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Feb. 20th, 2005 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jcfialaWell, Genghis Con is done!
Thank goodness.
It's my own fault, really. I left things to the last minute that I could have gotten done earlier, and as such I was working during the early part of the convention to finish the events I was going to run. That said, my preparation, as late as they were, seemed to work very well. I was planning to run four events - One Star Munchkin, one 'Cthulhu Munchkin' (a system I was going to make up myself), and two Call of Cthulhu events: 'The Commute' and 'Lake Revenge', each of which were scheduled twice. We were doing a special 'Cthulhu Con' inside of Genghis Con with the help of Chaosium, as it was the 30th anniversary of the Call of Cthulhu game, or something.
Star Munchkin I got prepared before the convention, which was good because it was my first game, on Thursday night at 7pm. I had a table of six players who happily took on the roles of Jake A, Jake 1, the bug pair T'chk-T'chk, the Feline master of the Farce, the cyborg 6 of 1, and finally the ship's counsilor Hyruul. It was silly and violent, and everyone voted me high marks.
(We have an independant group in Denver who produces voting sheets, so players can rate their judges. High score is a 10.)
Then I stayed up late and worked up the party of six teenagers I needed for the first running of Lake Revenge in the morning. I was pretty tired when I was finished, but at least I was done. (Much thanks to the freeware program Byakhee.)
Friday morning we started... but almost didn't. The setup was different for the Cthulhu Events - it was good in that it allowed us to muster quietly, away from the hustle and bustle... but it was bad in that no one was expecting it, and so we often had players show up late because they didn't know to come to the new room. In this case I had three players, but wanted four to play. So I sent them away, and then a fourth player ran up. I said I'd run if he found the players, and he actually managed it!
Lake Revenge is a simple game that works very well. The players play various geeks at a Maryland High School who have just graduated. They've learned that the popular kids are planning a weekend down at the lake, and they decide (with some guidance from a friend in their group) to do a Scooby-do: fake a horror movie around the popular kids to scare the crap out of them. It involves an hour or so of planning, an hour or so of running around and scaring the popular kids, and then an hour or so of screaming and running as Bad Things Happen. The four did a fine job playing, and I enjoyed myself.
After a short break, I went off and finished writing up 'The Commute'. (Did I mention how much Byakhee helps?) Then I took a nap. Ugh. And then I went off to run the event.
The event went really well. The basic idea was that the characters, random people, are caught in a subway accident where the tunnels subside due to Ghoul activity. The players are forced off of their subway car and go through the tunnels, being forced deeper into the underground, going through tunnels that haven't seen humans in decades. The climax is in an abandoned subway station against a party of ghouls. I had three fantastic roleplayers, two of which were a pair of brothers who took the roles of the Mother and her 12-year old son, and nailed them. It was highly satisfying.
Then I rested. Ugh. I should have worked out Cthulhu Munchkin that night, but as I sat down and prepared to start it... I realized I was done. I didn't have any more to say. I couldn't come up with anything. So, I pulled out my emergency backup senario (an old RPGA event called 'Killer Whales') and hoped for the best, getting in as much sleep as I could.
The next day dawned nice and fresh. I had breakfast with my wife, went to the mustering area for Cthulhu... and had two players. Two! My bacon was saved, and I had most of the day off. I went and checked out the Dealer's room, saw people I'd been missing off in Cthulhuworld, and generally relaxed. I managed to score a copy of 'Dungeons and Zombies' for half price, looked over a copy of 'Castles and Crusades' (Troll lords was at the con) and bought their magazine, found a copy of the 'Fantasy Roleplaying games Bible 2nd edition' for two bucks, and bought a copy of the 'Mysteries of Morocco' monograph from the Chaosium booth.
And then, took another nap. God, I love taking naps in the afternoon when I'm tired.
That evening I had just about the best table I've had in a long time at a game for the second running of 'Lake Revenge'. I'd improved the handouts a bit from deficiencies from the first, and had a table of five excellent roleplayers. We had a fantastic time, playing five teenaged geeks, talking back and forth, having arguments, making plans, and just generally roleplaying the heck out of it. At one point, I almost made one guy throw up on the table, he was so into it. It was the best four hours of gaming I'd had in six months, maybe a year, and I got a perfect table for it.
After that it was nice to relax - went to a bar for a bit to talk with some new friends, hung out, went home and slept the sleep of the near-dead.
Sunday morning's always busy. I needed to get ready for the game that morning, have breakfast, and get ready to check out of the hotel. Ugh. At least these days you don't need to stand in line to check out - TV-based checkout is fantastic.
My last game of the weekend was a morning session, the second running of 'The Commute'. This time I incorporated some suggestions from the first running, and it went very well. Although my players weren't into roleplaying so much as enjoying the adventure, they had a good time. (Sunday morning games are a little wierd like that sometimes. I was halfway expecting the game not to run.) It ended early although I tried to slow things down. But they had such a good time that they gave me my third perfect table.
So - a good convention. The rest of the day was spent buying some interesting magazines from C.J. Henderson, hanging out and chatting with Todd from Twilight Games for a bit, and generally catching up with folks and making some contacts for Tacticon this September.
