I took a lot of pictures at Origins this year, most of them extremely ordinary.  You can see the shots I’m in by taking a look at my site at Trollhalla.com.

Artist Jolly Blackburn.

On the last day of the con, I wandered over to Kenzer’s booth to get another KODT t-shirt, and to say au revoir to my friend Jolly Blackburn.  I sometimes think that Jolly is friends with everyone in the industry–something that certainly can’t be said for me.

When I got there, Jolly said Hi and that he had a present for me.  I thought perhaps he would give me the latest issue of his comic–Knights of the Dinner Table.  What started out as a joke has turned into a remarkable saga of a world of role-playing gaming and the four original characters have increased in number to dozens of (weird) personalities, all brought together by fantasy role-playing.

Jolly asked me who was my favorite KODT character, and I told him it would have to be Sara. She’s the only one who isn’t crazy.  But that I identified more with B.A., his harassed Game Master.  Then he pulled this out and gave it to me.

The girl’s got game!

It seems like Jolly had been using some of his idle moments at the Con to  doodle/sketch up some pix of his favorite characters.  When I admired Sara he gave her to me.  I was pretty amazed. But then . . .

Make your saving throw!

he also gave me this picture of B.A. Felton.  I was amazed and very pleased to be the recipient of such bounty, and I thanked him.  So, that was a very cool moment at Origins for me.  Now I’m at home, and I’m trying to figure out where I can hang them. Maybe I’ll get them framed together looking at each other so it would seem like conversation.

I also got a t-shirt while I was there (I paid for that.) featuring B.A.  I’ll be wearing that at GenCon later this year, most likely.

There are always cool people to meet and hang with at Origins (or any gaming convention as far as that goes), and Jolly is one of the coolest ever.  I tip my hat and salute one of the nicest and most creative and entertaining storytellers in role-playing: Jolly R. Blackburn.

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If you went to Origins in 2013, or if you read Knights of the Dinner Table, or if you’ve ever met Jolly, why not leave a comment?

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