GenCon AP: Bacchanal, carry, Primitive, Roach, and more

[Meguey]

Rather than starting seven separate threads for my actual play at GenCon, it's mostly all here.

I played a Bacchanal demo with Ron and two other men while Tovey was asleep on my back. Bacchanal still can make people uncomfortable, and it was interesting to see the fleeting look of fear and disbelief cross the two other player's faces when I sat down - a woman with a baby playing a game about sex and death? I'd played a game of this last year, and I was curious to see how a demo would convey the game -and- keep a reasonable level of 'family show' for the very public demo floor.  I played the woman committing adultery, and they were the soldier and the dancing girl. It was cool watching Ron coach the dancing girl's player in taking small steps in upping the erotic levels - and he got it, too. I was glad to play a demo that had lots of the god-dice active, because it really clicked along.
(I loved that Paul took the time to make up dice sets for this game, and we had perfect (plastic) wine glasses to use to tumble and spill our dice, too. Later, I made someone (Dro?) take a picture of Ron demoing for a woman in a very short leather jacket top, matching hot pants, fishnets, and killer heals. I *really* hope I get to see the picture.)

SAH-Roach with Jason and two non-Forge folks: I got to be the lecherous Math Prof with designs on the pretty co-ed. I'm so glad I played this demo, because now I get it! This is a wicked funny game. I can see how it would be very dark humor in certain groups. It reminds me of Edward Gorey illustrations. One of the players seemed very uneasy with the brutality of his assigned character, and had trouble getting his head around his character's desire to murder the girl out of jealousy, even though he was the one going there. He seemed to be playing very close to the edge of his comfort. I'd really like Jason's opinion on that demo, if he has any.

carry. Whew, what an intense demo! I'm the soldier with "I love my country, but I hate this war", the other player ( I think Jason Morningstar?) is the "I don't want to die and I'll do anything to avoid it" guy. We're clearing a village, and a woman runs out at us. If I win, it's a baby and we're all safe; if he wins, he shoots her and it's a grenade. I utterly love this game, and I want to play more. The kicker was the way Nathan ended the demo, with the woman safe and holding the baby, but another soldier coming up behind her with a bayonet. He really had us totally engaged, and it was an awesome example of how to demo compellingly, not wrapping it up too neatly. We would have given up a meal to keep playing.

It was a mutual decision - I jumped in when Ron needed another woman for a demo. We (the other woman and I) came up with a surfer guy, 28, laid back, and Ron and the other man came up with a hippy-chick 7 years older. It was a beautiful thing, until she lost her job. We tried, man. We even put up posters offering surfing lessons to try and help with the money and make it work, but she wasn't going for it. This game surprised me with how fun it was, and I wound up buying it. I'd read about it, but there's nothing like a demo to make you say "Oh, I get it! Cool!" I liked the cooperative control of a character, and it was really interesting commentary on how we as women viewed men of the type we described. We could have made him a rat-bastard (yes, a rat), but we played him as hapless but decent, which then forces the men to either escalate the woman in evilness or keep status quo. Very interesting.

I got to play Contenders! Now, I know very little about boxing, but this game was about so much more. My character was trying to get his friend Chuck off the streets, and this was very nearly his last shot at it. The game uses a really neat card mechanic to declare what sort of action you're taking, and to determine outcome - PTA has some influence here, I suspect. I got to play with Malcom, who is a man who knows his boxing! He won the narration, which was great, 'cause he could do the game justice. I'm looking forward to playing this again. The see-saw of pain and hope is really cool, and the emotional tie to the connection really humanizes the whole game.

Death's Door delivers in spades. I mean, a game where you say out loud what it is you personally want before you die, and then you get to watch your character try to achieve that goal? I'm even more blown away than when I was looking at it as an awesome coda on other campain games. The demo went very fast, with one player reaching death without achieving his goal. I'd like to play a longer game, because I think I just got a taste of it. I think also that this game was really timely for me, given the deaths I've had this year. James talked about how people have responded to the game by doing things that they wrote down. I think this game might have more potential to actually change people's lives than any RPG I've seen before.