Thank goodness.
It's my own fault, really. I left things to the last minute that I could have gotten done earlier, and as such I was working during the early part of the convention to finish the events I was going to run. That said, my preparation, as late as they were, seemed to work very well. I was planning to run four events - One Star Munchkin, one 'Cthulhu Munchkin' (a system I was going to make up myself), and two Call of Cthulhu events: 'The Commute' and 'Lake Revenge', each of which were scheduled twice. We were doing a special 'Cthulhu Con' inside of Genghis Con with the help of Chaosium, as it was the 30th anniversary of the Call of Cthulhu game, or something.
Star Munchkin I got prepared before the convention, which was good because it was my first game, on Thursday night at 7pm. I had a table of six players who happily took on the roles of Jake A, Jake 1, the bug pair T'chk-T'chk, the Feline master of the Farce, the cyborg 6 of 1, and finally the ship's counsilor Hyruul. It was silly and violent, and everyone voted me high marks.
(We have an independant group in Denver who produces voting sheets, so players can rate their judges. High score is a 10.)
Then I stayed up late and worked up the party of six teenagers I needed for the first running of Lake Revenge in the morning. I was pretty tired when I was finished, but at least I was done. (Much thanks to the freeware program Byakhee.)
Friday morning we started... but almost didn't. The setup was different for the Cthulhu Events - it was good in that it allowed us to muster quietly, away from the hustle and bustle... but it was bad in that no one was expecting it, and so we often had players show up late because they didn't know to come to the new room. In this case I had three players, but wanted four to play. So I sent them away, and then a fourth player ran up. I said I'd run if he found the players, and he actually managed it!
Lake Revenge is a simple game that works very well. The players play various geeks at a Maryland High School who have just graduated. They've learned that the popular kids are planning a weekend down at the lake, and they decide (with some guidance from a friend in their group) to do a Scooby-do: fake a horror movie around the popular kids to scare the crap out of them. It involves an hour or so of planning, an hour or so of running around and scaring the popular kids, and then an hour or so of screaming and running as Bad Things Happen. The four did a fine job playing, and I enjoyed myself.
After a short break, I went off and finished writing up 'The Commute'. (Did I mention how much Byakhee helps?) Then I took a nap. Ugh. And then I went off to run the event.
The event went really well. The basic idea was that the characters, random people, are caught in a subway accident where the tunnels subside due to Ghoul activity. The players are forced off of their subway car and go through the tunnels, being forced deeper into the underground, going through tunnels that haven't seen humans in decades. The climax is in an abandoned subway station against a party of ghouls. I had three fantastic roleplayers, two of which were a pair of brothers who took the roles of the Mother and her 12-year old son, and nailed them. It was highly satisfying.
Then I rested. Ugh. I should have worked out Cthulhu Munchkin that night, but as I sat down and prepared to start it... I realized I was done. I didn't have any more to say. I couldn't come up with anything. So, I pulled out my emergency backup senario (an old RPGA event called 'Killer Whales') and hoped for the best, getting in as much sleep as I could.
The next day dawned nice and fresh. I had breakfast with my wife, went to the mustering area for Cthulhu... and had two players. Two! My bacon was saved, and I had most of the day off. I went and checked out the Dealer's room, saw people I'd been missing off in Cthulhuworld, and generally relaxed. I managed to score a copy of 'Dungeons and Zombies' for half price, looked over a copy of 'Castles and Crusades' (Troll lords was at the con) and bought their magazine, found a copy of the 'Fantasy Roleplaying games Bible 2nd edition' for two bucks, and bought a copy of the 'Mysteries of Morocco' monograph from the Chaosium booth.
And then, took another nap. God, I love taking naps in the afternoon when I'm tired.
That evening I had just about the best table I've had in a long time at a game for the second running of 'Lake Revenge'. I'd improved the handouts a bit from deficiencies from the first, and had a table of five excellent roleplayers. We had a fantastic time, playing five teenaged geeks, talking back and forth, having arguments, making plans, and just generally roleplaying the heck out of it. At one point, I almost made one guy throw up on the table, he was so into it. It was the best four hours of gaming I'd had in six months, maybe a year, and I got a perfect table for it.
After that it was nice to relax - went to a bar for a bit to talk with some new friends, hung out, went home and slept the sleep of the near-dead.
Sunday morning's always busy. I needed to get ready for the game that morning, have breakfast, and get ready to check out of the hotel. Ugh. At least these days you don't need to stand in line to check out - TV-based checkout is fantastic.
My last game of the weekend was a morning session, the second running of 'The Commute'. This time I incorporated some suggestions from the first running, and it went very well. Although my players weren't into roleplaying so much as enjoying the adventure, they had a good time. (Sunday morning games are a little wierd like that sometimes. I was halfway expecting the game not to run.) It ended early although I tried to slow things down. But they had such a good time that they gave me my third perfect table.
So - a good convention. The rest of the day was spent buying some interesting magazines from C.J. Henderson, hanging out and chatting with Todd from Twilight Games for a bit, and generally catching up with folks and making some contacts for Tacticon this September.
