Gen Con 2011 Sunday Events

Wrapping up the 2011 Gen Con I signed up for the traditional "will I play it or start home early" game.  This year the honor goes to another Ubiquity engine powered game.

Name: Miracle Stone of the Amazon

Synopsis: You have the only map to the lost city of Paititi, rumored to be filled with riches beyond imagination. Travel through the darkest reaches of the Amazon and into the web of an ancient conspiracy of murder, greed, and miraculous revelations. Part of the "Play With the Creators" series.


Why I signed up for it: It was an interesting sounding adventure, one where you get a chance to play with the creators.  The time was also one that I will likely be able to get finished before leaving for home.


Now all that is left is to play these fun games and wrap them all up!

Gen Con 2011 Saturday Events

Saturday continues on Friday's proud tradition of excessive gaming with another early start at 9 am.

Name: Temple of the Beastmen


Synopsis: While guarding a caravan traveling through the Auroch Hills, our heroes find the usual path blocked. Can they find an alternate route to get the caravan through?


Why I signed up for it: I know nothing about this Hellfrost setting, but I do always enjoy a good Savage Worlds game.  I kind of reminds me of a simplified version of D&D 4e.  This makes for a perfect fit for early morning gaming.




Plowing on right through lunch the gaming continues with the following event starting at 1 pm.


Name: Incident at Owl Lake


Synopsis: You and your friends have anticipated this camping trip for a long time. It is a time to rest, find solace in your companions, and escape the dreaded yet unremembered nightmares. You hope to banish the vague sense of unease, that sense of loss, which has disturbed you for so long. Surely nothing horrific could happen here in the dark forest near the lake beneath the bright night sky. An immersive event with lights + sound.


Why I picked it: More than one chance to play a Fudge / FATE game at Gen Con was too much to pass up.  That and the use of lighting and sounds had me interested from a multimedia perspective.


Proving that the one thing I do best is excess I have yet another game on Satuday.


Name: The Witch-King of Kromdar


Synopsis: Across the land, people whisper of Kromdar. Kromdar, the City of Death! Kromdar, home of the blasphemous Witch-King Uluk! Only a madman would willingly venture to Kromdar. A madman or, possibly, a band of swordsmen who have heard rumors of vast treasure hidden beneath the city’s streets. Can you find the treasure, or will you suffer slow, agonizing torture at the hands of the Witch-King?


Why I signed up for it: Another chance to play a QAGS event and I am a sucker for traditional adventure and mentioning that only a mad man would attempt the like is sure to bring me to the door knocking!

Gen Con 2011 Friday Events

Friday, along with Saturday, is my heavy gaming day. It starts of early and runs strong late into the night.  My first event starts off at 8 am.

Name: Save the Family Jewels


Synopsis: England's Crown Jewels Have been stolen!!! ...and you let it happen. Can you and you friends restore England's pride and tradition? Nazis, Dinosaurs and fun included...Roleplaying stressed.


Why I signed up for it: It is a pulp adventure and it is using the Hollow Earth Expedition rules, which I have played with before and found enjoyable.  I also noticed the "...Roleplaying stressed." part of the description, so this one should be good.


With a longer than normal break for lunch I am back to gaming at 4 pm.

Name: A nice cup of Egg Frog

Synopsis: December, 1940. Londoners have endured the perils of the Blitz for months, but as Christmastime draws near, hearts once again begin to fill with joy. That is until the children of Puddling Green begin to go missing... A Frog Hall Christmas carol full of holiday fear! Bad accents and hare-brained schemes strongly encouraged.

Why I signed up for it: Even though I sold my copy of Adventure!, and enjoy the system less than Hollow Earth, I signed up for this event as it is run by the same person who ran a VERY enjoyable event last year.  I hope I get to reprise my role as "the worlds greatest dentist."  Truly a fearsome character to play in pulp era London!

Proving that gaming can be a part time job I went ahead and scheduled yet another event starting at 8 pm.

Name: Requiem for a Descent

Synopsis: An eccentric occult enthusiast is hiring a group of scholars to explore the connections between and ancient ruin in southeast Asia and astronomical phenomenon.

Why I signed up for it:  It wouldn't be a real Gen Con without a Cthulhu event.  I like to play CoC events at cons because you have a more than average chance of losing by either death or insanity.  They all usually have some investigative element, which is something I enjoy as well.

Gen Con 2011 Thursday Events

Thursday gaming gets off to a later start for me than usual, with my first event beginning at 2pm.  With this late start I will have time for some dealer's rooming in the morning and even a chance for a leisurely paced convention lunch at the food court.


Name: Pyramids of Atlantis


Synopsis: When unexpected violence shatters the secret peace between the British Empire and the Atlantean Nations, Her Majesty the Queen covertly sees to it that a number of Strange operatives from the Kerberos Club join Her Naval expedition to "investigate." But after two weeks of deep-sea bombardment and demands for surrender, the Atlanteans remain curiously silent. Just what are they up to down there? 


