tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on May 30, 2017 14:35:24 GMT -8
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mysticfedora
Supporter
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Posts: 281
Preferred Game Systems: 5E, PbtA, OSR
Currently Playing: LotFP, 5E
Currently Running: 5E, PbtA, Stars Without Number, CoC 7e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Kong
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Post by mysticfedora on May 30, 2017 16:21:42 GMT -8
That's a great blog! I should have done something like that.
Well, let's see. I came in later than I wanted on Friday and then hung out a bit with some D&D friends, before I ran into the artist that is doing illustrations for Happiest Apocalypse on Earth Rob Hebert. We went and got pizza and beer and ran into a GM named Steven who happened to be running the Mage game I signed up for. So I played Mage until the odd hours of the night.
I was a surgeon, turned mage and we were investigating the release of a daemon through the astral plane and ended up in one of the other mage's mind to hunt it and kill it. Was very Inception meets Borovia. It was great to play the game as I've only ever read it and Steven did a wonderful job both teaching the game and building a vibrant and scary session. I think I saw that GM in one of your photos Tomes! Also there was a brand new quiet player at the table and I admired how he brought her into the game and made her feel comfortable.
So I went to bed like at 1 am and then got up at something like 6 and headed back to the hotel to run phase one of the 2CGaming Tournament with my buddies Steven Gordon and Jon Kelly. It was a long but kick-ass dungeon crawl with a very rowdy group who were having a blast crunching the tourney. My group actually won the overall tournament later that night.
After that I had to immediately go to my Happiest Apocalypse on Earth game. It was an awesome group. One of them was on the panel with the merhawk at the podcast, but I missed his name. They were Mouse Park entertainers and were asked to go cheer up the guests who were stuck on What A Widdle World. Then they were trapped as the animatronics started feasting on the guests like little Chucky puppets. Merhawk went crazy and killed a custodian. Long story.
So for the first time that day I got to eat, it was around a quarter to five. I had sliders and a martini. It was the best thing I've ever consumed.
Then it was onto Let's Kill Strahd! This is my signature D&D session wherein you get to raid Ravenloft and kill the vamp. Rob joined in on that and we had a group that I saw at the 2CGaming tables earlier. Was testing this a bit as 2CGaming is going to publish the module in the fall. And yep--they killed Strahd. Oh! And that quiet player from Mage was in on this one and she did great! I asked her what she thought afterward and she said "I'm trying all the games." Which meant this was her first D&D session. Whoops!
So I got to bed at about 1 am and got up around 6 am and rushed in AND FOUND PARKING!
I ran a family version of Happiest Apocalypse on Earth. This time the party wanted it to be vintage 1960s Disneyland. Which was a riot. Walt was controlling his Sorcerer's Apprentice animatronics to try and kill guests because he'd turned psychotic. There was an military industrial complex worker, a Russian spy, a Dennis the Menace type (who was always bugging the industrial complex guy), the housewife who drinks too much, and the kid who wants to be a STAR! Lots of hilarity unfolded and a few broken teeth. But everything worked out in the end.
I then got to hang out with Dave77 and his wife a bit, bought some minis, chatted with some folks, ate a hot dog and nachos.
Unfortunately my kid was supposed to be with me that day--the whole reason I did a family version of HAoE. And we had planned on being in Tome's Fallout Shelter game. But since I had that slot free, I jumped in on JiB's FATE urban fantasy game. I've never played FATE and I've never played with JiB and he rocked it! That shit was so fun! I played a horrible jackass detective who ends up cracking and turning into an apprentice. And we fought monsters, and bad sorcerers and used aspects and kicked ass. My favorite part of the session was the amazing and personal interplay we all had. A bunch of strangers were pulled together through the power of game mechanics to create immersive relationships. It was really amazing.
I wanted to stick around, but I'd promised my wife and son that I'd be home for dinner. So I had to scurry off.
Really great con. I need to build more time in for socializing next time. And I completely missed out on Games on Demand. I didn't get any Adventure League in either.
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on May 30, 2017 21:28:50 GMT -8
mysticfedora: That's an awesome writeup! Here's Saturday: www.supernovembergames.com/tomes-of-tomes/2017/5/30/strategicon-gamex-2017-saturday:- Atlas Reckoning with some new players in a 1910's Industrial Revolution polluting the world and killing the fairies defending Mother Earth! (don't forget child labor) - The Final Girl playing in a remote Eastern European village with demon possessions, and two final girls! - Getting to hang out a bit with the Happy Jack's RPG Podcast crew - Dread with some RPG newbies and space horror Thanks weaselcreature for running Iron Kingdoms at GoD! I can't remember what Bob's username is, but he was also stellar, running, what?, three or four games at GoD that day??
