Tacticon was fun.
Sep. 1st, 2003 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jcfialaHi all.
Well, after a week of heavy stress at work, it finally ended up that yes, I'd be able to head off for
Tacticon as long as I kept my cell phone on me. I happily did so, and luckily enough haven't been called
yet. Great!
So, Thursday night I headed out to the hotel to judge a particularly bad d20-based Call of Cthulhu module.
Luckily, very few players show up, and Weeda the Evil takes them, allowing me to run home and work on my
Steampulp BESM game, which wasn't finished yet.
I really need to work on my time management skills. I was up until 3 AM working on that stuff.
Friday dawned, and I ran down to the con again, having taken the day off. My first game was Living
Kingdoms of Kalimar, the 'In Thine Eyes' adventure, a sweet little number that looked like fun to play,
starting with a chance to roleplay for a while, and then followed up by a simple scouting mission.
Unfortunately, there's one player, and three judges, so I get to go play a badly-edited classic named 'The
Long Night'. Oddly enough, the two other Kalimar judges playing at the table with me know the author, and
they are given many suggestions to pass on to him.
After that I notice that I'm really dragging from the late night myself, and hope that my 'streak' will
continue and my mid-day Friday slot will also be a skip. Lucky me - it is! There's one more judge than is
needed, and given my quiet standing in the back, the rest of the judges grab up all the groups and leave me
idle. Feeling really tired, I happily go check into the hotel, drag myself to my room, and take a nap.
An hour later I am awake and refreshed, and head off to the Dealer's room. I'm missing my dice due to a
mistake during the morning's frenzied packing (I thought gaming started at 8 am, when it was 9am), but
luckily Chessex (the dice company) is there in force, and I happily scavenge some dice from their 25 cent
loose die bin. They even mostly match, although I'm not able to find an 8-sider or a 4-sider that match the
rest of them.
So armed, I browse through the dealer's room, picking up a copy of Issue 4/5 of the 'Excellent Prismatic
Spray' for cheap from the Mountain Mage, and copies of 'Swords of the Middle Kingdom,' 'The Providence RPG'
two main books for really cheap as well as a cheap copy of 'The Realm of Shadows' for CoC from The Compleat
Strategist. Cheap games! Happy, I stow them upstairs and prep for my Legacy of the Green Regent game.
Said game goes very well, if very odd. I get a lot of really good players in the game, solid roleplayers
who soon have me in stitches from both OOC and IC comments. David R., Rich K., Patrick O., and the
incompariable Timmy! is a table which any decent GM would give an arm to run, and I didn't even have to.
Oddly enough, it feels at times like a table of newbies, with everyone running a first level character and
having to check the rulebooks to see if the 3.0 rules we remember still work that way in 3.5. This is my
first chance to see how the new GM Rating sheets that the RP-Artesian group has developed works, and I'm
not disappointed with my initial 8.67 rating, although it turns out to be my lowest during the con.
During the game my wife arrives from work, as she works until 7:30 on Fridays. She quickly determines that
the room is not a non-smoking room, and gets us moved to 543, down the hall from where all of the
roleplaying is, which saves me a lot of lugging things around.
In the morning is my self-written 'Big Eyes, Small Mouth' game Calling of Horus, which was unfortunately
influenced by a playtest script I'd read a few months ago. I'd changed things around so it wasn't similar
anymore, but the blurb I gave them for the convention book is different from what I'm running. (This isn't
a huge surprise, as I tend to give the blurbs, and then write the games at the last minute.) For a while,
it looked like the game wasn't going to happen - I stood there with my sign for the game in the mustering
area, but noone was coming over. But then players appeared, a group of three, and then two others wandered
up, one at the last minute as we'd all sat down to game. The game doesn't begin the way I expect it to, as
the book they're supposed to guard doesn't get stolen at the start of it - but the game that happens
works out nicely, with Leonard being kidnapped, ransomed on a bridge, and a odd finale on the ferry from
Dover to Calais. Everyone has a good time, particularly James C., who is in my weekly Call of Cthulhu
group. Average rating of 9.6, with fun levels at 3 across the board. (Which is really the most important
indicator.)
