(Games)Daynurse

Anyone who works in the Roleplaying Industry for more than a year becomes painfully aware of one of its pitfalls: Convention Crud.

This unpleasant affliction strikes down anyone who's worked a convention, event or meet, with a mucus filled sore throat and week long tiredness. There are of course variations on the theme- Whooping Crud is a sort of chesty cough and sweats, whilst Crusty Crud attacks the eyes in a sort of 'pink eye lite' way.

If you spend a day or more in a hall with thousands of other people, chatting, gaming and interacting, it's pretty inevitable that you're going to pick some sort of illness up. Despite that, we all have our own little theories on how we can avoid the dreaded crud.

In preparation for Gamesday this Sunday- where we'll be running 'Visual WFRP' a couple of convention games and an info booth (mmm! Count those disease vectors)- we've employed multiple strategies. One of us has gone as far as breaking his arm so that he doesn't have to attend- which is effective, if a little extreme. Others have been taking lots of vitamin C, Zinc and Garlic in an attempt to build up their immune systems. Still others have applied science, and learnt that washing your hands 5 times a day can cut your chances of picking up a cold by up to 40%. Most popular is the 'Alcohol therapy' which involves sinking a couple of stiff whiskeys after the event to 'scare off the bugs'

Whatever the strategy, we're all prepared for a full on day of talking, gaming and fun. For all the talk round the office, we don't really mind catching a sniffle or two that much... After all it's one of the few days we actually get to meet the guys and girls who read our books and play our games.

Besides, if we're all going to be ill afterwards- well, misery loves company.

Pass the tissues.

-The BI Dev team.