The main gaming area offered two dozen tables, with more available along the balcony; photo by Dieter Zimmerman

Nerd Louisville hosts an annual game-playing convention called Nerdlouvia. I’ve attended all of them, and I volunteered to help organize the event this year (12/7 to 12/9/18).

Schedule

This was our first three-day event.

Friday night was a VIP party and awards show, and included several fun nerdy acts:

• Awards (7:00, 8:15, and 9:15)
• A One-Man Star Wars Show (7:30)
• Kalashnikov Clowns (8:30)
• Nerdesque Burlesque (9:30)
• Sons of Robot Monster (10:30)

Saturday and Sunday were filled with games, games, and games.

The program book shows all 100+ scheduled games.

I also preached a game-themed sermon on Sunday morning, for the Christians who were attending the event.

Tabitha Johnson of the Nerdesque Burlesque danced as Leeloo (The Fifth Element) and Leela (Futurama); photo by Larry Green

Awards

The categories (and winners) are:

• People
  • Nerd of the Year: Rueben Perales
  • Outstanding Community Role Model: Colin Moore
  • Gamemaster of the Year: Matthew French
  • Most Creative Gamemaster: Mike Pfaff
• Events
  • Best Live Theater Production: Shakespeare in the Park
  • Best Local Nerd Act: I-VIII: A One-Man Adaptation of Star Wars
  • Best Local Nerd Convention: Louisville Arcade Expo
• Places
  • Nerdiest Bar: Kaiju
  • Place to Buy Board Games: Louisville Game Shop
  • Place to Buy RPGs: Louisville Game Shop
  • Place to Buy Comics: Heroes Comics & Gaming
  • Place to Buy Video Games: Card N All Gaming
  • Place to Buy Magic: Bluegrass Magic
  • Best Bookstore: Carmichael’s

There was also a nice shout-out to Volunteers of Distinction: Brandon Aten, Andrew Bates, Matthew French, Squire Greene, Rick Hudson, Hailey Kuhn, yours truly, Reuben Perales, Mike Pfaff, Andy Smith, Eric Toncray, and Steven Wu.

Games

In the Cereal Killers world, Cap’n Crunch, Tony the Tiger. and others face grim and gritty threats

I ran two of my most popular games, Meep on the Borderland and Night of the Living Crunch.

In Meep on the Borderland, the Muppets embark on a fantasy adventure. Kermit stars as Hopalong Kid, leader of the Muppy Men. The rest of the usual (and semi-usual) Muppet crew are there, too.

The Cereal Killers world was created by my friend Joe Linehan. In his original adventure, he sent Cap’n Crunch, Tony the Tiger, and the others through the plot of Watchmen, to give you idea of the level of absurdity and insanity involved. I loved the idea, and between us we’ve put the poor cereal characters through the plot of Aliens, Apocalypse Now (“A Box of Trix Now”), and more.

In Night of the Living Crunch, the crew fights off zombie soggies in the far-off land of Bransylvania, Count Chocula’s homeland. I designed the character sheets to fold around miniature cereal boxes. You can download the character sheets and play your own cereal adventures.

I played a session of The Expanse RPG, based on the book and television series. It was pretty faithful to what I’ve read and watched, and the elegant system mechanics were a good fit.

An extensive library of board games was available for anyone to play

More

Nerdlouvia also had an auction, a game swap table, video games, anime films, side quests, vendors like Goodman Games (Dungeon Crawl Classics), Card N All Gaming, and Red Bull (who actually offered free cans of Red Bull throughout the event). But most of all, Nerdlouvia was filled with friends, new and old.

And best of all, as a licensed non-profit, all the proceeds are donated to a local charity.

I hope to be involved next year, too.