After that it's a break for lunch and a browse through the Dealer's Room before running Business is
Business, a good LG regional. I get a mostly young crowd for this, drifting between 12 and 15, I think,
with one adult. They tend not to roleplay too hard, so the roleplaying parts of the game go by pretty
quickly, and given that they're low-level characters the combats don't take too long either. The first
combat encounter can be pretty nasty, and a too-hasty fighter almost dies from bleeding after taking a huge
blow from an Ogre. Luckily for the group though, my to-hit rolls average about 6 from then on and they
eventually wear down the ogres, at which point they can stabilize the poor guy. Everyone has a fun time,
and I finish up with a 9.83 rating - sweet.
In the evening I get a table of five for another Living Greyhawk game, 'Blind Faith, Muted Voices'. The
game's pretty oddly constructed - it has a lot of opportunity for roleplaying on the front end, but for a
long time the players go around wondering where the plot is. This is partially to introduce the town
they're in and to gather information when the plot sticks it's head up after nightfall. There's a tricky
puzzle in the middle that is oddly enough hard for real world players to pick up, but wouldn't be for their
characters, and I'd love to meet a roleplayer who figures out the critical step without needing help or
hints from the GM. With all the roleplaying, and the marvelous characters of Gene "Zag" H. and Nick K.,
the game went on an hour overtime, but no one minded and a good time was had by all. Final score was 9.8,
but that's one 9 and four 10s, so the average is a little lower than the last just because I was missing a
sixth player.
The morning dawned bright and early, and after another lovely buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant, I
found out that yes, I'd have to run 'Return to the Isles' after all. I had been hoping I wouldn't need to,
but I was needed, so I burned the mod and read it quickly. Luckily it was a fairly simple plotline, easy
to remember, and I was able to essay it with the minimal preparation. One of my players, Maggie, had the
same luck she did back in 'Business is Business' with her halfling rogue, throwing her daggers and scoring
maximum damage with them each time, so I started referring to her character as 'The World's Most Dangerous
Halfling', which she really liked. Everyone had a good time, and I finally got a perfect table, 10s from
each player.
Again, given that the module is timed for mid-level groups, the lower-level one went fairly quickly, and I
got out early. So it was time to hit the dealer's room for last-minute bargains. I got a bunch of
different-colored six-sider and 4-sider dice from the Chessix bin of dice to use for markers, an Everway
Spherewalker's book and issue 2 of the 'Excellent Prismatic Spray' for $12, talked down from $17.50 at the
Compleat Games booth. I found just about the only original Castle Falkenstein book I didn't already own -
The Memoirs of Auberon - at the Mountain Mage booth, where they let me have it for $6.
At the Attactix booth I got the only items I would get for full price, minus the $20 gift certificate I'd
gotten for judging. I got 'One False Step for Mankind' from Cheapass Games, and 'Redhurst Academy of
Magic' for d20. 'One False Step' is about controlling Californian gold mines and farms during the gold
rush, and using the money and food to launch moon rockets to gain influence so you can be elected governor.
It's a silly premise, but the pieces are actually pretty high quality for Cheapass, with color card and
board components. 'Redhurst' is a Harry Potter like d20 setting done up as an orientation manual to the
school, going over every aspect of the school in a well written orientation way - but this is apparently
the copy sent by an infiltrator to some unnamed mastermind who wants to take over the school for himself,
and so there are many notes in the margins giving either other opinions to the school's details, or
suggesting ways to disrupt the activities or people - in short, adventure ideas. The art and presentation
is gorgeous, the book being horizontal in layout - but in a flash of genius, the title of the book is done
up the side, so that a store can present the book in a slot meant for a 8.5x11 book and have the title be
easily read.
Finally, while passing by the Collectormania booth, I noticed they had hidden some 50% off boxes, and
picked up a copy of 'Counter Collection II', a book of flat counters to use in d20/D&D combat for only $7.
50.