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IPlayWrong
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 69
Preferred Game Systems: Savage Worlds, 5E
Currently Playing: Hackmaster Basic
Currently Running: DnD-5e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Chunky
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Post by IPlayWrong on May 30, 2017 22:49:30 GMT -8
This was my 2nd con and I decided to bring my son with me, so here's what trouble I got into:
RPGs Tim's Swords And Wizardry ARMOR game: We all had a lot of fun in this game. It based on Agents of Shield so we were all familiar with the setting. My son, Jason, got first pick of characters so he took the "Inhuman" who could control water. What was great about that was that Tim had no rules or mechanics regarding what he could do as long as it made game sense. So he got to use my imagination on what he could do with his powers, so we all we having fun with that. I took a regular agent that had enhanced strength and my co-worker took the Simmons/M.D.-esque character. We were dispatched to Ludlow, CA, to transport some McGuffin-anium back to L.A. So we had a nice chase scene, that I thought moved pretty well and we were able to escape pretty much intact. We then ran into a little ambush, and we managed to come out victorious. We ended up finishing a little early so I was bummed about that because I having a great time and I didn't want the game to end. Tim did a great job describing the action during the action and he even acted out the effects of what happens to you when get hit with nuerotoxins. My son loved it and he told us as he was walking out that this was the best RPG session he has ever played. Sidenote: He has played two short campaigns of 5E (Mines of Phandelver and Curse of Strahd) and at home we are playing SW - Slipstream (I am running that one). As far as Tim as a GM, we are all hoping he runs a game in September and we will be there if he does.
Mook's GURPS Aliens: I was solo for this one (Jason had a Smash Bros. tournament he wanted to do) and my co-worker was running a 5 hour Xia board game session so I was solo for this one. If you're a listener of this show, you have to try GURPS, don't you? So I figured I better do it with Mook. I am huge Aliens fan and this game did not disappoint in the least. I got to play the sniper who had the delusion: "No living thing can kill me" and I had a lot of fun with that. This game felt like it flew by, and I don't think I caught Mook looking up a single rule the entire session. And his prep is top notch. He showed me that, as a GM, I need to get my organizational crap together.
Other stuff: I attended the HJ Live recording and I got up and spoke about Tim's game on the show. It was so great just being in the room after listening to so many of the live shows and wishing I was there in years past. Also, I got to meet Tomes and even though I didn't sign up for a GoD or two, I would run into him and we had some great 5-10 minute chat about all kinds of stuff. I also played some board games: Xia, Emergence, Lanterns, Lords of Waterdeep, Rum and Bones: Second Tide and a demo of Starship Awesome.
So, I met some awesome people, played two great, great games and I am so looking forward to Gateway in September.
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on May 31, 2017 18:39:31 GMT -8
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Post by mook on May 31, 2017 20:07:07 GMT -8
Great write-ups! I just finished posting mine, but as I didn't really do much beyond GMing my three slots, it's mostly focused on that.
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mysticfedora
Supporter
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Posts: 281
Preferred Game Systems: 5E, PbtA, OSR
Currently Playing: LotFP, 5E
Currently Running: 5E, PbtA, Stars Without Number, CoC 7e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Kong
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Post by mysticfedora on May 31, 2017 20:10:56 GMT -8
Great write-ups! I just finished posting mine, but as I didn't really do much beyond GMing my three slots, it's mostly focused on that. I'm going to make it a damned mission to get in on one of your games in September. YEAH!
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Post by lowkeyoh on May 31, 2017 20:11:32 GMT -8
Awesome write up mook. And let us know how the experimentation into variable initiative goes. I think a thematic deck of cards adds a lot to the atmosphere and fun of a game, but variable initiative will always take longer than a static order. Interested to hear your takes on it
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IPlayWrong
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 69
Preferred Game Systems: Savage Worlds, 5E
Currently Playing: Hackmaster Basic
Currently Running: DnD-5e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Chunky
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Post by IPlayWrong on May 31, 2017 22:12:02 GMT -8
Awesome write up mook . And let us know how the experimentation into variable initiative goes. I think a thematic deck of cards adds a lot to the atmosphere and fun of a game, but variable initiative will always take longer than a static order. Interested to hear your takes on it What he said - awesome write up mook.
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Post by mook on Jun 1, 2017 8:17:45 GMT -8
I'm going to make it a damned mission to get in on one of your games in September. YEAH! Do eet! Hopefully I'm running something you actually want to play. let us know how the experimentation into variable initiative goes. I think a thematic deck of cards adds a lot to the atmosphere and fun of a game, but variable initiative will always take longer than a static order. Interested to hear your takes on it Savage Worlds seems to do okay, so hopefully it's all good. This deck would have been awesome!
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Post by Probie Tim on Jun 1, 2017 9:26:03 GMT -8
Mine is coming! I'm writing it right now, and will post a link when it's done.
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tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
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Post by tomes on Jun 1, 2017 10:56:11 GMT -8
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IPlayWrong
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 69
Preferred Game Systems: Savage Worlds, 5E
Currently Playing: Hackmaster Basic
Currently Running: DnD-5e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Chunky
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Post by IPlayWrong on Jun 1, 2017 12:20:16 GMT -8
I'm going to make it a damned mission to get in on one of your games in September. YEAH! Do eet! Hopefully I'm running something you actually want to play. let us know how the experimentation into variable initiative goes. I think a thematic deck of cards adds a lot to the atmosphere and fun of a game, but variable initiative will always take longer than a static order. Interested to hear your takes on it Savage Worlds seems to do okay, so hopefully it's all good. This deck would have been awesome! The facehugger on the Queen card is freaking me out!
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Post by mook on Jun 1, 2017 16:51:15 GMT -8
Ha! I totally bought those figs, but didn't get 'em until the day before con. The quality was "good enough" (a few had to be bent, hard, to stand on their own), but the main problem was I had no way to differentiate the Xenos (i.e., #1, #2, ...). I could have rigged up some kind of glued-on numbered bases or something, but yeah -- no time. I really wanted a large-scale Xeno figure too, but they were like 40 bucks Better gaming through Amazon!
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Post by Probie Tim on Jun 2, 2017 6:29:03 GMT -8
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