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Post by uselesstriviaman on Mar 27, 2013 20:03:15 GMT -8
C-Teamers, it's our turn to brag up another local convention while all the other douchebags turn green with envy. XenoCon 2013 is coming! Who's running games, and who's attending? My over-the-top contributions: The Grindhouse Arena 2: Grinding Day - Do you love carnage and action and mayhem and turning your foes into Tarantino-esque clouds of red mist? Then this game is definitely for you! This one-of-a-kind, spinning, trap-filled gladiatorial Arena of Doom pits Player versus Player versus Player in a glorious king-of-the-mountain combat unlike anything you've ever seen (unless you were here last year.) Not for the faint of heart or thin-skinned! See how long you can last, and join in at any time during this marathon bloodbath. And when your gladiator gets killed off(that's WHEN, not if!), just choose another one and jump right back into the action! Awards will be given to the top gladiators! The HARPY Tournament - A three-round Pathfinder role-playing tournament (heavy on the role-playing), and I've recruited muntjack and veremond to help me get this thing going. And I'm happy to say that I obtained the assistance of one of the resident douchebag HJ artists, too...
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azuretalon
Journeyman Douchebag
I poop violence!!!
Posts: 150
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Post by azuretalon on Mar 28, 2013 5:28:40 GMT -8
I got to say, I am a lucky man, My wife is letting me go to Fear the Con the weekend before Xenocon, even though that Sunday is BOTH our 1st anniversary and Mother's Day; and she's letting me bail out all weekend for Xenocon.
My only contribution to this con will be my presence, but what more could you ask for? Maybe as a strict civilian this time, I can enter the Grindhouse and show those chumps something.
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Post by muntjack on Mar 28, 2013 10:53:08 GMT -8
Me? Run games? Damn right I am!
Friday night: Old School Basic D&D Dungeon Crawl - Taking Stu's idea of running a fairly mindless dungeon crawl using the Basic Rules Set that I obtained through DriveThruRPG. Expect fantasy stereotypes and monster smashing to the max!
Saturday Morning: Harpy Tournament Round 1 - Yes, UTM has recruited me as one of the GMs for the Pathfinder Harpy Tournament. Having played in the first two rounds for playtests, I'm pretty damn excited!
Sunday Afternoon: Parsec Game - I'll be trying out the Parsec system. I first heard about it in an interview on Postcards from the Dungeon. When I recently visited St. Louis, a gaming store down there had a copy. So expect some sci-fi goodness.
And I hope to do some playing as well! Should be a busy and FUN weekend!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2013 4:07:29 GMT -8
Why does it have to be one of the only two weekends in the near future that I'll be gone??
First I have to miss Gamicon, and now this??
Sad Pukka Tukka...
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Mar 29, 2013 21:57:25 GMT -8
Nothing against Pathfinder, it just doesn't have much appeal for me. Don't know that I'll be making the trip.
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Post by ironnikki on Apr 1, 2013 11:07:28 GMT -8
Not sure if I can make it out to this one. I'll have to consult the almighty calendar and see if I can make it work.
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jimto
Supporter
Posts: 246
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Post by jimto on Apr 22, 2013 11:18:45 GMT -8
Getting close. I'm gonna be there for all 3 days again.
BTW, there is going to be a ton more than Pathfinder there. It would be worth the trip even if it was only for a day.
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azuretalon
Journeyman Douchebag
I poop violence!!!
Posts: 150
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Post by azuretalon on Apr 24, 2013 14:36:19 GMT -8
Well I could have gone to Xencon, but I botched the anniversary plans and had to do some shuffling to get it all to work right. I might slip out for a bit Friday night. Hope everyone has fun.
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Apr 24, 2013 17:53:10 GMT -8
BTW, there is going to be a ton more than Pathfinder there. It would be worth the trip even if it was only for a day. I noticed a few things not pathfinder. But I forgot my daughter's got a recital thing I gotta go to 1 night and babysit for on another. Have fun all.
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Post by muntjack on May 16, 2013 19:43:16 GMT -8
I probably should have started prepping my game for tomorrow night before tonight. Gonna be pulling this one out of my ass. At least I have character sheets.
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jimto
Supporter
Posts: 246
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Post by jimto on May 17, 2013 4:56:04 GMT -8
One day you will learn. Maybe.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on May 19, 2013 15:52:49 GMT -8
It was epic.
Full after-ops report will follow later. Right now I need to spend some quality family time.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on May 23, 2013 19:38:14 GMT -8
Post-Con Report:
Sorry, been busy as shit this week. XenoCon 2013 was bigger and better than last year's inaugural event. Attendance was up a bit, and the venue was WAYY nicer. And it had a bar. BONUS!
My games: The HARPY Tournament: The Quest for Kurrigan's Gold - I spent most of the last year prepping my 3-round RP tourney, the Quest for Kurrigan's Gold. I recruited GMs to run the event with me, I sweet-talked JiB into making (gorgeous!) PC portraits, made player handouts, playtested, and everything (I don't even want to think about how much printer ink I used) to make this thing completely ready to go. Prep was complete, GMs were poised and ready to go.
Only one table's worth of players signed up.
Disappointing, yes, but I ran that group through the best convention game I damn well could. And apparently they had a blast - we ran straight through the first two rounds on Saturday, then every one of them came back to play the final round Sunday morning. The puzzles (with one exception) were challenging but not ridiculously so, and there were some truly epic moments. - The joking use of a Potion of Epicac in the first round turned out to eventually save the life of the sorceress who'd been swallowed whole by a tyrannosaurus in the third round. - I never thought I'd see a wild-shaped druid voluntarily lop off her own tail to be used as troll chow.
The Grindhouse 2: Grinding Day - Due to the huge time sink that was the tournament, I only ran the Grindhouse Saturday night this time. It got assembled and prepped Friday night though, so it sat taunting and tempting players all day Saturday. When we kicked things off, I had about 15-20 players all standing around waiting to play!
We got through as much as we could, but had to call it after only 24 rounds of combat (at 5.5 hours real time). For the first time ever, we had a player survive all the way through from the very first round to the finish. I'd kinda known it, but this really hammered home that monks are stupid powerful in this arena. (I think I may have to simply retire monks.)
What I learned:
The Grindhouse had been a monstrosity to initially build, but now that it's completed I can get it set up and ready to play with just a few days' work. I need to rework the majority of the PCs this year (some players have remembered character from games past and reused 'em), but that's still going to be pretty easily done.
I discovered with the tournament that yes, there actually IS such a thing as "too much prep" for a con game. It exists, and I found it. The adventure was fun and so were the players, but that was simply too much for one guy to write, organize, and coordinate all on his own. It was a great experience, but I'm definitely not going that far again. Next year, gimme something WAYY easier to prep will be in order. Savage Worlds. Dread. Fiasco.
Fuck yeah.
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