And finally it was time for the last game of the convention. I was supposed to run Business is Business,
but we had three tables and four judges. It wasn't certain who would have the slot off - I was willing to
go either way, and so was Van B., but since I had my Living Greyhawk characters hand, I was sent off to
play 'Flames of V-something' with a low-level table. It was all 1s and 2s at first, so I pulled out Af
Cornway, a halfling wizard I'd quickly made up for an earlier convention's low-level table. Af did well,
given a nice selection of offensive (Ray of Frost and Magic Missle) and defensive (Mage Armor and Shield)
spells. Things went well, especially when Timmy! was told that due to GM error, his character had not been
killed in the previous slot, and so was 4th level instead of 2nd. That's always happy news - I wish it had
happened to me when my cleric died for the second time.
And then it was over except for the awards. Everyone got together and waited for the last few games to
finish for the award ceremony to start. Lori H. got an award for being the top judge of the con from the
rating sheets, but I was happily noted as a runner-up, for which I snagged a copy of 'Gorilla Warfare' for
Feng Shui. After that came the ballot-boxing, where it turns out again I was voted a runner-up best judge,
so I grabbed a copy of 'Gurps Prime Directive', a Star Trek game. Finally, as the one judge who had
volenteered to judge 9 games, I got another prize, and picked up 'Seven Strongholds' for d20.
So, all told? I had a good time, judging a number of really good games. I got a lot of cool books out of
the dealer's room for cheap, and a fair amount of recognition for all the work I'd done. I wish I had
planned better so I could have run the Buffy game I meant to write, but I'm going to see if I can't prep
that for Genghis.
But wow, am I tired out!
Well, after a week of heavy stress at work, it finally ended up that yes, I'd be able to head off for
Tacticon as long as I kept my cell phone on me. I happily did so, and luckily enough haven't been called
yet. Great!
So, Thursday night I headed out to the hotel to judge a particularly bad d20-based Call of Cthulhu module.
Luckily, very few players show up, and Weeda the Evil takes them, allowing me to run home and work on my
Steampulp BESM game, which wasn't finished yet.
I really need to work on my time management skills. I was up until 3 AM working on that stuff.
Friday dawned, and I ran down to the con again, having taken the day off. My first game was Living
Kingdoms of Kalimar, the 'In Thine Eyes' adventure, a sweet little number that looked like fun to play,
starting with a chance to roleplay for a while, and then followed up by a simple scouting mission.
Unfortunately, there's one player, and three judges, so I get to go play a badly-edited classic named 'The
Long Night'. Oddly enough, the two other Kalimar judges playing at the table with me know the author, and
they are given many suggestions to pass on to him.
After that I notice that I'm really dragging from the late night myself, and hope that my 'streak' will
continue and my mid-day Friday slot will also be a skip. Lucky me - it is! There's one more judge than is
needed, and given my quiet standing in the back, the rest of the judges grab up all the groups and leave me
idle. Feeling really tired, I happily go check into the hotel, drag myself to my room, and take a nap.
An hour later I am awake and refreshed, and head off to the Dealer's room. I'm missing my dice due to a
mistake during the morning's frenzied packing (I thought gaming started at 8 am, when it was 9am), but
luckily Chessex (the dice company) is there in force, and I happily scavenge some dice from their 25 cent
loose die bin. They even mostly match, although I'm not able to find an 8-sider or a 4-sider that match the
rest of them.
So armed, I browse through the dealer's room, picking up a copy of Issue 4/5 of the 'Excellent Prismatic
Spray' for cheap from the Mountain Mage, and copies of 'Swords of the Middle Kingdom,' 'The Providence RPG'
two main books for really cheap as well as a cheap copy of 'The Realm of Shadows' for CoC from The Compleat
Strategist. Cheap games! Happy, I stow them upstairs and prep for my Legacy of the Green Regent game.
Said game goes very well, if very odd. I get a lot of really good players in the game, solid roleplayers
who soon have me in stitches from both OOC and IC comments. David R., Rich K., Patrick O., and the
incompariable Timmy! is a table which any decent GM would give an arm to run, and I didn't even have to.
