This episode of The Gamer Traveler is a shared episode with Tim Rodriguez of the Dice + Food + Lodging Podcast.

Tim and I interview each other back and forth and chat about travel, culture, games and the chances of having two separate podcasts about gaming and travel!

I had a blast chatting with Tim and you should totally check out Dice + Food + Lodging.

In this episode of The Gamer Traveler, I start a new subseries called World Gamers, where I interview fellow geek and gamers from around the world.

In this episode, I chat with Greg Schuster, who lives in Yamanashi, Japan. I had made plans to talk to Greg, and then the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. We still managed to chat but suddenly it was all the more topical and relevant.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Links:

Greg Schuster on Twitter – @Shinobicow776

The Dump Stat

Stargazer’s World > Posts by Greg Schuster

Eye of the Vortex > Gaming With Chopsticks

[[ This story originally published at The Gamer Traveler - http://www.thegamertraveler.com ]]

I am at a crossroads in regards to The Gamer Traveler…

I started this project years ago when I wanted to do a podcast and the one niche I knew I could fill unchallenged was Travel & Games. It worked and over the years I have certainly enjoyed doing the podcast and then the blog posts when time to record became an issue. The thing is, as you can clearly see if you look at the gaps in time between posts, it isn’t something I am doing a lot lately (and by lately I mean the last couple of years).

It is a simple fact that the niche I cover is a very small one, so there won’t be news of interest to report and talk about all the time, but even so, I find that time to dedicate to this project is the biggest problem.

A very practical solution would be to simply say thank you for your support and hang up the hat, but I’ll be honest, I don’t want to do that. Though I do it rarely, I enjoy working on The Gamer Traveler. I am proud of the unique angle on gaming it has and it is something I would like to continue doing.

Selfish statement said, the reality is that by myself, it will continue to be a sporadically-updating project. Would getting contributors be a possibility? I know I have two friends who have written posts that I could drop into The Gamer Traveler without a problem as they fit the format perfectly. Perhaps doing that on a semi-regular basis would be the way to go? Would there be people out there interested in exploring the crossroads between Travel & Games along with me?

What do you think? I’m thinking out loud here and would appreciate the feedback.

In 2009, I reported that game designer Keith Baker set out to travel the world exchanging hospitality for gaming. He chronicled his adventures somewhat infrequently in his blog, but always with the promise that he was working on a larger project which he called “Have Dice, Will Travel.”

Keith’s project has now reached fruition and “Have Dice, Will Travel” can be found as a column at The Escapist web magazine.

As of this writing, Keith has published two articles, one on his stay in Košice, Poland and another on his stay in Boise, Idaho. The articles give a snapshot view of the gamers Keith met in these locations and are both interesting in seeing a glimpse of how gamers around the world are both different yet essentially the same.

I look forward to Keith’s series and I hope you’ll check it out as well.

In The Gamer Traveler – Episode 13 I talk about my Gen Con 2010 experience: what I did, what I saw, who I hung out with, what I played and what I didn’t get to do. I also share with you an interview I did with Eddy Webb, Ethan Skemp and Rich Thomas of White Wolf about their Gen Con experience, the company’s future and The Grand Masquerade, the premier World of Darkness event coming in September. Join me in this quick tour of the best four days in gaming, Gamer Traveler-style.

Note: Sorry for the audio quality during the interview. I had to get all MacGyver on that file in order to extract it from the recorder I used, which in turn required I got even more inventive in getting it to sound the best I could.

Links:

My Gen Con Review blog post

My Gen Con photos

Gen Con

Rogue Games

Colonial Gothic

Shadow, Sword & Spell

Out of the Box Games

10 Days in the Americas

Review: 10 Days in Europe

Adamant Entertainment

Icons

Purple Pawn

NewbieDM.com

Geeky Clean

Review: Geeky Clean soaps

Scotty’s Brewhouse (Home of the Fat Dragon Ale)

White Wolf

White Wolf 2010-2011 Release Schedule

The Grand Masquerade

Ben Bertrandt from the blog Ben’s RPG Pile (Twitter: @BensRPGpile) has put up on his site a post on his packing tips for Gen Con. These aren’t your usual travel packing tips, being tailor-made for traveling to this con (or really, any other large convention) and addressing the unique needs of gamers. Take a look at this video version of his tips:

[RAW]

Overall I like his tips, especially where they address questions like, “How do I take this new miniature I got back home without squishing it?” I am personally not a fan of energy food items, which Ben does recommend, but if they float your boat, by all means go for it; just do remember to eat at least one good, solid, balanced meal a day or you’re gonna crash so hard that you’ll wake up in time for Gen Con 2012.

The most important tip Ben gives, and one I agree with wholeheartedly, is this: Pack light on the way there, you’ll need the space on the way back. Seriously folks, there’s no need to lug on the plane your entire collection of boardgames/miniature armies/collectible card games/role playing games/etc. Take what you need only. If you can take it on PDF, even better (role players, I’m looking at you – I don’t want to see anyone lugging their entire D&D 4th Edition collection on their backs). If you’re running a game, prep at home and make a scenario pack with copies of just the stuff you’ll need. Your back will thank you, the rest of the attendees will thank you, the airlines will thank you, your wallet will thank you. (Exception: if you’re driving, you’ve got a bit more leeway in the storage department, but still, keep it manageable.)

Thanks to Ben for his packing tips (and also for that graphic, which I totally borrowed from his site). See you all at Gen Con.

As of today, July 13, all fees associated with getting or renewing a USA passport have gone up.

New adult (ages 16+) passports have increased from $100 to $135. New minor (15 and younger) passports have gone up from $85 to $105. Renewals have gone from $75 to $110.