Why I signed up for it: I have a great interest in the pulp era, one that seems to lend itself well to the limited time slots of conventions.  Also, this one had the benefit of being a FATE system event, another big plus.  I was really surprised I way able to make it in for this event.  Custom FUDGE dice already packed.

My late game for Thursday is a QAGS (Quick Ass Gaming System) event.  I have the reputation with my gaming friends of having system ADD.  So had to feed the beast by signing up for a QAGS game.  Having never played this system I am looking forward to trying it out.


Name: Curse of the Alchemist


Synopsis: The savage land of Vekros is home to bold men, brazen women, scheming sorcerers, and hideous beasts. Only by blood and by steel shall you live! Some say the tablets of the legendary artificer Kaarn hold the secrets to everlasting life. Are you brave enough to face the curse of the Alchemist?


Why I signed up for it: The chance to learn a new system and the description for the event sold me.  Fit nicely into my schedule too.


With a late start to gaming and not too terribly late of a conclusion I should be able to get some sleep and maybe even a quick boardgame or two back at the hotel. 

Gen Con 2010 Sunday Overview

I was amazed I made it up in time to not only get packed, take a SHOWER and still make it to my 800 am  game of Serenity.  Ended up being a little on the low energy side as it was early for all those involved.  I have never played the Serenity version of the Savage Worlds system so this was new ground for me here.

I guess I must have been under another impression that you could spend plot points to make things happen as I was shut down more than once trying to advance the plot.  So we meandered around for three and a half hours before we got anywhere close to the end of the adventure.  Then the most awesome part of the whole game took place.  We had no time for a long and drawn out assault on the bad guys fortified hideout, so the GM called for a combined roll.  He assigned difficulty numbers for the different outcomes.  We were able to achieve the most beneficial outcome due to not being allowed to spend our plot points.

This got me thinking we need some kind of fast forward button we can hit like the easy button when games bog down.  This wouldn't be so much of an issue but with con games limited 4 hour slots you can feel like you are wasting your time quite a bit.

If I ended up getting into any future Serenity games I will go back and do a little research as I felt like it had been a VERY long time since I had watched the show and was a little like a fish out of water.  Still overall a fun-ish experience.

Gen Con 2010 Saturday Overview

I was beginning to feel the lack of sleep catch up with me and I was playing 12 hours more of scheduled games so Saturday was brought to you by the letter 5 Hour Energy.

The first game I played in Saturday was Cave of Wanders: Wanton Destruction a Donjon game.  Donjon is a Clinton R. Nixon game, one that I have long been interested in.  Donjon is all about player control exclusively so it is something that I have never seen in the con events listings, until this year.  We ended up making our characters up on the spot, which took about 30 to 45 minutes, which wasn't too bad as we had great fun making what had to be the craziest group of adventurers.  A beholder holding a double docotorate, a thief who would play dead at the first sight of anything, an elf with an amazing fear of getting hit in the face and a smelly ogre named Violet.

We had a good time goofing off and ended the adventure in time for me to make a mad dash across Indy for my next event, so that was a plus.  I can cross "Play Donjon" off of my bucket list now, but I will never play it again, lesson learned.

The game I was dashing from Donjon to play was The Babalon Working a Call of Cthulhu Gumshoe game.  I like Cthulhu games, a lot.  You usually go mad and / or die so there is a real sense of danger that you don't always have in most con games.  This was also an opportunity for me to learn the Gumshoe system.

The pre-generated characters were all science fiction writers and associated.  I was greatly pleased to be able to play Phillip K Dick, the craziest man who ever lived!  The GM had obviously run this adventure many times and he did a great job with chits representing who all was where making investigation easier.  The other players were great.  Especially the Robert Heinlein player, he had an amazing amount of actual historical knowledge of the character.

After unsuccessfully trying to reach the local police and the highway patrol, I got to have my break the con moment . . . "My name is Phillip K Dick, and I will be taking you hostage!"  table rolled with laughter.

Overall I was surprised how simple this system was.  This might have been how the GM was playing it as I had nothing else to compare it too but it still seemed to be barely any mechanics at all.  I would give it another play through to see if it was a little more crunchy.  If not, I couldn't see myself playing it instead of traditional Cthulhu events.

Every train must, eventually, have its wreck.  This was mine for the con.  I should have know I was in for something special when the same caffeinated and COCAINE  fortified girl from my Raiders of Meadbrook Mine was sitting and waiting for me at the table for my Terror on Emerald Fields Game.  Why didn't I run?  Because I'm a glutton for punishment, and punishment we all got in spades, four hours worth.