Oddly enough, it feels at times like a table of newbies, with everyone running a first level character and
having to check the rulebooks to see if the 3.0 rules we remember still work that way in 3.5. This is my
first chance to see how the new GM Rating sheets that the RP-Artesian group has developed works, and I'm
not disappointed with my initial 8.67 rating, although it turns out to be my lowest during the con.
During the game my wife arrives from work, as she works until 7:30 on Fridays. She quickly determines that
the room is not a non-smoking room, and gets us moved to 543, down the hall from where all of the
roleplaying is, which saves me a lot of lugging things around.
In the morning is my self-written 'Big Eyes, Small Mouth' game Calling of Horus, which was unfortunately
influenced by a playtest script I'd read a few months ago. I'd changed things around so it wasn't similar
anymore, but the blurb I gave them for the convention book is different from what I'm running. (This isn't
a huge surprise, as I tend to give the blurbs, and then write the games at the last minute.) For a while,
it looked like the game wasn't going to happen - I stood there with my sign for the game in the mustering
area, but noone was coming over. But then players appeared, a group of three, and then two others wandered
up, one at the last minute as we'd all sat down to game. The game doesn't begin the way I expect it to, as
the book they're supposed to guard doesn't get stolen at the start of it - but the game that happens
works out nicely, with Leonard being kidnapped, ransomed on a bridge, and a odd finale on the ferry from
Dover to Calais. Everyone has a good time, particularly James C., who is in my weekly Call of Cthulhu
group. Average rating of 9.6, with fun levels at 3 across the board. (Which is really the most important
indicator.)
After that it's a break for lunch and a browse through the Dealer's Room before running Business is
Business, a good LG regional. I get a mostly young crowd for this, drifting between 12 and 15, I think,
with one adult. They tend not to roleplay too hard, so the roleplaying parts of the game go by pretty
quickly, and given that they're low-level characters the combats don't take too long either. The first
combat encounter can be pretty nasty, and a too-hasty fighter almost dies from bleeding after taking a huge
blow from an Ogre. Luckily for the group though, my to-hit rolls average about 6 from then on and they
eventually wear down the ogres, at which point they can stabilize the poor guy. Everyone has a fun time,
and I finish up with a 9.83 rating - sweet.
In the evening I get a table of five for another Living Greyhawk game, 'Blind Faith, Muted Voices'. The
game's pretty oddly constructed - it has a lot of opportunity for roleplaying on the front end, but for a
long time the players go around wondering where the plot is. This is partially to introduce the town
they're in and to gather information when the plot sticks it's head up after nightfall. There's a tricky
puzzle in the middle that is oddly enough hard for real world players to pick up, but wouldn't be for their
characters, and I'd love to meet a roleplayer who figures out the critical step without needing help or
hints from the GM. With all the roleplaying, and the marvelous characters of Gene "Zag" H. and Nick K.,
the game went on an hour overtime, but no one minded and a good time was had by all. Final score was 9.8,
but that's one 9 and four 10s, so the average is a little lower than the last just because I was missing a
sixth player.
The morning dawned bright and early, and after another lovely buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant, I
found out that yes, I'd have to run 'Return to the Isles' after all. I had been hoping I wouldn't need to,
but I was needed, so I burned the mod and read it quickly. Luckily it was a fairly simple plotline, easy
to remember, and I was able to essay it with the minimal preparation. One of my players, Maggie, had the
same luck she did back in 'Business is Business' with her halfling rogue, throwing her daggers and scoring
maximum damage with them each time, so I started referring to her character as 'The World's Most Dangerous
Halfling', which she really liked. Everyone had a good time, and I finally got a perfect table, 10s from
each player.
Again, given that the module is timed for mid-level groups, the lower-level one went fairly quickly, and I
got out early. So it was time to hit the dealer's room for last-minute bargains. I got a bunch of
different-colored six-sider and 4-sider dice from the Chessix bin of dice to use for markers, an Everway
Spherewalker's book and issue 2 of the 'Excellent Prismatic Spray' for $12, talked down from $17.50 at the
Compleat Games booth. I found just about the only original Castle Falkenstein book I didn't already own -
The Memoirs of Auberon - at the Mountain Mage booth, where they let me have it for $6.
