. For an old gamer like me, it is three days of unbridled bliss...
[sorry, had to pause to feed my kid breakfast before he got on the road: two fried eggs, bacon, sourdough toast, pineapple juice. Dishes can wait]
...much as I find bliss to spend a week on Orcas in the summer. Or to spend two weeks with my in-laws in Orizaba. Or as it used to be to spend Thanksgiving in Whistler, BC with my mom...or the Thanksgivings of my youth in Missoula, Montana.
Cauldron is a holiday. It is not my day-to-day reality.
And I want it to remain so, as something special. The dates have been posted for next year's Cauldron, and it's early enough in October that I could make it work with the soccer schedule; I could do it, I could make it back for 2026....
*sigh*
Since coming home, I've been in near constant contact with the con-goers via the Cauldron discord: checking in, scrolling photos, discussing plans for next year, throwing out ideas of how to make the con even cooler than it already is (as if we weren't already on the edge of spontaneous combustion). Just trying to keep that feeling, that Cauldron "magic" going...even after the thing has officially come to a close. Iudex...a man who reminds so much of my good friend Carlos Chavez in Mexico that it is painful...even suggested (jokingly, I'm sure) that I consider moving to Europe.
Mm. I love Europe. But leave the Pacific Northwest?
No. I'm not quite ready to create THAT reality. For better or worse, I'm a loud, ugly American, proud of my U.S. passport. And for right now, I can't imagine living out my last days...and dying...in any place but the Evergreen state, tasting the fresh piney air and hearing the patter of rain drops (it's been pouring the last two days: typical October weather). I'm not trying to be morbid or a downer...I'm just sharing the real thoughts in my mind. Not just the last few days, but the last couple years. Ever since the first Cauldron.
[truthfully]
If only I could bring everyone out here! Host my own Cauldron...some sort of extravaganza on Orcas in the summer time (I mean, if we're just wishing/dreaming...). Show them MY neck of the woods, feast them on fresh seafood from the Puget Sound and beers brewed from our local hops, wines from the Yakima valley. Hell, avocados! Are there no avocados in Germany?
*sigh*
Pipe dreams. For now, Cauldron must remain overseas and...for me...just an occasional holiday. One that I look forward to, one that I look back on with great fondness.
But I miss the people. There were 80+ attendees at Cauldron this year. I gamed with more than 40 of them including: Settembrini, Prince of Nothing, Iudex, Doof, Grutzi, Michal, MichalS, Mike, Domenico, Henning, Alex, Tamas, Chomy, Sonke, Justin, Cris, Ludwig, DangerIsReal, Butch, James, Orlando, Daniel, Paul, Ollie, Jay, Walid, Dillon, Theo, Dreadlord, Tom, Pangea, and...gosh, so many others whose names (and/or internet handles) escape me at the moment. And then ther are the people that it was so good to see and talk to, even if we didn't game together: BlutUndGlass, Melan, DerOgre, Eria (duh), Ghoul, Lynchpin, GusB, Eric, Yandere, x_y_z, MK...so many, so many good people.
Man, I truly, truly enjoy spending time with all of you...more than words can convey.
And with regard to the gamers specifically...those of you who showed up at my table in 2023, and then came back for more in 2025 (sometimes TWICE)...well, it touches my heart. Honestly. That feels much more like the bonds of friendship than just "pick-up games at a con."
I will be back. But I don't know when. I asked the age of the youngest player at Cauldron this year: twelve. I'm sure she and my daughter would have a blast (Sofia will be 12 in April). And I know Diego would have a good time gaming. I was considering taking them BOTH in '26.
But that air travel.
It's one thing for me to go 14 hours with small catnaps, and then pull my shit together enough to game hardcore over three days before flying home...do I want to put my kids through that?
Mm.
It would be one thing if my entire family was into gaming...but that's not the case. The only way it would work is if we made it a "family trip" (which my wife would be down with...she loves to travel and digs Germany), and just made Cauldron a portion of a longer excursion.
But she (my wife) wouldn't want to game. And what would she do for three days while we were there? And would my kids want to game three days in a row (they're not as crazy as I am)? And would I be traveling with all my gear while tooling around Germany?
No. Unfortunately, it doesn't make logistical sense. Which is a crying shame because playing AD&D with Euro kids in Germany would be an awesome experience for them that they'd both love. But it's not just a drive to Yakima or Spokane. It would be...nuts.
You create your own reality.
All right, that's enough discussion of Cauldron 2025...time to turn the page. I want to take a little break from D&D-stuff in general (yeah, right...we'll see how long that resolution lasts!) to get a handle on some other projects. Some of which ARE D&D-related but, well... The POINT is: I've got a couple-three blog posts already scheduled over the next couple days, but after that you can expect fairly light blogging for a few weeks; I've got OTHER "holiday stuff" to attend to.
Have a wunderbar day, folks!
[for ease of access:
A pleasure to play with you Sir & a joy to read these post-Con reports. As you say - sharing these reminiscences & photos keeps the special flame burning - looking forward to the day we can roll again!
ReplyDeleteBack at you, James.
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