I played Primitive on a night I was tired already, so a game where I could be minimally talkative was cool. The surprise here is how strongly GM-full the game is; Kevin was in total controll of the story, and kept us firmly on track, while giving us room to grunt and point. It's also surprising how inhibited the group felt - I'd like to play again with a smaller group in a place without chairs. I think the setting, at a rectangle table in the 'hall' by the Embassy Suits gaming area, was too public, and we didn't get fully into the nonverbal side of the game. The emergent language aspect of the game is awesome to behold - we very quickly had signs for 'fish', 'hunt/kill', 'eat', and 'fire'. I've love to see how this played with people who actually had very little language in common.

[Paul Czege]

Hey Meg,

I'd played a game of this last year, and I was curious to see how a demo would convey the game -and- keep a reasonable level of 'family show' for the very public demo floor.

Yes, on the previous day Ron pretty much forced me to learn how it was possible to demo Bacchanal. The key, it turns out, is skewing slightly toward alcoholic debauchery, ending scenes before the implicit becomes explicit, and just actually letting experience with the mechanics convey how dramatic, erotic, and violent the game is when played behind closed doors. Previously I just couldn't get enough beyond my personal erotic sensibilites to figure how Bacchanal could be demoed.

Paul

[Meguey]

Yeah, that worked. My adultress was on trial, and we escalated to there being open drinking in the court.

[Ron Edwards]

I unfortunately got hammered by non-internet stuff to do today, so could not reply to this one as quickly as I'd wanted.

CARRY

Oh. I, um, well, my character shot that woman in the demo I played in. But it wasn't his fault! (For those unfamiliar with the game, the character I played was pre-classified as an "Accuser," who is characterized by shifting blame.)

Carry is at the top of my current play-list. Granted, some other games tie with it in that position, but it's definitely there. One anecdote ... Nathan began with a little spiel about lines and veils, but little did he know, he was sitting down with me and Matt Snyder. We are children of Viet Nam fallout, with not only our childhood political training in shreds, but also our adult-life constructed politics in shreds. We have spent our lives wanting to play Carry. We looked at one another with a "what does this guy think he's saying" look and said, simultaneously, "no limits" or words to that effect.

CONTENDERS

This was my first demo of the whole con! I sat down with Joe and Carrie Newman, and the main thing I took away was how totally invested we'd become in our characters and the upcoming tragedy of their eventual meeting in the ring, in just a few minutes of play. Getting up from the table was literally like returning to the "home universe," as we'd cared so much. I say "we" because I mentioned this at the time and Carrie agreed enthusiastically.

IT WAS A MUTUAL DECISION

This game surprised me with how fun it was,

!! Oh, there's a comment I'm going to treasure ...

we played him as hapless but decent, which then forces the men to either escalate the woman in evilness or keep status quo. Very interesting.

I love post-play commentary from this game. Escalate her evilness? Hardly! As we saw it, she was perfectly reasonably expecting him to grow up and pitch in a little - all well and good to be a surfer and a rocker and all that stuff, but come on! She was 37; do you think putting up surfing posters is going to rate as an actual attempt on his part to find work? She believed in the guy, especially in what a great guy he could become if he only realized the difference between work and play. That's not evil! It's not even "demanding" or "unreasonable," it makes total sense. She loved him and she wanted him to value himself. You guys just don't understand how a woman feels about these things.

Heh. It's amazing and wonderful to watch a few guys getting very protective of their female character's expectations of a boyfriend. They may start the first scene by parodying those things, but it doesn't last, and a couple of scenes in, they are shocked and hurt at how this guy could possibly be talking about "freedom" and "seeing other people" after all that's happened between them. "Black dice! Gimme those!"

On Sunday evening, I and a few other people played a real knockout session of this game, full story 'n all. I remember looking up and seeing Vincent (who was watching) slowly backing his chair away from the table, both hands covering his mouth and his big blue eyes all round. I have no idea why. There weren't even any were-rats in that session.

I'd appreciate it if someone who participated could start a thread about that. Like Joshua, for instance ... Joshua.

I'll post about playing Bacchanal after I finish working up the post.

Best, Ron