At the Attactix booth I got the only items I would get for full price, minus the $20 gift certificate I'd
gotten for judging. I got 'One False Step for Mankind' from Cheapass Games, and 'Redhurst Academy of
Magic' for d20. 'One False Step' is about controlling Californian gold mines and farms during the gold
rush, and using the money and food to launch moon rockets to gain influence so you can be elected governor.
It's a silly premise, but the pieces are actually pretty high quality for Cheapass, with color card and
board components. 'Redhurst' is a Harry Potter like d20 setting done up as an orientation manual to the
school, going over every aspect of the school in a well written orientation way - but this is apparently
the copy sent by an infiltrator to some unnamed mastermind who wants to take over the school for himself,
and so there are many notes in the margins giving either other opinions to the school's details, or
suggesting ways to disrupt the activities or people - in short, adventure ideas. The art and presentation
is gorgeous, the book being horizontal in layout - but in a flash of genius, the title of the book is done
up the side, so that a store can present the book in a slot meant for a 8.5x11 book and have the title be
easily read.
Finally, while passing by the Collectormania booth, I noticed they had hidden some 50% off boxes, and
picked up a copy of 'Counter Collection II', a book of flat counters to use in d20/D&D combat for only $7.
50.
And finally it was time for the last game of the convention. I was supposed to run Business is Business,
but we had three tables and four judges. It wasn't certain who would have the slot off - I was willing to
go either way, and so was Van B., but since I had my Living Greyhawk characters hand, I was sent off to
play 'Flames of V-something' with a low-level table. It was all 1s and 2s at first, so I pulled out Af
Cornway, a halfling wizard I'd quickly made up for an earlier convention's low-level table. Af did well,
given a nice selection of offensive (Ray of Frost and Magic Missle) and defensive (Mage Armor and Shield)
spells. Things went well, especially when Timmy! was told that due to GM error, his character had not been
killed in the previous slot, and so was 4th level instead of 2nd. That's always happy news - I wish it had
happened to me when my cleric died for the second time.
And then it was over except for the awards. Everyone got together and waited for the last few games to
finish for the award ceremony to start. Lori H. got an award for being the top judge of the con from the
rating sheets, but I was happily noted as a runner-up, for which I snagged a copy of 'Gorilla Warfare' for
Feng Shui. After that came the ballot-boxing, where it turns out again I was voted a runner-up best judge,
so I grabbed a copy of 'Gurps Prime Directive', a Star Trek game. Finally, as the one judge who had
volenteered to judge 9 games, I got another prize, and picked up 'Seven Strongholds' for d20.
So, all told? I had a good time, judging a number of really good games. I got a lot of cool books out of
the dealer's room for cheap, and a fair amount of recognition for all the work I'd done. I wish I had
planned better so I could have run the Buffy game I meant to write, but I'm going to see if I can't prep
that for Genghis.
But wow, am I tired out!
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-01 05:26 pm (UTC)I'm working on getting the schedule ready for Genghis now. I'd love it if you ran a few slots for me there too :-) Though, please don't feel like you have to run all of them - go play!
Oh, and that judge that *killed* Timmy!'s character? He probably won't be judging at cons in the future... Four strikes, you're out.
Genghis Con
Date: 2003-09-01 05:52 pm (UTC)As for judging... I dunno. I used to not like judging that much - heck, I didn't like playing that much. But with the weight loss has come a lot of extra energy, and although I was tired at the end of the con, on the whole I was feeling pretty good. I didn't watch my feed very closely during the con - I'm curious how much I burned off anyway.
I'm seriously considering running another 9 slots... especially if I can score this much fat l00t next time too. :) Well, I'm not doing all that work for the l00t, but it certainly doesn't hurt, y'know? But I seriously need to spend some more time writing up these games before I promise to run them.
But I look forward to Genghis... and I try to ignore the little voice suggesting I should try to run the rpg section for Tacticon. :)
Re: Genghis Con
Date: 2003-09-01 06:16 pm (UTC)Re: Genghis Con
Date: 2003-09-01 06:51 pm (UTC)