You can see the official fees for all passport and passport cards at Travel.State.Gov. You can also see the fee increase for all other services in this chart (my favorite – renouncing your USA citizenship has gone from free to costing a whooping $450!).

If you do not have a passport at this point, even with the new fee increases, I would go and start the process to get one soon. Here’s why: the reason cited for the fee increases.

According to CNN.com, “Officials recommended the hikes after a study found the current fee structure wasn’t covering the government’s costs for the services, the State Department said in the proposal outlined in the Federal Register.”

Folks, those costs are bound to keep increasing with inflation, so another fee hike cannot be too far away in the future. There already was a more tame one in 2008; consider that one a trial for this more aggressive increase. Now take that scenario and place this new increase as the tame one; you sure you want to wait a couple more years now?

I have to agree with the general consensus: it bites. Even I, because of procrastination, will have to shell out $110 to renew my passport, something I’ve known I have to do before it expires next year, so I’m preaching to myself as well. But here’s the thing: it’s worth it.

I wouldn’t be caught dead without my passport up to date, and I cannot stress enough how important I think it is for everyone to have their own passport. Maybe you think you’ll never travel out of the country, but the truth is you never know. If the opportunity comes up, you’re already set to go. Remember you also need it even to go into Mexico and/or Canada (though, in the Department of Awesome, remember that you do not need it to go to Puerto Rico). Besides, it’s about the most official and irrefutable form of identification there is. Yes, $135 is not chump change, but this is a document that will last for 10 years, so it’s an investment.

To sum up: the fee increase simply sucks, but getting a passport, and having it up to date, is still a good investment for everyone, including all gamer travelers.

In order to help out all the thousands of gamers descending upon Indianapolis, Indiana in August for Gen Con Indy 2010, the Gen Con team has partnered with Expedia to create the Gen Con Travel Support site.

From the news release:

Gen Con LLC has partnered with Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) to provide attendees with a convenient, reliable, and affordable means of arranging their personal travel. The new service is dubbed “Gen Con Travel Support”, and can be accessed online on the right-hand sidebar of the Gen Con Indy Home Page. Users of the new site will enjoy the convenience of booking a broad selection of flights, rental cars, travel packages, and supplemental lodging.

Gen Con Travel Support runs on the Expedia search engine, so anything Expedia has access to (and they are one of the biggest travel websites) you should be able to get access to through this site as well. This is an affiliate site, so anything you book through the Gen Con Travel Support site gives a percentage of the sale to Gen Con LLC.

So what can you get via this Gen Con Travel Support site? Air tickets, rental cars and “alternate housing,” meaning hotel rooms outside of the Gen Con housing block and subject to regular hotel rates for the dates.Rooms at special Gen Con rates must be booked via the Gen Con Housing Bureau; you will need the housing access code provided at the time of registration in order to book inside the Gen Con block (though those rooms sold out at record time back at the beginning of the year).

If you need to book airfare and rental cars for your trip/stay at Gen Con, give it a whirl.

Note: I am of mixed feelings here because I like Gen Con and want to see them continue to succeed, but I have no desire to support Expedia. I have had a couple of really bad experiences with them in the past 8 years (as in leaving-me-stranded-in-Ireland-with-no-way-to-get-back-home bad) and neither use them myself nor recommend them to anyone. Granted, there are thousands out there who have used Expedia with no issue whatsoever, so it’s up to you to make the decision to use them.

This is just a quick post to let you know that I will be closing and deleting the @GamerTraveler Twitter account. The change will go in effect on Sunday, March 7 (at some point during the day).

The blog isn’t going away; this is only an administrative move. I have a personal Twitter account, @Highmoon, that I have gone back to using exclusively since late last year as I seek to unify my online presence. Keeping two accounts is no longer something I can do while paying attention to them both, so this one’s going away in favor of my primary one.

If you have enjoyed being a follower of @GamerTraveler, and wish to remain connected, go ahead and follow me over at @Highmoon. It’s still me, tweeting about the same stuff (games & travel), plus some other things as well.

I hope to catch you there.

Yikes, blink a couple of times and suddenly February’s on the downhill towards the 28th! Let’s get this blog carnival roundup going, then.

The participants were few, but the posts they wrote were fan-tas-tic and everyone should check them out for the good info and advice they provided.

From Stargazer’s World we get two entries: How to make travel in your games more exciting, in which Michael offers some advice on making travel an integral and fun part of an adventure; and “We travel light. Let’s hunt some Orc”, in which we get some thoughts on traveling with our copious roleplaying equipment in real life. I especially liked this one a lot.

6d6 Fireball shares 5 Travel Related Hooks for GMs.

Mad Brew Labs writes about A Well Traveled Gamer, in which he draws on his own travel experiences to give some advice to gamers.

Campaign Mastery gathers us round the fire and gives us My Favourite PC Travel Game: Campfire Chats, a simple mini-game-in-game that can be used to simulate travel and enhance character development.

Fame & Fortune shares Places To Be, which has a very detailed list of suggestions to turn real places you’ve been to into memorable locations for your games.

Travel in the Sea of Stars has a post packed to the gills with links to travel-related entries made during the month of January. Seriously, check this out; it’s like 10 posts in one!

Held Action asks a very basic and important question: How Far Will You Travel to Game? Well, how far?

Worlds in a Handful of Dice talks simply about Travelling, finding new game stores, meeting and playing with new people, hitting museums and couch-traveling. It’s like 3 posts in one.

The team at Dice Monkey brings it to a great close with Travel in my Star Wars and D&D Games and Fueling Imagination By Exploring Your Own Backyard (an activity I heartily endorse).

Thanks a lot to all the participants. I am amazed by the great posts you all shared. It was my honor to have hosted this month’s blog carnival.