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| Always thought he'd be taller |
Wednesday:
Played in JerryTel's D&D session "White Plume Mountain" which seemed to be quite satisfying to everyone at the table. To me it hearkened back to a few month's in 1980 when I played that game with enthusiasm and relish, and then some older kids came along and taught me how to play real D&D and left me mostly laughing at them after I got over the headache. Though I can't say that "I don't play D&D" truthly, I really don't play D&D well.
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| Celebrating that I won D&D |
The "morning game," starting at 11am, Crawlspace Gothic, "The Return of Count Vulgarr" had four return players and three new ones. Now the return guys were there specifically for the Count Vulgarr saga. The three new ones were a group that knew each other as well so the difference between the two cliques worked well together-- The old pros and the wide-eyes so to speak. The guy that chose to play Count Vulgarr, yes that was the session's twist, wasn't up to the task, but everyone made it work. What was awesome that we worked out a spell mechanic for something akin to an exorcism. With all the return players, I decided to set up a "Two-Timers Club" for private events for GenCon next year.
Well last year's military history horror "Over the Top" never got to the horror. This year's offering, "Green Grow the Rushes" had vampires in the first scene on. Though this combat driven scenario was working, I found myself kind of bored, but the players made it worth the while. I did have a return player from Over, so I could redeem myself. In the end, I felt like the session was an homage to Dusk Til Dawn. Connected with the return player, Michael, for future repeat offenders of Crawlspace (the Two-Timers Club) and made a friend with Vince, Mercedes Lackey's roadie.
Friday:
It was when I showed up at the table for "Gotham City Major Crimes Squad" that I heard that I had two tables. Oops, JerryTel and I never closed the loop about whether I was going to have two GMs or one for the event, so he defaulted to "whatever"-- He knew I could handle it. I created four more Pregen Characters in about ten minutes. So with eleven out of twelve players showing up, we did a police drama set in the DC universe. Thanks to some really great role-players made it a cross between TV's Gotham and the GCPD comic books of the Aughts. I even got to work in references to the Justice League movie. Though not my strong point when it comes to the RPG genre, the players in this game has made this the stand-out event of the con for me.
"Night of the Cryptids" was supposed to be a mind trip, but I had no idea what a trip it would be. Three players from a clique from New Jersey faked eastern European accents for twenty minutes before letting that go. Still dropping subvocalizations into the middle of their sentences continued until the end of it. The single woman at the table would be over the top sexual throughout the game. People would show up at the table and carry on meaningful conversations complete with coy stares at everyone with a player or two, while the other players would ignore them. "Chupacabra" kept getting turned into "Cuba Libre" and things would go druggy or blue. GenCon staff would check badges twice, the only time they did during the entire convention. When I told the three from New Jersey that were one of the better organized gamer-friend groups I had met, I was told, "Everyone tells us we are the best that they ever met." I made the session a depressing art film and had Big Foot show up and carry away the Mothman hunter in a true love ending. The Nessie hunter has to wait until next year, but we were at a good stopping point. The woman turned out to be sixteen years-old, sadly no scandal to sell any books though. But now I know the age slot means nothing when it comes to ticket sales.
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| My second time at Rocky Horror Picture Show was better |
Saturday:
As usual, the Spacers(TM) session, "The Green-Eyed Monster of Alpha Centauri" did not have to go space monster or violent to get into a drama about artificial intelligence and changing morality. Despite murder and a mutiny attempt, nobody in the drama (as in players and the NPC antagonist) had an unhappy ending. For all the laughs, it was a philosophical session. Though I did have a Frankenstein and a couple Hal 9000s ready to go if needed be.
I wrote "Here Be Dragons" as a stream on consciousness piece back when Wobble was a glimmer in my blog's eye. So it's about a side-dimension settled by Dutch colonists back in 1624, exploited by a spacefaring alien species, and a hidden super computer/other-worldly powerful source. Complete with radio-apes in the wood works and dragons in the surf. Every time I put it up as an RPG at GenCon, it sells out. And despite 20-30 minutes of backstory (which I round up and say "40 minutes" to the group), everyone sticks around and plays nice. That includes even the guy with only four hours of sleep in three days. Ended early and had to pancake the ending to end when I promised I would. AWESOME PC concepts by the players, so totally stealing for the LARP of this next year.
With "The Book that Dripped Blood" I was not able to just sit back and ride despite it being the most ran scenario by me ever. No the players, including Vince from Gringos on Thursday night, added too much depth, for that too happen. The players were pitch perfect in their performance to be not handled by the story-crafting me. I suppose that when the roleplaying gets going, the plot can be waylaid as much much as any miniature-driven grid game. We were at the 3/4s point but the clock was at the end-time for everyone's energy level. I found a plot ending without fully explaining the secrets of the scenario as scripted. I was flattered to explain to everybody that the scenario was published before the Sharknado movies ever aired.
Well Sunday was a bust. Sawright. I spent time with The Boy, and then Kal, and then Bruce Wayne.
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| Well, it was a bust. |
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| Pure Rococo metal! |
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