The GM was somehow affiliated with the company that produced Legendary Realms so he was knowledgeable about the setting and the mechanics.  We started out by creating our characters which consisted of everybody getting a book and flipping through it at our own pace.  In a convention setting this is unacceptable.  Pregenerated characters are a must, at least they should be there to use as an example if not actually played.  So, we soldiered on and created our characters.  We then spent the next four hours being "entertained" by the same girl from the Meadbrook mine game.

When the event was mercifully over I gave the GM feedback that pregen characters would've made this process run smoother and some small layout modifications to the character sheets and the rule book.  By this time the girl in question had left after her father made her apologize to the other people for "using the f-word."  Since we were all 30-40 year old guys we assured her we all understood.

I then tried to make the GM feel a little better by saying that I had felt the same pain as I had played another game with this girl too.  That was when he dropped the bombshell to end all bombshells . . . THAT WAS THE THIRD GAME HE HAD PLAYED WITH HER!  I shook my head and ran for it screaming.

What I learned was that I will not be playing anymore Legendary Realms games, and if I see this girl again at a game I will get a couple of pitchers of beer, the table will need them, badly.

Gen Con 2010 Friday Overview

After having a pretty shaky experience in Meadbrook mine I was really looking forward to Pulp Friday.  I really enjoy the setting personally and I think it lends itself very well to con play as characters tend to be awesome doing amazing things!

First off was Men without Minds a Spirit of the Century / FATE game I was surprised I was able to get into at all.  Two of the people playing in this Spirit game were the same people I had played Inspectres with last year so I knew I was in for a fun game.  The GM has pre-generated almost all of our character's back-story leaving only the last novel for us to do so we could tie our characters together and see how the novel system of back-story development worked.  This was a great idea as it took a little time and gave us a taste as to what the system was like.  I highly recommended anyone else running this in a con setting to do the same thing.

The plot was pretty standard pulp but we all had a fun time tracking down the big bad guy to his lair.  This was the first time I had played Spirit so I was a little disappointed as to how it handed combat with multiple lesser opponents.  I like FATE / FUDGE but I was a little let down, probably due to my to extremely high expectations.  Overall, it was a good game and I learned a lot as well.  I would definitely play in another Spirit game con registration system willing.

Pulp Friday continued with Frogs in the Machine an Adventure! game.  I have owned this book for quite awhile and it has been gathering dust on the shelf so I was looking forward to cracking it out.

The characters for this game were great.  One was a sentient gorilla scientist, to help set the stage.  I got to play what I would later refer to as "the worst monster a child could ever imagine" trust me the monster under the bed had nothing on this guy.  We were playing in pre-WWII England and I was a German character who was a dentist.  Not just any dentist, but, "THE GREATEST DENTIST IN THE WORLD"  it said so, right on the character sheet.  So we were already off to a cracking start.  The GM for the game had an amazing array of different British accents and he was always consistent with the accents as he changed NPCs.

The other players were all very interesting and we had a great time getting to the bottom of the mystery.  I would definitely like to play more games with the same group of guys.  Upon reflection I doubt that I will be playing in any more Adventure! games in the future.  I like the game just not as much as I like Hollow Earth Expeditions so sorry Adventure! off to Half-Priced books you go!

Gen Con 2010 Thursday Overview

One of the games I was most looking forward to play was my first game of the con, Trouble in Hochen a Burning Wheel game.  I arrived in the room a little early so I was killing time looking at the events in the book.  As game time approached I began to worry that I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, so I double checked the event time with the con program . . . and was surprised to see that Luke Crane himself was listed as running the game, the creator of Burning Wheel himself.  As it turned out the person running the game showed up shortly in the person of Thor Olavsrud an editor / developer of the game.

The four slot game had immediately sold out as do all Burning Wheel events but somehow we had only three of the four slots filled, without anyone with generics tickets waiting in the wings.  We bravely soldiered on and ended up becoming the heroes of Hochen.  I had a great time playing in Trouble as I have been wanting to see what  the Burning Wheel system looked like in action.  Action was what we had in this adventure, we had a Duel of Wits as well as a three on one sided combat that was both very satisfying and informative.

Everyone who participated in this event seemed to have a good time and I got many of my questions answered so I considered this event a great start to the con.  If things keep getting better from here by Sunday I will be rolling nothing but crits and shooting laser beams from my eyes . . . unfortunately I was wrong.

My other game on Thursday was The Raiders of Meadbrook Mine and could well be descibed as my inspiration to follow up on my events in the blog.  Adventures in Fantasy 2nd edition is a homebrewed system lovingly crafted with obviously a lot of work put into it. Unfortunately, lots of work and loving crafting in this case still didn't add up to a system that was better than Savage Worlds, which from here on out will be considered my Mendoza line when it comes to this style of gaming.  The actual adventure itself was standard dungeon crawling which was fine as most of the players were very nice funny people, excepting a 13ish year old girl who had been drinking caffeinated beverages and eating COCAINE all day.  To the GM's and other player's credit we kept her mosly in check, mostly, so playing was still enjoyable.  I will not be playing in any more Adventures in Fantasy games not because they are bad people, or have a bad system, just after two playings I feel I have gotten all that I can out of the system.

Gen Con 2010 Sunday Event

This is the only event I am planning to play on Sunday.  With my late night of gaming from Saturday and the very real possibility that my ride might want to head west this event might not happen for me. . .

Event Name: Pinkerton's Legacy Bounties in the Black
System:  Serenity

Synopsis: Out on the Fringe, good folk mostly have to do for themselves. There is plenty of room for villains to run & hide. Out in the Black, it'd take heroes to stand up for what's right, men and women like the crew of Pinkerton's Legacy, aiming to make life safer on the frontier, living off the bounties of criminals that they capture or kill, and the occasional reward from the grateful

Why I selected this event: I like to sneak a last game in on Sunday morning.  This is using the Serenity (aka Savage Wolrds) ruleset which I try to play at least one game of a year.  This year I went down to the Gen Con buzzer to get my Savage World fix in.

Gen Con 2010 Saturday Events

These are the Gen Con 2010 events that I am playing on Saturday.  This is by far my busiest day so far at this Con, at least a part time job kind of hours.  I will be likely eating trail mix out of a backpack and washing it down with Red Bull by the end of this day of gaming.

Event Name: Cave of Wanders: Wanton Destruction
System: Donjon

Synopsis: We'll be bathing in ale and women tonight! We've all heard our fathers and their fathers before them drone on and on about the 'horrors' in that cave, but we've also seen the fat loot that they've brought back. Treasure, cool scars, and more treasure. Grab your sword and some torches. Our quest begins tonight!

Why I selected this event: I read the rules for Donjon and was immediately impressed with the openness.  I always wanted to play this system over almost everything else but was far too intimidated to even think about running anything with it.  I always swore if an even was ever listed at Gen Con it would be the first thing I signed up for, this was that year.

Event Name: The Babalon Working
System: Trail of Cthulhu

Synopsis: Lovecraft meets ripped-from-history film noir as you play science fiction writers in 1950s California drawn into a charlatan's web of deceit and mendacity following the 'accidental' death of an occult-loving rocket scientist.

Why I selected this event: I always have to play a Cthulhu themed even each year.  I like trying out new systems, this time it is the Gumshoe system and MORE PULP to boot.

Event Name: Terror on Emerald Fields
System: Legendary Realms
Synopsis: A strange melancholic song calls out to nearby travelers who are never seen again. You can hear it calling for you on the breeze.

Why I selected this event: Wanted to finish up the day learning something new and sometimes Gen Con events are about what sounds good in the time slots you have available.

Gen Con 2010 Friday Events

These are the Gen Con 2010 events that I am playing on Friday. This is a pulp setting heavy day for me.  I was really happy and surprised to be able to get into the Spirit of the Century game.  They are very rare and sell out quickly.  Thank goodness for my quick registration and repeated clicking!

Event Name: The Men Without Minds!
System: Spirit of the Century

Synopsis: Prominent citizens have been implicated in assaults, robberies and other crimes all over the city, but when apprehended, they have no memory of their deeds. You, the members of the Century Club, are the only ones with the skills and the stomach to solve this scintillating situation!

Why I selected this event: FATE rules + Pulp setting = me playing this event

Event Name: Frogs in the Machine
System: Adventure!

Synopsis: England,1939. It seems like another war in Europe is just around the corner, but for now life still goes on. A young man has died at a mysterious new factory in Sheffield, and the Frog Hall Gang is asked to investigate. Outrageous accents and hair-brained schemes encouraged.

Why I selected this event: Adventure rules + Pulp setting = me playing this event

Gen Con 2010 Thursday Events

These are the Gen Con 2010 events that I am playing on Thursday.

Event Name: Trouble in Hochen
System: Burning Wheel

Synopsis: A demon rampages through the beleaguered village of Hochen. Can you stop it and save the village? Part one of a series of three adventures.

Why I selected this event: I have always wanted to play in a Burning Wheel game as the system has seemed interesting and I don't have this chance here locally.  Also, a multi-scenario even sounded fun.  Too bad I wasn't able to get all the others in this series.


Event Name: The Raiders of Meadbrook Mine
System: Adventures in Fantasy

Synopsis: Meadbrook Mine is in trouble. Something sinister has entered within the mine killing the workers. Your band of adventurers was assembled to clear the menace and return peace and operations to the miners.

Why I selected this event: I like to try out a new system or two each year and this scenario sounded interesting.

Next, on to Friday . . .